Surprise Package
by Ladiosabri
Summary: Post SGU the SGC has been moved to the Pentagon with some changes in command. Daniel seems to be the one member left behind as things evolve, but his life is about to turn in a way he never expected. (WARNING - Original Character) *Sides stories now available - see my profile*
1. Chapter 1 - And you shall receive

"Daniel," she paused, annoyed.

"Daniel," she repeated, more sternly, unable to believe that this was happening again.

"Daniel!" Sam shouted as she shook him, her tone no longer as pleasant as before. She knew there was nothing wrong with him, but he wasn't going to awaken easily, the late nights having taken their toll. He sat up slowly, removing his glasses, visibly bent into an unnatural shape. Repairing them best he could and placing them back where they belonged, he looked up at Sam, his blue eyes still trapped in the realm between awake and asleep.

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice dry and cracking, and stood from his seat, stretching a bit. He scanned the lab, his small desk in the back, the old school wooden table in the center, reorienting himself to the world around him. Reaching under his glasses, he pinched the bridge of his nose rubbing his eyes once more, his mind starting to catch up with his body.

"Five," she answered bluntly, folding her arms across her chest, continuing her imposing glare. She looked so official standing there, so much like a boss, in her navy blue skirt and dress uniform shirt, her now long hair braided in a careful pattern, tightly resting on back.

"Five, really? I don't think I've ever fallen asleep before five," Daniel asked, genuinely confused, "Maybe I should swing by the infirmary before dinner and see if I'm coming down with anything."

Still moving groggily, he reached and grabbed his black uniform jacket from the back of the chair, pulling it over his arms. Sam didn't speak at first, she just stood there in silence, watching him, when she let out a sigh. Not seeming to notice, Daniel started to walk past her, stretching his legs again as he broadened his stride.

Shaking her head, Sam knew, she knew she needed to speak and now was just as good a time as any.

"Daniel, it's five a.m. A.M. You missed dinner and apparently never went home," Sam said, stressing the final three words.

Daniel had made it to the doorway, but stopped short as she finished, spinning back around to face her and rubbing his face with his hand.

"Please tell me you're kidding," he replied, glancing embarrassingly at the floor, knowing full well by the tone in her voice that she wasn't.

He'd done it again.

"I wish. Daniel, this is the third time this month," she started, pausing to control her tone. She didn't want to scold; she wanted him to know that she was worried, that he just couldn't carry on like this.

No matter what had happened.

"You can't keep doing this," she pleaded kindly.

Resigning himself to the truth, Daniel closed his eyes and removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose and keeping his gaze at the floor.

"I know, I know. It's just that there's - " he started, refusing to continue, knowing that he was about to admit defeat.

"There's too much to do, I understand. No one said that sorting through the entire history of the Asgard civilization was going to be easy," Sam's tone cooled and her face softened. She had been there on the Odyssey; she understood what a great gift they had been given.

Maybe too great a gift.

Looking up slowly, Daniel pushed his glasses back up and shoved his hands into his pants pockets redirecting his gaze. It was then she noticed the deep dark circles magnified by the curved glass of the frame. He just looked so tired, so worn, so beaten and it worried her, greatly.

He couldn't continue like this.

"You could ask for help," she stated simply, uncrossing her arms, trying to be less intimidating. Again, he didn't seem to notice, cutting away his eyes and walking by her, returning to his desk and sitting back down in his chair, shaking his head.

"From who Sam? We've been through this before. Teal'c has enough to deal with with the Jaffa council and you've got Cam running most of the training academy now. Bill, well, he, and Vala tried, she really did, but this is way beyond her knowledge of the universe. It's barely at mine..." there was a sense of desperation in his voice as he went through the names of the rest of the members of his team, his friends, people who he knew would be willing to help but just couldn't. This was something he was going to have to face alone.

"What about someone outside of the team?" Sam suggested as she continued to stand, fighting the urge to sit and comfort him. She needed to hold her ground and she was not going to sit here and allow him to drive himself mad. Nothing was worth that.

"What, like Satterfield? Sam, don't think I haven't considered that route. The truth of the matter is that each and every one of them cannot be expected to do my work and what they are assigned to do on their respective teams," Daniel insisted, his face drawing into its customary frown. It was true, he had tried to bring in other various staff members; Satterfield, a few newer SG cadets. However each and every one of them was assigned to a team as he had been, so other than a day or an afternoon here or there, he was still working virtually alone, and it was taking it's toll, slowly but obviously.

"That's not what I mean," Sam replied pausing for a moment, "I mean, bring in outside help." Sam had stressed the word outside subtly and looked at him, waiting for the argument that was to come.

"Like who? Some IOA patsy that's gonna question my every move, or better yet, how about some graduate student who knows nothing that I'm supposed to train on top of everything else I have to do," there was a tone of disgust in his voice, a marked difference from just seconds before.

The reaction she'd expected; he was still dealing with the loss of Bill Lee.

Choosing not to start a fight with him in this state, at this hour, Sam simply shook her head and approached her friend to place a hand onto his shoulder and paused, making a face.

"Actually, once you, uh, brush your teeth or something, come down to my office," she requested, forcing back laughter and winked at him, turning quickly to leave the lab before she lost complete control of her giggles. Daniel instinctively put his hand to his mouth and blew, cringing at the result, turning and hoping he had something in his locker.

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The walk to Sam's office was considerably shorter than it would have been were they still at Cheyenne Mountain. After the Lucian Alliance bombed the SGC base there over two years ago, operations had been moved to the lower levels of the Pentagon, which had held many more levels than Daniel had expected, many more.

The uppermost levels were reserved for on base quarters, as housing in DC had proven to be a bit of a problem. The middle levels were set aside for scientific research, rooms like Rodney's lab and Sam's personal lab, that she insisted on keeping, and various other departments, the infirmary and the gym with the lowest and most secure level housing the gate, the head of SGC office and Daniel's lab. Just like in the mountain, the head of main office overlooked the gate room, with the briefing room attached, although everything was much smaller.

Daniel scaled the simple military metallic stairs quickly, skipping a few steos and walked past the entrance to the observation room, approaching the door and smiling as he ran his hands over the name plate.

_ General O'Neill_

Chuckling, he shook his head and knocked lightly.

"Come in!" he heard from the other side, and still smiling, twisted the knob to let himself in.

"Still haven't fixed it?" Daniel asked, as Sam turned from the bookshelf, placing a volume on her desk.

"No, and it's gotten to the point where I think that Jack has something to do with it. I mean, how hard is it to hyphenate?" There was a smile on her face, one that let Daniel know that she really didn't mind, and pointed to the chair on the other side while taking a seat herself.

Imagining Jack snowballing the process, Daniel sat down, leaning back comfortably in the seat. He had noted that the nameplate even left out the S for Samantha, so he was almost certain that his old was having fun with it.

After all, isn't that what marriage is for, to torment your wife until the end of time?

"Laugh it up Daniel," Sam continued, "but some day you'll meet your match and when you do I'll be the one waiting to harass you."

He shrugged, lacking a response and watched as she just opened the lid of her laptop and began to type something in. His curiosity sparked, he sat up in the chair, leaning forward across the desk, trying to make his snooping not too obvious.

"So, now for your idea?" he lead, figuring that was where all of the typing was going.

"I was just getting to that," she grinned as she finished and hit enter, turning the machine toward his line a sight. Daniel adjusted his eyes to the glare and pushed his glasses up that were slipping down the bridge of his nose.

On the screen popped an image of a huge Roman Coliseum with a picture of a young woman standing in front of it, her hands on her hips like she was celebrating a conquest. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing jeans with a fitted black t-shirt and combat boots. There was some bright purple lettering that Daniel leaned over to read more clearly, squinting at the screen.

"Ass Kickin' History"

Blog by Dr. Adrienne Rowan

Associate Professor of Classical Studies

Delgado Community College

New Orleans, LA

"Ok, a blog. How's this supposed to help?" Daniel asked perplexed, but Sam simply smiled, that look she gave when she was up to something plastered across her face as she tapped lightly at the screen, at the picture of the woman, the girl really, glancing back at him.

"Her," Sam stated simply.

Daniel's jaw dropped.

"What?" he exclaimed, hoping that he was misunderstanding her, or better yet, was still asleep, "That woman? How did you even find that woman?" he asked in disbelief; there was no way that Sam was sitting here trying to sell him on this insane idea.

"Cam taught Vala how to google names and she was googling yours and apparently..." Sam started to reply, turning the laptop once more to click around on the website. She paused and giggled for a moment before turning the screen back to face Daniel and continued, "she's a...fan..."

The site flickered again, this time settling onto a page entitled, "Aliens and Egypt? Nice try, but they just got lazy."

"Lazy?" Daniel asked, turning the laptop and pulling it toward him, sitting back in the seat to read, Sam smiling as he scanned it with his eyes, moving quickly back and forth behind his glasses.

Before diving into the text, Daniel ran his gaze over the images of pyramid looking spaceships flying above the Egyptian desert.

Well, she got those right, he thought to himself and turned his attention to the text, noting the subtitle,

"A critical review of Dr. Daniel Jackson's book The Truth About the Pyramids"

Not surprisingly, it tore into him right in the first few lines, not unlike most articles that criticized his work, the only difference here being her obvious attempt to make it read 'cool' for her students and readers.

Just another critic; Daniel didn't see what made her so special.

"Again, so?" Daniel asked Sam, "Another ill informed academic, except this one wants to look like Lara Croft."

Sitting back in the chair, he shoved the computer across the desk.

"You have to read it..." Sam insisted and pushed the computer back, a playful smile creeping across her face once more.

Sighing, Daniel jerked the machine back, crossing his leg over his knee and sitting the laptop across his calf. Peering down he read over the article for a second time, paying closer attention to it in search for what Sam was talking about, what she had seen in this that he somehow had missed. It was about midway through the third paragraph that he found what he assumed had impressed Sam.

_However, there is one aspect that I can see the point Dr. Jackson tries, and fails to make. Considering the rapid decline in technological advancement during the later Egyptian dynasties, one could feasibly make the argument that a loss of contact with said alien overlords led to the eventual fall of the empire. After all, I'm sure losing to the barbarians of Rome would be an easier pill to swallow if the people of Egypt could claim that ET simply phoned home. But, hey, I have an open mind. If any of you people know Dr. Jackson or where he as disappeared to for that matter, I would love to chat with him, if not for anything else to see if he wears a cone of aluminum foil on his head._

"Cone of foil on my head?" Daniel asked, the sarcasm dripping from his words.

Sam really couldn't be serious, and he was relieved to see that her grin had turned into light laughter.

It was a joke, thankfully.

Once more, Daniel pushed the computer back to the general and relaxed into his seat.

"I like her," Sam said, containing her laughter, "and besides, not only does she seem to accept the possibility that you were correct but she's volunteered to meet you." Daniel wasn't sure if his jaw dropped or he was just imagining the feeling, but the look on Sam's face as the laughter subsided indicated to him that she wasn't kidding.

Shaking his head, he found himself unable to form words, holding on to the hope that Sam would read his face.

Instead, she just cleared her throat.

"Daniel, I've looked into her background, you'd be impressed. She's bright and competent, despite her appearance here."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Her "appearance" in this ridiculous excuse for a writing medium should have been enough of a deterrent.

"You can't be serious; you don't even know her! And look at that picture, is she 12?" Daniel demanded emphatically, shocked that Sam was suggesting hiring him an assistant based on an internet search.

One that looked like this.

One that carried herself like this.

One that had no business here.

He didn't need someone else to...

"She's 31, and a bit of a whiz kid. Graduated top of her class from Tulane at age 19, Master's and Doctorate finished by 26 from Tulane as well. Been teaching ever since," Sam continued, unhindered, reaching for a file on her desk. Opening the folder, the red words CONFIDENTIAL warning them all of the contents inside, Sam turned it so the text would face him and pushed it toward him as she had the laptop.

A file?

On her?

Daniel was amazed.

Apparently, this wasn't a recent idea, if Sam had compiled all of this information that was sitting before him, pages and pages of transcripts, employee reviews and a background check. Daniel didn't bother to read anything before him, glancing back up at Sam in an effort to convince her exactly how bad of an idea this was.

"Not to downplay the community college system, but if she's so great and so brilliant, why is she teaching there? Why not back at Tulane, or at least doing research? It is a research institution."

Standing, Sam leaned over her desk, tapping her finger on the folder, her smile one of seriousness rather than play.

"You can ask her when she gets here," she replied, "she should be touching down at Reagan anytime now."

"What? You're bringing her here?" Daniel stood, his voice louder as the words crossed his lips. He simply couldn't believing what he was hearing.

"Yes," Sam was back in General mode, her mind was made up, "and you're going to interview her. I'd start thinking of anything you'd like to ask."

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Two hours later Daniel was sitting in the briefing room with a folder, a pen and a legal pad, which was empty, save for a few doodles along the margins, a chevron symbol here, a hieroglyph there. He had no idea what Sam expected him to ask or to say for that matter. He just hoped this woman would stick her foot in her mouth fast enough where Sam would end this fiasco and let him go on about his business.

Did Sam think he couldn't so his job anymore?

After so many years together, how could she not have come to him before entertaining this absurd proposal?

He didn't need an assistant.

Sure, he could use some help here and there, but not an outsider.

Not someone he didn't know.

Not that woman.

Coming to the conclusion in his head that this was just a show he needed to perform for Sam, he decided that he probably ought to requisition a cot or something for the lab, so at least he could sleep on a bed when he wanted to work late. He turned the pen around, jotting a reminder to himself beside a poorly sketched Earth Chevron.

A cot, that was something worth writing down.

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At 9:15 a.m., Sam entered the briefing room and swept her hand in front of her, inviting her guest inside. Behind her walked the woman from the internet, considerably less confident than her blog photo. She wasn't dressed like a wanna be Indiana Jones either; she was wearing a black formal pants suit and her hair had been tamed, pulled up into a clip behind her head. Had Daniel not seen her ridiculous online get up this morning but a picture of her like this instead, he might have been more inclined to take this entire fiasco seriously. Still, in an attempt not to be rude, he rose from his chair.

¨Dr. Rowan, I would like to introduce you to Dr. Daniel Jackson,¨ Sam motioned at Daniel. He reached forward to shake her hand, which she took kindly but hesitantly, shaking it and letting it go quickly.

¨Pleased to meet you Dr. Jackson; I've read many of your publications,¨ she said politely, but with a tinge of nerves behind her voice.

Some Lara Croft, Daniel thought.

¨So I've heard,¨ Daniel responded curtly, wow Daniel that was rude, stop being so nasty, and sat down, ignoring the look that Sam was giving him.

Making her way around the large table to sit beside Daniel while Dr. Rowan pulled out the chair across from them, Sam motioned in front of her.

¨Dr. Rowan, please take a seat here and we promise this shouldn't take very long. Thank you for coming so far on such short notice,¨ Sam spoke professionally, waiting for the young archaeologist to take her seat before she took her own.

¨Thank you General, and please call me Adrienne. It was no trouble at all, although I am a little confused as to why we're meeting at the Pentagon. When I was called to interview for a position with the government, I was assuming it was for one of the positions listed at the Smithsonian,¨ Adrienne inquired as she sat down quietly and adjusted her jacket.

¨We'll explain Adrienne, but first we have some questions for you,¨ she replied, taking her own seat but not before looking over to see what questions Daniel had written on the note pad that she would combine with her own.

_Request a cot_

Her eyes widened and she kicked him under the table, redirecting her attention to Adrienne since Daniel obviously was not going to take this seriously.

¨Now, Adrienne, you do realize that this position is for a research assistant and not a teaching job. It will be long hours and most of the time in a lab, but you would be taken out of the classroom,¨ Sam explained, opening a folder in front of her, presumably a copy of the file or maybe some questions of her own.

Either way, Daniel needed to make his position clear sooner in this interview rather that later. Sitting forward, he looked at the woman sitting in front on him, her hands folded gently on the table and spoke.

¨Yes, this will be completely different from what you are used to,¨ he added quickly.

¨I understood that from the call. I welcome the opportunity to be on the forefront of any research in my field. I enjoyed my research when I was at Tulane and I'm very excited for the chance to get my 'hands dirty' again so to speak. Honestly, General, I'm looking for a change.¨ Adrienne answered, the volume in her voice dropping at the last words.

Catching the change in her demeanor, Daniel frowned, looking her over.

¨Why is that?¨ he asked before he could stop himself, his curiosity taking over.

_Strange thing to say in an interview..._

¨I have nothing left to keep me in New Orleans. I just need a fresh start,¨ Adrienne continued Daniel's mind racing.

This woman was awfully quick to leave a job she had held for five years, one that according to the pages in the folder she had excelled at.

He looked over at Sam, expecting her to react the same, but she was unfazed, just flipping through her folder to continue.

¨Is that because of your father" Sam asked gently, Adrienne's eyes widening. She had appeared slightly nervous in the first place but at the mention of her father, her hands began to tremble and Daniel could see her pull them off of the table and slip them into her lap.

¨How did you - ¨Adrienne started anxiously, but Sam lifted her hand lightly to halt her question.

¨This is the United States Government Dr. Rowan; we did a thorough background check before contacting you.¨ Sam explained. Adrienne took a deep breath, looking down at her relocated hands before glancing back up at Sam and Daniel.

¨I probably should have figured out this was more serious than the Smithsonian when I came through all of that security," the woman tried to joke, but it was clear to Daniel at least and he hoped Sam, that the idea of her being led down to the bottom-most levels of the Pentagon was unnerving, "I'm assuming that working in a dusty basement does not require a background check. But yes ma'am, partly because of my father."

Confused, since he really hadn't read the file carefully, Daniel opened it again to scan her background. Father, Francis Rowan, age 64, died of lung cancer about seven months ago.

His stomach sank.

Seven months?

That was a wound that was relatively fresh and it explained her demure attitude.

And it explained why she didn't need to be here.

Sick parent or not, if she was so brilliant, so talented as Sam was claiming this morning in her office, shouldn't she have done something else?

Something more?

Her dark eyes were looking at him, strangely, he couldn't pinpoint why exactly it was so strange, but it was somewhat disturbing and he couldn't shake the strange feelings going down his spine.

_Refocus Daniel..._

"Tell me Dr. Rowan," he asked as he sat forward again, noticing that Sam had been looking at him for a moment while he read the folder, " you seem to have graduated high in your class, with a LOT of potential for upward momentum in your field, yet you have been satisfied to spend your entire career at Delgado, teaching freshman level world history?"

"Yes," Adrienne began to answer, clearing her throat, "I needed the time to spend with my father and to be honest, the state benefits covered almost everything that Medicare didn't."

"What about your mother?" Daniel continued, unable to grasp why a young woman would be expected to take on the responsibility of caring for an ailing parent, essentially giving up her own future.

_You could have left him in the care of others..._

_I was..._

Quietly, Adrienne looked down at her hands again and Daniel could see she was picking at the skin of her fingers in what looked to be a nervous tick. She only did so for a brief moment and then stopped, but it seemed to take an eternity as he watch her scrutinize her index finger and peel a fragment of flesh from her non-existent nails. Finally, she glanced slowly in his direction, any earlier instance of confidence seemingly fading away.

"She died when I was born. My father raised me, alone. I couldn't leave him; he never left me."

Daniel sat back in the chair a bit torn.

_And you refused to leave and give up..._

Yes, what an awful story, but to throw away everything? She could have been dancing circles around any archaeologist he had ever met just based on the information he had quickly scanned in this file, but she chose to stay behind to take care of Daddy?

Why not hire a nurse?

Why not do something?

_Because to this woman family means something..._

"You do realize how that might look to us," Daniel spoke, awaiting her reaction.

She didn't flinch at first, her eyes caught between himself, Sam and those decimated fingernails, when suddenly and swiftly she glanced to her side, her lips moving slightly.

"Certains d'entre nous ne sont pas nés avec une cuillère en argent dans la bouche,"

(_I understand how it would look to those with a silver spoon in their mouth.) _Adrienne mumbled in a strange, drawly, accented French but French he understood, clearly.

Daniel froze dumbfounded.

Did she really just say that?

In an interview?

What the hell?

"Excuse me?" Daniel asked curtly leaning even closer to the woman, trying to meet her gaze, while Sam just looked back and forth between them, puzzled and silent.

"No, I was just saying that yes, I know how it might look, but my father was all I had. I couldn't just abandon him," she answered quickly, but startled, sitting upright in the chair again, picking her nails. No, that was not what she said, and he wasn't about to let her get away with it, even if Sam was sitting right there.

_Daniel, wait, don't lash out..._

"J'ai entendu ce que vous avez dit," he said to her, outright, ignoring his own urging not to, wiping all emotion from his face. His blue eyes were cold. (_I understood what you said.) _

Adrienne's widened in horror.

"Pour votre information, mes deux parents sont morts et j'ai été sauté à la maison en famille d'accueil," Daniel continued coolly, "Mais cela ne m'empêche pas de mes objectifs. C'est une excuse, pas une raison." _(For your information, BOTH of my parents died and I was hopped from foster home to foster home, but I still manage to achieve my goals. That is an excuse, not a reason). _

"Une excuse?!" Adrienne repeated, the look on her face changing from shock to insult, a slow fire burning behind her deep chocolate eyes. Maybe there was something there like Sam had insisted, but he refused to allow himself to entertain the notion, sitting back into the chair, crossing his arms across his chest.

_I don't need an assistant._

_Why does she look upset? _

_What is happening?_

"Oui." He didn't say anything else; there wasn't anything else he could think to say.

"Ensuite, vous êtes aussi fou que je pensais. Profitez de votre trou ici, je serai de retourner à mes élèves," she spat, her eyes darting back to Sam. "Thank you General, for the opportunity, but I can sense when I'm not wanted."

Standing to leave, Dr. Adrienne Rowan adjusted her pants and jacket, wiping away a loose hair from her brow, or was she crying, dammit Daniel stand up don't act like this, but he sat as she walked briskly to the door, leaving without a further word. Sam leapt from the table, glaring angrily at Daniel.

"What did you say to her!?" Sam demanded, not knowing much french but having picked up words like parents, dead, excuses and crazy, enough to let her know their very short and very terse exchange had not gone well.

"I told her that she needed to not use her father as an excuse for underachievement."

And sounded like a complete ass, he thought, his opinion confirmed as Sam's jaw dropped.

"What?! Are you nuts? You know, Jack's right about you. You're impossible sometimes and you seem to just get worse as the years go by," Sam hissed, shoving the folders aside to chase after Dr. Rowan.

_What had just happened?_

Annoyed, Daniel tapped the pen on the table, his eyes staring blankly at the legal pad. He had a passing thought and made another note to himself on the bright yellow paper.

_Send Sam flowers_

Daniel awoke to sharp, stabbing pain in his neck as he tried to pick his head up slowly, looking left at the gray cinderblock wall of his lab and right in the direction of the drab gray file cabinets. Peering out of the corner of his eye he saw from the computer screen it was 7 a.m. and quickly came to the conclusion that he had slept through the night at his desk again, face on keyboard.

He instinctively brought his hand to his face, feeling the slight one centimeter by one centimeter indentations pressed into his cheek.

When was that damn cot gonna arrive?

As he started to negotiate with his body to get up, taking off his glasses and cracking his neck left first, then right he heard a faint clicking sound behind him. Curious as to who had slipped into the lab so early this morning and without his noticing, he glanced over in the direction of the noise when he saw her.

Sitting at the spare desk he kept stowed against the wall by the blue door to the lab, was Dr. Adrienne Rowan, brow furrowed in concentration, typing away at a small silver laptop computer covered in stickers. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt, jeans and combat books, her shoulder length brown hair messy and down, a few strands running down her cheek but most of them tucked tightly behind her ear.

No suit, no uniform, the woman sitting in his lab looked just like in that ridiculous internet photo.

Stunned, and at a loss for words, Daniel remained seated, starting at her in complete and total shock. He must have made a noise or something because just as he closed his eyes and opened them quickly, hoping that she would disappear, he saw that she was looking right at him, a friendly smile on her face.

He tried not to let her see him roll his eyes.

"Good morning. Sam said just to leave you alone and that you would need this when you woke up," she said as he saw a small white bottle come flying through the air headed straight for him, but it never made it, instead hitting the corner of his desk and bouncing onto the floor.

"Sorry, I was never really good at games involving the throwing of round objects," she tried to smile again, apparently sensing that he wasn't too happy to see her.

He wasn't; he thought she'd figured that out yesterday.

Daniel stood and leaned over to whisk the bottle from the floor, opening the cap, shaking a few tablets into his hand and tossing them into his mouth. Without so much as a thank you to Dr. Rowan, who was still sitting there smiling uncomfortably, he grabbed a bottle of water from his desk and chugged the warm liquid that had sat there overnight. He swallowed quickly and closed the bottle, glaring back over at his unexpected guest.

"What exactly are you doing here?" he demanded, setting the bottle down forcefully onto the desk.

"Working," she responded quickly, cutting her eyes away as she looked back at the screen of her lap top, returning to clicking and tapping away at the machine.

Taking a step towards her, Daniel made a face and cocked his head, puzzled as to what exactly was going on.

"On what?" he started, but stopped himself, throwing up his hand and waving them in front of his face, "Wait, don't answer that. Why, How? Under who's authority?"

He paused only a few steps away from her as she looked at him emotionless. Clearly flustered, Daniel turned quickly on his heels and started to walk over to the phone to call Sam.

This had to be a mistake.

He didn't need an assistant.

"She said don't bother calling; she's not there," Dr. Rowan called out from behind, that same flat tone in her voice making him turn around to face her once more. She stood from her desk, adjusting her t-shirt and walked over to a backpack leaning against the wall, kneeling before it and pulling out a composition book, taking the book, returning to the desk and opening it to make some notes, the entire process completed without one word or glance in acknowledgement of his presence.

"I don't NEED an assistant," Daniel said out loud, to no one in particular, most certainly not her, her, who had now taken her seat and was scrolling her finger down the trackpad of the computer, mouthing some words to herself and then putting pen to paper.

"She said you would say that too," the woman responded calmly and continued to write, not looking up from her task.

Turning away from the phone, Daniel strode angrily to this woman sitting at the desk, this woman who was just sitting there working away as if she belonged here.

She didn't belong here.

"I thought you said I was insane!?"

This time, it was clear to whom he was speaking as he stood by her desk glaring down at her with his arms crossed firmly across his chest, searching for a reaction. He didn't get one, though, a negative one at least, instead, Dr. Rowan clicked around at a few things on the keyboard, made another note in the composition book and only when she was finished, glanced back up at him.

"I still think you are. But Sam says that you're really a great guy if I give you a chance, and well, she made me an offer I couldn't refuse." she smiled, was that a nice smile, she looked like there was something else she wanted to say but just didn't, returning her attention quickly to whatever was on that computer screen. She continued scanning the information, her dark brown eyes darting back and forth rapidly, only interrupted by the raising of her pen as she began to make more notes onto the paper.

"What offer?" he asked taking another step forward to where she was in reach and he could almost make out writing on the computer screen, a manual of some sorts. For a moment he thought that she had just chosen to ignore his question, when suddenly she set the pen down gently in the crease of the book and glanced back up at him.

"Housing, pay, new life," Dr. Rowan started to list, halting her speech as her face broke out into a smile, "And she showed me the Stargate, so I need to correct myself. I still think you're crazy, just not for my original reasons. But that thing is too cool to pass up, and I'd have been a little concerned too, bringing in someone else, I get that now..."

Standing there, beside the desk, her desk, Daniel removed his glasses and rubbed his face, his brain just not registering her final words.

Sam had just overruled him, something he NEVER thought she would do; she had taken the power of the promotion and shoved it in his face.

Anger could only begin to describe what he was feeling at this very moment, watching this woman, this stranger invade his space like she was supposed to be here, sit at this desk like it was hers, carrying on like she had just been working here all along.

Breathing in deeply, Daniel stormed over to his desk in silence, straightening up the mess from last night and shoving a few items into a bag which he stuffed under the desk. Without a further word to Dr. Rowan, or even an attempted phone call to Sam, he marched right past the confused video game archaeologist wanna be and through the door, on a solo mission that he had every intention of seeing through to the end.

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"Good morning Blue Eyes," Vala bounced up happily to greet him the moment he entered the commissary, "why so glum?"

"No reason, Vala, have you seen Sam?" Daniel answered curtly, pulling away from her as she tried to run her arm through his. She stood back, looking hurt, she thought they'd talked about this, that they were going to try to back up and start anew, but Daniel didn't have time for her feelings right now; there were much more important things to accomplish.

"Not all morning and I - " Vala started when Cam entered the commissary, power walking right in Daniel's direction, shouting as he moved.

"Jackson, who in the world is that woman working in your lab?!" Cam seemed intrigued by the prospect of someone new on base, probably because that someone was female, Daniel thought to himself as Vala looked over at him, a look of shock and jealously in her eyes.

"There's a woman in your lab!?" Vala clarified, her tone changing, but Daniel didn't have time to analyze exactly what her reaction was to his uninvited guest.

Sighing, he gave them both the only thing running through his mind.

"She is NO ONE and she will be gone soon," he answer gruffly, scanning the cafeteria tables for the general, but there was no sign of her or anyone who might know her whereabouts.

Intending to avoid further discussion of his current predicament, Daniel turned quickly and left the commissary, continuing his search.

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He had hunted all over the base for her, from the housing level back down to the gate room and her office when he gave up and decided to just return to the lab. She knew what she had done and eventually she would have to come down to check on him as he knew she would. Sam might have gone behind his back in hiring Dr. Rowan but eventually she would have to face him.

As he rounded the corner heading down the hallway he heard what sounded like a small party coming from his workspace, voices, laughter and music.

He picked up his pace.

"Wow, really? See, I was so obsessed with it when I was younger that I even wrote my master's thesis on why Anakin Skywalker was similar to Jesus Christ. It was great, but I must have offended half of the faculty of Tulane!" her voice could be heard speaking as he approached the open doorway, peering inside to find Teal'c standing at her desk, no, the extra desk, listening to the story. He was laughing loudly and motioned Daniel over to join them as he crossed the threshold, nodding his head appreciatively at her tale.

"DanielJackson, I have met your new assistant and she is also a fan of Star Wars. We shall be good friends," Teal'c smiled, looking to Daniel as if he expected him to agree. Daniel didn't return the gesture, simply ignoring the remark.

"Have you seen Sam?" he inquired instead.

"Yeah," Dr. Rowan answered, completely ignoring the fact that the question had not been directed at her, "she came by right after you left with something to translate. You were gone so long that I went ahead and did it for you. It's over there," she pointed over to a file sitting on the corner on his desk, stamped with the typical markings of a folder of work from Sam.

Daniel paused, glancing back at her confused.

"Wait, you did it FOR me?" he asked, heading over to the desk, his gaze alternating between the dark haired pest sitting in the chair by the door and the work that had been completed for him.

She was smiling, even more brightly than before, as if she was hoping to impress him.

He tried not to give her the satisfaction, doubting that she could have really done much with the file, whatever language it was in.

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad, a slight derivative of Latin with a few unknown words thrown in but I managed. Sam said some machine on that planet written on the top of the folder kept repeating it over and over. It was pretty short, not sure if it really saves you that much time by me doing it but I hope that was alright," she stated, trailing off a bit at end as if she was unsure or looking for approval.

He wasn't going to give her that either.

_But she's trying to help..._

Daniel reached down onto his desk, a frown on his face, taking the folder and opening it. There was a CD tucked inside, a recording of something he assumed and a series of pages of legal pad notes in what he took as Dr. Rowan's handwriting. Stepping over to his computer, he took the CD and slid it into the side, pulling his headphones over his ears, listening carefully as he scanned the notes she made onto the page.

A lot of it was right.

A lot of it.

Not all, not by a long shot, but much it.

He felt his mouth open in amazement.

"How did you do this?" he asked, jerking the headphones to his neck and turning to face her, noting that she was still sitting in her chair, no the chair, waiting for him to address her once more.

"I told you it was like Latin, with a few unknown words and - " she started to reply but paused as Daniel took the folder in his hand and walked back over to her desk, shaking his head as he approached.

"No, this is Ancient, yes it's very similar to Latin but there are words here that are not Latin. How did you figure them out?" he stopped before getting too close, reminding himself silently to keep his distance, but he was fairly certain that she had already seen the look of amazement on his face.

"Context clues," she responded, as if this was something she did everyday, "You have to do that a lot with Roman/Etruscan tombs and such."

He made a face and headed back to his desk, sitting down to go back over the information in the file to correct her mistakes. Sensing the tension in the room, Teal'c bid them both a farewell and left quickly, leaving the two archaeologists alone in the lab.

As if he had never come by, Dr. Rowan was again clicking away at the keys of her computer.

He tried not to overanalyze it, but Daniel was completely puzzled.

How could she have figured it out, so fast and so close to correct?

Was this was Sam meant?

If she knew this much already, or at least had the tools to figure out this much, what else could he teach her?

And, if he was supposed to be her boss and he had given her nothing to do yet what was she working on?

What did he _need _her to work on?

"Dr. Rowan?" he called out, trying to sound official, to sound like a boss.

That was a new role for him, boss.

"Please call me Adrienne, or Addy," she said, still not looking up.

Alright, so she wanted to go by her first name, he thought, that's fine, everyone else here does.

"Fine, Adrienne. What are you doing over there?" he asked politely.

"Sam said that until you came to your senses, I should start with learning how to work the DHD and memorize important dialing sequences. They're constellations, right? That didn't seem so bad. She gave me this nifty guide so I think I'm good to go," Adrienne responded plainly, tapping a small booklet that was open at her hand.

Not so bad?

Daniel was stunned.

It had been easy for him sure, well all but the last, but many of the other staff members still confused some basic symbols even with intensive training and ending up dialing themselves into more trouble instead of dialing home.

This woman was sitting there calling it easy.

_Ok, so maybe this assistant thing isn't such a bad idea..._

He looked at her as she continued to go through that list Sam must have given her of things to do, clearing his throat to get her attention once more.

"How many languages do you speak?" Daniel asked, thinking this was something he should have read in that file Sam gave him and wondering if there were other things he should have looked for.

"Speak implies that I have anyone to speak them to," Adrienne answered, a slight smile creeping across her face as she looked over at him.

He turned his head, looking at her strangely.

That was an odd response.

Was she being snotty or was she playing with him?

He decided to rephrase his question.

"Fine, how many languages do you know? Or can you read?" he tried again. Adrienne stopped the typing she had resumed and scrunched up her face, her eyes gazing up to the ceiling, and started counting on her fingers. She paused a few times and shook her head and then resumed the count, repeating this action a few times before finally opening her mouth.

"I think 10, maybe 12," she finally replied, still looking at her fingers.

Daniel was amazed.

He spoke 23 himself, but most of the rest of the multilingual staff were limited to 2 or 3, except for Sgt. Mardsen and he was amazed she spoke 6.

But 10 or 12 and she wasn't even sure?!

He really should have read that file more closely.

"Well, if you're gonna work here, we might as well make it 11... or 13," he stood from his desk and walked over to the bookcase, grabbing an older leather bound journal, heading for her desk.

Stopping right by her chair, he reached the book out towards her carefully.

"Here," he said as he handed her the journal, "This is written Ancient. Trust me, it's not like what you just heard. There's no grammar book, no dictionary, no ABC order. You will have to learn like I did if you expect to figure out how I work down here. When you can get through this, I have about 10 others."

Adrienne smiled slightly and took the book, "Thanks."

"In the meantime," he continued, "I've got things to do over here and I really need to concentrate on them."

Standing there staring at her, he began to notice a few more things he had missed in the interview, a few very interesting details. Dr. Adrienne Rowan's face was almost completely decorated in metal, her eyebrow, nose and lip were pierced and her left ear had so many things in it that he would have had to place her head under the magnifier to count them all.

How did he miss that during the interview?

How had Sam missed that?

Where did this woman come from?

Never in his entire career had he met a professional that looked this way, looked as if she walked right out of a heavy metal video and into his lab.

On the other hand though, she had completed a large portion of the translation and she seemed pleasant enough, so he decided to give her a chance, for now, but didn't want her to feel as if she had won.

He was the boss.

She was the employee, albeit a very unique one.

As she turned to open the book, her eyes scanning the information in that quick way she had been scanning the screen before, he paused for a moment, expecting her to say something, anything, pose an argument, a sigh, a "yes sir" in submission, but he got nothing, instead, as he walked back over to his desk to pick up where he left off from last night, he saw her reach back into a backpack, covered in buttons like a teenager's school pack, and pull out another composition notebook and some headphones.

Silently, she plugged them into her computer, popping them onto her head and opened his book, jotting some things into her ledger.

Ok, so she likes to listen to music while she studies, must be a habit from college that didn't die, he thought to himself, deciding to let that go as well and attempt to get something accomplished today since he had already wasted a considerable amount of time this morning trying to get rid of her.

Daniel was just sitting down when he heard noise, loud noise coming from that desk by the door.

It wasn't noise.

It was music, and it was coming from Adrienne's headphones, loud music, very loud music, very loud rap music.

Very loud old rap music.

Crap people used to listen when he was just starting to teach; things people played on boomboxes that they carried on their shoulder around the campus.

She listens to rap music, he thought, why in the world does she listen to rap music?

And look like that?

Trying not to draw attention to himself, he glanced over at her again, noting that she was completely absorbed in her computer, the leather bound journal, the composition book and was dancing at her desk, hip hop dancing at her desk.

Feeling a headache coming on, he reached for the bottle of ibuprofen that she had tossed his way this morning and sighed, wondering exactly how he was going to survive this.

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Time clicked by quickly and before he realized how long he had been sitting and working, Vala stuck her head into the lab, informing him that it was time for lunch if he and Dr. Rowan cared to join them.

Vala knew her name already, this was not a good sign.

Sam must really be trying to ruin his life.

Reluctantly he stood as Vala exited the lab chuckling, noting that his guest had not noticed the interruption and was continuing to work her way through the ancient vocabulary text.

_She does seem to have a work ethic..._

"Baby got back!" he heard playing loudly from the headphones as he approached her desk.

"You have got to be kidding me!" he blurted out before he could control himself, loud enough to alert Adrienne to his presence apparently, since she was now looking straight at him with her dark inquisitive brown eyes.

"Huh?" she asked, slipping the headphones down to her neck so that he could hear the verse of the song, if you could call it that, spilling out of them.

Why in the world did she listen to such awful music, he thought to himself, his rumbling stomach bringing him back to reality.

"Lunch. You hungry?" he said curtly, pointing out of the lab. Nodding her head gratefully, she removed the headphones from her neck and set them carefully onto the desk top, Adrienne seemed to be accepting his invitation.

"Oh, yeah, thanks," she replied, clicking around on the keyboard a few strokes, thankfully to shut her 'music' off.

Smiling, she stood from her desk, closing the lid of her laptop gently, placing the headphones on top of the machine's absurdly decorated lid and grabbing the composition book, the journal and a pen, tucking the books underneath her arm as she headed for the door.

"No, no, no," Daniel spoke and reached out, pulling the books from her and tossing them thoughtlessly on the desk, "I'm not gonna have you march in there looking like I'm some kind of slave driver."

"But I - " Adrienne began to argue, that feistiness from the interview starting to creep back into her face.

Nuh uh, he thought, this is not how this is going to play out.

"No arguments," he stated assertively and put his hand on her shoulder turning her toward the door.

They walked in silence to the commissary.

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He did have to talk to her once they arrived, discovering that Sam had not given Adrienne a tour of this part of the facility, therefore leaving him to direct her through the line and explain the hours and operation of the dining station. She nodded, thanking him again, politely, and grabbed a tray, proceeding toward the line of SG cadets, officers, teammates and officials who were waiting patiently for their turn.

Daniel dropped to silence again, having nothing else to say to her reaching to get himself a hamburger, some fries and a cup of pudding. However, as he did so, he couldn't help but notice her selection of items. Unlike everyone else in line, she didn't get a meal, more like a variety of rabbit food: two slices of wheat toast, she had actually asked if the bread was organic and Daniel almost erupted into laughter right there, some carrots, an apple and a cheese stick.

"What is that?" he finally asked as she was trying to convince the nice serving ladies to find her an organic skim milk after they had insisted that there was no organic milk nor skim milk to be found anywhere on the base.

"Food," she answered smartly.

There was that tone from yesterday.

Not happening.

"No, a sandwich is food," he said as he pointed to his tray, "or a slice of pizza. That's a dysfunctional salad bar."

"I have to eat like this; you have a problem with that too?!" she asked, some anger and spunk entering her voice, as she stared him down.

If it weren't for the fact that he was completely bemused by her behavior, he would have shouted back, but instead calmly looked down at her, waiting for her explanation.

"Why?" he questioned.

"I'm a distance runner. We have to eat every few hours. And we cannot eat that processed garbage you've put on your tray, it slows us down," she responded and pointed disgustingly at his burger and fries.

Great, he thought to himself, she won Sam over with a smart mouthed blog, Teal'c with Star Wars and once Cameron knew she was a runner he would be joining the Adrienne bandwagon.

Daniel would be forced to play the Vala card, which he hated to do, but it may be his only chance to rid himself of this inconvenience.

_But do I really want her to go..._

He started to scan the room, looking for Vala when he saw that Adrienne had left him behind making her way to a table on the far left hand side of the room, spotting Teal'c, who of course was eating and chatting happily with Cam and Vala.

"This just gets better by the minute," he said to himself and followed briskly, hoping she wouldn't take the seat closest to Vala.

He needed that seat.

"AdrienneRowan, may I present to you ColonelCameronMitchell and ValaMalDoran, also members of SG-1," Teal'c introduced his teammates, who were regarding her with the same curiosity that they had this morning during Daniel's hunt for Sam.

"So you're the new Jackson?" Cameron stood to shake her hand as she set the tray down in front of her, taking the seat beside Teal'c, laughing lightly.

"Not exactly, just here to help I guess," she answered, smiling, the attitude she had given him in line completely disappearing but regardless, Vala looked annoyed.

Perfect, Daniel thought.

"Well girl, welcome aboard. What exciting life did you leave behind to pursue the great beyond?" Cam inquired kindly, reaching onto his plate to grab a fry and pop it into his mouth. Adrienne sat there across from him, her face still in that friendly grin, taking a quick sip of water before she answered.

"Just a teaching job; no big deal. After a while though, you get tired of lecturing to hungover freshman on the wonders of the ancient world. I actually had one girl ask me if the Greeks drove Beamers or Benz," she giggled more as she told the story, soliciting a substantial grin from Cameron.

"No way; no one can be that stupid," he commented, turning to explain to Teal'c that they were cars so he understood the joke, causing Teal'c to laugh as well, but Vala sat there quietly, eating her turkey sandwich and not saying a word.

Pleased, Daniel sat down beside her and across from his assistant.

"I only got through the rest of the class telling myself that she must have been drunk, high or something, that no one could have ever enrolled in college that was that clueless," Adrienne shrugged in response and picked up a carrot from her plate.

No one else seemed to notice the complete lack of real food in front of her, as Cameron continued to beam and Teal'c nodded in agreement.

"Well, it's nice to have you Adrienne. This is a pretty sweet gig we have here and going off world is definitely a life changing experience," Cam continued, reaching for his soda to wash down his meal, Adrienne glowing at the mention of travel through the Stargate.

Wait, talking about going off world, already?

She just got here.

She wasn't here to go galavanting around the galaxy; she was here to work on the database, wasn't she?

"She won't be going off world," Daniel interjected, no longer able to contain himself. Everyone looked at him with mixed reactions, Teal'c with confusion, Cam with disappointment, and Adrienne in shock, while Vala continued to sit in silence, eating her sandwich.

"Why not?" Adrienne asked, hostility edging its way into her voice, so obvious that Vala finally broke her silence, chuckling into her hand.

"He must think you're too pretty to get messed up," she stated as she swallowed, seeming to take the wrong side.

Dammit.

"Are you kidding me?!" Adrienne spat, glaring at him incredulously, evidently buying into Vala's idiotic argument. Regardless, Daniel needed to make his stance clear on this, that she was hired as a research assistant, meaning her job was to stay in the lab and conduct research, but more important than that, going through the gate was not something one just leapt right in to.

"First, you're not trained to take care of yourself, you have no idea what goes on on the other side. Secondly, researchers, historians, and the like don't go off world," he stated simply.

"You do," she retorted, her eyes boring into his again, so dark they almost looked black. Were she not small in statue, at least smaller than him, other than that she was a pretty tall and muscular woman, she would have been very intimidating, but he refused to give her the satisfaction of letting her see him flinch.

"I never should have and have been taught since how to take care of myself," he hissed in return, retreating from her gaze as he faced his food.

"Wow," Adrienne said, leaning over to reestablish eye contact from across the table, looking him dead in the eye as if no one else was present, "so not only do you think I'm an underachiever, but an idiot and a helpless one at that? I'm really trying here, I am, but honestly I'm not sure why in the hell someone as nice as Sam thinks you are anything more than a washed-up pompous asshole!"

The word asshole had barely crossed Adrienne lips when Vala cracked up, momentarily choking on her last bite of sandwich, and putting her hand to her mouth to control her food and her laughter. Finally regaining her composure, she stood, swallowed and grabbed her mostly clear tray, leaning over to whisper to Daniel.

"I like her, and not just because she told the entire internet you were an idiot."

Adrienne 4 Daniel 0.

They finished the work day in silence.

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As the days and then weeks past, Adrienne worked her way right into the SGC, acting as if she had been there all along. She no longer tried to call Sam 'General', even joining his old friend for lunch on a few occasions. She introduced Teal'c to a myriad of new movies, each more over the top than the next, "Night of the Living Dead", "Halloween", "Nightmare on Elm Street", some awful campy movies from the 1980's and an abundance of British comedy, so much British comedy in fact that Teal'c had taken to quoting Monty Python, which Daniel found quite disturbing.

As he expected, she and Cam had gone on a few runs together and he had successfully talked her into running a charity 10K with him in the spring.

Even she and Vala were getting along, Daniel having determined they bonded over making fun of him since whenever they were in the lab together they were laughing loudly right up until he entered the room, when both of them would promptly drop to silence.

Daniel also learned that her file contained a bit more information than just how many languages she spoke.

The entire contingent of SG-1 were in the range one day, practicing throwing knives after SG-11 came back from a planet where Zats and P90's wouldn't work and had to resort to using only projectile weapons. Excused from this particular activity, having been deemed by Daniel as his "lab rat", Adrienne was spending the morning pouring over some database information until she came upon a passage that stumped her. Daniel was just about to take his turn at the target when she entered the room to bring him something to look over.

"Throwing knives. Fun," she said, an excited tone in her voice and a smile on her face.

Daniel kept his eyes on the target.

"What do you need?," he asked, pulling the knife to his cheek.

"I'm at an impasse; I need you to take a look at this, if ya've gotta sec," Adrienne replied, walking a folder to him, opening it and pointing to a computer print-out. Not breaking his stance, Daniel turned his head to glance at the material, scanning the page with his eyes and returning them quickly to the mark.

"Put it over there," he answered, cocking his head in the direction of an empty chair in the corner.

Adrienne nodded quickly, closing the file and walking it over to the chair, placing the folder on its cold metal surface. But she didn't leave, instead she walked back over to him, standing so close that he caught a whiff of cherry or some other fruit scent wafting off of her.

_Why was she still here? _

_Why am I paying attention to that smell?_

"Can I try?" she inquired politely. He started to refuse immediately, but reconsidered, since after all, she had been trapped in the lab for three days straight.

_She's really trying. _

_What could it hurt? _

"Sure," he handed the knife back to her gently, part of him expecting her to drop it onto the floor, but she didn't, just held it in her hand for a moment, moving it around her right hand, transferring it to her left and back to her right again.

Daniel stepped aside to allow her to face the target and she quickly positioned herself in front, repeating the transfer while she glanced from her hands to the target and back to her hands. She looked up one last time at the target, tossing the weapon into the air, catching the handle with her right hand and launched it.

The knife landed dead center of the bullseye with a quiet thunk.

Daniel's jaw dropped and Cam's eyes widened as Teal'c just stood there smiling.

"I love the weight of a K-BAR, thanks Dr. Jackson," she offered and left the room, heading back presumably to continue with her research as Daniel continued to stare, dumbfounded, at the target.

"She's a black belt," Vala chimed in, "In American Karate. Her dad made her learn."

Leaving Daniel confused and staring out into the hallway after Adrienne, Vala walked to the target to remove the knife.

He really should have read that file.

To make matters worse, despite numerous inquires, the cot never arrived, so Daniel had requested temporary on base quarters hoping that Sam would at least take that seriously.

She did, and he was placed on the lowest level of the housing unit, the closest she could get him to his lab. Daniel wasn't the only staff member needing on-base quarters, since finding an apartment an acceptable distance from the Pentagon had been a bit of a challenge; Sam had assigned Adrienne on base quarters as well.

Not that he had anything against her, but Daniel really had nothing to say to her, so he tried to avoid her like the plague, hoping to head off an uncomfortable conversation.

One night, when he couldn't sleep, which seemed to happen a lot lately, he decided to trudge back down to the lab and see if he could get something accomplished while he was still awake enough to think.

He left his room, made his way to the elevators and all the way down to the lab, deciding that he would just go through the next week's mission files to get himself ahead of schedule. Stepping through the door of the elevator, he created a mental to do list, walking briskly down the hall.

He heard it before he even reached the entryway.

As he pushed on the partially opened door, and peered around the corner, he found Adrienne, in yoga pants and a neon t-shirt, her hair pulled into a pony tail, dancing around the lab to loud German club music blasting through a speaker on her desk with file folders in each hand.

"What's going on in here?!" he shouted over the music, hoping he was only dreaming that he had walked into a rave in his lab in the middle of the night.

At least she was alone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry;I thought you were asleep," she said quickly, putting down the stacks of file folders onto the center table and running directly over to the speaker, shutting off her iPod and looking back at him.

"Too loud?" she asked, her face showing concern.

It was, but she didn't seem to be doing anything inappropriate, in fact, she seemed to be doing what he was intending to do, work in the middle of the night.

"Just a tad, what are you doing?" he asked, indicating the folders laid out on the tables.

"Organizing," she answered simply and went back to her task.

"I already had those organized," he replied, baffled, walking over to the spread she had created in the middle of the room.

"Yes, and no. See, you have them in ABC order, but some of the files are labeled with a planet name, sometimes a language name and other times the names of the people, but after I had some problems finding things for Sam's meeting last week, I decided to reorganize them by planet code. That way," she explained excitedly and ran over to the computer, "when we search for an electronic version and get a planet code we don't need to try to figure out what heading it was filed under, planet name, people, etc. We just look for the planet number and everything associated with that planet will be in the same folder," she smiled, presenting the screen with a wave of her hand, pleased with herself.

Daniel stood there, speechless.

He decided to go back to bed.

After a while though, he had to admit that Adrienne wasn't as bad as he thought. She was both efficient and a fast learner, and her little number system had proved very helpful, even though he didn't want to admit that to her just yet.

She was also pleasant to be around as well; she never seemed to completely lose her cool with him like she had in the interview, but the times where she was close to ripping into him, he had to admit that he deserved it, maybe even had provoked it just a touch.

However, despite all of that, there was just something strange and uncomfortable about having this intruder in his work, his lab and his life, and he wasn't sure exactly how he was going to come to terms with this new reality.

There was just something about her that she couldn't place.

It didn't help that Sam was also impressed with not only her progress, but the fact that she had hired her, reminding Daniel often that very fact.

So, he wasn't totally surprised when just four short weeks into Adrienne's employment at the SGC, Sam requested she attend a briefing with him. He didn't argue, she would have to learn about what he was doing off world sooner rather than later, and maybe learn enough where she could be left in the lab alone while he was gone instead of being shifted to another part of the base in his absence.

Adrienne was quite excited when he informed her that she would be attending the briefing, talking to him the entire way down the hall, asking questions and trying to start a conversation. He answered them, as politely as possible, but picked up his pace to get to the briefing room as soon as he could, ushering her in ahead of him and pointing to the seat beside his customary chair.

"Ok, guys, this trip should be a no-brainer. The Madronans have been having issues with their weather touchstone and are unable to read some of instructions that seem to have been left to fix it. I was thinking it was a nice easy trip, an excuse to get you guys off-world together," Sam started the briefing, passing the files around the table.

Daniel noted the entire contingent of SG-1 was there, every last member, no one missing to tend to their other various duties.

"Thank GOD," Vala moaned, "I've been so bored, reading intelligence reports gets old, fast. About time we get to see some action again."

Sam smiled, understanding and wishing inside that she could go as well, "Not a lot of action, but I've had you guys doing too much administrative work and you need to stay sharp."

Daniel glanced at the folder, labeled PX7-941. It contained all three of the folders in one place that he had created for the planet, thanks to Adrienne, and opened it to refresh his memory as to which language was carved into the column.

Goa'uld.

No problem, he thought, this shouldn't take that long and he could get back to where he had left off in the database, right at the rise of the Asgard monarchs. He wanted to get through that section fairly quickly since it seemed to work much like the begats in the Bible, offering little information other than who was whose father.

Closing the folder, he peeked over at Adrienne to find her reading the information intently, her cocoa eyes darting across the pages.

"You all will leave at 1900 hours, so go gear up," Sam concluded.

Mind already on the mission, Daniel stood from the table as the others began to mill out, all except for Adrienne who seemed to be rereading the folder for a second time. He was just about to tap her on her shoulder to bring her out of her trance when he felt a light touch at his own.

"Daniel, go take Adrienne down to the weapons room and get her a tac vest and a Zat," Sam informed him, smiling down at the young woman still at the table, who had looked up upon hearing her name.

"Excuse me?" he asked, seeking clarification.

There was no way Sam was going to send her off world, only four weeks into the job, with no training, and with SG-1.

She was just, well, she was just a lab rat, and he was about to say that very thing when Sam stopped him with a glare, cutting her eyes down at Adrienne and then back to him.

"This is a perfect training opportunity for her. No danger, friendly people. She has to go off world sometime," Sam explained and she was right of course, lab rat or not, even Rothman had gone off world and what if Daniel were to complete an extended dig and needed her assistance.

However, despite her achievements in recent weeks, he had hoped that maybe that Adrienne would either throw her hands up and quit before it got this far.

If she was going on missions now, how long before she was on the team?

She was like a feisty, talented virus that never seemed to go away, and one that he had no idea what to do with.

Frowning, he just nodded his head to Sam in agreement, leading Adrienne out of the briefing room and down the hall to the main weapons storage near the gateroom. Using his keycode, Daniel unlocked the door and walked to the back wall where rows and rows of weapons, vests and training gear were displayed. Adrienne followed in awe, her quick eyes darting from each section in amazement, alerting Daniel to the fact that no one must have taken her into this area either.

She had a lot to learn.

Rummaging through the smaller sizes of tac on the rack, Daniel grabbed one that he thought would fit over her slightly curvy Cajun physique, removing it from the hanger.

"Try this one," he ordered as he handed her a vest, size medium women's. Thanking him with a silent nod, Adrienne undid the zipper and pulled it over her shoulders, reaching to fasten it once more and yanking it down. Arms up, she turned left and right, gazing down her back before crossing her arms across her chest and returning them to her sides.

"Perfect," she said, smiling brightly.

"Ok, now you need a gun," he moved on, not wanting to encourage her, since going through the gate was not something like she saw in those movies of hers she was always talking about; gate travel was not fiction, it was reality, a sometimes deadly reality.

Yet, at the mention of the word gun, Adrienne, who had been walking over to stand beside him, froze in her tracks, the expression of glee fading.

"A gun?" she repeated, sounding a bit nervous.

"Well, a Zat gun it's a stun gun, I'll show you how to use it. You'll carry a Zat for a good while before anyone with issue you a P-90," he answered calmly, but puzzled by her reaction. The smile starting to reappear on her face and she was nodding again, resuming her approach.

"Ok, good, I'm not a fan of bullets," she admitted quietly.

For someone who had spent weeks trying to prove how tough and capable she was, she sounded unusually vulnerable right now. It made her more endearing for a brief moment, made her seem more, tolerable.

He smiled in return.

"You can stick with the Zat as long as you like," he assured her. Dropping the topic, she took the gun from his hand, turning it over in her palms curiously, finally placing in into the black leg holster she must have attached to her pants while he was securing the weapon and stood back, placing her hands on her hips.

"How do I look?" she asked proudly, the smile from earlier having fully returned.

Like one of us, was what popped into his mind, but he pushed the thought away quickly.

"Like you're ready for your first mission," were the words he chose instead, stepping past her to head for the range intending on showing her how to use her new toy.

"Thanks Dr. Jackson," she replied kindly, and still smiling, followed behind him blushing with delight.

_He didn't let her know that he himself had smiled. _

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When they crossed through the other side of the gate on Madrona, Daniel saw Adrienne shiver out of the corner of his eye, feeling bad momentarily for not walking through right beside her.

"You get used to it girl," Cam said supportively as he patted her gently on the back.

"I hope so. Now I understand why Scotty never left the Enterprise," she responded, trying to joke, and succeeding as Teal'c laughed at the remark. All team members accounted for, Cam watched the event horizon close behind them, pivoting on his heels to point in the direction of the city ahead.

Unlike most of the other planets, the Stargate was situated close to the Madronan main temple complex, home of the touchstone weather device. Walking ahead of the group feeling at home in familiar territory, Daniel was almost at a light jog as he made his way down the ramp, looking left and right, surprised that there was no one to greet them.

"Roham!" he shouted, "Roham, it's Dr. Jackson, we're here to fix the touchstone!"

The shot came from the jungle surrounding the gate, making Adrienne's heart stop, a flood of memories rushing into her head, and time seemed to stand still as she watched her boss crumble to the ground.

There was instant movement around and behind her, as the team pulled out weapons, preparing to fight, but Adrienne remained upright, terrified and frozen.

"Get down!" Vala shouted to her, yanking her forcefully to the ground by her vest, slamming Adrienne onto her elbow as she caught herself from the fall, just in time, as more fire came from the jungle. Panicked, the young assistant reached for Vala's arm, shaking it violently, as she felt her own body tremble in a matching pattern.

"They shot Dr. Jackson!" Adrienne shouted over to her, glancing up again at the injured man lying just feet ahead of her.

"Yes, but if we hope to get him out of there we have to make sure that we don't get shot as well!" Vala hissed, glaring back over her shoulder at Cameron and Teal'c, making some signals that Adrienne didn't understand, but Cameron apparently did and nodded, scanning the surrounding forest, coming up onto his knees.

"Stay low and let's make our way to the temple!" he directed, indicating the open building ahead of them.

Slowly waking up to the realization of what was happening around her, Adrienne moved first, willing herself forward amidst the gunfire, crawling quickly on all fours in the direction of her injured boss, hoping that he was still alive. Dr. Jackson might have been a little short with her, she had even called him a jerk a few times under her breath, but regardless she wasn't going to let him die out here.

Reaching him, she leaned as close to him as she could, bringing her ear to his open mouth checking his respiration and her first two fingers to the side of his neck, searching for a pulse. She was pleased to feel both his warm breath tickling her cheek and a faint throbbing underneath of her fingers, he was alive, but she needed to find the wound. Still pressed ever so close to his body, Adrienne ran her hands down his arms, his chest and his torso until she felt something warm and sticky, pulling back her fingers to discover they were covered in blood, red and thick. The side, he had been shot in the side and while she should wrap the wound tightly, there was no time and no dressing, so Adrienne pulled herself against his body, shoving the heel of her hand into the source of the bleeding and began to apply direct pressure, glancing over her shoulder to see the progress of the others.

Cam was leading the pack, arriving to her first, still crawling and firing off rounds from his P-90 into the surrounding vegetation. The sound of the gunfire was making her heart race, so she redirected her attention once more to Dr. Jackson, leaning in to check his breathing, choppy and weak as it was.

"Come on, don't die," she began to plea when she felt a grip on her upper bicep causing her to turn in fear.

"AdrienneRowan, please allow me to take DanielJackson to the temple," Teal'c requested, reaching underneath of her boss to pull him and swing one limp arm over his broad shoulder, Cam doing the same with the other.

Reluctantly, Adrienne relinquished control to the Jaffa, pulling back her hand slowly, trying to pretend it was not a blackish brown color, stained in Dr. Jackson's blood, and watched as the two men dragged him to the safety of the large stone edifice. Adrienne began to crawl forward in pursuit when she heard a terrifying shriek, turning to glance behind her just in time to see Vala's head hit the ground.

Without hesitation, she crawled over to her, grabbing her vest tightly and pulling her into the temple where Teal'c was dragging Dr. Jackson over to a corner of the room to examine him.

Having witnessed the scene unfold in front of him, Cam rushed to help her with Vala, muttering under his breath as he did.

"Damn Lucians," Cameron swore and pulled Vala the rest of the way to safety.

"Remind me to blow up the next ship we try to negotiate with," Vala spat in response, causing Adrienne to breathe a sigh of relief that she was conscious, "I'm fine, it was a stun to the ribs," she assured them, "I'm just not going anywhere for a while."

Reaching for the hem of her shirt, Vala lifted the fabric to expose a large bruise forming on her lower rib cage, wincing in pain. Cam just made her stay down.

Remembering Dr. Jackson, Adrienne whipped her head over at Teal'c who was looking him over, his hand pressed firmly to his wounded side as Adrienne herself had been doing before.

"ColonelMitchell, I have taken a shot in my leg, but DanielJackson is bleeding badly. I cannot carry him and ValaMalDoran to safety. We need to contact ," the large warrior informed him, holding back his own pain for the sake of the others. Adrienne respected the alien man already but seeing him right now just made her respect him that much more.

"Christ," Cam swore loudly, his words almost entirely drowned out by gun fire as the Lucians were starting to change their aim and fire into the temple, "Ok, we've gotta dial back home and get help."

Looking back at the gate, the few trees surrounding it riddled with bullet holes, she wasn't sure how in the world Cam planned on getting the five of them back through the gunfire, up the ramp, through the Stargate and to the safety of the base but getting through situations like this were why he was the team leader.

Glancing back at him to see what he had planned, she was surprised to discover that he was staring right at her.

"Well girl, time to prove yourself," he said seriously, in the tone of leadership she had expected even if she had never anticipated the words. On cue, gunfire erupted outside the temple and Adrienne's stomach sank into the deepest pits of her body. Cam didn't speak for a moment, just peered out into the chaos, and stood, walking quickly over to Dr. Jackson's tac vest, removing a small black device from a lower pocket, tossing it to her. It must have been the fear, but Adrienne caught the gadget right away, examining the tiny box now in her hands. It didn't seem to be too much, just a few lights and a button situated in the center.

"You gotta run to the gate, not get shot, and dial home. Hit the button on that thing before you go through, it'll tell them it's Daniel and they'll open the iris. Get help, get firepower and get your ass back to here while I hold these assholes off," Cam ordered, leaning over Daniel himself to see how bad the wound was.

Speechless, Adrienne watched him check and then frown, knowing that Cam had now seen the wound for as serious as she knew it was. Behind her she could hear movement, Vala trying to get up, and a thud accompanied by intense swearing and Adrienne knew that she wasn't going anywhere either.

"You want me to run back!? Through gunfire?!" she asked in shock and fear, rhetorically, she knew what his answer would be and the part of her that was accepting her role in this predicament was simply stalling, not knowing how she was going to be able to make it back to the DHD without being shot, or worse, just dropping dead of fright.

Glancing back at her once more, one hand still on Dr. Jackson's arm, Cam shook his head and sighed.

"Honey, that's what you signed up for," he answered simply.

Bullets peppering the sides of the temple, Adrienne tried to think, tried to come up with a reason as to why she shouldn't dial for help, that she couldn't dial for help. Her deep brown eyes started their scan, a slower scan this time, a scan of her coworkers, her boss and the gate.

Was this really what she had imagined?

She had been promised fascinating research and amazing worlds, not gun toting Martians. She was just supposed to be a lab rat.

Maybe Dr. Jackson was right, maybe researchers and assistants didn't belong off world.

This was much more than she could handle and forty-five minutes in the range with a Zat wasn't nearly enough preparation for the horror that was spread out in front of her, Vala's ribs wounded, possibly broken, and Teal'c bleeding slowly from a hit to the leg. She heard a low painful grunt and saw that Dr. Jackson was starting to stir a bit, blood still oozing from under his vest and she knew, watching them lie there that she had to do what was being asked of her.

Letting out a deep breath, Adrienne swallowed hard and looked back at Cameron.

"You'll cover me?" she asked, trying to be as brave as possible, although she was starting to lose it as her brain began to catch up to the words she was uttering.

"Yeah, now go, I'm not sure how much time he has..." Cam answered, cocking his head at her boss. Adrienne turned back to the ramp and crouched as low as she could while still remaining somewhat upright and able to run, taking a deep slow breath before making a mad dash to the gate. As she took off she heard Cameron shouting wildly behind her, trying to draw the fire away from her and in his direction, but she didn't have time to look back to see if he was alright, she just had to make it to the gate.

Projectiles and beams were flying in front of her face, a loud buzzing that made her want to reach out and shoo a bee away rather than dodge an attack. Some were so close that she felt cool air pass by her face, and she could hear the dings and clanks of the gunfire hitting the gate in front of her and the temple behind her. There was a sharp pain, as Adrienne felt a bullet, a laser beam or something nick her right hand and then warmth as the the blood begin to flow from the blade and down her digits, flying off of her fingertips in cold red droplets. It hurt, it made her heart skip a beat but her adrenaline was pumping too hard for her to stop and the sheer fear of dying right here on this ramp, on some strange planet, alone, gave her the strength to keep running even if the endorphins were to wear out.

Gazing at her goal, Adrienne saw large billows of gray smoke cascading from the DHD, making her sprint faster to see what was wrong, and even faster as she heard Cam's screams, joined by Vala, who must have been trying to draw the gunfire away so she could dial home. She waved her hands frantically in front of the large machine, trying to clear the air so she could see, so she could find the symbols she needed to dial home and get them out of here.

Her efforts were working, the cloud dissipated and she saw the familiar constellations from her guidebook, the first things Sam had made her memorize. Lifting her hand to dial as the chevrons became clear, she paused in shock. The Earth Chevron was gone, its button blown off of the device with what looked like a crude gun, and there was nothing underneath like there would be when a key was removed from a computer's keyboard, there was just nothing there at all.

"No!" she shouted, "No, no, no!" slamming her hands onto the dialer. Someone knew they were coming, someone planned this, this was a trap, and that was being made all the more obvious as gunfire began to sound, closer to her this time, making her worry that Cam had been hit. She had to pull herself together, they were all counting on her to get help. Willing herself not to panic, she racked her brain...

and began to dial...

The wormhole formed, and looking forward, Dr. Adrienne Rowan hit the button on the small device given to her by Colonel Mitchell and ran swiftly through the event horizon.

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Adrienne was racing down a large, clean, silver platform on the other side of the gate when two armed men in strange clothing jumped on her, slamming her face first onto the floor, pinning her arms painfully behind her. She dropped the small device that she had been clutching to her chest tightly as she fell, but managed to shout out one request before they gagged her.

"I need to speak to Jonas Quinn!"

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Daniel looked up from his writing just as a young cadet was pushing the shiny silver food cart into the infirmary. He hoped Dr. Lam would let him out today; he was getting sick of eating like Adrienne, but he feigned a smile as the cart came to a stop and the side curtain was lifted, revealing stacks of plates for his fellow sick, injured and otherwise trapped colleagues. The young man set the tray in front of him and he frowned at the presentation, hoping that his waiter did not take it personally; he just wanted a burger. He was starting to pick slowly through the grilled chicken and vegetable medley with his fork when he heard his name from across the way.

"Dr. Jackson?"

He glanced up to see Adrienne coming around the corner, a bag of McDonald's in hand and a slight smile on her face, "I figured they were killing you with healthy food, so I went rogue," she joked, walking over to his bed and handing him the bag, which she was holding out in front of her like it was a biohazard.

"Thanks, I was in the need for some death by french fries," he joked right back, appreciating the thought. Nodding silently, she clasped her hands together uncomfortably and turned to exit the infirmary.

"Hey, wait. You want some?" he inquired as he was opening the bag, surprised she was leaving.

For some reason that he couldn't discern, he didn't want her to go just yet.

"Not really," she smiled, stopping and looking back at him.

You might as well ask, he told himself, she did save your life.

"Ok, well, at least join me," he said, pausing for a moment, anxiously waiting for her to accept and seeing that she was not going to leave, added an explanation.

"I still can't figure out how you did it," he admitted, having yet to hear the entire story, only bits and pieces from Cam and Vala when they came to visit and a little from Sam when she ventured down to debrief him.

"Did what?" she asked as she walked across the infirmary, grabbing a stool sitting near an empty bed, and dragging it back over to his bedside.

"Got us home. I mean, I know you called Jonas, but - " he paused, hoping that she understood his question, but quickly ascertained that she had, a bright grin spreading across her face.

She was proud of herself, as she should be, and he wasn't going to say anything right now to ruin the moment.

"But what?" she lead, teasing him.

Swallowing a fry, he laughed lightly, shaking his head.

"I just can't believe you did it," he admitted, and it wasn't an exaggeration.

In fact, he was not the only person impressed; Adrienne's quick thinking had made her the talk of the base for at least three days, much to her dismay and embarrassment, or that was at least what Vala told him, that Adrienne didn't really want the attention. Nevertheless, Sam had even made a note in her file, hoping that the powers that be would also notice her accomplishment, although Daniel was unsure if anyone would really care.

After all, she was just a lab rat.

"What else could I have done?" she continued picking at her nails nervously like she had during her interview, "There was no way to dial home so I just tried to remember the names of any allies that we had. Then I remembered Jonas because there was so much information on him since he was a former member of the team and the dialing sequence for Langara was on that initial list that Sam gave me to memorize when I was learning how to use the DHD. The hardest part was just convincing them that I was who I said I was."

"How did you do that?" he inquired, definitely not hearing this part of the story. Dropping her gaze slightly, he could just make out a faint redness in her cheeks.

"Cameron gave me that little dohicky that says it's you. Once I found where I dropped it and showed it to him, he knew I wasn't some lunatic or a spy. So, it was Jonas to the rescue," she concluded, made a little da dut da da sound into her fist, which she quickly returned to her lap, smiling at him again.

"I'm not so sure about the lunatic part," he teased, unwrapping his hamburger gratefully.

Adrienne shook her head, scrunching up her nose at the sight and smell of his greasy meal, making a sour face at him.

"Gee, thanks," she laughed, standing to go and get some things accomplished since she had taken up enough work time smuggling him lunch. She was just dragging the stool back to where she had found it, when she heard him clearing his throat loudly behind her.

"Adrienne?" he asked.

"Yeah," she answered, spinning on her heels coyly to face him, wondering what else he could possibly want.

"I was wrong, I was wrong about you. You do deserve this job, and all of the opportunities that come with it," he said plainly, watching her strong ebony eyes widen brightly at the compliment and her face flush once more.

"Thank you Dr. Jackson," she answered professionally and started to leave again.

"And try not to turn the lab into a Discotech while I am gone!" she heard him shout behind her as she made her way down the hall, heading back to work.


	2. Chapter 2 - Hurdles

"Adrienne, what in the hell's making that clicking noise?" Daniel asked calmly, puzzled, across the room without looking up as he gazed straight at the manuscript on his desk. He was trying; he was really making an effort to quell his annoyance and not to snap at her, although he was fairly certain that she was the cause of the noise. She saved them, he told himself, she's not an idiot, repeating his new mantra over and over in his head giving her time to answer. She's ridiculously smart and efficient, he recognized that, and her upkeep of the lab while he was recovering in the infirmary was impressive, but there were certain aspects of her personality that he just found, annoying.

Having yet to receive an answer, he moved the magnifier aside, gazing to his left at the spare desk upon which Dr. Adrienne Rowan had taken up residence. There she was, her dark brown hair pulled into a tight ponytail placed far too high, pieces of hair escaping across her head, wisping down her cheekbones. She was plugged into her iPod, face in deep concentration on the ally database that he had asked her to go through after so successfully contacting the Langarans. He knew instantly that she couldn't hear him; the music was too loud, while he could not hear it through her new noise canceling headphones the bop in her shoulders was a clear indication that she was absorbed in something horrible, probably hip hop music. Not wanting to disturb her, or hear that music for that matter, Daniel adjusted his glasses, peering over at her carefully, trying to figure out the clicking noise himself when he noticed her chewing on something at the same rate as the clicking. Pushing his spectacles further up his face, he leaned over in his chair, curious as to what she was chewing on, noting that whatever it was, it was shiny, metallic and in her mouth.

"What in the world?" Daniel said loudly, standing from his desk, determined to figure out what his assistant was chewing on exactly and why. Granted, she had some pretty odd health habits, organic food, a crazily large assortment of vitamins that were kept in giant gym bag in her locker, and a regimented exercise schedule that made Cameron look like an amateur, but Daniel wasn't aware of any health fad that involved chewing anything, much less anything metallic. Then again, it wasn't as if he followed that sort of news anyway, if so, he was fairly certain he would never eat fast food again. He arrived at her desk, cautiously tapping her on the shoulder hoping not to startle her. Pulling the headphones down swiftly to her neck, Adrienne glanced up at him inquisitively, not killing the music. Hmmm, latino pop today, he thought, her taste in music never ceasing to amaze him.

"Yes sir," she said respectfully. Ugh, he hated that; he told her last week to stop calling him sir. It made him feel like old, like he was her dad or something, but worse than that, it made him feel like Jack.

"Daniel," he corrected curtly, formulating his question before she could speak again, "What's that clicking noise?"

Hitting pause on her music, Adrienne listened carefully, those dark eyes of hers darting around the room searching for the source of this clicking he was asking about, even shutting off her music completely on the second pass. Shaking her head confused, she glanced back up at him, shrugging her shoulders.

"I don't hear anything Dr. Jackson," she responded politely making Daniel roll his eyes. For all of the spunk and sass she had at the interview and the past ten weeks as an employee at the SGC, she was awfully docile here in the lab. It made him think she was up to something, but on the other hand she had never given him a reason to doubt her so far, so he quickly dismissed the thought.

"My name is DANIEL, you know like you make me call you ADRIENNE. It was coming from over here and I saw you chewing on something. What are you chewing on?" he asked equally as professional as she had addressed him, leaning forward to see if maybe she had just been chewing on the end of a pencil. Instead of pencils her desk was nearly empty, home to just one purple ballpoint pen and that fancy tablet computer she was obsessed with, the one she had been insisting could make their job so much easier, but nothing else, so he directed his attention to her face, searching her person for the sound that had at this point disappeared.

"Nothing, I was just sitting here reading over these files on the Nox you gave me to read. They seem like great people; why aren't we working with them any longer?" she inquired, brushing off his question. Not satisfied with the response, Daniel made a face at her, shoving his hands in his pockets in frustration.

"I swear, I'm not eating anything; am I not supposed to eat in here? Look, there's nothing in my mouth," she argued, opening her mouth wide and pointing inside. Daniel didn't need to search any further, right in that instant he discovered the cause of the clicking.

"What is that?" he asked smartly, pointing to her mouth. Confused, Adrienne swallowed, searching for a morsel of food that wasn't there inside her closed mouth, when she figured it out, chucking lightly. Smiling, Dr. Adrienne Rowan stuck out her tongue proudly, revealing that it was pierced right in the center, a large silver ball shining in the florescent light of the lab.

"A pierced tongue," she replied, pulling the tongue back into her mouth still smiling. Daniel looked shocked; he really couldn't believe that this woman had found yet another place to poke a hole in her body, but apparently she had.

"When did you get that?" he asked, his tone moving from short to curious, wondering what other secrets she may have. His fearless assistant was turning out to be one of the most unique individuals that he had ever met.

"Uh, 1998," she answered, her tone short this time, as if she was preparing for a fight. He didn't want that, but his curiosity was getting the best of him and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could control them.

"They let you teach with that?" he continued questioning, mystified, thinking he could ask her the same thing about her eyebrow, her lip, her nose and that disaster that she called a left ear. She must have sensed his confusion, but misinterpreting it as hostility, pulled the headphones off of her neck, boring those Cajun eyes right into his.

"Yes, for a long time. It's inside my mouth, people don't notice it unless I want them too," Adrienne responded smartly.

"Or unless you are playing with it loudly," he retorted, equally as rude, and paused. "Does Sam know you have that? Did she know about the other ones before you came?" That was a question that had been plaguing him for a while; had she been hiding them at the interview, when she first met Sam and waited until she had the job to replace them? No matter how much he racked his brain, he just couldn't remember anything about her interview other than her telling him off in French, which still made him chuckle.

"Yeah, she wanted to know if it hurt. I was 18; I told her that I don't remember, and as far as the others are concerned, yes, she knew about those as well, I don't ever take them out," Adrienne answered, defensively, with a hint of nervousness as Daniel stood there, his hands still shoved in his pockets glaring at her.

"Am I not allowed to have a body piercings and work here? Does that bother you or something?" Adrienne asked, starting to get upset. What a stupid thing to be concerned with, she thought to herself, especially since there were much more important things to worry about around here other than her jewelry selection, but at the same time she knew that there were some things that just set Daniel off and she was fearful that this was one of them. However, instead of maintaining his intimidating stance, he removed his hands from his pockets, waving them dismissively in front of himself.

"No, they're fine, I just find it odd," he answered calmly, turning around and returning to his desk. She looked over at him puzzled, following him with those eyes as he took his seat and moved the magnifier back over the manuscript, not saying another word. Frustrated, she sighed from her seat.

"Dr. Jackson, do I need to take it out?" she asked politely before he could delve too far into his task. Daniel glanced over again, pausing for a brief instant since he couldn't tell if she was being professional or nastily sarcastic; he just didn't know this woman well enough and she was a tough read. Choosing not to snap, and assuming that she was still calling him doctor out of habit, Daniel smiled and shook his head.

"Daniel, please, not Dr. Jackson, and no, just try not to make so much noise with it. The clicking is distracting when I'm trying to concentrate," he answered her politely as possible, hoping she wouldn't take it the wrong way. Thankfully, she simply nodded her head in the affirmative, pulling her headphones back to her ear and clicking around on her screen once more. Relieved, Daniel waited just one moment, noting that she was not chowing down on her mouth jewelry and smiled, leaning over to peer into the glass.

Adrienne, pleased that a conversation that could have easily ended in a scolding hadn't, flicked back on her Shakira playlist, and continued reading about Nox, a fascinating people that she would love to talk with him more about. She really wished he was a tad friendlier, she'd thought after he had gotten out of the infirmary that maybe he would talk to her more, but while he was nicer, he still tended to keep to himself. She was going through Daniel's theories concerning the correlation between the Nox resurrection rituals and the use of the sarcophagus when a message signal binged on her headphones, halting the music. Closing the screen, she tabbed over to see who was trying to talk to her on chat.

_You coming to training?_

It was from Vala, who had been elated once Adrienne had shown her this new method of communication, remarking that it was yet another way that they could make fun of him. Adrienne didn't necessarily want to make fun of her boss, but he did drive her insane with his backwards version of organization and those 'geek zones' he slipped in to, so it was nice to have someone to vent to. Glancing over at Daniel to make sure he was fully engrossed before she answered, Adrienne noted his posture, so close to the magnifier that he appeared to be smelling it. Geek zone. Cooly, she muted her music and shot off her answer.

_Not sure. He seems more annoyed with me than usual today. He discovered the tongue ring..._

Adrienne tapped enter quickly and tried to pretend she was still working as she awaited the reply, fingers crossed that Daniel wouldn't be able to see the little chat box stowed away so covertly at the corner of the screen. Apparently, Adrienne had learned over her conversations with her new friend, Daniel and Vala had a bit of a history and in some alternate timeline that was erased had even hooked up and stayed together for a lifetime. She could never see that in a million years, the whole opposites attract thing being a myth of the movies and television in her opinion, but Teal'c swore it had happened, just as Vala had explained. In addition, according to Vala since Daniel barely spoke to her if it wasn't work related, once things were back to normal, or at least as normal as they could be around here, the two of them tried dating, with disastrous results. Those details she had not been privy to, but it seemed that Vala still had a thing for him, big time, but that on his end it had either fizzled or that he just didn't care one way or the other anymore. As a result, he seemed to hate the idea of she and Adrienne being friendly, but Adrienne liked her; she was fun and they had a good time together. For all of those reasons, and the simple fact that Adrienne was worried she was treading professional thin ice, she didn't want him to catch her chatting with Vala instead of working. The bing sounded in her headphones quietly, so Adrienne cut her eyes over at the screen.

_Ha! Tell him to screw himself. He is just mad you have no desire to use it on him. _

Adrienne tried to contain her laughter as she read over her friend's remark. Of course that would be her response, and tried to imagine for a moment Daniel doing anything other than working, especially something like that, but that image made her laugh even harder. It wasn't that he wasn't an attractive man, she was actually shocked with exactly how attractive he was, he just seemed to be one of those people who did nothing but work. Quickly, she peered out of the corner of her eye to see that Daniel hadn't noticed her silent fits, being that he was still deeply engrossed in his magnifier. That she could imagine him kissing. Coast clear, she shot back her answer swiftly.

_Don't do that! You're gonna get me in trouble. When's training? _

Tapping enter, Adrienne glanced covertly one more time at her boss who still working like the end of the world wouldn't stop him. It probably wouldn't, she thought. Before Adrienne could form a good joke in her head about just that, the reply from Vala popped up on the screen.

_Three. I'll send Muscles to get you. Daniel won't say no to him. Trust me. _

Adrienne was better at containing the laugher this time as she typed her response.

_Sounds good. One more thing; does Daniel train too?_

She was genuinely curious, because to be honest, for someone that never seemed to leave his desk, he was in awfully good shape. Not that she had looked, ok had really looked, it was just hard to miss and she tended to notice little details like that in a person, especially one that consumed as much unhealthy food as Daniel. That and she really didn't want to hear his mouth while she was fighting, which was almost a guarantee since he seemed to weigh in on every last detail of her life, because she might just be forced to punch him in said mouth. That'd be her ticket out of her, clocking the illustrious Dr. Daniel Jackson in the face. It'd be funny though, she thought, especially since she knew he hadn't read her file. Looking ahead at her work, resisting another chuckle, Adrienne saw the return message pop up on the screen.

_Yeah, but ignore him. He fights Teal'c and Cam. _

That was surprising, Adrienne thought to herself, he fights Teal'c? She peeked over at him again, trying to see if he was built for fighting at all, but it was hard to see anything in those loose BDU pants and black jacket. Why was he wearing that damn thing inside, she asked herself, and she'd really need to get him to stand to see anything worthwhile, which was never going to happen. Dr. Jackson, I mean, Daniel, can you stand up and turn around so I can look you over? Yeah, never happening. Still, it was quite interesting to think that Daniel, this man currently hunched over a giant glass orb and smelly old book muttering to himself in at least three languages, would even be able to stand up against the mighty Jaffa warrior and not faint dead away. Stranger things, Adrienne thought to herself, stranger things, and redirected her focus to the chat box on the screen, entering a reply.

_Ok, as long as I don't have to catch heat for breathing. _

The reply was fast this time, not giving Adrienne the opportunity to try to analyze her boss's self defense capabilities.

_No worries Addy; I got you covered. See you soon. _

Adrienne watched Vala's online icon disappear from the screen before she could argue; it looked like she was going to training after all. Still somewhat worried about Daniel's reaction, Adrienne willed herself to focus on the file and imagine interaction with people as amazing as the Nox, letting the time click away.

At three o'clock, just as promised, Teal'c entered the lab, shirtless and wearing some sort of loincloth that Adrienne had never seen him wear before. It looked Jaffa in style, similar to some other items he had shown her in his quarters, so she assumed that he took this training very seriously and was touched that he insisted she join his team in this exercise. After all, she was just a lab rat, a fact she had heard Daniel mention to some of the other senior staff members on more than one occasion.

"DanielJackson, it is time for defensive training," Teal'c announced, noting that unlike Adrienne, Daniel had yet to detach himself from his task. Clicking off the light on his desk and shutting the large book, Daniel nodded, standing from his desk, and beginning to straighten up, stacks books in an unorganized mess, his latest journal on top, his pens shoved over to the edge of the stack. Quietly walking over to the locker, Daniel didn't verbally acknowledge Teal'c, nor did he speak to Adrienne for that matter, simply grabbed a gym bag from his locker and started to head for the direction of the door. Rather than follow Daniel, however, as he made his silent exit, Teal'c took the opportunity to make his move.

"AdrienneRowan, gather your things as well," he ordered calmly. Trying not to smile, the young woman leapt from her seat and scurried to her own locker, opening the door and pulling her neon yellow gym bag, Teal'c words and Adrienne's movement stopping Daniel dead in his tracks.

"Why is Adrienne going to training? She's not ready for anything like that," Daniel asked smartly, as he glared over his shoulder and back at his assistant. Uh oh, Adrienne thought, having worried that this would be his exact reaction, but Teal'c must have already prepared his answer, thankfully, taking a breath and crossing his arms across his chest.

"AdrienneRowan has traveled off world once and will travel off world again. She must be prepared since the likelihood that we will be attacked again is great," he answered calmly, giving Adrienne a half of smile, but the cajun chose to remain both silent and emotionless. Shaking his head as he let out an audible sigh, Daniel stopped arguing and just left the lab, headed in the direction of the elevators.

Thirty minutes into the training, Adrienne sat along a side ring in the auxiliary gym watching Daniel and Cameron fight hand to hand, with careful attacks and rapid blocks, back and forth for at least two minutes without either of them really succeeding in landing a clear hit. She was actually impressed her nerdy boss could handle himself so well, and he really seemed to know what he was doing, taking some stances that she was familiar with due to her own training and appeared strong enough to stop some of Cam's more forceful advances.

"He's tougher than he looks. First man in a while that took me down," Vala leaned over, whispering in Adrienne's ear. The "lab rat" pulled back her head, confused, cutting her eyes over at her friend, who was sitting beside her on the floor, smiling and nodding.

"Him?" Adrienne pointed, questioning as Vala continued her emphatic nod. Impressed, she glanced back at the match unfolding in front of her, a whirlwind of thoughts in her head. Sure, she was a trained fighter, but that was only because her father wanted her to be able to defend herself, but Daniel? And Vala used to be a pirate or something damn near close, so not only could Daniel take Cam, who had military training, but Vala as well? Adrienne was a bit taken aback and leaned over to ask Vala where he had learned what little she had seen demonstrated before her when Teal'c stopped them from fighting, stepping between the two men and clasping their hands. She couldn't tell who won, it didn't appear that Teal'c was keeping track either, but both men just shook hands and returned to the sidelines, Cam sitting down beside Adrienne and Daniel to his left.

"AdrienneRowan, you shall face ValaMalDoran," Teal'c stated from the center of the ring, motioning with his hand for the women to join him as he continued, "There will be no weapons and no breaking of bones." Adrienne had started to stand when she heard the part about broken bones and froze, her head sheepishly looking back at the Jaffa to see if he was joking, but his face remained stoic. Seeing the expression on her friend's face, Vala laughed loudly and leaned down, bringing their cheeks together.

"I like you; I won't break anything," she declared in a whisper, winking quickly and standing to stretch.

"Oh that's comforting," Adrienne said out loud to no one in particular, breathing deep as she straightened her back slowly, catching out of the corner of her eye Cam smiling. Daniel, on the other hand, seemed expressionless, much to her disappointment. Thanks for the support boss, she thought as she stood, surprised that she cared so much for his approval, grabbing the sparring gloves from beside her and slipping them on, making her way to the encircled area that Teal'c had indicated.

"What are the rules?" she asked Teal'c as she stretched her neck, noting that her friend was doing the same.

"Defeat your opponent," he replied as Adrienne moved on to stretch her arms behind her back. Dropping her left arm to her side, Adrienne made a face, whipping her head over to face him and shaking her hands in front of her.

"No, I mean like head two points, chest one, first to five wins match, those kind of rules," Adrienne explained, remembering the scoring of the karate tournaments she had participated in. Granted, she hadn't seen Daniel or Cameron using any kind of points system but surely Teal'c had something in mind for her, being a beginner and all, but the Jaffa just shook his head in the negative.

"The only rule, AdrienneRowan, is to defeat your opponent," Teal'c repeated as Vala approached Adrienne, hands up and ready for the match. Composing herself the best she could, Adrienne fixed her posture, placing her hands in front of her face and taking a deep stance. Teal'c placed their hands together and pushed them down, just like Adrienne was used to, but what she didn't expect as she looked up was to see a fist heading toward her face, in a sick slow motion that should have given her plenty of time to block the attack, but she just couldn't. Quick as lightening to the observers from the sidelines, Vala Mal Doran slammed Dr. Adrienne Rowan directly on her left cheek bone, sending her backwards, grabbing her face and fighting to remain upright.

"I told Teal'c she wasn't ready for this," Daniel whispered over to Cameron, who had a concerned look on his face, half paying attention to Daniel and the other half of his attention directed toward his new friend, who was still doubled over, holding her wound tightly. Ok, Cam thought, maybe that cool karate training she had been telling me about wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Reserving comment, Cameron looked ahead, hoping that Addy really hadn't been hurt.

It took about two seconds of pain before Adrienne was just pissed off. She had fought men, large men, her dad had made sure she could defend herself, so she wasn't scared of the thin beautiful alien woman standing in front of her, she was just angry as hell. Adrienne could see Vala backing up swiftly and smoothly, like a cat, bringing her right leg up into a roundhouse kick out of the corner of her eye. Falling to one knee, Adrienne thrust her left arm into the air firmly, catching Vala's leg just in time, throwing her friends body to the side. Vala staggered for a moment, trying to regain her balance as she kept her eyes on Adrienne, as she should, because, it was then that Adrienne woke up.

Dark menacing eyes wide, the Cajun leapt to her feet, hands open like she liked to fight, crouched low, her face in a scowl and her eyes darting around her surroundings, just like she did in the lab when studying something new. She ripped the gloves from her hands roughly, tossing them aside in annoyance of their previous restriction, glaring back at her friend as she brought her hands into fighting position.

"Ha! Here comes the karate bitch! Let's see what you've got!" Vala shouted supportively, acting as if the punch and this reaction had been her intention, and as Daniel sat and watched he was starting to think that Vala had done just that. However, rather than lashing out at her, as he had expected, Adrienne just stood there, waiting, not moving, her eyes no longer scanning rapidly, instead standing completely still, staring into Vala with that piercing glare of hers. Seeing that she was going to have to get things started, Vala laughed loudly, crouched and charged her friend, reaching her leg forward to deliver a swift front kick, but rather than block or wildly attack, Adrienne simply stepped her left foot forward, shifting her hips and delivering a powerful side kick right into Vala's torso, knocking her backward and onto her butt.

"Shit!" Vala shouted from the ground, "she hits like a damn man." Not to be deterred, Vala did a back arch and leapt to her feet gracefully, determined to not be licked, retaking her stance and thrusting her hands up again. Adrienne, however, remained still, having calmly and quietly returned to her position from before.

"Why are you just standing there Addy? Are you scared?" Vala taunted, trying to get her friend to attack once more, but Adrienne didn't move, just continued to hold the stance and that powerful glare. Frustrated, Vala shifted her weight, left, right and even bucked forward slightly in an attempt to get Adrienne to charge her, but Adrienne didn't move, her body nor her eyes. Grinning, Cameron leaned over to Daniel.

"Holy shit man, she's like fuckin' Bruce Lee!" he whispered excitedly, not taking his eyes off of the women but Daniel didn't answer, not knowing what to make of what was happening. He knew Adrienne was a black belt he just had no idea that she was any good, those stupid karate schools seemed to sell belts lately, but the look on her face said that she meant business, that she wasn't going to lose. There was a growl of anger, presumably from Vala and Daniel could see Vala charging Adrienne again, this time without a tell so that both Daniel and Cam had no idea as to what she was going to do. Adrienne evidently did, diving swiftly to her knees as Vala kicked high, extending her right leg and sweeping her friend onto the floor. Vala hit the ground with a loud uf and Adrienne was on her before she could get up, pinning her knee forcefully into Vala's throat while guarding her lower body with her hand, held into a tight ridge.

"Do you resign?" Adrienne asked cooly, her eyes digging into Vala's, the years of training flooding her head and controlling her body.

"On one condition," Vala choked for air to answer, although she was smiling softly, proud of her friend. Seeing the change, Adrienne eased up a little, pulling away from her and sitting back on her feet.

"What?" Adrienne asked curious. Laughing, Vala looked over at Teal'c.

"Addy fights Daniel next," she requested turning her newly freed head to glance back at where Daniel and Cameron were sitting.

"I think that is a splendid idea indeed," Teal'c agreed easily, directing his attention to Daniel as well, who did not appear to be very happy at the suggestion. Reaching out to tap Adrienne's arm in order to resign the match, Vala stood with the young archaeologist's assistance, and slapped her on the back in congratulations, smiling brightly as she sauntered over to Daniel.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun to watch," she leaned over as he was standing, whispering teasingly in his ear. Ignoring her with a shake of his head, Daniel walked over to where Teal'c and his assistant were standing, chatting about Adrienne's performance in the last bout.

"I'm not fighting a woman," he protested as he walked, loud enough that he hoped to get their attention, as Adrienne was showing Teal'c how she did the foot sweep in slow motion, going down to her knees once more and not paying the slightest bit of attention to him.

"You fight me," Vala argued from the sidelines, but Daniel ignored her just as his own protests were going unheeded.

"DanielJackson, I would like to see how AdrienneRowan fares against a male opponent. It should not take long," Teal'c glanced up, finally, indicating with his hand that Daniel take a position in the sparring ring.

Ok, so he was listening, he just didn't care.

Fantastic.

Groaning, Daniel, walked back over to Cameron who, knowing full well that Teal'c wasn't going to let him get out of this, was holding up his gloves. Daniel slipped them onto his fists, trying to ignore Vala as she laughed hysterically and Cam as he smirked, turning back quickly to face his assistant and their gigantic alien referee. It wasn't until he was almost in a position across from the shorter yet buff, yes buff he was just now noticing, woman before him, that Adrienne was standing perfectly still once more, her gaze at the ground, and seemed to be meditating at the red line.

Creepy.

"Don't let her kick your ass too bad," Cameron joked as Daniel rolled his eyes and faced his assistant, taking his usual fighting position, right foot back and fists in front of his face. Snapping out of her trance, or whatever the hell she was doing, Adrienne took a similar stance, mirroring his, only without the gloves and open hands. He almost argued for a moment, but decided against it, figuring that it would just be best to do as Teal'c asked, fight the woman, and end this entire fiasco. Just as before, Teal'c lined them up, placing Adrienne's bare left hand over Daniel's gloved right, glancing back and forth between the two before looking back to their audience, pushing down their hands to begin the match.

And, just like before, Adrienne didn't move.

"Look Adrienne, things from karate movies aren't gonna work on me. Just attack already," Daniel said disgustingly, not in the mood for this fight nor her antics, but Adrienne didn't flinch, not so much as a blink of the eye, although she was staring straight ahead at him, giving him that disturbing feeling that she was cutting into his soul.

"Well, if this is how it's gonna go, then I'm not moving either," Daniel spat, holding his stance as well, his currently contact lens covered blue eyes moving to meet her deep brown orbs, yet Adrienne continued to remain completely still, just gazing back at him intently. Determined not to be intimidated by her game, Daniel clenched his muscles from head to toe and just glared back.

"Christ," Cameron shouted out from the sidelines, annoyed, "Somebody take a punch or something." Vala nodded her head in agreement, looking to Teal'c throwing her hands into the air to get him to notice, but the Jaffa was just standing there, staring at Daniel and Adrienne, studying their body language and faces. Vala was unsure as to what exactly Teal'c was trying to prove since neither of them were moving, Adrienne just staring at Daniel, watching his eyes, but she knew him well enough to understand that he knew what he was doing, so she put down her hands and kept her mouth shut.

Daniel wasn't certain how much longer he could hold the stance, between the pain that was rising up his thighs from standing still so long and the look in her eyes that was eerie, so strange in fact that he wanted to look away even though he knew he couldn't, he knew that the moment he did something would happen, and she would strike. Why was he so worried about this? Finally, and much to his relief, he saw her left leg wobble slightly and taking that as a sign of weakness he punched out as fast as he could, aiming at her chest.

She knew it would work, he was getting tired, it was all over his face and when she saw the tremble in his bright blue eyes, she knew she had him. His fist racing towards her, Adrienne simply stepped aside, delivering a hook kick to Daniel's back, but he was bigger than Vala, she had mentally prepared herself for this and she knew that he wasn't going to go down so easily. Spinning like lightening, Adrienne turned her body, landing a roundhouse kick into his midsection but he caught her foot, much to her surprise, and held onto it tightly, smiling as if the entire match was over. The flame inside of her just burned hotter, at his expression more than his grip, and using his grasp as leverage Adrienne launched herself upward, kicking the side of his face with her free leg, probably harder than she should have, feeling bad the moment she did. Daniel let go of the weak hold he still had on her foot and grabbed his face, swearing under his breath as he bent over to breathe.

"Hot damn woman, where did you learn to fight like that?" Adrienne heard Cam shouting from the sidelines. She had done it, she thought she could, but it made her feel that much better to best him especially when based on the look in his eyes it was clear that he thought the match was over, but she still felt bad as she saw out of the corner of his eye him clasping his cheek. He didn't seem to want help though, so Adrienne began to walk over to answer Cam when she felt a forceful grab to her arm, fingers wrapping tightly, painfully, around her wrist, making her heart stop, fear rising in her chest. Willing herself to maintain control, this was not Red Oak, she spun to see that it was Daniel holding on to her, a look of sheer anger in his eyes.

"Listen, Dr. Rowan, we're not finished here," he hissed at her, but barely had time to finish his sentence as Adrienne flipped herself around and rushed him, slamming his back to the floor and pinning her elbow into his throat, pressing down against his esophagus. Scowling, she brought her face to his, so close that their noses were almost touching as she glared into his eyes once more.

"No one grabs me like that Dr. Jackson," she said, "Do I make myself clear?" She pressed harder, cutting off just enough air to his body that she hoped he would get the message. Feeling that he was trying to nod, she released him, slamming him hard on the chest as she did, the closest she would allow herself to get to completely clocking him in the face. She stood, adjusting her workout clothes and sighed, realizing what she had done, that she'd lost control, this was her boss, it wasn't...

Embarrassed by her actions, Adrienne walked over to Teal'c shamefully, bowing low before him, hoping to be forgiven for the scene she had just put on for her boss's entire team.

"I apologize for my behavior," she said as she lifted her head before bowing low once more.

"No AdrienneRowan, I apologize for not seeing your skills sooner. I shall have RonanDex join you and I tomorrow for more appropriate training," the Jaffa responded kindly. Without another word, Adrienne bowed again and left the room, hoping to avoid the blowout she knew was to come. She would just text Vala later, see what names he had called her and how he was planning next on getting rid of her. Cameron, on the other hand, was laughing hysterically the moment she walked through the gym doors, holding his stomach as he looked at Daniel.

"She is smarter and stronger. You better watch out Daniel, Sam's found your replacement!" he joked from the floor, looking over at Vala, who was laughing so hard she was just convulsing silently. Disgusted by both of them, by Teal'c's insistence on this stupid fight and by Adrienne's brutish behavior, Daniel stormed out of the training room as well, leaving his glasses, gym bag, and other essentials behind.

When Adrienne returned to her quarters she was surprised to find Sam and Robert Woolsey waiting for her, primarily because she wanted to be alone and figure out how she was ever going to face Daniel again, but there they were; Sam trying to be professional Adrienne could tell and Woolsey dripping with all of the slime and fakeness that seemed to be a permanent part of his persona. Adrienne composed herself and proceeded onward, hoping that her face wasn't a blob of black and blue from Vala's earlier blow, reaching slowly for her keypad.

"General O'Neill," Adrienne said, remembering to not call Sam 'Sam' in front of Woolsey, "Can I help you with something?"

"Dr. Rowan, we've processed your security clearance, as General O'Neill has requested and we've found some hiccups," he began, trailing his voice some, the tone making Adrienne's heart race.

"Hiccups?" she asked, confused and terrified. If she wasn't going to lose her job for nearly choking Daniel, she was evidently going to lose it for some hiccup that she didn't even know about.

"Yes, some issues with your work experience and home address. Could we step inside your quarters and clear up these items?" Woolsey asked politely. Not wanting to cause yet another scene, Adrienne silently nodded, not looking forward to having to re-explain the more embarrassing parts of her and her father's life before she had gotten this job, before she found out that almost everything she had watched in the movies as a child was real.

Before Samantha O'Neill changed her life.

With a sweep of her arm, she invited them both into her quarters and prepared for the humiliation to come.

His lovely assistant wasn't in the lab when Daniel returned from showering in his quarters, away from Cam's smart ass remarks. Not that he had really expected her to be, they were civil to one another but not friendly enough where she would voluntarily work late, especially after their sparring match in the gym this afternoon. Rubbing the back of his head, still aching from where she had slammed him against the floor, Daniel reached into his desk drawer fishing around for the bottle of ibuprofen he had now learned to keep handy with Adrienne around. As he opened the lid and shook a few pills into his hand, Daniel made a mental note to himself that he didn't intend to forget.

Grab Vala and she'll cave.

Grab Adrienne you'll get your ass beat.

Damn that woman hit hard.

He sighed, sitting down at his desk and resting his aching head in his hands.

Adrienne sat on her bed and watched carefully as Woolsey made notes in the file, her personnel file, which Adrienne wanted to see more than anything, wanted to see what government secrets they thought that she knew, all of which would have been a great surprise to her.

"Why didn't you tell us about that job?" he inquired harshly, as if she was hiding something, which she wasn't, and responded in the like.

"I only worked there for a year and it added nothing to my credentials for this job," she answered honestly.

"The job working for the Stargate program? " Woolsey sneered viciously, a sigh escaping Adrienne before she could control it. She knew Woolsey hadn't approved of her being hired, Daniel had said as much to her, and finding out about her past wasn't going to change his opinion anytime soon.

"No sir, the job I thought I was getting at the Smithsonian sir," Adrienne replied, keeping her answers short and simple. She wasn't a fool, she had worked for one government entity or another for most of her adult life and knew the game. Woolsey made a noise under his breath and kept writing, not even looking her in the eye as he continued his line of questioning.

"Alright, and about this address? This address you listed for years 2006-2009 is a house that was in foreclosure. Were you allowed to remain in the home?" he asked his tone cruel and cool. It's all over, Adrienne thought to herself, between the afternoon workout and this, it was time for her to give up on the job of her dreams. Putting her head down and staring shamefully at the floor to her quarters, Adrienne quietly cleared her throat before she answered.

"No, we lived in a motel. It burned down last year. The Red Oak Motel," she whispered terrified. Forgetting the notes in his folder, Woolsey's head shot up, his equally dark eyes glaring at her through his glasses.

"A motel?" he repeated, Adrienne nodding slightly, her head still facing the floor. Puzzled and starting to appear angry, Robert Woolsey shot a quick glance at Sam, his face speaking before he could.

"I thought we had performed a thorough background check on this woman before allowing her into the facility," he hissed, stressing the word before as he cocked his head over at the very quiet and subdued woman seated on the bed beside his chair. Scowling, Sam marched over to Woolsey, grabbing his arm and glancing sympathetically at Adrienne.

"Dr. Rowan, if you will excuse us please," Sam offered, pulling Robert over into the corner of the small room.

"Samantha, I have no idea what your attachment is to this woman, but the SGC is not for saving lost causes. Every day I get a new tidbit of information about her that flashes every warning sign of unstable. You couldn't find a suitable assistant for Dr. Jackson among the staff? Or maybe someone with proper clearance?" Woolsey asked, not making the effort to hide his disdain. He had objected to Adrienne since Sam called him well over four months ago to request the background check, the background check on a community college professor, not another astrophysicist, an MD, but a community college professor, however Sam insisted that she was very accomplished and clean as a whistle. Woolsey, having learned to listen to Sam based on their time together on Atlantis, had allowed the interview, which in itself would not give very much away about base operations.

That was until Sam had apparently dashed after Dr. Rowan once Dr. Jackson and she had gotten into a shouting match, in French, during the interview, after which Sam proceeded to convince Adrienne to stay by showing her the stargate, without permission. In essence, Samantha O'Neill had put him in an impossible situation, the archaeologist knew about the gate and the entire base operations, however, based on this, could lie as needed to get what she wanted, and Robert Woolsey wasn't sure that he wanted her on this base, Sam's assurances or not.

"Robert, trust me on this one. For starters have you read anything she's published? Any of her papers? The woman's brilliant. She is witty, talented and she can fight better than half of my units if you speak to any of her martial arts instructors and, she has no attachments. No one to call home to tell about what she has seen here. She's the kind of person that could absorb herself into her work and dedicate herself 100%," Sam defended gently, knowing how to work Robert. Adrienne did have an aunt and cousin back in New Orleans, but if Robert hadn't found that out yet, Sam wasn't about to mention something that the cajun had told her during friendly conversation.

She's also exactly like Daniel, Sam added silently to herself, but she didn't need to tell him that she was looking for another Daniel, if for nothing else but to get him back on his game and out of this rut he had been in for so many months after the defeat of the Ori. She had hoped that Adrienne would bring back the excitement she remembered him having so many years ago, the very excitement she had seen on the young woman's deep brown eyes the day she had shown her the Stargate. She hoped that Adrienne would bring Daniel back to them, their Daniel, not this cold, hard, emotionless person he had become.

"Brilliant or not, she lied to us," Robert argued quieter this time, crossing his arms across his chest as he cut his eyes in the direction of Dr. Rowan, who was sitting quietly on her bunk, picking at her fingernails, but Sam was shaking her head already.

"Lying shows malicious intent Robert, she was obviously embarrassed. And if you look at the rest of the information you'll see that she went into debt due to medical bills. Medical bills she couldn't help," Sam pointed out quickly, trying to stress the impact the medical bills had on Adrienne and her entire existence prior to the SGC. She understood devotion to her father; she had allowed her own to become Tok'ra to live, to beat cancer. Adrienne had never had that option, and honestly, Sam wasn't sure that she could say she wouldn't have done the same in the young woman's position.

"Samantha, I'm really giving you free reign on this and my superiors don't like it. They think Dr. Rowan is not only an unnecessary expense but a liability," Robert stated his case calmly, Sam nodding in understanding. She could see his point, she could, but other than a bit of a hot temper, which only seemed to flare up at Daniel, Adrienne had proven herself nothing but professional and intelligent, body piercings or not. She silently chuckled to herself, knowing that Adrienne's "art" was probably at the top of Robert's list of issues with the young woman. Smiling at Robert, Sam placed her hand gently on his arm, squeezing it lightly.

"Then I agree to assume responsibility for anything that might happen. You haven't seen her work; she amazing. Trust me," Sam assured once more, releasing his arm and walking back over to Adrienne. Woolsey sighed deeply and followed Sam back over to the bed, stepping to the side so he could address Dr. Jackson's lab assistant.

"That is all for now Dr. Rowan, unless there is something else you have neglected to tell us?" he asked, rudely, feeling Sam's glare at the back of his head.

"No sir, that's all," Adrienne replied and Woolsey turned to leave but Sam lingered for a sec, as if she wanted to tell Adrienne something. She was just opening her mouth to speak when Adrienne heard a ringing sound coming from her friend's direction and Sam reached for her phone, taking a brief moment to glance at the screen, make a face and answer it, waving goodbye to the nervous woman sitting on the bed. Adrienne hoped she saw her mouthing thanks as she scurried out of the small room, leaving her alone with her thoughts, thoughts of how, for some reason she couldn't grasp, this seemed to be the one thing in her life that she just couldn't get right.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked into the phone as the Colonel explained what he had found. As much as Sam hated it, if this looked like an old Ori weapons store she would need to send Daniel to take a look. Great, she thought to herself, let's just improve his mood; he had already come to her office this morning asking to be taken off any missions for the next few weeks in order to catch up in the database after missing more time, yet again, in the infirmary, and she was certain that this would set him off. Stepping into the elevator and pushing B, Sam resigned herself to the fact that she wouldn't be eating dinner with her husband tonight; she saw more of Jack before they were married. There was a jolt, and the elevator door opened, Sam stepping out, taking a left, and heading to Daniel's lab.

He was sitting at his desk, alone, as was his new usual, making Sam really wish he would just stop being so stubborn and start utilizing Adrienne, at least for delegating a few of the longer tasks to her. She knocked at the doorway as she entered, deciding that maybe she should add that to the list of things that they needed to discuss.

"Hey, how soon can you be ready to meet up with SG-7?" she asked, not giving him a chance to brood over it, and, as expected, he looked up at her surprised.

"About 15 minutes, if I have to, why?" he asked cooly, the argument forming in his head depending on the why.

"Get packed. They found something they just need you to look at and come right back. I want to make sure that it's not what I think it is. I'll send Adrienne the details so she can download them to her tablet," Sam knew Daniel preferred paper, but she didn't have time to go print out pages and pages of information. That, and it would make him take Adrienne since he had refused to learn how to use the iPad and poor Adrienne needed something to get her mind off of Woolsey and her upsetting past.

"Adrienne? You want me to take Adrienne? On another mission? For something simple?" Daniel inquired harshly, glaring up at her, not exactly the reaction she had expected. It was then she noticed a bruise forming high on his right cheekbone and saw him flinch painfully as he drew his face up into a scowl.

"Yes I want you to take Adrienne; Woolsey came down to give her the third degree. I don't want her thinking about that garbage he was filling her with, I want her to focus on her work. And what happened to you?" Sam inquired concerned, reaching out for his face trying to turn it into the light to see if he had any other injuries, especially since she was fairly certain that he did not have those large purple and blue splotches when he stopped by her office this morning. Daniel shooed her hand away, jerking his head around to hide the wound, standing quickly as he did.

"Adrienne happened to me," he spat, marching directly to his locker and opening the door leaning forward to rummage through his things. Standing back at his desk, Sam was thoroughly confused. How did he get that bruise? Did she hit him? Why on Earth would Adrienne have hit Daniel? Before Sam had the opportunity to ask any of those questions Daniel was heading straight for her, bag tossed over his shoulder, the expression of displeasure on his face only accenting the stain making its way across his cheek.

"She's a bit upset with me right now. Can I take someone else?" Daniel asked, hoping to avoid further confrontation with his assistant and to not give her the satisfaction of seeing his face in its current condition coupled with being sent on yet another mission, but Sam simply shook her head.

"I want you to take Adrienne. She needs to be involved in this and more involved in what you're doing. Daniel, she can't just sit in here or fetch you coffee. See if Vala is free as well, to back you guys up. Cam and Teal'c are busy with the cadets," Sam ordered, as gently as possible considering that the sweet young Cajun woman whose job she had just saved was responsible for her friend's mood and current condition. In silence, and clearly displeased, Daniel tossed his black duffle into the floor beside his desk, reaching for the old white corded phone receiver. Sam tried to lean over so he could see her, smiling sweetly and waving goodbye, but Daniel just gave her a quick nod and glanced back at the buttons as she slipped out of the lab.

"Fun," he said to himself, "both of them." He stood there, staring at the numbers in front of him, debating who to dial first.

The small archaic phone that sat on the desk in Adrienne's room rang, so loudly, that she was startled from her trance, and she shook her head, taking her gaze from the empty pages of her composition book and tossing it aside, standing from the bed. She was a wreck over her latest encounter with Woolsey, wondering if anything else would come back to bite her in the ass. Was there anything else she had neglected to mention? Was there anything that she could keep to herself in this job? She had tried listening to some music, popping some ear buds into her ears and blasting some intense gangsta rap, but that didn't help, so she turned to her writing. It had been at least an hour, maybe more, but the pages in front of her were white, clean and empty . Hopeful, Adrienne reached over to the phone, thinking maybe it was Teal'c wanting to discuss this further training or that handsome Ronan fellow.

"Hello?" she answered, forcing her voice to sound pleasant and happy, since it would do no good in either case if she was the opposite.

"Adrienne, it's Daniel," the voice on the other line said flatly Great, she thought, time for my punishment, her heart racing the moment she heard his voice. She hadn't known him very long, she had no idea what he would do, how he would react after a situation like earlier this afternoon, but she broke into a cold sweat trying to imagine the possibilities, pondering how long it would take her to pack her things.

"Yes s- " she started to answer sir but then remembered this morning, not needing to add fuel to this fire. Pausing, she took a quick and hopefully silent breath and rephrased, "Yes Daniel, is there something I can help you with?"

"I need you to be ready to go off world in about 15 minutes? Can you do that?" Adrienne looked at herself. She was still wearing her workout clothes but she really hadn't gotten that sweaty during her two very short bouts, it would be a push, but she could take the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator and since he still wanted her to work, she needed to be there, early, with bells on.

"Yes, I can be," she replied.

"Good, meet me down in the gate room, geared up and ready," he said and hung up the phone. Adrienne glanced at the receiver for a moment, relieved and pushing aside thoughts of her desk items in a cardboard box, and hung the plastic into its cradle, rushing over to her closet.

When she arrived at the gate room Daniel was there waiting, Vala standing with him. Taking a quick glance at her watch, she noted it had taken her twelve minutes to get down here, so technically she had three to spare, so he shouldn't have been waiting long. Looking back up at Daniel, she came nose to nose with Vala, who had left his side to greet Adrienne, placing her hand on her arm, pulling her aside.

"Watch out. He's still embarrassed about this afternoon, and not too happy about that or this errand," Vala warned quietly. As she had dashed down the stairs, Adrienne had vowed to apologize and make amends with her boss, but seeing him here in the gate room now, intentionally avoiding eye contact with her like he was an indignant child rather than a grown man, Adrienne just made a face at her friend.

"Then he can go to hell. No one grabs me like that, no one," Adrienne hissed, marching right up to Daniel to confront him, but he beat her to it, peering up at her over his glasses, his eyes catching hers. Why did this man make her so crazy!?

"Sam said she sent the information to you via that computer of yours. Can you pull it up before we cross through, so we can have it ready to go over it on the way to the site?" he asked politely. Pleased that Daniel didn't seem to be holding grudge as Vala had warned, Adrienne nodded her head and cooled her own emotions, pulling her backpack from her shoulders and removing her iPad. Allowing herself to slip into the comfortable world of work, Adrienne tapped around a bit, those eyes darting and scanning the icons, in seconds summoning up the file which began to read as soon as the text flashed on the screen.

"PRT-934, no named classification, no known humanoid inhabitants. Dig site manned by SG-7. Ruins appear to be ancient in design, however lacking technology of the third era. Village measures approximately 10 kilometers long and -" Adrienne spoke almost as quickly as her eyes were moving, spitting out statistics and background when Daniel cleared his throat, putting up his hand to halt her recitation.

"Read it when we get there, it'll give us something to do on the walk," Daniel requested, looking over his shoulder to give Walter a thumbs up to dial the gate. Laughing and glancing back at her friend, Vala waltzed up to Daniel, threading her arm through his and pulling him through the newly formed wormhole, leaving Adrienne behind.

"Oh this is going to be TONS of fun," Adrienne said aloud and followed, mentally preparing herself for the rush of the ride through the gate.

Daniel was right, it was a long walk, a very long walk, not one structure or person in sight for miles, just grass, grass and more grass. Once they were across, their portal home closed behind them, he ordered Adrienne to start going back over the planet statistics, from the beginning, including what she had read in the gateroom. Adrienne sighed deeply, but did as she was told, trying not to convey her tone of annoyance or curse him out in the process. She started back with the planet designation, reading slowly in case he was just having her reread because he missed this back on Earth, but he didn't say a word while she read, eventually making her look up to see if he was listening. Daniel was walking ahead of his assistant, Vala taking the opportunity to hang all over him, holding onto his arm like a love-sick girlfriend, all the while Daniel continued to walk and say nothing nor do nothing to stop her. Adrienne was disgusted, not only at his toleration of her behavior, but at her friend throwing herself that this man and right in front of her no less. Here she was, criticized for her piercings this morning, treated like an idiot in training, with Woolsey breathing down her neck over things that she couldn't help while the two of them carried on like this on a mission. Frustrated, Adrienne stopped, both reading and talking.

"Go back to the part about the temple, read that again," Daniel requested over his shoulder not even having the consideration to make eye contact with her, just soldiering on, Vala at his arm, staring at some gadget in his hand. He wasn't even listening to her; why in the hell did he care if she read the passage about the temple again? Disgusted, insulted, why was she even here? Adrienne refused to move, standing in the tall grass, her arms and iPad crossed across her chest. They got a few steps ahead when Daniel finally realized that Adrienne had stopped talking and turned around, still looking at the gadget in his hands, although finally pulling away from Vala.

"Adrienne is there something wrong?" he asked, his eyes at the device and not her, making her blood boil.

"Yeah," Adrienne replied, no longer caring about her tone, "Are you listening to me? Because I'm not just reading for my health. Or do you two need to get a room and get this out of your system before I proceed?"

"What the hell Addy?" Vala shouted in shock, but stepped back from Daniel, realizing how this might have appeared to her friend. Adrienne, on the other hand, like it was this morning in the gym all over again, didn't move a muscle.

"I'll continue to read when you two can act like two professionals and not like a bunch of repressed teenagers," Adrienne said, fear in her stomach. Up until this point, she had been trying to play nice, but after this afternoon, nice was over. He wanted to be a jerk during training, fine, he wanted to let this woman who according to her he had no interest in lay all over him, fine, but she wasn't going to be dismissed to set aside to be summoned when needed. Vala could read things, any idiot could read things, why was he treating her like some intern, some idiot?

Frowning, as Adrienne was coming to learn was his customary facial expression, Daniel walked up to her,and reached for her tablet, rudely, very rudely, but Adrienne pulled back quickly, slipping into a defensive stance.

"Don't make me bust the other cheek," she threatened, feeling a bit more confident in herself after this morning. If she was going to get fired anyway, she was going out fighting, whether it be Daniel Jackson or Robert Woolsey.

Flinching, Daniel stepped back swiftly, retracting his hands and slipping the carbon dating device Sam had given him into his pocket. This woman was serious, he needed to learn that fast. With Adrienne, when it was time to play, it was time to play, but she meant business when it came to work. Trying to contain the smile starting to creep across his face, Daniel realized that while her methods weren't exactly tactful, in a way, she was right, she was dead right, just like he himself would have been in the past. He nodded his head in agreement, moving back to walk beside her.

"I apologize, please continue Dr. Rowan," he said politely. Adrienne looked over at him, careful brown eyes examining his face, looking for a hint of sarcasm, but could find none and after a quick scan of Vala indicated the same, continued reading, picking back up at the temple passage.

When they reached the village, broken and fallen as Adrienne had expected due to the reports from Sam, SG-7 was waiting for them, sitting on fold-out chairs right outside of a large stone building, on what looked to be a lunch break. The gentleman closest to the entrance stood, setting a partially eaten apple onto a tac vest on the ground, wiping his hands on his pants and approaching them.

"Dr. Jackson," the man greeted, Adrienne scanning through the files on her computer to see if she could find the mission leader's name, "thank you for coming. I thought you ought to come inside and see this before we start to mark things off."

"No problem, I just hope that this'll be a quick visit," Daniel responded, the man turning to lead the trio to the temple. Adrienne had managed to find his name, Dr. Karn, in the mission report list, so at least she knew what to call him if she needed to, and glanced up to see she had been left by Daniel, Vala and about half of SG-7.

"I should've made the other cheek match," she spat under her breath, somewhat hurt yet again, tucking the tablet under her arm and following.

The temple itself was quite large and looked rather out of place in the rustic village of thatched roof houses and dirt streets, what houses had retained their roofs anyway. It appeared to be Egyptian in design, which was strange for Ancient architecture, standing tall and stone with clear square cut doorways. Ancient architecture was more curved, or at least that was what Adrienne remembered from her reading, she had likened some of it to her studies of ancient Rome. Noting the stark differences, she ran to catch up to Daniel.

"That doesn't fit the ancient architecture m.o.," she whispered, Daniel nodding instantly in agreement.

"You're right, it doesn't. Makes this all that much weirder," he answered, still walking, but having slowed his pace to allow her to catch up. Adrienne was silently satisfied that she was correct and followed behind him, somewhat glad that she really hadn't decorated the opposite cheek. He got socked, in the face, by a girl, she thought to herself, cut him some slack.

There was a click followed by a flash of light, and the darker part of the temple that they had been entering suddenly filled with brightness, Adrienne gazing up in amazement at the sights around her.

The walls were filled with what seemed to be standard Ancient text, basic stories outlining the growth and development of the village, but the sheer volume of the script was nothing like Adrienne had ever seen. To her, written ancient looked Elvish, and she suddenly felt like Frodo on the quest to Mount Doom, even reaching for her neck instinctively at the thought. Yes, these were things Daniel had told her to expect on a normal basis, but days like today she felt like she had just stepped out of that stuffy classroom on Morgan Hall and right into something she had read as a child, a storybook she never wanted to leave.

Much to her dismay though, they didn't linger in this room, as Dr. Karn continued to lead them into a much smaller chamber. Once Adrienne ducked to enter, the smaller chamber only being accessible by what was at the most a four foot tall door, she could see why Sam had sent them. The back of the wall read, clear as day, in long beautiful ancient script:

_Hallowed be the Ori _

Wide eyed, Adrienne elbowed Vala, who had come to a halt beside her and pointed her head at the inscription.

"Yeah, creepy religious nut jobs led by creepy woman who kidnapped him. Creepy woman who was kinda my kid that kidnapped him," Vala affirmed. Trying not to be noticed by the cluster of men standing to her right talking, Adrienne glanced over at Daniel, a worry building up in her stomach at the mention of kidnap. She'd read that file too, he never really told her anything, but she couldn't imagine that was something you'd want to revisit on any occasion, yet she chose not to speak, move or check on him, feeling that for now she needed to stand right here and wait until she was needed.

Poor guy, she was definitely glad she didn't bust the other cheek.

"Alright, doctor, thanks, we'll take it from here," Daniel said, retrieving the device from earlier from his pocket and moving to scan the walls. Gathering his men, Dr. Karn left to continue his meal, ducking under the doorway and leaving Dr. Jackson alone with the two women.

"Did you bring paper?" Daniel asked, making sure that this time he made eye contact with his assistant. She smiled softly, the friendliness that they had been working toward over these weeks creeping back into her gaze as she answered.

"Of course," Adrienne replied kindly digging into her pack, producing a small pencil pouch, a Voltron pencil pouch Daniel noticed and a stack of legal pads.

"I can help," Vala volunteered quickly as she reached out for some supplies, "I can read some of this." That surprised Adrienne, she knew Vala worked Lucian intelligence, but she wasn't aware that Vala could reach ancient, so she just shrugged handing Vala over a pad of paper and a pen from the blue cartoon pouch. Assigning each person a section of the room, Daniel politely thanked Adrienne for the pen and paper and proceeded to his area, making her regret her actions from earlier today even more. Maybe Sam is right, she thought, maybe I haven't been giving him a chance anymore than he has given me...

It was an hour in and Adrienne's back hurt, so much so that she let herself lean into the wall, trying to do some sort of stretch against the cool stone support. She hated being stationary for so long; she was antsy and wanted to run, or at the very least, get up and dance. Dropping the pad to the floor, Adrienne looked over at her coworkers and saw that Daniel seemed to be doing alright, just working away, that frown of his directed toward the wall this time instead of her, thankfully. Vala, however, was laying on the ground, her head on her backpack, complaining.

"Nothing but more whack jobs. Just looks like these whack jobs either left or were killed before they could join up with my lovely daughter's forces," Vala said from her resting position, "Let's leave."

"We'll leave when I'm sure that there's no threat," Daniel stated, clearly enunciating each word but not taking his gaze from his work, glancing down at the legal pad, jotting down something in haste.

"Blue eyes, we blasted those fuckers into the cosmos, why are you still obsessing over this?" Vala continued to complain, to no avail, as now Daniel seemed to be ignoring her completely, looking over at Adrienne.

"Anything on your end?" he asked, sounding genuinely interested in her response, like she was a colleague. She tried not to smile but it was hard not to.

"Just a lot of crap that sounds like the Old Testament," she joked, but instead of getting a grin in return, Daniel just nodded. Dammit, she thought, that was looking positive for a moment there.

"Alright, there's just one more thing to look at over here and then we can leave," Daniel motioned for Adrienne to move her portable light over to the corner, Vala moaning and groaning all the while as she did. Still pleased at the thought of finally being utilized, Adrienne set up her light and stretched once more before beginning to go through the text carefully as she had on the other side, her aching feet screaming for her to hurry so they could leave. She was only a few lines in when she heard a shift, as though rock was moving, sounding faintly from above.

"Dr. Jackson?" she asked behind her, wondering if he had discovered something in the far section of the chamber that he was still working in.

"DANIEL, my name is DANIEL," he corrected, "what?" he asked, that annoyed tone back in his voice. So much for nice. Taking a breath, Adrienne kept her smart comment to herself, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Daniel, did you hear that?" she asked plainly, scanning the room herself as she asked.

"Hear what?" he retorted rudely when the sound came again, along with a flurry of dust plummeting from the ceiling. Daniel flipped his head around to where Vala was scurrying toward him, her hands in front of herself and her head shaking frantically.

"I didn't do it," she said quickly, but was glancing back over her shoulder at something Adrienne could not see.

"What in the hell did you touch?" he asked, shoving her back against the wall, pointing his finger in her face. He can't act like that, Adrienne thought to herself, rushing over to see what was going on, grabbing his shoulder and jerking him backwards.

"Lay off Daniel, you can't grab her like that either," Adrienne hissed, her feet instinctively moving into a fighting position, not that she was intending to beat up her boss or anything, but the tone in his voice was enough for her training to kick in without warning. Pulling from her grasp, Daniel whipped around to face her, that finger of his now directed at her.

"Listen Adrienne, you're the new kid in town. If you don't like the way I do things then you need to go back to Louisiana," he spat at her. Adrienne started to rear back, a burning desire to punch him right in his arrogant face but she stopped, pushing her way past him, looking at Vala.

"What did you touch mon ami?" Adrienne asked sweetly, knowing there was no way Vala had done anything intentional; for a wild and crazy as she was, she really was a good person. She didn't answer verbally at first, just slouched her shoulders slightly and turned, pointing to a lever in the farthest corner of the chamber near where she had been working.

"I thought it opened that," she said, indicating what looked like a window above, "I wanted some fresh air." Before either archaeologist could get over to the lever, that shifting noise sounded above them again and more dust fell onto their heads causing Daniel to step up to the two women, much less aggressively this time.

"We need to get out of here, now," he ordered and started to turn, indicating with his hand that they follow. The noise increased, and just like Adrienne had seen in dozens of movies as a kid, but here it was, happening for real, and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it, the ceiling began to creep down in their direction. They raced for the door, but by the time they reached it, the opening was far too small for anyone to squeeze through, Adrienne thinking yet again how familiar this all was.

"Dammit! " Daniel swore aloud, whirling around to face Vala, screaming in her face, "This is why I don't want to take you on anything. Every single damn time!" This time, however, she did not shrink away as she had before.

"Excuse me for not being so goddam picky and boring. We could have left two hours ago but you're insisting on going over every goddam letter. What are you scared that my little baby girl is going come back and rape you!" Vala screamed back, infuriating Daniel further, Adrienne could tell, as he stepped impossibly closer to her, just raging back in return.

"No, it's more like I'm hoping that crazy ass husband of yours and his little band of merry men don't come trotting back here thinking that they're gods or something. Because turning oneself into a deity seems to be what goes on around here!' he shouted, his nose almost touching hers as he did.

They stood there, fighting like this, using more swear words than Adrienne had ever heard used before in her life, and that included Mardi Gras, which in an of itself was just a free fall of everything immoral society has to offer. As they continued, Adrienne caught some movement out of the corner of her eye and gazed up at the ceiling as it started to slowly creep up on them.

"I'm gonna die because they had a bad break-up. My eye!" Adrienne said aloud and started to shine the flashlight in the area of the level, trying to make herself focus not on her screaming boss and friend but instead on avoiding becoming a pancake. Her eyes were scanning, rapidly, each line of script, each small carved graphic, searching for something, anything to get them out of here, while her two coworkers were still screaming at one another right behind her. Adrienne read and read, mouthing the words to herself in Ancient, realizing that there were so many words that she still didn't know, letting her brain covert the oral speech to English, when she finally found what she needed, or so she hoped. Reaching over for the level, she braced her feet again the wall, and leaning back, pulled the stone from its slot, causing her fall back and land sharply on her backside. This time, the screaming she heard was directed at her.

"Adrienne, what in the hell are you doing!?" Daniel was screaming at her now, powering over in her direction. Ignoring him, Adrienne crawled carefully up to her knees and scanned the text once more, nodding to herself as she read, praying to a god that she didn't believe in that she hadn't screwed this up. Taking in a deep breath, she flipped the stone over, noting the different shape at the end and moved closer to the wall, bracing herself the best she could and shoved it back into the opening. It took a few turns but it set, and Adrienne let out a huge breath of relief as she pushed it up and allowed herself to collapse back onto the floor. A loud screeching sound rocketed through the temple, shaking even more rock and dust from above but then the ceiling began to rise once more, returning to its original place as slowly as it descended. Adrienne sat back on her knees and looked at Daniel, pretending none of the screaming had occurred, just smiling professionally and cordially.

"Would you like me to finish the far wall?" she asked simply as Daniel just stared at her.

"How did you do that?" he inquired, completely confused, rushing over to the wall.

"You said yourself there was no indication that this was recent, so I just assumed it was not a trap but instead some kind of sacrifice chamber or better yet a way to make the people think they saw a sacrifice. People who use religion to control aren't usually very smart. They wrote the directions on the wall," Adrienne replied and pointed over to the lever, trying hard not to be arrogant, just to explain what she saw and what she had done. Frowning, Daniel knelt beside her as if he didn't believe her, reading for a just moment before slumping his shoulders and peering over at her slowly.

"Nice work Adrienne," he said, surprised, his blue eyes scanning the wall again.

"Thanks," she answered, "the wall?" Daniel shook his head.

"No, Vala's right, there's nothing here, let's just head back," Daniel stood, reaching out his hand to help Adrienne up. She took it, cautiously and let him, pulling her palm away quickly and brushing off her pants once she was upright. Vala was already packing up the lights, having had her say with him today, and deciding to leave well enough alone so Adrienne walked away to do the same, in silence. Once packed, they met with Dr. Karn warning him about the lever, but Daniel assured him that barring any further complications, they were free to continue the normal excavation.

The sky was a blanket of pitch by the time they started for the gate, so Daniel clicked on a flashlight and led the group from the rear, illuminating their way. Without anything to read to her boss, or any other tasks to complete, Adrienne dug around in her backpack searching for her iPod and headphones, hoping to tune out any conversation that Daniel and Vala might choose to have on the way home. She was starting to pop them over her head when she felt a gentle hand stop her, making her turn slowly to see what he wanted.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked, no tone in his voice this time, no nastiness, just simple honestly. He looked upset so Adrienne stopped, not fearing getting yelled at anymore, the expression he was carrying made her fairly certain that he just wanted to talk. He motioned for Vala to walk ahead of them, so she shrugged her shoulders and headed on, removing her own flashlight from her pocket to light the way.

"Listen, I really think I've given you the wrong impression of me. I'm not the type of person that would ever, harm someone, ever," he started while Adrienne just stood there and let him talk.

"You're new here and there are some things that maybe we do, maybe I do that you are not used to and are not what they may appear to be. But if I've done anything to make you feel uncomfortable or threatened, I'm truly sorry," he said and Adrienne nodded. Maybe she had misjudged him, maybe he was just an impulsive type of person when he was angry.

"And I'm sorry that I kicked you so hard, just don't, just don't grab me like that. I want you to understand that I'm not gonna to be treated like I'm a lesser person, like I'm someone you can just push around. Assistant or not, I am a competent professional" she replied strongly, not wanting to fight anymore, not wanting anything more but respect.

"That's fair," he answered quietly, turning without a further word pointing his flashlight into the darkness, making his way to the gate. Somewhat satisfied, Adrienne popped on her headphones making sure the music was at full blast, and followed.

Sam was waiting for them in the gateroom when they arrived, her face riddled with concern.

"Anything?" she asked, the moment the event horizon closed and the room dropped to relative silence.

"Not a thing," Daniel replied, stopping to talk with her for a second. Just wanting this day to end, Adrienne dashed past them and ahead to her quarters, wanting to take a shower, head to sleep and forget anything ever happened. Her foot tapped nervously on the floor of the elevator as she was whisked to her room, not to the beat of her music but to the beat of her heart, still racing, her nerves getting the best of her now that all of the excitement had died down. Why did he continue to act like she was a nuisance rather than a help, why did she care so much, everything about being here in DC, in this place was just so completely confusing, she just didn't know where to begin to figure it all out.

There was a bing, the doors sliding open, Adrienne not even letting them finish their advance, before she sped out dashing past other personnel in a mad sprint to her quarters, only to stop dead in her tracks upon seeing Teal'c, with Ronan, waiting outside of her door.

"AdrienneRowan, I know you have just come back from a mission but RonanDex would like to spar," Teal'c said slyly, his usually expressionless face hiding a hint of mischief. He must have told Ronan about today's training. Her mood instantly changing, Adrienne shut off her music, looking at the two beautiful alien men standing in front of her and smiled brightly.

"Just let me change," she said coding herself into the room, hearing shouting as she turned the knob.

"Addy's gonna go all Bruce Lee on Dex!? T why didn't you call me?" Cameron yelled as he came jogging down the hall, looking as if he had just finished a run. Adrienne waved at him quickly and shut the door, racing over to her dresser to get workout clothes

"Go back to your hole and your beb, Daniel, I've got better fish to fry," Adrienne said under her breath, pulling the tank top over her head, hurrying to rejoin her friends outside.

Daniel might hate her, but at least someone here didn't.

*beb = cajun for sweetheart


	3. Chapter 3 - Miscommunication

They walked down the hall together briskly, Adrienne trying not to spill her coffee down the front of her uniform jacket, which was a task in and of itself considering his pace.

"What's the big hurry?" she asked, struggling to keep up with Daniel's long stride, holding her left hand carefully around her cup should any liquid slosh over the sides.

"We're late for the briefing. Some of us just got to work this morning," he scolded as he kept walking toward their destination, where Sam had probably already started the meeting without them. He should have left her, he should have just gotten his own things ready and headed down there at 8:50, like he always did, but he wanted to be nice and wait for her. This, however, was the thanks he got for being nice.

"I told you, there was no hot water in my shower; am I supposed to shower in the cold!? And I haven't lived there long enough to figure who to call when things like that go wrong," she responded curtly, annoyed by him already this morning. She had only been in her new apartment for a week, a mere week and she was still living out of boxes. To top it off, the drive to work each morning was nearly forty-five minutes, a drive about as long as Daniel's from what Cameron had told her, hence the reason he stayed on base so much. Any normal person would understand that moving requires some time to get settled and work out the kinks but leave it to Daniel to want it all done yesterday.

"You're supposed to get to work on time," he answered as he stopped abruptly at the door. She made a face as he turned the knob, opening the door and pausing, letting his assistant in before him. Deep breaths Addy, she told herself, he has a thing for punctuality, he did bring you back an apple from lunch the other day...

"So, I think we need to get a team there as soon as possible to see if this - welcome guys, nice of you to finally join us..." Sam said, cutting her eyes at the two of them and crossing her arms as they entered the room. She wasn't mad, really, but she had to note that Daniel waited for Adrienne this time instead of letting her stagger in late by herself like last time, a fact she tried not to note with a smile.

The rest of Daniel's team, his real team, not his lab rat who was staggering in behind him, peered back at them, curiosity tinging in their faces. Ugh, I can barely carry on a conversation with her, Daniel thought to himself, please don't jump to conclusions. Avoiding Sam's glare, Daniel took the open seat beside Teal'c, Adrienne slipping in quietly beside him.

"As I was saying," Sam continued, " SG-8 came back last week with a few images that are concerning. This image here," she began to recap for her late arrivals, pointing the remote casually over her left shoulder, clicking the advance button to go to the next slide, "shows what appears to be a small unit of Ori solders trying to take over a village. We know that P56-043 is a peaceful planet, so they've just been waiting until we contacted them again to check in."

"So you mean to tell me that these crooks are still trying to spread their insanity after we killed all of their priests and their weird little glowing gods?" Cameron asked, dumbfounded by their nerve.

"Yes, the soldiers appear to be working free of those particular religious influences," Sam answered him, changing the slides once more to show an image, obviously taken from a hidden camera, showing the solders seemingly led by another soldier, no priest or other impostor in sight. Relieved that at least was not a concern, Daniel opened the folder reading its contents quickly as the meeting continued.

"That takes some balls," Vala spoke up, Daniel noting from across the table that Vala had yet to open hers.

"Why would they do that? I mean if they had the inaccuracies of their entire belief system proven beyond a doubt, why keep trying to recruit?" Adrienne, who lacked interaction with the Ori, asked confused. At least her folder was open. She may drive him insane with her music and her tardiness, but she was good at what she did and questions like that just affirmed it.

"AdrienneRowan, warriors are trained to follow a purpose, not a person. It is a myth of your movies that they will stop their mission because their leader is killed," Teal'c replied first, as he should have, being that he had the most experience with this kind of thing, "I have met many Jaffa who are still fighting in the name of a system lord long dead."

Nodding her head in agreement, Sam turned to address the group, "That and it seems the lack of any type of organization within their military units has led to complete chaos. Since the soldiers came from so many different planets, they have no where to go back to, no where to call home. We only know of one group, Tomin's group, trying to go out and start over in an acceptable manner. My theory is that this group just wants to take control of a planet, or a portion thereof, and start their lives there."

That made sense to Adrienne, the idea of having a home; she couldn't imagine traveling the galaxy after a cause only for everything to come to an end and have no where to go. The thought was a bit depressing, and more familiar to her than anyone in this room, other than Sam, knew.

"You leave at 1300 hours. We're going to start things diplomatically, have Daniel try to reason with them, and hopefully get them to leave of their own accord," Sam concluded, shutting off the screen behind her, and turning to take questions. Being that there were none, she dismissed the group to their preparations.

Completely opposite of her behavior this morning, Adrienne rushed ahead of Daniel, running in almost a full sprint to the lab, eager to pull the file on the planet and brush up on it's inhabitants. She was liking this going off world to assistant him a little too much, something Sam had just deemed normal after her first lucky break. Ok, the first time was luck. The second time he had to admit was skill, but it worried him just a touch. The few times he did have a conversation with her she seemed to liken everything to some book, movie or TV show and he was just concerned that her limited world view was going to get them all into trouble. Reading her mind, he broke into a light jog, catching up to her as she turned the corner of the lab, making a beeline for the file cabinets

"Not a lot to learn really," he said as he entered the lab behind her, "the planet has been trapped in the middle ages, literally, for centuries, thanks to the Ori. They were just starting to elect leaders when these guys arrived. I'm hoping that I can reason with them, get them to leave peacefully."

Nodding, ok so she was listening, Adrienne opened the folder, skimming the contents with those computer-like eyes of hers, as Daniel was starting to think of them, back and forth, back and forth rapidly. Adrienne was listening, she was, but she had also noticed that he had a tendency to leave out things that he didn't deem as important because it was common knowledge to both him and his teammates, things that she would have no clue about. He was right, there was nothing, legitimately nothing, so she closed the folder, slipping it back into its metal home, glancing back up at him as she shut the drawer.

"Ok, cool, so what do I need to do?" she asked excitedly. Just as he thought, she was getting way to excited about going on missions. So much for being a lab rat.

"Not get in my way," he replied flatly, walking briskly over to his locker, opening the door silently and removing his duffle. She made a sour face at him that he couldn't see, trying to control her temper the best she could, if not for any other reason that just to spite him, but she wasn't going to let him have the final word.

"Fine, I'll make sure I stay out of your way. Far out of your way. Especially when you manage to get you stupid ass shot by announcing our presence to any would be attackers. I'll stay clear then, Dr. Jackson," she turned her back to him and stormed over to her desk, starting to pack up her backpack. I guess it's back to Sam hired me an idiot mode, Adrienne thought to herself, attempting to not break her own things as she slammed them into the pack, although for some insane reason she was back to regretting her word choice again. Once more, of all of the people she had met in her life, Daniel Jackson drove her the craziest and other than his snotty dismissive attitude, she had no idea why.

"Adrienne, dammit, don't go back to that Dr. Jackson bullshit. It was a poor choice of words. Let me negotiate; I've been doing this for a while. And keep Vala busy," he tried to apologize, not meaning to offend her but really just wanting to go and get this done and over with with as little bloodshed as possible. Judging by the fierceness with which she was loading the backpack, however, he had done just that, offend her. It's like a lose lose with her, isn't it, he thought, as he shut the locker door gently, but evidently not gently enough, as Adrienne turned from her packing quickly to face him, those huge cajun eyes working their sinister magic.

"You do realize that I have a PhD, right? I'm not an idiot, we've been over this. I like to be useful, not just keep our little friend from embarrassing us," Adrienne stated plainly, slamming down her pack, her arms crossed across her chest. He hoped she didn't have the iPad in there, but kept his comment to himself, knowing the reaction to that very question wouldn't be pretty. Why couldn't he talk to this woman, no matter what he said it was always the wrong thing and gave her the wrong impression. He knew she wasn't an idiot, he just wasn't...used to this. That was the right way of putting it; he wasn't used to having a person here, all of the time, that knew what they were doing, and did a good job to boot. They had made amazing progress these past three months since she was hired, so he had to admit, she was useful, even if she drove him insane.

"Fine, you want to learn how to do this? Correctly? I'll take you with me. Don't say a word, just take notes or act like you are taking notes. If you want to ask me something, write it down and ask me later. This isn't just something that can be learned overnight," he explained, hoping that would quell her temper.

Not responding verbally, Adrienne simply nodded, and turned again to pack her things, much more carefully this time. Since the incident on Madrona, she found that calling him out on his arrogance often made him cave. She refused to be treated like some cute, young woman here for his amusement or to be his butler; she was going to be respected for her work and intelligence and treated like a professional. Slipping the iPad into her bag last, Adrienne turned, smirking and left the lab without saying another thing to him.

Daniel sighed as he watched her leave. She excelled at getting under his skin worse than anyone in his life. It all would have been so much easier if she was stupid or inept.

At 12:50, when he arrived at the gate room, he saw that Adrienne was already there, talking to Cameron. Time to go off world, she's early with bells on. Time to get to work, she couldn't make it on time to save her life. He began to wonder if that was intentional. With Daniel the last to arrive, Cam ordered the dialing sequence and the group stood back, watching the event horizon form. Out of the furthest corner of his eye, Daniel could see Adrienne whispering excitedly to Teal'c about something and cocking her head in the direction of the gate. Yes, he thought to himself, we get it, it's cool, you're thrilled to be here, but when are you going to stop acting like a teenager?

"Jackson, you comin'?" Cam was shouting back at the platform, bringing Daniel out of his thoughts. Teal'c, Vala and Adrienne were no where to be seen, and their fearless team leader was standing looking at him like he was insane.

"Yeah, just running some things through my head," he replied quickly, shaking his head and following the colonel through the wormhole.

"Greetings SG-1," an elderly man bearing a striking resemblance to a mid 13th century monk approached the team just as Daniel was taking the final step down from the ramp. His robes were a burnt rust color, just barely dragging the ground, a matching hood attached to the back. He was graying, slightly, through a full head of jet black hair that matched his equally dark eyes. He had a friendly, yet cautious smile as he approached the team, clearly trusting them while maintaining a safe distance. Placing his hands together, slipping them into his sleeves, he bowed his head respectfully and raised it again slowly to face them.

"My name is Jamison. We are delighted that you have come to help us," the man greeted. Cameron stepped forward and presented the members of the group, one by one, Jamison bowing in front of each person as they were introduced and then turned, indicating the well worn path and proceeded to escort them to the settlement. Hoisting their packs onto their shoulders, they followed behind the man, beginning the long trek to the village.

Opening the folder in his hand Daniel hung back, hoping to be able to take in their surroundings and read through the file some more while they walked, when he felt a tug at his sleeve, glancing over a bit to see Adrienne was responsible for the pulling.

"Daniel, why aren't you talking to him?" Adrienne asked, wondering sincerely why Daniel wouldn't be up there jabbering away like he did if his entire goal was to take care of this situation and get home, but instead of answering her like a normal person, he just glared down at her, annoyed.

"Because he's not the leader. The village elder is Grayson, didn't you read the file?" Daniel corrected her, rudely, giving her that condescending look she'd begun to hate. So much for getting here early to impress him, she thought, frowning as she pulled her iPod from her pocket.

"Music," Daniel asked dumbfounded, "Now!?" He looked at his assistant completely mystified that she would have brought that thing, that stupid toy of hers, while dreading a walk accompanied by the musical stylings of MM or Emnem or whatever the hell that man's name was. All he knew was that he was awful, and that was not the impression he wanted to give to the people of this planet about his assistant or his team.

"No, I keep notes on this; it's a multifunction tool. You should get one," Adrienne replied, not even acknowledging his attack with any kind of attitude in her answer, tapping her fingers on the screen as she walked, pulling up the mission files on her small device "Ok, here it is, da verite, ya right, I transposed the names. Sorry, I was up too late last night." Sliding her finger across the screen, blacking out the text, she tossed the iPod slightly, catching it in her palm gently and stuffed the gadget to her pocket, all the while Daniel kept up his menacing glare.

"Up doing what?" he inquired, glancing her over for any bruises. Lately she had spent a lot of time with her new trio of buddies: Ronan, Teal'c and Cameron, doing God knows what each and every night after they had finished. Fighting probably, Daniel had determined, because for some bizarre reason, she liked to be tough, act like a man, and beat on him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she replied curtly, rolling her eyes and jogging to catch up to Vala. Daniel tried not to pay attention, but did catch Adrienne saying something to her and Vala turned back looking at him and laughed. He had forgotten the two of them were chummy now too, not as much as Adrienne and the boys, but she and Vala were together lately at least every day at lunch. Redirecting his attention to his steps, he uncontrollably rolled his eyes. He hated them as friends and was almost positive that Vala had told Adrienne every awful thing about him she possibly could, which considering the past few years was a decent list of big mistakes and insane situations. Fuel to the fire, the last thing Adrienne needed, especially given that Daniel was beginning to question himself as a professional. Between the surprise attack on Madrona and the incident last week, he had noted that Adrienne was acting a bit different in the lab, more sure of herself and he wasn't sure if he liked that either. Trying not to obsess over a situation that was beyond his control, Daniel shoved his hands into his pockets, bringing up the rear of the group.

The walk was about an hour, but in combat boots that might as well have been five, the heat combined with the rough unpaved terrain. Daniel decided that he needed to get new socks when he got back as he could feel raw spots and blisters wearing around the balls of his feet and the back of his heel, the cotton fabric that was there to protect them having worn too thin. He winced and stopped for a moment, leaning down to try to adjust his boots and maybe shove something down into his footwear to ease the pain.

"Are you ok?" he heard a voice over him, holding his hand over his eyes to block the sun while he gazed up to see why she was there. He knew it was Adrienne, he could never confuse that drawl with anyone else, but he wanted to see why she was standing there, peering down at him and asking if he was alright.

"Yeah, just bad choice of footwear," he answered, cutting his eyes quickly to the ground, regretting instantly telling her. While she hadn't done anything per se to warrant the reaction, Daniel felt at times like he was working with a pit viper ready to strike. Pulling angrily, Daniel quickly undid the laces, trying to open the boot just enough to feel some relief, all the while waiting for a snide remark. Instead, there was the crinkle of rocks below her boots and he felt a presence close to him, noting that she had knelt down beside him, a sympathetic frown spreading across her face.

"I have extra socks if you need them," she offered, "they'll fit. I've got big unattractive man feet." Proving her words were not just that, words, she pulled her backpack from her shoulders, setting in between her knees, carefully opening the top and rooting through the contents. That was nice, he thought to himself, and his assistant remained beside him, still digging through the satchel. He had expected her to attack him and she hadn't, instead she was offering to help him, without question or tone. He was actually a bit shocked even though he had no reason to be shocked; Adrienne was a very nice person. Maybe he just wasn't used to that either. She stopped digging suddenly and handed over to him a pair of white military issue combat socks, no words, no tone and no mockery.

"I appreciate that," he answered cautiously, frowning at her in confusion, taking the socks and standing again, kicking out his feet to adjust and walking on. Adrienne continued not to speak, just stood herself, brushing the light tan dirt from her knees and followed behind, watching Daniel trudge ahead in pain. Stubborn man, she thought, adjusting her pack higher on her shoulders as she marched on.

Minutes later Adrienne could see why maybe Daniel hadn't stopped to use her offering, as the village began to peek its way into view, a small settlement on the outside of a lush forest. It was a small community, in what looked like a circular layout of tiny wood slat houses with grass roofs. Each home seem to have a small stick built corral containing a few animals, mostly pigs and goats but a handful seemed to have some sort of cow-like animal there as well. There were some dark ages dressed peasants milling about, the women in flaxen and heavy dresses, denoting a lower class, while the men wore different variations of the same camel colored breeches accompanied by a white flowing shirt, tending to their daily chores and errands. It looked like a scene from a quaint Robin Hood movie, or one of those Renasssiasnce fairs that Adrienne liked to attend back home.

Right on the outskirts of town, standing near what looked like a small guard tower, they could see a slightly better dressed man waiting for them, his robes a rust color was well, although the color was much deeper and accented with a gold trim. Large tassels hung around his neck and he was a bit stouter than his emissary, with a shaved head and soft brown eyes. His expression was stoic, but friendly as they approached.

"Colonel Mitchell, Dr. Jackson, we cannot thank you enough for coming to our aide," the man spoke kindly, and Adrienne assumed this was Grayson, the village elder and lead minister. Trying not to be noticed, she slowly slid her hand into the pocket of her BDU's to remove her iPod, just to check a few things while they were stationary.

"No problem at all," Cameron answered, walking up and offering his hand. The man looked confused, but extended his own towards the colonel which Cam took quickly, shook and then let it go, Grayson's own hand hanging forward for a moment longer, the man clearly unsure as to what to do next. Pushing his glasses up his face, Daniel stepped forward, breaking the awkwardness of the situation to get down to business.

"Grayson, have you arranged a meeting place yet? I would like to get started before any further tension arises," he said in greeting, desiring to begin as soon as possible. Over the years he had learned that in a negotiation it was better to start before one could develop an emotional leaning towards one side or the other, he himself being guilty of that at times, and this would be hard enough as it was, considering his history with the Ori, but he wanted to deal with the entire situation as diplomatically as possible, and as soon as possible.

"Yes of course," he responded to Daniel politely, "I told them that upon your arrival we would send a messenger to bring their leaders to the sanctuary. It is right this way." He turned quickly and started walking toward a red brick building, the only building in the village that was not made of wood and grass. It looked like a small medieval church sitting a slight distance away on a hill and was by far the most extravagant building in the settlement, with a large stone steeple that appeared to be constructed of tiny pebbles somehow held together without the use of concrete. Adrienne stared at it, scanning it carefully with her dark eyes, trying to figure out exactly how the spire and the matching decor were formed, when there was a throat clearing behind her. Daniel was looking at her over his shoulder to motion for Adrienne to follow as Cam was telling the others that they were going on a little walk, walk being code for let's see if there is anyone around that would feel the need to kill them. Nodding, Adrienne tightened the straps to her pack and followed her boss up the rise, refocusing her attention to the task at hand.

"When did they arrive?" Daniel asked their guide, trying to gain a better hold of the situation, the old man traipsing briskly ahead. The sun was shining brightly down onto their black jackets and piercing their eyes, Daniel raising his hand to block his eyes while he tried to look around himself. He silently confirmed the information in the file from Sam's briefing; that there was nothing in his sights that anyone could possibly want, other than the land itself, no evidence of any valuable resources nor any incorrectly utilized alien technology. His stride still brisk, Grayson continued speaking as he trod up the increasingly steep hill.

"About 20 moons ago. The moon has yet to be reborn though, so not yet a lunar cycle," he maintained his pace walking swiftly ahead of them, appearing to be in quite a hurry. Daniel trudged on to keep up while Adrienne, the shortest of the group broke out into a light jog, concerned already about their predicament, and grabbed Daniel's sleeve gently yanking him back to her and bringing her lips to his ear, very close, not thinking.

"How long did they wait to contact us? I don't think I'd let someone who essentially enslaved me to hang around for nearly three weeks, and your buddy Grayson up there seems pretty damn worried," Adrienne whispered quietly to Daniel, who had come to a complete stop once he felt the tug, a shiver down his spine at the whisper.

"You have to remember that these people just found out not too long ago that everything they believed in was a lie. Maybe it was a comfort to them to see some familiarity, even if it is in the form of gun toting soldier," he answered her, leaning back and turning his head to whispered softly right back at her. Adrienne couldn't help it, she didn't understand these things; she was a product of modern media. To Adrienne, everything could be solved in a nice ten minute action sequence where the good guys rode away as heroes. He needed to remember that was not intentional, just that she lacked the experience he had in matters such as these, matters in which a bunch of former gun-toting lunatics were camping out in the forest, possibly waiting to slaughter an entire village.

"Perhaps," she answered quietly, deciding to take on her observing role. He was right, she didn't know a thing about this sort of thing, she thought as she let go of his jacket sleeve and stepped back allowing him to lead. Taking the opportunity to examine her surroundings one last time, Adrienne noted that Grayson had arrived at their destination and was glaring down the hill at them as the two of them, while, Adrienne at least being half his age, and before now very confident in her athletic ability, lagged behind. Taking the opportunity before Daniel could call her forward, she let her eyes kick into observation mode, darting around reexamining as Daniel jogged up the rest of the path. There was the church, larger than she had expected, standing in front of them, the massive wooden doors propped open to reveal a simple sanctuary with a few simple wooden pews and a tiny alter. To the back of the one roomed structure, Adrienne could see there were a few meeting tables, probably for the elders of the church and she stopped her walk, her knees aching from the climb taking a position slightly behind Daniel, and doing so without complaint.

"Here we are my friends," Grayson said as he turned to face them, "and Dr. Jackson, I am happy to escort your wife to your quarters. I have arranged for three rooms in an empty house, one for you and your wife, another for Colonel Mitchell and his wife and the last for Teal'c the warrior. I hope that is acceptable."

Adrienne elbowed Daniel sharply, her eyes as big a saucers, but he moved to stand in front of her so Grayson would not notice her reaction.

"Thank you Grayson, we appreciate your hospitality. However, my wife is of great assistance to my work and I would like for her to remain here with me during these negotiations," Daniel replied kindly, smiling and bowing his head slightly.

"Of course. Then you both may have this time to prepare yourselves and I shall see to the messenger," the kind man said and left, walking back down the hill along the path by which they came. Adrienne waited until Grayson had left and then looked up at Daniel, her eyes still wide and her brain in panic mode, wondering if she was to be expected to share sleeping quarters with her boss, a prospect she had never thought about.

"Your wife?!" Adrienne questioned, half teasing and half worried, remembering Vala telling her of a similar situation, one that Adrienne at least was not looking forward to, her heart racing as she awaited his answer. Daniel, however, rolled his eyes, thinking to himself that she must be smart enough to figure out that not all societies they would encounter would really consider a woman to be on equal footing as a man, but again, refrained from comment, his desire to keep the peace superseding his desire to tell her she was insane.

"Yes, how else would I get you in here? They might buy that Vala is a warrior, since the Ori were led for a time by a woman, but, you, being an academic like me, not possible. I can demand that my wife be with me at all times, no one will question that, unless of course you would prefer to walk around with a gun like Cameron and not learn how to do any of this," he explained, unable to control the little jab at her more masculine side that slipped out, but she didn't seem to notice, her hands slipping back into her pockets to obtain her iToy and get to work.

"Fine," Adrienne said as she let out a sigh, "when in Rome I guess," she accepted, but looked, well, he wasn't sure what to read in that expression. No Adrienne, you won't have to touch me or come near me, don't worry, he almost said, but refrained, trying not to think about it, although the thought of having to share a bed with her, much less a small room, was a bit disconcerting to him as well, his stomach turning. He'd need to deal with that later, no way did he want to sleep beside her, but for now, pulled his pack from his shoulders and began to rummage through, looking for the mission files from Sam.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw her walking over to the crude table that had been set up in the worship room and began to unload her backpack as well, electronic toy after electronic toy, a direct contrast to his paper collection. She must love to make him feel antiquated, he thought, starting to look away when she paused and glanced up at him, her lips pursed tightly and her face in a frown.

"But don't you get any ideas," she said, smiling, was she smiling at him, was she joking, he was so confused...

"No worries Adrienne," he answered smartly as he turned his back to her.

No worries at all.

It seemed as if they had waited for hours before the delegation of Ori soldiers arrived. Adrienne had only seen pictures on the computer, but here standing in front of her were a strange combination of a medieval knight, a samurai solider and some bad 1950's Sci-fi flick. They wore full suits of gray armor, metal yet fitted to their bodies in a more comfortable fashion, accompanied by strange gray helmets on their heads. Adrienne had seen soldiers before, Earth soldiers, but she knew how close her friends had been to succumbing to these soldiers in particular, so she shivered reactively as they walked into the room, cold piercing chills running down her spine, but she relaxed when she felt a warm hand squeeze her arm gently and heard a whisper at her ear.

"Let me do the talking, I know how they work," Daniel assured her, sensing her fear, those deep eyes of hers flickering almost as if they were trembling themselves.

Adrienne relaxed at first, but tensed again as she felt him squeeze her arm and bring his lips to her ear, whispering his assurances. That scared her more than the Ori; how bad could this be if Daniel was actually showing concern for her?

Honestly, he wasn't very open with her, but when it came to work, often she couldn't shut him up and she had found over the past three months that when he shut down about something, there was often a good reason. If he shut down about a work something, that reason was usually something awful. In fact, when she had been going through some files of information in the Asgard database and came across the Ori, she had asked him about it, but rather than answer her, he sat at his desk for a moment, looking as if he was going to throw up. Vala had told her later that he had been converted to a prior, among other awful things, at their hands and she added that since, he had horrific nightmares and that was part of the reason he would work every night until he just passed out in the lab. Adrienne remembering feeling terrible once she heard this, no one deserved to live like that, even if he was a bit snippy, but she didn't want to bring it up because then he would know she was snooping so she just nodded her head, accepting his comfort.

"Welcome, please sit, so that we may talk," Daniel motioned to the chairs set around the table.

"Hallowed be the Ori," the lead soldier saluted, a large man, dark olive skin peering from the center piece of the helmet. His hazel eyes seem to match his complexion and he would have been a handsome man were the expression on his face not so cold and condescending. Daniel didn't answer him, though, just sat himself and the soldiers followed, Adrienne quickly pulling up a chair beside him.

"The power and the greatness of the Ori cannot be denied, nor defeated. They are testing us, that we will be able to continue on without their guidance, to see if we can walk the path alone," the man began, Adrienne noting that she had no idea what his name was, he hadn't bothered to give it, as if he thought it did not matter, just jumped right into the religious jargon.

Vala was right, these people were nuts.

Out of the corner of her eye, Adrienne saw Daniel take a deep breath in before answering, his fist closing and opening, and without thinking, she slipped her hand under the table and squeezed his leg tightly. He might get on her nerves, but right now he needed her support, the act instinctual more than intentional.

"The Ori are gone," Daniel started, calmer, not pushing her away, why is she touching me, focus Daniel focus, "they were not gods; they were using you. Using all of you. These people here just want to live in peace." He paused, letting the words sink in while his own heart raced, not only at facing these people once more but at the hand resting so gently on his thigh.

Her eyes trying to read his face, she was normally good at reading people, why couldn't she read him, Adrienne noted that Daniel didn't bother to give his name either, secretly wondering if that had something to do with his history with these particular people. Did they know who he was? Was that why he had been invited? His voice was strong,though, his tone assertive, yet the leader of this group of men seemed unfazed by his words.

"It is our duty to cast out the unbelievers. You are here to cause us doubt, yet we shall not falter. And the people shall deliver the wicked unto your divine judgement; we are the people the scriptures spoke of and we shall do as we were ordained," the soldier responded, his face remaining emotionless.

This is not going well, Adrienne thought to herself, these wack-jobs sounded like the ones on Earth, just quoting from a different book. She looked over at Daniel, who seemed to be doing a bit better, that normal attitude that she had become accustomed to creeping back up into his voice. She ran her hand up and down his leg real quick to assure him further, not thinking about how the gesture might appear to him, holy shit I am rubbing his leg, and pulled it back quickly, letting him talk. Why did I do that? she thought, redirecting her attention to her iPad and mission notes.

"These people mean you no harm. We understand that you have no where to go, that the warships are failing, and that many of you cannot return to your homes. Let me talk with the people here, maybe they would be in agreement to let you create a settlement nearby," Daniel suggested calmly.

Shocked, Adrienne's jaw dropped; she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Here these men were talking about casting out unbelievers and here was Daniel was suggesting they just all move in together and get along. What in the hell was he thinking!? Adrienne tried to restrain her words, continuing to take notes and paying attention closely to Daniel's negotiation style, hoping this was just part of the plan.

"Truth eludes those who refuse to seek it with both eyes wide. If we settle among these people, we will make them see the light," the man retorted, cocking his head slightly for emphasis. That Adrienne could tell was a direct threat, but Daniel was in some zone and just remained calm.

"Those are your choices," he stated simply, "You can leave immediately and cause no further harm to these people or you may allow me to negotiate for a settlement location on your behalf. It is your decision, but there is no third option." Daniel remained stoic and Adrienne was impressed by his strength; it made her suddenly question her opinion of him, yet again. The soldier stood from the table, glaring menacingly at Daniel and not speaking, just leaning over the table slowly. For a brief moment, Adrienne thought they were going to fire, so she reached down her leg to her Zat gun and prepared to have to fight their way out, her heart racing at the prospect, but instead, the man brought his face dangerously close to Daniel's.

"Do not think that I do not know who you are," he said, inches away from her boss, "you were once a beacon, but you let your light be extinguished by those who would challenge the greatness of the Ori. You need to recall the truth of the universe." With those words, he backed up slowly and motioned to his men, leading them out a side door while Daniel remained silent. Adrienne was at a loss for words, sitting there, trying to read his face, trying to gauge what was going on in that head, but there was nothing; she couldn't tell if he was afraid, angry, if he had expected that. It made her even more nervous, what was to be learned, was she supposed to be writing something down. With no other idea as to what else to do, Adrienne did the only thing she could think of doing in a situation like this.

She made a joke.

"So that got us no where, guess they don't hear that good through those stupid looking helmets," she remarked, trying to lighten the mood that was hanging over him, as he sat there, staring at his hands and the mission files, but he didn't laugh, glaring up at her, a frown on his face.

Bad choice Addy, bad choice.

"Lesson one, if everything was so easily solved in matters such as these there wouldn't be war," he responded coldly, scolding, Adrienne's heart thumping in her chest.

"Nah, you think?" she replied smiling at him as she started to pack up her things back into her pack, laughing at her joke, "and a dose of realizing your ridiculous gods were the great and powerful wizard would probably help as well," she added, not thinking, it was just the first thing that came to mind. She continued to pack, hoping he was no longer upset, getting ready to ask him what he thought they could do next to save Emerald City, when she heard a slam of papers onto a surface and glanced over at him.

He wasn't smiling.

"You think you could do better!?" he snapped at her, rage flashing across his face.

"Daniel, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Adrienne tried to apologize; she really meant to joke around with him, she had just spoken before thinking. Her jaw dropped and she put down her things, wanting to explain, trying to explain, she really wanted to know what they should do next because she had no earthy idea what was supposed to be done.

"Do you think this is easy? I've been trying to get people of different worlds to talk to each other for years; I think I know what I'm doing!" he seemed angry, clearly not understanding that Adrienne was just making a joke, albeit highly inappropriate. Why did you do that you idiot, you're a gah damn professional, you've never behaved like this?

Why now?

Why does he make you so crazy Addy?

For a moment she started to apologize and beg him not to be angry with her, but the look on his face was just so hateful, so condescending, and he was muttering something under his breath, something about her being clueless that she just couldn't take it.

"Really Mr. Expert? Cuz it makes ah 'ell of a lotta sense to jus invite dem ta stay righ? I'm sho DAT's wha Grayson was going fah when dey tole SG-8 dey needed 'elp. Jus let da wolf live among da sheep, he be a vegetarian naw..." Adrienne spat, her cajun accent making her barely intelligible, and she stood, slamming her hands on her hips and shouting down at him. Here we go again, she thought, here is where the real Daniel comes shining through, the one that will never respect me.

Why don't I just quit?

"People can change Adrienne. I know your limited world view may make you think otherwise, but people change," Daniel argued, standing quickly to face her.

"Nah, Daniel, people can change deir actions ahn 'abits, but intrinsically dey do nah change. Teal'c dinna jus decide tah be a gud guy overnight, 'ee always be a gud person inside, 'ee jus needed da chance to act on it. Dese people dought, dey believe dis merde to their core. Dere be no way ya jus gonna get'em ta leave, regardless of da high opinion dat ya 'ave of ya negotiating abilities," Adrienne hissed back, standing her ground, refusing to let him talk to her that way. She knew her limits, her small 'world view' that's why she was here, to learn. Wasn't she?

Rather than fight with her, again, Daniel sat back down in the chair, opening the folder to read some things over. She thought he was an idiot, she had made that quite clear, and he just wanted to her leave.

"Just, go find Cam and look for people to shoot or something," Daniel said, his eyes locked back at the folder, the pen in his right hand tapping. Not wanting to anger him further, she left silently, but still seething, and hurt, hurt more than she could believe, tossing her pack over her shoulder, heading to the center of the village.

The return trip downhill was fast, especially since she was running, fleeing without his notice, hoping he wouldn't call her back because she just couldn't face him. She paused at the bottom of the hill, taking deep, deliberate yoga breaths, trying to compose herself.

"He's upset, don't hold it against him," she coached, seeing movement in the near distance, finding her friends, and laughing at the site of Vala and Cameron walking arm and arm.

"Addy! Did you hear the news? I'm Mrs. Cameron Mitchell!" she laughed as she pulled Cameron closer, laying her head playfully onto his shoulder. Adrienne giggled and smiled at the sight, her irritation with Daniel already subsiding.

"I heard. I demand a switch," Adrienne said as she walked over to Cameron's free side and ran her arm through his free one.

"Aww... trouble in paradise?" Cam quipped.

"Yeah, I want a divorce," Adrienne replied, joking, with people she could joke with, resting her head on Cam's other shoulder and walking alongside him.

Laughing loudly, the colonel filled Adrienne in on what she had missed, which was essentially nothing other than the village children being enthralled by Teal'c, his tattoo and staff weapon. It was actually quite cute, the large Jaffa playing with the children and it made her forget completely her argument with Daniel. Walking on, Cam took her to the empty cottage they had been promised by Grayson and to their small rooms, showing her the one she was being expected to share with Daniel. Remembering, her heart racing again, Adrienne glanced across the small hallway to where Cam was to stay with Vala and walked into their room, grabbing Cameron's bag and tossing it across the hall to the opposite side.

"You can spend the night with him. I don't want to look at him right now," Adrienne stated as she exited the room, walking back over to Vala's room and tossing her things on the bed. Vala looked like she was going to speak, to say something, but she stopped, readjusting her own things in their room.

The group remained in and around their lodging for the rest of the afternoon, Cam and Teal'c walking around, exploring, Vala disappearing for a while and then returning, Adrienne having no idea what she was doing, while Adrienne herself went back through the mission files, her temper cooled and just wanting to go back to working with Daniel. She'd apologize, explain to him that when she gets nervous she jokes and that she hadn't really meant anything by it, but he never showed up for her to tell him.

A small dinner was brought to them at sunset, but Daniel still hadn't returned, making her begin to worry about him. Did those men come back and she was gone? Was he alright? She knew he could handle himself, but she felt like such a jerk leaving him there, argument or not, a vision of his body falling limply to the ground on the ramp in Madrona flooding her head. Just as she was debating whether or not to track him down, he came through the door and motioned for Cameron, ignoring her completely.

"Asshole," she said under her breath, hurt more than anything that he hadn't come looking for her. Why couldn't she win with him? She was starting to think it was physically impossible for her to ever get along with him.

"You let him get to you too much," Vala whispered, seeing her friend in distress and leaning across the table, "you need to get under his skin first." Adrienne rolled her eyes, not having anything to say in return. This was getting ridiculous. How old were they? She couldn't understand for the life of her what she had ever done to offend this man, and why she had to walk on eggshells around him. In fact, she was still waiting for this great revelation that Sam kept insisting that she would have, the revelation that Daniel Jackson was this kind, wonderful, compassionate person that she would just adore working with.

So far, he was just a pain in her ass.

Adrienne was about to stand and attempt to politely interject herself into the conversation when Cam came back over to the group with Daniel close behind him.

"Ok it seems that Grayson and company don't want the Ori to stay, so tomorrow Daniel is going to try to meet with them again to get them to leave," Cam announced to the others.

"Big surprise," Adrienne spoke without thinking, again, why Addy, why...

She regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth; this was gonna be bad...

"Which part Adrienne? The part where they're as stubborn and hardheaded as you or the part where I'm going to meet with them tomorrow, alone?" Daniel raged at her, not missing a beat, his patience with her at a close; she needed to keep her opinions to herself. She was just a lab rat, a lab rat that Sam for some insane reason kept insisting needing to trot along behind SG-1 and learn how to do everything. He was about to glance up at her and say just that when he noticed that she had stood from the small table and was approaching him, her deep sepia eyes afire.

"Da part where ya dink dat ya be a GOD dat we mus all bow down to. Dat something must be wrong wit dem because they donna see ya point of view. Are ya so used to someone tryin to either kiss ya ass or sleep wit ya dat ya jus expect everyone ta go along wit any insanity ya come up wit. Well, nah me. I dink we need to skip dis niceness merde, go get SG-3 ahn blast these feet pue tan into oblivion!" she screamed at him, her wrath radiating around the room. The rest of the group froze, lost and confused, not only at her anger but at some of the words that came out of her mouth, and the accent that accompanied it, all except for Daniel, who pushed past Cam and stood in front of Adrienne almost nose to nose.

"You can't talk to me like that!" he shouted as if he was daring her to hit him, again, but Adrienne wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of taking his ass to the ground. Screwing her face into a scowl she locked her own eyes on his crystal blue, clearing her words and her mind.

"Or what, you'll fire me? Sorry shug, but Sam cut those balls off, Sam who took the time to realize that I'm not just here to screw up your life. So, why don't you sit here, and make Cam feel stupid, Teal'c feel useless and let Vala stroke your ego like you apparently enjoy and go and save the day, because Imma gettin da hell out of here," she hissed at him and turned, storming toward the door as Daniel stood there, dumbfounded.

Is that what she thinks of me, he thought, watching her race out into the darkness in the direction of the gate. He'd never meant that, he just, he didn't know what to say to make her understand, to make her see why, to really grasp everything that he had been through.

If anything, his life was indeed like one of her movies, except for one distinct difference.

In the movies, the hero, not that he thought of himself as that, but the main character at least, got a happy ending.

What he had lived through up to and including right now was proof enough that life was not a movie.

Embarrassed in front of his friends, worried about his assistant dashing out into the darkness, Daniel grabbed some leftover food from the plate, taking it down to his room.

Adrienne walked out of the building, heading for the gate, determined to dial home not caring how long the walk was or how dark the night was that lay before her. She'd left her things, hoping that one of her real friends would bring them back when they returned. Her emotions were in a torrent, she wanted to cry so badly, why was he treating her like this, but forced herself to not give him the satisfaction even though he was not even there to witness it. Things seemed to have been looking up lately, he had been talking to her more this past week, he had even praised her for her quick thinking in the temple, but this mission was just proof of it, that he wasn't going to let her do her job, or do anything. Was he so uptight he couldn't even take a joke or be friendly to her for five minutes? She had never done anything to him, she hadn't been overly aggressive in any way when it came to work and she had only behaved in the most professional manner.

Tears began to well up again in her eyes as the thoughts ran through her head, flying through her subconscious. Adrienne couldn't tell if he really thought she was an idiot or if he was threatened by her, but either way, she was fed up with trying to figure him out. Let the others deal with him, she thought, sucking up the few tears that had managed to escape. Reaching carefully into her pocket, she pulled out her iPod to discover that it had taken her about an hour and a half in the dark to arrive, but she saw the gate ahead , the ball of the DHD glowing in the moonlight. It wasn't until she arrived at the device that she realized that she had no flashlight and was going to have to feel around to find the symbols that she needed to dial home. Frustrated and now just angry with herself more than she was with Daniel, she fumbled in the dark forever until she heard a click behind her and a light appeared.

"AdrienneRowan, it is hard to dial home when one cannot see."

Breathing a sigh of relief upon hearing Teal'c's voice, she turned around,taking the flashlight from the great warrior, not thanking him, still too embarrassed to even say a word. Shining it back onto the DHD, she found her order, popping the flashlight into her mouth and lifting her hand to dial when she stopped her hand mid-air, turning back around to face Teal'c.

"Why does he hate me so much? I thought things were getting better," she asked, knowing she could show true emotion around the old warrior. He had been nothing but kind to her from the very first day, proving himself a soul to be trusted and she was grateful to have found a friend in him. Smiling in his way, he bowed his head lightly and rose it just as slow before he spoke.

"DanielJackson does not hate you. He is unsure how to handle you," he answered but Adrienne scoffed. That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, and near tears were quickly replaced with that white hot anger from before.

"Handle me? Like I am some crazy TV cliche spit-fire he has to tame? For crying out loud, my music is the wildest thing about me. I'm just as boring as he is," Adrienne argued, her temper quelling as she admitted the last part, the part of herself she never liked to admit out loud. She was just a boring geek, a lab rat, she just didn't want him to know that and again she had no idea why. Maybe he'd like her better then, maybe he'd realize that in her quarters late at night she read about as many classics and non-fiction books as she did stupid vampire novels.

Sinking down to the ground beside the large ancient device, Adrienne let out a sigh and sat, toying with the flashlight in her hands. A look of understanding of his face, Teal'c walked over, taking the seat beside her.

"He has never met a woman like you. You need no one, you seek no one's approval. You are well educated, not just in letters, but in the world as well," Teal'c began to explain and paused for a moment, gauging her reaction, but she gave him none. He then added, a mischievous smile on his face "I think you scare him."

Adrienne laughed at that notion. Good, she thought, he needs to be scared, but she didn't say that aloud. Rolling the flashlight in her hands, she turned her gaze to the stars. Here she was, on another planet, looking up into another sky, living a life she could have only dreamed of living and she sat beside Teal'c in silence letting the majesty of it all just overtake her.

"I must return now, ColonelMitchell wishes to lose money at cards. Here is your pack. Please tell SamanthaO'Neill that we are faring well," the Jaffa said, placing the backpack, tac vest tied to the side into her lap, standing and turning to walk away. Reality hitting her, Adrienne looked down at her things, letting out a sigh and glanced back up at the tall shadow heading away from her.

"Wait," she called out and stood, changing her mind, "I'll come back. But I'm bunking with you. I think I probably pissed off Vala too."

Her eyes gazing down, sheepishly, she jogged up to his side, forcing a smile, making Teal'c laugh at the effort. He pat her strongly on the back and they set out together back into the darkness, Adrienne clicking off the flashlight to walk in the calmness of the dark.

After another long hike back, they arrived at the house, only a few lights glimmering slowly in the common area. Avoiding eye contact, with any of them, Adrienne simply walked right past Daniel, Cameron and Vala, who were sitting in the main room talking and went into Teal'c's room, slipping into bed quietly. Still embarrassed, Adrienne lay in her bed, willing herself sleep.

When Adrienne awoke the next morning, Vala and Teal'c were eating breakfast in the same central room she had rushed through the night before, Cameron and her good buddy gone. Grabbing chair and pulling it over, Adrienne sat down sheepishly and glanced over at Vala, taking a breath before she gave her the apology she had rehearsed in bed a good twenty minutes before getting up.

"He took Cameron," she said first, as she passed a plate over to Adrienne pointing in the direction of a table holding some bread and fruits. At least the people here eat correctly, Adrienne noted, taking the dish gratefully and standing to get herself some breakfast. Plate loaded, Adrienne took a breath again, pleased no one had said anything so far about her outburst and took a seat, peeking over at Vala once more.

"Look Vala, I - " she began to speak, but Vala swallowed quickly and held up her hand, cutting her of.

"No apology necessary. And as far as he is concerned, I put that cow out to meadow long ago," Vala answered.

"ValaMalDoran, I believe you mean to say horse out to pasture," Teal'c corrected as Adrienne laughed at Teal'c correcting Vala's slang.

"Whatever, the point is Addy, I'm not mad at you, I can see why you said that and it's not true. Anymore at least, even if I seem to be messing with him. And I agree with you; he's an asshole," Vala finished and bit into the apple again. Not responding, Adrienne quietly ate her breakfast, wondering how true her assertion was, but at least she wasn't mad at Adrienne, so she decided to let it drop. They finished their meal in relative silence, still no word from Cameron and Daniel, so Adrienne took a blanket outside and found some grass in the sunshine having brought with her some trashy horror novel to entertain herself. She was just getting to a good part, where the heroine was trapped in a cave being attacked by fairies when she heard loud shouting from the church on the hill.

"Long live the Ori!" "Hallowed are the Ori!"

"Well that doesn't sound good," she said to no one in particular and tossed her book aside, running quickly up the same path she had taken yesterday. As she approached, she noticed a crowd gathered around the base of the church, watching a heated argument going on between Daniel and the Ori leader while Cam was stood behind her boss, P-90 ready to go. This didn't look like it was going well, the crowd itself seemed to be feeding on the argument, items being thrown in the direction of the dispute and murmurs of intruders and other things drifting over the multitude.

The shouts dissipated, slightly and suddenly she heard Daniel speaking, shouting really, looking at the lead soldier but trying to speak loud enough so the crowd could hear him, so they knew he was trying to address everyone.

"The village leaders ask that you leave, immediately, They do not wish you to settle here," Daniel stated sternly. The soldier, the same one from yesterday, trying to make the same public point while continuing to address Daniel responded.

"We will not leave this place to the heathens, who do not know the ways of the Ori. It is our duty to spread the teachings of the Ori around the universe and to cast out unbelievers."

Straightening his spine a bit higher, he turned to face the crowd and continued.

"I do not lie to you," the soldier stated, " as this man does. This man was one of our Priors, he accepted the teachings of the Ori and has since shunned them. He is one of us, he knows in his heart the truth. He has suggested that we stay and settle here because he knows that your salvation depends on our guidance."

The part of the crowd that made up the villagers then turned to Daniel, directing their anger at him, swears, jeers and general looks of mistrust. There was a shriek and something was thrown from the crowd, nearly missing his face as the crowd raged, pulsating with anger, on the verge of riot.

"Liar! You tricked us! You're trying to give our homes away!" the shouts grew louder around him and the crowd was closing in on the two men as the people of the village momentarily lost interest in the soldiers and lost their fear as well, that natural instinct of saving their homes and loved ones. Adrienne had to do something, but there was no way she could get back to Teal'c and Vala on time and it didn't look like Daniel and Cameron were going to just walk out of this.

"Hey!" Adrienne shouted out but no one was paying attention, no one was going to listen and there was a man pushing through to the front, straight to Daniel, pitchfork in hand. Heart pounding in her chest, she cleared her throat and breathed in deeper.

"STOP!" she screamed so loud she could feel her throat straining, the scratchiness rolling down her windpipe. She was going to pay for that tomorrow, she was sure, but it worked, because suddenly the entire mob was looking at her.

Shit, they were looking at her, including the man with the pitchfork. Great, Addy, she thought, opening your big damn mouth, again as Daniel scowled in her direction mouthing "What are you doing?"

"You!" she yelled, not sure what else to do since everyone was staring at her, pointing at the lead soldier, "We never got your name."

The soldier turned to glare at her, removing his attention from Daniel, just as she had hoped, and responded, "Names are not important, only our service to those greater than ourselves."

No name, alright Addy, she told herself, time to get creative.

"Ok, great, we'll call you Tom. Tom, we need a get a few things straight," Adrienne continued, "see that man up there," she pointed at Daniel, "the one you just called a liar. First, he's not one of you any more than that guy over there," she pointed at an elderly man, "your little wacko circus kidnapped him and made him into those sick priests you seem to honor so much." Daniel was looking at her, mouth open in shock, but was taking the opportunity to start to back away from the crowd with Cameron following his lead.

"He was a prior of the Ori," 'Tom' tried to argue.

"Semantics," Adrienne retorted, "my point is, he never asked to follow your crazy religion and you FORCED him. Doesn't seem to be such a great belief system if you have to kidnap and brainwash people to get followers. Less of a system if you have to wave guns at defenseless villagers." Daniel stepped back through the doorway of the church, signaling to Cam to take the side door while he watched his assistant for her next move because it was clear that she was not finished, he could tell by her stance as she thrust her hands on her broad hips and just kept talking.

"In fact, he's such a nice guy that he wanted to help you idiots resettle, why I have no idea why, and wanted to help all of you get along and live in peace. But no, peace never seems to be good enough for people like you, you have to come in and just completely take over," The soldier, Tom as Adrienne was now calling him, stood watching her, completely confused as she raged on.

Lingering in the doorway, Daniel watched as she shouted out into the crowd, in horror, wondering if the throng of people would turn as viciously on her as it had on him. After all, she was his 'wife."

"And you!" she turned to find Grayson in the crowd, "These guys haven't tried to hurt anybody, in your village or any others my friends have ascertained. They are literally HOMELESS. And scared. And you just send them away? Did you even try to talk to them? No, you just let them hide out in the woods, flash guns at you occasionally and then came whining to us for help. Do we look like some Peacekeeper force? Are we supposed to come rushing in every time you don't want to talk to somebody? Why don't you walk over there and introduce your people and go talk to him! YOURSELF!" The village elder was looking from side to side, judging the reaction of his people who were growing angrier, their rage now directed toward this woman, who didn't seem to care, just kept shouting.

"And you people, seriously. Are you such sheep that you just go with whoever is screaming the loudest? Hell, you have no idea who I am and you're here giving me your undivided attention. THINK FOR YOURSELVES! The faster you can do that the faster you will be able to thrive as a society and not be dependent on a religious system to govern every aspect of your lives or some intergalactic heroes to bail you out when you are too scared to do it yourself. And that goes for the women too. I'm not his damn wife, because on my world, women can DO THINGS. Really amazing things. WITHOUT a man!" Adrienne reached for her throat, raw now from her shouting, but she was finally finished, leaning over on her knees out of breath as well.

Oh that was a bad move Adrienne, Daniel thought as he rushed out of the side of the church, being my wife was the only thing keeping you alive. Pushing Cam aside, Daniel raced down the hill, heading in her direction, the crowd throbbing toward her, angry, things flying through the air, food first, an apple heading straight in her direction, toward her face, slamming into her cheek. It didn't take her down but she was holding her head, bending over, more pieces of fruit and whatnot heading in her direction and he ran faster, powering toward her, a shovel flying through the air when he heard a blast coming from the direction and smoke billowing from the ground.

"THIS WILL END NOW!" a voice boomed, everyone freezing in their steps, including the Ori soldiers, who were drawing their guns, starting to point them at not only the villagers but Adrienne. Daniel stopped himself, Tealc's voice so strong and demanding, commanding respect of everyone around him.

"We are not animals. We are men. Stop this at once or we will leave you to solve this problem yourselves," he declared, reaching down Daniel could see, taking Adrienne into his arms. She didn't appear to be badly hurt, but she did seem to have a large bruise forming on her face.

"You are one of them as well! You are one of the monsters we were warned about!" someone shouted, looked back to the soldiers for confirmation.

"Yes! He is a soldier of the false gods!" an Ori soldier shouted, not 'Tom' but someone else, Daniel trying to figure out who he was as Cam reached him.

"And now they're mad at Teal'c," he muttered quietly, Daniel breathing out in annoyance as he stopped to answer him.

"Better him than Adrienne," he replied, finally reaching his assistant who was pulling away from Teal'c, wincing and in pain. He was about to yell at her, even as Teal'c was stepping bravely into the crowd, looking forward as the crowd united in one common cause for the first time, hating him, but he just couldn't...

"You've successfully told off everyone in a hundred miles radius, are you proud of yourself?" he said instead, smiling slightly, reaching for her face to see how bad her injury was.

"I'm just over stupidity," she answered him, scanning his body as well for any injuries, "Are you ok?"

"Fine now, and I managed to not get shot," he turned to show her his side, "how's your face?"

"I'm not bleeding," she admitted, clearly embarrassed.

"Everyone listen! Calm down! Do you want our help or not!" Cam was shouting now, standing beside Teal'c, Vala on the other side, weapon drawn as well. No time to show her the error of her ways now, Daniel thought, stepping up to join them.

"I too have felt the absence of a god, the loss of direction but you do not need to live in fear," Teal'c continued, lowering his weapon to the ground, looking for his friends to do the same.

"They'll kill us!" a voice shouted from the crowd, a murmurs of yes uttered in support.

"We do not wish to kill you, we only wish to.." a soldier shouted in response, the leader 'Tom' glaring at him in response.

"Zat him Vala," Cam ordered, cutting his eyes at the lead soldier. Nodding, she stood quickly, firing a quick blast at the leader, who crumbled to the ground unconscious. The crowd screamed, panicked, starting to mob them again when Cam grabbed Teal'c staff weapon from the ground, firing it into the air.

"Why are you people hell bent on a riot. Look, we just shut the big mouth up, he'll wake up just fine, but I get the sinking feeling that HE is the reason you guys are still being all preachy," he declared, tossing the weapon down symbolically, his eyes darting over to the soldier that was speaking before.

"We're hungry," he started, "most of us, we know, we agree the Ori weren't gods, we know and we know what they were doing. We have no homes, some of our worlds are destroyed, others have shunned us. We have nothing. We thought Derath was going to make peace with these people, but he said they would not believe us, that they would shun us as well." Adrienne stood, beside Daniel dumbfounded. She had been wrong, she had been so very wrong about these people, ok, well maybe not about Tom/Derath but the rest of them. These people standing in front of them were just as scared as the villagers who were involuntarily hosting them.

Grayson, however didn't seem as convinced, stepping forward, in front of his people, as if his body would be able to stop the force of bullets and lasers he seemed to think were directed at his people.

"Drop you weapons! Now!" the unnamed solider shouted, tossing his own not only to the ground but to the feet of Grayson himself, bowing low on one knee carefully.

"We don't mean to harm you and we didn't wish to scare you. We are farmers, not soldiers and have nothing. A few of us can hunt, but not enough to sustain us all. We just want help," he plead from the ground, gazing up at the old man.

"People can change," Daniel whispered to Adrienne unable to resist the jab to her arrogance and she didn't answer, just nodded solemnly, looking to the ground.

"Are you waiting for an invitation!? They need help! We'll take their weapons and keep the big mouth knocked out, you two head back up there and hack something out," Cam declared, pointing to the church building forcefully. The man stood, looking at Grayson, his soldiers tossing the weapons to the ground, kicking them away, adding to the pile helmet and armor, both physically and symbolically stripping away their past. Nodding, Grayson turned and headed up the hill to the church, the man, the new leader halting his people with his hands and turning to follow.

"Uh Daniel, why don't you get in there and do your little UN magic, get them to sign something and let's get the hell home. I'm sure Teal'c doesn't want to share a bed with me again tonight; I tend to kick," Adrienne mumbled, trying to joke, hoping now he would finally get it, turning around without another comment to head back to their guest quarters.

They were back at the SGC just six hours later.

When they arrived, Adrienne was still too wired to go back to her quarters so she just dropped off her bag, changing into running shorts and a t-shirt. Upset, embarrassed, her cheekbone throbbing, she slammed her dirty clothes against the wall, not bothering to see if they made it to hamper, putting on her running shoes and grabbing her iPod from her backpack, setting out for the gym, determined to run at least 5 miles.

Her run was longer than expected and she was angry that 5 miles took more than 45 minutes, it was disgusting, ridiculous, unacceptable, but she sat on the bench in the locker room trying not to beat herself up too badly. She had been wrong, about nearly everything this time, starting with screwing up the names because she and Vala had stayed up too late watching movies, but at the same time this was a new job. She needed experience, she needed to be trained, taught, something.

Needing to talk, needing to try to clear the air, Adrienne decided to go back to the lab and lay it out for Daniel. She couldn't continue on like this. Skipping a shower, she made her way to their workspace, covered in sweat and red in the face, looking as awful as she felt inside.

As expected, Daniel was sitting at his desk, working away as normal, that typical frown on his face, enthralled in deep concentration. No mission, it was back to Asgard, Asgard, Asgard, the man never seemed to relax. She was tempted to knock at the doorway, but that was too cliche instead taking a breath and walking bravely up to his desk.

"We need to talk," she stated, crossing her arms across her chest defensively.

"Ok," he answered, as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired in the past 24 hours.

"I can't work like this; I'm being underutilized and under appreciated. I thought after I figured out that temple you thought that I was capable, but apparently, all that did was change your desire to get rid of me. I thought you were so impressed by my credentials, but all I do is prepare you for your meetings and bring you coffee."

"Adrienne, I - " he started.

"Let me finish. Please Daniel. Unlike other people here, I didn't fall into this job, I didn't steal a ship or anything, I wasn't some hot shot pilot that helped save the planet. But, apparently, despite all of that, you, or maybe just Sam, sought me out, not the other way around. That means that someone thought I was worth the trouble and I thought you did too. But I guess I was wrong," Adrienne uncrossed her arms and put her hands on her hips, the last words sounding more hurt than angry. When she started, Daniel had been annoyed by her little display, planning to set her straight, but when he heard those words he just couldn't yell at her.

"You are worth the trouble. Granted, I think that telling off an entire village isn't the best way to go about it, and you're damn lucky that no one shot your head off, damn lucky," he started, Adrienne frowning, making him pause.

"I was just joking back there, joking, I really didn't know what you were going to do and I thought you were going to help me, but you didn't," she wanted to make sure she was clear with him, emphasizing the final two words slowly. I need help, I need you to show me how to do this, she wanted to stay but couldn't seem weak, refused to appear weak in front of him.

Nodding, Daniel stood silently and walked over the file cabinet, opening the second drawer and pulling out a file, labeled P90-3005. Smiling softly, he shut the cabinet and walked back over to her, handing her the file.

"I agree, here's the next mission. Sam came down when you were running. Look over it, it's another negotiation. Consider it your training mission, we are going to do it together,' he said as he pushed up his glasses.

She opened the file, her eyes activating, scanning it over rapidly, as Daniel stood back, watching with a smile. It was a simple mission, negotiating some trade supplies between two smaller worlds in the hopes Earth could start trading with them as well, but it was a mission, for her to work on and learn.

"We leave in six days, so you ought to start looking that over and gathering information. You have a lot to brush up on. You can't go into this one transposing names, telling off anyone that rubs you the wrong way or making other such scenes," Daniel tried to explain, "I already have one person around here that likes to make a scene, I don't need another."

Adrienne refused to thank him; she didn't want to make herself look weak, she wanted him to understand that this was how it should be, that she should be given the work that that she was hired to do, and without comment, she walked over to her desk and opened her laptop. It was 8 p.m. already, but she didn't want to go to bed just yet, especially with this opportunity in front of her, a chance to show him what she could really do. Setting the folder onto the keyboard, she turned to go to the commissary to get some coffee, starting for the door and pausing, looking back at Daniel.

"I'm going for some coffee, ya want some?" she decided a peace offering would be good.

"Yeah, actually," but he stood as he was saying it, "but I think I am capable of getting my own. I'll walk with you though."

"Ok," she replied and waited for him to catch up.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Challenge

Authors Note:

I swear they will stop fighting, but THIS was my first pre-friends story I wrote, not her intro, and it has a special place in my heart.

And I think it's funny, so I'm also biased that way.

Enjoy!

"Dex, the only thing that you've got going for you is long legs. But long legs just mean there's more to trip over," Adrienne shouted across the track as Ronon Dex sauntered over arrogantly, grinning, cutting his eyes at her, John Sheppard slightly behind him a sly smile on his face.

"Whatever Addy, you would just end right back in the infirmary again trying to explain to Carson how I whupped your ass!" he taunted in reply, continuing to stride confidently in her direction, crossing his arms across his chest as he let out a loud boisterous laugh. Ronon wasn't going to let this little Earth woman show him up, at least not publicly, but Adrienne didn't seemed fazed, slamming her hands to her hips, a grin from ear to ear.

From the floor of the gym, Daniel glanced over at Cameron as he put a twenty five pound weight on the end of the bar ignoring the display over head. They had decided this morning, with things quiet around base, to actually get in a session, something that they had been unable to do for a while and Daniel could feel the absence of the physical activity, or at least activity that didn't lead to his assistant kicking him in the face. Cameron was setting them up for some serious weight lifting, maybe more than they should be tackling on a Monday morning, when Daniel heard the shouting growing louder, and couldn't help glancing upward towards the track.

"What is going on up there?" he asked Cam, pointing to his brazen assistant and the Atlantis crew, Adrienne standing toe to toe with Ronon Dex, her finger pointed directly into his chest. Smiling, was that a smile, Ronon had his arms crossed across his body, staring down at her with an expression that Daniel couldn't tell was serious or playful, but was still one that Daniel would not want to be on the receiving end of, especially if that glare of hers was the look she was giving him back. It kinda creeped him out, it didn't seem natural at times and considering Adrienne was from New Orleans he couldn't help but think about witch doctors and voo doo when she shot it at him.

Weights safely in place, Cameron looked up at the suspended track and shrugged, glancing back at Daniel as he walked around the bench, sitting down.

"I dunno, Addy up to no good. I'm not sure if it was such a good idea to let her and Vala become friends," he laughed, "I think it's just made her worse."

As long as Adrienne manages to keep her clothes on I don't think we are in too bad a shape, Daniel thought to himself, but he didn't say anything. Adrienne had grown significantly more confident, not only in her work, but among her peers at the SGC as of late, making him feel more and more each day like this might work out. It wasn't arrogance anymore like he had originally thought, there was something else with her that no one else seemed to know about, not even Vala. He had just up and asked Vala, but even she said that Adrienne kept pretty tight lipped about her past.

Shrugging and shaking his head, he walked over to spot Cameron as he continued to watch her taunt the Atlantis crew, Adrienne and Ronon throwing insults back and forth. Finally he walked away, Adrienne shouting after him something about him being chicken and proceeding to do a chicken impersonation on the overhang. Daniel heard the counting, fourteen, fifteen and reaching down to help Cam put the bar back into the stand, not taking his eyes off of the scene unfolding before him as Ronon walked up to Adrienne, reaching out for her shoulders and turning her back to face him.

"Dude, what are you starting at? I know she's hot but come on, make it less obvious," Cameron joked, causing Daniel to make a face and roll his eyes. Yes, she was a cute girl, but other than the fact that she was his assistant and he had many other things to focus on, namely work, was the fact that she was a girl, a girl fifteen years younger to be exact. Rolling his eyes for a second time, Daniel turned to face his friend, still frowning.

"No, she's so, well, loud," Daniel replied, stepping back to let Cam stand once more. He stood there for a moment, studying her, trying to figure out if she was kidding. She had been kidding back at the church on the last mission and he'd missed that, she had an odd sense of humor, stranger than Jack's to be honest.

"She's just kidding around. She likes to know that she can take on the guys. The only other women who can say that around here are aliens with super space powers. Addy's the one human woman who can really kick some ass, and she and Dex joke around with it, " Cameron defended his friend; he knew Adrienne was kidding, but for some reason Daniel hadn't caught onto her sense of humor, maybe because unlike the rest of them, Daniel hadn't taken the time to get to know her. Hell, even Jack and Sam had invited her over to dinner, but Daniel avoided the young archaeologist like the plague and Cam really wasn't sure why, Addy couldn't be any nicer.

Daniel, however, didn't respond, keeping his gaze at the track watching Adrienne standing there with Jennifer Keller, laughing hysterically at Ronon's refusal to race her, making rude gestures and taunting him right to his face. You could actually hear her all the way down in the weight room, area really; she was still a good distance away yet he could still make out the words. Adrienne calling Ronon a peeshwank, which Daniel was fairly certain was the cajun word for wimp when he got an idea.

He'd mess with her.

"Hey Miss Perfect!" he shouted up to her, making Adrienne stop dead in her tracks, peering over the edge of the railing. She made a puzzled face at him for a second, surprised he had shouted up to her and then quickly changed her demeanor, grinning slyly.

"Yeah Dr. Jackson?" she yelled back, emphasizing the word doctor. She hadn't called him Dr. Jackson in a few weeks now, after he insisted she call him Daniel and she knew he hated it when she called him Dr. Jackson. Mischief across her face as soon as the words left her mouth, Adrienne leaned back off the railing, glancing over her shoulder and smiling brightly at Ronon, John and Jennifer. What in the world was he up to?

"I'll race you," he challenged from the weight area confidently, Adrienne's eyes widening for just a moment before she erupted into boisterous laughter. Ok, she thought, that was what he was up to..

"Are you kidding me?! You!?" she asked dumbfounded, glancing at Jennifer who was taking the awkward stance of do I laugh with my friend or do I get in trouble with one of my superiors later. Adrienne must have noticed, because she quickly took off the pressure of her glare and looked back down over the edge, right back at him, that same smug smile on her face.

"Bring it on sir; I'd be happy to oblige," she shouted back, feigning politeness, and scanning her audience to see what Daniel's reaction would be, but he didn't respond, instead leaning over to tighten the laces of his tennis shoes.

Looking back and forth between his friends, Cam shook his head, knowing what was to come.

They were going to do something stupid, in front of the entire base.

"Daniel, are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked making a face at him, "she's fast." And, Cameron thought to himself, she is going to do anything she needs to make sure that you don't make her look bad in front of everyone. Adrienne had opened up a little more with he, Ronon and Teal'c, but Cam could definitely tell that she wasn't quite used to being forthcoming with others. However there was one thing that she had told them and that was how Daniel made her feel like crap, like she was incompetent and Cam knew that she would do whatever it would take to maintain the level of respect she had worked so hard to achieve.

"She runs distance Cam, like you. This is a sprint, it'll be fun. I can run you know," Daniel replied, walking over to the stairs to head up to the track. Still concerned, Cam looked up to see Adrienne, still talking to Jennifer casually, but stretching her legs. She didn't look worried and that was a clear indicator to Cam that someone was going to get hurt. Sighing, he walked quickly over to watch from the house phone, just in case he needed to call a medic, which he was betting was a pretty good chance.

Without the tiniest bit of fear in his face, Daniel jogged briskly up the spiral stairs, where Adrienne was standing at the top of the stairs, arms crossed, waiting for him.

"So, what brought on this sudden desire to prove one's masculinity? Not getting enough female attention lately?" Adrienne taunted, teased, partially. One of the things that drove her craziest about Daniel was that every damn woman on base and every damn alien woman that they met seemed to fall in love with him. He was attractive, sure, well very attractive, but he was such a stick in the mud and obsessive workaholic that Adrienne had no idea what they saw in him. It wasn't as if Adrienne was some crazy party girl like Vala, she just liked to do more than work once in a while.

Like read a book.

NOT about work.

"I'm here to prove you're not as wonderful as you like to think you are," he answered with a smile as he reached the top step. He's smiling, she thought, is he kidding with me? Why is he so damn hard to read?

"I don't think I'm wonderful. I know I am," she smiled in response, playing right back, if that is what he was doing. Please, she thought, please be playing otherwise I am going to look like a complete and total tchew. Raising his eyebrows, Daniel walked over to the water fountain, removing his glasses carefully, setting them down on the driest place he could find, glancing back over at his assistant.

"You ready?" he asked, walking over to the line, leaning over a bit, taking a stance to start.

"Do you need to stretch first? Get some water? Reconsider?" Adrienne sauntered over to him, smiling. Oh shit, she thought to herself, he's really serious. Can he run fast? If so, I'm screwed, Adrienne tried to quell her worry with confidence, puffing out her chest and bending into another stretch.

"Let's just do this so I can shut you up and get back to what I was trying to do," he motioned to the lane beside him, wondering if she would back down. Oh shit, he thought, she's gonna hold me to this, no Adrienne you are supposed to laugh, call me a loser and then I mock you right? Isn't that how this works?

Nodding, Adrienne looked behind her and signaled Jennifer over.

"Jenn, you call it, start and finish. One lap," Adrienne looked over at Daniel, "Agreed?"

"Sure," he answered, worried, panicked, starting to think that he should have listened to Cam.

Worried, Jennifer peeked back at the rest of her crew who were just shaking their heads. It appeared as if Sheppard and Ronon were going to stay out of it, way out of it, both men backing up slowly to the edges of the track, while Cameron who obviously was trying not to laugh at the entire fiasco, stood, his arms crossed waiting by the emergency phone. No support there either. Resigning herself to the fact that there was no getting out of this, she glanced back at Adrienne, who was now standing beside Daniel, bent into a stance as well.

"Ok, you guys ready?" Jennifer asked, hoping one or both of them would back down.

"YES!" they both shouted in unison looking forward at the raceway.

"Alright," Jennifer stammered, knowing this was really happening and hoping she wouldn't get blamed for the outcome, "uh, on your mark, get set, GO!" she screamed and they both took off full sprint into the straightaway, feet flying and legs pumping, both archaeologists running as if their lives depended on it.

For about three seconds it was neck and neck until they reached the first curve when Adrienne took the lead, cutting over in front of Daniel into the inside lane. The gym was roaring, some cheering Adrienne, but many cheering for Daniel, watching the two history geeks race around the track, so fast that it didn't even seem real.

Coming into the second straightaway Adrienne knew that she was in the lead, no longer feeling the familiar presence of another runner behind her so she decided to run even faster, to show him up, to be able to laugh at him at the finish line, thinking maybe this was it, maybe this was what it would take to finally get them to speak to one another, to maybe be friends. She didn't look back just pushed ahead harder, shortening her steps to increase her speed.

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left and then she was falling, slow motion, and she felt it, but completely lacked the ability to remain on her feet. Cursing herself she knew, she knew she had pushed her sprint too fast, she should have known better, she wasn't a sprinter, and instead of moving forward along the track, she was falling to the ground and instinctively reaching to catch herself.

She heard him, closing in, not slowing and before she hit the ground, she felt a slam, hard, solid, a brick wall from behind. Catching herself on her elbows she tried to remain upright, but the weight on her back, his weight, damn that man was heavy, made her crash her face onto the track forcing her teeth into her bottom lip. Lifting her hand to her mouth, blood spilling out of the wound and around her fingers, she tried to catch the fluid in her hand, but there was too much. She spit it onto the ground and tried to push Daniel off of her, painfully crawling to her knees.

"You fell, right in the middle of the track! I thought you were the goddess of running! " He was yelling, was he still playing or was he screaming at her, trying to stand but fell back down to the ground, "Dammit, my ankle!" Adrienne turned around to face her boss, trying to figure why he was screaming and, more importantly, why he hadn't stopped, and saw him leaning forward holding onto the lower part of his leg, wincing in pain. Wiping the blood from her mouth, she tried to apply pressure to the split portion of her lip, the throbbing in her mouth taking over her good sense.

"You fell on me! How do you not see a human being in the middle of a raceway!" she shoved him with her free hand, not caring about his stupid ankle. Serves him right, she thought, why in the hell did he come up here, he's just been waiting for something else since I took that apple to the face, everyone has been talking about that apple to the face, saying she's just like another Vala with a PhD, there to make more problems than solve them. The thought popped into her head, nearly as painful as the injury itself, and she swore she could hear people laughing at her...

God his ankle hurt so bad, why hadn't he seen her fall, well he had, he just didn't run enough to know how to stop, why did she fall and he was trying to smile and laugh through the pain; this was crazy, this was the most insane thing he had ever done and he was about to laugh and tell her just that when he looked up at her paused, seeing the blood oozing from the sides of her hand.

"Adrienne, are you, what, you're bleeding!" he tried to sit forward to reach for her face, concern in his voice. She was bleeding pretty bad, oh no, he thought, I didn't mean for this to happen...

"No shit Sherlock, I had your big dumb ass land on me and slam me into the ground," she said as she shooed him away with one of her hands, this one also covered in blood that was now drying on the inside of her palm. She didn't want his sympathy, she was angry and horribly embarrassed, wanting escape more than anything else.

"Adrienne, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bust you open," Daniel tried to apologize and leaned forward despite his hurt ankle to see how bad her lip was since there was blood all over the front of her t-shirt, all over the track dripping around her fingers, so much blood for a busted lip, that Daniel was worried that she had done more than just land on her face in the fall, but she pulled away from him, angry, her penetrating gaze driving into him in a way he had never seen before.

"Go to hell Daniel," she replied, keeping her hand to her mouth, bending forward and trying to inch away from her boss, who was effectively sitting on top of her, his good leg trapped under her body.

"What in the world is going on in here? I was called down here, some emergency on the track?" Dr. Lam shouted, dashing into the room medical bag in hand, searching around the facility, to determine what her nurse was talking about when she had been informed of an exercise related injury in the gym. Rather than someone pressed under a weight machine or a broken leg near a treadmill, Cameron was standing, phone receiver in his hand shaking it as he smiled. Smirk plastered across his face, he hung the phone back quickly into its cradle and and just pointed up to the track.

"Two nerds down, self induced," he laughed. Puzzled, Dr. Lam looked up to the elevated track and saw Dr. Jackson Daniel halfway sitting on Dr. Adrienne Rowan, who was holding her bloodied face.

Rolling her eyes in silence, the doctor made her way to the steps.

"Ow!" Adrienne winced in pain as Dr. Lam threaded the final stitch, standing in front of her patient, now in the infirmary, which she had forced her to walk to, unassisted, even by Daniel, who for some unknown was trying to help her as he crutched his way down the halls.

Carolyn Lam did not appear amused.

"Hold still Dr. Rowan," she fussed at her. Carolyn had intentionally used very little pain killer in the hopes of teaching Adrienne a lesson, also intentionally using old style stitches for that very same reason. Adrienne seemed to be in here every other week, fighting injury, running injury, trying to prove herself on a mission injury and it was getting old, fast.

"This is worse than a tattoo," she whined, trying not the flinch. Without so much as a smile in response, Carolyn tied the stitch off and reached for the small table beside her, grabbing some surgical scissors to snip the excess away. Returning her supplies to the table, she finally glared back at Adrienne, examining her work carefully, a scowl on her face.

"It serves you right," Carolyn answered, "You and Dr. Jackson made complete asses of yourselves out there. You're senior staff members acting like children." Adrienne started to respond, both to the ass comment and senior staff member, when she heard a clicking sound coming up behind the doctor, a light tap of metal on stone and leaned over to confirm what she already knew. There Daniel was making his way over to Adrienne on the crutches Carolyn had called down for him, his ankle tightly bound, that never ending look of disappointment plastered across his face. It didn't seem broken, but he seemed to be in about as good of shape as she was, busted, in pain and embarrassed.

"Did he get the same lecture?" Adrienne inquired, still staring and at her visibly less confident boss. In her opinion, he should have gotten the exact same lecture, after all, Daniel was the one who started all of this, Adrienne was completely content being left alone to flirt with Ronon.

"Worse," Daniel answered instead, "She called Sam on me." He gave Adrienne a sheepish grin. Seeing his reaction, not angry, but just with that goofy look on his face, Adrienne couldn't resist, erupting into laughter and grabbing her face in pain. Maybe he was kidding? Was he trying to goof off with her? He sucked at it if he was, but right now she was so confused and she wanted to ask but Dr. Lam was glaring at both of them, not in a laughing mood, her face was emotionless, maybe even bordering on agitated.

This was not a laughing matter.

"Now, I don't think I need to remind the two of you that you're not to push yourselves. Daniel stay off that ankle, even if you just need to get up and grab something, use those crutches and Adrienne no blood pumping activities for at least 72 hours, no fighting, no running, no biking, nothing. You might pop a stitch. And eat carefully, maybe soup..." Dr. Lam gave instructions knowing full well that they wouldn't listen. Daniel might as well have a permanent bed in the infirmary and it looked like Adrienne had a lot more in common with him other than a love of old junk. At least she did her duty, after that behaving was up to them. Sighing, she dismissed them both and went back to tend to the real sick people.

With permission to leave, Adrienne stormed out of the infirmary heading back for the lab.

"Where are you going?" Daniel shouted behind her, confused since she wasn't heading in the direction of the elevators that would take her to her quarters.

"To work, you know, where I would have been going before you decided to go all crazy on me!" Adrienne shouted, partially serious and partially joking, power walking in the direction of the lab, past the gate room and the entrance to Sam's office, trying to smile but her painful lip stopping it. He can't think I'm useless, he needs to see that I'm working through the pain.

"I wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't been flaunting your ass all around the gym like you were something special!" He shouted from behind her as they both made their way down the crowded hall. That made Adrienne stop. Once again she had been kidding and once again he had been too socially inept to get the joke and was challenging her right here in public. Or was he? Confused, trying to read him, she turned, touching a passerby she had bumped into on the shoulder, and made a face at him.

"Me flaunting around the gym!? ME!? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?!" she shot back, smiling, shit that hurt, was she smiling, could he see the smile, this was fun, come on Daniel laugh, flaunt yourself around on the crutches...

Looked at himself in the mirror? What was she talking about? He didn't walk around here acting like he was something special, if anything he was the forgotten one, the washed up guy in the old dusty lab who had been degraded to making training videos after the Destiny fiasco.

"Me flaunting around? I'm not the one acting like I can just take out anyone and everyone who crosses my path," he spat back, not joking now, now she was just being hateful.

"I was jokin 'round wit my FRIEND Ronon, one ah DREE people on dis base dat acts like I donna have da plague and ya 'ad to stick ya nose in MY business. Sorry if dis lil' woman doesn't know 'er place and if I can actually goof off wit the males of da species without an intent ta screw them!" Adrienne yelled loudly down the hallway, some SG employees stopping to look at them. His face screwed up into a scowl, Daniel stopping dead in his tracks, a few feet away facing her, carefully balancing himself on his crutches. There seemed to be a small crowd of people gathering, waiting to see what would happen next, but the two archaeologists just stared one another down as if they were completely alone in the passage way.

"What are you talking about act like you have the plague?! No one acts like that! You're delusional and paranoid! " Daniel countered. How dare she attack him like this; she was the one that had chosen to avoid him, act like he was some antiquated idiot that didn't really understand the real world. The faces in the crowd looked back at Adrienne awaiting her response but she wasn't about to give Daniel the satisfaction of her embarrassing herself in the hallway.

Let him have the last word.

She turned once more, face straight and mouth closed, continuing her trek to the lab. Letting out a sigh, Daniel adjusted his crutches following her again; he wasn't about to let her make him look like the bad guy here. He had never lost his cool with someone around here this bad, at least publicly, and he wasn't about to allow this to turn into some Adrienne Rowan pity festival. He shouted out her name once more trying to get her to stop but she ignored him, if anything, she picked up her pace, nearly breaking out into a jog in the hallway, dodging personnel as she went.

Lesson learned, Daniel, lesson learned, he thought.

Don't try to goof off with Adrienne.

When they got to the lab, she simply walked over to her desk, gathered up her things quickly slipping them into her backpack and headed back for the door.

"I thought you were going to work?" he sniped at her from the doorway. After that performance she was just going to use this as an excuse to get out of working? So much for being so dedicated to her job.

"I am. The base has WiFi, or for those of us who barely know how to turn the computer on, that's nerd slang for Wireless Internet. I'm going to my quarters. Or Ronon's. Then I can work with someone who actually respects me as an equal," Adrienne retorted. She had every intention of finishing her database tasks for the day, Daniel's asshattery or not.

She left without another word.

"Respects her as an equal; so damn dramatic," Daniel muttered to himself slowly making his way over to the desk. He very carefully sat into his chair, leaning his crutches over to where he could get to them easily, trying to pick up where he left off early this morning, staring at his phone instead.

Would she believe him if he called and apologized? The week had been so great, Adrienne listening to his instructions, asking questions, really working hard to learn from their mistakes on the last mission and prepare for the next.

What had happened?

The work day ended, but Daniel was so annoyed by the interruption earlier in the afternoon that he decided to stay and work late. After all, what else did he have to do? There was no off world mission for another few days and Adrienne was supposed to be working on that one as well as her regular database tasks, if she was working on anything at all. She hadn't checked in with him all day, which again, considering the past week was strange but maybe she was still upset about this morning and needed time to cool off. Focusing on the other items on his to do list, he was just moving on to another part of the database when he heard loud laughter coming from down the hall, loud familiar laughter.

"Girl, you shouldn't have picked up the pace. You HAD him. You could have trotted right along and been smooth sailing to the finish," it was Cam's voice and it sounded as if he was talking about this morning. Daniel halting his typing, dropping to absolute silence in an effort to hear what they were saying. Cam had said 'girl' so Daniel knew he must be talking to Adrienne and whoever else was out there with them. a small group at least he determined as he heard a collection of footsteps moving closer.

"I know, it was stupid, and I'm paying for it now. He makes me so damn mad. I thought he was kidding, I mean he kids right? Does he have a sense of humor at all? But no, just when I think we're on equal ground he tries to do whatever he can to make me look like an ass in front of everyone. Now I can see why Vala said he could go fuck himself, who wants to be around someone who acts like that," Adrienne responded, sounding hurt more than anything. Holding his breath, Daniel stood from his computer, casually walking over to the file cabinets, the best he could on his sprained ankle, disregarding his crutches and Dr. Lam's instructions. They were making him sound like a complete asshole.

Was that what everyone thought of him now?

"I think a more important question is, can you drink?" that was Ronon talking now. Daniel was happy the subject was no longer him, but nonetheless, made sure he could not be seen as they passed by the door.

"Indeed. Perhaps we should invite DanielJackson. Maybe you two can talk? Maybe a drink would amend the situation?" Teal'c suggested. That's right Teal'c, Daniel thought to himself, someone had to defend me, I'm not that bad, invite me, I'm right here, I'd go, but he didn't speak, didn't ask, just remained hidden in the shadows, awaiting the response from his assistant.

"No way shug, I want to have fun tonight, not worry about my blood pressure. He makes me feel like I'm stupid. Dr. Grumpypants said I needed to stick to fluids like soups and I think that tequila quantifies as a fluid..." Adrienne giggled playfully, Cam laughing loudly at her suggestion. He heard them walk by the lab and down the hall, waiting until he could no longer hear footsteps and hobbled his way back over to his desk.

"I raise your blood pressure? Then what in the hell do you think you do to me?" Daniel said aloud to himself, trying not to sound as offended as he was feeling and sat down in his chair once more, looking back at his screen and logging in, determined to accomplish something.

"Hey blue eyes, why are you still working?" Daniel heard some time later, although he couldn't be sure as to how much later, and glanced up to see Vala peering in the doorway, smiling at him like she knew something. He knew exactly what she knew and still wasn't in the mood to hear about it.

"Oh, just wanted to catch up, I got a little behind today," he answered causally, refocusing his attention to his screen hoping she would leave it at that.

"I heard," she said, standing from her leaning position against the door jam, walking over to his desk. as she pointed to the crutches,"quite the talk of the base."

"Please don't lecture me. I'm well aware of how stupid it was alright," Daniel looked back up at her, "and besides, why aren't you drinking with the rest of them?" Since Vala and Adrienne seemed to have created a personal girls club that's mission statement was to drive him insane, he was surprised she was not on this little tequila binge the others were talking about, but Vala just shrugged.

"I wasn't invited," she answered, jumping up to sit on his desk as he looked over at her surprised.

"You weren't invited?" Daniel questioned, puzzled. Ok, that was odd. What happened to that gossiping mess they were doing on the last mission? Maybe Vala wasn't one of Adrienne's magic three she had been referring to earlier.

"No, it's Cameron's boy's night. Which apparently now includes Addy," Vala replied, a cool tone in her voice. Daniel sat back in his desk chair, looking at her dumbfounded. He wasn't sure what confused him more, Adrienne going to boy's night or his not being invited but either way, it was a double insult. Vala must have read his mind, because she washed the look off of her face, grinning at him kindly.

"I know what you're thinking. First, boy's night without me? Daniel, you can't even stay sober on one beer and you complain the entire time about the taste. They've given up on you. Second, Addy and the boys? Yeah, she's one of the boys now after tapping you one across the face in training. That seems to be her role here, putting you in your place," Vala explained, adding the last part jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood. Daniel, however, pinched his nose under his glasses, remembering that training session. Who'd thought that short, big hipped, big mouthed little Cajun had that kind of fight in her? His cheek almost stung a little at the memory.

"Huh," Daniel responded, thinking back to her latest tell off of him today. Adrienne did mention something about not feeling like she fit in. Was this was she meant? Were Teal'c, Cam and Dex her three? Maybe he wasn't the only one feeling like the outsider, maybe he had made Adrienne feel just that and if that was the case, it made him feel worse about this morning. Dammit, that was the wrong approach, I shouldn't have messed with her like that, why did I do that?

"Huh, what?" Vala asked, bringing Daniel's mind back to their conversation. Shrugging, she pushed his glasses up his face furrowing his forehead.

"Just something she said. What about the women? Why doesn't she hang around the women?" Daniel was now curious; Adrienne had been chatting up on the overhang with Jennifer Keller this morning, or so he thought, and she seemed to be on good terms with Sam and Vala, well seemed to be. Maybe this was something else he had misjudged.

"Well, I hang out with her and I like her, she's hysterical, but she doesn't really like girly things. She would rather watch Star Wars and try to out quote Teal'c then she would want to get a manicure. She barely has nails," Vala replied.

Daniel nodded in agreement, having noticed that about Adrienne. She was an attractive woman, but she didn't seem to care about the same things, well, Vala did, in fact she seemed to live in yoga pants or her uniform 24/7. She did, however, attach herself to Teal'c very quickly, so naturally it made sense that Ronon would be next, and Cameron, well, Daniel knew where Cameron's mind was, he made that clear every last damn time the two of them were in the gym. Sensing his discomfort, Vala gazed down at him and placed her hand over his.

"Come on handsome, let's go get dinner," she said as she hopped off the table, pulling him along with her, a mischievous grin plastered across her face. him.

"Where?" Daniel asked quickly, knowing where Vala's mind was, where Vala's mind always was.

"The commissary; I don't want to eat alone. Then, I'm going to soak in the tub. You can join me for that as well," she winked. There it was, without fail, and Daniel rolled his eyes.

"I'll pass on that," Daniel answered, "but I am hungry. Can you help me with these damn things?" he pointed to the crutches. Nodding, Vala handed them over to him and Daniel stood, shoving the crutches under his arms and following her out to the cafeteria.

Vala made her way through the line, grabbing him some pizza and a soda and brought it over with her own dinner, setting the tray down in front of him.

"I'm not an invalid," he responded, but appreciated the gesture. Despite the fact they hadn't worked out, he did value her as a friend, when she wasn't trying to get them back together or just get him into her bed. She reached out for the soda, a sly grin on her face, her desire to torment him oozing out of her.

"Yes, you are. It seems that if there was a winner in this, it was Addy," Vala teased as she opened his drink, which he jerked it away, rolling his eyes at her.

"No, she fell. If I hadn't tripped over her sprawled out like that, well, there wasn't supposed to be a winner. I was joking with her," Daniel finished, twisting the bottle top and taking a swig, Vala smiling brightly as he did.

"Joking or not, you fell too and you're hobbling along with those things like a cripple. She got stitches, they're still trying to get her blood off of the track yet she's out taking shots with the big boys," Vala lifted her eyebrows, "And Sam isn't mad at her..." she added quickly.

Vala was right. Immediately after Adrienne had stormed out of the lab, demanding she work alone, he was called up to Sam's office. She was waiting outside of the door, arms crossed, as if she wanted to see him struggle to get there. Pointing inside while he crutched in and sat on the corner of her desk, Sam watched him with her eyes and shut the door behind them.

"Daniel, what were you thinking?. A footrace? With a woman 15 years younger than you? Who is your assistant? In front of the ENTIRE gym? I just don't even know what to say anymore," Sam shook her head taking a seat beside him on the desk, reaching over, placing her hand kindly on his leg. She hadn't hired Adrienne to cause a problem; she had hired Adrienne to help him and everything she read about Adrienne had led to believe that she and Daniel were very much alike, by all accounts this should not be working out in the way it had. Sam had hoped they would get along, that Daniel would take her under his wing and mold her to be what he already was, one of the most amazing people she had ever met. Not pushing her hand away, why was everyone so touchy with him lately, Daniel gazed at the ground mournfully, letting out a sigh before he answered.

"I was trying to mess with her," Daniel replied, hoping that Sam didn't have a follow up question to that. Sure Sam, see our last fight, yes, I keep track, she told me she was trying to kid with me and I was basically too stupid to figure it out so I tried to kid back with her today because she isn't that bad and I'm trying to get along with her and like everything in my entire life it blew up in my face.

Please don't ask a follow up.

"Why?" Sam inquired, "What do you mean mess with her? Are you trying to scare her away? As if almost being taken out by angry villagers wasn't enough? Daniel, she does everything you ask of her, everything, and she does it well. Your lab's output on the database has doubled since she arrived, doubled," Sam stressed the word.

"She's smart, there's NO arguing that, I realize that and she's a good worker. I just," Daniel started, stopping his sentence. He didn't want to answer this, he was dumb, it was dumb and he was paying for it in more ways than one.

"You know, she's a lot like you used to be, like in some ways you still are..." Sam added, pointing at his wrapped ankle, but Daniel simply rolled his eyes.

"Are we finished?" he asked gruffly, having no further desire to sit here being lectured by his friend like he was some stupid teenager. Frowning, he stood to leave, shoving the crutches underneath of his arms again and leaning onto them. Sam reached out to help him but he held out his hand refusing the offer, standing without assistance.

"If you can assure me that I won't have to spend my afternoon trying to organize another clean up team to remove Adrienne's blood from the gym floor, then yes," Sam replied playfully, following him to the door in case he needed any help, but he didn't and Daniel left without answering her, crutching his way back to the lab.

"I'm not sure whether to be happy that he's trying to get along with her or terrified," she sighed, returning back to her real work.

That was this afternoon, a conversation he didn't care to repeat.

After dinner Daniel returned to his work, refusing help from Vala, despite her insistence. She hadn't said anything else the entire rest of the meal about Adrienne, the fall, or anything else for that matter, but he still didn't want to think about any of it, he just wanted to go and absorb himself into the database. At midnight, he was still working when he heard that familiar laughter once again coming from the hallway.

It seemed his little Cajun problem was back, her entourage in tow.

"Woah, woah, woah, Addy get his other arm. Dex, man, what did you drink?' it was Cam's voice again and judging by the sounds from the others it did not sound like Ronon was doing too well. Daniel guessed it was the tequila Adrienne had been talking about earlier.

"Not that much, I swear, Mitchell, it was those damn nachos. My stomach is killing me," Ronon responded, sounding weak and miserable, as if he was going to throw up onto the floor.

"RononDex I said they did not look consumable, but you refused to heed my advice," Teal'c added and Daniel heard Adrienne bust out laughing.

"Wait, wait. I think I've got something in my locker in the lab. Teal'c, ya got 'im?" He heard her voice, clearly sober, and shuffling coming toward the lab. Trying to act like he wasn't listening, why am I listening, why do I care, Daniel quickly popped his headphones on just in time as Adrienne dashed around the corner making a beeline for her locker but paused, noticing her boss working quietly at his desk.

She made a face a him, waving her hands in the air annoyed before looking back into her locker, digging around her gym bag and producing a small green bottle, probably some herbal remedy knowing Adrienne. Shutting the locker door, she cut those eyes of hers back over at him, marching up to his desk and ripping the headphones from his head.

"Hey, what's the big idea!" he scolded, but unmoved, Adrienne simply pointed to the clock over the door.

"It's midnight, bedtime shug," she replied, smiling, grabbing his arm to pull him upward while he tried to jerk it away, glaring menacingly at her.

"Look Daniel, I'm not trying to get into your pants so don't get excited. I was hired to insure that you went back to functioning on human being hours. Midnight is when people go to bed, so get up. You need sleep. I'll deal with Ronon first and then I can help you," she said, tempering her tone, pulling his arm again. He jerked back, less forcefully this time and stood, glaring at her as she made a low noise of disgust in her throat.

"You take asshole to an entirely new level. I am trying to help you. Whatever, come on, I'm not gonna catch hell from Sam or anyone for leaving you here," she stated, walking briskly over to the lab door to shut off the light. Still frowning, Daniel hobbled behind her, only coming to keep Sam happy.

After today's events, Sam would come down in the morning to check on him and if she found him face on keyboard it wouldn't be pretty.

He pulled the door closed behind them, carefully, trying not to fall off of the crutches, scanning the rest of Adrienne's little band of merry men as she handed Ronon the tablets and a vitamin water she had pulled from her locker. He took them without question, thanked her and passed the water back but she shook her hand, insisting that he keep it.

"Will that shit work?" Ronon looked at them asking pitifully.

"Yea, it works, ginger root's good. Why is it when I suggest something like that you don't take me seriously?" Cameron responded, pulling Ronon higher onto his feet.

"Because AdrienneRowan has a superior IQ," Teal'c answered in jest causing Cameron to punch his arm.

"You guys got him?" Adrienne finally spoke, "I'm gonna take Daniel here and make sure he gets into bed ok and check his ankle." Puzzled, Daniel glared at her again, unsure as to whether she was being nice or setting him up for a fall.

"Get over yourself," she whispered, reading his face, the only expression she could read, pulling him gently away from the group as Cameron and Teal'c hoisted Ronon up onto their shoulders taking him down the hall.

"Thank you, but I'm capable of getting myself to bed," he mumbled, a cross between actual thanks and annoyance, something Adrienne was too tired to decipher.

"Can you check your own ankle? Really check it? What if it needs to be iced, elevated, you need meds, or are you just going to hobble around your room like a stubborn ass?" she replied, grabbing his arm again, the gentleness from just moments before gone, heading to his quarters. Frustrated, he pushed her away with the crutch and followed, remaining silent down the hall, up the elevator and the entire walk to his room.

The red light indicating his door was locked was blinking, but Adrienne just powered on, tapping around on the keypad and coding herself in, Daniel looking over at her strangely.

"How do you know my room code?" he asked.

"I know all of your codes," Adrienne replied quickly, "I memorized them."

"Why?" he continued, confused once more.

"In case I ever needed to get in here in a hurry. I'm your assistant. What if you were off world and the key to getting you out of trouble was sitting on your nightstand? I'd need to get in there, right?" Adrienne answered, simply, turning the knob when the light went green, backing up to let him in. Daniel, didn't argue, she had a point with that one, and crutched himself past her carefully into his room. Entering behind him, Adrienne pointed to the bed and he frowned, embarrassed by her insistence on babying him, even if she was being nice about it.

"Christ, does every woman you know want to sleep with you? I didn't memorize your room code to jump your bones in the middle of the night, me, personally, I like to sleep in the middle of the night. I'm going to help get your boot off, check your ankle and then I'm going to bed myself. I still have a lot to go over before Thursday," Adrienne retorted, was she retorting, continuing to point at the bed.

Well there goes nice, he thought.

Refraining from argument, yet throughly confused by her statement, Daniel allowed her to get to her task. What was she talking about every woman wanting to sleep with him? People barely acknowledged his existence anymore, much less the female personnel, but he sat down as she asked. Carefully, she knelt to the ground in front of him, slowly unlacing the black combat boot, removing it from his foot and tossing it over to the corner where the other one was waiting, presumably brought down by one of the medical staff that treated his leg. Boot off, she returned her attention to the injured ankle, gently undoing the wrap to expose a rather large area of deep black and purple swelling, lined with red. She ran her fingers around the injury, hunting for what he wasn't sure, but it tickled and he tried not to laugh as she continued her examination. He wondered for a moment what she was doing, but then remembered from her file that she had been a lifeguard or something in high school and college, so she probably had at least some basic first aide knowledge besides taking care of her father.

Nice, he repeated in his head, she can be nice. She's being nice. She's worried about you.

"How's your lip?" he asked, the rudeness from earlier gone. Adrienne let out a breath, turning his ankle slightly to peer at the achilles tendon, making him wince in pain.

"Sorry, just checking for fluid build-up. It's fine, but it might scar," she answered, not trying to make him feel bad, just trying to be truthful.

"I really didn't mean to bust you open, I just wanted to shut you up," he stated, realizing quickly that the latter was a poor choice of words, why didn't he just say I was trying to joke with you, but she didn't retaliate, merely placed his foot gently down at the floor, gazing back up at him with those haunting dark eyes.

"You do realize I was kidding right. With Dex? We kid a LOT. You're just never around to see me actually having a good time," she responded quietly and stood, heading for the door. I guess he wasn't kidding though, she thought, I guess he was really trying to shut me up. At least that was somewhat of an apology, but it was too late and she was too tired to discuss this with him right now, not that he would listen anyway.

As expected, Daniel didn't respond, he just got up, against Dr. Lam's orders without crutches and limped over to the bathroom. Adrienne got the sudden urge to make a crude joke but stopped, deciding that she would tell Ronon later; he would appreciate it.

Daniel would take it the wrong way like he took everything.

Turning the knob, Adrienne just left, leaving Daniel to navigate the bathroom alone.

Daniel awoke to sirens the next morning and leapt from the bed, crumbing immediately to the floor.

"Damn ankle," he swore and made his way over to the dresser, hobbling in pain, to try to find clean clothes. He threw on the first things he could find and headed for the elevators, hoping whatever emergency did not lock them and force him to go down the stairs on these damn annoying crutches. Fortunately, the doors swung open and he rushed inside, smashing his finger against the button.

Arriving at the gate room he discovered the door was shut and armed personnel were stationed outside, guns ready.

"What's going on?" he asked the young man closest to him, who peered over his shoulder quickly to put a face to the name.

"SG-8 came in hot, needed back-up. Most of the team has been taken to the infirmary, but General sent SG-1 to recover the last two," the soldier replied.

"SG-1?" Daniel looked at him confused.

"Yes sir, sent your assistant in your place since you were injured sir," he explained and turned back to watch at the door. Daniel shook is head, unsure if he had heard the man correctly and adjusted his body on the crutches.

"Wait, did you say my assistant? About five eight, brown hair, FEMALE, only worked here a few months, BIG MOUTH?!" Daniel clarified.

"Yes sir, Dr. Rowan, she's one tough chic, sir," the man responded, but before Daniel could say anything further the doors were opening again, guns shifting to point into the the open doorway.

"Move!" he heard Dr. Lam shout behind him, forcing him to jump painfully to heed her request and let them in, the small team dashing madly in the direction of the open wormhole. Once they were past him, he peered around the corner to see what was going on just as Teal'c came through the gate carrying a blond woman in SG gear over his shoulder, followed by Vala and Adrienne with a man draped between them. The medical staff rushed to help his teammates, correction, his teammates and his lab rat, and he could see Adrienne saying something to Vala that he couldn't make out as she was rubbing her neck now free of the weight of another human from her shoulder. The girls laughed and looked back at the gate for Cameron who was coming through last, unencumbered, the remaining two members of SG-8 crossing through behind him. Teal'c rejoined the group and Daniel watched with curiosity as the four of them stood there, chatting for a moment to allow the medical team time to start moving the injured members of SG-8 onto stretchers and then broke apart, making their way for the exit.

The archaeologist stood there dumbfounded at the entire scene when he noticed that Adrienne, who hated P-90's and bullets, was not carrying a P-90, or a Zat gun for that matter, she was holding a Jaffa staff weapon.

What in the world was going on?

"Good morning handsome," Vala said as she walked by, "You missed the fun." She squeezed his arm gently and kept walking, heading for the mandatory medical exam.

"Looks like it," he answered trailing, noting that Adrienne was behind her, and followed, not saying a word to him, cutting her eyes away sheepishly, as if she were embarrassed to be there.

"You didn't miss anything," Cam told him as he followed behind Adrienne, "Just a few Lucians that weren't expecting resistance. Or staff weapons," he added, Teal'c, walking tall, strong and smiling, approaching from behind.

"AdrienneRowan cannot even hold a P90 but she shows great skill with a staff weapon, I am quite pleased CameronMitchell called her to join us," Teal'c said as he left the gateroom himself, smiling brightly.

And then they were gone, the team plus his assistant, leaving him standing alone at the doorway.

Daniel was speechless.

They didn't' even call me, was all he could think.

"Move!" his heart leapt from his chest as he heard her shout at him once more, causing him to stumble as he backed up to get out of her way, stretchers with the injured powering past him and down the long white hallway.

What a way to start my morning, he thought, taking a few deep breaths to calm the pounding in his head and in his gut. Instead of heading to the commissary, he decided just to go to the lab and eat a Powerbar there, hoping the excitement of the day was now over.

There was tapping as he crutched his way around the corner, feverish tapping, and he didn't even need to look to know that Adrienne was there already working away as if she didn't just go fight of a squad of Lucians over breakfast. This is why she got on his nerves; she should be shaken up, pumped up, anything, but instead she was calm, cool and collected as if nothing happened and back to playing the Ms. Perfect card. To top it all off, the staff weapon was propped up on the wall right behind her as if she was inviting the attention of having it, but Daniel refused to indulge her, crutching slowly and deliberately, just enough so she would notice his presence without his having to announce it.

"I left the file over there for that Incan world, the dispute. Can you look over my notes?" she asked politely, no attitude or anything. Why was she being nice? She just had a little jaunt off world, doing his job, and here she was, smiling at him? It made him want to scream, to grab her shoulders and shake her and ask her why in the hell she was here to torture him.

Forcing his emotions into check, he glanced over at her, her brown hair falling out of a tight ponytail and coming to a gentle rest on her cheek and her face in total concentration.

"Sure," he responded with as little emotion, determined that he wasn't going to let her know that she was bothering him. Adjusting his glasses, he opened the file and began to read, scanning her careful script, noting she had used legal paper instead of a computer, maybe even having done for so his benefit. He read carefully, mouthing the lines as his eyes moved across them, but there were no errors in the new work, she had made each and every change he had suggested, obviously having listened to him. She had done everything he had asked, again.

Frowning as he shut the folder, he glanced quickly down at her, raising his eyebrow and forcing a thin smile.

"Looks fine," he said, setting it down in front of him onto the corner of his desk, not desiring to shove the crutches back underneath the bruises their padding was creating underneath his arms.

"Thank you, I tried to make sure to cover everything you asked. I'll get it as soon as I get to a stopping point," she kept typing and didn't look up. Well, she had done everything he asked, he had to give her credit for that, his brain already moving onto his task for today as he opened his computer screen. He had been at it only a few moments when out of the corner he saw her stand and begin to approach him, her iPad in hand, reading something closely as she walked, her shadow from the bright laboratory lights casting down on his arm. He wouldn't have bothered looking up from his screen and the notepad at his hand, were it not for the strange dripping noise that he couldn't place, making him glance up to see his assistant, eyes wide in horror, dripping blood from her mouth right onto his desk and the mission folder.

"ADRIENNE!" he shouted and leapt up in shock as blood was pouring out of her mouth, almost as rapidly as it was yesterday.

"Sorry, I must have popped a stitch when I was off world," she was looking up at him, her hand over her mouth, frightened and frozen. He pulled her hand away and sure enough, she had popped one of the stitches, the thin thread hanging from the bottom of her still swollen lip.

"Didn't Dr. Lam say no blood-pumping activities!" he shouted and grabbed a tissue, shoving it at her face. He hadn't meant to snap, he wasn't sure why he snapped at her, she was standing here in pain, holding her face in shock.

"Well, since my boss was unavailable, I had to go do his job and them come back to do mine!" she was trying to shout, trying to fight back, but her voice was muffled, her hand back over her mouth. She didn't mean to yell that, she had felt bad when Cam called her down to the gate room only to find out that no one had even alerted Daniel. Knowing that he wasn't going to offer any assistance, he was blaming her, blaming her for Cam saying he was too injured to go, Adrienne rushed across the lab and right out the door, Daniel quickly shoving the crutches under his arms to follow her the best that he was able.

"Where are you going now?" he shouted.

"To fuckin' Mars dipshit!" she cursed behind, where in the hell did he think she was going, everyone going down the hallway stopping to look at her, swearing up a storm in a thick cajun accent, and then back at him, hobbling pitifully behind on a still swollen ankle and crutches.

There were whispers surrounding Daniel as he moved, talk of whether or not they were going to have another fight in the hallway, whether or not Adrienne was going to get fired, whether or not they were sleeping together and this was a lover's spat, fueling Daniel's rage and confusion. He chased after Adrienne toward the elevators that would take them up a floor to where the infirmary and gym were housed. The cajun stepped inside, her hand still firmly pressed to her lips, seeing him coming, and reaching quickly to hit the close door button, but Daniel jammed a crutch in between the doors just in time and jumped in, falling onto Adrienne and knocking them both to the floor of the elevator.

"Why da fuck wonnna ya leave me alone!?" she screamed, taking her hands from her mouth and shoving him back against the elevator and off of her, causing him to slam his head into the side of the wall. Crawling onto her knees and trying to hold her dripping mouth, Adrienne reached up and pressed the button to take her to the infirmary's level and watched the doors close, grabbing the hand rails with her free arm on the elevator and hoisting herself to a standing position. Seeing her stand, Daniel struggled to get up himself, his ankle throbbing and refusing to support his weight, and looking to her for assistance, but she refused to help him, instead spat in his direction releasing a stream of unintelligible Cajun swear words down upon him, garnering an equally as vicious response from him. There was a jolt and motion and the elevator moved upward, Daniel and Adrienne still swearing and screaming at one another.

When the doors opened, there was Cameron, in running clothes and sweaty, towel wrapped around his neck. Jogging up behind him was Dr. Carson Beckett, who had apparently joined him in a run since Adrienne was out of commission for three days. The two men stood in awe, taking in the sight in front of them, Adrienne was leaning into the corner of elevator, hand to her mouth, blood oozing out of her fingers, as she glared downward, swearing profusely at Daniel, who was sprawled out onto the floor, one hand holding onto the railing of the elevator and the other hanging onto his ankle cursing right back.

"What in the world!?" Cameron exclaimed. Of all of the insane fights he had seen Daniel and Adrienne have, Daniel and anybody have, this was the most ridiculous by far. What in the hell was wrong with them? Separate, they were two of the most intelligent rational people he had ever met, but together, it was as if they had been made to be at one another's throat. Adrienne stopped shouting, realizing the door was open for her escape, and kicked Daniel, giving him the finger and starting to leave the elevator, but Cam jumped in front of her, holding his hands out. Adrienne stopped, her eyes afire, preparing to swear at him as well as Cameron looked over his shoulder.

"Carson?" he asked, "Will Addy bleed to death?"

Grimacing, the doctor stepped forward and carefully peeled Adrienne's hand from her mouth, leaning forward and peering at her lip. He cocked his head and pulled her chin down, turning her left and then right, finally looking back over at Cam.

"No, she popped a stitch, but it's started to clot already," Carson replied, letting go of her face and stepping back, Cam smiling at his answer.

"Good," he replied and tossed Adrienne his towel, clasping her shoulder firmly as he shoved the confused woman back into the elevator. He stepped back and moved to the emergency key box over the elevator button, waving his ID card, lifting the plastic lid and removing the firefighter's key, looking back at his friends once more.

"I've had it with you two. Everyone has had it with you two! All you do is fight and compete and fight and compete. For no good reason! Adrienne has never done anything to you and christ Addy, he admitted he was wrong in the beginning. But for some reason you two just go on and on and on. You want to hate each other, fine, but the rest of us are sick of hearing it! So, here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna lock you two educated idiots in this elevator and no one's coming out until I feel that you've come to some sort of an agreement as to how you're gonna tolerate one another. Because newsflash Jackson, she ain't going away, and Addy, he's not going anywhere either. You both need to figure out how to deal with that!"

There was nothing else that needed to be said, Cameron just stepped away from the elevator doors and moved toward the key slot, inserting the key and turning. Reality setting in as the two archaeologists figured out what was about to happen, both Adrienne and Daniel began shouting at him, Adrienne even trying to make a mad dash through the door, but Cameron just ignored them as the doors locked, Adrienne drawing back her hand just in time.

Smiling, Cam walked over to the red emergency phone, drawing the receiver from its cradle.

"Hey Walter, can you tell Sam that the elevators are tied up for a bit. No, no emergency, but tell her she'll thank me later," Cam hung up the phone and turned to leave, Carson staring at him, mouth open.

"Aren't you going to wait around?" he asked as Cam walked toward the stairs.

"Nope, I'll have Walter check the cameras in about an hour. I'm gonna shower. Trust me, it's gonna take at least an hour for one of them to actually speak to the other one," Cam opened the door to the stairwell. Carson just shook his head and followed.

It took 45 minutes.

"Can you help me straighten my leg, it fell asleep," Daniel spoke first, Adrienne silently pleased to have won this battle, but she didn't respond, just reached over, fixing his leg, not dignifying his request with a verbal response, infuriating Daniel.

"Are you kidding me?" Daniel shouted, "You see, this is why you infuriate me so badly! Why I kicked you out of that church on the last mission, why I have nothing to do with you!" She glared over at him sharply.

"And this is why I can't stand you! You think you know everything about everything and once you've made up your mind, that's it. You only acknowledge my existence when you want something!" she spat in return, looking forward again. She was his assistant and she was there to, well, assist him, but a "How are you doing today?" would be nice once in a while.

She was a person, she had feelings, even if he didn't have any.

"That's not true!" he roared, angered at what she was inferring. She was his assistant; she's supposed to do things when he wanted them but she was making it sound like she was slave labor. Her eyes were on his once more.

"Yes it is! You sat there trying your best not to talk to me until YOU needed something!" she retorted, her voice raising again, her heart pounding in anger.

"Ow!" Daniel mumbled, as he started to sit up, reaching to rub the sore limb while Adrienne sat back in her corner, keeping silent. He was grunting beside her, trying to get himself into a more comfortable position, and she started rolling her eyes, continuing her stare forward, running the Greek alphabet through her mind, trying to ignore him, but she just couldn't. Sighing, Adrienne came to her knees, crawling over to him and reaching over to take his ankle in her hands, unwrapping it gently.

Daniel was puzzled, why was she doing this, he thought she hated him, she was just screaming at him, but she didn't speak, just removed the bandage, checking his ankle as she had last night, her fingers lightly tickling his skin.

Getting as comfortable as he could on the floor of an elevator with a busted ankle, Daniel gazed down at this woman, this relative stranger, kneeling in front of him on the elevator floor, very visibly angry but checking his injury over nonetheless. He was still pissed but he didn't want to spend the rest of his day sitting in a suspended box either, so he decided to say something, try to figure a way out of this.

"Have you considered for a moment that you never take the time to talk to me either?" Daniel questioned, trying to remain as calm as possible, his eyebrows raising in curiosity. This was a two way street, maybe if she tried to be friendly with him instead of act like he had something wrong with him he would be a little nicer to her in return.

"That's not true," she said in return, turning her gaze to meet his once more.

"It isn't? So, yesterday, when I challenged you to run, you didn't see me smiling, laughing? I was kidding Adrienne, I was trying to be friendly, but you had to take it too seriously, as if I planned the entire damn thing out, like I wanted to bust you open? Then, to top it off, you just jaunt off world, happily in my place, like an arrogant bitch," Daniel continued, wanting to slap his own idiotic self in the face for calling her a bitch. Now, if she hadn't already, she was going to explode.

"An arrogant bitch!?' now Adrienne was angry, not just merely annoyed. It's one thing to treat her poorly, it was another to do so and then proceed to call her a name in the process.

"Yes, an arrogant bitch. You might not be parading around here like you can sleep with anyone you want, but you certainly act like you are superior to them all. No wonder the women hate you," Daniel hissed, being too late to take it back now, he just let it all pour out, everything that had been going through his head since his conversation with Vala.

"Fuck you! You don't even know me! You don't even take five fuckin minutes to ask me anything about anything other than did I fuckin' finish what you've ordered me to do!" she screamed, dropping his leg painfully onto the floor of the elevator.

"You're my ASSISTANT, you're supposed to do what I tell you to do!" he raged back, "why in the hell are you so indignant!? What did you expect to march in here like the queen of fuckin' Sheba!?"

"Nah, I expected ta come en 'ere ahn work wit a renowned professional en da field not a stuck up *tchew who dinks he is bedda dan everyone ahn wants everyone ta bow aht his feet! I'm nah 'ere ta get ya coffee ahn blow ya!" she added, her face red, her accent fierce. (*tchew - cajun - ass)

"Why do you keep saying that!?" he demanded, confused as to why she had pinned him some on base stud.

"*Putain, really? Ya eedah an eedeeit o ah asshole den," she replied, moving away from his foot and sitting back where she was before. (*Putain - cajun - general swear expletive)

"Yes really? You're the one thinking like Vala here! Who rubbed whose leg when?" he raged back, trying to stand and falling back onto his butt.

"What in the hell are you talking about?! You are the LAST thing on my mind!" she countered, controlling her accent, she wanted him to understand exactly everything she was saying.

"Back on Grayson's planet, you don't remember?" he asked now feeling stupid for even bringing it up.

"Dear God you *coo yon, I'm Southern, we touch everybody. Don't worry, I'm nah tryina ta join da bang Daniel fan club," she retorted, staring back at the wall. (*coo yon - cajun - fool)

"Look, I have no idea where in the world you're getting these crazy ideas about me but I didn't mean to bust your lip or make you look stupid. No one is out to get you, I'm not out to get you and the sooner you realize that the better you'll be, the better we'll all be. What are you trying to prove? You've got the job?" he hissed, glaring at her, challenging her stare as she fumed, her eyes widening her lips trembling.

"I can't fuckin' fail ya ignorant asshole! I canna fail, don't ya get it!? Did ya READ my folder!? Did ya READ anyding!? Do ya know wha 'tis ta grow up in fuckin' Louisiana?! It's edda perfect ah nuthin' ya idiot!" she howled back, slipping again, confusing him further.

What was she talking about now?

"Fuck you Daniel," she continued before he could ask, calming her accent again so he would understand, "fuck you for being an inconsiderate tchew, fuck you for being a man. Things aren't as easy for a woman in the South, ok, and apparently they aren't gonna be that easy here. I have done everything thing that you have asked, I have tried to be professional, I have tried everything I could to please you," she screamed, her voice cracking at the end. Was she crying? Was Adrienne trying not to cry?

"Fine, you win, I quit," she added, looking back up at the camera in the corner, "You hear me Cameron, let us out. I quit. Daniel got his wish," Adrienne started to stand, walking over to the camera.

"So that's it, you just quit. We have a problem that we need to work through and since there's no easy solution, you just quit. I guess I was right about you after all," Daniel leaned his head back against the wall, his stomach doing cartwheels for a reason he could not explain, maybe from fear as Adrienne livid, her blood boiling, her eyes like knives, whipped around to face him, looking like she was going to scream again.

Sam looked at the monitor and back at Cameron, shaking her head as she did.

"Are you sure this was a good idea? She just quit," Sam said, a look of worry in her face. Adrienne had been a good addition to the SGC, and granted she might not be best placed with Daniel, but she was good at her job and Sam intended to keep her one way or the other, but Cam shook his head, his arms crossed as he stared at the screen.

"She's bluffing," he answered. He had been laughing at the two of them in pain and refusing to talk to one another since he had finished his shower and now was getting a kick at the two of them having to really deal with one another and face their issues. It was all so stupid, everyone could see; Daniel was just pissed to have to finally deal with someone as neurotic as he was. Sam, however, was shaking her head in disagreement.

"I'm not sure. Maybe this was a bad idea. She's too much like him," she continued, watching the two archaeologists scream at one another.

"Which is why he hates her, or at least acts like he hates her. They're both very smart, hard-headed and set in their ways. Give them a bit longer. My grandma did this to me and my cousin when we were ten and everything worked alright then," Cam assured her.

"Your grandmother locked you in an elevator?" Sam questioned, knowing there had to be more to the story as Cam was smiling.

"Well, it was a basement and after we gave each other black eyes we vowed to never have a fist fight again. And we didn't," Cameron looked back at the monitor a huge grin still on his face, Sam beginning to consider calling a med team to be on standby.

"CAM!" Adrienne was shouting at the camera, "Let me out! I'm hungry! I quit!" She kept repeating variations of that statement over and over, whilst Daniel remained on the floor, watching her make a complete fool out of herself.

"He's not going to let us out until we come to some agreement, you heard him," Daniel finally said quietly from the other side of the elevator. Adrienne looked over at him, scowling.

"We did come to an agreement. I quit and you get to go back to being the mysterious hermit that never leaves his cave," she answered. He should have been insulted but Daniel just laughed, Adrienne looking at him like he was insane.

"What?" she asked, fighting the urge to smack him across the face, after all of this insanity, not wanting him to be laughing at her. She just wanted out, out of this elevator, out of this building and out of his life.

"That's Bruce Wayne," he said. He couldn't resist, Adrienne always had a million and one references to pop culture in every argument she ever had, he just couldn't help himself, thinking the joke might break the tension but Adrienne just maintained her glare. He'd also taken a moment to consider her words. He REALLY should have read that file; he'd never really thought about the fact that she was from the South, a female archaeologist and classics professor from the South. It had been hard enough for Sarah, the lone woman in his own program, and they were in California, but he couldn't imagine what Adrienne must have gone through to be taken seriously, in fact, that actually started to explain so much...

"No, he leaves his cave to fight crime. You fall asleep on keyboards," she corrected, although slightly impressed at his reference, her expression softening slightly. Daniel however, slumped his shoulders, offended that was all she thought he did.

"I leave my cave, a lot. I've done a lot of cool things that I'm pretty proud of. You don't know the half of what I've done," Daniel answered her, not angry, but sounding a bit hurt. She looked over at him, feeling bad, remembering things she had read in files, things she discovered that he had done, sighing out deeply.

"Ok Batman, my point is, you get to go back to working alone. Like you wanted in the first place. Now, can you convince Cameron to let us out of here? I don't like tight spaces," she requested honestly, feeling chills down her spine as she admitted to herself how tight a place this was and that they had been trapped here for almost an hour now, but Daniel was silent. Swallowing, she decided to change her tactic.

"Come on Daniel, he'll listen to you," Adrienne pleaded. Surprised, Daniel looked over at her, noticing that she was upset, visibly upset, so Daniel sat forward and leaned the best he could, trying to put his face in the aim of the camera.

"Cam, we're good," Daniel said into the camera and gave it a thumbs up, smiling slightly and looking over at Adrienne.

"There, done. He should be reactivating everything shortly. Just look happy," Daniel ordered. Appreciating the effort, Adrienne sat back against the elevator wall and tried to smile. The elevator jerked and started to move and Daniel watched Adrienne as she seemed to be willing herself to relax and calm down. He didn't want her to leave, she was good at what she did, and maybe if he just took the time to know get to know her better, they could work through this.

"For your information," Daniel spoke, changing his tone trying to be a jovial as possible, "Batman DIDN'T work alone. You should know that."

"Whatever," Adrienne answered. Not the response he was looking for...

"Just pointing that out, that's all," Daniel remained silent after that. It was entirely possible that Adrienne hated him and wasn't too thrilled about the job. Maybe she wanted to quit, but just as he was running that idea through his head, Adrienne breathed out.

"I don't want to quit," she said keeping her gaze ahead.

"I figured," Daniel responded, something inside of him happy to hear that. He looked over at her, searching her face for expression and found it, that same quietness from her interview, eyes focused back on her lap, picking her fingernails.

"But this isn't going to work," she added, "every time we come to an understanding we just blow up at each other again."

"Not like this it isn't," he concurred, "I think maybe we need to stop and think first before we speak. We are two rational, reasonable people. We can rationally, reasonably come to a solution to an argument." Adrienne glanced over at him, leaving her near bleeding fingers alone, thankfully.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you and acted like a bitch," she apologized, forcing a smile, "I kinda thought you might be trying to goof off with me, I just got pissed that I fell and busted my lip open."

"I'm sorry I called you that. You aren't, really. I didn't mean that," he replied, "and the next time I decide to mess with you I'll make sure it doesn't involve slamming your face into the floor."

They were both silent again, neither of them having much else to say. The elevator gave a bigger jerk and began to move, stopping and dinging at the level for the infirmary. Before the doors could open, Adrienne rushed over and hit the door lock button, looking back at Daniel as he was still sitting on the floor.

"If you have a problem with me or something I'm doing, can we discuss it in private?" she requested quickly, still embarrassed about the scene in the hallway.

"I think that's fair," he replied, glancing up at her sincerely, "and I promise to stay out of your insanity with your little boys club."

"No more calling me out in front of everyone and vice versa?" she clarified.

"Deal," he answered and paused, wanting to say something else, but deciding against it, reaching up the railings in a sad attempt to heave himself to his feet, stumbling and cascading back down to the floor.

Adrienne smiled and walked over to him, pulling him up onto her shoulder, Daniel catching a glimmer of her dark cajun eyes, not intimidating at all, but, well, beautiful.

"Seriously, I know that I am supposed to be there you help you but can you just balance that with a good morning once in a while," she added, adjusting him against her, reaching for his crutches. Satisfied that he was upright and taken care of, leaning carefully against her, she tapped the button to release the lock and when the door opened there stood Sam and Cameron, the latter looking pleased.

"See," Cameron looked over at Sam, "no blood."

Sam didn't respond, making a face at him and walking over and grabbing Daniel's crutches, helping him onto them, freeing Adrienne and glaring over at the young historian.

"Dr. Rowan, I need you to report to the infirmary to have that lip looked at, now," Sam ordered, still infuriated at the both of them, her military training tempering her voice.

"Yes ma'am," Adrienne glanced down, avoiding eye contact with the general, continuing on her way to her original destination from over an hour ago. With her safely out of sight, Sam looked back at Daniel concern on her face, but Daniel was shaking his head before his friend could speak.

"We're good, I promise. No more swearing matches in the hallway. You have my word," Daniel assured her.

"Daniel, if this isn't working out tell me. I can keep looking for another alternative..." Sam offered, trying to weigh his reaction before saying anything further.

"No, no, she'll be fine, we'll be fine. We just need to get used to each other that's all," he said, hoping Sam would believe him.

"Alright, but let me know if you think that, well, that it won't work out," Sam continued searching his face for something he night not be tell her, but could find nothing.

"We'll be ok," Daniel said quickly and turned his crutches to head for the infirmary. Confused, Sam tried to scan him to see what could have happened to him in the elevator that required medical attention.

"Where are you going?" Sam finally asked, determining there was nothing wrong with him, other than the ankle, and hoping he was going to keep his word and not go down there to yell at her. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, smiling.

"I'm gonna go mess with her. Dr. Lam said if she had to replace any stitches she wasn't going to numb her," Daniel lifted his eyebrows and crutched away, hoping he hadn't missed anything that he could harass her about later.


	5. Chapter 5 - Better Than One

"AdrienneRowan are you prepared for our departure?" Teal'c inquired as he and Ronon crossed the threshold of her quarters noting that as usual the feisty Cajun woman seemed to be operating in her own time zone. The door was sitting wide open as she dashed about her room with a superhero-like quality, stuffing that black backpack with many more items than she would ever need for a 4-5 day mission.

"Almost, I wanted to grab my iPad and a novel, just in case," Adrienne replied, reaching over and grabbing a new paperback from her desk and adding that to the collection. She knew that being on the first mission alone she would be busy, but you never know when you might be stuck somewhere during bad weather or a dialing mishap and she wanted to be prepared. Smiling with satisfaction, Adrienne scanned the room with her deep cocoa eyes, checking once more for anything she might have forgotten and tossed the bag over her shoulder.

"Do we need to go by the lab?" Ronon asked.

"Nope," Adrienne responded, "just came from there."

"If you have forgotten anything, DanielJackson will be waiting for us at the gate room," Teal'c added quickly, shooting a glance over at Adrienne. Teal'c had been trying to get the two of them to be friends; he had known DanielJackson long enough to know that were he just to give AdrienneRowan the chance that could become great friends. Adrienne, however open she seemed to the idea was still a little guarded, in a way with Daniel that she wasn't with the others. Maybe it was because he was her boss and she didn't want to disappoint him.

"Really?" she asked, biting her lip nervously. He told her last night that he thought she had everything under control. True, she knew he would probably meet her to send her off but there was still this looming feeling inside her gut telling her that he was really only going to be there to check up on her.

"I thought you and Dr. J were getting along now?" Ronon questioned, remembering their last dinner conversation where Adrienne had admitted to Cam that the little mishap in the elevator had actually done them both some good, that Daniel really wasn't so bad.

"We are, I just still get the feeling he doesn't trust me. Like the apple incident erased anything else I have done well so far," she responded, sighing and curbing her tongue. Honestly, they had been very civil to one another this past week, Daniel even taking the time to ask how Adrienne was every morning, as she requested. She had almost convinced herself that he meant it too. As a sign of good faith, she had even brought him coffee a few times, granted she was arriving late anyway like normal and trying to smooth the waters, but she did think about him, and that should count for something.

Shaking his head, Teal'c laughed loudly at her remark, remembering that very incident. It has been quite humorous and despite the fear in DanielJackson's face as he tore down the hill, Teal'c would not have allowed AdrienneRowan to be hurt. But an apple? The very capable fighter had been taken down by a piece of fruit.

"Shut up Teal'c," she said smiling slyly, continuing her brisk walk to the elevators.

"I don't get it," Ronon said, "he's a hell of a lot nicer than Rodney. They could have hired you to work with him." Not stopping her march down the hall, Adrienne shook her head, cocking it back over her should to answer.

"It's not that he's not nice, he is, although I am starting to get annoyed at the daily gifts of apples. It's just that I don't think he's used to having someone working with him that's not an idiot, at least in archaeology," she added the last part quickly. Adrienne had quickly determined that Teal'c's assessment of their situation was true; Daniel just didn't know how to deal with her. She was smart like Sam, but not his boss or a military overseer. She was feisty like Vala, but wasn't throwing herself at him nor was she loud mouthed, rude, or impulsive, well, most of the time. In short, she just wasn't what he was used to and to be honest, he wasn't what she was used to either.

"DanielJackson does not think you are an idiot," Teal'c stated.

"Oh, I know," Adrienne said stressing the word know, hoping Teal'c knew that she had heeded his advice, "I'm trying. We're getting along. But I've got to admit, sometimes I think he'd rather have Vala trying to undress him than have a woman in the lab that can get something accomplished," she added quickly, in jest. In reality she had discovered that the poor man had no clue whatsoever that there was a consistent pattern in the people that dropped by the lab each day to bring sensitive information: they were ALL woman. Very needy woman who never needed her help.

Daniel didn't even have a clue.

Adrienne, on the other hand, did and found this to be hilarious.

Ronon laughed loudly at her joke as he adjusted his own pack, deciding to end the conversation, especially since it seemed that his cajun comrade seemed a tad anxious. Reaching the elevators, the trio entered, Adrienne nervously tapping the button at least three times for the basement, a clear indicator to Teal'c that she was much more apprehensive about this trip than she had let on. The brave warrior was about to reassure his small human friend when the doors opened, and there he was, waiting for her, folder in hand and eyes fixated right on her.

Adrienne felt her heart in her throat.

"You're late," was all he said. No tone, anything. He just stood there, staring at her arms crossed. Get it together Addy, get it together, she coached herself.

"Good morning Daniel, how are you this morning? I'm fantastic and ready to go," she coughed out, pushing past him, making a bee line straight to the gate room, waving to Colonel John Sheppard, acting leader of this expedition, who was prepping the remainder of the team. You can do this Addy, she reminded herself, you got it girl.

"Adrienne this is your first mission without me, and you can't even be on time?" he asked, trying to keep his cool and remain polite. That was the one thing he had stressed with her all week, be on time. If she was an example of a real citizen of New Orleans, he really had no idea how the state of Louisiana functioned.

Face flushing, Adrienne whipped her head around and grabbed him by the shirt sleeve pulling him over to the side of the gate room, out of earshot of the others. Ronon and Teal'c walked on, however Teal'c did pause looking back over his shoulder to make sure they were not going to have another argument just in case he needed to intervene.

"Daniel, you promised. How are you demonstrating that you think I am in the least bit an equal professional if you're waiting for me at the elevator just to yell at me!" she hissed quietly. Yes, she expected him to meet her at the gate room to see her off, even thought it would make her a thousand times more nervous, but to be standing at the elevators to criticize her for being late was a breach of their little agreement; he had promised to trust her judgement.

"Ok, sorry, I'm still getting used to, well, relinquishing control. I was concerned that you were late and you were having second thoughts. I'm sorry," he apologized honestly. She can handle this, he tried to tell himself, she's proven that she can, just trust her.

"It's ok, it's just a trade negotiation right? Simple, I can do this," she assured him, or was it herself, placing her hand gently on his arm.

"Yes, but even those can get a little, complicated," Daniel replied, not moving her hand or flinching at her touch. She's Southern, he told himself, they touch everybody.

"Listen, I'll be fine. And I'm not too proud to ask for help when I need it, trust me," she pulled back her hand quickly that was resting on his arm, remembering what he had said in the elevator. GIving him a soft smile and hoping he really would trust her with this, Adrienne hoisted her pack onto her shoulders once more, looking ahead for the rest of her team for this mission: Teal'c, Ronon Dex, John Sheppard and Vala Mal Doran. At least she could have fun with them, that would take off some of the nerves she was feeling in dire worry of disappointing Daniel. With a quick flick of his hand John ordered the dialing, Walter fired the gate and they started up the ramp toward that now familiar shimmering pool of matter.

"Adrienne, remember, they speak classical Quecha, not the modern sort!" Daniel yelled from behind her, noting her slower step, as she lagged behind the rest of the group, the staff weapon Teal'c had brought down for her secured so tightly in her hands they were ghost white from lack of blood. He had meant to say something supportive, but that was what came out and he regretted it the moment she turned around to face him. Why couldn't he talk to her?

"I thought they spoke Japanese?" Adrienne replied, pretending to be confused. Daniel made a face, but was secretly relieved that she wasn't angry.

"Why are you always trying to be funny?" he asked, now beginning to worry once more about the mission. What if she was going to treat this entire thing like a joke? Maybe he should readjust his schedule and join her, it would take some maneuvering, but he could catch up to them in a few hours time, stupid meetings, she shouldn't be going alone.

Adrienne, however, just smiled over her shoulder as the rest of the team made their way through the gate.

"To make up for the fact that you're not!" she yelled, stepping through last without a moment's hesitation, winking. The wormhole closed and his assistant was gone, on her own to do his job, complete his negotiation. Trying to force himself to stop worrying, he was startled when a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder.

"She's going to be fine; why are you worried?" Sam asked looking over at him confidently, as he composed himself and slowly turned around, that frown on his face she had dealt with for years. He pushed his glasses up his nose and sighed.

"Because I have this itching feeling that she's in over her head," Daniel answered, recalling that this particular group of people could be testy, even if all of the more difficult parts of the negotiation had been taken care of in advance. He had seen her prep work but he knew that sometimes all of the prep work in the world couldn't prepare you for what was actually on the other side of that gate.

"She's proven pretty apt so far, wouldn't you say?" Sam smiled.

"Apt doesn't mean perfect. Apt never helped any of us avoid trouble," he left his argument at that, closing his copy of the mission folder and tucking it under his arm. He should have been happy, considering the lab would be free of rap music today but instead, he tapped his fingers nervously on the spine of the file, wondering if Adrienne would try to introduce their new allies to the wide world of R&B. Chuckling lightly at his worry and relieved that the two of them were finally on good terms with one another Daniel left for the lab while Sam made her way back to the metal spiral staircase leading to her office.

Waiting by the DHD on the other side, John Sheppard observed each and every team member pass though the gate, serious in his duty to insure the safety of all members of the team. He watched closely as each individual hopped through the blue glittering pool, stopping as always to take a look at the surroundings. Adrienne came through, last, laughing still at her conversation with her highly worried boss, one that by the look of her face John would have to ask about later. A sucking sound echoed through the sky as the wormhole closed and then there was silence, save a few birds in the distance.

"Ok guys," he announced turning to face his team, "If you remember from the briefing, it is a twelve hour hike to the village, so we are going to camp about halfway."

"Twelve hours!?" Vala exclaimed, scanning her friends to see if anyone else was surprised, but no one offered her any support.

"Yes, twelve hours Vala," Sheppard repeated, trying not to express too much annoyance in his tone. "Were you listening at the briefing? Going the twelve hours straight puts us arriving at the village in the middle of the night. Not exactly the impression we want to make." Vala threw her hands up.

"No, I never listen at those things," she replied. Ronon turned his head trying not to laugh at her, catching Adrienne rolling her eyes as he did.

"And yet I'm the one Daniel thinks will screw this mission up?" Adrienne stated, making a face at her friend as she adjusted her pack preparing for the hike.

"Shut up Addy," Vala spat, playfully, and started to follow where Ronon and Teal'c were already heading down a long drab path stretching out endlessly into the distance.

Once again, Adrienne was bringing up the rear, slipping her iPad out of her pocket to review information along the way, because to be honest, she wasn't feeling quite as confident as she had led Daniel to believe and after all of the progress the two of them had made in the past week, hell he even sat down with her at lunch now when they ate at the same time, the last thing she wanted to do was anger him. No, not anger, that wasn't the right word, she thought, flicking through the names in the file once more. Disappoint him, she didn't want to disappoint him, hating herself instantly for admitting how much his approval really meant to her.

They walked six hours down a narrow path on the spine of a tall gray mountain range, long streaming cirrus clouds surrounding them at one moment and dropping off below them in the next, a constant reminder of how high up they really were. It wasn't dangerous, but it was a hard walk up and down hills and despite the high fitness level of this mixed team of SG-1, the Atlantis crew and Adrienne, it didn't take long before each of them were stepping aside to stretch or catch their breath. Sam had warned them that months of running on even ground at the SGC would not prepare them for hiking such rocky terrain in high altitudes, but it wasn't until they had to actually do it that each of them realized the truth in her words.

At six hours on the dot, Sheppard was happy to declare it was time to stop and considering how exhausted the entire group was, not a soul complained. They came to rest along the ragged path, looking all around them for a place to set up camp until Ronon spotted a small grove of evergreen trees about hundred yards from the trail, so Sheppard and Teal'c went to check it out while Vala, Adrienne and Ronon sat down on their packs and waited, enjoying a moment to relax. Given all clear over the radio, the trio stood and made their way to the clearing to set up camp, Vala still complaining the entire walk about needing to walk further only to have to then assemble their overnight accommodations. It didn't take as long as it could have, Vala didn't even complain, and when it was complete Adrienne couldn't help but think that it looked like a cute 1950's Boy Scout camp, everyone set in their respective one person pup tents in a circle around the central fire. Setting herself down on the soft ground at the base of the warm blaze, Adrienne sat waiting patiently as John began to go over the watch schedule.

"Ok, I'll take first watch, until midnight. Then Teal'c till 4 and then Ronon till 8," he ordered causing Adrienne and Vala looked at one another.

"What about us?" Adrienne asked confused, hoping it wasn't because she was a woman. Not that she would make a scene here, but the last thing she wanted on his first mission alone was to be treated as the fragile female. John, however, shook his head

"Nerds don't get watch on my missions; I usually need your brain later to be at full fuction. And I thought I'd give Vala a break, she seems a little beat" Sheppard teased, alluding to the whining that Vala had done the last hour or so. Ok, that's fine, Adrienne thought, he wants "the brains" to be rested, got it. Vala didn't seem to mind too terribly either, happily flopping herself on her sleeping bag and grabbing the book Adrienne had loaned her.

"I'll take the break," she declared, turning the pages of the novel while Adrienne just made a face at her friend's remarkable laziness, standing to gather sticks for the fire, in an effort to make herself feel somewhat useful. It was going to get cold in the mountains and whoever was keeping watch would need to keep the blaze going, so she could at least save them the trouble of looking for firewood. A snap behind her stopped her heart and she turned around, taking a fighting stance to face whoever was there.

"What are you doing? We don't train on missions," Ronon joked, stooping to pick up a few sticks from the ground intending to help. Relieved, Adrienne put down her hands and rejoined him in the effort.

"It's a camp out. Nerds can man the fires and tell ghost stories," she smiled, tossing a few more sticks into her arms.

"Excellent. I have a story so good it'll make Sheppard piss his pants," Ronon said excitedly as Adrienne laughed, reaching to collect more wood, very excited to hear the story that the Sataedan had to tell.

By nightfall, the fire was still going strong in the center of the tents, however, now, rather than a cute boy scout campsite, it better resembled a bad horror movie much to Adrienne's delight. They sat around and ate their MRI's, telling ghost stories and other simply horrifying tales, a mix of truth and fiction and a little of just Vala craziness thrown in. Ronon was right, his was a particularly terrifying tale of the wraith that gave even Adrienne chills and she loved horror movies. Maybe it was that this tale, despite Ronon claiming it was something they told on Sateada, was probably somewhat rooted in the truth. Sheppard told the infamous man with the hook hand story which completely confused Teal'c since he could not understand how just having a hook hand made a man physically superior. Vala said she'd have just ripped the hook off, shoved it up the man's ass and dumped the boyfriend. Comments like that were exactly why Adrienne loved her so much. However, as usual, conversation eventually turned to work, the base and the mission.

"So Adrienne, how do you like it so far?" Sheppard started. Despite having worked there for almost four months, Adrienne had barely gotten a chance to talk to John at all; she spent most of her free time with Teal'c, Cam and Ronon or Vala if she was feeling girly. Lately it was mostly Ronon, and Vala had a theory as to why, a theory that left Adrienne the brunt of much lunch time teasing and many a hidden instant messages during work hours. Swallowing the water she had been drinking, Adrienne glanced up at him.

"I like it. It's very different from teaching but it's interesting. You never know what's gonna to happen," she replied, hoping Vala didn't chime in like her face was indicating that she would.

"Well you seem to be working awful hard, what does he have you doing down there?" Sheppard continued, curious as to what Jackson's assistant did exactly. Adrienne had gone on a few missions, but as of late it seemed the times he had to swing down to the lab Adrienne was sitting at her desk, her face in a scowl, typing away furiously at the keys.

"He's teaching her the art of being boring which he has already mastered," Vala joked. Adrienne started laughing but decided to defend Daniel, a bit. After all, he was trying; he really wasn't that bad of a guy.

"No, it's not so bad, mostly we just work through the Asgard database unless Sam sends something else, like this," Adrienne explained.

"Yeah," Ronon sat forward, "How did he get out of this?"

"The DOD is surprising Sam with a little visit and she hates to do those things without him. He was training me with this one anyway, so it worked out," Adrienne explained.

"Then what was with his little nervous tantrum this morning?" Sheppard asked.

Teal'c spoke up this time, "DanielJackson fears AdrienneRowan will do well without him."

"Damn straight," Vala concurred, "she scares the shit out of him."

Sheppard and Ronon were roaring with laughter, but Adrienne just started to get red in the face, looking down at her hands, fingers ready for the picking. Recovering from her laughter, Vala noticed and reached over to her leg.

"Addy, we're just kidding. But you're not around to see the reaction he has after you do something correctly," Vala explained causing Adrienne to turn her head, confused, and thankfully ignore her poor damaged fingernails.

"This is true ValaMalDoran. There was the time when AdrienneRowan showed her skills with a knife," Teal'c was laughing loudly. Vala directed her attention to John and Ronon, who had yet to hear this story.

"She comes into training, and gets all excited about knife throwing. She takes his knife and throws it, dead on, bullseye. I swear he peed himself standing right there," she was falling back onto the ground with laughter as she told the story but Adrienne just got redder.

"Wait, I've got one," Ronon stepped in and Adrienne looked surprised that he had a story. She was quickly going from red in the face to giggling, wondering what was going to come out of his mouth, out of his beautiful mouth. Stop it Addy, she fussed at her self as Ronon continued.

"Ok, one time we were in the gym and Adrienne was running on the track. So, Jackson comes over, dressed to lift with us and he is looking over at her, just watching her run, all open mouthed and stupid and Mitchell says something like 'Can you stare harder man?' and he starts stammering and stuttering that he wasn't looking at anything and was just wondering how far she ran. But come on, you know what he was doing. It was pretty damn obvious."

"What," Adrienne muttered, "No, you know how his brain works. He was probably trying to calculate my speed or something." She knew there had been some talk around concerning her appearance, even though Adrienne was pretty hippy and looked nothing like Vala or Sam for that matter, but apparently her cajun frame and face was enough to whisper about, something she didn't understand in the least. But Daniel? There was just no way and she didn't want to entertain the thought because it made her nervous and insanely uncomfortable.

"Whatever Rowan, but his face was priceless," Ronon was rolling on his sleeping bag now, laughing himself. Teal'c, who had remained silent through most of this was laughing now as well, much louder than Adrienne, trying to speak but couldn't when Vala threw up her hands, trying to contain her amusement, to speak once more.

"Wait, wait," she held up her hand, gasping between breaths, "did Cameron tell him, tell him how far she runs?" Vala asked.

"Yeah," Ronon answered, "he said 5K everyday, right Adrienne, and 5-8 miles twice a week."

"Yeah, lately, why?" Adrienne answered, her stomach a flurry of butterflies albeit silently impressed that Ronon knew her training schedule. Still, she glanced back at Vala to see where she was going with this.

"Because," Vala said, wiping tears from her eyes, "last week Daniel was running on the treadmill and," she was unable to speak for a moment, "and he just kept going and kept going and I could tell he was dying on there and when I looked at the preset he had it set for 5K and was having it count backwards." She collapsed on the ground the moment she finished.

"Wait, now he's trying to outrun me!? That man is neurotic!" Adrienne was now laughing herself at the image of Daniel trying so hard to not let her best him. These past months she thought he really believed she was an idiot when according to her friends, he was afraid that she would out do him. It was ludicrous! Adrienne had never met a smarter man before in her life, brilliant was the correct word, not smart, he impressed her every day with his knowledge. Why in the world would he think she was here to oust him or even out do him?

What a stupid idea, if anything she was the one worried about what he thought of her...

Together they all laughed a little longer, not just at Daniel but at Rodney as well and Teal'c even told stories of the crazy things Jack used to do years ago. It made Adrienne wish she had been with them all sooner; it sounded as though her and Jack would have had a great time. As the sky grew darker, they each headed to their tents for the night knowing they had a rather big task ahead of them in the morning, Adrienne crawling into her tent hoping that she was up for the challenge.

The next morning was uneventful and they walked the remaining six hours to the village with far less complaining and at an even steady pace. Her nerves kicking into overdrive, Adrienne kept peeking at her watch because she knew that soon Daniel would be dialing to check in via the radio. She could hear him now: Did you make it? Any complications? You know you're negotiating for a rather large expanse of farm land?

She just hoped that when he did call in, she would have something impressive to report.

Like clockwork, the village came into sight at the precise moment she heard his voice over the radio.

"Adrienne? Come in please."

She decided to be professional and not be goofy, for once, though her nerves were pleading for the latter.

"Yes Daniel, I can hear you," she answered.

"Have you arrived at the village?" he asked.

"Dead ahead," she responded.

"Ok, now remember, I'm not there to complete the test of might, so let Ronon or Teal'c do it?" he added. Remembering the translation of the traditional opening of a negotiation, Adrienne giggled, unable to contain her sarcasm.

"Test of might?" Adrienne repeated the name, recalling when she had laughed at the translation the first time, "I would like to remind you I think it is odd these people celebrate Festivus, but I know, I know, let them do it." She just couldn't be serious with him all of the time; he left himself open way too much.

"Adrienne, Festivus? Stop kidding around. This is serious. I feel like I have to deal with Jack all over again," the radio cracked but he didn't sound that angry, actually he sounded like he remembered the joke. Maybe there was hope for him after all, beyond her crisp, red, daily taunt.

"Sorry, sorry," she said, "Remind me what the test is?" She asked, but she knew, however she also knew that the quickest way into Daniel's graces was to allow him to jabber on for a bit.

"It's just a sparring match, nothing too harsh, no one gets hurt. The negotiator or in our case a representative of the negotiator must prove that they are worthy to lead the talks by an open demonstration of their strength," she heard through her shoulder.

"I can do that," Adrienne argued, the exact same argument that they had been having for three days, professionally at least. She could feel his glare from across the galaxy before he even replied.

"I know you can. Don't," Daniel answered shortly. He knew Adrienne was quite capable to clobbering the snot out of most people, but he didn't want to take any chances with the talks or her safety. This was her first mission without him and he wanted everything to go smoothly.

"Why not, you still haven't give me a good reason?" Adrienne asked, starting to get annoyed; this was the lack of confidence in her that was about to drive her mad and there was a tiny part of her that hoped he would cave and just let her do it, after all she was supposed to be the lead negotiator on this mission.

"Because, well, because, that's all," he sounded flustered. He couldn't come up with a good reason that wouldn't set her off, so he gave her none.

"Fine," Adrienne responded. As she was rolling her eyes at his command, a young copper colored boy clad only in a loin cloth came running to approach them. Adrienne smiled; saved by the natives.

"Gotta go," she said, "The welcome committee is here. I'll keep you informed Daniel, no worries," and she shut off the radio, not wanting to hear his reply.

Daniel sat back in the chair of the observation booth, letting out a sigh and glancing over at Sam who was jotting down some data from the screen.

"The Jacni control an important Stargate if we hope to recreate the bridge system between here and Pegasus. It may not seem that important right now but if we hope to ever get Atlantis operational and in the position that we were in before, we need this trade deal to be accepted by both parties, we need each and every small piece to fall into place," Daniel said to her, resting his elbows on the counter and rubbing his face with his hands.

"I know," Sam answered, looking at the screen ahead of her.

"Sam, if she messes this up..." he started.

"She won't," Sam replied, not breaking her gaze from her own task. Daniel sighed again and once more peered over at Sam, who seemed so cool and collected about this entire ordeal. Feeling eyes cutting into her, Sam turned her head in his direction.

"You know she won't. That's what's bothering you," she said to him. Frowning, Daniel peered over his glasses at her comment but Sam just chuckled.

"She's not Vala. She's not Satterfield. She's not Mardsen. She's not Rothman or Less, rest their souls. She's Adrienne and she's probably the best hire I've made since I got this job," Sam declared proudly, "AND you've trained her well. You might think she's not listening to you, but she is. Trust me."

"I hope so," Daniel replied, gazing again, this time across the top of the computer monitor and to the Stargate beyond.

The young boy that approached them began to greet Adrienne in, as promised, classical Quechua. Adrienne had to ask him to repeat a few things, but she was pleasantly surprised at how much she remembered. Thank goodness for that semester abroad in Peru to give her the basics so she was able to brush up on the harder structure in her free time every night in her room. The boy seemed delighted to see them and quickly ran back down the hill, John pointing in his direction as the lad dashed off quickly, bare feet on the pebbled path.

"Are we supposed to follow?" he clarified.

"Yea, but we don't have to run; he was just making sure that we were the visitors that they've been waiting for," Adrienne told him, turning her head slightly to address the entire group. She felt kind of cool for just a brief second, with the leader of their merry band asking her what they should do. Without comment or complaint, her friends listened and adjusted their packs to begin the trek downhill.

Daniel could warn her a million times about what to expect, but here, walking amongst the steep mountain range, Adrienne was amazed at how similar these people were to the Inca of Earth. The few trees that grew on the mountains were decorated with multicolored knotted cords and connected by ropes, quipu it would have been called back home and wondered if the same would be true here. Off the edge of the trail she could see farming steppes carved into the mountains, containing small fields of potatoes and gourds, each field stationed so precariously high that Adrienne herself knew she would never be able to tend them, her heart racing for the young teenage girls that were doing just that. There were a few temples on some peaks in the near distance, built like standard step pyramids, mini Macchu Picchus almost and she laughed to herself, thinking that now that she knew all about the Go'ould and the Stargate how it made so much sense that so many civilizations that had nothing to do with each other did so many similar things. John leading the way, but looking back to Adrienne for guidance, they made their way into the village and proceeded straight to the ball field, where the boy had directed them to go.

"Ok," Adrienne turned to face the group a second time, trying to carefully walk backwards as the terrain changed from a mountain to a village street, "It's not the ball game, so no one dies, no worries, nothing like in the movies. Incan ball games were nothing like that Aztec and Mayan craziness anyways. It is just simple one on one, hand to hand combat. No one even has to win, just hold their own for a few minutes to prove equality."

"Yes, AdrienneRowan, you have told us this before," Teal'c answered, "shall it be myself or Ronon Dex?"

"I'm going to do it," Adrienne chirped and turned back around before she could see the face she knew Teal'c was making.

"AdrienneRowan, are you purposefully trying to anger DanielJackson?" he asked. He had been trying to get the two of them to get along and it was working, well, however this was not a way to continue that relationship, in fact, would have the entirely opposite effect. He saw Adrienne stop and turn back to face him, her face sincere and honest.

"Not at all. I want you to think of how this looks for just a moment, from their perspective. They were promised Daniel and I as negotiators. They only got one and the one they get can't compete in the honor battle. To use someone in the negotiator's stead makes us look weak and it insults their traditions. These are simple people and if we insult them and this doesn't work out like it is supposed to then I'll get the blame. I'm just trying to insure that this mission goes as smoothly as possible," Adrienne explained.

"I love when someone outsmarts him," Vala sniggered, Adrienne trying not to laugh at stupid expression on her friend's face.

"She can do it," Ronon interjected, "We've all seen her fight. These people are tiny anyway." Everyone looked at Sheppard, who was technically in charge, wondering which side he would take.

"Adrienne, if you think you can handle it I defer to you, you know these people," he relented. Smiling, Adrienne stripped off her tac vest and jacket tossing them to the ground and removed her boots, digging some small kung-fu shoes out of her backpack, and sitting on the ground to slip them on. She undid her BDU's and pulled them down as well, revealing she was wearing a pair of tight running shorts, much to everyone's surprise.

"So, this wasn't just a decision you made this morning?" Vala asked, indicating her much more comfortable attire.

"Not at all, and contrary to popular belief I'm not trying to piss him off. I'm also not going to let this entire mission be washed cuz he's wor...," she trailed for a moment. He knew she could fight, she could take him easily, so he wasn't worried she would lose and he wasn't worried about her being female since she was still allowed to be a lead negotiator.

He was worried about HER.

Holy shit.

"We planned this trip for weeks; I know what needs to be done. This needs to be done," she said quickly, pushing away the thought as she began to stretch, bending deeply onto each leg one at at time. A few swift kicks into the air and Adrienne jumped up before jogging lightly toward the center of the arena.

There was no audience, as she and Daniel had explained, just their group and a small band of elders speaking to a younger man wearing a loincloth. A village leader, also in a loincloth but wearing a bright orange open robe, decorated with deep red and blue beads, met Adrienne in the center and introduced her to the young man, presumably her opponent. She bowed low and quickly in respect, as the elder backed up. Saying something in a language John could not understand, the man addressed both Adrienne and the other fighter, who were already taking up positions, arms up, facing one another.

Concerned, as he examined the young warrior, fit and tone, clearly trained for just this duty, Sheppard leaned over to Teal'c, "You sure she'll be ok?" he whispered worried about having to answer to Daniel if he brought back his assistant, broken. Smiling, Teal'c crossed his arms across his chest, no fear for the young archaeological assistant as she faced the muscular dark skinned man.

"Most certain," Teal'c answered, watching his latest student deepen her stance. There was a shout, something along the lines of "¡Hina kachun!" and the man charged Adrienne, who merely stepped aside with her left foot, the rest of the limbs unmoving. Frustrated, the young man grunted and twisted around, charging again, almost breaking out into a sprint on the approach, but Adrienne simply shifted her back foot this time and moved to her right.

"What is she doing?" Sheppard, the only one who hadn't seen her fight, asked, perplexed by her style.

"Watching," Vala replied. She knew Adrienne's strategy from experience, painful experience, and tapped Sheppard's arm to direct him to Adrienne's ebony eyes, eyes that were assessing the opponent in front of her, searching for any weakness or faltering. The man took one more attempt at charging and once more Adrienne moved just in time, her eyes scanning his body. Angry, and verbally showing it, muttering what John was certain were very strong words under his breath, the warrior took a swing directly at her head. She ducked, moving only her upper torso and keeping her feet planted firmly in place. He took another swing and she dodged again. Face filled with rage and embarrassment, he gave a loud war cry and took another swing, leaning far too forward exposing his chest, allowing Adrienne to lift her lead leg and with a quick shift of her hips slamming a side kick into his stomach. The man slipped back with an 'uf' , fighting to stay upright.

"That's right girl," Ronon muttered, "stay calm, keep your cool," his head nodding in approval when they heard a sound coming from the ground. Knowing full well the source of the sound and static that followed, Vala leaned over to Adrienne's tac vest greeted by a familiar voice on the radio.

"Adrienne, can you read me? Stop trying to mess with me and answer." It was Daniel. Poor Adrienne, he really was going to check up on her every five minutes. Sighing, Vala picked up the gadget to try to stall the inevitable.

"Daniel, it's me." Vala said into the radio.

"Vala?" he questioned, "Where's Adrienne?"

"Busy," she answered just as Adrienne took a fist to the stomach but countered with an uppercut in the middle of faking having the wind knocked out of her. Vala smiled, it was fun to see a fellow woman kick ass; Daniel didn't know what he was missing.

"With what? I told her to keep the radio on her. Did the physical test go alright?" he asked, the concern in his voice clear.

"Not done just yet," Vala tried to remain cryptic, she didn't want to be blamed for Adrienne getting caught nor did she want to be on the receiving end of the screaming that was to come once Daniel figured out what his assistant was doing.

"What do you mean not done? Vala, where's Adrienne?" he asked slowly, too slow, she thought. He was catching on and at this point Vala just needed to give up on hiding it, she could just try to convince him later that she had begged Adrienne to stop.

"In the center of the arena. Winning," she answered, making an effort to emphasize the last word. As expected, there was silence on the other end, which was not a good sign. Daniel yelling was one thing, silence was quite another.

Adrienne was gonna kill her.

"Have her radio me when she is finished. I'll be leaving the gate open," he responded calmly, the static dying away. Hoping she hadn't missed anything good, Vala peeked up as Adrienne knocked down her attacker with a swift hook kick to the head. He fell to the ground, making no real attempt to stand, as an elder approached, placing his hand firmly between the two. Vala heard the robed man say Haykuykuy, which she had no idea what that meant, but it must have been good since Adrienne bowed low to the man and he clasped her shoulders as she stood. They talked for a moment, Adrienne bowing once more before pointing back to her friend and heading back for the group.

"See, everything's a go," she said, "Now, we get to set up in the guest house over there," she pointed at a small stone building, "they will bring us some food and then I will meet with their elders to gauge their concerns. The neighboring peoples shall arrive tomorrow with their own negotiator."

"You got a call," Vala informed her.

"I figured he'd call; I've got it," Taking the radio from Vala, Adrienne stuffed the rest of her clothes in her pack, Adrienne slipped on the tac vest only and grabbed the radio from her shoulder.

"Hey Daniel," she said cheerily.

"You FOUGHT THAT MAN!" he screamed. Covering up the radio with her hand, Adrienne looked at the others, embarrassed that he was choosing to yell at her, yet again, stepping over to the side to have this conversation in private. She waited for him to finish his rage, which went on for a good minute or so before she was allowed to defend herself.

"Technically I beat that man. I had this under control, " she whispered quietly, peering over her shoulder at the others who seemed concerned. Damn you Daniel and your temper.

"Adrienne, it's not about you being able to handle yourself. It is about listening to what I have to say," he continued.

"Look, I didn't want to risk offending anyone, you know their customs, you've been going on all week about how bad we need access to this gate. It went just as I expected. No worries," she assured him calmly, "Batman trusted Robin's judgement..."

He was silent for a moment and Adrienne hoped that he was considering her words, even the silly ones, and just hadn't hung up on her or whatever the equivalent was with a walkie talkie. Finally, she heard muttering and static on the other line, and was relived that it had been the former.

"I'm still not happy," he answered, but cooled the tone in his voice, maybe even a laugh, but she could have just been imagining it.

"I'm not trying to be difficult Daniel. I'm just trying to do my job," she replied, peeking over her shoulder to make sure that this conversation was indeed in private. She almost apologized too, even though she knew she was technically in the right, but unable to give an apology over the radio that would indicate real remorse, Adrienne remained silent.

"I know. I'll dial to check in tomorrow, after you have your first meeting. Talk to you then," he said and the radio went to static again, leaving Adrienne in an entire new turmoil of worry. Did he mean it? Did he really understand that she was just trying to be what Sam expected her to be?

Pushing her mess of thoughts aside, Adrienne shut the radio off and went to meet with her companions who thankfully were already making their way toward their temporary quarters. After they ate, a lovely simple meal of sweet potatoes and corn, and were settled in for the night, Adrienne left to meet with the elders as their leader had requested hours earlier. Sheppard volunteered to come along but Adrienne assured him that it would be annoying sitting there unable to understand what anyone was saying, insisting too that she was in no danger and could handle everything herself. Reluctantly he agreed to stay out of the meeting, but declared that he would stand outside the meeting hall, informed the team of his intentions and set off for the meeting with Adrienne.

As she expected it was all quite simple, the villagers wanted access to a field on the territory of their neighbors, the Kakuni, and as an exchange they would allow access to the Stargate now that they knew how to use it. Adrienne thought it was all pretty cut and dry, granting them access to two separate kingdoms as well, both conveniently located on one world. Excusing herself once she had made the proper notes onto her iPad, Adrienne left the meeting, collecting John from outside along the way before returning to the guest house.

That night, like the one before, they all sat around telling silly stories from their hammocks, as the guest house was pretty much a one room stone structure with a fire pit and surrounding hammocks. Adrienne didn't mind, it was like a big slumber party, and she hadn't experienced one in years, at least since high school. They told more stories about Daniel, which had Adrienne near tears, but told a lot of stories about Jack O'Neill too and the things he used to do when he was a member of SG-1. Adrienne's favorite story was when Teal'c and Jack had to repeat their day over and over so Jack decided to hit golf balls into the Stargate, much to the late General Hammond's dismay. She could only imagine Sam's life with that man and it made her wonder if there was a hidden side of Samantha Carter that she had yet to encounter. The events of today, however, coupled with the long walk had taken its toll, and one by one, starting with Ronon, they each began to doze in their respective slings of fabric. Conversation dying down Teal'c hopped out of the hammock and extinguished the fire, the room dropping to blackness as Adrienne fell asleep.

The next morning, Adrienne got up and dressed, making sure that she looked presentable for the meeting, in full SG gear and her archaeology team badge displayed proudly on her shoulder. There was a tiny part of her that wanted that coveted SG-1 patch her friends shared, but SG-1 already had one archaeology team member, her boss, and didn't need another. After all, she was just a lab rat and needed to consider herself lucky at all to be on a mission alone, just a few short months after being hired. Taking it in stride, feeling proud he'd sent her at all, she bid her friends farewell, signaling to her "personal bodyguard" that it was time to leave.

Adrienne was running Daniel's words through her head when she heard the sound of stone rubbing on stone, glancing up to see that their guests had arrived, chairs being pushed back in haste as the Jacni stood. The Kakuni looked almost exactly like their neighbors, so much so that Adrienne was very thankful that they wore two different colored robes so she could tell them apart, the Kakuni blue and the Jacni red. They went through their ritual greetings, hand kissing, bowing, and the exchange of some knotted cords which went on for quite some time until the elders finally made their way to sit on either side of the table. Adrienne sat at the head, along with a Kakuni man who must have been their negotiator, opened her pack and pulled out her iPad, taking a deep breath as she did.

"Alright," Adrienne spoke in Quechua, "the time has arrived to begin." The chatter in the room quieted.

"As the representative of the Jacni, I speak as one of them," she began, "Elder Marin respectfully requests the usage of the field at the base of the green mountain. It is beyond your villages and could help the Jacni immensely feed their growing population. In exchange, the Jacni will grant access to the Stargate, plus training in how to use it to contact our people should you need assistance," Adrienne smiled politely and waited for the yes she knew she would get. So cut and dry, she thought, and it would give us access to two major peoples as well as pave the way for use of the Stargate in future bridging endeavors.

"No," the Kakuni negotiator answered, not even bothering to make eye contact, looking ahead at his people who were nodding their heads in agreement with him. Adrienne started to speak and begin to go into the finer points of the agreement when she finally realized that was not the answer that she expected.

"No?" she asked, "Shouldn't you confer with your people?" but before they could offer any explanation she could see out of the corner of her eye that there was no conference to be made. These people had come to these negotiations with their answer already determined and that answer was no.

"We knew what the Jacni were choosing to offer and the answer is no. They have no real offering in exchange," he replied, "we are simply here to insure that they do not plan to trespass onto our lands."

Adrienne was momentarily insulted. How could access to the Stargate not be a real offering? To Adrienne it was the greatest thing she had ever seen, experienced, lived. Clearing her throat, she decided to explain in better detail, in order to ensure they understood their proposition, after all, this was the first time that anyone from Earth had laid eyes on any of the Kakuni.

"You do know that access to the Stargate will provide you other worlds with which to trade, in addition to any assistance that my people may be able to provide," she stated trying to eyeball the information on the Kakuni to see if there was indeed something she could get her hands on that they may desire, hoping that at the mention of the Taur'i the Kakuni would reconsider.

"We already have access to the gate, it is half on our land," the man answered, unimpressed by her offering. Making a face, Adrienne glanced back down at her iPad, no longer hiding her gaze, her eyes scanning diagram after diagram, almost as fast as her fingers could flick through the images, but she couldn't figure out what he was talking about. She was about to look up and speak when Marin stood from his seat.

"Are you accusing us of theft?!" he shouted at the Kakuni negotiator, his Quecha accent so thick that Adrienne could barely make out the words other than theft, but she got the general idea. This entire process was about to go downhill fast, just as Daniel had warned her, and her fears were affirmed when the other Kakuni stood and began to shout, the Jacni joining them on their feet. Within moments, the entire room was out of control, with threats, screams and shouts, so loud that Adrienne was sure that John along with half of the Jacni army would come charging in any minute. She had to get this meeting back on track; she just couldn't let everyone down.

"UPALLAYANA,"Adrienne yelled, ordering the chaos to silence, still holding the file folder and iPad trying to figure out how she and Daniel had missed something as simple as a border, how she had missed something as simple as a border. Thankfully coming to their senses, the small men sat back down looking to her for guidance, guidance she was starting to worry she didn't have.

"Alright, I'll look into the boundaries around the gate, but in the meantime, while we investigate that, I would like to move onto the farmland in question," she continued, hoping to at least accomplish something tonight since it was looking like she was going to be stuck here for a while.

"Also unacceptable, that is sacred land," the Kakuni man said.

"Sacred?" Adrienne questioned, completely confused, referring once more to the file folder and iPad to find nothing of the sort listed.

"If I may, in what way is it sacred?" she inquired.

"It is sacred burial ground," he replied. Again, there was mumbling around the table, mostly from the Jacni side. As Adrienne tried to find any information she could in the folder, having given up on her iPad and now taking Daniel's approach, she caught bits and pieces of the argument, 'How could it be burial ground, there were no stone markers', 'it used to be underwater so that is impossible' and even a few outright accusals of lying. She paused for a moment listening to the argument and felt her stomach sink and her head throb as the arguing grew louder and louder and the men were once again on their feet, shouting and arguing as they had before.

Daniel was right, she was in over her head, way over her head.

"Allichu," she pleaded and again they dropped to silence, taking their seats carefully and glaring at her,looking to her for answers, answers that she was certain Daniel would have, but Adrienne had none.

"I would like to call a recess, until... tomorrow. Marin, can our friends remain in the village?" she asked, hoping that the Jacni were as kind a people as they seemed and would not use this as an opportunity to attack their Kakuni ambassadors while they slept.

"Of course," he answered and stood to make preparations, his expression giving her the reassurance she needed to endorse this overnight stay. The rest of the men filed out behind him, muttering under their breath about idiots and outsiders, forcing Adrienne's stomach to her toes.

Thirty minutes later Dr. Adrienne Rowan sat alone in the temple, her head in her hands as she fought a splitting headache, but lacking the desire to even get up and return to their own cottage for relief or solace.

"I take it that didn't go so well," John said as he pulled out a chair beside her taking a seat. She hadn't even noticed him coming in, so absorbed in her own thoughts and self-misery. Looking up at him, she shook her head, her face full of despair.

"Do you have an Advil?" she asked.

"Always," he replied, reaching into his vest and grabbing a small plastic bottle, "How many?"

"All of them," she answered quickly, trying to smile, but wincing at the pain. He just laughed and shook out two of them, handing them over and reaching for his canteen at his side. Popping them into her mouth, Adrienne took a swig from the small canister, handing it back over as she swallowed.

"Well, what happened?" he asked.

"Apparently we weren't very well prepared. I'm not blaming anybody, but there are some things I don't think anyone could anticipate," she explained, still angry with herself feeling there was something she could have done better, something she could have researched better.

"I'm all ears," John said so she recounted the entire situation for him from her preliminary research to the disaster of a meeting over which she had just presided, thankful for someone to talk to. He listened quietly and thoughtfully and when she was finished he put his hand to his chin and nodded.

"Well, you and Jackson had no way of knowing that information. As far as access to the gate, I think you're gonna need to see where this line goes to determine who really is in charge of what. But the burial ground, Adrienne, I'm at a loss. I was never a real religious person, so I never understood why people just didn't burn their bodies anyway," John said, sympathizing with her predicament.

"Ok, then, we start there. I'll move the negotiations another day and I can head back for the gate get some basic survey supplies. Teal'c speaks enough of their language since they were Goa'ould controlled once, so he can try to keep the peace here in my absence," she stated, feeling better already with some semblance of a plan forming in her mind.

"Sounds good, I'll go back with you; Vala and Ronon can stay with Teal'c," he volunteered.

"Thanks, I really want to pull this off. There has to be something back at command I missed, or some boundary marker at the gate the original team didn't see or that we will be able to see with just some more investigative work. I just don't want to disappoint Daniel," she said, pausing at the end. She hadn't meant to say that, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment realizing her slip. John stood, staring down at her, a look of understanding on his face.

"You won't. I think we need to start somewhere and this is the perfect where. I'll go tell the others, you go get packed up," he said kindly, giving her a gentle smile before heading for the guest house while Adrienne stood, grabbing her notes, legal pad and assorted technology, none of which was able to help her. This time, she was going to have to rely on good old fashioned digging, something she had to admit she hadn't done in a long time.

Sheppard was ready to go in about an hour and the two set off for the gate, walking briskly through the chill of the mountain afternoon. Nervous about the entire ordeal Adrienne requested that they walk until they could go no longer before they camped, hoping to cover as much ground as possible. The first three hours they walked in silence, Adrienne replaying the meeting over and over in her head, trying to figure out what went wrong and pouring over the folder in search of answers. After hours of watching her scan those same pages over and over with frantic eyes, it was John that broke the silence.

"Come up with anything?" he asked.

"Not a thing. I'm just hoping we can find something at the gate, some kind of boundary, anything. Even if I have to dig with my bare hands," she replied, her eyes still on the information and not the path in front of her.

"It'll all work out. Compared to what we usually deal with, this is really nothing, just a bunch of pissed off old men throwing a tantrum," he stated.

"Which is precisely why I have to figure it out. Wouldn't look that great if I blew my first solo mission and it was just something like this," Adrienne lifted her eyebrows, finally glancing in his direction, albeit briefly and then quickly returning to her scan.

John shouldn't have been surprised when Adrienne suggested they forego sleep to keep hiking, but he wasn't too upset as their pace put them at least an hour ahead of the time the group made before on the trip to the village. In the short time he knew Adrienne, John had learned that she was not only exceedingly intelligent but just as determined. When he suggested setting up camp she had just reached into her tac vest and held up two fists.

"You got a choice Sheppard, Five Hour Energy Shot or Coffee Beans."

"The chocolate covered ones you and Jackson are always eating?" he asked Adrienne laughed at the sick ways her and her boss kept themselves awake at all hours, and this one in particular that he had gotten her hooked on. At her insistence, they were organic, of course.

Ok, that had been nice too.

"The same," she replied.

"Hook me up with the beans then," she tossed them over and that ended the discussion of camping for the night.

The sun set two hours before they arrived at the gate.

"So I'm guessing the plan is camp at the gate? Search at first light?" John asked as the sun blinked out of sight.

"No, actually, I'm gonna dial home," Adrienne answered.

"Really? But you haven't even looked for the boundary line yet?" he continued.

"I just have a gut feeling that this is going to go bad if I don't pop over and talk to Daniel. Regardless, I need some equipment, the hands thing was definitely a joke, and if we're gonna be doing some serious traveling we're gonna need to requisition a puddle jumper, " she winked at him. He smiled from ear to ear; puddle jumper was language he could get on board with.

Finally the gate was in sight and Adrienne reached into her vest for a flashlight to dial home, not wanting a repeat of symbol fumbling at the DHD. The wormhole formed and she clicked the button on her personal code signal, knowing that it would summon Daniel to the gate, but no longer caring; he would see quickly that she hadn't caused the end of a civilization, or at least she hoped so.

Drawing up all of her courage, the courage to admit she was in over her head, the courage to admit she needed help, Adrienne glanced back at John trying to smile confidently.

"Be right back to let you know; I need to face him alone," she said, pointing that he stay as she pushed her pack onto her shoulders and walked through, letting the suction of the wormhole pull her body through space. Her foot touched solid ground in an instant and when her eyes cleared as she passed through the event horizon, there he was, waiting for her as expected, looking out of breath as if he had run from the lab.

"What's the matter? Where is everyone else? I told you not to fight that man!" Daniel's arms were crossed and he was fussing at her already. She frowned but decided to take the high ground and not get into a shouting match with him in the middle of the gateroom.

"Nothing's the matter, well, let me get to that. Everyone else is waiting on me; I didn't start a civil war," she answered but decided to change her tone quickly, "but if you've got a sec things did get a little interesting."

"Interesting? How?" he asked, finally seeming to calm down his face furrowing into a frown. That was a different frown, concerned, she thought, making a note for later, still determined to figure him out.

"Follow me, I need some supplies," she started, pausing, realizing that she was giving her boss orders. She glanced over at him sheepishly but his hands were in the air, waving her onward, reaching for her shoulders to push her out of the gateroom.

"Talk as you walk, I'm coming," he replied instead, Adrienne turning with a smile, exiting the gate room and heading for the lab explaining on the way.

"Ok, so first thing is that the Kakuni said the gate is half, or at least half on their land," the cajun started, powering on.

"That's not possible. We had maps, maps certified by both tribes from the last team's visit," Daniel countered, jogging to catch up, realizing exactly how fast his assistant was walking.

"Yeah, I had them right in front of me, right there but the Kakuni negotiator swore it was theirs, I didn't even think to show, gah whatta mal pris. Well, as you can image that led to a lovely shouting match," she grumbled, throwing her arms up into the air, her pace increasing.

"What did you do?" he shouted ahead, hoping she'd heard or she'd slow down, but she was on a roll, rambling, explaining...

"I told them to shut up. Loudly," she yelled, not in his direction but loud enough where he sure as hell heard.

"Your cajun mouth is lucky they don't eat apples there, carry on," he added, loudly, watching her stop in her tracks and start to turn around. Dammit Daniel, he cursed himself, NOT a time to try to joke friendly with her; you just acted like, well, Jack.

"Disregarding your sad attempt at smartassery I shall. I said I'd look into that, and then.." she answered with a smile, letting him catch up to her before she continued.

"What did you plan to do?" he asked calmly, wanting to hear the rest.

"I dunno I panicked," she admitted, stopping in the hall again, Daniel almost running into her completely, but she caught him by his shoulders to steady him.

"Ok, think now. If you could redo it what would you have done?" he said stepping back from her grasp, looking her in the eyes, trying to calm her.

"Vala. I would have sent Vala with someone else, maybe Ronon to check the area. See if markers had been moved or any signs of tampering," Adrienne answered, her eyes not on his, scanning rather, he could actually read her face, tell she was thinking, calculating.

"Good, what else?" he led, hoping to keep her going with his words since she was in another zone, another place almost, her mind running the possible scenario through her head.

"Uh, I would have asked both groups to certify the dates on the maps I had..." Adrienne trailed, her head collapsing into her hands, "Daniel I'm sorry, I - "

"Nope, stop, you can't do that, keeping going, what was the other problem?" Sam was right, she had listened to him, she sounded like him, she was even acting like him.

"Burial ground; they said the field in question is a sacred burial ground," she went on, in total work mode.

"And again?"

"If I had certified the maps I could have verified that too. ARGH! I screwed this up so bad!" she shouted out, pulling out her hair, turning around in a frustrated circle before Daniel caught her this time, holding her lightly in place.

"Did anyone get shot, stabbed, or otherwise injured in such as way as they needed medical care?" he asked slowly.

"No," was her quick response.

"Chance of that happening?" he added, dropping his hands from her shoulders.

"No, they were yelling but it as pretty mild. Like Congress," she admitted, frowning.

"Then you didn't screw up. You did the right thing," he answered with a smile, honestly impressed. She had gone in, done what was planned, hit a complication, couldn't think her way out of it and because it was a safe situation, she went to seek help where she knew she could find it.

She'd done an excellent job.

"What do you mean? Look at what obvious stuff I missed, wasted all that time walking back, getting you..." she rubbed her hand to her temples, squeezing them, shaking her head in disappointment.

"What would you have done if I was there? What would I have done?" he asked one final question to get her to the logical conclusion.

"I would have asked you and not jogged nearly the entire day until my feet were bleeding," she grumbling, wiggling her combat boots.

"Exactly, and I would have asked you. Sometimes you need a second person - " he started but stopped.

Sometimes you did need a second person and he'd never had one, until now. Sure, there had been help here and there, but here, standing right here awaiting his next words, was a second person who was well educated, intelligent, possessed talents in areas he knew he lacked but mostly importantly she thought like him.

For the most part anyway.

She still liked to go Bruce Lee on things that ticked her off, but he chalked that up to being cajun.

Noting they were at the lab door and seeking escape from her awkward stare, he walked over to the phone, dialing the Science Wing to see if they could get a puddle jumper sent down as Adrienne had hoped. Remaining silent, she dashed to the metal closet where she knew he kept the surveying and excavation gear, pulling out what she was sure she needed, stuffing a duffle bag full. She shut the cabinet and lifted it to her shoulder but as soon as Daniel hung up the phone he walked over to Adrienne taking the duffle bag and putting it on his own shoulder. She looked up, surprised at the kind gesture, but didn't say a word, just stood there for a moment as he smiled at her, a soft kind smile accented by his handsome blue eyes.

"Nice job Adrienne. This is just what you should do if something like this arises. Take each part of the problem and break it down," he said, breaking her from her trance, thankfully, what a stupid thought to have, handsome eyes, he was her boss.

"I'll take this down for you, puddle jumper and larger survey gear is on the way. Anything else you need?" he continued, his voice and his actions proving to Adrienne that she had made the right decision to come and ask for help. Now to really ask for help. Adrienne breathed out a bit and looked him right in the eyes.

"You," she said, feeling her face flush at the realization of how that sounded versus how she meant it. Why couldn't she talk to this man?

"I thought you figured out what you needed to do next" he asked playfully, taking the request exactly as it was meant, looking at her over his glasses. Thank God, she thought.

"I can but I would prefer to have your assistance on this one," she smiled. She really did want his help on this, if he could get away. He just stood there smiling, the duffle thrown over his shoulder appearing ready to go with only her word.

"What happened to me being a wash-up pompous asshole?" he stood, asking in earnest, not jest, thinking it was a stupid thing to ask the moment he said it.

"Daniel, come on, I didn't even know you. I'm not blind; I've seen the amazing things that you've done; I've read the files. I think if maybe we try to work together we'd both be surprised at what we can accomplish. I mean, look how well this week has gone," Adrienne answered, placing her hands on her hips. Better I don't tell him how smart I think he is, she thought to herself, that could backfire. He didn't say anything further, just smiled again, reading kindness in her face. Walking back over to the center table, he set down the large duffle and turned to face her.

"Do we have time for me to pack?" he asked.

"You ordered the puddle jumper; how long on that?" she answered, trying to hold back her excitement that he had agreed, with no screaming and no scolding.

"Plenty of time, come with me, I've got an idea," he indicated. She raised her eyebrow and followed him to his on base quarters, where he began to explain on the way.

"You think this'll work?" she said as he stuffed a set of clothes, a few journals and a notepad into his backpack, having laid out the entire plan in the elevators. To be honest, she wanted to keep him talking, feeling slightly nervous here in his on base quarters, alone with him.

This was definitely a change from their status quo.

"No, not at all, but I think our number one priority is to keep everyone happy," he said.

"It's a lot of figure it out as you go isn't it?" she asked him.

"Now you're learning," he threw the bag over his shoulder and they left, Adrienne pulling his door closed behind them. As requested a puddle jumper was waiting for them when they arrived at the gate room. The door opened and they climbed inside, together, not fighting, but planning, on their way back to the village.

"Daniel, can you listen to this, this is my first report you know," she asked but Daniel held up a finger giving her a silent indicator that he needed just one moment longer. He always needed a minute and she rolled her eyes as he alternated between his lighted magnifier and the journal that he was working in, seemingly taking his sweet time.

"Daniel?" she repeated.

"Wait..." he answered.

"The lab's on fire," she said.

"Uh huh," he answered, "not gonna work."

She sat and waited, impatiently, tapping her pen against the center table as she stood at the end of his desk, until he finally looked up.

"Read," that arrogant tone was back, his eyes cutting at her over his glasses, but Adrienne refused to give him the satisfaction of upsetting her, clearing her throat and beginning to read.

"Alright, upon arrival at the main village, Drs. Jackson and Rowan met with Marin and Txyectl, the Kakuni representative. Both men agreed that current maps for the area did not accurately represent recent acquisitions and contained other arguable errors. Therefor an aerial survey along with a manned crew to check ground markers that will confirm the boundary is to be completed as soon as possible by neutral SGC parties to determine if any one group controls the immediate area around the Stargate," she stopped for a breath.

Daniel started to laugh, "I like how we were lumped into doctors."

"We did this together DR. Jackson," Adrienne defended and Daniel just smiled.

"Keep reading," he said.

"The farmland in question is to be surveyed as well by a SGC survey team at a later date to be agreed upon by the elders of both villages to ascertain whether or not it is viable farmland, whether or not it contains any graves or human remains and it's probable value to both communities," she continued.

"Perfect, keep going," he praised.

"Finally, in order to aid both villages in feeding their growing populations while the above mentioned surveys are ordered, Drs. Jackson and Rowan have agreed to return in seven days time with farming equipment that shall enable an increase in crop yield by an estimated 200%," she finished.

"Change shall to will," he suggested quickly.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because you're writing a mission report, not the Bible," he tried not to laugh at her, "and where did you get that 200% figure?"

"It sounded good and you said it would double yield. That's 200% genius," she screwed up her face at him, playfully, a bright smile emerging from under her scrunched nose.

"Fine, type it up and we're done," he retorted. Adrienne, who of course had typed it up to begin with, was finished in moments, the printer roaring to life as she stood in satisfaction. Report complete, she danced it over to him a smile still plastered on her face. He couldn't help but think how nice she looked smiling, so different than she had been in the beginning.

"Done yet?" Adrienne heard a voice behind her and turned to discover that Cam was sticking his head in the doorway, a blue duffel tossed over his shoulder.

"Yeah, let me get my bag," Adrienne answered, handing Daniel the stack of paper and walking over to the lockers, pulling out her neon orange gym bag. She was heading for the door when she suddenly paused at the doorway, peeking behind her.

"Later Daniel, have a good night," she said, smiling at him once more. Daniel waved goodbye and she turned on her heels, following Cam down the hall to the elevators.

Once they were out of earshot, Cam looked over at her, the laughter beginning to trickle from his mouth.

"What?" she asked, knowing where this conversation was about to go and hoping to get it over with.

"No feud? It's a holy miracle!" he threw his hands up doing his best evangelical minister impression, laughingly maniacally as he did so.

" *Je vas te passe une callotte; he's not so bad," Adrienne admitted, shoving his shoulder and pushing her way ahead of him, hoping he didn't catch the redness creeping up into her cheeks.

"Told you," was all he said in reply, enjoying this moment for as long as he could.

Je vas te passe une callotte - cajun - I'm gonna slap you


	6. Chapter 6 - (Epi to Ch 5) Just Coffee

_Ok, ok, so this REALLY isn't a #6, more like an epilogue to #5. _

_Also, I have gotten some comments on grammar (Thank you! xoxo) and I can't for the LIFE of me figure out how to change it without taking down and reposting. A PM that tells me how would be SUPER appreciated :) _

"Hey, you came!?" Adrienne said startled from the door frame as she stepped back to allow him in. She honestly couldn't believe that her boss was standing here, at the door of her apartment at almost nine at night on a Sunday, in jeans and a t-shirt. He actually looked like a real person, a handsome person, which shocked her almost as much as his presence here at her home.

"I was invited," Daniel answered her tentatively, frowning at her in confusion. He had been invited, he thought, and with the two of them getting along so well he had decided to give it a chance, but maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"Yeah, I just didn't really think, ok, come in," Adrienne stammered, politely, moving the rest of the way, Daniel entering her apartment, his eyes taking in the sight in amazement. Her first floor dwelling was ornately decorated like some B-movie greek temple, with vines and grapes hung everywhere, including the walls. He wondered to himself how much she would have to pay in repairs when she moved out, considering the vines looked glued in place, including the ones that wove around a column he was very nearly certain did not come with the apartment. However, it was not tacky as one would expect, instead it was strangely elegant and 100% Adrienne. Shaking his head at her choice of decor, he looked over to the sofa to see Vala sitting there, glass of red wine in one hand and a remote in the other.

"Hey Blue Eyes," she said, a thin flirtatious grin sneaking across her face as she patted the seat beside her. Not responding to her invitation, Daniel walked over to the dining room table, situated in the tiny space that was acting as her dining room and hung his leather jacket on the back of a chair, looking over at Adrienne who was standing in her small kitchen getting him a glass.

"Who else is coming?" he asked, hoping that Adrienne had white wine as well as the red that Vala was drinking.

"No one, it's just me and Vala. Every Sunday," Adrienne answered, handing him a glass and pointing to a bottle of red wine that was sitting the table. Damn, no white. Without a further word she went and sat on the sofa, leaving Daniel to pour his own glass.

Still bewildered, he looked over at the bottle of wine and at the two women, who were already discussing what had happened on last week's episode, a million thoughts running through his head. This was a mistake, he thought to himself, she had to have been kidding, and here he was showing up like an idiot. The look on her face was enough to tell him that she had no intention of actually inviting him over, she was just trying to get him to stop teasing her about her extracurricular entertainment. Vala was the one who had convinced him to come.

"Daniel, are you gonna sit down? I don't want you milling around and blocking my view of hot swedish ass!" Vala fussed, Adrienne laughing as she brought the glass to her lips. There was no getting out of this now, then he'd really look like a jerk. Taking a breath, Daniel poured himself a glass, he was going to need it, and went and sat on the sofa between the two women, the open space that had been left to him.

It was going to be a long hour.

A flash on the screen, followed by a strange creature and awful music started the title sequence and Adrienne leaned over, not taking her eyes off of the screen and holding her wine glass in front of her face.

"Ok, I need to bring you up to speed so you don't ask a million questions during," she whispered, taking a quick sip of wine.

"What makes you think I would ask a million questions?" he retorted.

"It's your personality type shug, I've learned," she answered and kept talking, "Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress who can read minds because she is one quarter fairy. But she can't read vampire minds for some reason so she's intrigued by them..."

"Shhh..." Vala whispered, pointing frantically at last week's recap.

"You know what happened last week Vala, you were sitting right there," Adrienne hissed, "Anyway, she dated one of them for a while, Bill Compton, but he was only dating her to gain power for himself it seems so now she's single and everyone wants her to hook up with Eric Northman who is the vampire sheriff of Louisiana's area five."

"Are you kidding me?" Daniel responded, looking at his assistant completely confused.

"Absolutely not," Adrienne answered him, deadly serious. "Now shush, I'll try to help you follow it later if you need."

Daniel looked ahead as a very strange set of credits began to roll, with odd bayou music and morbid images. Vala, maybe, Daniel thought, she's street smart, but not academically intelligent, and nothing with her every seems out of the realm of possibility, so this might be right up her alley. But Adrienne? Daniel was starting to really question her intelligence now too. Without another word, Adrienne pulled her legs onto the sofa and crossed them yoga style in front of her, left knee resting slightly on Daniel, making him a tad nervous.

"There he is!" Vala bounced excitedly, interrupting his worry, shaking nearly the entire sofa, "but wait, I thought you said he was naked in the books!?" she looked over at Adrienne, disappointment in her face.

"He is; I guess HBO only does sausage when it's a prison show," Adrienne answered, sipping her wine. Sausage? this is a nightmare, Daniel thought, drinking some wine himself, a big swig of wine.

The rest of the show continued like this, Daniel totally lost as the girls talked across him and giggled about the clothed state of a tall blond vampire. Both of them seemed to be completely enamored with the guy, practically drooling all over themselves, while he sat awkwardly trying to pretend he was not caught between a literal rock (stubborn Vala) and a hard place (offending Adrienne). He was so uncomfortable but he couldn't decide what would look worse, leaving or staying, opting finally to try to pretend he had fallen asleep. Finally, he heard Vala whine something like 'Come on..." and a loud music track play so he assumed the show was over. Feeling someone beside him stand, he opened his eyes slightly to see that Vala was up and getting another bottle of wine.

"So Daniel, what did you think?" she asked as she brought a merlot back over, setting him up for the fall. She knew he had been "asleep" and this was just her evil way of calling him out on it.

Well played, Vala, well played.

"Uh, great, thanks Vala for inviting me," he replied, horribly sarcastic. Adrienne didn't say a word, just stood from her seat beside him, walking down the hall to what he assumed was the direction of her bedroom. Once she was gone Daniel glared back at Vala, his eyes demanding an explanation.

"I thought this was going to be a group event?" he asked her, keeping his voice down so that his assistant would not hear since at this point he may still be able to salvage their very fragile relationship unless Vala was hell bent on destroying that as well.

"It was, just not the whole group. Cam and Teal'c hate this show and Sam and Jack are probably watching some sporting event" Vala answered, a mischievous smile on her face.

"So, you invited me to her apartment?" Daniel continued, the volume creeping up just slightly. How could she do this to him? She knew how hard he was trying to get along with Adrienne, she knew that they were finally getting along like they should...

"Yes, it's no big deal. She doesn't hate you or anything," Vala answered, pouring herself yet another glass of wine like she had done absolutely nothing wrong, while Daniel was shaking his head at her, his mouth open. Before he could say another word Adrienne reentered the living room with a small black box in her hand, waltzing directly up to him a small smile on her face.

"On the off chance that you came over here to actually watch the show and were totally lost, which is pretty easy, this will catch you up. Once you get through that I can bring you the rest of them if you want," she handed the box to him, quickly, if you could call it that since she practically pressed it into his chest, and walked by him, turning into the kitchen.

"Thanks," he answered, puzzled, taking the box nonetheless and walking to get his coat. Was she upset with him or did she want him to watch this? Either way he needed to say something, but he was frozen where he stood, his leather jacket in one hand and this DVD boxed set in another.

"Thanks for having me. I'll, well, I'll watch it and, uh, let you know," he stumbled out, putting on his jacket quickly and tucking the movies inside, rushing to the front door.

"Is he gone?" Adrienne asked, coming out of the kitchen the very instant Daniel closed the door behind him. Yeah, she'd been hiding in there, not wanting to face him after she and Vala's girlfest over Eric Northman.

"Yea, he's gone, what in the world was that?!" Vala asked, confused, staring at her friend like she had fifteen heads.

"What was what?" Adrienne played off, walking to clean up their mess from the living room.

"I can't tell if you were trying to get rid of him, wanting him to start coming every Sunday, or just hiding from him all together," she answered, shaking her head at the normally confident and vocal archaeologist.

"Whatever, I just want to know his angle. He just slept or ignored the whole program. Did you even tell him what it was about; he actually acted like we were idiots for watching. Look, I know you said you were done with him, but if you've changed your mind can you just invite him over to your place not mine," Adrienne pleaded. Sure, she and Daniel were getting along great at work, but Adrienne wasn't ready to have him hanging around socially, especially if it was going to put her into some strange middle position between he and Vala. Drama like that was the very reason that Adrienne almost always had only male friends.

"I don't want him! It's just awkward how you two just seem to tolerate one another. You will have really good days and then come a group outing you act like the other one isn't there. I was just trying to fix that!" she stated, crossing her arms indignantly.

"Well, I try. I try everyday. He's a very nice person, he really is, but I don't know if it's ever going to be anything more," Adrienne said, a sadness in her voice, as she sat on the sofa. She'd never really cared about someone liking her so much before him. She hadn't really cared in the beginning, in the beginning she figured she could just work with him and enjoy the company of the others but there was a nagging feeling, deep inside, a feeling like she just needed him to like her. It drove her mad and things like this, Vala doing things just like this, made it that much worse. Sipping some more wine, Adrienne relaxed back onto the deep red cushions, clicking through the channels, trying to find something else for them to watch.

Daniel walked to his car annoyed and frustrated. How could Vala have done that to him? That was the most awkward evening of his life and it wasn't the first time one of the team members had tried something like this. Last week, Teal'c had invited Daniel to dinner, a dinner where Adrienne was seated right across from him, as if positioning her right there would force the two of them to talk socially. Then there was Sam, with her constant hints and comments about how much she liked Adrienne, how funny and intelligent Adrienne was, among other things. Why did everyone insist that he become friends with this woman!? She was accomplished; he knew that and she did a good job, a great job, but he had nothing in common with her.

He might as well try to be friends with Rodney.

It wasn't that he didn't like her, he just never had anything to say to her other than work related issues and about that she could yammer on as much as he could.

So why was he so bothered by it all?

Getting into his Jeep, he slammed the door behind him and drove off, trying to put the horrible night out of his mind.

The next morning Adrienne was late as usual, but Daniel decided not to say anything. He'd brought the DVD's home to his apartment letting the gesture set in, that she had loaned him one of her precious sets of DVDs and was hoping he would watch it. He almost did, he had the disc in the player and everything, but just didn't get as far as to press play and actually watch.

It was still sitting in his player.

She came in, went to the file cabinet, pulling out a variety of folders, setting them carefully onto the center table. He thought she was going to get down to work, so he started to get back to his own, but she looked over to him a friendly smile on her face.

"Morning Daniel. They're out of coffee in the mess for some unknown reason but I'm happy to run by Starbucks if ya'd like," she offered. He started to get a bit annoyed by this; he had been getting his own coffee for weeks so she had no right to act otherwise before he realized that she was just being nice, maybe this wasn't just backlash from what he was going to now refer to as the "Uncomfortable Vampire Incident."

First Vampires, now expensive coffee.

Stop jumping to conclusions idiot, he told himself, pinching his nose under his glasses.

"You can go if you want to," he answered, waiting to see what she would do. Smiling, she stood again, walking over to the lockers and pulling out a jacket that she would leave there from time to time, slipping it over her shoulders as she glanced at him.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Hmmm," he answered, trying to remember the last time he went to a Starbucks and didn't endure the coffee on base, but he honestly couldn't remember, "surprise me."

He was trying to at least give her some small indication that he trusted her judgement, even if it just was a cup of coffee, so he stood, walking over to her, reaching for cash from his wallet when Adrienne grabbed his hand, shaking her head emphatically.

"I got this," she said plainly, shocking him with her offer.

"You sure?" he asked, making the tiniest bit of a face at her trying to judge her intentions but Adrienne just smiled.

"Yeah, a student gave me a gift card that been wasting space in my wallet. I shall return," she said, smiling and waving, heading back out of the door of the lab. That was nice, Daniel thought to himself, no longer trying to judge her intentions and accepting the offer for what it was a cup of coffee. He looked back at what he had been doing, yet another section of the database, clicking away at the keys on his laptop.

An hour later she wasn't back yet. The nerve, he thought, using coffee as an excuse to escape work for an hour. After hour two passed, however, he started to get worried. Granted, Adrienne operated on Cajun time, but she didn't just vanish into thin air, especially when there was work to be done, the woman was just as bad as he was about working.

Something had to be wrong.

He grabbed the phone receiver from his desk unit with one hand while scrolling through his contacts to find her cell phone number with the other. Entering the numbers carefully, Daniel sat back, frowning, awaiting her answer.

"Hello?" her voice was clear, albeit reserved, without the same joviality as before.

"Where are you?" he asked his tone harsh, just in case there was something amiss. He could hear her clear her throat on the other end of the line before she spoke.

"There was an accident. I'm sorry. I should have called," she responded. Her voice was quiet, lacking that classic Adrienne spunk, and it took a moment before the words finally registered in Daniel's head.

"An accident? Are you ok?" he questioned, suddenly worried for her safety. He felt bad; why had he doubted her? Adrienne had never been anything more than the consummate professional, and now she was off base, getting him coffee and had been in an accident, possibly even injured.

Horrible didn't quite do how he was feeling justice.

"Yea, Apollo's gonna need a new rear fender and maybe even an engine cover, but the guy wasn't going that fast so I was lucky," she was eerily calm and still quiet. Daniel listened to her talk about her car, well at least he was hoping that Apollo was her car, suddenly realizing that she hadn't answered his question.

"Not the car Adrienne, I asked if you were alright," he wanted to try to convey to her that he was worried about her, that he didn't want her to get hurt. Was she playing tough for his benefit?

"Yeah, my neck's a little sore, but I'm gonna let Carson check me out when I get back," she replied, touched by his concern. He really does care, she thought, that's kinda cool...

"So, can you drive your car back?" he continued, trying to get a better handle on the situation since she seemed to be a little out of it. Not only had his assistant been in a car accident, but he had no idea as to whether or not she was medically sound or stranded for that matter.

"No, the damage was too close to the engine for me to take the risk. I've called a tow truck and it should be here soon. Then I'll call a cab, but your coffee's going to be cold," she sounded almost like she was apologizing. For his coffee? Frowning, he stood from his desk.

"No, no, don't call a cab, I'll be right there, where are you?" he insisted, hearing her make a sound into the phone.

"Daniel, I lived alone a long time; you don't need to come rushing down here, I can manage," she answered, but not with the answer he was going to accept.

"I don't need to come, I want to come. Stop being ridiculous, now where are you?" he asked again, determined. There was no way he was going to let her sit out on some curb somewhere, alone, while he sat here like nothing had happened. There was a pause on the other end and a sigh, he could tell she was giving in as she muttered to herself some names of what sounded like nearby stores.

"I'm on St. Asaph, a block from the Starbucks," she said, sighing and giving in. At least he didn't sound like he was going to yell at her, he actually sounded concerned, so she figured she'd let him come and save the day. To be honest, it was kind of nice for once to have someone to come to swoop in and save the day.

"Ok, I'll be there soon," he hung up, dialing the gate room to inform Walter he was leaving and dashed out to his car.

Adrienne sat, cold and quiet, on the sidewalk watching the tow truck take away her baby; she worried about that car more than anything else in her life right now. Looking down at Daniel's coffee, hers long gone, she shrugged and started to drink it, desperate for the caffeine boost as a distraction to the worry that was running through her head. She hoped the man that hit her had enough insurance to cover the repairs since VWs as old as hers cost more to repair that most people realized. She was finishing off her boss's cup when she heard him shout from down the sidewalk, a part of her still surprised that he really had come.

"Adrienne! Hey, over here," he was yelling, waving his arms in her direction, just like he'd promised. Surprisingly, he didn't look angry or irritated, he actually looked worried, as he walked briskly in her direction. Wow, she thought, I haven't been imagining it, he does worry about me. Touched, and hoping her cheeks didn't show her embarrassment, Adrienne stood from the sidewalk, taking a few steps to approach him.

"Sorry," she began by apologizing, "I drank your coffee." Daniel was shaking his head, however, looking her over, trying to ascertain if she was truly alright or just playing tough.

"I'll live, where'd they take your car?" he asked, determining that she was uninjured as she had claimed. Reaching into the side pocket of her BDU's, Adrienne showed him a business card of some body shop in the area, one that he had never heard of, letting him take it from her hand.

"I've got to call this place in the morning, get over there and see. But my car is a '68, pretty common year, so parts shouldn't be an issue," she said, shrugging. Daniel couldn't get over how quickly her mood changed when talking about her car, she seemed so distraught. He'd never seen a woman act like that over a car before; it was kind of strange.

"I'm happy to take you over there in the morning, see what they say," he offered quickly, pointing in the direction of where he had parked, hoping to offer some ease to her concerns.

"I appreciate that, thanks," she said, taking a few steps toward his car, fortunately for the both of them parked in a nearby spot for thirty minutes or less. She was glad for it; her head did hurt a bit worse than she was letting on and she really didn't feel up to walking blocks and blocks with the dull throb that was beginning.

"So, you drive a bug?" Daniel finally asked, curious about her choice of transportation, one that she had chosen to name after a Grecian god.

"Yeah, '68, restored with an MP3 player and everything, modern tech gear, but yeah, a bug," she answered. Daniel smiled and stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, pointing at an older red jeep and reaching into his pocket for the keys.

"That suits you," he replied.

She chuckled a bit, "How so?"

"Just spunky, I guess," he responded as she laughed. Smiling as he unlocked and opened the door of his jeep for her, he waited and watched her as she got in just in case she stumbled or showed any other sign that she was feeling the results of the accident.

"Well, this car doesn't suit you," she said, winking at him. Daniel shut the door on the passenger side and walked over to get in himself, wondering what exactly she meant by that. Opening his door, he pulled himself into the seat, slipping the key into the ignition.

"Ok, so this car doesn't suit me? Why not?" he asked, bewildered by the remark, but playing friendly. It looked like she was playing with him so he wanted to be nice but Adrienne just shrugged.

"I mean, I get the whole Jeep thing because you're an archaeologist, but you're really more of a paper pusher now. Do you even know what dirty is?" she teased. Daniel started the Jeep and began to work his way out of the space, cutting his eyes over at her.

"Yes, I do... in fact, until we got this Asgard mess dumped into our laps, I did a lot of off world digs. In fact, it's how I met Chaka," he replied, driving down St. Asaph, heading back toward the Pentagon when he noticed that Adrienne was looking over at him confused.

"Chaka?" she asked, seeking clarification.

"He is the current leader of the Unas," Daniel explained, Adrienne nodding her head in recognition.

"Gotcha, the "Old Ones," she answered, "forgot the name, sorry. This job has got a lot to memorize." Daniel smiled in agreement trying to imagine how for as smart as she was that she had nearly fifteen years of information that she was being expected to memorize and that couldn't be easy. The entrance in sight, Daniel turned the jeep into the parking lot of the Pentagon, pulling the car into his space and shutting it off, looking over at his assistant.

"Well, let me know when you want a ride home and I can take you, unless you were planning to stay on base tonight," he said, "and go down to Carson to get checked out. Neck pain isn't something to be ignored." Adrienne looked a little confused, frowning, scrunching up her nose and picking at her nails.

"Wow, what's with the sudden concern?" she asked, not trying to start a fight but wondering. They weren't friends or were they?

Did she miss something?

"I just want to make sure you're alright. A car accident is no small thing; I'm honestly surprised that you're not in tears and hysterical," he added.

"Me, in tears? Daniel, it was a fender bender. Shit happens," she declared casually and hopped out of the jeep, shutting the door behind her.

"Well, go see Carson. Today," he got out himself, shouting over the hood to her and hoping she would heed his advice.

"I'm going now, but he's just going to give me some pain killers and send me back home," she replied, shouting over her should across the parking lot, her tone indicating that she might be reconsidering her visit to the infirmary.

"And then I'll take you," he said, jogging to catch up and open the door for her.

"Concerned and overprotective?" she smiled, noting the difference in his demeanor. Feeing a need to explain, Daniel shut the door again, gazing down at her.

"Look, Adrienne, I know I rode you pretty hard in the beginning and I have admitted that and apologized for that. I know you really don't care for me, but we work well together and I don't see why we can't try to be a little more caring to one another outside of the lab. Who knows, we might get more done, but more than anything I need an ally down there," he explained honestly all the while Adrienne was standing there, a strange expression on her face.

"Daniel, I think you're a great guy. I've got no problem with you," she said quickly.

"Then why are you always sniping at me?" he asked.

"Because you get on my nerves. You're... neurotic," she said. She said it so casually, like he was some kind of maniac that she was forced to deal with. He couldn't help it; the comment just set him off.

"Me!? I'm neurotic! Have you ever taken a second to look at yourself. You hold up the entire cafeteria line counting carbohydrates and proteins, out loud while the rest of us normal people wait patiently for you to just shut up and get out of the way!" he began to raise his voice, shouting out the first thing that he could think of that she did that drove him crazy. Why did she set him off so bad? He had never lashed out at someone like he lashed out at Adrienne, but despite his shouting and accusations, Adrienne stood right there laughing.

"Neurotic," she smiled, holding back a laugh.

"That was a joke wasn't it?" he said taking a breath.

"Partially," she winked, smiling.

"Please go see Carson," he replied sharing the smile.

"I am, I am. Verite shug," she said, squeezing his arm and heading down the passageway.

"This is why I work alone," Rodney McKay said from behind making Daniel turn surprised to see he was coming in from the parking lot as well.

"Sorry you had to hear that," Daniel instantly embarrassed he had lost his cool, yet again and she'd just been playing around. He could just hear Sam yelling at him now.

"However, if Sam were to assign me a woman that attractive, that intelligent and that spirited, I might reconsider. That is, of course, if Jennifer and I weren't..." he said, that goofy grin on his face. Not desiring to hear about yet another happy couple of the base, Daniel just shook his head and headed for the lab.

Wanting to tune out the world, he put on headphones and began to go through some of the audio files in the database, making notes into a fresh journal, letting the work take him away. He was well into two hours worth of recordings when he felt a tap at his shoulder and turned surprised to see that behind him was Adrienne, cup of coffee in hand. She placed it on his desk as he took off his headphones, pulling up a chair beside him and sitting down.

"I'm sorry, for earlier. I was still pretty wound up from the accident and probably a poor choice of jokes, especially after coming to my rescue," she said with a small smile on her face.

"It's alright, I was a bit of a jerk myself. What did Carson say?" he asked.

"He tried to give me some muscle relaxers, but that's too chemical. So, I'm gonna take off of running for a week, kick up the yoga and switch out milk for coconut water," she answered as if this were a normal set of doctors orders. Daniel started to laugh and Adrienne cracked up herself, placing her head in her hands and beginning to laugh harder.

"Ok fine! We're both neurotic! Both of us," she was laughing strongly now.

"Fair, as long as you admit it, I will too," Daniel answered, smiling, that handsome smile that Adrienne had just noticed only a few weeks before. She shook her head, trying to refocus, and made her way back to her desk not feeling like going home just yet. Daniel didn't seem to argue with her when she put on her headphones and cranked up her rap music, diving into her laptop screen like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Glancing over at her desk, her body already bopping happily to the music, Daniel couldn't help but smile. She had coffee now, they must have gotten the maker working again, and she was back to work, no questions asked, no complaints, no problems.

This is pretty cool, he thought, she's going to finish out the list I gave her, move on to the next and for the first time in ages I'm going to be ahead of schedule.

She's not so bad, he added, biting his lip before returning his eyes to the screen, not bad at all.

Robert Woolsey marched through the door at five on the dot and Adrienne could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy. She didn't want either man to know that she was eavesdropping, so she simply turned her music down and left her headphones on, allowing her eyes to wander in their direction.

"Dr. Jackson, this report from PSK-956 just arrived at my desk, now. The mission that you and Dr. Rowan negotiated on. The one where you decided it was a good idea to let two villages share access to the Stargate..." he slammed the folder onto Daniel's desk, but the archaeologist seemed unmoved.

"Yes Mr. Woolsey, it was a necessary part of the negotiation, and with a new treaty in place I don't think we'll need to worry about either tribe denying us future access," Daniel sat back, pulling his own headphones to his neck and leaning back in his chair.

"Apparently, so was an entire survey team with thousands of dollars worth of equipment!" Mr. Woolsey was obviously heated, "and farming supplies to the tune of a half a million dollars!"

"All necessary in order to keep the peace and let us continue to have a presence on that planet. We need to use planetary gates in the bridge this time, and this gate is key to that bridge," Daniel answered, remaining calm.

"Dr. Jackson, I understand what you do for us, I do, but this is unacceptable. And since when do you know what we need to create a bridge system? All you've been doing for months is sitting down here and reading through Asgard knowledge that has proven useless. We are getting more use now out of Vala Mal Doran!" Woolsey crossed his armed and breathed in like he was going to say more, Daniel sitting at his desk, remaining calm and bracing for the worst.

That's not fair, Adrienne thought, he does a lot, he can't help that you are too dimwitted to see that! Daniel still didn't seem to be moving, didn't seem to be phased but there was that frown, not the frown he gave her when he was mad at her, not the frown he seemed to give when he was confused but another frown, one she hadn't seen yet.

So instead of sitting their quietly, Adrienne pulled off her headphones.

"Excuse me, Mr. Woolsey," Adrienne spoke, both men turning to look at her.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I think Mr. Woolsey is probably just misunderstanding. If you could let me see the file folder..." she began, setting the headphones aside, walking over to Daniel's desk and grabbed the file, opening it and looking at the report.

"Yes, see, just what I thought," she started as Daniel looked at her quizzically. She wanted to wink, give him a signal or something, but he was just going to have to trust her, "First, with gate access, it was a simple surveying mistake, see this word here, so technically were we not giving access, we were just fixing the existing boundary lines. Good thing we did, a bloody dispute over a needed gate is the last thing we need," she stated. Woolsey started to speak, but Adrienne just help up a finger politely and continued.

"As far as the surveying equipment is concerned, and this is my fault, sorry, newbie mistake, I forgot to add that there were geological indications that there could have been a naquadah supply, so we had to conduct a survey," Adrienne explained.

"Dr. Rowan, they were planning on using this as farmland, isn't naquadah radioactive? Wouldn't it have affected the soil in a way that the surface of the ground would be noticeably different?" Robert asked.

"That's what we have seen, yes, but if you will recall radioactivity can also increase yield, or at least it does here on Earth, and with how fervently the Kakuni were holding on to this land, we thought it was worth investigating. Again, I apologize for the omission and will rectify it immediately," Adrienne continued.

"And the equipment? I suppose you also have a clever excuse for the equipment as well?" Woolsey pushed, he crossed his arms.

"No, no excuses. See, the Janci and the Kakuni both grow a type of rare but hearty potato plant. If using the materials we give them can succeed in growing the potatoes in larger quantities, we can use them as seeders to help spread them to the planets that we are trying to wean off of Kasa. Ergo, more allies for us," Adrienne declared happily, shutting the folder and setting it back onto Daniel's desk, right beside a still hand that was attached to a currently shocked face. Come on Daniel, she thought, let's look less surprised here so I can get this asshole out of here.

"Well, Dr. Rowan, seems you have it all figured out. I would appreciate if you would amend that report to reflect this new information," Woolsey glared at her but unfazed, Adrienne nodded her head in agreement.

"Understood, I'll begin immediately," she replied, picking up the folder from Daniel's desk once more and returning to her own. Mr. Woolsey said goodbye to Daniel and saw himself out, clearly still unhappy about the result but not seeing anything that he could do about it.

"I had that," he told her once the coast was clear, which he had but quite honestly wanted to see how everything played out with her little plan.

"Uh huh," she said from her screen, smiling, and not doing so sarcastically.

"You lied to him," Daniel continued, trying to clarify his position with his assistant that that wasn't exactly the course of action he would have taken even though it worked.

"Only a little," she kept typing.

"No, I think that was a pretty big lie," Daniel said, "You better hope we don't get caught."

"You don't lie Dr. Jackson?" she winked.

"I lie when I have to," he answered honestly, slowly...

"So do I," she kept typing, "anyway, the last thing's not a lie."

"The Kasa replacement? You didn't mention anything to me about it," he actually sounded offended.

"I just thought of it, but it is a good idea. So, I'm mentioning it now," she looked around her screen for something, probably searching for something about this good idea that had just come to her.

Yeah, it was a good idea, he thought, it would be interesting to see how she pulled that together but he honestly had no doubt that she would, no doubt for a moment. It was odd how that hit him, that he could count on this woman and now not just to do her job but to have real debatable ideas and to back him up.

Daniel sat for a second, trying to remember where he left off before Woolsey arrived but just got frustrated and decided to quit for the night. He was shutting down his computer, but doing so slowly as he saw Adrienne was still typing away. Hearing the printer across the room start, he caught a glimpse of her leaping from the desk, as if nothing had happened to her today, no car accident, no argument, no Woolsey, taking the page from the printer and walking over to her desk, hole punching it and sticking it into the folder. A look of pride on her face, she skipped over to his side, gleefully presenting him with the amended version.

"Here you go, fixed!" she stated, turning as he took the folder to walk back to her desk to get her coat, "Can I still get a ride home?" She asked over her shoulder once she put it on.

"Sure, let me get my bag," Daniel turned, folder in hand and smiled, walking over to his locker, grabbing his messenger bag following behind her. Adrienne hit the lights once he was close to the door but he paused at the door frame, looking back at her as she was reaching to pull the large slab behind them.

"Thanks for having my back," he said, quietly, and meant it, still touched by her actions today with Woolsey. She didn't just cover for herself, she had volunteered to take the brunt of any yelling that was to come without hesitation, without asking for a single thing for herself.

She was his ally.

For the first time in his career with the Stargate program he had another voice of reason down here, a full time voice of reason that wasn't afraid to stand up to the IOA on his behalf.

"No problem," she replied, "as long as you always remember to have mine. It's kinda nice having someone to call when I get stranded at the coffee shop."

"I think I can live with that," he answered, pulling the door closed behind them as they headed out to the Jeep.

_Author's note:_

_Thanks for hanging in there. I hope I'm not driving you guys too crazy but post EVERYTHING Daniel I just see as so guarded. So there you go...he's dropping his guard, he is finally realizing that this woman is not here to destroy him or his world, that she's, just, well, here. _

_What next you may ask? _

_Keep reading..._

_:) _


	7. Chapter 7 - Target

_This is more than just a romance; fan fic just doesn't have enough categories. I have a story arc, otherwise this doesn't make sense after a while. I needed to start it, well here, so let's just forget Daniel & Addy hooking up for a moment, shall we?_

_Trust me on this one :P _

"Shots fired! Shots fired in training room three! Requesting units!" Walter's voice over the loudspeaker startled Daniel so bad he knocked his coffee into his lap, leaping from his desk to avoid the brown liquid that was already on its way to his legs.

"Dammit," he swore loudly, not only was it hot but for once he was wearing jeans to work and not BDU's, so of course this would stain, a deep dark spreading right across his groin.

What a way to start a morning.

Walter repeated his announcement when it finally registered to Daniel what was being said. Sloughing off the excess liquid with his hand and ignoring the embarrassing spatter, Daniel dashed out of the lab and straight for the stairs to see what was wrong.

By the time he arrived at the training room, a large crowd had gathered, whispering, gossiping, but since there was no one being hauled away by the security personnel or any other armed staff members, he figured it was safe to assume that it was a training misfire. Excusing himself through the throng of people, trying to figure out what had happened, he got about halfway through when he found himself face to face with Dr. Carolyn Lam, who was pointing a finger angrily at his chest.

"Dr. Jackson, I'm finished. I'm finished with her. From this point on, if it's not mission related, I refuse to treat her! Are we clear?" she said in a tone that she often reserved for when he had done something she deemed stupid, which was far more often than he liked to admit. However, he had just been working away in his lab all morning, it had been a quiet week, so he was completely confused by her outburst.

"Who, Vala?" Vala was always his first thought when it came to doing something stupid, her leap first and glean information later attitude getting the team in almost as much trouble as he did, accidentally of course, but rather than agree, Dr. Lam shot him a face of disgust.

"No, Dr. Rowan! Someone needs to inform her that she is not a superhero and that this is not the damn Justice League Headquarters!" Dr. Lam was furious, Daniel could tell, but he tried to stifle his laughter, thinking to himself how much Adrienne would enjoy the reference; being a member of the Justice League was far superior to being his "Robin."

Hoping to quell her anger, he tried to reach for her arm in a gesture of good will, but she flipped it around shoving his hand, pushing him out of the way by his shoulder and storming back toward the infirmary. Daniel looked behind, watching the very upset lead doctor swear her way down the hall, promising himself that he would have to go down and talk to her later, and then continued to push his way through the crowd. His foot was stepped on at least three times, and the coffee spill against his skin wasn't making him any more comfortable, but he made it to the entrance of the training room where he saw Adrienne, leaning against the back left wall, Teal'c and Dr. Cassie Frasier, Janet's adopted daughter, hunched over her. He rolled his eyes and made his way over to his assistant, yelling before he even got over to her. Why did she do shit like this, he thought, knowing that despite how great things had been with them as of late she still seemed to push her limits in training much further than she should.

"Adrienne, you've got to be kidding me! What in the world is wrong with you?" he scolded as he walked around Dr. Frasier and Teal'c, to stand at Adrienne's right, leaning over her to see what mess she had managed to get herself into now. Cassie was trying to pull Adrienne's shirt over her head as Teal'c held her steady, both of them focusing on a large reddish blotch on the opposite side from where Daniel was standing, Adrienne wincing in pain as they moved her carefully. The young doctor removed the tight tank top and tossed it aside, returning to examine Adrienne's wound as Teal'c glanced up at Daniel.

"It was not her fault DanielJackson; there was a malfunction with my staff weapon and I fired at AdrienneRowan. We were fortunate both she and I move so quickly," Teal'c pointed to the staff weapon lying beside him, stuck in the open position. Daniel scanned, looking for and finding Adrienne's own weapon, in the closed position lying at her hip, supporting Teal'c''s claim. Feeling bad for screaming at her over what was obviously an accident, Daniel looked back at his assistant who was leaning and flinching in pain as Cassie tended to a rather large laser burn on her upper left torso. The smell of charred flesh hit Daniel causing him to gag out of reflex, but he held back, not wanting to break. He could tell that Adrienne was trying not to cry out in pain, a feat he found remarkable, the burn being so red, black and bloody he couldn't understand how she hadn't passed out. Cassie dabbed another substance on the wound and finally Adrienne screamed out, a shriek like he had never heard her make, causing Teal'c to crawl on his knees to help her, taking her into his strong arms, a look of guilt plastered across his face. Dabbing the wound once more, Cassie peeked up at Daniel, her face grim with concern.

"Can you and Teal'c help me get her to the infirmary? I need better lighting," she requested, not giving Daniel an opportunity to yell at his assistant further, which he hadn't planned on, seeing her in this state, in fact he was pretty worried, wanting to lean in and check for himself. Nodding his head quickly, Daniel walked over to help, thinking that he might as well add his assistant's blood to the list of things he would need to get out of his pants. Before Daniel could even lean down to Adrienne, Teal'c stepped in front of him, taking full responsibly for her care and scooped up Adrienne himself, carrying her out in his arms, Cassie following close behind. Daniel looked down, grabbing Adrienne's decimated shirt and her staff weapon, pausing to look over his shoulder at a few gawkers who had made their way into the training room.

"Can one of you take that, carefully, to Teal'c quarters?" he requested, pointing down to the Jaffa's open staff weapon. He heard a yes sir and one of the men sprang into action, jogging over to the staff and leaning over carefully to secure it. Still frowning, Daniel turned to follow his friends and see how badly Adrienne had been injured.

When he got down to the infirmary, Adrienne was laying on her side under a bright light while Cassie continued to clean the wound. Daniel noticed Dr. Lam, as promised, was refusing to get involved, hiding in her office as if no patient had been brought in at all.

Maybe now was not the time to talk to her.

Letting out a sigh, he walked over to where Adrienne was being treated, noticing that their Jaffa friend was gone.

"Where did Teal'c go?" Daniel asked the young doctor, now concerned that he might have had a wound himself that needed treatment.

"I told him to go; he kept apologizing, but it was just an accident," Adrienne hissed through her teeth as Cassie continued to work. Daniel couldn't wait to hear this story.

"What happened?" he asked his wounded cajun assistant as she lay on the operating table, swearing in French under her breath. Her cheeks reddening, she looked up at him sheepishly.

"Just what he said. We were doing defensive maneuvers with a closed staff. Teal'c said I was ready to move on from the wooden staff for those kinds of maneuvers. We hit, we backed up, Teal'c went to spin his staff and it just went off. We both, OWW!," Adrienne shouted out interrupting her barely coherent babble.

"Sorry Addy," Cassie said, "but to be honest you're just pretty darn lucky to be conscious at this point."

"It's ok; just lost my focus," she shot a look at Daniel, seemingly annoyed to be explaining herself to him again, but continuing, on the off chance that he was genuinely worried and not just looking for another excuse to scold her.

"As I was saying," she began again, gritting her teeth,"we both saw the end open and I jumped just in time, but got singed a bit. A big bit." Disappointed in herself for reasons Daniel couldn't understand, he couldn't believe a shot in the side was her only injury, Adrienne glanced mournfully at her wound. Drying it now with a wad of sterile gauze, Cassie grabbed a larger piece and bandage from the tray in front of her to protect the now clean and hopefully sanitized area. Placing the large white piece of cloth over the red raw area, Cassie began to wrap the bandage around Adrienne's waist, but was having some trouble, Adrienne's muscular build being too much for the small young doctor to lift. Daniel rested the staff weapon against the wall noting her struggle, throwing Adrienne's shirt over his shoulder to help wrap the bandage around his now mortally embarrassed assistant. Cassie thanked him and looked over at Adrienne, a small smile on her face.

"Ok Addy, you're gonna be fine, but you'll need to have this bandage changed once a day, at least, right after you shower. If you want to come down here afterward I can fix it and -" Cassie began when Daniel heard a squeal behind him.

"ADDY! I heard Teal'c shot you and you were bleeding to death!" Of course, more drama, Daniel recognized the voice as Adrienne pushed him out of the way by his hip so she could answer.

"No, I'm not bleeding to death, who in hell started that rumor?" Adrienne didn't like to be the talk of the base, especially after the footrace incident where Daniel had landed on her and busted her lip, or the apple incident, or well, a number of incidents. Since then, she preferred to keep a low profile, hiding with him in the "Batcave" as she liked to call it.

"I don't know; I was in the commissary getting something to eat and I heard the sirens. When I got there a young lieutenant was saying something about Teal'c shooting you and him carrying you out bleeding all over the floor so I came right down," Vala said, moving past Daniel as if he wasn't there at all.

He hated them as friends.

"No, I'm ok, a bit of blood but not too bad. Actually, you just missed the show," Adrienne said as Cassie helped her sit up, Daniel remaining in the background the woman had shoved him into watching Vala fuss over her friend. Rushing over, Vala grabbed Adrienne's right arm steadying her as she sat and then cocked her head over her shoulder at Daniel, finally acknowledging his presence.

"You come to kiss it and make it better?" she asked jokingly, cutting her eyes between the two archaeologists.

"He did," Adrienne laughed, "He's very good at that I might add. Jealous yet mon ami?" Adrienne replied, giggling like a teenage girl, Daniel face flushing in embarrassment.

He hated them as friends even if Adrienne had taken his side.

Or did she?

He was so confused.

"On that note," Daniel said turning to leave without so much as a good bye from his assistant or supposed friend, although he thought he felt a hand at his wrist, did he, was she holding him back, should he stay...

Keep walking Daniel.

It wasn't until he reached the doors of the infirmary when he realized he had Adrienne's burnt tank top still draped across his shoulder. Grunting in frustation, he shoved it into the trashcan by the elevators and hit the button to go down, determined to get something accomplished.

About an hour later Daniel realized he had forgotten about dinner in the latest installment of Adrienne madness. Marking his spot in the database, he stood, feeling a stiffness on his leg and remembering the rest of the wonderful start to his morning. Damn coffee, he thought, as he went over to his locker to see if he had a pair of uniform pants stowed away for a situation like this. He opened the door, relived to see that he had a duffel stuffed inside with, sure enough, a pair of clean pants. Looking over his shoulder at the clock, he noted it was 7:30 p.m. and he figuring that he was alone on the floor, he unzipped his jeans and shucked them to the floor, pulling them from his feet and reaching down to retrieve them and shove them quickly into his locker.

"Quick, Vala's coming! She might kill me in a jealous rage if she finds me with you sans pants," he heard from behind him and dashed behind his desk in embarrassment. There was Adrienne, standing in the doorway, laughing hysterically as she held her side wincing in pain.

"Dammit Adrienne, don't you knock?" he demanded, looking desperately at his pants, tossed casually on the table beside the locker, too far for him to reach unless he wanted to parade around in front of his assistant in his underwear.

"Uh, not when I'm going to my own office shug. I don't expect to find my boss half-naked in our workspace, it's just not considered 'office-norm' ya know?" she joked and walked over to the uniform pants, grabbing them and walking them over to him a huge Cheshire cat grin on her face. He snatched them from her grasp, but didn't move, not relinquishing for a moment the safety and protection of his desk. Still laughing and shaking her head, Adrienne turned her back to him and walked over to the door.

Ok, sweetie, ok, I won't look at your bare legs. I'll even shut the door. Where did you put your jeans?" Adrienne asked and as promised, shut the door, engaging the lock. Daniel slipped into his BDU's and turned, buttoning the fly quickly while he answered her over his shoulder.

"Why do you want to know where my jeans are?" he asked suspiciously, peering at her over his glasses.

"So I can get the stain out of them; the only thing that I could smell laying in that gym was my burned skin and your coffee covered leg" she replied honestly, chuckling like she was trying to joke. Daniel turned and looked at her puzzled, noticing she still had her back to him, as promised, no peeking, no leering, no making fun of him.

"I'm good," he said and she turned back around, the smirk from earlier gone replaced with a smile, "and thank you for the offer, but I've been doing my own laundry for quite some time now; I think I can manage a stain."

"Suit yourself," Adrienne shrugged, walking over carefully to sit at her computer. His thoughts changing course and now wondering why she was down here, working, after almost having a hole ripped into her midsection. Concerned, Daniel walked over to her, peering down at her over his glasses.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting?" he asked confused, but she looked up at him over her shoulder and smiled.

"From my strenuous job as a translator? Or my long hours of filing? Daniel, I think I can handle some boring on-world paperwork with a burn on my side," Adrienne stated, smiling through pain, she HAD to be in pain, continuing to cue up her computer. In his opinion, she really should be resting, but she didn't look like she was going anywhere.

Wow, was she stubborn.

Like him.

Ugh.

"Suit yourself," he said jokingly, giving her a taste of her own medicine, "but I need food."

His stomach now getting the best of him, Daniel opened the lab door when he heard a shout behind me.

"Can you being me something? NOT an apple?" she requested with a smile.

"A pear it is," he answered, laughing, heading down to the commissary intent on satisfying the rumble in his gut.

It was too late for dinner for most people, but Daniel saw John Sheppard sitting alone in the corner of the commissary, so he grabbed a burger, fries and a coke and headed over to the Atlantis commander.

"May I join you?" Daniel asked rhetorically.

"Yeah, of course," John replied, indicating the empty chair across from him. Regretting his choice as soon as he sat, Daniel immediately noticed that John was looking at him, the words he knew were to come poised on the tip of his tongue.

"Heard your assistant had a little incident with a staff weapon today," John said. Ahhh Adrienne, Daniel thought to himself, my favorite topic of conversation. She really is the incredibly spreading cajun virus.

"Yeah, Teal'c's weapon misfired and she was hit, but she's alright. Actually showed up to work, so I think she's gonna be just fine," Daniel replied hoping that would end the conversation and he appeared to be right seeing as John was nodding his head in agreement. He looked like he was going to say something else, hopefully changing the subject entirely, when sirens went off echoing through the cafeteria, the night announcer's voice blasting over the loudspeaker.

"Shots fired in storeroom seven. All available units to storeroom seven!" Daniel and John looked at each other, reading the same perplexed expression in one another's faces, and dashed out of the cafeteria, opting for the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. By the time they opened the door to the stairwell, they could see Dr. Beckett and Cassie racing down the hallway followed by a flurry of orderlies with stretchers. Daniel heard the elevator doors behind him and turned to see Adrienne stepping out slowly, her hand to her side.

"What's going on?" she asked as she approached them, not letting go of her waist for a second.

"I have no idea," Daniel answered, relieved that for once Adrienne was not involved, but also staying her advance. As they approached the scene, he grabbed her shoulders quickly to keep her upright as Carson pushed by with Sgt. Elliot on board one of the previously empty stretchers, Cassie running alongside holding an IV saline bag in the air. Looking up, Daniel saw Teal'c exiting the weapons room glancing pitifully over at Sam who must have been one of the first to arrive.

"Teal'c what happened?" Sam was asking as Daniel and company shoved their way to the front, Adrienne having now gently pulled herself from her boss's protective grasp.

"SamanthaO'Neill, I came to the weapons room to secure a new staff weapon as mine is malfunctioning. When I reached the cabinet of P-90's, Sergeant Elliot asked me to pass him one as he was inspecting the weapons on ColonelMitchell's orders. The gun discharged," Teal'c explained.

"Discharged? How?" Sam looked at Teal'c totally confused by his description of events, "Those guns have more safeties than any weapon on this base."

"That I do not know; the weapon simply fired, Sergeant Elliot was down and I called for help immediately," Teal'c stated solemnly, that look of guilt Daniel had seen before in the training room with Adrienne creeping back into his face. Placing her hand tenderly on his shoulder Sam silently excused him directing her attention to Elliot's team members who had been alerted to the scene by the all call as well.

"I want you all geared up, full kevlar and complete an inspection of those weapons. Now," Sam ordered. There was a flurry of yes ma'ams and the rest of the crowd began to disperse, sensing Sam's displeasure. Daniel approached Sam cautiously, hoping to get a better grasp on the situation, while Adrienne and John choose to hang back still not quite ready to leave.

"Is Elliot going to be alright?" Daniel asked carefully, trying to judge how concerned his friend really was by the furrowed look on her face but she barely made eye contact as she answered.

"God I hope so," Sam started, letting out a sigh before finally looking up, "How's Adrienne?"

"She came to work, so I think she's fine. She hasn't said much," Daniel replied, realizing that other than scolding her for coming to work that soon after a serious injury, he had yet to really inquire as to her well-being. Maybe he should ask if she needed anything other than sarcastic fruit from the mess. Unsatisfied with Daniel's answer, Sam walked over to Adrienne to ask for herself, Daniel taking the opportunity to escape them both, planning to get back to his assistant as soon as possible, trying to catch up with his old friend.

"Teal'c, wait up!" he shouted down the hall as the Jaffa was headed for the back stairs to go to his quarters, foregoing the elevator as he had before. Hearing his voice, Teal'c slowed to a stop to wait for his friend.

"Good evening DanielJackson. How fares AdrienneRowan?" Teal'c asked.

"She's good; she's up and moving. But wow, you've had the worst luck today," Daniel noted, making an effort to support the man, but expressionless, Teal'c simply nodded in agreement.

"It seems that I have been in the wrong place at the wrong time twice. I feel it is best I return to my quarters," Teal'c stated, not seeking sympathy, but rather feeling the need to remove himself from the situation at hand. He didn't seem to want to talk and nothing seemed particularly wrong, so Daniel just nodded, letting Teal'c take another step away.

"Maybe you're right, but just call down to the lab if you need anything. With all of the interruptions today I think I'm gonna work late here and stay on base. Just let me know alright?" Daniel offered, thinking back to all of the times that Teal'c had been there for him, unconditionally. Teal'c nodded politely and continued to his quarters so Daniel turned to head down to the elevators himself and back to the lab. The elevator doors were closing by the time he reached them and he sighed, heading for the stairs when he heard the soft bing of the indicator. They began to open again and there was Adrienne on the other side, smiling, pressing the door open button.

"I take it you're going back to work?" she asked as he entered the elevator.

"Yeah, thanks for holding it. I really have some things I need to get finished before I quit for the day," he said. She nodded in reply.

"Well, that section you gave me, how pressing is it? I can put it on hold and help you finish up. I'm the reason you got behind in the first place," she said, apologetically, and he noticed her reaching for her side, wincing and trying to hide the pain.

"Addy, are you alright to be up and about?" Daniel questioned, reaching for her shoulders and turning her so he could better examine the wound. She didn't fight, in fact she let him move her gently and even pull up her clean black shirt, exposing the bandage, hissing as he touched at the area. It was a reddish brown, no longer the clean hospital white he had helped affix to her this morning and she didn't look "alright" in the least.

"Yeah, but I could probably use a new bandage. It's a burn, they ooze, but I'm fine," she stated, pulling her shirt down carefully and quickly, as if she were embarrassed at this momentary display of weakness, when her eyes lit up suddenly and she began to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked, glaring over at her confused by her abrupt outburst. He hadn't done anything funny, had he? Had he tickled her? Oh he hoped not, their interactions today couldn't get any more awkward...

"You," she replied, smiling, her cheeks reddening, as she hit the button to head back down to the bottom floor, realizing they had been talking and no one bothered to hit the button.

"Glad you find me so amusing," he replied, bewildered, but Adrienne was shaking her head, waving her hands in front of her to control her laughing.

"No, not you you. It's what you said. You called me Addy," she smiled and leaned back in the elevator, a look of smugness spreading across her face, not an arrogant but a facade. Daniel started to speak and paused, realizing that she was right. He had called her Addy. Well that was rather informal, he thought, but decided to play it off, she didn't need to think this meant that they were all buddy buddy all of a sudden.

Or were they?

"That's your name isn't it?" he responded, attitude in his voice, biting the inside of his cheek. Don't smile, don't let her know that she's ok, don't give her that win.

"Uh huh," she muttered, "so back to what I was trying to say, if my section isn't as important, I'm happy to help you finish up," she offered a second time. Daniel looked over at her, taking in the sight of her. Here she was, in her SGC fatigues, her black t-shirt clinging painfully to her side. Her hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail, some shorter hairs flying loose and resting across her pale cheeks, the circles under her eyes as dark as her eyes themselves. She really looked pretty standing right there, but so tired, tired enough where he knew she needed rest.

"I appreciate that, I do, but shouldn't you be taking it easy?" he asked pointing to her side again, making her raise her eyebrows and smirk.

'You think I'm gonna be able to get any relaxing done with this?" she responded smartly and Daniel shook his head, remembering himself how hard it was to sleep with a bad injury. That was just going to make it worse, maybe he could help her to bed, get her adjusted into some sort of position where she could sleep but the elevator came to a stop before he could argue any further and Adrienne stepped out, turning to head in the opposite direction.

"I'm gonna get someone to clean this up and then I'll be right down, 'kay Indy?" she said awaiting his response. If he didn't want to help, she was still going to work, but was considering taking it to her quarters and trying to create some sort of comfortable position in her bed.

"If you insist," he answered, hoping that maybe after a while she would reconsider when it hit him," wait. What did you just call me?" he asked, making a face at her.

"Indy, like Indiana Jones..." she clarified, speaking slowly like he'd never heard of him before.

"I know who Indiana Jones is, why did you call me that?" he replied, confused, his new state of normal with Dr. Adrienne Rowan.

"You remind me of him. Snotty attitude, obnoxious women, proclivity to get into trouble," she said, smiling, adding in her own head that Indiana Jones was hot as hell but he didn't need to know that. Daniel didn't argue, however, simply shook his head at her, letting out a sigh.

"Fine, I'll be in the lab," he relented, trying not to smile as he left, thinking to himself that he never really had a real nickname before, just smart ass things Jack had called him. He was touched, but he wouldn't dare tell her, stuffing his hands nervously into his pockets as he made his way down the hall.

Biting her tongue ring, Adrienne giggled to herself, making a mental note that he did not reject the nickname, almost skipping down the hall as she went to get a new bandage.

The sirens were blaring and Daniel woke to find himself asleep at his desk, his head resting on his arms.

"Shots fired living quarters level seven. Available units respond."

Daniel's head shot up and his eyes darting across the lab where Adrienne was removing her headphones, a puzzled look on her face, to hear the message repeated.

"Should we go?" she asked, standing and hanging her headphones on the hook behind her.

"How long has the siren been going off?" he asked in return, now realizing he must have fallen asleep working, again.

"They just started; I was about to wake you to get you back to your room when they started," she answered, stepping cautiously over in his direction, her hand instinctively grabbing the wound at her midsection. Still waking up, Daniel rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses which were somehow folded nicely beside where he was resting.

"How long have I been asleep?" he now asked, replacing his frames, tuning out the sirens for a brief moment.

"About two hours, I took your glasses off so you wouldn't bend them," she said, "and I'm almost finished here," she adding pointing at the computer screen. Daniel nodded, about to thank her, for well, caring enough to keep going and looking after him when the sirens were shutting off, his ears still ringing from the deafening alarm.

"Should we go?" Adrienne asked again, pointing at the alarm lights which were no longer flashing.

"You're hurt, it's," he looked over at the clock," midnight and we have no weapons. I think we should stay put for the time being." No sooner had he spoke, however, when the phone rang, the red phone and Daniel made a face. Knowing this couldn't be good, he trudged over to the wall to pick up the receiver not bothering to say hello.

"Daniel, I need you to go to on base quarters, level seven. Now. We have a situation," it was Sam, ordering, her tone that of the base leader and not of his dear friend.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Ok," he said, hanging the phone back up quickly and starting for the door.

"Everything alright?" Adrienne asked, looking a bit nervous. Remembering that he now had a second person to worry about around here when situations like this arose, Daniel turned to face his assistant, a look of gravity on his face.

"I have no idea, but I'm gonna find out, but you, you're hurt. I want you to stay here. Shut the door when I leave and don't answer it unless it's me, ok?" he said strongly but kindly, hoping that she understood he was looking out for her well-being in her current condition and not trying to patronize her.

"Ok," Adrienne nodded, still wincing in pain and walking quickly over to the door, doing just as he asked once he was gone.

By the time Daniel arrived to the level seven housing he saw Sam, hand to her chin looking down into the hallway floor right outside of room 7J as Dr. Beckett was finishing up the night shift with an unconscious member of some SG team slumped limply onto the ground. It was a man he didn't know, Daniel had a hard time keeping track of everyone's names, there were so many teams now, but fortunately the man looked alive, just unconscious. Sam glanced over to see Daniel arriving and turned so he could see she had a Zat gun in her other hand, which she promptly passed over.

"What in the world happened?" he asked.

"Same as this morning and after dinner. Report of shots fired. Team arrived to find a man down and Teal'c standing over him with this," she pointed to the small black weapon he was now holding in his hand.

"Teal'c? But he went to his quarters," Daniel replied, looking over the weapon to see how it could have malfunctioned and wondering why in the world Teal'c would be here on level seven considering that his quarters were on the same floor as his own, level four.

Why in the world would he need to come up here?

"That's where he was, or claims where he was, but he says he decided to take a walk after meditation. He insists that he heard a commotion in the hallway and went to investigate to find Lt. Keeger here, struggling with his Zat gun, complaining that it wouldn't close. Teal'c said he offered to try to fix it and, well, there's Lt. Keeger," Sam pointed to where Carson was now ordering the man lifted to a stretcher. It was just one shot, so Keeger would be fine, but he would be out for a few hours and have one hell of a headache when he came to.

"Claims?" Daniel asked confused, unable to believe that Teal'c would come all the way to this floor just to shoot this Lt. Keeger, once, and then call for help. It made no sense whatsoever, "I think Teal'c's just had a rough day, been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Yet, before Daniel could finish, the expression on Sam's face had changed and she was shaking her head, reaching out to pull him aside.

"No, there's more, I just didn't pay any attention to it. I didn't want to pay any attention to it. Can you get Adrienne and come down to the briefing room? I'm gonna call Jack," she whispered, her eyes scanning for anyone that may be listening.

"Adrienne, why?" Daniel inquired, unsure as to why Sam would need his assistant for something that was obviously top secret by the look on her face. Adrienne had been made privilege to a lot of information, but things like this, involving there inner circle, that definitely wasn't part of her job or a perk of their tenuous friendship.

Nervous, Sam looked behind her, running her scan again before answering.

"Because right now, she's the only person that's encountered Teal'c and is still standing to talk about it," Sam replied hastily, and turned, trekking briskly to the elevators, leaving Daniel standing it the hallway, confused, with a possibly broken Zat.

Adrienne sat in the briefing room recounting once again what happened, starting with three weeks ago, when Teal'c had first given her a staff weapon. She looked around the faces at the table, Sam, Vala, Cameron, Daniel, and Jack, decked out in his full Head of HomeWorld command glory, and shuddered, feeling like every eye in the room was piercing her in half.

"Ok, Adrienne, we need to know everything, so take your time," Sam requested as she sat down at the head of the table, addressing the young woman at the opposite end. Adrienne breathed in, looking to Cam for reassurance and began.

"Well, Teal'c and I were talking over dinner, after the mission to P56-043. He was scolding me for not getting him and Vala before I confronted the Ori general," she began.

And Grayson, and the town, and the soldiers, and me, Daniel thought, however didn't interrupt, just adjusted himself in his seat, listening to her story. She was embarrassed enough by the apple anyway.

"He said that I needed to learn to use a weapon, that I needed to train with a P90, but I'm not a fan of guns," Adrienne continued but Jack made a face.

"What's your problem with a P90?" he asked but Sam touched his arm lightly, cutting her eyes over at him and with her other hand motioned for Adrienne to continue and ignore Jack's question.

"Teal'c suggested training me with a staff weapon, since it offers a projectile option and can be lethal with one shot rather than two like a Zat. He showed up at the gym two days later with a smaller staff weapon that he said he had acquired from Ishta."

Sam nodded, having heard this part of the story from Teal'c when he had come asking permission to train Daniel's assistant with a staff weapon, which she had no problem agreeing to, considering Adrienne's previous experience with martial arts.

"So we began working, whenever I had the time, starting with aiming and shooting. I got that pretty good he said so when Daniel was, uh, injured, I took it off world with me when we rescued SG-7," Adrienne said, getting quiet on the last part, her dark orbs peering over at Daniel apologetically. Yeah injured, he thought to himself, because of our combined stupidity, but he continued to bite his tongue noting her own white teeth brushing a thin scar on her lower lip.

"When Teal'c was away visiting with Ry'ac for a few days, we didn't get to train as much. I did take my staff down to the range with Cam a few times though," Adrienne said, Sam glancing over at Cameron for confirmation.

"Yeah, I met Addy down there a few times, made sure she was aiming alright, not that I'm that much better with the damn thing," Cameron confirmed.

"And you didn't notice anything different about the way she was fighting with the staff. Nothing?" Sam asked causing Adrienne to panic

"Wait, Sam, you don't think that I have anything to do with this, do you?" Adrienne questioned, her deep brown eyes now darting over toward Daniel who held up his hand to silence her, shaking his head to indicate that he was certain Sam thought nothing of the sort, or so he hoped. He might not be that close to her outside of work but he couldn't imagine her doing anything like shoot a colleague without a damn good reason. Not answering Adrienne's inquiry, Sam stared hard at Cameron, awaiting an answer. He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment and then looked up, shaking his finger in the general's direction, recalling the memory with his hands before his words.

"Yeah, yeah, I did. A staff weapon blast pretty much kills regardless of location, but Addy kept aiming it too high, no matter how many times I corrected her, there it went, right back on up. It was as if Teal'c never even said to aim for the chest, so I kept having to point the damn thing downward. She wasn't protecting her chest at all, just kept holding it up all funny like," Cameron explained. Receiving the answer that she had feared, Sam glanced to the ceiling and back down at a folder in front of her, letting out a deep sigh.

"Hun, is there something you would like to inform me of, now," Jack interjected, his tone conveying concern but Sam held up a finger and looked back at Adrienne, not ready just yet to respond to her husband.

"Ok Addy, keep going," Sam said. Adrienne, looking much more worried now nodded in compliance.

"That's about it. He came down to my quarters last night and said I was ready to try close combat with a real staff," Adrienne continued, Sam egging her on with her hands.

"I met him this morning and it was just like I said, a few passes, then the head of the staff opened as he was swinging downward. It wouldn't close. That's all." Adrienne looked at Sam once more, her eyes pleading to be finished. Satisfied with the story, and knowing in her heart that was exactly what the cajun woman was going to say, Sam turned to address her friends.

"I think Teal'c has been compromised," Sam stated, pausing to await the backlash.

"Teal'c!? You must be out of your mind!" Jack stood from the table shouting, "He has been a part of this team for over 15 years!"

The others just looked at Jack, visibly upset at the conclusion Sam had come to. Her heart racing, and feeling this was her thought, Adrienne leaned forward, waving her hands in front of her to get the generals' attention.

"I have to agree with General O'Neill, I haven't known him as long but I can't see him trying to hurt anyone," she offered meekly, "I told you, the gym was an accident."

"See, even Daniel Jr. agrees with me!" Jack declared, slamming his hands on the table. Sam was looking at her husband waiting for him to finish his fit and satisfied that he had, she opened the folder that had been sitting in front of her, reaching it over to him.

"Jack, I got this message last week when we received ambassadors from the Jaffa council," she explained, as he ripped the folder from her hand and read it quickly, tossing it back onto the table. The rest of the group looked at each other clueless until Vala made a grunting noise, reaching for the folder, opening it and reading it aloud.

"Internal operative, unaware. Targets yet unknown." She shut the folder and slid it back, "What the hell does that mean?" Jack whipped his head around to glare at her.

"Aren't you supposed to be intelligence now?" he retorted.

"Lucian intelligence, not barbarian intelligence. And I know the lingo, what I'm saying is that doesn't prove that Teal'c has done anything wrong. He shot Addy, and no offense my dear but Daniel is slightly more important than you are, and than two grunts doing menial labor. I think it's just dumb luck," Vala said as she sat back in her chair, crossing her arms across her chest triumphantly. Adrienne was impressed; the woman did do more than just think about sex, even if it was to discount her importance at the SGC.

"Well, I don't," Sam replied, "I think that he meant to just injure Adrienne and the others were a distraction. To make us not pay attention. I think Adrienne is who he, or whomever wants."

"God dammit, are you listening to yourself Carter!" Jack screamed. Wow, he must be really pissed, Daniel thought, he hadn't heard Jack call her Carter since they got married.

"Yes I am SIR," she added emphasis on sir, adding more discomfort to the already uncomfortable room as their friends watched this dispute, not only between boss and employee but between husband and wife, "I'm not saying that Teal'c is doing anything intentional. I think that he may be unaware as to what he's doing." That calmed Jack down just a bit.

"Ok, enlighten us," he said as he sat once more, slamming himself into the seat, "What exactly is he doing?"

Sighing, Sam looked back over at Adrienne and slowly at Daniel.

"I think he wants to kidnap Adrienne," she said calmly as everyone looked at her in shock.

"Why? What in the world could anyone want with Adrienne?" Daniel shouted making him the instant recipient of a dirty look from his assistant.

"Thanks Indy," she muttered, Daniel shaking his head, waving his hands, trying to get her to understand he didn't mean it that way.

"Daniel," Sam started, "she's been working with you for some time now. She has access to things, information, codes, And..." Sam started and stopped, as if she was unable to continue.

"And, if taken, she wouldn't be missed. She's not that important; she's just an assistant," Vala finished. Adrienne looked over at her too now, obviously hurt. What was this bash Addy day?

"Addy, they don't mean it like that," Cam finally spoke, "they mean that someone high level like Jackson would attract a lot of attention if he turned up missing. But not his assistant, not if it was made to look like an accident or that you up and quit," he tried to explain, but Adrienne didn't look like that made her feel any better.

"For the record, Addy, I'd come find you," Cam quickly added, earning himself a smile of gratitude. I bet you would, thought Daniel, you and Dex would be knocking each other over to get through the gate.

And she claimed he was surrounded by obnoxious women?

Ha!

He stored that little tidbit for later, for when after they got out of this mess.

"Ok, ok, so someone has fucked with Teal'c's head, makes him shoot people, train Daniel's groupie to be a secret Jaffa spy and then he was going to whisk her away into oblivion and make her Daniel's evil nemesis? And we're basing this entire screwed up theory on some shitty intelligence and a burn in junior's side over there. Fine, honey, this is your base to screw up. Just let me know before you decide to ship my best friend into the great beyond," Jack stood from the table and walked out, saying not another word to his wife or his team, Daniel's little "groupie" included.

Sam watched her husband leave, her face remaining stoic and professional before turning to face her friends once more.

"Alright, then first thing is that we need Adrienne off base, safe and away from Teal'c and the gate," Sam began to lay out her plan, Cameron's hand shooting up before Sam could even ask for a volunteer.

"She can come home with me," he said quickly, making Daniel roll his eyes, obvious enough where he felt Vala kick him, giving him the cut it out look.

"No," Sam said, "I want Daniel to take her home."

"Me?" Daniel sat forward. Sure, they were getting along and she had been very nice to him lately, but he wasn't about to invite her over for dinner and cocktails, because, well, it would be awkward. She'd just put on that stupid vampire show that he had to endure last weekend and try to explain to him how it was intelligent in some backwards sort of way.

"Yes, you. That way, if taking you for information is some last ditch move of desperation once Teal'c or whoever is controlling him is cornered, I have all of my bases covered. I'll send SG-3 to watch the apartment and make sure no one gets through," Sam ordered and stood. Daniel glanced over at Adrienne who was frantically looking over at Cam trying to get him to intervene, she didn't seem to want to go home with him either, as Cam just sat there appearing shocked at Sam's suggestion. Daniel started to object again when he felt Vala lean in closer.

"Remember, it is ungentlemanly to request sex on the first date," she whispered.

"Shut up Vala," he responded and stood, walking over to Adrienne, motioning for her to stand, and speaking as she did.

"Do you have an off world duffle packed?" he asked, indicating the door. She walked ahead without argument, still wincing in pain holding her side.

"No Indy, I prefer to meeting the locals in my birthday suit, I hope that's cool," she tried to joke, nervously, slipping out the briefing room without looking back.

"No blood," Sam said, "please. You two have been doing so well lately." She smiled, but Daniel just turned to follow his assistant back to the lab, his stomach going wild.

Why did Adrienne have this effect on him?

Jack wasn't going to waste time with Sam's crazy ideas or worry about whether or not Daniel's latest female groupie was going to be flown away on a Goa'ould ship.

Instead, he headed down to the stockade to see what was really going on with Teal'c.

No one questioned him or greeted him for that matter when he arrived, they just got out of his way and Jack used his ID badge to allow himself entry to the secure holding area. Peering into the door of the cell to see Teal'c sitting on the floor meditating, Jack took a deep breath and swiped himself in.

"SamanthaO"Neill thinks I am a threat," the Jaffa stated as he entered, his eyes not deviating from the focal point ahead.

"Yeah, and you're putting me in a real bind here. I do have to live with her now you know?" Jack responded, taking a seat on the bunk behind him, peering out ahead, wondering what in the world he was, or rather, wasn't looking at.

"O'Neill, I do not remember when the shots were fired, only what happened after. Is everyone alright?" Teal'c said, breaking his trance to look up at Jack, sad and worried.

"Yeah, as far as I know. But something's wrong T, and we gotta figure out what it is," Jack responded, pushing back the bottom of his officer's jacket.

"How O'Neill?" Teal'c asked, his face more distraught than Jack had seen in a long time. Sighing, Jack stood, reaching uncomfortably in his restrictive uniform for his side.

"First, I have to test a theory," the general declared, handing Teal'c his sidearm.

The guard ran as soon as the shot echoed through the detention hall.

Sam was in her office when she heard the sirens.

"Shots fired, stockade!" Walter's voice shouted over the intercom, stopping Sam's heart in the process.

"How in the hell!" she exclaimed, leaping from her desk, tearing out of her office and down the hall, fearing what else could have happened.

Daniel heard the sirens the moment he and Adrienne arrived at the lab.

"Shot's fired, stockade!" the intercom was repeating, Daniel frowning at the announcement.

"What in the world?!" he exclaimed, racing to the red phone, picking it up as Adrienne watched his face for any sign as to what in the world was going on. She'd started to figure him out and the expression that he was wearing right now was not one of casual concern.

"What?" she asked, nervously limping towards him.

"No answer," he replied, breathing out slowly as he hung up the phone. Pushing his glasses up his face he started to leave the lab when it hit him what Sam had said, that maybe this was a ploy to kidnap his fearless cajun sidekick. He stopped dead in his track, racing over to her to grab her hand, pulling her along behind him.

"Ow!" she pulled back since he was jerking her arm so hard, only to slam her hand into her burn causing herself further pain.

"Look, this might be a distraction and I know you're hurt but we've got to stay together. Do you need me to carry you?" he shouted, not at her but just in general, not trying to be mean but rather not having time to explain. He reached out for her arm again, but she smacked him away, rushing, in pain it was clear, to her desk to get her staff weapon. Adrienne moving as fast as possible, her side still throbbing in pain, they both dashed down the hall, heading for the stockade.

When Cameron and Vala arrived at the detention hall they heard a loud riotous commotion coming from down near the cell where Teal'c was being housed. Concerned, Cam pushed his way to the front, where Sam was standing on the outside of the door, her face a mask of sheer horror, holding a pistol pointed at the door.

"Who's in there with him?" Cam asked, although he knew the answer already.

"My idiotic husband," Sam responded, fear and anger in her voice.

"Let's blast the door down then," Vala said, pointing her P-90 at the entrance, her eyes at Sam just awaiting permission to fire.

"No, we don't know what's going on the other side, I just, I don't know..." Sam was starting to stammer, unlike herself, the idea of one of her dearest friends having harmed the love of her life being too much to bear, when the door swung open and out stepped Brigadier General Jonathan J. O'Neill.

"Hey, call Carolyn down here. I had to rip this out of Teal'c and it ain't pretty in there," he said as he held up a small bloody oval.

"What is that?" Sam asked, reaching out as he pulled the gadget away, Jaffa gore and all.

"I'm not totally sure yet, but someone shoved it into his worm sack, so I think this is what was fucking with him," Jack answered plainly, walking past Sam, Cameron and Vala.

"Jack, where are you going?" Sam shouted, now ordering him rather than requesting, the sight of him in one piece enough to kick her training back into gear.

"I'm gonna find that little girl that Daniel's been paling around with lately," he answered storming down the hall, headed for the lab.

Adrienne was having a hard time keeping up as her side hurt badly but Daniel wasn't slowing down, just pausing from time to time to pull her along.

"Daniel, please, I hurt, can we stop," Adrienne panted out, obviously out of breath forcing him to stop, holding her side tightly.

"Addy, I'm sorry, but we've got to keep moving, how bad are - ," he started, stopping since she had, letting go her hand to see her face, wincing in agony. Lifting her shirt to check on her side, he could see the bandage was red and brown again, sighing as he let the fabric fall to her side.

"Dammit," he swore out loud, stepping closer to her, now feeling bad for causing her further pain. Shaking his head, he turned his back to her, waving his hands at his side.

"Come on," he said, seeing no other option.

"Come on where?" Adrienne asked confused.

"On my back," Daniel clarified, hunching over. Trying to ignoring her rapidly beating heart, both pumping blood to her wound and pumping nervously at the request to jump onto his back, Adrienne wrapped her arms around his neck and hopped on, taking a deep breath as she did. Adjusting her up to his waist and grabbing underneath of her thighs Daniel kept moving down the hallway, slower than he would have alone but faster than Adrienne had been limping along.

Jack saw them coming down the hall, Adrienne clinging on tightly to Daniel's back and he didn't even want to know why, but he assumed that it was because of the wound Teal'c had given her this morning.

The wound that his brain told him to give her.

The one that he would be compelled to come back to later today.

Jack wasn't quite sure what made him think of it except for the fact that Adrienne was the only person not in the infirmary. Teal'c was not a bad shot, in the least, especially against this crazy cajun woman with a bit of a karate background. Universe renowned fighter she was not; why would he miss her? She was a good fighter, sure, but no where even close to the caliber of Teal'c and would have been at his mercy during a fighting lesson.

And of all places, the side, the abdomen, near the spine?

"Daniel, put her down and back up!" Jack ordered. Daniel looked at him strangely, but did as he was told, Adrienne looking at Daniel, fearful, as he stepped away, but not to far away, his arm still within distance to reach her. She hadn't done anything, Daniel thought, wanted to say, she's been with me all day, but he watched Jack to see what his intentions were.

His face serious, Jack walked up to her, glaring down, his brown eyes piercing through her, scanning, thinking, hoping his hunch was right.

"Shirt off!" he ordered strongly.

"Why?" she asked, trying to be strong but clearly frightened at a side of the general she had never seen before. Frustrated, Jack seized her arm to turn her, pulling her further away from a shocked Daniel, ripping her shirt off over her head. Reached for the bandage, red and brown and oozing, Jack tore at the gauze, a disgusting wet suction sound echoing through the hallway as the cotton was ripped.

"Ow!" Adrienne screamed out, reaching for her side, but Jack brushed her hand away, leaning in to closely examine her side. It hurt, worse than Adrienne had imagined, she was getting dizzy, the throbbing radiating through her side when she felt a gentle grab at her arm, someone pulling her to her feet, holding her, somewhat in his arms to support her. It was Daniel, she was only sure by the whisper to 'Hold still Addy," which was getting harder to do as her knees wobbled.

His eyes squinting, Jack looked at the burn on her torso, turning his head left and right, and poked it with his finger, looking for something, something he was certain was there.

"I'm gonna pass out," Adrienne muttered, falling back into Daniel, but Jack ignored her, reaching into his pocket, pulling out the oval and bringing it to her body. There was a crack and a pop and the oval jerked to her side quickly, attaching like a magnet, causing Adrienne to shriek in pain and go cascading to the floor.

"Yep," he said to himself, ripping the magnet from her raw skin causing her to bleed once more, the cajun on the floor on her hands and knees, whimpering in pain. Panicked, unsure as what she should do, Daniel knelt down beside her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, holding her close and protectively to his own body.

"Jack what in the hell is going on?" Daniel demanded, glaring up at his friend, wondering what was going on behind those eyes which were now scanning the floor around them.

"Where's her staff weapon?" Jack asked, ignoring Daniel's question and Adrienne's pained complaints. Picking herself up just a touch and pulling away from Daniel, Adrienne pointed to the ground behind her, where she must have relinquished the weapon when Daniel had dropped her from his back. Grabbing the staff, Jack quickly brought it to her side, Daniel finally registering what was happening, or what looked like was happening, his mind a flurry of thoughts of panic as he threw himself between them, and knocking the weapon out of the way.

"What's wrong with you, don't point that thing at her!" he shouted, holding her tighter, defending her, making Adrienne look up despite her agony.

He's protecting me, she thought, against Jack.

Why?

"I'm not gonna shoot your little flunky here, I just need to see something," Jack spat, holding the staff weapon to her side. Glaring at him in warning, Daniel pulled Adrienne upright, still holding on to her, not letting her go for a second in case he needed to intervene as Jack reached the end of the weapon to her side again.

Nothing.

He then reached out to the end, holding the oval to the weapon and again, they stuck like glue. Confused, Jack looked back at Adrienne, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Where did Teal'c get this?" he demanded, shaking the weapon on front of him.

"He said that Ishta gave it to him for me," she replied.

"When did he give you this?" Jack clarified.

"Three weeks ago, when he got back from Chulac," Adrienne replied. Without comment, Jack straightened his posture, turning to run back to find his wife.

"Care to share what's going on?" Daniel asked, coming to his knees, handing his assistant her shirt while helping her to her feet.

"Ishta doesn't live on Chulac," Jack replied and headed back for Sam.

"AdrienneRowan," Teal'c said as he entered the lab, not getting a response from the young woman. Adrienne was plugged into her computer, music blasting, completely disconnected from the world, but Daniel had heard Teal'c so he balled up a piece of paper, throwing it at her and hitting her square in the head.

"Dammit Indy, what's the big idea? I'm trying to get this finished!" she shouted at him, but Daniel, smiling, simply pointed at the door.

"You have a visitor," he said, returning to his task while Adrienne glanced back over at Teal'c who was still sitting at the doorway.

"I promise that I am not here to shoot you," Teal'c joked, receiving the reaction he wanted from his new Taur'i friend, a smile and laughter.

"I know you're not. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Much better since O'Neill removed the probe from me. It was making me very ill, but I was unaware," Teal'c answered plainly.

"Do they know who put it in you?" Adrienne asked, unsure if it was an appropriate question but desiring the answer nonetheless.

"Not yet, but SamanthaO'Neill has sent a team to investigate on Chulac, Rya'c and Bra'tac are assisting. Rya'c claims that I disappeared for two days on my last visit and came back claiming that I was in deep meditation. No one thought to question," Teal'c answered calmly.

Adrienne wasn't surprised that he didn't know more. Sam had taken apart the probe herself, and confirmed that it was of Goa'ould origin, used to control Jaffa when they were between hosts, or at least that was it's original use. It had been altered, almost like it was a sort of communicator rather than a tool for behavior modification, but, with none of the smaller leaders showing their heads lately and the last of the system lords executed, Sam had no idea where it came from. She had sent it to Area 51 for further analysis, but was not hopeful anything would happen. Regardless, she had requested that Bra'tac organize health checks on all free Jaffa, but with hundreds of thousands of them on dozens of planets, she was not going to have answers any time soon.

However, she had discovered one thing. The probe, or one similar, could be used on a non-Jaffa given the modifications, it just needed to be hooked up to the spinal column, attaching like a magnet once a signal was fastened to the human's backbone. In particular, like the signal attached to Adrienne's by her wound. There had been no other probe found, Sam speculating that the one inside of Teal'c was to be transferred to Adrienne before she would be taken. There were just too many questions, however, and not enough answers, and even a few permanent effects.

Whatever the substance was in her spinal column, somehow injected via the wound in her side, it was not a substance that they could test without a very intrusive procedure to which Daniel had objected fiercely. Adrienne hadn't been sure whether to thank him or take his temperature during that briefing, he was so protective and so different. It was as if he really cared about her and it made Adrienne reconsider her vow to never invite him to True Blood night again.

Maybe she should ask him to come over for something else, there was a new series on the Greek Gods on the History Channel that looked promising and no one would watch that with her, maybe...

Sitting at his desk, pretending that he was not listening to their conversation, Daniel was silently glad she was up and moving around. He could still see the bandage poking at her side, but once he, along with Cassie Frasier, had convinced her to take a few days to heal and rest, the injury had healed quite nicely. Daniel had watched her face during the debriefing, the terror in her eyes when Sam admitted that they had no idea what was going on in her spine and the only way that they knew how to find out. Adrienne had tried to play it off like it didn't freak her out, letting Vala use grade school refrigerator magnets to spell funny things on her back, but Daniel knew Adrienne was scared, who wouldn't be scared, her entire spine now a large bar magnet. As a precaution, Sam had ordered Adrienne to stay at her on base quarters for the next week and asked Daniel to continue to keep an eye on her, just in case.

He hadn't argued, in fact, he considered taking some movies down to her room to keep her company.

Ronon just beat him to it.

Probably better that way anyhow.

Pushing the thought aside, he glanced back at his screen.

"I have brought you another staff weapon," Teal'c said, offering her the stick and Adrienne took it without hesitation, still smiling.

"Thank you," she replied, hoping he understood that she didn't blame him for one moment for what happened.

"I had Bra'tac assure me that this has not been tampered with. I am glad you are not afraid. A true warrior fears nothing but themselves," he said, making Adrienne grin a second time.

"Can we go back to practicing?" she asked, eager to continue her lessons with the one teacher of all of her instructors that she loved the most, that she honored above all others.

"As soon as you are healed, we will continue our practice," the great warrior replied, glancing over at DanielJackson, who was pretending not to watch the scene unfold as he kept his eyes fixated on the screen. AdrienneRowan loved her staff weapon and counted down each day to her practices, so he was very glad that DanielJackson was not going to stand in her way. As Teal'c had argued to SamanthaONeill when he first asked permission to train the cajun, It gave her a manner in which to defend herself other than a Zat or P-90 as well as a hobby on base. With Daniel's silent blessing, Teal'c looked once more at his eager student.

"I shall leave you to your work AdrienneRowan, and we shall practice again very soon," Teal'c concluded, resting the new staff weapon against the wall and turning to leave. Shooting a quick glance at Daniel, Adrienne stood and faced the Jaffa, racing over to him and throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Thanks T," she whispered in his ear and backed away, content to work on the database once more, not even noticing the smile creeping across her boss's face.


	8. Chapter 8 - Circumstances

"Addy, do you have that lock?" Daniel shouted from behind the U-Haul as he reached into his pockets, looking around himself for the missing latch, knowing he had seen one when he had obtained the rental truck.

"There was a lock?" she yelled back confused and he could hear the passenger door slam, her footsteps approaching him.

"Yea," he was still shouting as he walked around the truck to find her, "it was just a standard one, silver, I had it hanging on the back door. We've got to find it; don't you remember Rodney going on and on about securing this thing." He was still talking and not paying attention to anything other than scanning the ground, searching for the lost lock, almost walking right into her.

"If it's so damn important and has to be locked up like Fort Knox, why in the hell are we driving across the country in a U-Haul to transport it?" Adrienne asked, placing her hands in front of herself to stop his clumsy advance. Catching him by his shoulders, she steadied and turned him, walking by him once more to investigate the back of the U-Haul. Figuring out that she didn't have the lock either, he followed her, this time examining the ground more carefully, hoping he just missed it and wouldn't have to go and pay for a replacement at the rental facility. He had just about given up when he saw her bend down crawling halfway underneath the truck.

"Well, according to Sam, the items that we're bringing from Atlantis are too complicated and fragile to risk beaming up and down from one of the ships, too numerous to take up space on a military flight and too top secret to risk commercial. Ergo, you, me and a rental truck." he answered, kneeling to peer under the truck as he explained, although he was fairly certain he had explained this to her at least twice before. She just didn't like the idea that it was Rodney's idea and to be honest, Daniel didn't like that too much either.

"It fell here Indy," she shouted as she crawled under the truck further, securing the lock and reaching her hand in his direction to pass it over. "Do you have the key?" she asked as she was crawling back out, lock in hand, offering it up to him. Relieved, he took the lock and reaching into his jeans pocket, produced a pair of keys, jingling them in her direction. Returning quickly to the back door of the truck, a burning desire to get this insane drive started, Daniel pulled it shut, locking it securely and reaching into Adrienne's hand, taking the keys to the truck and switching them with the keys to the lock.

"Don't lose these," he said and walked toward the driver's side of the truck.

"You're driving?" she asked, surprised. She had figured he would pull the assistant card and use the long trip as an excuse to work more since he had packed his laptop and a stack of folders to rival Mt. Everest. However, instead of ordering her to drive, Daniel stopped and turned to her, a sly smile across his face.

"Yeah, I figured I ought to since you got back in pretty late last night," he raised his eyebrows a bit at her as she walked by him, crossing in front of the truck, her deep brown eyes glaring at him as she opened the passenger side door. Chuckling, he opened his own door and climbing in on the other side. Adrienne got in the cab, waiting until she was buckled and situated before answering him.

"You could have been out with us, I invited you, twice and it was your loss shug. That Haunted Alcatraz Tour was AMAZING! I swear fo gah I 'eard someone from dat Al Capone cell playing da banjo," Adrienne explained with a seriousness in her voice, her cajun accent only stressing her point further.

A few members of the skeleton crew from Atlantis base had volunteered to take them on an impromptu excursion through San Francisco which ended in a haunted tour of Alcatraz. Daniel had debated going, after all Adrienne was always telling him he needed to get out more, but he just went to bed early instead, knowing he had a long day of driving ahead of him.

"No, you read that online on the flight to San Francisco and convinced yourself you heard it," he laughed at his own comment as he started to back the truck up slowly, cutting his eyes over to see his assistant's reaction.

"Ok, so, before you even knew the Stargate existed, you believed that ALF and Yoda came down, built the pyramids and ruled Egypt, but I believe that Al Capone haunts Alcatraz and I'm the crazy one?!" she teased, "Sounds like a double standard."

"It is," he said with a smile and pulled up to the gates, stopping to show his ID to the Air Force guards. They waved them through, knowing better than to ask him to show the contents of the truck and pretty soon they were merging onto I-80 east, heading back home.

It was a simple mission, if you could call it a mission. Late Sunday night, Daniel and Adrienne were flown red-eye to San Francisco, to the Atlantis base, to pick up some sensitive materials Rodney and Sam wanted transferred to the Pentagon. Daniel knew the materials had something to do with the cloning information he and Adrienne had started to find in the Asgard database. For reasons far above the cajun's head, the items could not be transported nor could they be flown, so Sam had sent Daniel and Adrienne to drive them back. Personally, Adrienne didn't relish the prospect of spending that much time in the cramped cab of a truck, but she didn't have a choice. Teal'c was off world visiting his son Rya'c, who was soon expecting his first child and needless to say, Teal'c was extremely excited about becoming a grandfather. Cameron had flat out refused, citing everything from motion sickness in a car to problems with new cadets and Adrienne was pretty sure he was just trying to avoid the insane lack of activity that she was certain to endure. Vala had volunteered very quickly, especially when she discovered that the trip would take days and therefore they would need to stop for the night a least twice if not three times. Adrienne wasn't sure if she wanted to see the sights or bunk with Daniel, but she found both notions to be rather funny. Daniel, however, didn't and insisted that Adrienne come instead, well begged Adrienne to come.

Either way, she had been flattered.

Once on the interstate, in a desperate need for music, Adrienne reached into her purse, pulling out a small receiver and her iPod, quickly hooking the pieces together and setting the audio tuner to scan, awaiting the result.

"What are you doing?" he asked, those eyes of his cutting over at her under his glasses. Caught, but she really didn't care, tapping the scanner again to find an available station.

"Putting on some music," she answered, cocking her head ever so slightly so he could catch her winking at him.

"Dare I ask what?" he inquired, worried that this was going to just set the tone for the trip as they argued over Adrienne's horrendous taste in music. Grinning, she peered over at him, reading his face. She was getting pretty good at that lately, this frown being a combination of annoyance and curiosity.

Ok, trapped in here or not, this could be fun.

"Fine, you pick the genre. I have it all," she answered, awaiting his response, pleased to see the surprised look on his face.

"What, you mean not everything on that gadget is meant to be played in a hip hop club?" he replied, his eyes on the road, intently on the road, so focused that she couldn't tell if he was playing with her or being serious. Jerk, she thought, he's figured out I can read him.

"Yes, I have an open mind in terms of music. Pick a genre," she repeated. Daniel paused, trying to think of what Adrienne would never listen to and broke out into a broad grin, cutting his eyes over at his assistant.

"Classical," he requested, waiting for a smart remark, one that he didn't get. He was disappointed that she didn't have the reaction he was looking for and apparently his little plan had backfired as Adrienne simply clicked around on the little machine and from the cheap stereo of the rental truck the sounds of a smooth cello began to play.

"Ok Addy, I'm impres-" he started to compliment her when the calm cello music turned into some loud rock and roll, violins screeching loudly coupled with some oddly placed techno beat.

"What is this?!" he changed his response, shooting a glance over at her to see her laughing hysterically in her seat.

"Bond," she replied, holding back laughter "it is called Classical Crossover. They're an electric string quartet."

He listened a second longer and had to admit it wasn't that bad, but he wasn't going to let her know that just yet, he needed to keep her on edge just a little longer.

"Electric? Again, I shall restate. Club music," he joked, trying to judge her reaction out of the corner of his eye, catching a scowl being made in his direction.

"This is classical. Just because it has the word crossover after it and is played with electrical instruments does not negate it's classicality," Adrienne argued but Daniel just couldn't resist.

"Classicality? Is that a word?" he asked. She cocked her head, biting her lip as she contained her laughter.

"It is now," she answered smartly soliciting a smile from Daniel, who reached across the dash and turned the knob to the stereo louder. Happy that he wasn't going to argue music with her, in fact he seemed to like it, Adrienne proceeded to get herself comfortable, pulling her legs up to cross them into her lap yoga style and pulling a composition book out of her backpack. Puzzled, Daniel waited a few moments to see what she was up to when he noted that pen in hand, his assistant was writing feverishly in the book, her face furrowed in concentration. He let this go on for about 20 minutes and then turned the stereo back down, glancing over at her.

"No working," he scolded, cutting his eyes at her under his glasses.

"Since when?" she asked, not looking up, but he could make out a small smile creeping across her face.

"If I have to stare out into oblivion and not get anything accomplished, I'm certainly not gonna let you. It'll make me look bad," he frowned over at his work-a-holic assistant. For someone that had been hired to keep him from working too much, the more they worked together, the longer the hours they pulled. He had said that she didn't need to bring any work with her, having stayed up all night just days before they left to get to a personal stopping point in the database, but apparently she hadn't listened.

"I'm not working," she responded after a moment's hesitation, grinning as she continued to write. She'd peaked his curiosity, and he wasn't so stupid as to think she wasn't provoking him with a lack of information, so he took the bait, glancing over at her quizzically once more.

"What are you doing then?" he asked.

"I'm working on my novel," she answered simply.

"You're writing a novel!?" he was honestly shocked, when would she have time to write a novel? Or, for that matter, she had the ability to write a novel? Being smart is one thing, being able to write an original story was quite another.

"Yea," she said flatly, waiting for the snide remark to cross his lips, but no such remark came, instead, he looked over again at her, with a face that she could easily read: an inquisitive one.

"About what?" he pried.

"You'll find out when I finish," she responded smugly, looking ahead and ignoring him.

As much as he liked to set her off, he was fairly certain she enjoyed the same, hence, the curt answers. They would go back and forth like this in the lab often, especially lately, and to the casual observer, it would appear that they still hated each other when that just wasn't the case at all anymore. She was good at what she did, very good, she made him want to be better and together, well, together it was just the kind of work environment he had never had before. They had each other's back when cornered by others, but when it was just the two of them they often sparred, in constant competition over the slightest concerns and he was sure her point this time was, look what I can do, ha ha ha.

"Ok, can you read me something? What about what you just wrote?" he tried to get a little more information, because, torment aside, he was genuinely curious. Writing non-fiction had come easy to him, fiction, not so much. She looked up at him, trying to feel out whether he was serious or whether he was just messing, finally screwing up her nose as she glared back over him. He'd won, he knew she was going to give in and read something just by the expression on her face.

"Well, this very second, I'm warming up," she explained.

"What's that?" he questioned, having no idea what she was talking about. Sensing his sincerity and hoping that he wasn't setting her up for a new reason for torment, Adrienne reached over to shut the music off completely before diving into her explanation.

"Warming up is when you write something you know, that's easy for you, something that you will never REALLY use to get your juices flowing. If it works, it sparks a little something inside of you and you can start tackling your real work," she explained. He kept his gaze ahead on the road, but she could see that he was truly interested. More than just the satisfaction of knowing something he did not, a sensation that she normally reveled in, a small part of her was actually excited that he cared enough to be asking about something in her life that was not work related. In silence, he listened to her explanation, nodding in understanding before asking yet another question.

"Do all fiction writers do that?"

Shrugging, she tucked the pen into the crease of her composition book, gazing over at him.

"I'm not sure, but I do that, " she replied, uncertain, confirming that like so many things about Adrienne Rowan, this was something else she kept to herself. He smiled but didn't say anymore since she seemed to be embarrassed, her pale cajun cheeks flushing slightly. Dropping the subject, Daniel returned his eyes to the road.

Disappointed, Adrienne looked down at the book in her lap, her hands starting to instinctively pick at her fingernails. She'd hoped he'd asked her to read a warm-up since it "didn't matter" but he didn't. For reasons she couldn't explain, she wanted him to ask, so breathing in silently before she did, she took a risk and decided to offer.

"Do you want to hear what I wrote?" she inquired.

"Yea, actually, I'm intrigued," he answered honestly and quickly, her stomach filling with butterflies. He didn't seem to be kidding, much to Adrienne's delight and sheer anxiety, but she decided to follow through with the request. Clearing her throat carefully, Adrienne quelled her nerves and began:

_Through crystal waters I pass_

_Into the realm unknowing_

_A universe so large and vast_

_My heart knows where I'm going_

_The more time we spend_

_Along this foreign path_

_I hope it shall never end_

_Lest fill my heart with wrath_

_But yet I venture on_

_Though the way is long and harrow_

_For fear you will be gone_

_A lost target for my arrow_

_Why do I follow so blindly_

_Despite my better sense_

_Will the prize outweigh the pain_

_Or shall it be much to immense_

_While I hope it is not one I will rue_

_Given it, my choice is to be with you_

He was silent for a moment and Adrienne began to feel sick.

Why did she read that to him?

What was he going to say?

He was just going to use it to torture her relentlessly...

She would never hear the end of this...

"It's about the Stargate," was all he said, his blue eyes still locked ahead on the road.

"Yes and no, " she answered quickly, excited he had actually listened, "like I said, when you write you start with what you know and go from there. It is more of an exercise in rhyme, rhythm and synonyms."

"Is your novel written in verse?" he continued. Wow, he did seem interested. She decided to take advantage of non-smart-ass Daniel for a moment while she had him. They hadn't had a serious conversation like this, in, well, a while, much less one that was not work or 'car accident while on a coffee run' related.

"No," she started, "but it's a fantasy novel, and prophecy's always written in verse, so poems are a good way to get the synonyms flowing and have a few lines on hand just in case." He didn't respond, Adrienne just hoping that meant that he was thinking about what she said and not preparing an evil comeback.

"It was good," he finally spoke, Adrienne laughing nervously and uncontrollably at his compliment.

"Not really, but thanks, like I said, it just gets things flowing," she said still giggling. Daniel took his eyes from the road for just a moment to look over at her, hoping to convey his sincerity.

"I'm not mocking you, I'm serious," he insisted and by the tone in his voice he was. Adrienne was touched.

"I appreciate that... coming from you," she answered, adding the last part quietly, but that he didn't seem to notice. Adrienne was slightly relieved, a part of her still worried he would use this little opening up session as a reason to harass her later, wanting more than anything for this truce of theirs to continue. Work had been so much better lately with Daniel being nice and not trying to get her to quit, she actually didn't mind working late a few nights and their feuds were no longer the talk of the entire base.

And he was nice, just like Sam had said he was, in fact, she kinda liked him.

"Who is he?" Daniel asked after a momentary pause.

"He who?" Adrienne questioned, glancing over at him confused.

"The man you're with, in the poem?" he clarified making Adrienne pause. Did she know who that man was? Honestly, she was just writing what came to her and no matter her answer Daniel probably wouldn't understand how her brain processed her pre-writing ritual. He would have pegged someone, hell, he had probably already pegged someone and was just having this entire conversation to add fuel to the fire.

And besides, this exchange was getting way too serious...

"Cam," she answered with the first name that popped in her head. The tires to the Uhaul screeched loudly as Daniel swerved into another lane, quickly correcting the truck, his blue eyes glaring over at her in annoyance. Or was it confusion, but whatever it was, it was some negative emotion that Adrienne couldn't pin. The young woman erupting into hysterical laughter at his gut reaction, so much so she buckled over in the seat, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Cam!?" Daniel demanded. After all of the obnoxious comments that he had to endure from Cameron Mitchell concerning Adrienne, her looks, her butt, that was the last name he wanted to hear coming from her mouth.

That, and, well, he just didn't expect that and it bothered him worse than he could have expected.

"No, I'm just kidding Indy, but that was quite the reaction," she answered, composing herself a bit better, watching his panic stricken face carefully.

She wasn't going to let him live that down, for a long, long time.

"You just caught me off guard. Didn't quite imagine that would be your answer," Daniel spoke quickly, trying not to get her thinking whatever insane thoughts her brain might be conjuring at this very moment.

"Uh huh," she chided. Note to self, Daniel does not like the idea of you and Cameron.

This could be so much fun later.

"I just don't see you dating Cameron, that's all," he continued, desiring to clarify his position before she jumped to any insane Adrienne conclusions and harass him until the end of time.

"No worries. I'm not trying to use the SGC as my personal dating service," Adrienne assured him, honestly; she had more important things to do than worry about finding a man.

There were worlds to explore and things to be learned and Dr. Adrienne Rowan had a lot more living to do before she thought about spending the rest of her life with just one other person.

"Good," he responded, "that's not it's purpose and you need to convince Vala of that while you're at it." Adrienne giggled lightly, pleased he was taking it all in jest and turned back to her book, sending her characters further on their quest.

A few hours had passed when Adrienne noticed that the mileage heading to Nevada was decreasing rapidly. She was impressed; the two of them had made pretty good time on the first leg of their journey. Her main characters where stuck in a forest, so she closed the book and tucked it back into her pack, glancing over at Daniel whose face was furrowed, as usual, concentrating on the road.

"I'm hungry," she informed him even though he seemed to be content driving and listening to talk radio, which he must have switched over to while she was writing.

"Look in my bag," he answered, pointing to the worn messenger tote to his right. Months ago she wouldn't have dared, but now, she just rooted around in his things like it didn't matter. It didn't really seem to bother him, despite the rocky road upon which they had started, but Adrienne just chalked it up to him figuring that as his assistant she should have access to his things, or at the very least, work related things like his messenger bag. Reaching over, she opened the flap, peering through the sparse contents, a few pens, a pencil or two, his most recent journal, a legal pad, and some Powerbars.

"Yuck," she said, looking over at him holding up his suggestion, shaking it loosely in her hand.

"What?" he asked as if he really didn't realize that Powerbars were not food, despite the hundreds of times that Adrienne had tried to educate him otherwise.

"We are on Earth Indy, not trapped God knows where in the Milky Way. I'm not eating that; that's not food," she told him plainly. Powerbars seemed to be the only thing any of SG-1 ate when off world, much to Adrienne's disgust when she was taken off world with them.

She refused to eat them unless she absolutely had to.

Now was not one of those times.

"What do you want then?" he asked, fearing her answer. He wasn't in the mood for some organic garden bar, the very suggestion of food making him want something that had more substance than lettuce.

"Mexican," Adrienne replied, whipping out her phone, frantically searching for nearby places before he could have a chance to argue.

"You always want Mexican," Daniel countered, relieved that she wanted her junk food craving rather than her usual count down to the individual carrot and grain of cereal that he had grown accustomed to witnessing at every meal. He had learned from a few late night work sessions that there was one junk food indulgence that his assistant had, one strong enough to make her toss away her super healthy lifestyle for one fleeting moment and that cuisine was Mexican. Not his first choice, granted, but it could be a lot worse.

"Yeah, but we're closer to Mexico here. Better chance of real Mexican," Adrienne reasoned, beaming.

"I still fail to see how Mexican fits into that healthy food plan of yours," he replied smartly, giving her that look that an attack was imminent. He'd asked before, but her reaction was priceless, he just couldn't resist.

"It goes under that psychological aspect of my diet. If I don't eat Mexican, I'll sink into the furthest depths of depression," she answered, smiling at her joke. He shook his head, laughing lightly. These past couple of weeks with Adrienne having been like that, laughter and fun, and he had to admit he was pretty hungry himself. If they stopped for lunch and a rest they might be able to go 5 more hours... just far enough to get past Vegas. Not that Adrienne would want to stop there, she hated gambling, but he wanted to avoid as much of the insanity around the city as possible.

"Find one?" he asked, giving in to her request; she had a point, a taco sounded pretty good right about now. Adrienne was running her fingers around that complicated phone of hers, the one that did everything but cook the meal itself, probably having the damn thing calculate the exact distance of each restaurant versus its authenticity knowing her. That was something else he had learned about his assistant; no matter the problem she had an endless stream of gadgets to help her solve it.

"Yep," she answered, "exit after next."

Like most of what they had encountered on the road, this wasn't a chain restaurant, but rather a small hole in the wall, most likely family run. Adrienne couldn't have been more excited. Daniel was barely out of the cab when he saw her dashing through the front door of the restaurant, leaving him to bring up the rear. She was already seated and ordering by the time he had locked up, checked on their precious cargo and made his way inside the restaurant.

"Quiero una margarita para beber y le traiga a mi amigo un cafe con leche," Adrienne requested politely, and the waiter nodded darting off to fetch the drinks. Daniel sat down as another waiter brought chips and salsa to the table, conveniently right in front of him.

"Damn," Adrienne said as the man left.

"What's wrong?" he asked and she pointed at the bowl of salsa that he was just beginning to dig in to.

"That?" she answered.

"Is something wrong with it?" he paused, not moving the chip or his hand.

"No, I'm sure it's fine, but that's American salsa. In Mexico they eat Pico de Gallo," she explained. Daniel knew that, he had visited Mexico quite a few times, but he just let her think she had him on this. She enjoyed those small victories. Besides, she had given him enough fuel already, he remembered as the drinks arrived. Targeting his harassment in another direction, he pointed at their drinks, a smirk tiptoeing across his face.

"A margarita? At noon?" he taunted.

"Yeah, you're driving." she retorted.

"What if I decided I needed a break?," he raised his eyebrows, shrugging, awaiting her reaction. Adrienne gave him a dirty look, muttered something under her breath which he assumed were Cajun swear words and then switched the drinks, handing over her precious treat. Containing his laughter, Daniel reached for the margarita, brought it to his mouth to sip pausing dramatically, then quickly returned to drink to the table, switching the cups back to their original position.

"No, I think I'll let you write. That is, if you can do so inebriated," he said, winking at her.

"You're an ass," she replied, smiling, and began to sip her drink, trying not to roll her eyes at him too badly. They ordered their food the moment the waiter returned to check on them, Daniel looking at his watch the entire time. It was slightly annoying at first, but Adrienne did realize that he was doing most of the driving and that she really didn't want to make this trip take a week, unlike Vala who would have reveled in the prospect.

According to Mapquest, the trip straight would take 43 hours and they had figured that driving an average 10 hours a day it should take only 4 days. They were on par for day one so far and she knew he wanted to log at least 10 if not 12 hours today. Deciding not to mock him, Adrienne ate her meal quickly, calling for the check just as fast to get them both back on the road.

6 hours later, as Daniel was determined to make it 11 hours today at the very least, they pulled into a Howard Johnson's hotel, securing themselves two rooms. It was only 7:30 p.m., but Daniel was tired of driving and Adrienne really needed to stand and walk around, her normally active legs feeling sore and cramped. However, the exhaustion of being on the road so long took its toll, so when Daniel knocked on her door for dinner, figuring he might as well eat with her again since there was no one else around, he encountered a woman that had no desire to leave her room.

Reading on the bed, Adrienne was surprised by the knock at her door. She didn't have to wonder who it was, she knew it was Daniel, she was just trying to figure out what he was doing here. Tossing her novel aside, Adrienne stood slowly from the bed, lumbering toward the door like a zombie.

"Hey, I saw some places to eat on the way in we could walk to," he started until he saw her get-up, an olive colored Tulane University t-shirt and oversized gray pajama pants. Not saying a word, she motioned him in, heading slowly back over to the bed, flopping down dramatically.

"I guess that's a no," he ventured, entering her room, shutting the door behind him since she was in her pajamas and then pausing to note that he was in her room, alone, with the door shut and she was in her pajamas.

He felt a sudden urge to leave.

"I really don't wanna interact wit fellow humans right naw, sorry shug," she replied, tired he could tell by her accent, reaching for the book that was laying casually on the bed. She tucked a bookmark to preserve her place and pointed over to the chair at the table in the room, a silent signal for him to join her.

Apparently, he wasn't human.

Good to know, he thought.

"I was gonna order a pizza or sumtin'. I'm too achy ahn bitchy ta go ta an Applebee's ah some other place ahn try ta smile," she continued, reaching for her cell phone, "Ya want in?"

She had never actually invited him to spend time with her casually, well at least seriously, since the True Blood fiasco had apparently been a joke. In fact he was fairly certain she thought that he was the most boring person on the planet and only spent the time with him that she did because he was her boss. He would never admit it to her, but he was touched by the invite.

"Sure, and you know me, I'll eat anything," he answered. She smiled kindly and called the pizza place, ordering just a simple pepperoni and cheese. Hanging up the phone with a tap of her finger, Adrienne glanced back over at Daniel, who was sitting uncomfortably in the chair across the way, looking like he had no idea what he was doing here or what he should do next.

"Wanna find a movie?" she asked him.

"I doubt we'll find one we can agree on," he told her.

"Ya really think I'm that 'out dere'? " she asked, a insulted tone creeping up in her voice.

"No, I am," he answered honestly and Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"I doubt that. I think you just want me to think you're different," she challenged.

Ok, maybe that was partially true, not that he wanted her to think he was different but that he just always assumed that no one would agree with him, but he had also endured Cameron and Teal'c's movie selections for years. He didn't necessarily hate their choices, but he didn't really like that many of them either and he was fairly certain that Adrienne would have the same reaction at his.

"Fine," he responded, "I'll pick."

Shaking her head, Adrienne rolled her eyes again, tossing the remote toward his lap, missing terribly as it bounced off of his knees and hit the floor. He stood, collecting the clicker, standing in front of the TV trying to find something, flicking through the channels, determined to prove to her... well something.

That she didn't know him as well as she claimed that she did?

He really wasn't sure what he was trying to prove, but he was determined to prove whatever it was. After a few minutes of clicking around while Adrienne was packing away her things into her backpack, he settled on a film: Schindler's List, garnering a strange look from Adrienne in response.

"See," he responded, "it's best I don't pick."

"No, it's a great movie, it just makes me cry. A lot." she said and stood, lumbering sleepily over to the bathroom.

"You?! Cry?!" he asked, unable to resist, his answer a box of tissues thrown into his chest, Adrienne scurrying from the bathroom scowling at him as she returned to the bed. He watched as she arranged some pillows and plopped down, patting the seat beside her.

"You pick a sad film, you get to sit here and dispense tissues." Before he could answer there was a knock at the door, "And pay for the pizza," she added smiling, knowing that the pizza man would be the only person waiting at her room door. Laughing Daniel stood, reaching into his back pocket to abide by her request and retrieve dinner.

There were no plates, no nothing, so he walked over to the bed and set the box between them, taking a seat on the opposite side, a part of him still unsure as to how this was all going to unfold. The movie had just started and Daniel wasn't certain as to what he should say or do, sitting here, on the same bed as his assistant, watching a film that she guaranteed would make her cry. That was something else he wasn't exactly comfortable with, but he sat there quietly, eating the pizza as Adrienne intently scanned the screen, a seriousness in her dark brown eyes. Sure enough, as the first scenes of the concentration camps flashed by, he glanced over at his assistant to see that she was about to do just as promised, quietly sucking a few deep breaths in and focusing intently on the screen. He knew what was coming and did nothing to embarrass her, just grabbed the box of tissues from the table beside him, pulling out a few and passing them over.

She took them without a word.

The majority of the movie continued in this fashion, with little to no conversation, Daniel noting his superwoman acting assistant sobbing throughout the majority, a sight he wasn't used to and wasn't prepared to deal with. He didn't say a word, but was starting to regret his choice. Despite her earlier protests, however, Adrienne was sitting here on the bed with him falling to pieces.

Why couldn't he ever have any kind of normal interaction with her?

When it ended at eleven, Daniel excused himself swiftly and went to bed, only telling Adrienne, in fear of her late cajun ways, that he was planning to head out no later than seven the next morning.

Shockingly, she was knocking on his door at 5:45 a.m.

"I can't eat another piece of junk food. My entire body is so full of unneeded carbs right now it's threatening to go on strike. It's bad enough I haven't run in day, but I need protein and vegetables. Now."

He stepped away from the door and let her in, an interesting turn of events after the night before. He was shocked that she was up and moving, without coffee, so early in the morning, so early period, so early that she was actually going to be on time for once, packed, dressed and ready to leave. Setting her suitcase and duffle on the floor by the door, she walked right past him and flopped herself onto his bed.

"Make yourself at home," he said, staggering over to the bathroom.

"Get ready, at this point, I'll take eggs and apples from McDonald's," she declared from his pillow, adjusting to make herself comfortable. Oh no, he thought, oh no, I've played this game before not this...

His heart began to race.

"Can I shower?" he asked, regretting the suggestion the instant it crossed his lips.

Why was she here? She was a health addict, but to be here this early meant that she had barely slept, the slight dark circles under her eyes confirming his suspicion.

Why hadn't she slept?

"Can I get real food no matter what?" she countered from the pillow, his pillow, laying sprawled out on his bed, his heart still pounding in his chest.

"Yea," he caved, "won't leave until you satisfy whatever food quota you must meet." He answered and watched her carefully for her next move.

Everything has been going so well, he thought, please don't let this turn into something else...

"Good, go hurry," she answered, pointing at the shower and rolling to her side, reaching for the remote at his night stand turning on the TV. There was some crazy sci-fi movie playing in the background as he slowly entered the bathroom, starting the shower. He hurried, worried that she would burst into the bathroom demanding food, playing a prank, something, perhaps something Vala-like the way she had just leapt into his bed, but she didn't. He showered completely undisturbed, the sounds of laser beams and scary monsters echoing from the other side of the wall. Shutting the water off, Daniel dressed himself quickly and re-entered the room to find his bags waiting for him on his bed, his assistant sitting crossed legged at the end, a smile on her face, the TV turned off.

"I packed your stuff up, nicely, nicer than you had it actually," she teased, standing from the bed to secure her own things from beside the door. Still puzzled by her behavior this morning, Daniel walked over to the night table, checked over his things and there was nothing left behind. Feeling bad for doubting her about the bags and about her intentions this morning, he grabbed his bags and went to check them out, preparing himself for the long road ahead.

The drive through Utah and into Wyoming was awful. Adrienne wrote, played music and even tried to get Daniel to play some silly license plate game to pass the time. He had to admit that he appreciated the effort as the miles just clocked on by endlessly.

Their conversation felt a little different this morning, although he couldn't pinpoint exactly how, but he thought the why maybe had to do with all that crying during the movie. Regardless, he limited his harassment of her to playful picking that he wouldn't need to explain just in case she was still a little torn up over the film. For the entire second day of driving, they stopped only for a quick fast food lunch, where Adrienne was delighted to find a salad that she ate with no dressing, and hit the road again, mile after barren mile.

When they crossed over into Nebraska, Daniel just couldn't drive any longer, his eyes glazing the road, his legs numb from being seated for so long. They had stopped for dinner a few hours ago, hoping that he could encourage himself to go just a little further, maybe make it past ten hours and log as many as thirteen today. This trip seemed to be taking forever, but he knew that was partially because of how long and barren the roads were. There were no sights to welcome them into the next state or town, just hundreds of miles of identical highway that blended together in his mind in one large mass of driving. Adrienne had offered to drive on numerous occasions but he just felt for some reason that she shouldn't have to drive and he wasn't quite sure why.

By the time Adrienne was insisting that they stop, that he was starting to drift over into the shoulder of the highway, he saw that the next exit off of the interstate had only one small motel listed, not a lot of options, but he didn't care. They had slept in tents on dirt off world before, so a little redneck motel wasn't really a big deal to him, however, as he started to exit, the lights of the small roadside inn gleaming brightly to his immediate left, he did recall that he was not alone in this quest and that Adrienne might not be so keen on a venue such as like this.

"This place ok?" he asked, as he pulled into the lot, glancing over to judge her reaction. The sign was dead on, there was nothing else in sight, save for a McDonald's a few hundred yards away. Unmoved, Adrienne glanced over at him, a look of concern growing the moment she made eye contact.

"Yeah, and you looked wiped out," she sympathized, sort of, a tone of something else in her voice, something he couldn't quite pin point.

"Well, it's not the Ritz, so I wanted to make sure," Daniel explained, sweeping his hand in front of him, making sure she was clear as to what she was agreeing to but Adrienne just nodded quickly.

"No, I'm fine, really. I was broke in college; we stayed in all sort of strange holes," she spat out, reaching to the floor for her duffle to leap from the cab. Not sensing any dishonesty in her tone, although there did seem to be something she wasn't telling him, Daniel shut off the truck and got out of the vehicle, walking to the other side to meet her.

Together they walked into the small office, Adrienne still looking a little unsure of herself, but Daniel kept quiet. The tiny bell clinked as they pushed their way into the entrance, a small white painted counter a few steps ahead. It wasn't dirty, but it was tiny, definitely a leftover of the mid 20th century motel era, so much so that Daniel could feel the sarcasm and smart remarks radiating from Adrienne.

"No Bates Motel jokes. In fact, no horror movie references at all," he ordered her playfully.

"Scared?" she asked, bumping him with her hip, smiling, finally. That was new, his mind flashed for a moment, but he just smiled back down at her shaking his head.

"No, just, no," he replied, more confused by her sudden friendly behavior than scared of ghosts. Refocusing on the task at hand, he walked up to ring the bell, a tinkle echoing against the pressboard covered walls. There was a moment of silence as the bell ceased, and a nicely dressed elderly gentleman came to the counter.

"Can I help you sir?" he asked Daniel.

"We need two rooms for the night please" Daniel answered, pulling out his credit card as he leaned onto the counter.

"We only have one left, sorry," the man answered apologetically, pointing to the single set of keys posted on a peg board behind him.

Daniel froze.

One room; he'd have to share a room with her?

Panicked, he glanced back at Adrienne.

"Wanna keep going?" he asked quickly, hoping he had it in him to drive further, at least far enough to get them both to reasonable accommodations, but Adrienne shook her head, her pleasant smile accented by kind eyes that had a look of support and relief.

Was she relieved?

Why was she relieved?

"No, I think we can handle sharing the same room for 12 hours," she replied, smiling evilly and added, "Vala will be so jealous." Daniel just rolled his eyes, hoping sincerely that she had nothing up her sleeve and paid for the room.

Fortunately, there were two beds so the awkwardness somewhat ceased after he resigned himself that he would be sharing this tight intimate space with her. Breathing a sigh of relief that Vala was not staying here with him, a guarantee that he would not be allowed to sleep unscathed, he tossed his duffle onto the bed and began to dig around for some less traveled clothes. With Adrienne there was no worry of waking up to a woman in his bed trying to undress him, in fact, she would probably be writing or reading or something until she passed out for the night. Adrienne might play it cool, but in reality, as he was learning, she was pretty nerdy.

She had informed him, rather bluntly, that his bed was the one closest to the door on the walk to their room and he didn't argue, but wondered why she was so adamant about that particular sleeping arrangement. Walking over to her bed, she tossed her own suitcase on top, taking out a few things and turning to face him.

"I'm gonna go shower now; I feel nasty," she stated.

"Be my guest," he answered, debating on whether or not to shower himself once she was finished and walked over to switch on the TV not wanting to work after another eleven hour driving day. There was nothing on but Law and Order on every channel, or so it seemed, so he just switched on the news and left it there, digging through his bag for something to read.

Minutes later, Adrienne appeared from the bathroom, clad in a towel only. His first reaction was fear, he thought of all of the times he had to fight Vala off and tensed out of instinct, but his assistant didn't acknowledge him; she just walked over to the bed and sat down, grabbing a small toilet kit from her duffle. He relaxed, slightly, realizing that there was nothing to worry about, Adrienne couldn't care less about him or having to share a room, she was completely absorbed in her own personal care, but he just kept staring at her.

She really was a beautiful woman, he hadn't really paid attention before, thinking of her only as a lab rat, as his assistant, but here she sat, her wet brown hair dripping lightly down her pale shoulders, water droplets making a trail across her skin.

"Do we have any more water bottles left?" she asked him, waking him from the trance, and he opened and closed his eyes, realizing that she was speaking to him.

"Sure," he replied, reaching over for the small cooler they had carried in the U-haul. Two bottles left. He made a note to stop at a gas station before they hit the road again.

Standing from the bed, he walked over to her, trying not to stare for fear of getting caught. She had her back to him, but he could see in the dim light of the room what looked like a bruise on her left shoulder and without thinking, he reached out to touch her shoulder to see what she had managed to do to herself, since injury seemed to follow her where ever she went. Flinching suddenly, Adrienne turned her head around to face him, a surprised look in her eyes.

"Sorry, I was wondering how you did that," he said, pulling his hand back and noticing that it was not a bruise at all, but a tattoo, a very intricate blue and gold tattoo of two serpents, intertwined, each biting the tail of the other. He knew a lot about ancient images, but he had never seen this before. Not replying immediately, not screaming at him in anger or offense, Adrienne looked back to what she was doing, opening a bottle of lotion and squeezing a dab into her open palm.

"It's called the Auryn. It's from a book, means 'do what you dream'," she answered, beginning to rub the lotion into her arms. Ironic, he thought but did not say, considering she had put her dreams on hold for her father, it was strange to have a tattoo encouraging her to follow her dreams. Glancing over her shoulder slightly, Adrienne smiled softly, reading his mind.

"Just because I was taking care of Dad doesn't mean that I didn't live out my dreams. Taking care of him is how I taught myself to write, and how I won the awards I did teaching community college," she stated this simply, no tone, no defensiveness.

"Do you have any others?" he wondered out loud before he could catch himself, intrigued by the symbol. Other than people from other worlds and a few marines, he never knew anyone that had actually gotten a tattoo before, much less more than one, especially someone like Adrienne, an academic, a southern female academic.

"I have five others," she answered, still worrying with her lotion.

"Five?" he clarified, trying not to convey too much shock in his voice.

"Yes, five..." she looked at him, rolling her eyes, "I guess that dashes all of the progress I've made proving to you that I'm not the moron you thought I was."

"I never thought you were a moron," he answered and walked back over to his bed, sitting down softly as he glanced back over at her, "I just find tattooing interesting. Nearly everyone on Abydos had one, but I just never gave in. Besides the fact that they're permanent, their methods weren't the most sanitary..." he trailed in explanation, but she seemed to relax a bit and go off of the defensive. He shouldn't push her further, he knew he shouldn't, but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

"What are they?" he asked as he sat back down, hoping she wouldn't turn to rage at him. Instead, she faced him once more, a slight smile on her face.

"No laughing," she requested, her hands in her lap, picking again at her fingernails.

"Fine," he agreed, chuckling at her worry. He really didn't think any less of her, but his desire to see what she had deemed so important as to have them marked on her person forever was just too intriguing.

"And no picking later. And no telling anyone at work, except for Vala and Teal'c, they've seen them, but especially not Sam. She still thinks that I'm the consummate professional, despite the piercings. Finding out about my boat load of tattoos might change that opinion," she continued. She appeared eager to share, almost excited and Daniel had to bite his tongue though, seeing her entire argument about Sam thinking less of Adrienne for more body art to be quite absurd.

"Ok, ok. I won't say a word," Daniel swore, placating her. Adrienne paused for just a moment, gazing into his eyes, trying not to show the nerves in her own and turned to face him, scooting over closer to his bed and putting her legs out in front of her. She started with her left leg and he saw that not only did she have one on her ankle, but a vine trailing up her foot as well. She was in shorts a lot, running shorts, but it appeared that her socks and running shoes did a decent job covering these up.

"This, obviously," she started pointing to the one on her ankle, "is the yin yang, just the traditional taoist version. I got this one shortly after my father was diagnosed to remind me that we need the pain in life to appreciate the beauty." A true statement, he thought to himself, but let her continue.

"The vine here," she showed him how it began at her middle toe and went up her foot, "was inspired by my practice of yoga. In yoga, before you begin a new posture you have to ground yourself to the earth. I felt as if I needed a reminder to be grounded outside of practice."

"These are well thought out," he finally had to say something, "do they all have a story?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, extending her right arm, turning it over. She was usually wearing a large cuff bracelet on that arm when she wore short sleeves, and now he could see why. On the underside of her wrist was an owl, not a modern looking owl, but one done in a more Hellenistic style.

"Athena's owl," Daniel said before she could tell her story.

"Right," she continued, "I got this when I was writing my thesis for my master's to remind myself that the wisdom was there, I just needed to not be afraid to use it."

"Are you telling me grad school would have been better were I to get a tattoo of a pyramid on my arm?" he tried to be funny and she smiled, unafraid.

"Something like that," she answered softly, "then," she lifted her towel up the side of her right leg, just to mid thigh, right over where her running shorts would cover, "I got this one last month." Shaking slightly, scared to be opening up to him so much, Adrienne pulled back the final corner of the towel slowly revealing a rather large Earth Chevron inked into her side of her thigh.

"Now that's dedication to work," he joked, hoping that she knew it was a joke.

"No, I was paying homage to the job that literally changed my life. And saved it," she added quietly.

"Saved it?" he tilted his head, pushing his glasses up his face to take a better look at her. She was so different here with him right now, so, uninhibited. It made him nervous but also sparked a million questions about her, things he had never thought to ask until now, but he bit his tongue, letting her continue, the look on her face telling him she needed to do just that, continue talking.

"Yeah, let's just say that things weren't going so well for me, emotionally anyway. Sam's phone call was the miracle I was waiting for," she said as she looked down, folding her hands in her lap, the picking resuming once more. She was quiet for a moment and then turned away from him, grabbing the lotion bottle as if they never had this conversation, shutting it down not only with her words but her body language.

Reading her actions, he decided to not ask for further details, standing to go to the bathroom himself and shower when he realized that she had skipped the last tattoo. Turning back around to where she was now applying lotion to her legs, Daniel paused for a second, afraid to ask, and then just did, the words trickling out before he could stop them.

"That was only four, five total, I thought you said that you had five more?" he tried to verify.

"I did," she said, as she stood to make her way over to her duffle bag, pulling out a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt.

"Then what's the last one?" he asked.

"That one's personal," she responded curtly.

"One of those," he said aloud, again, not minding his words, thinking he was making a joke, but realized as the phrase came out that it didn't sound that funny, in fact, it sounded down right accusatory and offensive. He went to amend, but by the look on her face Adrienne had picked up on that as well.

"It's nah ah gah damn tramp stamp if dat's wha ya dinking in dat sick little male mind of yahs," she shouted at him, her accent slipping, a clear indicator that he had erred.

"No, I didn't mean that, that came out wrong, I'm sorry. I meant. Well, ok, I meant nothing. If it's personal, that's fine. I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to offend you. Really."

In an effort to avoid any further fighting, he turned once more to the bathroom door, the shower serving as his escape. It would give him time for her to cool off and hopefully avoid a shouting match. She didn't scream in retaliation, in fact Adrienne looked at him, with a sad look in her eyes, like she wanted to tell him something but was afraid to.

"I'm gonna take a shower, ok? I want to leave as soon as we possibly can in the morning," he said over his shoulder and Adrienne breathed in.

"It's on my hip," Adrienne told him quietly. He simply turned around, not to see, but to acknowledge that she was speaking to him. She didn't scream, in fact Adrienne gazed at him, a deep sadness in her dark brown eyes, torn, the words seeming to be trapped in her mouth.

"It's ok, I told you, that's fine, you said it was personal," Daniel insisted, still not wanting to anger her. Blinking a few times, maybe fighting off a few tears he thought, she stood quickly and walked up to him, carefully covering herself as she lifted the towel to the side to expose her left hip bone and nothing more. There, beautifully and intricately carved into her soft pale flesh was a half-finished tree, a cyprus tree, cut perfectly symmetrical down the center. Daniel glanced down quickly, his heart racing with worry, not wanting to appear that he was starting at her naked skin, staring at the tattoo, this breathtaking symbol drawn so carefully near her most intimate places.

"Why isn't it finished?" he asked, puzzled, making sure to look at her face as he spoke. Not answering, she pulled down the towel and fled to the bed, collecting her lotion.

"It is finished. It was my first tattoo. I got it when I was 18. It's stupid and sappy and permanent," she grabbed her clothes and put the lotion back into her toilet kit, her face flushed with embarrassment.

"Does it have a story?" he asked, wondering why she was so upset and ashamed. It could have been a lot worse, in fact, on non-personnel, even his relatives on Abydos, he had seen far worse.

"Sorta. It's a Jewish symbol - " she started, forgetting who she was talking to.

"It's Beshert," Daniel stated, realizing what the tree was, the Jewish symbol for soulmate. However, Adrienne's tattoo was only half complete, and he knew why she was embarrassed by it instantly.

"Yep, and when you're 18 and an Ancient History major, you get these crazy ideas to create art on your body for when you find the love of your life or stupid merde like that, and carry around this childish notion that true love is a man who will get a matching tattoo and sweep you off into the sunset," she rolled her eyes at her own words, but it was clear that this meant a lot to her, or at least had at some point of her life.

"Don't be embarrassed," he told her, "we all do impulsive things when we're young."

Adrienne, however, didn't look convinced, in fact, she looked so vulnerable right now, more vulnerable than he had ever seen her before, including her crying episodes last night during the movie. He had an overwhelming urge to hug her, to try to reassure her, but he didn't move, he just stood there, frozen in time.

"Who knows Addy; you might find him," Daniel added, the first thing that came to mind, trying to make her feel better, but she just looked down at her fingers again, turning to her side, giving him a nonverbal cue that she was finished. Sighing slightly, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, hoping that she would be ok.

The water was hot and soothing, and Daniel leaned back in the shower stall letting the stream work out the kinks knotted in his body from sitting in the driver's seat for two days now. As the scalding liquid cascading down his back, Daniel couldn't help but think about Adrienne and how different she had been on this trip, so different in fact that he was actually enjoying spending time with her, socially, in fact he almost wanted to hurry to be back out there with her again. Considering how long he had been trapped in the cab of the truck, he should have wanted to stay in here longer, letting the heat work the tension out of his muscles, but he really just wanted to get back to her, to check and see if she was feeling any better and try to cheer her up. Deciding that was exactly what he wanted to do, he rinsed himself quickly, grabbing and towel and drying off, rushing to put on his pajamas.

"If you can find anything on to watch, I believe that it's your turn to choose," he offered, stepping out of the bathroom as he was toweling off his hair. She didn't respond, so concerned, he pulled the towel away from his face, looking over to her bed to see what was wrong.

Adrienne was fast asleep, book in hand, her brown locks drifting down her cheek. She had changed and was wearing a pair of baggy shorts and a loose t-shirt, her side floating lightly up and down as she breathed. Daniel stood for a moment just watching her, noting that she looked so peaceful when she was not trying to drive him insane. He walked over and gently removed the book from her hand, reading the title was something about being dead and had a poorly drawn blond Dracula on the cover. Laughing at her choice of entertainment, he marked her place with her Star Wars bookmark and placed it into her backpack. Since she was laying on the comforter, he grabbed the extra blanket that was set on top of the luggage rack and spread it over her gently, hoping not to wake her.

"Goodnight Adrienne," he said in the darkness as he shut off the light.

The next morning they set a goal of reaching the outskirts of Chicago, a twelve hour drive from where they were. Daniel looked exhausted, so he allowed Adrienne to drive the first stretch, at least until lunch since she had assured him that six hours was nothing.

They were on the road by 8 a.m.

Traffic near Gary, Indiana was total insanity, so the coworkers took the opportunity to stop, eat and stretch their legs for a bit. Considering they were driving during the day, they had missed many city rush hours and traffic just by sheer luck. Rather than get discouraged, though, by this turn of events, Adrienne suggested a trip to Lake Michigan, since it was early spring and she wanted to see at least one of the Great Lakes up close. They could see the traffic at a stand-still from the truck stop they were eating at and knowing that they were going to be stuck here for a while, he agreed. Pleased, Adrienne used her phone to find a small beach where they could park the U-haul and walk around.

When they arrived at the beach, she didn't leap from the car or anything else childish like he expected, instead, she calmly got out and walked straight to the water. Arriving at the shore, Adrienne removed her shoes, set them beside her on the beach and walked in, not even acknowledging that he was there.

"Adrienne, it's March, that water has got to be about 30 degrees!" Daniel shouted, running to pull her back, but she just stood there, hugging her arms to her body to keep herself warm, not saying a word. After a few moments like this, she walked back over to the shore, still expressionless and grabbed her shoes walking over to him.

"I have to, it's tradition," she informed him.

"It's tradition to try to freeze your extremities off?" he asked. Once again, she had totally lost him, but she smiled, shoving him playfully.

"No, it's something my dad started. When I was small, we didn't have a lot of money for vacations and such, so we would go on minitrips, camping, etc. We could never afford the fancy hotels near the water, so we would just run out and stick our feet in, right on those private beaches before we got caught," she explained, "it was fun." He smiled and felt a small sharp pang of jealously, that despite not having a mother, she did have a father who cared for her very much.

"How many bodies of water have you waded in?" he asked.

"Tons," she answered, starting to walk down the beach. He followed, eager to hear more about this mysterious woman who had just popped into his life only a few short months ago, "The Atlantic, the Gulf, the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Rio Grande and those are just the big ones. Once, we went to Tampa Florida and I ran out into the water like a wild woman, disregarding the cops guarding the private beach. Dad was chasing behind me, screaming like a banshee, Adrienne Margaret!" she said, laughing hysterically at the memory.

"Margaret?" he asked.

"Ugh, yeah, my awful middle name. Some grandmother I never met. Anyway, when I heard Margaret, I knew I was gonna get it," she laughed.

"See, I never had that problem," he offered.

"Really? Never got the middle name?" she inquired.

"No, I got it sometimes, but usually I was never with one family enough for them to remember my first name, much less my middle one," he spoke honestly, not seeking any sympathy but unable to believe his own words. He had never told anyone that before, sure, Sam and Jack knew he was a foster child, but he had never actually mentioned it to anyone before, but for some reason, right now, with her, he just felt that he could. There were no faces made, no mockery, as Adrienne transferred her shoes to her right hand and lagged back a bit so that they were walking side by side, running her left arm through his.

He didn't pull away.

"It's ok," he answered, sensing her concern, yet leaving their arms interlocked, "Fate has an interesting way of bringing you where you need to be." She didn't respond, just squeezed his arm tighter as they walked in silence down the beach.

"What is it?" she asked a few moments later, breaking their silence.

"What's what?" he responded confused.

"Your middle name?" she continued.

"Nice try," he responded with a smile, "Classified."

"Come on, you know mine..." she pleaded, pulling his arm toward a bench where she let go of him, sitting down and putting on her shoes.

"You volunteered that information. I didn't ask," he stated playfully.

"Is it that awful?" she pried.

"Not exactly, just doesn't fit me, that's all," he stated and began to head back toward the truck as she was standing.

"Well, don't expect me to beg," Adrienne jogged lightly to catch up to him, "but I'll find out. I have my ways..."

"Uh huh," he said.

"Race you back?" she asked.

"And give you another reason to harass me? I think not," he replied to her smiling.

"Fine, but I'm going to jog back before we are trapped in that cab for six more hours. See you at the truck." She jogged off in the direction from which they came and he watched as she went over the hill, glancing back at the lake once more, and smiling at the thought of her standing there shivering in the cold water.

They stopped for the night once they crossed the Ohio border, Daniel requesting to drive once more. Adrienne spent part of the car trip trying to get him to tell her his middle name, not by begging or pleading, but by trying to trick him and he outsmarted her every time. Eventually she gave up, put on her iPod again and began to educate him on the history of hip hop music. Despite his better judgement he was actually impressed by her ability to sing, or rap rather, the entire discography of Salt n Pepa. Overall, they had a really good time together the last six hours of the day's drive and he wasn't even nervous about the rest of the evening as they pulled up into another chain hotel, only to discover that there was no where to pull the truck in to. Puzzled, Daniel pulled into the loading loop and put the truck into park.

"I'm gonna run inside and get a room and we can worry about parking later," he hopped out of the truck and jogged into the hotel. Adrienne waited in the cab for what seemed like forever until she saw him coming through the main doors shaking his head. A look of displeasure on his face, he climbed into the cab and started the truck.

"So what's the deal?" Adrienne asked.

"Booked," Daniel stated, slipping the keys into the ignition.

"We have to share a room booked, or no rooms booked?" Adrienne clarified.

"No rooms for a hundred miles booked. Some big convention in town and a bigger concert tomorrow," he answered and popped the car into drive.

"Well, I can do a hundred miles, let me drive again," Adrienne offered.

Daniel made a face at her, "You're just as tired as I am."

"There was a 7-11 a few miles back. Let me get a 5 hour energy or a coffee or something and I'll be able to do it," she argued but Daniel shook his head.

"No," he stated simply, "we've come too far to have something go wrong now. Do you know what would happen if we got into an accident?"

"Then what do you suggest?" Adrienne asked, cocking her head at him.

"There was a truck stop right by the interstate, I guess we can crash there," Daniel offered his only suggestion.

This time Adrienne made a face, "Is that safe?"

"Truckers do it all of the time," he responded.

"Since you look so much like a trucker?" she teased, something in her voice telling him that it wasn't totally a tease.

"Are you scared?" he poked back, trying to gauge her face before her answer.

"No, it's just gross. And I want a shower," she defended herself quickly, but there was still something going on behind those dark eyes, something she didn't seem to want to share just yet.

"Please, I've gone way longer without a shower crybaby. You just think some trucker is gonna stalk us back to the Pentagon or something," he continued to pick, hoping to ease any fear that she might have while still having fun with her.

"You're mean. I thought you said no horror movie references," she fought back, her eyes huge, her lip trembling slightly.

"No worries," he said as he turned onto the road heading back for the truck stop, "I'll protect you," he said, joking, but he meant it; he really wanted her to know that he had not intention of letting anything happen to her.

"You're delusional," she giggled, laughing, so again Daniel tried to push the thought away, this time tempering his curiosity.

When they arrived she saw that he had been right, there was plenty of space for them, so they parked over among the line of big rigs, their U-haul dwarfed by their massive cousins. Adrienne kicked off her shoes, trying to get comfortable, scanning around the cab as though there were something amiss.

"I can't sleep in jeans," she started to complain but it was a lie, she was a bad actress, at least around him and he wasn't sure why she was lying about this.

"Then change," he replied.

"Here!?" she exclaimed.

"You do realize that you were parading around in a towel last night right?" he pointed out to her.

"That was just you! That's different!" she hissed back and he laughed. Nice to know she was comfortable with him at least, but a part of him guessed it went back to his not being human.

"Look," he offered, "let's just get a few hours and then we can hit the road, go a few more hours, get a room, sleep and then finish up the rest of the way. Does that work? Just try to go to sleep." Grudgingly, frowning at him, she grabbed her backpack from the floor and put it onto the seat, laying down across it carefully. She adjusted herself into a somewhat comfortable position, when she suddenly had a thought, glancing back up at him.

"Wait, I'm taking up all of the space. What are you gonna do?" she asked, now concerned, his handsome face so tired and weary. He needed rest as much as she did, especially if he was going to insist in a few short hours on doing the driving again, but he was shaking his head, pointing to the seat, insisting she lay back down.

"I'm good leaning here; I've slept in worse," he replied, grabbing his duffle from the floor and setting it against the window.

"Are you sure?" she pushed.

"Positive," he assured her and he wasn't kidding. As Adrienne continued to get herself comfortable, she heard a slight sound of heavy breathing, although not quite a snore. He really must have been tired.

"Indy?" she asked, looking over at him, and sure enough he was fast asleep. Guess he is good over there, she thought, rolling over to get more comfortable when she saw something sticking out of his back pocket. Squinting she noticed it was his wallet; he had left it in his pocket after running in the hotel and smiling evilly to herself, she reached over to his backside and slid it out carefully. He didn't stir, much to her relief, and leaning forward to hide her diabolical little scheme with her body, she opened it slowly and peered at his license.

_Daniel Anthony Jackson _

Seriously? she thought to herself, he was all bitchy over Anthony? She laughed, closing the wallet, and slipping in into the small opening under the radio, laying herself across the seat when she stopped again, her eyes taking in their rather exposed surroundings. Biting her lip she peeked up back at her sleeping boss and to the car door at her feet, scanning the locks carefully. She reached for the bag, sliding closer to him, practically touching his leg before laying her head back down, allowing herself to close her eyes and remember his joking promise as she let herself doze.

Daniel awoke to the smell of hash browns and he left his eyes closed trying to figure out who could be in his kitchen cooking hash browns when he realized he was laying against a duffle bag and cold glass.

"Good morning, Anthony," he heard Adrienne laughing beside him. Opening his eyes he saw her sitting on the other side of the truck cab, a disposable plate of food in front of her and his wallet peeping out of the cubby on the dashboard, Adrienne smiling from ear to ear.

"No fair going through a man's wallet while he sleeps," he tried to play angry but really wasn't.

For some reason, it just didn't bother him that she knew.

"I didn't go through anything," she answered, "It just so happens that your wallet was falling out and your license was right on top..." she played, a playfully dirty look shot in her direction.

"Never underestimate me," she declared.

"No, never again," he answered, smiling, "Please tell me you got me something to eat and aren't just going to torture me with the smell," he added, his stomach already letting him know that he had slept much longer than he had intended. Nodding, she reached onto the dash where he saw another clear plastic covered plate awaiting him that she passed over, tossing a pack of utensils on top.

"Thanks," he said quietly but she just smiled and kept eating.

They finished breakfast quickly and left again, both archaeologists eager to return home. A few hours into the trip he volunteered to stop, but Adrienne insisted that she wanted out of the truck for good sooner than later so they kept on going. A quick drop in for gas and snacks was all they made before rolling into the parking area of the Pentagon around nine at night where the men at the gate radioed Rodney the moment Daniel flashed his ID card.

He was at the truck in minutes.

"I hope you two managed not to break anything," he said smartly.

"I assure you Rodney, it was an uneventful trip," Daniel answered, turning to gather his things. Adrienne grabbed her duffle and backpack from the cab as the two men talked, heading into the SGC personnel entrance.

"Hey wait up!" she heard Daniel yell from behind her, and she saw him jogging up to catch her, his duffel and messenger bag strapped across his body.

"Indy shug, I need a shower," Adrienne turned back around, looking annoyed.

"No, trust me, I need one to," he started to speak, "I just wanted to thank you for coming with me."

"You kinda made me," Adrienne responded with a shrug.

"You could have refused. But you didn't and it wasn't as bad as it could have been," he said.

"No, it wasn't," she replied hesitantly. Nodding his head nervously, he stepped up to open the door for her and she walked through ahead of him, making a beeline for the elevators. She was only a few steps away when she paused, turning back to face him, her upper teeth lightly biting her lip.

"Daniel?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said as he caught up to her.

"We should hang out sometime, I mean if you want to. Like catch a movie or something, voluntarily, outside of work" she stuttered slightly as she spoke, starting to pick the skin on her nails. Dear God, she thought, what am I doing.

"Considering you don't hate my selection in films I think it's a great idea," he answered and hit the elevator button pointing down.

The doors opened and they stepped in, neither saying another word as they head back to their respective quarters, nervous and confused.


	9. Chapter 9 - Changes

_So how do you go from enemies to friends? _

_Like this?_

_If you are more of an adventure person, this is one of the sappier ones but important. _

"Is that chocolate?" Daniel asked, peering over Adrienne's shoulder as he arrived back from yet another morning of pointless meetings and other malarkey. She was sitting at her desk, facing her computer and working away, although with a candy bar in one hand and a piece of chocolate positioned at her mouth in another.

Messing with Adrienne, he thought, what a great way to start a work day.

"Go to hell," she answered back harshly, her eyes staying locked at the screen, not acknowledging Daniel with anything other than her words.

"Ouch," he replied, not exactly the response he had expected. Puzzled, he walked back over to his desk, wondering what was going on.

"What's with you this morning?" he asked as he sat down, not taking his eyes off of her for a moment. He didn't like the look on her face right now, what he could see of it anyway. It was clear that she wasn't herself, not only due to her food choice but the lack of bad hip hop music echoing through the lab. He'd let her bring a speaker in lately to loudly blast the greatest hits of the 1990's, but now the lab was silent.

"I didn't sleep well last night and chocolate makes it better," she replied curtly, again, not looking up from her computer.

"I'm just pointing this out, as a friend, that somehow I'll get blamed for letting you eat that, so, in order to insure that I play my part in your diet madness: Adrienne don't eat that," he joked, hoping she caught his smile and opened the lid to his laptop, cueing up his stopping point from late last night. Damn, he needed a cup of coffee, and soon, but he needed to figure out what was wrong with his sidekick first.

"It's dark and organic. That'll make me a little less angry at myself later," she answered, popping the waiting piece into her mouth and pushing back from the computer, reaching into her backpack. Seeing that this conversation was getting him nowhere, Daniel decided to change the subject.

"Aren't you gonna ask me how my meeting went?" he tried, since usually that was the first thing she asked after wasted mornings such as these. There was a glance, and finally eye contact was made, Adrienne setting the dark red wrapped sweet aside and looking over at him.

"How was your meeting?" she responded, her voice lacking feeling, her eyes cold. Frowning, Daniel glared right back, trying to read her face, for something, anything, but all he got in return was her chilly glance, a furrowed brow and pursed lips. Since they had gotten back from San Francisco a few weeks ago they were, well, friends. He actually thought of her as someone he wanted to be with outside of work and although they had been too busy to do anything other than crash on base, he still considered her a friend and right now this friend wasn't acting like herself. He had to figure out what was going on, after all, what's Batman without Robin.

Beginning to become truly concerned, even her body language giving away that something was desperately wrong, he resolved to try to see what was with her, work or not.

He had seen her sleepy before and this wasn't sleepy.

"Boring, as usual," he began, thinking he would begin by distracting her with work, "Woolsey talking about there being no money, Sam defending everything we do, some four star general asking about weapons..." he trailed, waiting for her token smart remark, but Adrienne didn't answer. Frustrated and getting nowhere, Daniel stood from his desk and walked over to hers, pulling up a chair in front of her and sitting down, leaning forward to look her in the eye.

"Adrienne?" he asked, trying to get her to look at him, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Daniel, I told you, I didn't sleep well," she answered, still refusing to make eye contact. He couldn't help but notice that she'd called him Daniel, not Indy, which as of late seemed to be his new moniker with her, but this Adrienne sitting here, not joking, no spirit, she just wasn't herself.

"Did I do something?" he offered, racking his brain, trying to figure out if when they were working late last night had he said anything in his sheer exhaustion to offend her. That got her to smile, the corners of her lip gloss covered mouth trickling up the side of her face as she peeked up at him.

"I must have been a real bitch to you, you look so pitiful now Indy, but really I'm ok," she answered, much to his relief, switching back over to Indy.

"Ok," he backed off a bit and started to stand, determining that it might be best to leave her alone for now and let her open up when she was ready. Turning to head back to his desk, he felt a grip at his wrist, turning to see that Adrienne had grabbed his arm, pulling him gently to her. He sat back down, careful not to pull away.

"It's my cousin, Rae, she's getting married," Adrienne told him quietly, releasing his arm and taking in a deep breath.

"Well, that's great news. Congratulations!" Daniel replied happily.

"Yeah, no, it's great news. My aunt called last night and told me before bed," Adrienne continued, yet maintained her dismal composure.

"Ok, so you were thinking about the wedding? Are you worried about getting time off? It's your cousin's wedding; I'll make sure you have the time off you need," he assured her. Just because few other members of the staff had much of a life outside of the Pentagon, didn't mean that Adrienne should be forced to miss out on special events, family events no less.

"No, no, I'm sure Sam would be ok and you have no choice but to be ok with it," she finally smiled, gazing back up at him as she did.

"Uh..." Daniel tried to think like a woman, something that was not his forte, if she was going to be allowed to go, what was wrong?

Finally he came up with something, something he probably should have thought through before he opened his mouth.

"Did you need a date?" he asked.

"Oh lord, I don't even know when this is happening," she replied, giggling lightly and shaking her head.

"Oh, ok," he answered. Back to square one, he thought.

She smiled at him, "Ya offerin' Indy?" she asked.

"I mean, if you need of course, just let me know when," he replied, hesitantly. That would be something new, going from hating one another to being her date for a wedding. Smiling, she reached over and squeezed his leg.

"Thanks, really," she said, yet, other than the slight smile, her face didn't change, she still seemed distant and upset; there appeared to be much more to her mood than she was letting on.

"Look, Addy, I'm really bad at things like this, can you help me out here?" he pleaded gently, Adrienne finally looking up at him once more, her brown eyes filled with a sadness that crushed him in a way he hadn't felt before.

His instincts were correct; something was very wrong with her today.

"It's stupid, trust me; really really stupid. I just need to deal with it that's all," she answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Alright," he finally relented, if she wasn't going to open up he couldn't force her, "but I if you need to talk, I'm right here. Literally."

"Thanks," Adrienne replied softly, returning her glance to her computer. Resigning himself to the fact it was going to be a quiet day in the lab, Daniel stood, pushing the extra chair back under the center table, returning to his desk and the task he had set out before himself.

Adrienne didn't say much the rest of the day. She worked on her database information and only spoke to ask him to clarify a few things here or there, things he knew full well that she could read herself, but he answered her anyway. At lunch, she opted to stay in the lab, standing without a word and making her way over to lockers, digging a Powerbar out of his bag. That was odd too, not only was she actually eating a Powerbar voluntarily, but she didn't even ask, just stood and starting rooting through his things. Not that he minded, in fact he didn't mind her rooting around the lab at all anymore, but she had this omnipresent Southern politeness that caused her to ask permission before doing anything let alone go exploring through his personal effects.

Nibbling the Powerbar and drinking cold coffee, Adrienne's dark eyes kept focused on the screen, clicking and typing away until eventually, she stood and went to her own locker, pulling out her gym bag and running shoes.

"I'm done so I'm gonna hit the gym, is that cool?" she asked plainly, flatly, like she had spoken to him months ago, as her boss and not her friend.

"Sure, enjoy," he responded, hoping his tone let her know that he was concerned and cared for her well-being.

He had given up on trying to get her to talk.

Looking up at the clock, he suddenly realized it was four already and dinner would be sneaking up very soon and he needed to get out of this room and this chair.

"Hey!" he shouted out and stood, walking over to her and catching her at the door. Puzzled, Adrienne stopped and looked back, a glare on her face.

"What?" she snapped, cutting her eyes at him.

"Let's go do something, cheer you up a bit," he suggested, "after all, you said we should do something fun outside of work and we've yet to."

"I don't need cheering up," Adrienne spat, so fiercely that Daniel almost took a step back when her face softened and a faint hint of a smile began to spread across it, "but we can do something. What did you have in mind?"

"I hadn't gotten that far yet; my stomach was just informing me that I needed to begin considering my options," he admitted.

"Well, I was going to run five miles and I would need to shower and put on normal people clothes, so can you wait till six?" she answered as she glanced over at the clock.

He was starving already, but he could wait, he wanted to wait...

"Yeah, meet you in the parking lot at six?" Daniel looked at his watch, checking to see how long he had to figure out what he could do to cheer up his dreary assistant.

"Sure, you driving?" she asked.

"I was thinking I could follow you to your house first, but yeah. I'm not a fan of stuffing myself into a VW," he replied, once again, saying something stupid to Adrienne. Don't be offended, he thought, just take it as a joke...

"And yet you stuff yourself into a tiny cave to read a wall," she remarked, grinning. Daniel almost breathed a sigh of relief right then and there, taking her reply as a sign that this wasn't a complete and total mistake.

"Totally different," he defended, smiling back at her.

"Daniel Jackson, king of the double standard," she laughed. Finally, he thought, laughter, maybe she's just had a bad day.

Watching her as she spun herself on her heels to leave, he started to run ideas through his head, dashing over to his desk as soon as she was out of sight.

"Great," he said out loud to himself, "Now I need to find something to do..."

Standing at his computer, he racked his brain. This was just hanging out; why was this so complicated? When he would hang out with any of the rest of the group, they just went over to each other's homes, well, except for Vala. He tried to keep her in a public location at all times, for his own sanity. Adrienne was so hard to figure out though because if he picked the wrong thing she would jump to some crazy conclusion about him and he really didn't want to go back to the insanity of her first few months here. Staring blankly at the screen, trying to think of a restaurant that she, or Vala for that matter since she was Adrienne's only female companion it seemed, wouldn't think anything, he paused, a light bulb going off in his head. What a stupid thing to worry about; this was Adrienne.

He knew exactly where to they should go.

"I'm STARVING," she whined loudly from across the parking lot as he walked over to his car tossing his bag into the Jeep.

"So what else is new?" he asked, receiving laughter in return. She seemed much better, probably a consequence of the run, so he decided to go with it, waiting for her to get into her car before he followed her back to her apartment. Rather than do just that, she reached for her keys and opened the hood of the beetle, tossing in her things and walking away from the car.

"You get me, no hairstyle and light make-up, sorry," she said as she approached, shoving her hands into the pocket of her tight jeans.

"You style your hair?" he joked, watching her tousle her brown locks around, the ends lightly cascading on her purple long sleeved t-shirt.

"Fuck you Daniel," she spat.

"I was kidding," he started to defend, scolding himself for crossing the line with her, again, but she was laughing already.

"You're so gun shy it's fun to mess with you," she smiled, reaching for the door to the jeep to let herself in.

"I thought I was gonna follow you to your house," he stated, confused, watching her step back to get in the door.

"Nah, I'm too hungry," she said, hopping in. Going with the flow, Daniel opened his own door, getting in on his side and starting the engine.

"Besides," she continued, clasping the seatbelt at her waist, "if we want to have sex or something, I'd rather go to your place, my sheets are a little slippery being satin and all..."

He looked over at her shocked for just a moment, his heart racing, until he finally caught on, letting out a loud and literal sigh of relief.

"See, joking, I'm being funny, I'm mocking Vala; do we UN-DER-STAND?!" she said, intentionally stuttering the last word.

"Ok, yeah, I'll lighten up, Sorry. I guess I'm a bit on the defensive," he replied.

"Good, because I feel gross talking like that. She's my friend, and I love her, but that woman has got to have space herpes or something," Adrienne answered, Daniel erupting into laughter as he turned onto the street, trying to dispel more than a few mental images from his mind.

The drive itself wasn't very long and a few blocks later they pulled into a small mexican restaurant, much to Adrienne's sheer delight.

"Nice choice my friend!" she declared, her eyes bright and excited. Mexican, he thought, works every time.

"I thought you would approve," Daniel said, silently pleased with himself and dismissing his earlier concern. It wasn't that crowded, thankfully, and they got a booth, at Adrienne's request. Much to his surprise she had ordered a margarita before they even sat down. He started to pick, but she beat him to it, smirking as she pointing to the bench across from her, indicating that he sit and shut up.

"I have a special relationship with Tequila that supersedes the runner's diet," she explained, reaching up to collect the margarita that had been brought to her faster than it should have feasibly taken to receive an alcoholic beverage.

"A relationship with tequila?" he asked, turning to the waiter to request a soda.

"Yes, tequila cures all ills. In college we did these crazy things called Upside Down Margaritas, right after finals. Made up for categorizing slide after slide of artifacts for hours," she explained as she sipped.

"What is the world is an upside down margarita?" he inquired, giving her that look he gave when he learned about something else crazy in her life, which now that they were on friendlily terms was getting to be quite often.

"You take two shot glasses, fill one with margarita mix, or lime juice or something and fill the other with tequila. You lick salt off of your hand, toss your head back and someone pours the shots into your mouth. Bring head up, shake and swallow," she explained, hand gestures and all, and then blushed, as if she realized how awful that sounded as it came out,

"And there goes your opinion of me, down the toilet," she added, focusing once more on her drink than his eyes, fear coursing through her body.

Why did I just tell him that, she thought, he's gonna think I'm...

"No, I'm actually just trying to get a mental image of Miss Perfect as a party girl," he smiled, accepting his soda from the waiter as he approached with Daniel's drink as well as chips and salsa, politely thanking the man in Spanish and encouraging his assistant to continue.

"I wasn't a party girl, AT ALL," she clarified, relieved; he seemed to be playing, " I just knew how to have a good time when I needed to. You never partied?"

"No, I started college at 16. Too young," he answered quickly, taking a sip.

"So did I," she argued, "but I still managed to have fun too."

"You're a pretty girl. I was a little geek with glasses," he answered, once again putting his foot into his mouth.

Pretty?

Nice move Daniel, nice move.

"Awww... Indy thinks I'm pretty..." she teased, those butterflies dancing through her gut again.

Did he really just say that, she thought, and is he embarrassed right now?

"Don't let it go to your head," he replied quickly as the waiter approached once more, and they ordered, in Spanish of course, Adrienne waiting until the server left to continue.

"So, no parties for Dr. Jackson?" she asked, coyly, sipping more of her drink.

"Nope," he answered quickly, shaking his head slowly.

"We need to fix this," she stated, her bright smile catching his eye for yet another moment as she pointed her straw at him. He laughed, and popped a few chips into his mouth, letting her tease.

"I have as an adult; I just missed out on the whole fraternity experience," he amended.

"Oh, I bet those SGC parties are real killer," she lifted her eyebrows, making him laugh again, almost choking on his chips, causing Adrienne to do the same with her margarita.

"Ok, fine, you throw a party. I'll come and you can make me human or whatever you are thinking right now that I'm not," he relented. Shaking her head, she just laughed again and kept drinking her drink.

Their food came, Adrienne of course having ordered something strange, but Daniel refrained from commenting. She started to assemble her assortment of grilled meats, fruits and vegetables into a strange brown tortilla when her face dropped again, that familiar expression from this morning washing over her and looked up at him, sorrow once more invading her penetrating eyes.

"My aunt Barbara thinks I'm a failure," she said plainly, no joke, no games, and by the expression on her face she meant every word. Daniel was completely lost for just a moment until he remembered what she had said this morning, about her cousin and the wedding. She must be ready to talk, so he sat back in the booth, pushing the chips and his plate away, preparing to listen.

"Why?" he responded.

"Because, in Louisiana, a woman that's not married and the mother of at least 5 kids by the age of 22 has wasted her life," and with that Adrienne finished her margarita and raising her hand for the waiter, who rushed right over to their table.

"Otra," she ordered.

Daniel made a face.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating," he said.

"Of course I am, but the point remains that my entire family thinks a 31 year old woman with no house, no man and no kids didn't live up to the family name," she explained and again, as before, the waiter brought another 'faster than light' margarita, Daniel snatching it away from Adrienne as she reached for it.

"Do you believe that?" he asked. Scowling, but not shouting, thankfully, Adrienne reached for the glass, trying to gently remove his fingers from the stem, one digit at a time, but Daniel gripped it tighter, pulling the drink closer to him, blobs of green frozen liquid splashing over the sides.

"Do you believe that?" he asked again, stressing the word you, his knuckles white as he grasped the glass. Adrienne slumped back onto the bench of the booth, giving up the fight, a scowl across her pale face. Darting left and right, her eyes tried the best they could to focus on every other possible object in the room other than Daniel, other than the one person who was asking this of her until they too gave up, gazing forward at her companion.

"Maybe a little," she finally answered. Somewhat satisfied, he shoved the drink toward her, leaning forward onto the table to push her a tiny bit more.

"Why?" Daniel continued.

"Because, I mean, I have a PhD, fantastic, but what did I do? Did I make some crazy discovery? Did I change my field? No, I worked at a community college. I have nothing to show for my years in school, years I could have been making babies. Nothing," she took a sip, stirring the drink for a moment, and then taking a second long slow drag at the straw.

"And I do?" he retorted.

"You wrote a book," she answered.

"That you made fun of, if you recall," he said.

"I was wrong, you were right," she replied.

"And who knows that of all my critics...hmm... the one across from me offering herself to Dionysus," he raised his eyebrows. Not ready to admit he was right but knowing that he was, she drank more margarita, trying not to laugh.

"Ok, ok, point taken. See, I told you this morning it was stupid. I'm almost over it already," she replied.

"Exactly how many more margaritas until almost becomes am," he inquired, pointing at the nearly empty second glass. Scanning the fluid, or lack thereof in her container, she glanced up and winked, taking one more sip before answering.

"Three," she replied, making Daniel laugh at her again.

"Kidding, right?" he clarified, still working on this Adrienne humor he had yet to fully understand, "because otherwise I think it'd be a lot more economical if we go to the ABC store and just buy you a handle of tequila."

"Yes, I'm kidding, you're learning. But, if you're offering, I'm all for a trip to the ABC store and that is not a joke," she answered. Daniel gave her a look pondering her suggestion as he ate a few bites of his rapidly cooling meal. That would be new. Other than a few beers at Sam and Jack's, he had never really done anything quite like what Adrienne was suggesting, in fact, rather than worry, he sat there thinking that it might be fun, that college experience Adrienne was teasing him earlier about missing.

"If you're debating Indy, for the record, I won't be jumping you," Adrienne stated simply. Daniel spit out some rice onto his plate, cracking his assistant up from her seat across from him.

"I wasn't thinking that!" he defended, frantically grabbing his soda to wash down the granules now trapped in his throat. Smiling, she stuck out her tongue, arranging another fruit/meat/veggie tortilla mix.

"I know. I'm just playing. Let's go to the ABC store, get some supplies and go to my apartment. I have a GREAT idea," she suggested.

"I'm not much of a drinker..." he admitted, his mind changing as he started to wonder what in the world this 'great idea' was exactly.

"I'm not that much of one either, but it'll be fun and I promise not to make you puke..." she teased. Come on Daniel live a little, his brain was telling him, this is nothing.

Adrienne's harmless.

And you trust her.

She'd keep her word.

"Alright," he replied and waved for the check. With the same eagerness as before, the waiter was at their side, check cheerily ripped from the pad. Before she could protest Daniel had his credit card waiting, insisting on paying for Adrienne's meal. Well that's nice, she thought, touched and feeling slightly guilty for having as many overpriced drinks are she did. She was embarrassed, slipping away to the restroom while he signed the ticket, meeting him at the door.

This was too confusing; why was he being so sweet, about everything?

She needed another margarita.

When they arrived at the ABC store, Adrienne made Daniel sit in the car while she ran inside, that mischievous grin plastered from ear to ear.

"I don't get to pick?" he asked, offended and slightly worried. What exactly did she have in mind?

"No, I'm gonna surprise you," she said with a smile, "Trust me."

"Why do I get the feeling this is going to blow up in my face," he answered but Adrienne just laughed, dashing inside. Still baffled by this, the fact he was out to dinner, alone with his assistant, the fact that they were going to drink together, alone in her apartment, the fact that they were spending so much time together, alone, he wasn't sure what to make of all of this. He really liked her, as much as it was hard to admit after everything that happened; she wasn't just some crazy loud mouthed punk wanna be. He enjoyed talking with her, bouncing ideas off of her, just being with her in general.

When she returned, medium sized brown bag in hand, she shoved it into the floor at her feet, revealing nothing, and pointing in the direction of the parking lot exit.

"What did you get?" Daniel asked.

"Just wait," she answered, winking, smiling.

"I'm slowly working my way back to not trusting you," he joked back as he turned the keys, starting the ignition.

"Whatever," she replied, her thin pale fingers reaching for the knob to the radio. Not saying a word, Daniel waited for her selection, biting his lips as she passed by hard rock, classical, latino, rap, settling on a pop station, a few familiar beats coming through the speakers.

"PLEASE tell me that you know this one!" she yelled over the blaring music, laughing, pulling her legs up to cross them in his seat. A few more beats played and Daniel knew he had heard the song but had no idea what it was or any of the words when the rap started.

He knew this song...

_Alright stop, collaborate and listen..._

Adrienne appeared to know it as well, rapping along happily to the terrible music, laughing and smiling in his front seat. He should have been annoyed, but he just wasn't. She was laughing, rapping, being silly, hilarious, reaching across the console every so often to try to get him to dance in his seat.

"You're not mentally stable," he shouted over the radio as she sang the chorus, throwing her hands in front of herself just like a bad rapper.

"And it took you how long to figure this out," she smiled in return, winking, holding up her finger so he wouldn't interrupt the next verse, rapping happily again.

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or frightened, but after the road trip, I really shouldn't be surprised," he replied, his arm shoved roughly as she continued to sing.

They drove to her apartment on her insistence, something about her being certain that Daniel lacked the supplies needed for the evening, which caused more worry to seep into his gut. What supplies exactly was she talking about?

Directing him to park in the guest parking to the side, Adrienne unbuckled quickly, rushing to her front door and inside. Daniel, on the other hand, walked slowly to the door and into her open apartment, for only the third time since he had known her. The first time was pretty awkward, the whole True Blood debacle and the second time after her car wreck wasn't as awkward, but there was still some tension between them. This time, he actually felt welcome and not guarded, yet still a little worried as to what she had up her sleeve.

Closing the door behind him, he walked over to the kitchen to see what she was up to as she produced two ornate brown bottles from the bag setting them carefully onto her small dining room table. He squinted to read the label, not familiar with drink, his experience with liquors not including expensive looking bottles with gold decoration.

"Godiva?" he asked, reaching for one of the bottles.

"Yea, it's chocolate liquor. Not as strong; you said you weren't a drinker," she answered, smiling, waiting, hoping to earn his approval, which meant so much to her. It was silly, she knew, she had only cared before about his thinking she was a competent professional but now she wanted him to have fun like they had on the way from San Francisco.

"Is it good?" he asked.

"Nah Indy, I buy shitty liquor. For as much as it costs it betta be good," she replied as she went down the hall to her bedroom, yelling back to him.

"We need about six shot glasses; they're in the wine cabinet!"

Of course she has a wine cabinet, would he expect less?

Looking for a small rack at first, Daniel searched around her kitchen, cheap wooden apartment cabinets decorated with more glued on grape wine, to find the cabinet.

"What in the world is she talking about?" he asked out loud when he saw it. It was in the small space between the kitchen and the dining area, and easily the largest piece of furniture in the house, a tall wooden structure built specifically for the beverage of Dionysus. The top housed a place for glasses, hung neatly by their bases and the bottom had rack upon rack of bottles, at least thirty by his count. So much for not being much of a drinker. He stood there for a moment, trying to figure out where in the world the shot glasses would be when he saw a pair of double doors underneath the glasses, some hidden compartment in the back of the cabinet. He opened the doors, not sure what to expect there to be behind them, when he paused, peering over his shoulder and back down the hall.

'Wait, six?" he clarified, her words sinking in.

"Yeah, or eight. And we need that ice bucket on top, filled," she yelled.

His gaze floating to the top of the cabinet, the bucket there as requested, he chuckled, reaching for the container, wondering what madness she was up to.

Correction, he thought, what madness is she about to get me into?

"Dere ya ah!" her voice floated down the hall second before she came dashing in but headed to the living room ignoring him and proceeding to the DVD player.

"We're going to watch a movie? How original..." he teased.

"No, smart ass, we're gonna play a drinkin' game," she hissed, waving the iPad in her hand. She tapped a few things and set it on the coffee table, directing him to bring the shot glasses and ice bucket over, while she ran back into the kitchen and grabbed the bottles of liquor, shoving them into the collection of frozen cubes.

"Ok, have you ever played a drinking game?" she asked, quelling her accent so he would understand. In fact, her tone was almost professor like, and he was about to call her on just that when he caught her staring him right in the eyes. It was eerie, she was reading him, and he made a face at her, a face she quickly misinterpreted.

"Thought so," she said, pointing beside where she was sitting on the floor, requesting he join her, "It's pretty simple, read over this," she handed him the iPad, redirecting her attention to the assortment of shot glasses in front of them, arranging them in a careful spread.

"Is this that movie you got Teal'c hooked on?" he groaned as he took a seat beside her, the title of the web article reading "Drinking Games for Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

"Yep," she smiled.

"I saw this once, it's awful..." he whined a bit.

"I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that lest our friendship cease immediately and clarify that you understand the rules," she continued.

"Basically, when this happens," he pointed at the screen, "I drink that," he pointed to another column.

"Exactly!" she pushed three shot glasses towards him as she watched his bright blue eyes scan the rest of the screen.

"Three shots for intermission!?" he exclaimed as he got to the bottom of the list.

"Yea shug, ya game?" she challenged.

"Please don't let me die," he said jokingly and with that Adrienne laughed and hit play, reaching for the cooling liquor to pour the shots.

"Coconuts, DRINK!" she shouted about an hour later.

"I don't see the coco - whatever," he argued, poorly, drunkenly, tossing another shot down his throat, missing slightly, the brown liquid trickling from the side of his mouth, Daniel reaching quickly to catch the spill.

"But you can hear them," she insisted, giggling, tossing another down her throat as well.

"Now you're just fucking with me," Daniel replied, Adrienne about to roll in the floor at him swearing. He had been doing that more than usual since this little game of theirs started and it was killing her, in fact, if she wasn't so buzzy herself she would be filming him trying not to swear at her and struggling to keep up.

"Ah ahm nah, Ah swear fo gah, donna ya 'ear dem!?" Adrienne shouted, demanded, pointing to the TV.

"NO!" Daniel replied, but he drank anyway, another shot; he had forgotten the first apparently. The moment he swallowed, Adrienne fell over onto the floor, laughing hysterically.

"What now?" he asked, holding onto the table to keep himself upright.

"Dere were nah any coconuts..." she said, wiping tears fro her eyes, "ahn ya drank twice..."

"You LIED to me!?" he tried to act angry, but he was too tipsy to be serious.

"Sho deed, ya drunk doctah?" she asked. Adrienne was pretty toasted herself, her words slurring and barely comprehensible, hilarious, Daniel tossing the shot glass to the table laughing some more. She was right; this was fun, she was fun.

He was shocked.

Adrienne, as well was thoroughly enjoying this silly side of her boss, sitting drunk in the floor of her apartment. He was so loose and open and not himself.

Or was he?

Was this really him?

Did he just hide behind his work?

"Very," he told the truth. He hadn't drank this much in a long time, not since they had all gone to Jack's house so long ago he couldn't remember how long ago. The room was spinning just a tad and Adrienne's accent was just so funny.

"Swamp monster," he said, falling over onto floor, laughing at his own comment. Frowning, she was frowning at him just like he frowned at her, and it was so funny, even her glare wasn't that menacing, she was just Addy and harmless and it just made him laugh harder.

"Wha ya cah me?" she asked from the other side of the coffee table, crawling over towards him.

"Swamp monster. When you drink or when you're tired or when you're angry you lose all control over your accent. It's like a swamp monster has invaded your body," he explained between fits, watching her fall onto her forearms trying not to laugh herself.

"Je vas te passe une callotte," she threatened, reaching her hand up to pass the promised slap, Daniel rolling.

"You're so gone I doubt you could hit the side of a bus," he challenged, tucking his head under his hands in case she could fight intoxicated.

"I am," Adrienne admitted and tried to stand, poorly, holding onto the sofa for support. Daniel looked up, trying to figure out what she was doing since walking right now was the furthest thing from his mind.

"Where are you going?" he asked, giving up on sitting upright and falling into the floor.

"Ta get ya a pilla, cuz ah cahn tell ya be 'bout one shot from a fais do do in mah flo," she answered as staggered to her bedroom.

"I am not, see," he tried to stand to prove his point, collapsing back onto the floor.

There was no way he was getting up.

"Please donnna kill yaself ow 'ere. Ah donna wanna ta 'ave ta explain 'dis ta Docta Grumpypants," she yelled behind her, hearing him laughing uncontrollably into her carpet. Trying to remain upright herself, she went to her closet to dig out her extra pillows and a blanket, realizing that she had no clothes for him.

She hoped he wasn't a sick drunk.

Satisfied she had done the best she could, she went back out into the living room to take care of her highly inebriated friend.

"If ya take ah shot witout me Daniel Imma gonna kick ya tchew," she shouted as she staggered back down the narrow hallway, the stack of pillows and blankets blocking her view. Clumsily, she tossed them onto the sofa, getting ready make a joke about him being a silly drunk when she saw that he had passed out already right on the floor where she left him, his glasses falling off his face. He was spread onto his floor like he had just collapsed, not even catching himself on the fall.

"Dammit," she swore, "Wake up!" she pushed him, " Imma tah drunk ta drag ya ass ahn da sofa." Daniel, however, didn't move his legs or torso in the least, mumbling something incomprehensible as he swatted her away.

"Fine," she spat, leaning over and took off his glasses, folding them and setting them gently on the coffee table. Crouching down beside him, she lifted his head carefully, sliding the pillow under it and covered him with the blanket.

"Goodnight. If ya can 'ear anyding dat I say, jus come get me if ya need me k? Or holla?" she whispered into his ear and got more incoherent mumbling in return.

Shaking her head, Adrienne just stood and locked up for the night, making her way slowly to her own comfortable bed.

Daniel woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, his entire body screaming at him in anger. Blindly, he reached out, fully expecting to find himself asleep on his keyboard but instead felt carpet under his hands and pushed himself up to discover that he was laying on a softly carpeted floor, a pillow tucked under his head and a blanket at his side that he had kicked off.

"Nice and slow Indy... don't take it too fast," he heard and peering behind himself to see Adrienne looking down at him from her sofa, a Voltron coffee mug in her hand.

"Here, drink this," she placed the mug on the table in front of him, sitting back on the sofa crossing her legs yoga style.

"What is it?" he asked as sat up the rest of the way reaching for the mug with one hand, a second painfully pressed to his forehead.

"Blackberry tea," she answered, "nothing weird, I promise." He sipped cautiously, worried if this was some strange organic cocktail or vitamins, drinking more once he realized she hadn't slipped him anything strange. The warm liquid was just what his dry mouth and sick stomach needed and sipping it a tad faster he glanced up at her and swallowed.

"What time is it?" he inquired as he started to fully awaken, the tea settling his stomach and soothing his throat.

"10," she replied, biting her lip, awaiting his reaction.

"Shit," he exclaimed and went to stand, grabbing his head again, almost falling over, blackberry tea and all. She stood and walked over to him, gently holding him up, taking the mug from his hand and placing it onto the table, helping him stand.

"Don't worry, I already called Sam. I told a white lie. Remember, those things you hate," she said.

"And?" he asked as he pulled away and he walked over to the sofa, with difficultly, a small part of him wondering if he was indeed still drunk. He'd really let go last night, he hadn't done something like this in a long time. Had he? Had he ever done anything like this? He couldn't remember right now, all he could think was how awful he felt and how thankful he was that she wasn't tormenting him.

"She said we were good to go. Show up if we feel like more of less," Adrienne responded, returning to the sofa to sit beside him.

"What did you tell her happened?" he question, gazing over at her worried. What had she told Sam?

"That we did things to rival Vala's imagination..." she smiled, sticking her tongue out a bit. Daniel made a face at her, as he set the mug down and reached for his glasses, knowing she was kidding, finally catching onto her sense of humor.

"For real?" he asked.

Adrienne reached over and squeezed his arm.

"I told her that the stuff I finished yesterday, remember I was done early, was so hard that I decided to look at it again after my run. I took it home, found an error on my part and called you wanting to clarify," she amended, "And she knows how we get once we're working on something."

Relieved by the explanation, he reached once more for his tea, his throat craving the tepid fluid. Swallowing it down, he grabbed his glasses, slipping them onto his face, scanning the room.

She'd brought him a pillow, and a blanket and she'd made him tea.

She'd taken care of him.

"Once you keep that cup down, I'll give you some Advil," Adrienne continued.

"You seem to know a lot about hangovers," he teased, starting to feel better, the tea working as promised.

"Shut up or I'll stop treating you," she smiled. He laughed and finished the mug, passing it back to her.

"Thank you, that does help," he admitted and paused, deciding that he might as well ask his next question, seeing as how he was quite disgusting and had slept on her floor.

"Can I take a shower?" he ventured hoping she wouldn't take his question the wrong way, but she didn't, simply nodding as if she was expecting it.

"Sure, I'll get you some stuff," she replied, starting to stand but paused, glancing back over her shoulder at him.

"What?" he said. He could tell she wanted to say something but instead of speaking, she leaned over quickly, wrapping her arms around his neck hugging him tightly, and taking him completely off guard.

"Thanks Daniel. You're a good friend," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek and stood without another word, heading for the bathroom. Stunned, he watched her go down the hall, his mouth open and face furrowed.

"Glad to help..." he muttered a response she couldn't hear, his stomach doing somersaults.


	10. Chapter 10 - Trust

_Just a warning. This one may seem like just sappy relationship building but be aware of everything. _

"Ninety seconds, do it again," Cameron said as he clicked the stopwatch, glancing up slightly at Adrienne knowing her reaction. She sighed and started to undo her tac vest, wondering if this would ever end, this latest test in Cameron's little master plan he had laid out for her, the plan to make her a full team member. It was so stupid, Daniel might as well have made her a large sign that read "This is Addy, my personal servant" friendship or not. Sure, she wanted to be on the team, hell she wanted to be on any team, but for now she was just happy to be here at all.

Cam didn't share in her contentment.

Kneeling as she pulled the vest from her shoulders, Adrienne peeked up to see if Cam was looking at her or still playing with the stopwatch, laying out everything for herself nicely onto the floor of the lab, standing quickly, her hands on her hips.

"No cheating Addy, you can't lay it out," Cameron scolded, standing from where he was sitting on the center table, pointing at her organized set up.

Damn, she thought, caught me.

Shaking his head, he walked over, messing up the pile of equipment and returning back to the table, hopping back up to his previous seat, laughing at her attempt.

"Cam, it's 11 at night; I'm exhausted, and we've been doing this for," she paused, looking at the clock over Daniel's desk, "almost an hour," Adrienne replied, a hint of a whine in her voice. Adrienne tried hard not to complain, Vala did enough of that for entire base, but right now the cajun woman just wanted sleep.

Lots and lots of sleep.

Daniel had been working her too hard lately, and there was a tiny part of her that was fearful that he would arrive just in time to give her something else to do before she could race down to her quarters and slip into her bed away from home.

"I thought you were a night owl," Cam retorted, looking at her in such as way as to indicate that he had no intention whatsoever of stopping this little exercise. Frustrated and exhausted, Adrienne shook her head in response.

"Not after a five mile run, an hour of weights with Dex, more busy work from Indy waiting for me upon my return and now this. This is torture," she explained, crossing her arms at him. While Adrienne understood what it took to be a part of this group and hang with the big boys, sometimes she felt she was being pushed a little too hard, especially for someone who was hired to be a lab rat, originally anyway, but Cam's expression didn't falter.

"Well Daniel's not gonna be coming on every mission with you. Since you've managed to not only do a decent job lately but have got Jackson trusting you to do things, you'd better believe that Sam's gonna be shipping you off in his place a lot, especially when she wants to avoid an IOA meeting alone. And if I'm your team leader in those instances, I want you to be ready. Again," he argued. Adrienne sighed, wanting to remind Cameron that during that trade negotiation she supposedly "done a decent job at" that she had to go get Daniel for help but it didn't seem that Cam cared about that right now.

There was no way out of this, so she took a stance over the equipment and nodded, prepared to try again.

"Go!" Cam shouted, activating the stopwatch. Adrienne raced through the equipment, finding her jacket, her vest, putting everything on in order. Finishing in a time she was certain had to be faster than before, she buckled her vest and placed her hand onto her hips, breathing out in satisfaction.

"DONE!" she shouted, Cam smiling from ear to ear.

"Sixty seconds! That's what I'm talking about girl!" Cameron exclaimed, leaping from the table in excitement to give her a high five. Adrienne clapped his hand and ripped off her tac vest, throwing it in celebration knowing that done in sixty seconds meant she could go to bed, finally.

"That's only my face," she heard behind her and turned to discover that Daniel was standing at the doorway, removing her tac vest from his head and removing his glasses along with them.

"Sorry, Indy, sorry," she said, rushing over to him and reaching for his face to see if he was alright or if she had managed to break his glasses.

"I thought you were going to bed," she added, squeezing his shoulder and taking his glasses from his hand. They seemed alright so she handed them back to him, a frown on her worry filled face.

"Can't sleep," he replied, handing her the vest over, without another word, walking over to his desk. Making a face of his own, Cam stood from the table, his eyes tracking Adrienne.

"I think we're good for the night girl, run at lunch?" Cam asked, knowing Adrienne would have to see what was wrong with Daniel, like always. Since that little road trip Cam himself had talked his way out of they were now inseparable, a strange turn of events considering it wasn't that long ago that he had locked them in an elevator watching them at the verge of a fist fight via the security cameras.

"Yeah, no problem," she answered, distant, her thoughts were elsewhere. Of course they were, Cam thought and left, still mystified by their sudden friendship.

What exactly had happened in that U-haul?

Her lips drawn, nervously playing with her lip ring, Adrienne walked over to where Daniel was sitting down at his desk, staring at a rock relic that had been brought back yesterday and stood behind him, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"I thought you weren't going to obsess over this," Adrienne said. Shrugging his shoulders underneath of her palms, Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose and pulled away slightly, peering forward.

"I feel like I owe it to Kasuf just to see," he replied, dragging the magnifier over the stone this time for a better view, squinting and straining, running his finger across the top line of the text. She could tell he wasn't reading, she'd gotten good at his tells, his crystalline eyes shifting lazily in their sockets, his mind she knew having already memorized what he had read. No real discovery was happening right now, he was just doing what he did best: worry. Sighing, she reached over and pushed the magnifier away, glaring down at him as he started to protest. Not to be questioned, she gave him that look, the look that dared him to start this again, not this late at night and not about this, again.

"You looked at it yesterday. I looked at it yesterday. You looked at it this morning. I looked at it this morning. It still says the same thing Indy, I promise," Adrienne whispered, stepping back and pulling up a chair. Daniel started to pull the magnifier over the stone again when she reached over for his leg making him stop his hand mid grab.

"But if there's a chance, just a small chance that part of the tribe, even slightly distant cousins are still alive, I think I really need to take the time to analyze it. Can you look at it again?" Daniel asked, almost begging, gazing slowly at Adrienne. This meant a lot to him; she knew the moment the stone had arrived yesterday he wasn't going to let up until he knew absolutely for sure that there was nothing to it.

And for some reason which was eluding her, she couldn't say no to him anymore.

"How long did you sleep last night?" she asked him, trying a different approach rather than outright refusal. He breathed out, turning his head slightly to look back at her.

"Sleep's a relative term," he replied, knowing full well that wouldn't be an acceptable answer and, as expected, it wasn't. He knew the moment she stood and grabbed his hands he was about to be scolded.

Isn't this a turn of events me being the one scolded, he thought, letting her take his hands into her own.

"No, it's not, it's sleep, your body needs it. Daniel, I'm not gonna to lecture you again. Get up," she pulled, trying to bring him to his feet but Daniel pulled back gently, gazing up at her with sorrow in his face.

"Adrienne, just let me read it. One more time," he requested, his eyes pleading more than his voice. He wasn't going to quit, so she relented, sitting back down to monitor his request.

"One more time Indy, just one more time," she gave in. Nodding in agreement, Daniel moved the magnifier back over the artifact, staring down into the glass, tracing his finger over the lines again.

_And when we rejected Ra we were banished, never to see our kinfolk again. _

Standing, unable to sit and wait, Adrienne rose to her toes to read over his shoulder. These were his people, she understood; it was more than just Shar'e that he had bonded with in Abydos. She didn't read the rest, she knew it went on about setting up a new civilization and how they lived a life without gods. SG-12 had found the tablet in an abandoned village, on a planet that looked a lot like Abydos, but other than some busted pottery and other relics of a village long abandoned, there were no signs of inhabitants, much less ones that had been there recently.

There was motion, forcing Adrienne to stand flat on her feet as he brought his hand to his chin and his eyes moved upward. She knew what the meant too, he was lying to her, and reading it again. Choosing not argue or scold him further, Adrienne simply reached over and clicked off the light to the magnifier. Caught, she thought, as she saw him bite his lip, looking away to the wall of lockers.

"Nice try shug," she said, sliding the arm of the large tool into its resting place at the side of his desk while Daniel continued to stare off into space. Letting out a sigh, Adrienne reached for his shoulder again, squeezing it lightly.

"Fine, I'm getting up," he said finally and stood, his gaze still staring out into space. Adrienne moved to shut down the rest of the lab, waiting for him to leave in front of her to ensure that he would keep his word and go to bed. Besides the fact that they were friends now, his obsessive tendencies in the lab was the exact reason she had been hired in the first place; he needed sleep. She pointed down the hall and watched him head toward the elevators that would take him to his quarters, pressing the button and waiting, his arms wrapping around his waist.

Safely out of sight, or Daniel at least occupied with worry, Adrienne turned back to pull the door to the lab closed, running her fingers over to the keypad, entering in her code.

_New Password? _

The message popped up onto the screen, Adrienne hastily selecting yes.

_Enter new password now, followed by ##_

Adrienne typed quickly just in case Daniel was making his way back to the lab, to argue with her or to make sure she wasn't doing this very thing, but regardless he would never figure this out. He didn't know Alexander Skarsgard's birthday; he would never be able to figure out that she used her celebrity crush's personal information. Thinking that should keep him out of the lab until she returned herself in the morning, after a night's sleep she so desperately needed, Adrienne tapped in the double pound sign and stepped back, waiting for confirmation.

"Have fun trying to come back down and obsess Indy," she said out loud and walked, finally, to join him at the elevators just as the doors opened.

When she arrived to work the next morning he wasn't sitting outside waiting to yell at her, which she thought was a guarantee, so much so she had rehearsed her speech in the elevator.

He wasn't there at all.

Puzzled, she coded herself into the lab, shocked to see that he was sitting right there, at his desk, magnifier in place and reading that damned tablet again, looking like he hadn't slept all night, his hair a disheveled mess and a shadow coming in around his chin. Slamming her backpack onto the floor, she stormed over to his desk, shouting as she walked.

"Dammit Daniel!" Adrienne yelled, "You're grating my last nerve this week!" A smirk on his face, he looked up at her, raising his eyebrows.

"I expect more of you than using your little celebrity obsession's birthday to keep me out of my own lab," he responded instead, smiling. At least he looked like he was feeling better. Sighing, Adrienne shook her head, stopping in her tracks, knowing what was coming next.

"When do we leave?" she asked, hopping up onto the center table, crossing her legs yoga style.

"Two," he replied curtly, glancing back down at the small stone slab. Adrienne didn't even need an explanation, she knew him well enough; he had waited until she was asleep, went to speak with Sam, sweet talked his way into going to check it out and then came back down here. How he had ascertained her Swedish love's birthday she had yet to figure out, but that was something she could worry about later. Seeing no point in arguing, she let her brain go into mission mode.

"Who's going?" she asked, trying to figure out what loose ends she needed to tie up before accompanying her boss, her friend, on this wild goose chase. Had she finished up that insanely huge pile from yesterday? Where was she on her translation schedule? Running her to do list through her head as she stood from the table to retrieve her iPad, she almost missed his answer were it not for what his answer was.

"No one, just us," he said. She paused, mid slide from the table, turning and looking at him in complete bewilderment.

"Uh, no, what about Cam, Teal'c Vala, Dex, Teyla, John, anybody?!"!" Adrienne said, beginning to list anyone that usually came on missions, people that carried a gun and made sure she and Daniel didn't get shot at while digging in the dirt. She wasn't worried about being able to take care of herself but she didn't like to be working on something Daniel expected her to concentrate on without back-up standing right there, armed and ready to go.

"Sam seems to think we can take care of ourselves. There's nothing there but a small village that doesn't seem to pose a threat, right by the gate, and SG-12 is still with them, working on a few things. She's giving us no more than three days to investigate before we have to be back," he explained, shrugging, his expression apologetic. Adrienne was a planner, she liked to have everything laid out in triplicate before they left, and dropping everything to dash off wasn't normally her style. He stood there waiting, wondering what she would say when she sighed, shaking her head at him for the umpteenth time this morning.

"What do we need to bring?" she asked, feeling that there was really no way out of this. She walked over to her locker and looked back over her shoulder, still shaking her head at him as Daniel smiled and began to list off the items from his legal pad.

Knowing this trip meant crawling around hunched over on her hands and knees for possibly three day, Adrienne was determined to get in a run before they left. After she packed everything that was not only dig site standard but Daniel standard as well, which was about ten times the amount of gear she used when running a dig herself, she slipped away to the gym, texting Cameron on the way to let him know of the time change to their daily workout. Unfortunately he was stuck in a training session for most of the next two days, except for lunch which she would have to skip, so Adrienne resigned herself to running alone. Grabbing a towel from the front table, she climbed onto the treadmill, slipping on her headphones and tuning out the world.

About 3 miles into a 5 mile run Daniel was standing in front of her, shoving his glasses up his face, a file folder in hand. Wondering what brought him in to witness her sweaty majesty, Adrienne pulled off her headphones and kept running, curious as to what he wanted.

"Are you ready yet?" he asked.

"Do I look ready to you?" she replied, not slowing down the exercise machine or her stride. That was a stupid question, she thought, she understood that he was excited, but storming into the gym to bother her during the one personal thing she had asked to do before they left was obnoxious, friends or not.

"I was hoping we could leave a bit earlier since we're ready to go," he paused, as if he was considering his own words for a moment and continued, "Correction. We are leaving earlier since we're ready to go. How long will it take you to shower?"

Rolling her eyes, Adrienne put her headphones back onto her head and kept running. He needed to calm down and be patient and stop working himself up again, that wasn't going to get them anyway other than Daniel stuttering, stammering and running around like a 'squirrel on crack', a comparison that he did not appreciate her making. She saw Daniel reach for the emergency stop button and she ripped the head phones off of her head again, glaring.

"Daniel, do you want to go alone? Arrete toi, let me run and I'll be ready to go shortly. Chill out, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack," she ordered, not trying to be mean, just trying to make him relax, but her voice carried around the gym, stolen glances shot in their direction.

No everyone, we're not fighting again, she wanted to scream but held back, focusing her attention on him.

Without protest he removed his hand, his face growling silently, and turned, storming out of the gym. Adrienne popped the headphones back on before she could hear the whispers, the accusations of 'there they go again," drowning the judgement with some hardcore rap.

Understanding his excitement and nervousness, and feeling guilty for snapping at him, Adrienne stopped her run at four miles, rushed through her shower and headed down to the lab where she found him staring into the magnifier, reading the lines over, again, mouthing them to himself.

This man was relentless.

Grabbing her backpack and tac vest from where she had left them at their desk, Daniel not glancing up in acknowledgement, she strapped on her vest, put on her backpack and grabbed her staff weapon. She marched over to Daniel, rolling her eyes as he continued to remain aloof and engrossed, and tapped him on the shoulder, surprising him as he nearly spilled a cup of coffee onto the tablet.

"Come on Batman," she teased, "let's rock and roll." She decided not to mention stopping her workout early just for him; it would make him think she was either there for his bidding or come out just plain bitchy. As he turned in his chair, his face serious now, and less excited, she noticed he already had his tac vest on and was ready to go, his hand reaching down to the messenger bag at his feet. Going right into briefing mode, he stood and pulled his pack across his shoulders.

"Alright, remember they don't speak Egyptian, it's a separate dialect altogether, so make sure you have those notes I forwarded you," he started as Adrienne reached behind herself, patting her backpack.

"Loaded and ready to go. Calm down; I've gotcha covered shug. I'm even bringing Eric," Adrienne replied, hoping to lighten his somber disposition but Daniel looked at her confused.

"Eric?" he asked as Adrienne was already lifting her staff weapon into the air, a huge grin on her face. Daniel shook his head and laughed, of course she would have to name the damn thing but her joke had its intended effect; he was smiling again.

"Isn't that the vampire you and Vala lust over?" he questioned, rolling his eyes at himself for even knowing that. He had learned something in his Sunday night embarrassment; he learned that Eric Northman was the name of Louisiana's Sheriff of Area 5.

Christ, he remembered the damn title of the vampire's job.

What was this woman doing to him?!

Adrienne, however, was impressed.

"That I lust over," Adrienne corrected, a smirk across her lips, "Vala has moved onto werewolves."

"Of course she has," Daniel said, effectively ending his lapse into Adrienne's cable television insanity, and headed for the door to the lab, shutting out the lights behind them.

Daniel wasn't kidding when he said the village that had built up right around the gate was tiny; tiny was a generous word. Adrienne wasn't even sure that she would consider this a village, it was more like a small familial compound, three or four mud huts flanking a small pen of swine like animals. Nonetheless, there was someone to greet them when they arrived, as if he were representing a large city rather than this pint sized commune.

"Dr. Jackson," the man spoke, thankfully in English, bowing his head slightly. If there was one thing Adrienne could credit the Goa'uld with was that so many races spoke either English, Egyptian or Ancient, which was close enough to Latin that she could usually get by as long as it was spoken. Written, she preferred to have a Daniel journal on hand, just in case.

"Hello, we're sorry to keep disturbing your village going back and forth like this, but we're here to examine the ruins my friends have been working at," he explained, even though he was fairly certain that SG-12 would have explained the entire situation in advance. The man nodded politely, and led them to a worn path on the outskirts on the small settlement, not too far from the gate itself.

"It is about a half day's hike this way. You will see it coming up over the horizon, it is very easy to find," he assured them. Nodding in acknowledgment, Daniel thanked him and started off in the direction of the horizon, leaving his assistant behind.

Here we go, she thought, racing to catch up.

"Indy, we only have three days, and we're gonna spend a third of that just walking," Adrienne pointed out, hoping Daniel understood what they were walking into and had maybe looked into this more than just a cursory glance over the file. However, he didn't even hesitate, black boots to dirt, trudging swiftly up the path.

"Well, then I guess we need to get walking," he answered curtly, picking up his pace, his gaze on the bright double suns in the horizon.

"I should've worn my running shoes," Adrienne complained, hoping he heard, jogging to match his long stride. They walked, fast paced, down the worn path, cut through browning flat grasses and low growing foliage. There were no animals to be seen, no other people, just path, grass, bushes and the blaring suns. An hour into the walk, Daniel was stopping, wiping sweat from his brow, reaching groggily for the buttons to his black military issue jacket.

"I need to lose some layers," he said, waiting for the harassment. Adrienne often teased him that for someone that went to college in California he sure softened up all those years in Colorado.

"Wuss," she teased, right on cue, but started to remove her pack herself, taking off her jacket and folding it to stuff it into her pack. She peeled the black t-shirt off as well, leaving her in a tank top and black BDU pants. Reorganizing her things quickly, she tossed her pack over her shoulders once more, glancing up to face her boss to note that Daniel was looking down at her, waiting, a grin on his face.

"Then why are you losing layers?" he taunted, "DC weather make you soft?"

"Nope, if I have to babysit you I might as well get a tan doing it," she replied, winking at him. He laughed, leaving it at that, and they soldiered on, determined to make it to the site as soon as possible.

After a while, Adrienne stopped again.

"What now?" Daniel asked as he looked back, starting to be annoyed by their progress, or lack thereof. It felt like a 'half a day' was taking close to a week. He was tired, frustrated and anxious to discover what lay ahead of them, holding back hope inside that he had read the tablet correctly.

"Keep going fussy, I just need to eat," she replied, kneeling, rummaging through her pack and pulling out one of those little milk boxes she toted around that didn't need to be refrigerated, along with an apple.

"How can you eat that in weather like this?" he asked, still, after all this time mesmerized by her diet. The last thing he could ever imagine consuming in this heat was milk, much less milk at room temperature, but she just shrugged, standing and popping the straw through the metallic paper at the top of the box.

"I take my health seriously. Sometimes we have to do things to take care of ourselves that might not be pleasant, but we do them," she answered. Daniel started to leave it alone, not wanting to be rude or anger her, but there was a burning question in his mind, a question he would have never asked before, yet now that they were friends, he felt like he could finally ask.

"Adrienne, when did you start eating like this?" he inquired. Cutting her eyes away for a split second, Adrienne sighed and peered over at him, a hollow stare accented by dark cajun eyes.

"I know what you're thinking and it's partially true. Other than smoking though, Dad ate pretty healthy, just because he was an active person; we were an active little family. But, I did become a little obsessive and regimented when he was diagnosed, like I feared cancer was contagious or something stupid like that. Back then, I wouldn't even touch a soda bottle, as if the chemicals were going to permeate the plastic and enter my blood stream, but now, well, now I've realized that eating like this, taking care of myself like this, it just makes me feel better," she answered him, with pure honestly and no jokes.

"I hope I didn't offend you by asking," he said quietly, understanding even if he had never experienced it himself. Yes, his parents were gone, but in a flash of falling stone; he didn't have to watch someone wither and die over months, years.

"Not at all," she replied smiling, "it's never offensive to ask a question that's caring and honest." Not offering anything further, Adrienne pointed back down the path, taking a bite out of her apple and soldiering on.

As promised the ruins were easily visible on the horizon and Daniel could see the tents over to the side where SG-12 had left them, having ventured out further into the planet's wilderness. Sam had radioed them requesting they leave the camp half set up for Daniel and Adrienne and that they could bring everything back with them when their own mission was complete. The site of the ruins energizing them, they picked up their pace, dashing up the small rise, so they could begin looking around as soon as possible.

Not too far from the dig site itself, stood an army green research tent, complete with mesh sides to keep out the dust and what not and two sleeping tents behind it, one significantly larger than the other. Adjusting his pack, Daniel pointed over to the large tent, peeking over his shoulder at Adrienne.

"You can take one," he said, making his way to the smaller one.

"You sure?" she asked, "I'm a bit smaller," she joked, making a gesture to indicate that she was shorter, not smaller, her big cajun hips proof of that.

"Positive," he smiled, "I just want to get started so go ahead and get situated as soon as you can." That was indeed a nice gesture, and Adrienne appreciated it, walking over to the larger tent as requested, unzipping it and peeking inside. Discovering that it was empty and tossing her pack in, Adrienne looked back over at Daniel, trowel in hand.

"Ready!" she announced, smiling as she approached him. Daniel was just crawling into the smaller tent, and looked back at her, surprised, pausing in confusion.

"Really?" he asked and she knelt down behind him, setting her palms on thighs, shaking the digging tool lightly at him.

"Indy, this is what, how many trips together now? You should know me better. Let's get to work!" she grabbed his bag from his hand, tossed it into the tent and stood, reaching out to help him up. Taking her hand, he got up immediately and looked around, trying to figure out where to start until the look in his eyes told her that he had found what he was looking for, marked with a small red flag.

"Ok, it was found over there, so let's get the gear and start gridding," he declared, pacing ahead. Time to get to business, Adrienne reached where he had dropped the gear back and grabbed it, heading over to the small hill.

"Indy, shug, there's nothing here," Adrienne said many hours later, glancing hopelessly at her boss. She had been on many useless digs before and this was, well, useless. She felt awful, but in four grids she hadn't even found those pottery shards mentioned in the original reports by SG-12. Nevertheless, Daniel was still digging and Adrienne sat back on her feet, looking over at him, knowing full well that this wasn't going as he had hope. His worry would set in very soon, very very soon, and here she was, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, alone with a possibly depressed friend and colleague. Drawing up every bit of courage and empathy she had, Adrienne took a breath and spoke.

"Daniel, I'm thinking this might have been planted," she said, offering the other theory she had, opting for his real name so she knew he was serious.

That got his attention.

He sat back, just like she was, and glanced over at her, the same look on his face from this morning, and from last night, one of worry and despair.

"I know," he said quietly just staring at his grid. Setting her trowel and brush aside Adrienne stood and walked over to him and kneeling on the outside of the red string she reached out, laying her hand softly on his shoulder.

"It won't bring her back," she said gently. Breathing out, Daniel tossed the trowel aside and stood, stepping over the string and walking toward a small patch of grass peeking through the dusty ground. Adrienne waited a moment and then stood, joining him, in silence, still unable to figure out what to say or what to do. Glancing over at him, she could see a trickling of dust gathered on his cheek, so she reached over and gently wiped it off with her thumb, returning her hands to her lap.

Still not speaking, Daniel smiled at the gesture, locking his blue eyes with her brown for a brief moment and then turning away once more. There was something he needed to get off of his chest, something he needed to get out, that was painfully obvious, but Adrienne hated to pry, yet she also hated seeing her friend sitting here, obviously at some kind of breaking point.

"How did it happen?" she asked finally, remembering her own words from before. She did care about him, much more than she had thought she was realizing at this very moment, and it was an honest question. No answer at first, Daniel looked up at the sun beginning to set on the horizon, his shoulders settling and Adrienne knew she had crossed the line. She knew that she shouldn't have asked, when suddenly he surprised her, quickly glancing over at her, his face in complete torment, before redirecting his attention to the horizon once more.

"Teal'c killed her. Killed the monster inside of her, but she was too attached, it killed them both. It was her or me and he made a choice," Daniel answered simply, lacking emotion in his voice.

Adrienne didn't know what to say.

No one had ever told her before, but that explained so much, especially knowing that years later the Tok'ra had introduced them to the technology that would have saved her, the technology that saved Vala. Their mutual friend must be a constant reminder, Adrienne had never thought of that before, even though she had read the file and knew part of what had happened to Shar'e. Maybe that was why he had the strange feelings he did for the alien woman; Vala was a living example of what might have been given the time. For a lack of anything to say in response, Adrienne scooted herself closer to him when she noticed it again, that arm wrapping thing that he did every now and then. It was so odd, he didn't do it often, but when he did it was somewhat unsettling. She sat there for a moment, racking her brain, trying to think of a reason for the gesture when it hit her.

He only did it when he was uncomfortable, but more importantly, he did it when he was sad and in that very instant she understood what he was doing. She wasn't quite sure if this was alright, but he looked like he needed a hug, from someone else, and a hug was something she could do.

Climbing up onto her knees, Adrienne crawled in front of him, wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders, slipping her hand behind his neck. He didn't flinch or pull away, just leaned forward, letting her hold him, still not saying a word.

"Indy, I think we should call it a night. Maybe fresh eyes in the morning will help us find something else," she whispering in his ear, squeezing him tighter, her heart racing, worried about his reaction, when he did something he had never done before. Reached his arms around, Daniel wrapped them tightly around her shoulders pulling her close to him, hugging her as tightly in return. It was only for a second and then he released and pulled away, as if they had never made contact, and the moment was gone, leaving Adrienne confused.

"Yea, we're probably overlooking something due to exhaustion. Can you set one of your little toys to wake us up early?" he asked, looking over at her, his eyes tired and sad. Adrienne tried to smile to make him feel better but she just wanted to hug him again, to take it all away.

"Sure thing, but you'd better put it in your tent. I have a tendency to attack alarm clocks," she joked.

"I've felt you hit so that's probably a good idea," he responded, laughing lightly, although she couldn't tell if it was forced or not. Before she could try to analyze, however, Daniel stood, leaving his tools behind and headed back for the encampment. Adrienne stayed seated for a few moments longer, watching him leave, that determination from earlier gone. There was so much more to him than she had thought when they first met, there was this entire hidden person inside, a kind, thoughtful person and clearly a person in pain.

The person Sam had told her he was.

Out of the corner of her eye, Adrienne could see Daniel slipping into his tent, and she stood, deciding to straighten up their workspace before heading back herself.

_We've found nothing so far, not even evidence of a temporary encampment or more of those pottery relics SG-12 found from their first excavation. Adrienne seems to think that maybe someone placed this here and I'm starting to think she might be right. Who would do such a thing? And why? Either way, I've set, well Adrienne has set, the alarm for 0500 so we can be ready to work as soon as the sun comes up. If a second grid set doesn't yield any results I think we'll have to go back and tell Sam it was a wash. _

_On a personal note, I was really surprised by Adrienne today. I mean, things have gotten better since we became friendlier, but she still doesn't hesitate to shove it into my face when I'm wrong. But she didn't today. Not once. In fact, she was quite pleasant, and not just the fun we've had these past few weeks goofing off together but caring. I think she was actually worried about me today, no, I know she was. I've noticed that she's different for our little group; that she seems to hold onto things a bit harder. I'm starting feel like I can talk to her on a more personal level. In fact, I have to admit that I'm glad Sam hired her. _

Daniel tapped the pen for a moment, considering his words. Adrienne really had been there for him today, with no ulterior motive. It was just like the original days of the team, when it was he, Sam, Jack and Teal'c. Not that Cameron and Vala weren't great, but they hadn't grown as close as the original group and since they had all been given their separate assignments, they seemed to grow even more distant. To be honest, everyone seemed much more distant these days, not that he had really confided in anyone other than Teal'c before, but he felt like he had lost his connection to others as the years passed by, a connection that he hadn't realized he had come to rely on so strongly. Shutting his journal and reaching to tuck it into his pack, he peeked down at his watch noting it was nearly eleven, Earth time. Slipping off his glasses to tuck them safely out of the way, he rolled to turn off the lantern when he heard a soft rustle at the door of his tent. He froze, reaching carefully behind himself for his zat gun, sliding it ever so slowly from the side of his pack.

"Indy, good, you're still up," the voice whispered. It was Adrienne. What was she doing up and about at eleven at night? He set down the zat gun and leaned over to unzip the door to the tent and almost instantly, through blurred vision, he saw Adrienne kneel down, sticking her head in through the green fabric flap.

"Can I come in?" she asked, remaining at the door until invited.

"Yeah, is everything alright?" he replied, moving over so he was not blocking the door, reaching for his glasses to see if she was injured or otherwise in need of his assistance. Ducking in, Adrienne crawled over to the far corner of the tent, which in reality wasn't that far away at all, Daniel zipping the flap behind her. When he turned to reach for the lantern and his glasses, clicking it on again as he slipped the frames onto his face, she was looking back at him, sitting cross legged as she did when he noticed she had on no shoes and had changed into yoga pants.

"Oh yeah, I just couldn't sleep, saw your light on and figured you were feeling the same," she answered, grabbing her ankles in a self-conscious manner, crossing them tight to her body. As she moved her hand away from her left foot, a trail of green caught his eye and he remembered the vine tattoo, the tiny leaves at her toes, meandering up her foot and weaving its way to her ankle. She saw him looking at it and smiled, extending her foot and nodding her head in its direction.

"I was thinking about getting some more work done, adding some flowers or something. I still like it but it seems, I dunno, depressing in a way," she said, turning her foot from side to side in the dim light. Daniel looked at her over his glasses, puzzled.

"Are you asking me if you should?" he inquired, Adrienne throwing her hand up shaking both the limb and her head.

"No, I was just making a statement, I noticed you looking," she responded.

"Actually," he said honestly, "I was wondering how bad that hurt." She smiled and started to laugh, preparing to answer a question she had answered dozens of times before.

"More than words can describe," she admitted, earning her a look of bewilderment and confusion.

"If it hurt so bad the first time then why in the world would you want to add to it?" he asked, genuinely baffled by her logic completely. Why would she do that to herself?

"Beauty hurts," she replied, tucking her foot back under her and raising her eyebrows as Daniel rolled his eyes.

"You don't need to have pictures permanently inked on your body for that," he said, shaking his head causing Adrienne to break out into a grin from ear to ear.

"Awwww..." she was saying in that tone of voice she got when she was going to harass him, "Indy thinks I'm beautiful now, I'm moving up..." she paused, waiting for embarrassment to set in, but instead he gave her a look.

"Is there something wrong with that?" he retorted, not denying her accusation. She was beautiful, a very beautiful and kind woman, there was no harm in acknowledging that fact, "I just don't think you need to clutter yourself up for the sake of beauty."

"I don't really, I was just kidding. Like I told you before, they're more for me than anything else," she answered, starting to fiddle with her fingernails. He must be making her uncomfortable; he had noticed that she only picked her nails when she was nervous.

"I didn't mean to be rude. There's just a lot about you that I don't know, that no one knows and I wonder sometimes," he said, sitting forward and crossing his own legs, gazing over to where his assistant was seated in a matching pose. With a smile, she looked up at him and stopped picking her fingers, resting her hands on her feet.

"Ask," she said, her dark eyes peering up at him.

"Ask?" he repeated and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Sure, ask. I mean, I'm pretty boring; I don't have anything to hide. Ask," she restated. Raising his eyebrows, Daniel laughed, Adrienne shaking her head in confusion at his laughter.

"You're far from boring Addy, trust me," he laughed out. Extending her foot to kick him lightly on the thigh, she stood, making her way to the door flap of the tent on all fours, reaching to unzip the flap. Concerned, Daniel quickly quieted his laughter and turned his head.

"Where are you going? Did I do something wrong? Again?" he asked, started to worry, his mind going automatically to the defensive that he had learned to build up with her these many months, the mode in which he shut up because he completely lacked the ability to speak to her like a normal person, but she didn't snap or even shoot him a glance, instead turned around and smiled.

"No, I'm gonna get my pillow and sleeping bag. I'll be right back," she said, running the zipper in a circle to free her way.

"Wait?" Daniel turned to face her, trying to clarify, "You're planning on sleeping in here?"

"Yeah, why not? I mean, it doesn't look like we're going to sleep anytime soon anyway and you seem to want to play twenty questions. Eventually, one of us will talk and the other just won't answer because they've fallen asleep and then we can crash," Adrienne explained simply but Daniel just stared at her, worried.

This wasn't a motel, surrounded by other people or a truck stop surrounded by truckers.

They were alone, completely alone for miles.

Sensing his concern, she reached her hand over, placing it on top of his and squeezing it lightly

"I'm not Vala, alright? I can appreciate the attractiveness of my friend without trying to jump him or whine my way into his pants. But if it's gonna make you uncomfortable, I'll just head to bed. I'm cool either way," Adrienne assured him, her voice full of honestly. Relaxing his face, Daniel considered her words and then started to laugh again.

Now it was Adrienne's turn to be confused.

"What are you laughing at?" she made a face at him.

"You said I was attractive," he replied, now taking his turn to wait for her embarrassment, and she scowled, turning back for the door.

"Go to hell Daniel," she answered, laughing and red in the cheeks, slipping out of the tent.

When she returned five minutes later, she brought not only her pillow and sleeping bag but the rest of her belongings as well, crawling back in and setting herself up in the corner opposite him so they were facing one another. She fluffed her pillow, slipping into the bag and got comfortable, laying down on the floor of the tent.

"Hit the light," she ordered and Daniel quickly did as she asked, scooting into the folds of fabric to lay himself. He could tell she was waiting for him to get situated, so he hurried, making himself as cozy as possible on the hard ground.

"Ok, question one," she said into the dark, hoping he would take her up on her offer. This could be interesting, she thought, and give him the chance to ask her what he wanted and herself a chance to pry and discover some of the truths behind the stories Vala had told her. Realizing that she was serious about this little Q & A, that she really was planning to get down to business, Daniel sat for a second, wondering what he really wanted to ask her. What questions had floated through his head for so long before he could actually have a conversation with her that did not end up in a literal spilling of blood?

He decided to start easy.

"Alright, what did you think about the Stargate the first time you saw it?" he asked, waiting for her answer. That should be easy enough, he thought, get her warmed up for some of the things that he was more curious about, but surprisingly, she started laughing in the darkness, rather than giving him an answer.

"Please direct me to Malcolm Reynolds," she answered, still giggling.

"Who's Malcolm Reynolds?" Daniel asked confused, trying to remember if there were any young men by that name in the program. Adrienne, on the other hand, was still laughing.

"Firefly. Joss Whedon TV show. Hot starship captain," she answered, quickly figuring out that Daniel had no idea as to what she was talking about.

"Oh good lord," he responded, catching on that this was yet another of her TV men. Of course it was, why would he expect Adrienne to be serious?

"My turn," she announced before he could say anything smart.

"You didn't answer my question," he retorted before she could come up with a question of her own. He heard her calm her laughter and sipping in air to take a breath, dropping to a soft silence that lasted for a few moments before she continued.

"Honestly, it was more like, wow every single thing I ever dreamed of in childhood is real. I must get this job," she answered, serious this time, so much so he could hear in her voice exactly what she must have felt. He could relate to that, he remembered having that very same feeling standing in front of that gate with Katherine and realizing that he had been correct all along.

It was a dream come true.

"Go ahead, it's your turn now. Ask away," he said accepting the second answer, nerves fluttering in his stomach, wondering what in the world she could possibly ask. There was another somewhat uncomfortable pause, his heart racing,

"What's your favorite color?' she inquired quickly, her voice jovial once more, and Daniel frowned in the darkness, taken aback by the simplicity of her request.

"Really? That's your question?" he answered, relieved that was all she was asking, but also equally as puzzled as to where she could be going with this.

"Yes, color selection says a lot about a person. For example, orange is my favorite color and I'm curious, restless, and a few other things, but I'm asking you, this is my question. So, what color?" she explained, repeating her question. Seemed simple enough, he decided, answering honestly.

"Red," he replied, giving her his true answer, not the green or blue that everyone just associated with him, "so what does that say about me?" he asked in follow up curious as to what she could possibly learn from this question. In fact, he was curious himself since he had never actually told anyone before what his favorite color was, not that anyone had ever asked before. He could hear Adrienne mumbling to herself before clearing her throat to explain.

"That's very interesting. Red is so fiery, so passionate," she paused, like she was considering something else and then spoke again, "Yeah, that fits."

"How so?" Daniel asked, quickly becoming concerned upon hearing the word passionate, visions of Vala-like insanity dancing through his head. "And please don't tell me this is something you read in a magazine," he added.

"Not at all, I read it in the American Journal of Psychology. Red is associated with depth, wisdom and warmth, but also passion and fire. It is an oxymoron of sorts, representing both romantic love and blood, sacrifice, which while interconnected are also stark opposites. And, it was the official color of battle flags of the Ancient Romans, but I am sure you knew that," she explained intelligently.

"You read the American Journal of Psychology?" he asked, figuring he would avoid the other information she thought she had gleaned from him in this simple question, since she might use it to her advantage later.

"I used to read the American Journal of Psychology," she answered, "then I started working for you," she emphasized the last word but he could tell she was laughing. He laughed a little too; he did work her pretty hard, but he was very intrigued by this little revelation. Rarely did he meet someone, other than Sam, that was as geeky as he was and Adrienne just seemed to get geekier as the time passed.

"I can understand reading journals of our field, well, as much as you can tolerate them anymore considering our knowledge, but why psychology?" he pushed further.

"Actually, it was teaching that sparked the interest. I wanted to understand what motivated a student to do what they would do, whether it be to cheat on an exam or strive to get an A. I knew that I was intrinsically motivated as a student, but I wanted a better understanding of people, well, not like me," she answered. Made sense, Daniel thought, true educators want to understand their students as well as their subject matter.

"And? What were your findings Dr. Rowan? " Daniel inquired teasingly, but also genuinely curious. She never ceased to amaze him with her open mindedness and intelligence, yet, instead of a serious reply, he heard her begin to chuckle again.

"That people are basically screwed up," she said, laughing loudly and then stopping suddenly.

"Wait, that's a lot of questions out of you Daniel, it's my turn again," Adrienne countered. He chuckled, realizing that he had been caught, even though he really wasn't counting follow-ups as real questions. He decided to let her keep asking, as long as she was going to talk about things like color.

"Fine, but I should warn you, the color red is about the most fascinating thing about me, I can assure you," he said.

"Why did you get married so young?" she now asked. He froze. Well, we went from colors to personal awful fast, Daniel thought to himself, clearing his throat to stall his answer.

"Well, first off, I was 27, which is not young," he began, trying to defend himself and not reveal too much to her at the same time, "and it was an accident," he added.

"An accident? Well this is gonna be good. How does one get married by accident?" Adrienne asked, rolling over onto her side, or so he thought, judging her movement in the shadows, supporting her head on her hand, making sure she stayed awake for this.

"It was a ceremony, what I thought was a welcoming ceremony. It happened when we went through the first time and met Kasuf's people. They thought I was the leader since I could communicate with them and wasn't armed. They offered me Shar'e. I didn't realize that they had married us, well, until she..." Daniel trailed off, fearing he had said too much, something too personal but Adrienne was laughing not seeming to be bothered at all.

"Relax Indy, I'm not a soldier of Artemis ok, I know what you're saying. Well that had to be awkward," she said kindly. It took him a second to place the reference, Artemis, the virgin and resident prude of Olympus, but he quickly realized that she was trying to assure him that she wouldn't make fun and that she understood.

"Alright, well, but, yes, I mean I didn't, it wasn't appropriate, well, I just, yes it was awkward at first but then I just realized that I had never met a woman like her so I stayed on Abydos," he answered, stammering through the beginning before he could compose an answer, but Adrienne waited patiently for him to finish before speaking again.

"So a whole year and no kids?" Adrienne continued, hoping he wouldn't catch on...

"That's a separate questions," Daniel responded, " and a personal one."

"Ok, sorry, don't answer, my bad. Your turn," Adrienne relented and lay back on the pillow once more, planning her later strategy, but Daniel breathed out slowly and sat up, every intention of answering, beginning to understand that she really meant no harm.

"I tried to make it as close to normal for me as possible, so I courted her. I courted my own wife, for lack of a better word. By the time we got to that point it wasn't soon after that she was taken..." there went his voice again, creating a sharp pang of guilt in Adrienne's gut. Just when they had begun talking about starting a family, his entire world had been ripped apart. He was trying to contain his emotions, feeling like an idiot tearing up here in front of her, darkness or not when he felt a hand on his leg.

"I'm sorry Daniel; I shouldn't have asked," she whispered into the dark, no nicknames, no jokes, but he didn't want her to feel bad. These were honest questions and she wasn't trying to be malicious with the information, she really wanted to get to know him better.

An honest and caring question should never be offensive.

"It's alright, I don't mind. It actually feels better to talk about it," he admitted, reaching down for where her hand was resting just above his knee, squeezing it lightly, "But, I'm not gonna let you cheat anymore," he tried to lighten the mood, changing the subject quickly back to Adrienne, "how about you? I know you haven't been married before, but really, at the rate certain people on base hunt you down you cannot tell me that you've been single your entire life." He heard Adrienne laughing again and assumed this question was acceptable and that she didn't take offense about his comment concerning Ronan and some other Dr. Rowan groupies.

"No, I've dated some guys, but really, once dad got sick I didn't have time for a relationship," she answered. Dammit, he thought to himself, why do I always forget about her dad? He started to apologize, hoping that he didn't go digging up memories that she was hoping to shove away herself, when he heard her continuing.

"There was one guy, Joshua, that I'm pretty sure wanted to get married, but things just didn't work out," she added.

That surprised Daniel; he couldn't see Adrienne as ever wanting to marry anyone at all, much less be in a relationship that could have led to marriage. Everything he knew about her screamed independence and she had indicated to him as much when she told him about her aunt, but the tone in her voice made him question that assertion. He hoped she'd keep talking, being that this was even more interesting than color analysis and he was actually learning more about Adrienne outside of her life here in D.C.

"You, married?" he asked, trying not to be too sarcastic, but playful, playful enough to keep her going. It worked; he felt a kick at his hip and heard a light giggle from the other end of the tent.

"Yes, married. I just, ugh. I have no problem with marriage, I don't, but I have high expectations. I think there needs to be a connection between two people, not just a physical one, but a spiritual and intellectual one, the trifecta of perfection. I mean, you have to spend the rest of your life with that person, there needs to be something there in 5, 10, 20, even 50 years," she explained.

"So you want a romance film?" he joked, unable to resist mocking her stereotypical female answer. He heard her breathe out loudly and he couldn't tell if she was upset, annoyed or just tired, but she was still talking so he kept his mouth shut.

"No, I don't want a romance film. Typical male answer. And I really don't believe in love at first sight either. I think that falling in love with someone takes time and takes the two people having a complete and total understanding of one another. But whatever, don't believe me," she replied, exasperated. He sat up a bit, even more intrigued; she was a lot more complex than he'd given her credit for.

"Fine, fine, I believe you. So what happened with this Joshua character?" he asked.

"I got bored," she said and heard Daniel laugh, "Wait, poor choice of words. Let's try that again. Joshua asked out a girl who dressed and acted like a boy, did everything against what was expected of her in the community, tattoos, crazy, me. A year into the relationship he wanted June Cleaver. Now granted, if that's what a woman is striving for, to be coddled and taken care of and cook and clean that's her choice and there is nothing wrong with that choice. But you can't expect someone to change who they are fundamentally as a person; that only happens on TV," she said. She expected him to counter her argument, but Daniel was laughing again, making her grow instantly nervous that she had said too much.

"What in the hell are you laughing at now?" she asked, worried, annoyed, offended, she didn't know what, but she just wanted him to stop and as if he read her mind, Daniel calmed his laughter to respond.

"Because I just find it odd that the most unique individual that I have ever met is also the most stable," he replied.

"How so?" Adrienne asked confused.

"You have such a clear vision of who you are and what you want and that vision is not determinant on anyone else around you. You don't need a man, but you would take one as long as he accepted you for who you are. And again, considering what I have learned about you over these months, I just find it oddly ironic," he explained, hoping he hadn't offended. It was oddly comforting talking to her, not just about his own past and memories but hers as well. She really did seem to have her head on her shoulders and to be honest it was refreshing.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Now, is it my turn again?" she asked, wanting to change the subject from how weird Daniel thought she was and get this conversation back on the track that led her to some answers about her boss and new friend.

"Be my guest," he replied. Adrienne paused for a moment, her next question one she knew would start a war in this small temporary living space, but one that had been burning her up inside for months. Willing herself to do it, she lay back into the pillow, staring up at the ceiling of the tent and asked.

"Why were you so mean to me when I was hired?" she finally posed the question that had agonized her since the day she was hired. She had never done anything but be nice to him, while he had been a complete creep, dashing off to find Sam to fire her the moment he discovered she was hired, treating her like she was his slave and not his assistant, snapping at her when she asked a simple question and as she expected, he was defensive instantly.

"I wasn't mean to you!" he shouted out without thinking. Adrienne sat up, searching for his outline in the darkness and resisting the urge to kick him upon discovering that in this tightly cramped space her foot was resting right by his side, a perfect and soft target.

"Seriously!? You literally greeted me my first day by trying to hunt down Sam to get rid of me!" Adrienne shouted back at his direction. She could see his silhouette in the dark and that he had sat up as well, making his side even more a tempting target, but he didn't scream back or give her another reason to kick him, instead she saw him sigh, slumping his shoulders.

"Ok, you're right, I wasn't very professional nor was I cordial," he admitted. She remained sitting up, looking over at his form, he defensive posture gone from his stance and replaced by a significantly subdued form.

"That doesn't answer my question," she stated, hearing him mutter under his breath. The question was obviously making him uncomfortable, more so than the questions about his late wife, but Adrienne needed to know, she just needed to know why, what she had done wrong, if for no other reason than to never do it again.

"Excuse me Dr. Jackson, I didn't catch that," she said, mocking him by calling him doctor, playfully she hoped, knowing full well that he hated when she did that. Daniel cleared his throat, and she thought she could make out him rubbing his face before he spoke.

"It wasn't that I had any problem with you. I was offended. Offended that Sam didn't think I could do my job anymore, and I was offended that she had researched you, hired you and put you to work in my lab without even asking my opinion or giving me warning for that matter. I felt like everyone else was suddenly promoted to some important position in the SGC and making decisions on my behalf after everything that I had done for this program. Once I figured out you weren't going away, I just tried to look for reasons not to like you, and I probably took out my overall frustrations on you as well and for that, I'm sorry," he finally answered, saying it out loud for the first time. He had felt betrayed by his friends and resented this intruder into his world, never stopping to think for just a moment that Adrienne didn't seek him out to destroy his life, in fact, she was as much a victim of the entire situation as he was.

"Well I seemed to really grate your nerves; I just thought maybe there was something about me that you didn't like," she asked, not really wanting to admit that, but feeling that she should. Adrienne had never been one to have many friends, especially at work, but for some reason it had really bothered her that he seemed to hate her so much despite her best efforts.

"There was. You didn't give me a reason to fire you," he joked thankfully receiving laughter as his response. It was true, the most frustrating thing about Adrienne was that she was a really nice, down to earth person who was good at her job. He really needed to be thanking Sam for finding her, for making his life easier and helping him work faster rather than tearing her apart for anything little thing he could.

"Soooo..." she started, "you don't mind my piercings, my tattoos?" she inquired.

"No, that's your choice, I don't care," he responded.

"Alright, my eating habits?" she continued, wishing she could see his facial expressions in the dark to judge whether or not he was telling her the truth.

"Nope," he answered. She squinted to try to see him, having no luck with that either.

"My music?" she tried.

"That's god awful, but as long as I don't have to hear it, you can listen to whatever you want," he responded, laughing and felt her smack his leg.

"How about the fact that I can beat your ass?" she said trying not to crack up as she spoke. She heard him make a grunt or something near close and adjust at her side.

"You can not beat my ass," he said, stressing the words 'can not' very slowly.

"Are you requesting a rematch Indy?" she asked. He didn't answer, but was thinking that might actually be fun, see what Teal'c had been teaching her and maybe even compare notes on the various self defense techniques that they had learned, however Adrienne took his lack of response as admission of defeat.

"Thought so," she replied, lying back on her pillow.

"I'm not going to fight you in the dark, at midnight," he answered and she could tell by the distance in his voice that he had laid back down himself.

"Is that a challenge?" she asked, giggling at her question.

"Possibly," he taunted. He felt her kick his leg again, making him laugh that much harder.

"You like being tough, don't you?" he asked.

"No, I like not having to worry about myself. I like knowing that I can take care of things should things arise," she replied quickly, and changed the subject, not wanting to talk about things that could arise.

"We're not digging tomorrow, are we?" she asked instead. She heard him shift uncomfortably, taking that as her answer before he spoke.

"No, I just want to clean up and get out of here," he said, "It's a dead end."

"How do you think it got there?" she continued.

"I don't know," his voice was quieter and neither of them said a word for a painfully silent moment.

"Daniel?" Adrienne said finally.

"Yea," he answered.

"I know we're still getting to know one another and everything, but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm happy to listen," she said. There was a moment of silence as Daniel considered her words. That was the kindest thing that she had ever said to him, and she meant it, he could tell by the tone in her voice and the hand he felt resting again on his leg.

"Thanks Adrienne," he replied, not knowing what else to say and closed his eyes, letting himself drift off to sleep, not bothering to shrug her off.

Adrienne awoke the next morning to sunlight. It seemed that Daniel had turned off the alarm, but she wasn't totally surprised, he most likely remembered her warning about breaking those types of electronic devices in particular. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and brushed her hair back with her fingers, turning to see if he was up yet or had just quieted the alarm, but Daniel was gone.

Adrienne panicked for a moment, more so when she noticed he had packed everything up.

Everything.

Everything but her gear that she was quite literally laying on had just vanished.

"DANIEL!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, fearing he had gotten up without her and done something stupid, or worse, left her here all alone. Scrambling over to the tent flap, she reached to unzip the door to the tent when it unzipped in front of her and there was Daniel, looking her right in the eyes.

"Panic much?" he asked, smiling. She made a face at him, taking the moment to ease her racing heart and rapid breath.

"I was worried, after our conversation last night..." she started, halting her words as she was beginning to feel stupid already.

"What, that I'd throw myself into some fire or off a cliff in despair. I miss my wife, but I'm not suicidal," he stated plainly, giving her a look like she was insane. Adrienne shook her head, not wanting to add that she also thought he might have just left her here behind, swallowing before answering.

"Ok, so, stupid, alright. What were you doing?" she inquired instead.

"Cleaning up. SG-12 will be back here in a few days and I doubt they want my junk lying around," he responded again like she was an idiot, earning a glare from those piercing cocoa lasers that she called eyes.

"You stubborn ass, why didn't you wake me up, I coulda helped," she fussed, Daniel's glare softening as he started to chuckle, his arms hanging lightly between his knees.

"I tried to wake you up but you swore at me," he answered, cracking up a little more, much to Adrienne's utter confusion.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yea, your exact words if I remember correctly, heavily Swamp Monstered I might add, were, "Go to hell Sam Merlotte, I have today off," Daniel said, laughing, knowing full well the reference and still thrilled that it had happened so he could throw it up in her face just like he was doing right now, effectively, as Adrienne grew red in the cheeks.

"Sam's Sookie's boss, I don't know if you remember. That's pretty funny actually," she said, beginning to laugh. Of course, Adrienne would dream in vampires as well, something he needed to store in his mind for later.

"Well, I have everything cleaned except for this, so if you're up, pack your bag and we can get going," he said, backing up and standing, his expression different from the night before. The excitement was gone, the despair was as well, however there was still a melancholy in his eyes and he looked away as if he knew that she was reading him and understanding. He walked away, not speaking, so Adrienne just stood and grabbed her pack, rolling up her sleeping bag, continuing to watch him carefully.

They were packed and ready to go in about 10 minutes, Daniel not having said much more to Adrienne, even to tease about vampires. She kept catching him staring off into the distance or glancing back over at where the tablet was found. He'd agreed with her that it probably was planted, to distract them possibly, although Daniel could not tell her why, but a part of Adrienne didn't believe that. Deep inside she had this sinking feeling that whoever had done this had done so just for this reaction, just to see how far he could be pushed. It was a stupid thought, of course, who would do such a thing and Lucians weren't all that smart, but someone had tried to kidnap her.

Maybe Daniel was right, maybe it was just a distraction, but that made her even more nervous, her fingers instinctively running to the fresh scar on her side.

Pushing the thought aside, she hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders, walking over to him noticing for the second time in as many days his arms wrapping around himself.

I know what that means now, Adrienne thought, crushed, her heart full of emotions that she just couldn't understand.

She wasn't going to let this continue, Daniel deserved better than to feel this way.

"Come on, if we get going soon you won't have to stop every five feet ta get nekked, cuz it's sa damned hot," she joked, toying with her accent intentionally to get him to laugh. He smiled a bit, pulling his arms away from himself as she reached once more for his left bicep, pulling him along.

"And my milk is extra warm, so unless ya wanna watch me try ta choke it down, I suggest we get moving," she added and he didn't pull away from her but he didn't move either, standing there gazing in her eyes. For not the first time in her life Adrienne wished that she had super powers like the heroes in her comics, not for herself, but so that she could read his mind to see what was going on in that head of his. She was worried for a moment, fearing he wasn't going to come when he nodded, adjusting his own bag as he took a step forward, down the well worn path to the gate.

Sam was at the base of the ramp waiting for them, her face furrowed in contrast to her overall loveliness in her general's attire.

"Anything?" she asked, hands on her hips looking like she had been hit with a ton in the short time they had been gone. After this disappointment, Daniel didn't even want to know.

"Nope. I think it might have been planted," he replied and Sam shook her head, reaching to her face to squeeze her temples.

"Alright, well, we got word from Jonas last night that we need to send a representative right away to speak to their council on behalf of Earth. There are some important debates regarding trade with other worlds this week in the Senate and..." she trailed, seeing something in his face that she didn't like.

"I'm the lucky representative," Daniel concluded, pushing his glasses up his face, "Can I shower and repack?"

Sam smiled; she could always count on Daniel, even if he had just gotten back from what looked like an unsuccessful personal mission. Her brain already working through a week or so without him, she glanced over at Adrienne, ready to assign her a task as well.

"Lab is yours for the week Addy, but I'm gonna let Vala work with you so that you're not totally abandoned," Sam said, "And I expect you ladies to behave." Daniel made a face, but said nothing as Sam redirected her attention to him.

"We need you ready to leave at 1600 hours," she requested and he nodded, turning quickly to leave, indicating for Adrienne to follow. She did, but he waited until they were out of hearing distance to lean over, ready to assign a few tasks of his own.

"Send her on lots of errands. Don't let her near my desk. She has no clue what goes on down there," Daniel hissed, his eyes making sure Sam, or more importantly, Vala, were not standing there, ready to jump down his throat.

"No worries; I was already thinking of things to keep her busy," she responded. Daniel nodded appreciatively, figuring he shouldn't have underestimated his Robin. Running a mental to do list through his head, he barely stopped as they reached the elevators, clueing back into his surroundings, glancing down at her.

"I'm gonna head to the lab after I shower to grab a few things but I'd like to go over some stuff with you that you'll need to know while I'm gone if you don't mind hanging around a while longer," he said, as he hit the button to go up to his quarters to shower and repack. Having anticipated that very request, Adrienne nodded her head.

"Not at all; I was actually going to rush down and Vala-proof the place before Sam informs her of her assignment this week," Adrienne joked, but Daniel just smiled and nodded in response. Taking that as her cue, Adrienne turned to go down to the lab when she felt a hand on her shoulder, pausing and peeking back to see what else he wanted.

"I tend to feel the need to talk in the middle of the night, when I can't sleep," he uttered, testing her offer from earlier. He shocked himself even saying this to her, why in the world was he letting her know this, why on earth had he stopped her? Nerves began to build inside of him as he awaited her response, his heart pounding so strongly it might as well have leapt into his throat.

It was the look in his eyes that made Adrienne shiver, a reaction that she hoped he didn't notice. Had he ever had someone to talk to before? She had no idea, but the expression on this man's face was one that she had never seen on him and one that she didn't want to see there at all. Disregarding the activity in the corridor, the eyes that might be on them, Adrienne reached out for him before he could reach for himself, hugging him tightly to her.

"I like iced non-fat quad caramel lattes. The Starbucks down the street is 24 hours," she whispered in his ear before pulling away, holding on to his hand as she stepped back. Without a further word, not a smirk or a snide remark, Adrienne squeezed his fingers and turned, walking away from him and toward the lab.

Shocked, frozen, he watched her walk away, this stranger in his life, this unexpected friend he could have never imagined, startled by the elevator doors opening behind him.

"Thanks Addy," he whispered to himself, turning to enter the elevator.


	11. Chapter 11 - Omens

_I HOPE we got all of the spelling mistakes, but remember my profile - LATE nights post Kiddos LOL. _

_Just an adventure._

_Enjoy! _

Daniel arrived back from his meeting, Adrienne nowhere to be found. Her meeting must have gone longer, her daily update to Sam and Robert Woolsey as to the progress made on the database in his absence this week, and he could only imagine the future swearing she would be doing. The image made him laugh and he noted that he needed to pull up that website with the Cajun swears to try to keep up.

When he walked over to his desk, glad to be out of yet another stupid strategy meeting and back where he needed to be, researching, he noticed a red box sitting here, one of those pre-made gift boxes, minus the cheesy bow. Confused, he made a face as he opened it, wondering where it had come from and hoping it was nothing that would literally blow up in his face, which considering his history at the SGC, wouldn't be that unusual. Instead, as he slowly pulled the lid off of the box, he discovered that it was stuffed with tissue paper, a small piece of thick white paper neatly folded on top. Grabbing the note, a small part of him still worried that the box might explode, he opened the creases carefully, peering down at the message inside.

_Missed you last week; lab's too quiet when you're off-world. _

_Saw these and thought of you... hee hee_

_-Ad_

Ad? What an odd way to sign a note, he thought, recalling that he had never heard her or anyone else refer to her as Ad, always Addy or Adrienne.

Wonder why that is?

Pausing for a moment to imagine what madness was inside the box, this very nice box and this very strange note, Daniel couldn't help but be touched by the gesture.

What in the world would make her think of him?

Whatever it was he was touched; it was a nice gesture and he had to admit that he had missed her too last week, more than he had expected. He had grown used to her bad jokes, constant movie references and general silliness besides the relief of having someone there who spoke to him on his level. It made some of the more boring aspects of the job bearable. He was just starting to pull back the tissue paper to reveal his surprise when the phone rang. Making a face, he unwillingly left the box, walking over and grabbing the receiver.

"Jackson," he answered.

"Daniel, need you up here, as soon as you can" it was Sam, her voice short and troubled.

"Anything wrong?" he asked, one eye still staring at the box, curiosity eating away at him. What did she get him?

"Just time to pack up and go again. Strep throat in SG-2," she replied, Daniel recognizing the tone in her voice as annoyance rather than concern.

"Fantastic," he answered sarcastically, still gazing at his gift, "but I'm missing my trusty side kick." He surprised himself with that comment; he hadn't really joked like that with Sam before, yes, she knew that he and Adrienne were getting along now, but not to the extent that they were.

Sam giggled, "No, I grabbed her out of her meeting already and she's quite pleased to have beaten you somewhere for once." Daniel smiled. Adrienne couldn't be anywhere on time if her life depended on it, so he could only imagine her face and her mini celebration as she was finally able to make it to any kind of meeting before him.

"I'll be right there," he replied and hung up the phone, walking over to the mysterious box on his desk.

"And you I'll have to save for later," he spoke, addressing the brightly decorated inanimate object in front of him. Placing the note back inside, stuffing the paper down and replacing the lid, Daniel reluctantly headed for the briefing room.

He was the last to arrive and as he turned the corner and saw Adrienne, who was sitting between Cameron and Teal'c mouthing to him "_You are late," _ a huge smile plastered across her face. He rolled his eyes and went to the head of the table where Sam had placed a folder at an empty seat, a seat beside which was Vala, a look similar to the one on Adrienne's face. Daniel cut a glare over at Adrienne, knowing this was her doing as well. It seemed the better friends they were, the worse she harassed him and greater she relished in it.

He made a note to himself to get her back later.

"Ok, thankfully you're all familiar with P5L-325, so I hope to be brief," Sam began handing out the file folders to the rest of the table as Daniel took his seat. Glancing at the file already placed in front of him, Daniel opened it to try to remember which planet they were talking about, his brain still back in finance meetings, strategy meetings and senate meetings on Langara. He had prepared the entire work-up on this planet and had every intention of going until he was called away and the mission was handed over to SG-2. Now it looked as though plans had changed, again, something he should be used to.

"This is a standard follow up to the MALP information. Society, Daniel has determined, is much like the Yoruba of 13th century Africa. Daniel would you like to elaborate?" Sam began, glancing in his direction to turn the meeting over to him.

His forehead furrowed, Daniel stood and looked over at Adrienne, who was already opening up her iPad, thankfully having saved their pre-lims from a few weeks back. Tapping around on the shiny screen, longer than he expected and for a moment making him worry that she had deleted the file, she finally peeked up at him and gave him the thumbs up. He was glad she had kept a copy of the presentation, that she seemed to keep a copy of everything. Looking back at the Smartboard and hoping Adrienne would control the slides, Daniel faced his team and began to speak.

"The Yoruba people of Earth Africa are the largest tribal ethnic group, living mainly in the country known as Nigeria. In their early history they functioned as a monarchial society made up of various city-states who were ruled by governors related to the royal family. Religiously they are polytheistic monotheists, similar to the later Romans, where there is one supreme God, Olodumare, in charge of the other gods, who are regarded more like angels in Christianity. That is why it was so easy here on Earth to convert the Yoruba to Christianity and Islam; they were practicing a religion similar to it already. They live in grass huts, mostly due to the heat, and tend to remain in one area until the resources are exhausted," Daniel was pleased that the group seemed to be listening, even Vala, who was remaining quiet, her eyes locked on the slides. Reading the pause, Adrienne changed the slide behind him, from a picture of their home world to a picture of the people they were to meet.

"These people refer to themselves as the Parakoyi, which in our Yoruba language is the word for traders. If that proves to be the case, these people could be powerful allies considering the MALP has sent us a long list of resources, including Naquada, that they are not using and could be encouraged to trade for," Daniel continued as Adrienne flipped to the slide showing two men in tribal attire. That was something else he had missed in Langara, he noted to himself, competent help in his tasks. Knowing his assistant had the visuals covered, he pointed back at the image and kept going.

"Politeness is of the utmost importance," he stressed the word utmost, not even trying to hide his glare at Vala, "Men are going bow to older men or nod their head to men of a similar age, women are going to kneel on one knee typically. You must smile at all times and greet everyone you pass. Don't think that these are unfriendly people; they are not. In fact, if they are like the Yoruba of Earth, they will be one of the nicest and most accepting peoples we will ever encounter," Daniel concluded, taking his seat to relinquish attention to Sam once more, who stood and moved over to the projector.

"Pretty cut and dry people. Standard go in and meet and greet. I'm setting our departure for 1400, so you've got most of the morning to get ready. That's all I have for you. Cam, can you hang back a sec," Sam said and began collecting her extra folders, flipping the switch on the projector killing the power. Cameron looked over at Teal'c and Adrienne and shrugged, not seeming to know what was going on any more than they did, getting up from his chair and following Sam to her office.

Working on a deadline now, the rest of the group, along with Adrienne, got up and left to get ready. Last minute or not, Adrienne wasn't going to protest for one minute that she was being allowed to accompany Daniel on yet another mission.

Adrienne deliberately slowed her step so Daniel would catch up, as usual nose deep in the information, his mind already on the planet ahead of them.

"How's Jonas?" she asked as he read through the planet file again.

"Good, same old mess. I'm not sure if they'll ever trust us fully again, but all we can do is try," Daniel replied, not looking up.

"Well, how was your week? What's the night life like on Langara? Meet any hot chicks?" Adrienne smiled, trying to be funny. Catching on to her joke, Daniel glanced up from the folder, finally acknowledging her visually. She might be kidding, but she was sincere in her first question; in getting to know Adrienne he had discovered that she really did care about her friends well-being, him included.

"Boring, absolutely boring, and that's true even if I was able to get out. Plus I had to wear a suit the entire time," he complained, closing the folder to talk to her.

"You look handsome in a suit," Adrienne said with a smile, hoping he didn't take it the wrong way.

"Thanks," he replied, a little shiver going through him for a reason he couldn't explain, as Cameron came dashing down the hall, interrupting their conversation, excited and giddy like a small child. Adrienne looked over at him, a part of her face Daniel thought appearing annoyed by the intrusion, silently pleasing Daniel.

"Did you get in trouble with the boss lady?" she asked, a forced playfulness in her tone. I guess she did miss me, Daniel considered, flattered beyond words.

"Nah, just not going on this one. I get to go play with the Daedalus while you guys get to play in the sand," Cameron smiled.

"Nice, whatcha gonna do?" Adrienne inquired, the tone now changing to curiosity.

Oh well, so much for that, Daniel thought, maybe she didn't miss me so much.

"Test out some moves on the ole girl, evasive maneuvers. See if the thing can still get moving when it needs to," Cameron answered.

"So, is Sam replacing you on the mission?" Daniel asked, not trying to be rude but more concerned about brains outnumbering brawn and also wanting in on this conversation. Not that he and Adrienne couldn't take care of themselves, and he most certainly knew that Adrienne could take care of herself from very painful first-hand experience, but he would just rather not have to worry about that.

"Yeah, you guys get Ronon looks like, geeks and aliens on this one," Cameron replied, smiling and bid them farewell, almost skipping toward the transport bay to be beamed up to the ship. Shaking her head, an action Daniel knew he was trying to read way too much into, Adrienne looked back at her boss, slowly walking backward toward the elevators.

"Ok Indy, I'm gonna go pack and swing by the commissary for some bottled waters, you want anything?" Adrienne offered, stopping to tap the button heading up to the mess and the living quarters.

"No thanks, I think I just need to get my bag from the lab and I'll be ready to go," he responded, his mind back on the mission and a list of things that he needed to pack himself.

"Alright, catch you later," she turned to go, the elevators doors starting to open, her curvy brunette figure slipping inside.

"Ad!" Daniel shouted out, using the nickname she had written on the note without realizing it. The doors were closing when a hand reached between them activating the emergency stop, opening quickly to her deep cocoa eyes and devilish grin.

"Yes..." she said, a wily look in her eyes like she knew what he was going to say. Of course she did; he had called her Ad and that must have been intentional on her part.

"What's in the box?" he asked, the smile disappearing quickly, replaced by a frown from inside the elevator.

"You have to open it. Did you open it?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip while the other held down the open door button.

"No, I got interrupted by Sam's call," Daniel explained. Shaking her head, but smiling again, Adrienne released the button, the doors again bouncing back to life.

"Well, you'll just have to go and open it," she replied, laughing as the doors closed in front of her face, encasing her in her escape. So, we are at the point of gifts in our little friendship, he thought to himself, planning to return to the box as soon as he got back, his inquisitive nature getting the best of him.

What madness was she up to?

When he arrived, however, the phone was already ringing, someone in another department needing a file and then Vala came down about five times to ask what gear exactly would keep sand from getting underneath her clothes like it had during her last mission to a desert planet, all the while Daniel kept looking over at the box, wondering what Adrienne had put inside.

It was driving him crazy.

Before long he looked up at the clock over the door and realized it was time to go and he accepted the fact, grudgingly, that he wouldn't get to open the present until they returned, tossing his bag over his shoulder and heading for the gate room. He was the first to arrive as usual, so he patiently waited for the remainder of the team to arrive as well, rereading the file and trying to shut out the image of the red cube of mystery that was sitting so teasingly on his desk.

Ronon and Teal'c entered together, discussing some crazy competition the two of them had come up with, as was becoming their normal being stationed together. Daniel knew it would be something wild, it always was, and it was always something that John Sheppard could run odds on. Sam only tolerated it because Jack enjoyed actively participating in betting in such contests. Vala came sauntering in shortly after, a purple scarf wrapped around her face tightly and she looked absolutely ridiculous, so much so that Daniel couldn't refrain from comment.

"It's not windy there; I've seen the video footage. I think you're overdoing it," he informed her as she walked over to him, refraining from mocking the color and hideous floral pattern on said scarf.

"We'll see who's choking on what when we arrive," she responded from underneath the fabric and Daniel just shook his head, giving up on arguing with her. Seeing most of the team arrive, Walter had begun to dial the gate, the wormhole forming and blasting a surge of cool, energy charged air into the room. Worried, especially as the team began to run a final equipment check, Daniel glanced back at the door.

No Adrienne.

It was genuinely physically impossible for the woman to be on time and he was back to wondering how New Orleans even functioned with an entire population of Adrienne Rowans. Suddenly, an evil thought popped into his head, he owed her for the seating arrangement at the briefing anyway, dashing over to the intercom system, hitting the button for an all call.

"Paging Dr. Rowan to the gate room. If she doesn't get here in ten seconds she's gonna be left," he said as calmly as he could, trying not to laugh into the mic and hanging the intercom back up into its hanger on the wall. His eyes cutting over at the door quickly, his assistant still nowhere to be seen, Daniel turned to follow Teal'c and company through the gate. It seemed they weren't waiting for Adrienne either, and he was starting to worry about her when he heard shouting from behind him.

"You're a turd!" she was yelling, running toward him, staff weapon in hand, "I had to go get this from my room."

"You had to bring that?!" he asked, raising his eyebrows, a million sarcastic comments popping into his head.

"Yes, you know I don't like bullets. And Teal'c says I am good with it," she defended, turning his shoulder and pushing onto his back moving him through the gate before he could torment her any longer. Worth it, he thought to himself, wishing he had a camera for the look on her face when she came racing in calling him names.

The wind was whipping wildly when they reached the other side, throwing sand and debris all around, catching both archaeologists off guard as the event horizon closed behind them. Not having any other option for protecting herself from the onslaught of nature, Adrienne buried her face into Daniel's back, Vala's voice clear as she was shouting from the bottom of the platform.

"Ha! I was right! And I'm not eating sand!" she screamed back at Daniel, covering her face again in that stupid scarf, turning on her heels to walk toward the village. Ronon and Teal'c reached into their vests to pull out small pieces of fabric that looked like handkerchiefs to put over their mouths, moving onward behind her while Daniel just moved his hat to cover his face. Protected, he glanced down at Adrienne to see what she had, but she was digging, holding her breath to keep the sand out of her throat, seeming to have nothing in her pack nor her tack vest.

"You want this?" he offered his hat, uncovering his face for just a moment, trying not to choke on the few grains of sand that managed to make an entrance past his lips.

"Nah, it's ok, I'll just walk behind you," she answered, frustrated.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, choking on the blowing sand, one eye gazing in the direction of his friends who were a good fifty yards ahead already. He made a face at Adrienne, covering his mouth again with the old green hat.

"Yea," she grumbled, grabbing his arm, turning him and burying her face into it. Carefully, Daniel led the pair down the platform and toward the group, stopping only to wonder if the MALP information regarding the weather had been incorrect what else might be there to surprise them. Fortunately the wind died down rather quickly, but Vala was going to relish in her little victory the entire way there, a celebration that Daniel was not looking forward to, the smirk on her face as she removed the scarf giving him the headache in advance.

The village was about a 45 minute walk from the gate, through tall grasses and a terrain that like the slides had shown them was, very similar to the country of Nigeria back home. Time passed quickly, the team laughing and chatting as they walked, Vala making fun of Daniel for not being prepared, and before they knew it the first tinges of civilization were only yards ahead. Daniel, from his position at the front of the group, could see the outline of a rather complex grass hut village peeking over the horizon and could hear shouting as they approached a large crowd of people tending to their daily chores on the outskirts of the village.

"Jaffa! Jaffa!" they were crying, people scurrying away from them rather than towards the group making him panic that there was something else he had forgotten.

"No, no!" he yelled out, running ahead, opening the folder, trying to figure out how to say friend in Yoruba, a language for once that he didn't know. A few men rushed their group, spears pointed, while other villagers cowered in fear. The scene was mass chaos for a moment, Daniel flipping quickly through the folder trying to see if there was something else he needed to know when greeting these people when a throat cleared, causing him to look up. Approaching them was an older man, the one from the MALP video Daniel thought, that seemed to be in charge, bowing low. Relieved, Daniel tucked the folder at his side and bowed in return, signaling for the rest of the group to do the same. Remembering the prep information, Adrienne dropped to one knee, pulling Vala to join her.

"Ow Addy! What are you doing?" Vala hissed, glaring over at her friend.

"One knee Vala, weren't you listening this morning?" Adrienne spat in return as Vala rolled her eyes at the assumption that she hadn't been listening. She had, she was just a little taken aback by men charging her armed with spears. From her squat on the ground beside a lightly grumbling Vala, Adrienne thought she heard the man say something in a language that she didn't speak, end his sentence with a hiss of the word Jaffa, an undertone of anger in the voice. Peeking up, she saw him pointing to Teal'c and to her, glancing back over at his shoulder, the men behind him tightening their grasp. It was the staff weapons, she concluded, they must have been afraid of the staff weapons. Standing quickly, Adrienne lifted her shirt, showing her bare and worm free stomach.

"No Jaffa" she said and Daniel rose turning to look at her, having come to the same conclusion as she. He nodded, finding what he was looking for in the folder, glancing over at Teal'c.

"Oremi," Daniel said, pointing to Teal'c, shaking his head in the affirmative. The man in the heavily beaded robes made a confused face at Daniel, signaling his men to drop their weapons and returning to his scan of the people assembled before him.

"You carry their weapons. Do you speak the language of the Jaffa as well?" he asked and Adrienne breathed out. Thank god for English, she thought, since they never seemed to be going anywhere that actually spoke any of her dozen or so tongues.

"Yes," Daniel answered, "we are explorers. I am Dr. Daniel Jackson and these are my friends Teal'c, Ronon Dex, Vala Mal Doran and Dr. Adrienne Rowan. We came through the chapa'ai."

"We will give no more women to the gods. Our village has suffered enough," the man stood strong to face Daniel, who was already putting up his hands to indicate that their team had no intention of taking anyone.

"No, you misunderstand. We are here to meet you and form a friendship. We do not need anything from you. The gods, the Goa'uld are gone," Daniel said, treading lightly, knowing that some cultures still did not fare well with this news. His facial expression quickly changing, the man began to laugh loudly, nodding his head. Not being the reaction he expected, Daniel looked at his friends worried and confused.

"Hahaha!" the man laughed louder, "the gods are gone! Some gods! Some all-powerful gods!" At the sound of the man's celebration, sarcasm, it was hard to be sure which, Teal'c slowly began to rise to his feet, as did Ronon and Vala, looking at one another equally as puzzled.

"Yes," Daniel continued, "they were false gods and were using you and your people."

The man slowed his laughter, scanning the group carefully once more. He was dressed as the men on Adrienne's slides and from the MALP video, wearing a long flaxen robe over an equally drab tunic, however, both garments were decorated with handmade beads in deep reds and ocean blues. He seemed to have many more ornaments than the men surrounding him, signifying his importance. His feet were bare and tough, as they should be for a man who spent so much time wandering the desert, but his eyes were what caught Adrienne's attention, his wise eyes. This man knew what the Goa'uld were, he understood that they were false gods and this news wasn't shocking to him in the least, simply an affirmation of what he already knew. Smiling gently at his visitors, the man took a step forward, addressing Daniel directly.

"By whose hand are they gone?" he asked, a question Daniel seemed to be anticipating. He opened his mouth to speak, intent on explaining the situation exactly as he coached SG-2 into explaining it when Vala spoke up from beside Adrienne.

"We did, we blasted the bastards out of the galaxy," she replied, gun in hand, tapping it lightly in her open palm. Great first impression, Daniel thought, and I accuse Adrienne of trying to be macho. Seemingly unimpressed as well, Adrienne looked over at her friend, rolling her eyes.

"Then friends you are!" the man exclaimed, Daniel trying to hold the outward expression of relief that he was feeling inside since thankfully the man seemed to appreciate Vala's outburst. Nevertheless, Daniel shot Vala an angry glance warning her with his eyes to not speak again. Catching the wave of ice shot in her direction, she leaned over to Adrienne, annoyed and scowling.

"Can't you go calm him down or something?" she whispered, cutting her own brown eyes down at her shorter friend.

"I'm his assistant, not his keeper," Adrienne replied, shrugging, her gaze back at Daniel who was already speaking with the man, folder open, pointing to charts and various things that he and Adrienne had researched via the MALP weeks ago.

"No, but he likes you best," Vala winked in reply, giving her a look. Ignoring the smart mouthed alien, Adrienne just walked along trying to catch up with Daniel and the village leader, eager to get to work. Vala had been acting just a tad jealous now that Daniel and Adrienne were friends and Adrienne had tried to blow it off; she wasn't interested in Daniel any more than he was interested in her. They were just friends and it was nice to have someone to talk to that thought like her, something Adrienne hadn't had in a very long time. Her family was kind, but she never felt like one of them, she felt like her father was the only person in the world she could ever relate to, ever talk to and have an intellectual conversation with. Romantically though, that was the last thing Adrienne was thinking about, the last thing she ever thought about, no desire to become any man's brood mare, so in that department, Vala was welcome to him.

That, and the fact that she got crazy nervous when Vala talked like that, which was just stupid because it was Daniel she was talking about and he was older and her boss and her buddy and...

Stop, she ordered herself, adjusting her jacket as she came to a stop beside Daniel.

Okulo, or teacher, was the man's name she caught as she butt into the conversation. Adrienne found that particularly interesting as one of the few members of the staff that had classroom experience; she could appreciate anyone who acted as a teacher in any capacity. On the way to the settlement, Adrienne following close at Daniel's heels, Okulo told them about their village, how they earned their livelihood and the various resources they would be willing to trade. It seemed that the villagers earned their way through life in one of three ways, farming, the raising of animals or acting as a merchant. He also listed an abundance of resources, a kind of wheat crop that was resistant to most weather conditions and pests, a variety of precious metals including sterling silver and of course Naquadah. Rather than be cautious of his new visitors, the man seemed to be overjoyed to have visitors at all and the possibility of a new trading partner.

Apparently Daniel was right, this was a clear win for the SGC.

Adrienne would have to pick on him later.

She both loved and hated it when he was right, but either way she could always find a way to pick on him, tormenting Daniel had become her new pastime.

Taking in their surroundings, Adrienne was pleased by the thoroughness of their research, being that the village itself looked just like the pictures from the slide show, grass huts, set up in rows of sorts, creating dirt roads. It was a miniature town, bustling with activity. Where yards would have been, there were animal pens, housing small creatures that looked like pigs, save for green horns perched prominently on their noses and trickling down their spines. When at last they reached what appeared to be the center of the village where some villagers were gathered around a central fountain, retrieving water and talking to one another as they went about their day, Okulo left them with a few women who were chatting there. They were women who Adrienne assumed were his wives given his open affection towards them just before the leader excused himself claiming to have other business to attend to, promising to see them later tonight at dinner. Taking in the sights and sounds of this primitive metropolis, Adrienne was startled when Daniel grabbed her arm, turning to face him, her fist cocked by her cheek. A few months ago he would have flinched, but now he just laughed at her reaction.

"Hey, do you want to come with me Chuck Norris?" Daniel asked, reaching out gently for her fist to return it to her side.

"Where?" Adrienne replied, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, as he pulled away, still laughing.

"To explore to marketplace that Okulo was suggesting we visit. Come on Ad, weren't you listening?" he teased, imitating the condescending voice Adrienne liked to give Vala when she knew that Vala hadn't been listening during a briefing. Smiling, the redness leaving her face, Adrienne gazed around the village in complete wonder.

Of course she wanted to explore; she could go through the gate a thousand times and never tire of seeing all of these new worlds and new civilizations.

"Sorry, just get caught up in it sometimes, you know?" she answered, pulling her backpack from her shoulders to take out her digital camera.

"Trust me, I know," he smiled at her and while he waited for her to get her things in order, Daniel took note of the location of his fellow team members for this quest. Ronon and Teal'c in a defensive mode, were walking to the outskirts of the city, most likely checking for any potential threats. Ready to carry on, Adrienne was just putting her pack back on her shoulders when they heard a shout behind them, a voice that Daniel was hoping to avoid.

"Wait up!" it screamed shrilly across the fountain square Daniel turned around seeing Vala running towards them, waving her hands for them to stop and hang back so she could catch up. Rolling his eyes, he looked over at Adrienne, realizing their academic jaunt was about to take a turn in another direction entirely.

"We have company," he muttered under his breath, disappointed that his chance to explore with Adrienne was now going to be interrupted.

"Play nice Indy," his assistant ordered, hoping he would heed her request and bite his tongue. Vala had also kicked up her flirtations and over the top behavior since Daniel and Adrienne had started spending so much time together, more impromptu coffee runs to the lab, more lap sitting in the cafeteria and, according to Daniel one weary morning last week, a visit to his quarters wearing nothing but a red chinese silk robe and a smile. That story in particular had Adrienne in stitches for hours, laughing so hard she cried, literally, but she knew it was driving her boss and now close friend insane.

He was quite close to snapping completely.

"Then you get to watch her," Daniel responded curtly, turning to walk through the village marketplace, leaving his assistant behind, who turned onto her heels as well, determined to not miss one single thing. Whining as she did so, Vala caught up to the two, babbling on about something that neither Adrienne nor Daniel were listening to, so Daniel glared back at her, informing her that she needed to stay out of trouble, since he would not be getting her out of any trouble. Shooting a warning of her own with those penetrating dark eyes, Adrienne promptly shut him up and placed her hand onto Vala's arm, guiding her gently in the direction of the urban activity.

The marketplace was wonderful and nothing like any Yoruba trading post on Earth. Based on Adrienne's research, it seemed as if these people were traders in every sense of the word as the marketplace was filled with foods, clothing, jewelry, cups, pottery and anything else one could imagine. Speeding up her pace in front of her friend, Adrienne spotted a beautiful necklace on a small brown table littered with other baubles and trinkets, a necklace that she would actually wear despite her normal aversion to jewelry. It was simple, a hemp-like cord that came to a tight knot surrounding a black gemstone that shimmered in rainbow colors when she held it up into the sunlight. She turned it in her fingers carefully, trying to count how many different hues were visible in the amazing gemstone, while Vala, not as impressed, stood beside her digging through a basket of rings listlessly. Feeling someone looking at her, Adrienne placed the necklace down in front of her on the table, turning to discover that Daniel was peeking over her shoulder.

"Shame they don't take Visa?" the cajun quipped, stepping away from the table to follow him once more.

"Come on, really, you don't know how to do this? Ad, you disappoint me," Daniel said with a smile and reached into the front left pocket of his tac vest, pulling out a Powerbar and a pen. Holding the energy bar up, he shook the packaged nourishment, "Ounje" Adrienne thought she heard him call it and then showed the pen, repeating the procedure, except this time using the word "Koosile." The man behind the table nodded and looked down at the goods in Daniel's hands, repeating the words and receiving an affirmation from Daniel that he was correct. Reaching for the necklace on the table, Daniel held it up, creating a human scale in his hands, making it quite clear to Adrienne what he was doing, negotiating.

He was negotiating to buy her a necklace.

The man shook his head, so nodding, Daniel reached in his pocket and pulled out yet another Powerbar, the man smiling in agreement, bowing his head slightly and pushing the necklace towards Daniel's body.

"There," he said, reaching for the hand by her side and opening her palm, slipping the knotted cord into it. Adrienne looked at him with a look of disbelief, not that bargaining had worked, but that he had essentially bought her a gift. Granted she had given him one as well, in that box that she was fairly certain that he had yet to open, save for the card, but still, this was, well, unexpected.

"Daniel, thank you, I - " she started, but he began to walk away, waving his hand over his head.

"Now you can do it yourself," he said over his shoulder casually, "And you owe me a pen and two Powerbars!" Adrienne shook her head at him, but smiled quietly, knowing he would never ask her to repay him. She quietly tucked the necklace into her tac vest and looked over at Vala, who was putting the rings down and muttering to herself, intending to usher her along.

"What's wrong?" Adrienne asked, pulling Vala away from the table in order to catch up with Daniel, unable to hear what her friend was saying.

"You guys make me sick," she answered, that tone of jealously creeping back into her voice.

"No, you have an active imagination," Adrienne replied, letting go of her arm and following behind Daniel, a part of her privately thrilled at this little turn of events.

They made their way through the marketplace, stopping at vendors here and there and while Adrienne found quickly that her stash on pens could be quite useful, she didn't purchase anything else other than a few apples for herself, Daniel and Vala to nibble along the way. There was just a part of her that felt nothing else she could get today could quite top that necklace, making her reach inside her pocket every time she thought of it, hoping each time that he wouldn't see, lest she feel the wrath of harassment later, or just sheer embarrassment.

Why was she so excited over a woven trinket?

Time clicked by, the sun moving lower in the sky, when Vala, who was still steaming over Daniel's little display of affection toward Adrienne, noticed at the corner of one side market street was a beautiful woman sitting in a lone chair. There were no wares surrounding her, not one small item at her small feet, she was just sitting completely still staring straight ahead at nothing. It was creepy, and in all of her experience, Vala hadn't seen anything quite like it in her life, so she reached out, forgetting the stupid necklace, tapping Adrienne on the shoulder.

"Look, I've been around the galaxy, but that's a funny way to advertise your body," Vala muttered. Completely lost as to what her friend was talking about, Adrienne glanced behind her in the direction that Vala was pointing, seeing this supposed prostitute. Exotic in appearance, much more than the other women in the market this morning, this very attractive woman didn't appear to be selling herself; she actually appeared to be in a deep trance.

"Vala, I think she's a fortune teller," Adrienne replied.

"Really? Even better, give me a pen," Vala said, holding out her hand and requesting their failsafe bargaining chip. Making a face at her, Adrienne looked out to see Daniel trudging on, unaware that the two women had stopped.

"We're being left," she pointed out, hoping Vala would end this nonsense and follow. Not that Adrienne had a problem with giving her a pen for a fortune, fortune-telling was just something stupid and harmless and would amuse Vala for all of five minutes before she would forget everything the woman said, but she didn't want to get lost and separated from Daniel in this bustling marketplace.

"What else is new, now give me a pen," Vala held out her hand more forcefully. Relenting, while still keeping an eye on Daniel, Adrienne reached into her pocket and grabbed a ball point pen, passing it over and Vala took it, approaching the woman slowly.

"Do you speak the Jaffa tongue?" Vala asked, offering the pen in front of her but the woman continued to stare ahead not saying a word, not moving a muscle.

"I think that's a no," Adrienne replied, hoping Vala would just give up at that, especially since the woman was giving Adrienne the creeps, yet she didn't, just switched to some other strange clicking language she could speak. For at stupid as she acted at times, Adrienne often forgot that Vala was a pretty intelligent woman, who could speak almost as many languages as Adrienne herself could, although just not any extra Earth languages. However, much to Vala's chagrin, language number two didn't seem to work either, so Adrienne took a small step forward, clasping her arm lightly and pulling her back toward the main pathway.

"Come on mon ami," Adrienne goaded, gently increasing the pressure on Vala's thin arm, "it looks like she's not wanting our business." Shrugging off the firm grasp of her companion, Vala made one final attempt, in a third language, earning her the same response as before, still, staring silence. Frustrated and concerned at having lost sight of Daniel, Adrienne decided to end this charade herself, shoving the pen into her pocket and starting to walk away, hoping Vala would take the hint and follow.

"Be careful," a voice behind them said. Adrienne, thinking it was Vala messing with her turned around, today understanding why Daniel got to damn mad at her; the woman was relentless.

"Be careful. Or someone will die," the woman from the chair said, Adrienne's curious eyes darting quickly from Vala back over in the direction of the woman in red, whose head had turned and was staring right at them. Confused, and partially wondering what Vala had done to provoke such a response, Adrienne looked over at her companion and then back at the woman, evaluating the situation.

"Excuse me?" she clarified, gazing at the woman, the very strange looking woman she noted, something muted and fuzzy about features that seemed so beautiful before. Vala too seemed bewildered, stepping forward toward the woman, peering closely. The woman looked at Vala, making a slow and intense eye contact, and then deliberately diverted her gaze to Adrienne. Without warning, there was a pop and the woman leapt from the chair, throwing herself in front of the archaeologist's feet and grabbing Adrienne's arm nearly yanking her onto the dust road.

"Listen to me! Someone will die! You must leave or someone will die!" The woman shrieked, looking deep into Adrienne's eyes, eyes as black a night, sending shivers down the cajun's spine. Pulling her arm away quickly, Adrienne broke the stare and without a word turned to catch up to Daniel, her combat boot covered feet for once not minding the lack of running shoes. Vala stood for a second longer, staring at this woman, on her knees in the dirt, her head bowed low and her body language not as confident as before quickly dashing in the direction of Daniel as well.

"Did you hear that woman?" Vala hissed as Adrienne and Daniel walked on, the former still out of breath from her sprint through the city. Adrienne was whispering to Daniel, most likely explaining what had happened because judging by the look on his face, Daniel didn't seem pleased.

'Vala, I only let you come with us because you promised to stay out of trouble. This is not staying out of trouble," Daniel spat over his shoulder as he continued to walk through the marketplace, at a brisker pace than before she thought. He could let his panties get into a twist all he wanted but she had a witness this time, a witness that seemed to be his latest pet, a witness he just might listen to.

"But she said someone was going to die. Addy, you heard her too and she grabbed your arm when she said it?" Vala insisted, hoping that little tidbit of information would jog Daniel into caring. That's right Daniel, the creepy lady touched your little girlfriend, what are you going to do about that, she thought.

"Vala, I don't believe in that stuff and you shouldn't either," Adrienne declared, throwing a wrench into that idea. Sometimes it really grated Vala how "tough" her new friend could be, or at least acted. Annoyed, especially since she was being ignored as normal, Vala backed up in a huff, shoving her hands into the air.

"You don't believe in anything. Don't you find that a bit depressing?" Vala asked, trying to elicit any type of reaction out of Adrienne, even if it was anger of her bringing up last month's lunch conversation on religion.

"Not really," Adrienne shrugged, clearly uncomfortable by the conversation. Rather than argue with Vala, she just walked faster to catch up with Daniel grabbing his arm and slowing his pace so she could stand on her toes to whisper in his ear.

"Ugh... the only thing worse than religion is prophecy," she murmured softly, making Daniel pause and look back at Vala, who was at the present whipping her head in every direction in search of this potential threat.

"I know, and leave it to Vala to believe a bit in both," Daniel replied, moving onward not interesting in having that conversation with either woman. Without acknowledgment, Vala seemed to drop the matter as they made their way around the rest of village marketplace without incident, meeting back with the others at the village fountain.

"I'd like to stay," Daniel stated to the group, a possibility they all knew and had prepared for.

"Fine by me," Adrienne replied, agreeing that there was no reason to head home until more of these outside resources had been explored. Teal'c and Ronon, who were sitting on the ground by the fountain, nodded in agreement as well and Daniel looked over at Vala to gauge her response, a simple shrug of her shoulders, accepting the fact that neither Daniel nor Adrienne were going to heed her warning.

"Settled. Then I'll go back to Okulo and see if we can make arrangements. I think there's a lot to be gained by an alliance with these people," he explained, Adrienne smiling at his need to explain as she tried not to laugh to herself. She knew him now, pretty well, and any reason to not to go home was good enough for him. She wanted to tease, but refrained, knowing that as acting leader of this mission he was nervous enough as it was without her adding to his anxiety.

She could just add to it later.

He might pick on her for always being on the go, but she was starting to think the man would be content living out of a backpack for the rest of his life. Instead of saying what was really on her mind, she spoke up, volunteering to help, giving her more time to think of a way to tease him.

"I'll run back," she offered, "let Sam know."

"Fine, but I don't want you to go alone," Daniel answered as Adrienne began to make a face at him, "anything could happen Addy, don't look at me like that. Ronon, you go with her." The Sataedan nodded and took off his pack to lighten his load, handing it over to Vala, strapping his gun tighter to his leg. Adrienne did the same, passing her things over to Daniel as she gave him a dirty look, using her eyes to her advantage. She hated when he treated her like she couldn't handle herself, but he just glared back at her with bright blue spears of his own, daring her to question as he took her backpack and tossed it over his shoulder. She paused for a moment, Daniel noted, not to argue but to look at her staff weapon, at Teal'c and back at the weapon.

"AdrienneRowan, I shall care for your staff weapon in your absence. Take my Zat instead," Teal'c suggested, extending his hand kindly to trade defensive items. Strapping the Zat to her leg as Ronon had done, she stood and straightened her clothing, glancing up at Daniel.

"Be back in about ninety," she guessed, peering over at Ronon who was waiting to follow her lead.

"Let's go," he agreed, breaking into a light jog behind her as the cajun made a dash for the gate.

Addy got a run in after all, Daniel thought to himself, knowing that was why she volunteered. Actually, he was quite surprised that she didn't have running shoes stashed away somewhere in her pack, instead watching black military issue boots slam the dry ground as they disappeared in the distance. As her curvy form dipped over the horizon he took a breath, a tiny part of him worried that something might happen to his new partner in crime, but he pushed the thought away, turning to lead his two other companions back to the village.

Adrienne and Ronon were about halfway back to the gate when Adrienne yelled up to her alien companion.

"Dex! Can we walk? Some of us can't do this forever!" Adrienne begged, refraining from bringing up why exactly her friend could outrun her. He'd told her one day in the gym how he had fallen into his position on Atlantis, yet another horror story of life for one of her friends. Spending your life outrunning your hunters was distinctly different from her own life as a runner and another reason why Adrienne was glad he had never taken her up on her little one lap challenge around the gym.

Unlike her match with Daniel, he would have creamed the mess out of her.

"We're gonna have to run again soon though," Ronon said as they both slowed to a walk, "You're the one that told Daniel ninety minutes."

"No, that's fine, just let my legs rest a sec. Either way, I think it is gonna take a lot less than ninety minutes to get there and back. Dialing Sam won't take that long," Adrienne answered, confident that she had time to rest and still keep true to her word. To be honest, she just liked to stick to whatever timeline she had originally give Daniel, whether it be for a slide show, a translation, or some smaller errand like this, making up for the fact that she couldn't arrive on time in the mornings. He teased her, told her that she wanted to be Superwoman, and while she denied it to his face, there was a part of his accusation that was correct, but she'd never admit it aloud. Taking a deep breath as she slowed her stride, Adrienne shoved her hands into her pockets, her eyes staring off into the vastness of the savannah.

"Not sure why Jackson wants to stay in this place," Ronon noted, his own dark eyes taking in their surroundings, "there's just a lot of sand, grass and beaded jewelry." Adrienne smiled, having noticed the same herself, although with the intricacy of some of the beadwork, a few wall hangings in particular, she wasn't too torn up over it.

She just hoped Daniel had stashed enough Powerbars for her to shop with later.

"It's more about seeing people in their element and how they react to their environment and others," she explained, "and besides, there's a chance that they have some natural resources we can take advantage of."

"Always something the big boys want, huh?" Ronon asked, Adrienne giggling, that for as stupid as others might take him to be, he could call a spade a spade. The sun was blaring on them, Adrienne keeping silent, not wanting to have the same type of conversation with her very handsome running companion that she had with her neurotic boss now turned friend about government, politics and other generally boring topics, but between the heat of the UV rays on her skin and the monotony of walking step by step deeper into the grasslands, Adrienne was growing impatient and wanted to hurry up, make it to Sam and get back to where the real activity was. Pausing, she glanced over her shoulder at the exact moment that Ronon was rubbing a bead of sweat from his brow.

"I'm good now, I'm gonna run ahead. Just keep walking, it's no big deal. I just want to phone home and get back," she said.

"Yea, I can tell you're antsy. I thought you said we had plenty of time? Just go, I'll catch up in a few," he answered, Adrienne giggling at his use of Earth slang.

"Alright, just don't tell Daniel I ran ahead. He'll flip out!" Adrienne shouted as she began to do just that, run ahead.

"And don't go thinking that this means you can out run me Rowan!" she heard him shouting behind her. She laughed, picking up her pace when a sound interrupted her short stride, a sounds like a low rumbling thunder. Halting and ducking, fearing a Lucian attack or worse, Adrienne laced her fingers behind her head, scanning her leg to judge distance and speed to her Zat, vowing to not go down without a fight, unless of course they were bombing the savannah, in which case she hoped her crouched stance would protect her.

But nothing came, no lights, sounds or shots, and most importantly, no ships yet the sound continued, growing louder in fact, with fewer breaks between the rumbles. Confused, she looked behind her and saw what appeared to be smoke rolling in the distance toward them from the left, well her left, Ronon's right, a wave of gray and tan dust rolling into the shore of the grassland.

A wave of dust headed straight for Ronon.

Scrambling to her feet, shrieking his name, Adrienne sprinted like she never had before, back to the frozen Sateadan.

The herd of large antelope-like creatures was in full stampede and Ronon had indeed seen them, momentarily frozen by the sight. Sateada was a civilized planet and he had seen creatures like this before, happily contained in zoos for their viewing pleasure and never in full stampede, but Adrienne was screaming like a crazy woman, running full tilt towards him, breaking him from his trance. Suddenly, much less overwhelmed and more concerned, Ronon started to sprint toward Adrienne waving his arms in the direction of the gate shouting for her to turn back and continue running in the straight ahead, that the animals seemed to be migrating and not in pursuit. Understanding, Adrienne turned around and dashed back, looking behind her repeatedly to see if Ronon had been overtaken. He was sprinting ahead and close, but not close enough; glancing to her left she could see that both she and Ronon were still in the path of the animals and ran faster, hoping with each step that Ronon was right behind her. The ache in her side was nearly unbearable, worse than any other's runner's stitch she had ever experienced and she looked again, seeing that she had cleared the group while Ronon was still just feet away from the herd. Screaming, she reached out, feeling his hand touch hers lightly and tightening her grasp, Adrienne pulled the much larger man as hard as she could to her, Ronon Dex crashing down on top of her smaller frame. Her back now hurting as bad as her side from the impact, Adrienne glanced up to insure that they had made it, her heart stopping as a large, deer like animal jumped over their stack of legs and kept running.

"Dex, are ya ok?" Adrienne asked, pushing him painfully from her chest.

"Scared the shit out of me, but I'm fine. Are you hurt? Where did they come from?" Ronon questioned, scanning her as he pushed himself up onto his hands and off of her body. Adrienne waved her hand as she shook her head, one finger toying at her scarred lip out of concern.

"Did I bust your lip open again?" Ronon continued, moving her finger gently from her mouth as he crawled to the side, carefully examining her face.

"No," she answered, shaking her head but allowing him to examine, "only Daniel manages to do that." Knowing that to be sadly true, Ronon chuckled, peering back once more at his legs realizing how close he was to having them crushed. Hiding the chill from Adrienne that was rocketing through him, he brushed the dirt and sand from his BDU pants and sat back onto his heels.

"Let's just go and get back. I'd hate to think of what else could come running through here," he ordered and without debate, Adrienne stood herself, casting off her fear the best she could, extending her hand to help him to his feet. Taking it he stood, looking off once more into the distance at the vanishing animals, a parting memory of noise and flesh. This time, they decided to jog the rest of the way, together, not stopping until the task was complete.

Okulo, as Daniel had expected, agreed that they could stay, offering them one large hut to share situated on the outskirts of the city. It was a one room domicile, an arrangement of grass mats on the floor, some for sleeping and some for sitting it seemed, but that didn't seem to really bother any of the group, all of whom had slept on much worse. Friendly exterior or not, Daniel was pleased they would be able to all stay together because in his experience there had been too many close calls when the group was separated. This Okulo character seemed to be a very intelligent man who might try something just like that if they weren't careful, not that he seemed to be that type of person but Daniel erred on the side of caution.

Fortunately enough, the Parakoyi didn't seem to mind that there were women in the group who were not claimed by the men, although Daniel was fairly certain that if need be Vala would gladly volunteer to play his wife, yet again. That would be a real treat, he thought to himself, making a mental note that if such conversation were to come up during dinner to claim Adrienne before she could protest or leave him to Vala's clutches just to toy with him. In fact, he was considering claiming Adrienne as his wife anyway, since this particular tribe of people put a great importance on the female counterpart, or counterparts, of the relationship, thereby insuring her equal access to all gleaned information. It had been one of Okulo's wives, Oda, not Okulo that had led them to the hut and left them to themselves to get situated, waiting inside for Daniel's approval as he went in ahead of his group, not timidly either, to see if they needed anything else before excusing herself to help prepare dinner.

She probably wouldn't fight him on it, after all, he wasn't expecting any baked goods and didn't mind her tattoos and if he was remembering their late night conversation correctly, that had been marriage criteria. He could always tell her the necklace from the market meant that she had agreed anyway.

That would be funny, he thought, nerves coursing through his body. Why had he bought her that necklace? That wasn't like him at all, he just thought it would make her happy and in that moment he wanted to make her happy.

"We going in Blue Eyes or are we gonna stand here and stare at the doorway?" Vala's voice broke his train of thought, Daniel reaching forward to pull back the fabric doorway so they could see their arrangements for the evening.

Satisfied by their accommodations, Daniel, Teal'c and Vala ducked inside to lay claims on the mats, Daniel peeping over to see where the door was, selecting the mat farthest from and placing Adrienne's pack on top.

Without thinking, tossed his stuff beside it.

He was just sitting down to relax for a moment before diving into the resource scans in his file, when he saw Vala plop down on the mat to his other side. Reactively, he rolled his eyes wondering if maybe Adrienne could fake a nightmare or something to ensure that his night was uneventful but just in case, and trying not to make a scene, Daniel carefully scooted his mat over closer to his assistant's.

He was just turning his back to unclasp his tac vest when he heard a scream behind him, darting around in the direction of the shriek to see a large cobra-like snake facing Vala, its hood open and teeth blaring. Not wanting the snake to bite her, or him for that matter, he froze, trying to scan the room with his eyes, looking for a weapon, a zat, a P-90 anything, when a blast came from the other side of the hut, the snake falling into a pile in front of Vala, smoking, guts strewn about her boots. Daniel glanced back toward the doorway of the hut, the source of the blast clear, as Teal'c was standing in the entryway, staff weapon in hand, head opened and pointed at what was left of the beast. Vala breathed out deeply, taking her hand to her heart, leaving her boots motionless in the serpent's viscera.

"Where did that come from?" Daniel asked, snapped really, thinking it was something she might have acquired in the market or worse, brought in the hut as a joke.

"I don't know," Vala responded, her voice shaking and serious, "I put down my pack and it was just there, staring at me," Snapping the head to his staff weapon closed, Teal'c set it against the rigid woven wall, walking over to examine the decimated serpent.

"It is indeed a real snake, no magic, no machine. It must have slipped into the hut, possibly seeking the warmth of the fire," Teal'c stated, turning to indicate the fire Oda had started in the hut shortly before their arrival. Nodding in agreement, yet still pretty freaked out by the entire encounter, Daniel resumed his reading as Teal'c stood to take the serpent out of their sleeping area, scooping the guts and pieces into his hands unaffected. The archaeologist bit his lip, trying to hide his aversion to the gore, when he heard another shout from right outside just as Teal'c was ducking to make his way through the door, forcing him to take one more glance at the pile of snake in his friend's hands.

"Gross, what did you do to that thing?!"

It was Adrienne's voice, the relief that they were back washing over Daniel. Peeking her head into the hut, her nose pinched firmly between her fingers, Adrienne shook her head in playful scolding.

"Playing with snakes are we?" she joked, walking over to her pack and sitting down beside Daniel.

"Damn thing attacked me!" Vala stated, obviously still shaken by the cold blooded intruder, "I have no idea how it got in here."

Daniel spoke quickly, hoping, wishing that she wouldn't turn this into another attention grabbing ploy like she had tried to do with the fortune teller, "You heard Teal'c; it probably just crawled through a hole to investigate." Able to read the annoyance on his face, Adrienne chuckled, pulling her backpack into her lap as Teal'c and Ronon entered, Ronon already telling Teal'c of their own close encounter with nature.

"Sumtin' bout da crittas 'ere," Adrienne started, Daniel stifling a laugh at both her word choice and pronunciation, "Ronon and I almost got taken out by an 'erd of antelope or sumtin' close. It was like a scene out of a bad western," Adrienne crossed her legs, opening her pack and taking out a bottle of vitamin water, Daniel staring at her in disbelief.

Forget the cajun, Adrienne and Ronon were almost stampeded?

"Antelope?" Daniel asked, looking at his assistant like she was crazy.

"Yeah, antelope," Adrienne repeated, "thank God Dex is a good sprinter," she replied casually, taking a swig from the bottle. There was a brief silence as Daniel tried to scan her over with his eyes, seeing if she was alright or just playing it tough, when Vala whipped her head around to glare at the both of them and then down at the blast hole in front of her, still littered with snake guts.

"Oh my gods!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening, her chest heaving with breath.

"What is wrong ValaMalDoran?" Teal'c asked, moving to remove the remainder of snake guts from the hole thinking that might have caused her obviously nervous outburst. Vala still seemed very upset, but didn't look any better as Teal'c tossed aside a few organs and some skin, ignoring him to continue to stare over at Daniel and Adrienne.

"She said someone was gonna die!" Vala said, eyes like saucers, "you heard her Addy. Someone is gonna die and you almost got trampled and I almost became the Queen of Sheba!" Cleopatra, Adrienne thought, you almost became Cleopatra, well sort of, but she held her tongue taking another swig of her water, shaking her head and trying not to laugh at her incorrect historical reference and absurd notions.

"Vala, this is the great wide open. It's not prophecy; it's nature," Adrienne replied as Daniel was leaning forward to whisper an explanation to Teal'c and Ronon, not a very nice one Adrienne could hear as she tried to calm her friend. Sitting back smirking, Daniel let the two warriors take it all in, Ronon, in particular erupting into laughter, talking about something like wraith phantoms or some nonsense that Adrienne didn't understand. He began to cough and choke on his words, so Adrienne reached her bottle over, offering him some water, which he took gratefully, halting his harassment of Vala as he poured the warm liquid down his throat.

"There are no such things as real fortune tellers ValaMalDoran. They are charlatans that prey on the weak," Teal'c stated, trying to be supportive.

"Besides Vala," Ronon added, beating his chest with his fist as he did to clear the cough, "people die every day. That's a pretty general statement: Someone's gonna die. Yeah, someone will probably die. Did you check your pockets? She might have been trying to distract you to rob you. I saw it happen all of the time back on Sateda." Concluding his speech, the most Daniel thought he had ever heard the man say, Ronon took a long drink from the water bottle this time, his laughter settled and handed it back to Adrienne, thanking her with a nod and directing his attention over to Daniel.

"Well, if we're gonna have the risk of any more supposed wild animal attacks, I think we should be more vigilant. I really don't want to get run over again," Ronon requested.

"I agree with RononDex," Teal'c concurred, his deep dark gaze back at the hole from his staff weapon, "We must be careful as we are not familiar with the beasts of this world."

"Alright," Daniel agreed quickly, remembering that this trip he was the one making all of the decisions, "we're going to be summoned to dinner soon and when we get back we can discuss a watch rotation. But let's keep it quiet; we don't want to appear so easily spooked by some wildlife." Vala continued to mutter something about not being listened to, Daniel ignoring her protests, while Adrienne dug around in her pack producing a bottle and a small towel, standing and looking back down at Daniel.

"Hey, I'm gonna go wash my face and arms before we eat," she said and headed out of the hut. Sitting confused on his sleeping mat, Daniel paused, not registering what she had said and when it finally clicked, and he shut the folder quickly, leaping to his feet, chasing her through the curtained entrance.

"Wash up where?" Daniel asked, not remembering Oda pointing out a place to wash and noting the need to ask her for one. Dramatically halting her stride, Adrienne pointed in the direction in which she and Ronon had run, almost two hours before, tapping her feet impatiently while he worried.

"There was a stream right over there, very close, no worries shug," she said quickly and turned again, heading in that direction. He would follow, she knew he would, but there was no way that she could represent her planet covered in sweat, dust and god knows what other things she managed to get onto herself in her tumble to avoid being squished to death. He could babysit if he felt the need, she wasn't going to stop him and to be honest she didn't mind his company.

"Must you? I was going to ask about facilities after dinner," he replied, earning himself a dirty look as she paused again, glaring back at him. Someone really needs to market her glare as a weapon, he thought, shivering at the coldness in her eyes.

"You didn't just run five miles and you're lucky I only want to wash my face," she answered over her shoulder, hoping he saw her smile, that she wasn't trying to be a pain just needed a moment, continuing toward her destination. Accepting that this was a battle he just needed to resign, Daniel jogged to catch up with her, grabbing her shoulder to slow her pace.

"Fine, but you know the rules. Out of sight, go in pairs. You just seem to think that you're above that," he raised his eyebrows and she didn't comment, just continued to make her way to the stream, bumping him with her hip before she walked on.

Pushing his way behind her through a small patch of underbrush, he finally saw the body of water that she had been talking about, but how she had seen it from her running path was still a mystery. It was a small and beautiful brook that didn't look like it belonged this far out in the grasslands, weaving it's way in and out of the denser forest on the outskirts of the plain, lightly flowing water trickling along softly over tan and black tumbled stones. Adrienne breathed a sigh a relief at the sight, a symbol of the cleanliness that was to come and walked to the edge, kneeling down and splashing her face with water, letting out a loud sigh as the moisture hit her cheeks.

"Much better," she said aloud, sitting back onto her heels letting the water stream down.

"Ad, can you hurry up? I wanted to go take a look at a few things before dinner," Daniel said to her, whining really in her opinion, standing there hands shoved into his pockets, a frown on his face.

"Yes Mr. Patience, I just wanted to feel a bit less disgusting, hold your horses," she replied, giving him a frown of her own. Reaching in once more to splash her face, Adrienne reached to her left, eyes closed, for the face wash she had set on the edge of the bank. She couldn't seem to find it, so she reached further, feeling around very carefully, until frustrated, she shoved her hand backward, thinking she might have knocked it away when she felt a large furry body under her hand.

Frozen in fear, she didn't move, didn't flinch, holding perfectly still when she felt large hairy legs touch her forearm, inching their way up her skin. That did it, that prompted her, and Adrienne screamed out loud, leaping to her feet, desperately trying to get the water out of her eyes so she could defend herself against the creature, how big was that thing, when she heard the zap of a Zat gun, the shock of that too causing her to trip and fall backward into the water, still screaming. Shaking, but hiding in the protection of the water, if such a beast would be deterred by the stream, she opened her eyes and saw Daniel standing over her, Zat gun pointed safely downward. She traced his gaze to the ground and right over beside her bottle of face wash was the biggest spider she had ever seen, easily the size of a guinea pig or small cat, it's long black hairy legs splayed about it, knocked unconscious by the stun of Daniel's weapon. Looking at it sent chills down her spine, which were further exasperated by sitting in the cold stream, making her shiver violently, when a hand entered her field of vision and she looked up to see Daniel reaching down to help her up. Gratefully, she took his arm and pulled herself to her feet, her entire body still shaking with fear.

"Are you alright?" he asked, holding her hand in his and looking it over, lifting her arm and examining the rest of her carefully.

"Yea, I landed on my backside pretty hard, but I'll live," she answered, putting on a brave front, vowing not to fall to pieces in front of him. It wasn't that she was scared of spiders, but creatures, possibly poisonous creatures from another planet were a different story. Not making one argument about women's independence or her not needing a man, Adrienne turned around slowly, letting him make sure there was nothing else on or around her and satisfied she was alright, Daniel let her arm go, still frowning.

"Sorry I let it get that close; it was so fast. It jumped right out of the trees and went straight for you. I've never seen a spider move like that, or at least one so large. Are you sure he didn't bite you?" Daniel asked, starting to examine his assistant a second time, his eyes still cutting back at the spider in case it were to reawaken.

"Positive, the only thing that hurts is my rear. And my pride a bit," she added and shrugged, trying to play it off, but she was still trembling. Reading the discomfort in her face, her eyes not making their usual confident contact, Daniel reached over for her again, placing his hand gently on her back, rubbing it lightly.

"Come on, I'll buy you more face wash. Leave that. Let's get going before it wakes up" he whispered, guiding her carefully with the hand still at her back and she let him, turning her gaze away from the arachnid heading back for the others.

Oda had come by to remind them of dinner in the absence of the two archaeologists and was kind enough to run to her own home to bring Adrienne a dress so she was able to change before dinner and hang her uniform out to dry. When Daniel recounted what had happened at the stream to the group as Oda fetched Adrienne clean clothes, no one seemed to have any real explanation at all as to what might be going on. Everyone except Vala, that is, who immediately delved into her argument of fortune telling and prophecy and again, no one paid her any mind.

Once Adrienne was dressed, wearing a thin cotton-like gown that barely went to her knees, a garment that Daniel knew was making her feel highly uncomfortable and exposed, they made their way to the fountain at the village center, the former lagging behind, her arms across her chest. Pausing, Adrienne pulled at the hem of the garment, trying to pull it lower, reaching back up to adjust the top. Her black sports bra was showing through very visibly, but he knew she would rather die of embarrassment from it showing than take it off. It's so funny, he thought as he undid his jacket and tac vest, she can walk around me in a towel but is falling to pieces here over a skimpy dress.

"Here," he offered as he pulled his jacket from his shoulders, passing it over. She hadn't even noticed that he stopped beside her, jumping at bit as the fabric was thrust in front of her face.

"I'm ok," she countered, taking a breath and starting to walk on.

"No, and if you're messing with that dress all night you're not going to be able to focus, and I need you to focus," he argued, trying not to embarrass her further but invoke her work ethic, an uncompromising trait of his assistant.

"Thanks Indy," she whispered quietly, taking his larger jacket and slipping it onto her shoulders. He chose not to answer, not to say another word, walking ahead slightly, just enough to catch up to the others but also slightly lagging behind, just in case she needed anything else.

The dinner was spectacular, a large open meal held in honor of a great hunt that was successfully completed a few days earlier. It was everything Daniel had learned to expect of celebration feasts from his numerous visits across the galaxy, seats of honor, platter after platter of food, live entertainment and when Okulo introduced them to the other elders of the village, everyone greeted them kindly and respectfully. Daniel did notice, however, that a few of the seats were empty, seats of importance at the lead table, but Okulo was talking so much that he did not get a chance to ask who exactly was missing and why, so he just ate and answered their trade questions. Putting on his best diplomatic show for the team, Daniel awaited the opportunity to ask his own questions, an opportunity that never came.

He did manage, however, to get from him some information on resources and where those operations were located, but as soon as he thought he had a chance to talk about the people themselves and how the trade union could affect them, dinner ended, Daniel and the team returning to the hut, with many things unanswered. Rather than rekindle the fire, a small part of him thinking that might attract their next unwanted animal visitor, Daniel set up a lantern in the center of the mats to assign watch duties.

"Ok, I'll take first watch, with Adrienne, because we have some things we need to go over before tomorrow," he began. Adrienne started to make a face at him, certain that she was being coddled, but since they did have some maps to go over she really couldn't argue.

Plus, she kind of liked this "I care about what happens to you because you are my friend now" side of Daniel, but she'd never tell him.

"Second watch is Vala, then Teal'c and then Ronon will take us into sunrise. If there are any issues just wake me up," Daniel concluded, his bright blue eyes scanning the crowd for any objections, but there were none. Vala, who had begun to read Adrienne's vampire novels, yet another victim to his assistant's incessant love of pop culture, had decided to stay up while Daniel and Adrienne sat outside, working and standing guard.

Their watch was uneventful, allowing them to look over the maps of the area so they could begin exploring the resources to take some pictures and complete other preliminary scouting duties. Bored and tired at the end of their shift, Daniel and Adrienne switched off with Vala, who just took the novel outside with her, reading away by the light of a lantern, not one intruder, animal or otherwise to interrupt her story. Two hours later, Vala was tapping on Teal'c's shoulder, who rose without complaint and headed outside, Vala flopping down on her mat to rest, scooting close to Daniel.

Teal'c was an hour into his shift when he decided that he had slept enough and would stay up with Ronon until sunrise, even considering trying to read the book that Adrienne had offered him. Remembering that he had left it inside the hut, and not wanting to disturb any of his friends to enter and retrieve it, he sat there, lightly meditating, his blank dark gaze staring out into the darkness.

As he was running through his head preparations for the birthing ceremony for his grandchild, a point upon which he was meditating often now, he heard a low rustle in the soft underbrush just feet from where he sat. Quickly Teal'c stood, pointing his staff weapon in the direction of the sound, tapping the activate switch with his finger to open the head of the weapon. There was silence, complete silence, so much so that Teal'c thought he had imagined the entire thing when the rustle happened again, but this time it seemed closer.

Much closer.

Peering into the darkness, the rustle became a low growl, a large cat bounding out of the woods without any other warning, racing straight for him, forcing the large Jaffa to his feet to defend himself. Teal'c fired his staff weapon, intentionally missing, not wanting to kill the large creature but simply desiring to scare it away, the blast making contact right at the back foot of the beast. Yet the animal didn't falter, pacing around Teal'c, matching his steps, their eyes locked onto one another. Hearing the commotion, Daniel and Ronon came dashing out of the hut, Ronon pointing his large gun at the beast as Daniel drew his Zat, their eyes wide with surprise at the massive creature now walking among them.

"Shoot it DanielJackson," Teal'c shouted, seeing that Daniel was the only one with a stun weapon, and catching on that Teal'c did not desire to kill the animal, he did as asked, a laser like strand webbing from the firearm. The animal crumbled into the dust, knocked out cold, but still alive, breathing slowly.

Still dressed in her borrowed gown, Adrienne rushed out of the hut, followed by Vala, armed and prepared to fight, but dropping their hands as the cat hit the ground.

"Is it dead?" Adrienne asked, her finger still on the trigger to the head of her staff weapon, yet concerned for the animal as well.

"Nah," Ronon answered, "Jackson stunned it." Stepping over to assist Teal'c in the removal of the animal, Ronon didn't offer any further comment, but it wasn't Ronon Daniel was really paying attention too, it was Vala, standing beside their temporary quarters, shaking her head, her arms crossed across her chest.

"Did you see something Vala? What are you looking at?" he asked as he walked over to the women.

"At you idiots, that's what I am looking at!" Vala shouted out into the darkness, "Ronon almost gets run over by some deer, I get a face to face meeting with a huge damn snake, Addy gets attacked by a mutant spider and Teal'c get a surprise from a mountain lion. Daniel is something going to have to literally bite you in the ass before you realize that I'm right?!" she screamed, shoving her hands to her hips.

"Vala, some crazy fortune telling woman has nothing to do with our obvious lack of preparedness in terms of the local wildlife. Hell, we got thrown into this mission and Daniel and I only did the pre-lims for SG-2. If anything they're at fault for not thoroughly researching the damn place like they were supposed to!" Adrienne argued, remaining unconvinced that this had any mystical qualities about it. As she gazed over to Daniel's face, seeking support, it seemed that suddenly he wasn't as convinced, at least not as convinced as he was this morning. Handing Ronon his zat gun, Daniel walked toward Vala grabbing her arm forcefully and pulling her toward the village.

"Dammit Daniel! What are you doing?" Vala said as she jerked her arm away, pulling back to smack him if she needed. She hated it when he treated her like an idiot and after Adrienne had clocked him on more than one occasion for that very gesture, she was about to start doing the same. Letting go of her bicep, Daniel stopped, glaring at her viciously.

"Listening to you, that's what you wanted, wasn't it?" he spat, pointing in the direction of the marketplace. She smiled, her mood changing instantly, satisfied to finally being taken seriously and pranced ahead, Daniel following.

Still shaking her head in disbelief at the scene unfolding in front of her, Adrienne walked over to Teal'c and Ronon, who were trying to drag the cat over to the side of the hut and tie it up so it would be unable to do any harm once it had awakened, seeing if they needed any help.

"Someone should go with them AdrienneRowan," Teal'c said, looking at her, in his own way telling her that as Daniel's assistant she should be at his side as he tried to solve this dilemma. Adrienne sighed, the last thing she wanted to do was walk around in the darkness with her two friends, both of which were nearly at one another's throats, but he was right, someone should go with them but she wasn't about to go without a fight.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" she asked them, hoping that someone else would have to endure the bickering between Daniel and Vala. Shrugging, the two men set down the great cat's legs, balling up their fists and shook.

Teal'c paper, Ronon scissors and Adrienne rock.

"Dammit, why is it always me! I suck at such simple damn things!" Adrienne whined aloud, grabbed her staff weapon from the side of the hut and chasing after them.

As she expected, once she caught up to them they were still arguing, loudly, like normal, and she cursed Teal'c and Ronon under her breath.

"I told you, but you didn't listen to me. You NEVER listen to me," Vala was still chastising Daniel for ignoring her.

"Because listening to you gets me into trouble," he answered, glancing over his shoulder to see Adrienne joining them. She was holding her staff weapon and didn't appear to be too thrilled to be following, so he assumed that she been involuntarily elected to follow with said weapon.

"Indy, shug, I hate to point dis out, but it's da middle of da nigh, do ya really dink dis woman is gonna be sittin' dere?" Adrienne noted, with accent, as if she was trying to emphasize her point. Realizing that she was right, Daniel glanced at his watch, but kept walking. It was 2 hours to sunrise, technically time for Ronon's shift to begin, in a perfect world where mother nature wasn't trying to kill them. Refusing to stop now, he just looked back at his assistant, shrugging.

"Then we'll just have to wait," he replied, reaching to pull Vala along, receiving a harsh shove in the arm in the process. Seeing that there was no way out of this, Adrienne tucked her weapon under her arm and together the three of them entered the city, weaving through the marketplace, in search of a lone mysterious woman in a chair, setting up for the day.

Adrienne remembered that they had wandered the market for quite some time before finding the woman, so waiting wasn't the issue, the real issue was going to be wandering to the correct spot. As the sun started to peek over the horizon, villagers began to set up their wares on blankets and tables, going about their habitual routines. Adrienne was enthralled, seeing these people in their element, working away to prepare for their day; their lives were so simple, they just set up their items, sold and went home for the day. Part of her longed for a life so simple, she had never led a nice simple life, her dad always too proud to accept help from the rest of her family and now this, but she would never want to give up this life of adventure that she was living right now. However, her fantasies of being a simple merchant woman were short lived as she heard Daniel and Vala arguing ahead of her, bringing her back to the reality of the situation. Looking up to see they had gotten too far ahead Adrienne ran again to catch them just as they were rounding the corner, Vala pointing like mad over to a blanket where a man was setting up some copper looking pots.

"That's where she was!" Vala claimed, her eyes darting between the two archaeologists before peering back at the man who continued to unpack, oblivious to the shouting in his direction. Unconvinced, Daniel glanced back at Adrienne, looking for some sort of confirmation to Vala's claims not even needing to ask the question Adrienne could read in his face.

"I have no idea. I mean, it was a corner, like this, but they all look alike to me. Sorry, I really wasn't paying attention," Adrienne apologized to Daniel, Vala grumbling already as she stepped up to her friends.

"She was right here! Of course Addy doesn't remember; she was all woozy over that damn necklace you bought her! She sat right here and you had walked that way," Vala insisted, pointed up a slight hill. Daniel made a face at Vala as if he couldn't really believe that he had listened to her, in fact, Adrienne really couldn't believe he had listened to her.

Crossing his arms across his chest, Daniel scanned the now blustering marketplace, more alive than earlier as the sun crept up into the sky, searching for this imaginary woman that he had allowed Vala into tricking him into thinking existed. Clearly frustrated he could tell, he saw his assistant position her staff weapon on the ground, in such a way that she was resting on it and looking around herself. He knew that she had indeed seen this woman, even if she didn't think there was chance in hell that this woman was a fortune teller, which he was quickly starting to agree with her again.

Ignoring the reactions of both of her friends, Vala marched herself up to the man who had, according to Vala, taken the fortune teller's place.

"Excuse me, do you know what happened to the woman who was here yesterday? Sitting in a chair. Wearing a red dress?" Vala asked.

"No woman," the man replied, "My spot."

"Not yesterday it wasn't," Vala retorted.

"No woman, I sell here," the man answered, annoyed by her tone, continuing to lay out his assortment of copper pots. Kneeling before him on the ground Vala continued to argue, her finger outlining the form of this mysterious woman.

"This is getting us nowhere Indy," Adrienne said, cocking her head at the angry Lucian woman, who was at this point nose to nose with the vendor, swearing profusely.

"Do you have a better idea?" he peered over his glasses at her and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her staff weapon.

She didn't so she kept quiet.

Finally the man stood, his patience gone, nose to nose with Vala shouting back at her as intensely as she was shouting at him. Daniel reached between to intervene, pulling her away, and holding up his hand to halt the argument as he muttered something that Adrienne could only assume meant calm or friends or something of the sort.

"Are you happy? I listened to you. I'm sure that you saw that woman, maybe even right here, but I think you're taking something simple and blowing it entirely out of proportion," Daniel looked at her exasperated.

"I swear, Addy come on, I know you've got to remember something!" Vala turned, pleading with Adrienne once more who was starting to apologize again, truly unable to remember much of yesterday, other than the necklace, when she felt a light tugging at her leg. Puzzled, she glanced behind herself to see the culprit was a small child, about six years old if she had to guess.

"You seek Araya," the child spoke. Her eyes widening, Vala knelt down to address the child, Daniel and Adrienne staring on in confusion.

"Is she the fortune teller?" Vala asked gently, changing her tone, no longer the harshness she had had with Daniel earlier.

"No, she's crazy. But she sits here sometimes when Ekaro leaves early to tend his flock," the child answered honestly. Smirking, Vala looked back at her friends and made a face as if to say, see, I was right and you didn't believe me.

"Where can we find her?" Vala pushed the child, using her sweetest voice possible.

"I will take you," he offered, "if I can have one of those writing tools your brother used to buy his wife a necklace," he added quickly, pointing at Daniel. Laughing now, shaking her head, Vala flashed a look at Adrienne, raising her eyebrows.

"See, even this kid thinks you're his wife," Vala was quick to mention as Adrienne knelt down, rolling her eyes and handing over a pen to her friend. Smiling, Vala gave it to the child, who yanked the pen from her hand, shoving it into his tunic before grabbing to pull her back through the parts of the marketplace from which they had come, Daniel and Adrienne in a rapid pursuit.

The roads quickly became less crowded as the child led them deep into the outskirts of town, far from the nicer huts, far from the market areas that they had explored yesterday, in fact, this didn't look like a place Okulo would want them to see. These people looked sick, impoverished and dirty, while the rest of the village, primitive as it was, was nice and clean. Amongst a clutch of smaller huts, broken and unattended, the child finally stopped in front of a narrow passageway, shrouded by a tattered red cloth and turned to look back at Vala.

"Can I have another one," he inquired, showing Vala the pen, "for my friend?" Vala motioned for Adrienne to start digging in her vest and the cajun sighed, handing over what she hoped wasn't her last writing implement since that pocket was now empty. The delighted child snatched it from her hand and darted off without another word, leaving them alone in front of the small shack. Feeling vindicated, Vala peeked back at Daniel, hesitating at the door of the hut.

"This is your big idea; be my guest," he indicated with a sweep of his hand, Vala grumbling to herself as she ducked in to enter.

It was the smell that hit Daniel first. Instinctively, he looked back at Adrienne who he knew was sensitive to things like smell, and as he expected, her hand was across her mouth as she fought the urge to gag. Reaching out to help her should she vomit, Daniel placed his palm gently on her forearm, but she shooed him away, wanting more than anything to get this over with. Vala, on the other hand, just kept trudging forward, dropping to her knees to crawl through the dimness undeterred by the stench in front of her.

"Araya?" she asking into the darkness, "I'm the woman from the market yesterday. You told my friend someone is going to die. How did you know that?"

There was silence. Hoping they were not chasing yet another loose end, Daniel turned on his flashlight and there was Araya, hiding in the corner, or at least who he assumed was Araya, a small frail old woman in a tattered red dress, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. Puzzled, Adrienne grabbed his shoulder, pulling him close to her, whispering in his ear.

"Shug that's not the same woman. The women yesterday was, well, beautiful. That woman's a hag," Adrienne informed him. Daniel looked ahead and the woman was wearing that red dress just like Vala said she would be, but it was torn and stained, shining the flashlight confirmed his initial observations, in fact, the women herself must have been at least seventy years old judging by the lines across her face, the looseness of her skin and she was missing most of her teeth.

"Vala, are you sure?" Daniel asked, leaving Adrienne, her hand clamped firmly over her mouth once more, to kneel beside a nodding Vala, who seemed to be completely ignoring him.

"Araya, do you remember me?" Vala crawled closer, "You talked to my friend and I yesterday. You said someone was going to die and we have had a very interesting time here since."

"Someone is going to die," she stated again, emphasizing the word is very carefully.

"Who?" Vala asked.

"Oh I don't know. Koda just said talk to the animals Araya and make them go crazy like you do. But then I saw you and I thought, what nice people, I have to warn them. I had already made the animals go crazy though, sorry," the old woman explained. His eyes widening, Daniel got down on the ground this time, moving Vala out of the way gently to talk to the woman.

"Who is Koda and why would she want to kill us?" Daniel asked.

"She is Oda's sister. Okulo did not want to marry her. She is from the poor district. But so is Oda. Okulo is a liar," the woman was babbling, no longer looking at them, rather looking around the tent like a mad woman. The child was exactly right; she was crazy, proving it further as she began to rock back and forth and sing softly, a lullaby to no one in particular.

"Yes, but Araya, what does that have to do with my friends and I?" Daniel questioned her further, hoping to bring her back to focus.

"Your friends come to trade. Koda does not want friends. Okulo will lie to them. Make rich richer and poor poorer," the woman answer swiftly, then picked up the refrain of the song from right where she left off.

"We're not here to make anyone poor," Vala explained.

"Traders always come through the chappa'ai; they come make Okulo rich, more people move to poor district. Traders leave, never come back," Arya continued.

"Araya," Daniel said her name to clarify, "the Goa'uld were not traders," he tried to explain.

"No, the Gods have been gone. Many traders come. Many traders leave. Poor town grows," she explained, "Koda says that you richest traders we see so far. She told me to make the animals crazy. If one of you died and it looked like an accident, then you be scared and go away. But you seemed so nice, I had to warn you."

"What do you mean, make the animals go crazy?" Vala asked.

"I put idea in the air. Idea that you do not belong. The animals drive you away," Araya explained.

"Can you stop it?" Daniel asked.

"No, cannot stop it once it starts. Not until you leave," Araya answered. Terrified, and also a little satisfied, Vala glared back at Daniel, cutting her eyes, but he kept his gaze on the old woman.

"Thank you Araya. Thank you for trying to warn us and telling us about Koda," Daniel said as he stood, paying no attention to Vala, who was already starting to stammer something about being right, walking over to Adrienne and pulling her aside.

"I take it we're getting out of here," Adrienne stated, "because I'm at a loss as to how to combat anything like this."

"No, we're not. We are gonna find this Koda and see what is really going on around here," Daniel stated, heading out of the hut.

"Daniel you heard that woman! She said she can't stop the attacks!" Adrienne stormed behind him, not believing what she was hearing, especially considering he was always scolding her about walking into dangerous situations.

"Now you sound like Vala," he replied, maintaining his brisk stride, heading for the village center. Adrienne breathed out and followed, thankful at the very least to be escaping the smell, Vala bringing up the rear, smiling brightly at the realization that she was correct.

Okulo was not happy to see them, a clear indicator to Daniel that his hunch was right.

"Dr. Jackson, I assumed you would be exploring the resource maps that we had given you," he greeted Daniel as soon as they arrived at his hut, bowing his head slowly, not breaking eye contact for a second. Unfazed, Daniel shook his head, walking straight up to face the man.

"Okulo, it has been brought to my attention that we may not be entirely welcome here," Daniel started, Adrienne and Vala standing close behind.

"Dr. Jackson, who has led you to believe such nonsense?" the tribal leader inquired curiously. For the first time since meeting him, Adrienne didn't trust the look on his face, a look that said there was much more to this than it seemed.

"The sister of your wife," he replied curtly. Okulo was speechless but Daniel kept his eyes on the man as he continued.

"We were led to another part of the village. A part that looks much different from what you showed us yesterday. Apparently, your sister believes that not all of the village or the kingdom benefits from your trade agreements. In fact, she claims that we're not the first to come through the chappa'ai and trade with you," Daniel said, rage brewing in the old man's face.

"I can assure you that Koda does not represent this kingdom! She is a bitter woman who is bent on bringing down our entire way of life! " Okulo shouted.

"Well, until I get a chance to have a conversation with this bitter woman, my friends and I will be unable to discuss any trade agreement," Daniel turned to leave, Okulo racing ahead of him, waving his hands wildly.

"Please, please, do not leave, I will have her summoned," Okulo pleaded, glancing over at another of his wives, a younger one, who quickly scurried away to fulfill his request. Daniel peered over at his companions, indicating that they take a seat, the women sitting reluctantly, Vala clearly still concerned about this witch woman and Adrienne utterly confused.

He just hoped his hunch was right.

About ten minutes later the young woman returned, bringing with her a woman the exact image of Oda. Adrienne assumed this must be Koda and reached over to Daniel's hand, subtly mouthing 'Koda' receiving a nod in affirmation.

"Sister," Okulo greeted his sister in law dramatically with a warm embrace, but she didn't seem as pleased to see him, pulling away quickly.

"What do you want Okulo?" she crossed her arms, cutting dark black eyes sharply at him.

"Our guests here seem to think that you are causing some problems, that you want them to leave," Okulo answered, his voice casting a grave warning.

"Why would I do that? You do what you do without any thought of the rest of us. As long as it fills your hut with gold and treasure, you do not seem to care," she hissed at him. Angered, he approached her and for a moment Daniel thought he might strike her, and he moved over to stop his advance, but he didn't, instead baring his teeth and hissing through them.

"Our guests are here to trade and bring prosperity to all of our people. You want that don't you..." he was more insistent this time. Before she could answer, Daniel heard a commotion outside of the hut, turning to see the green curtained door moving away. Their faces grim, Ronon and Teal'c entered, Teal'c dragging a young boy while Ronon held a large and violently shaking burlap bag to his side.

"DanielJackson," Teal'c began, "we found this young man hiding in the bushes near our quarters."

"And he had this pissed off bag of rodents," Ronon added, fighting to control the battle in the sack.

Koda looked at them shocked, her mouth gaping and her attitude changing, Okulo reaching to grab her arms forcefully.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted at her. Daniel stepped to intervene this time but Adrienne held him back, wanting to see what would happen before their presence could cause any more damage. She had listened to him when he had given her that very lesson and quietly reminded him with her gaze.

"You needed to learn. We are tired of only your family benefitting from the traders that come. You lie to each set of traders and they bring you great fortune at our expense and then you sever ties and move onto the next group, keeping the wealth for yourself! It needed to stop!" she pushed him back and walked over to the young boy looking up to glare at Teal'c.

"Unhand my son. He is a child. He did as I asked," she pulled the boy's arm, but Teal'c reached out, bracing the boy with both arms, and away from the woman's touch.

"Your son tried to kill us," he retorted, his voice cool and calm.

"We did not intend to kill you, just scare you away," Koda insisted, pulling her son, who Teal'c slowly released from his grasp.

"Wait," Vala stepped in, "You told that Araya woman to unleash some animal insanity to kill us, she told us."

"That crazy fool. No, she thinks she can do magic, but she is just talk. She has a little talent with illusions, but that is all, she makes herself look younger, desirable, makes you believe her words. I planted an idea in her head, knowing she would tell you or at least tell someone, so between that and the incidents you would think you were cursed and leave," Koda explained.

"There's no curse?" Vala clarified, her eyes darting around the tent, sheepishly, wrong again, or at least partially.

Koda, her face glaring in a way so chilling that Adrienne could never match it, spit onto the ground.

"The only curse on this village is Okulo."

Daniel refrained from chastising Vala as they packed up to leave, but Adrienne could tell that something was on his mind, more than just Vala jumping to conclusions, even though she had been partially correct. The rest of the team packed up, filing out, while Daniel worked slowly, his mind a million miles away.

"You ok?" Adrienne asked as she knelt, placing her hand on his back, her eyes watching for his own arms to go to their typical nervous place, but Daniel didn't even look up, just kept packing, and not talking.

Definitely not like Daniel.

Normally he would be just chatting away, analyzing what had happened, talking about the next mission, but nothing.

"Addy to Indy. Are you in there shug?" she played, sitting back on her heels hoping he would respond.

"Yeah," he answered finally, "I had just hoped this would work out a bit better, but we can't start trading with a world that has this many internal issues." He shrugged, placing the last of his gear into the pack. Shaking her head, knowing it was more than that, Adrienne rubbed his back lightly, patting it gently before pulling her hand away.

"Daniel, Sam did say we'll send a team in a month or so to see if they've made any changes now that the village council knows what he was doing. We might get that trade agreement, it'll just take a little longer," Adrienne offered, but he still looked upset. Reaching over Adrienne squeezed his hand, peering over to look into his face, to read his face, to read him like she had gotten so good as doing.

Something else was wrong.

"What's really bothering you?" she pushed him to talk, gently, sitting back on her heels again as she faced him. After all, wasn't this what she was hired for, to problem solve, trouble shoot and help him? Plus, they were friends now and friends talked to one another and he had made it clear not too long ago that he did feel like she might be someone he can talk to.

Relenting, Daniel let out a sigh and looked around to make sure the other team members had cleared out completely. She said anytime and now was as just as good a time as any. His hunch had been right; there had been no curse, no magic, just a simple case of one group of people taking advantage of another.

"Every time I step through that gate I hope to find a people that just treat one another they way they're supposed to, with kindness and caring, but almost every planet is the same," he admitted quietly, visibly upset, "it's depressing. It shouldn't bother me but it always does."

Taken aback, he had really confided in her, something that was almost as emotionally personal as talking about Shar'e, Adrienne sat in silence for a moment unsure as to what she should say. Was Daniel searching for a Utopia or did he just want to find decent people? People that didn't take advantage of one another, people that cared about one another, like he did. Peeking over her shoulder to see if they were truly alone, especially Vala, who was still thoroughly enjoying her partial correctness, Adrienne put down her pack and staff weapon and wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly.

"Sometimes good people have a hard time realizing that not everyone else is. Truly good people get their hearts broken because they do," she whispered quietly in his ear, kissing his cheek softly. Slowly, not wanting to but having no choice, she let go, reaching back over for her things and standing to leave. Smiling slightly, she offered him her hand, which he took gratefully, rising to stand beside her.

"Thanks Ad," he said, touched, wishing he could say something more, something to let her know exactly what her friendship was beginning to mean to him when her face changed, and she giggled, biting her lip playfully.

"You called me Ad," she quipped, winking. Confused, his permanent state with her it seemed, Daniel frowned, peering at her over his glasses.

"That's your name last I checked..." he trailed, pushing his glasses up his face, but she was beginning to laugh harder, shaking her head.

"Just finish opening it when you get back..." she replied, raising her eyebrows as she pushed the brown curtain away to exit the tent. Completely lost, Daniel paused for a moment, when it clicked, and he tore off behind, chasing her down.

"Wait, wait, that was a test!? You wanted to see if I opened it! Adrienne! Addy! Ad! Dammit, whatever I'm supposed to call you, wait up!"

It was late Earth time, but Daniel just didn't feel like going to bed; he was still too worked up over the mission and the lengthy briefing that followed. Clicking on the light to the lab, he decided to work for a little while longer and then just crash in his on base quarters. He had told Adrienne she could have the night off, after assuring her that he was going to be just fine, despite her obvious concern and constant protest. Finally she just gave up on him and left, grabbing a few things from her desk and heading to her own on base quarters, still fussing on her way out of the door.

Cracking his neck as he walked over to his desk, Daniel saw the box, remembering his mysterious gift, a warmer feeling taking over his mission failure melancholy. He pushed the thoughts aside, forgetting the tribe for a moment as he lifted the lid the box. He couldn't help but smile as he read the note again, the note signed 'Ad', apparently for no other reason than to see if he had paid attention to her.

Of course it was a test; why would he ever think anything else?

Setting it aside, he started to pull the remaining tissue away, piece by never ending piece, only to discover another note and more tissue. He was puzzled, this gift had been wrapped entirely too well, what in the world had she hidden in this depth of wrapping and mess? Opening the second small folded piece of paper, Daniel scanned Adrienne's messy script, scribbled roughly from what he knew to be a lack of handwriting in her daily life.

_Technically__** I'm**__ supposed to carry these..._

Baffled he set that note aside as well and pulled away the remainder of the tissue.

What in the world could she be talking about?

Peering down into the box, he saw that inside were two halves of coconut, hollowed out and dried. It took him only a moment to register the reference and when he did he pulled them quickly out of the box, clacking them together and erupting into laughter. There was a shine from the bottom of the container, bright enough to catch his eye. He set the coconut halves aside to discover that underneath of them had been placed a small silver shot glass with another slip of paper tucked carefully inside. Frowning, he pulled that paper out as well, unfolding it, seeing more chaotic lettering.

_You heard them this time, right?_

_Drink_

Not bothering with his computer, or any work at all, having completely forgotten what he had come down here to do to take his mind off of everything in the first place, Daniel just grabbed the coconut halves and shot glass, heading back out into the hall, pulling the lab door closed behind him.

He hoped she was still up.


	12. Chapter 12 Moving Up

"Ad," he shook her gently, whispering quietly into her ear, hoping not to rouse her too quickly.

"Not now Eric; humans have to sleep," she rolled over in bed, pushing him away forcefully, shoving her head underneath the pillow.

Note to self, Adrienne doesn't wake easily.

"Ad," he whispered a bit louder, hoping this time it would work, that she would wake up and get out of here since he needed her up and moving, sooner than later if this was going to work.

Maybe this hadn't been a good idea.

"Just go to Fangtasia; I'll be there after I nap," she replied, smacking at the air now, huddling further over to the corner of the bed, pressing her body against the cold concrete wall.

"Adrienne, I need you to wake up and stop dreaming about vampires," Daniel pleaded, raising his voice a touch in order to wake her but not startle her. He wasn't afraid of scaring her; he was afraid of getting punched, he knew how hard she hit and Adrienne took her sleep, took health in general seriously, very seriously, very very seriously. Rolling over, Adrienne opened her eyes slightly, barely looking at him, startled for a moment before realizing that it was Daniel staring right at her.

"Is your name Alexander Skarsgard?" she asked curtly, hoping her voice conveyed what her eyes could not.

"No Ad, it's me; you're just dreaming about Swedish men," Daniel answered, standing closer to the edge of the bed, since now that she was awake, there was no fear of him getting socked, or so he hoped. Growling, Adrienne rolled back over to her side glaring at him viciously.

"Then get the hell out of my bedroom Daniel," she said as she pulled the blanket over her head. Daniel figured this was the reaction he might get barging in here in the middle of the night, but he needed her to get up now and this couldn't wait until morning.

"Adrienne, I just need you to come and take a look at something. Then you can go right back to sleep. I promise," Daniel lied, deftly. It would take a bit longer than a moment and she wasn't going to be happy, but this needed to be done and there was no better time than the present, regardless of the hour. Grumbling, she rolled back over to face him and turned on her bedside lamp, cutting her eyes at him.

"I have a rule about being seen without makeup Daniel. I also have a rule about being called into work at," she looked at her clock, "three a.m. Oh, and a rule about having men in my bedroom uninvited. Right now you're breaking all three." Daniel made a face at her. Times like these he wondered if she was really that difficult or if Vala had been having an influence on her but either way, she was going to get up, and she was going to get up now.

"Do you think I'd come all the way down here and drag you out of bed if it wasn't important?" he retorted but Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"I don't hear sirens," she spat, sitting up, still complaining but she was coming. Pulling back the blanket, Adrienne stepped out of bed wearing only a tank top and underwear, throwing her cover disgustedly behind her. Taken aback by her choice of bedtime attire, Daniel turned away quickly, clearing his throat. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him hiding his face with his hand, noticing his discomfort, stopping mid stride to scowl at him.

"Ya such a cooyon sometimes Indy, dis be more dan my racing suit covers. Did ya dink I slept in uniform?" she laughed, somewhat appreciating his chivalry, trudging over to her dresser and pulling some yoga pants out of the drawer. Despite her temptation, she decided not to mention to him that if he were to awaken Vala at three a.m. in her underwear that he would be getting a decidedly different reaction.

Reluctantly, Adrienne pulled the pants up to her hips and walked over to slide on her slippers, receiving a raised eyebrow and a frown in return as he stood by her footwear.

"Dammit Indy, you're lyin' ta me. I know dat look, dat look dat says slippas are not enough," Adrienne sighed and slipped back out of them, walking over to grab her combat boots, foregoing socks and turning toward the bathroom.

"Adrienne, this is urgent, can you please hurry?" Daniel tried not to plead but was getting slightly annoyed. She didn't acknowledge him with a response, brushing her teeth, door open, seemingly doing it as loud and slow as she could, slamming the brush into the cup, and storming back into the room, make-up bag in hand. Shoving Daniel out of the way as she walked right past him, Adrienne opened the door, heading straight for the elevators.

When she arrived it was a disaster, as if Daniel's spreading disease had far surpassed his desk, invading hers in the process. Files were everywhere, stacked on tables, in piles on the floor, strewn on top of the cabinets and she counted at least three cups of coffee in various stages of completion positioned around the room, including one precariously close to the edge of the stack of papers on her desk and her spare hard drive. She scanned the room from side to side before looking at him, her eyes wide and her mouth dropped open.

"What have you done?!" Adrienne asked in disbelief, taking her eyes off of him again to gaze upon the literal eruption of paper laid out in front of her. The lab had been organized before she was hired, albeit loosely, as Daniel had an odd system of spreading that deviated drastically from how meticulous his dig sites were but one of Adrienne's first self-appointed tasks when she was hired was to create a system that everyone who needed the lab could use in an attempt to reign in his massive desk disorganization.

This wasn't her system.

This wasn't any system.

This was shrapnel from the bomb known as Daniel.

"I told you I needed you," he replied, lifting his leg to carefully step into a six inch by six inch square in order to walk over to his desk. She followed, stepping over three opened boxes, contents stacked in piles beside them, almost stumbling over the third, as the folders were stacked on top of the box so high she couldn't lift her leg over the tower. About halfway to the desk she paused, grumbling under her breath once more, turning and walking, dodging really, her way to the large file cabinet in the corner of the room.

"Ad?" Daniel questioned, "Come on I need you to look at this; what are you doing?" He stopped his trek across the mess to look over his shoulder, hearing her nearly knocking over the papers from the other side of the room. Frowning, again, Adrienne held up a finger, grabbing a nearby chair and hopping up on it, digging into the large puke green cabinet hanging on the wall. She pulled out a black box, slamming the cabinet door closed behind her, hopping down and waltzing over to her desk, glaring over at him.

The dagger glare, he thought to himself, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"It's a coffee maker. I bought it last week. Whatever da 'ell ya done dragged me out ah bed fo looks like it's gonna require me ta be coherent," she explained as she started to open the box, shortly and rudely, making it quite clear that she wasn't happy with him at the moment, but she was here nonetheless.

Knowing he had won, Daniel smiled and continued to his computer, grabbing the laptop and holding it like a serving tray as he walked it over to her, peeking to see if she had witnessed his silly little performance. She hadn't, much to his disappointment, continuing to slam around the pieces of the coffee machine on to the surface of her desk to piece everything together. He gave up trying to have fun with her in the middle of the night and set the computer on top of her own closed laptop while she started the assemble the source of her fix.

"Alright, these images came in from our last check-in to P3X-888," Daniel began, cueing up the machine, his finger guiding her eyes to the images on the screen. She barely looked up, still fumbling with the pieces, her eyes tired and hardly open.

"The Unas," she nodded as she opened a pack of filters, popping one into the top, shaking the bag of coffee before opening that as well, clumsily. This was no joke; his assistant really couldn't function without caffeine and sleep. Good to know, in fact, he started to debate whether or not to ask Carolyn for some sort of injection to keep handy if he ever needed her up for an emergency but decided against it. Still partially ignoring him, as she successfully ripped the top seam of the pouch, after a moment's struggle in which she shooed away his help, she paused, gauging the amount and pointed at the growing pile to see if she had filled it acceptably. Daniel nodded in the affirmative.

"Yes, well, I was unable to go on this past check-in, remember?" Daniel continued as he opened a file of images.

"Yea, I remember da bahbin," Adrienne teased, recalling his pouting, a smile finally on her face, bumping him with her hip, "Go on."

"Well, the team that did go through found these," he replied, turning the computer so Adrienne could see the images. Looking this time, her eyes widened, quickly darting over to Daniel.

"Go to bed!" Adrienne exclaimed, it being too early in the morning for her to contain her upbringing, and maybe too early for Daniel as well, as he scrunched his face looking thoroughly confused.

"Addy, I just got you OUT of bed," Daniel said. Smile gone, she glared at him, again.

"It's 3 a.m. shug, ya lucky Imma speakin' English, or at least Cajun," she responded peering closer to the screen. Catching her in her zone, just liked she teased he would do, Daniel reached over for the pot and walked to the sink, filling it with water as Adrienne suddenly seemed to be absorbed in the images, having forgotten her coffee making. Returning to her desk, carefully, why had he made this mess, Daniel set the machine on the side table, away from the electronics, pouring in the water and hitting start.

She would thank him later, he was sure.

"Is this?" Adrienne asked, not bothering to finish her question because she knew he would know exactly what she was talking about.

Wow, that was a creepy thought.

"Yep, Goa'uld, but NEW writings. It looks like we might have some of our friends trying to regroup after all," he said and Adrienne shook her head, peeling her eyes from the screen to glance back to him.

"Ok, so what do you need me to do? Can I shower before we suit up to leave?" she asked, the switch flipping, the switch that had made him not kill her back when she used to drive him crazy, the "work-mode" switch.

Coffee or not, she was fired up and ready to go, no questions, no complaint.

He really did like having an assistant; he really liked have her.

Now for the next part of the plan.

"No, you're not leaving. Sam wants to send me and Teal'c alone on this one to see Chaka and figure out what's going on. I need you to hold down the fort," he answered.

" 'Old down da fort? My eye!" she exclaimed, giving him the exact reaction he had anticipated, or so he hoped. He really needed to print out a list of cajun expressions for later if he ever hoped to communicate with her in the middle of the night, sans java.

"Ad, it's no big deal, you've done it before. You know how boring it is in here, hell you spend most of your day listening to rap music or trying to find new ways to torture me. I'll be back in three days, tops," he explained to his clearly disappointed assistant who let out a sigh, rolling her eyes and shoving her hands to her hips. He knew she was going to agree, he could count on her like no one else, he was just waiting for the words to exit her mouth.

"Alright, alright, I got it covered, you know I've got it covered. When are you leaving?" she asked instead, changing her tune.

Too easy, he thought, it's just too easy to exploit her sense of duty.

"Uh," Daniel replied, glancing at his watch, "in about 5 minutes."

"Five minutes! Ya rat bastard, why dinna wake me up soona, let's get ya ta da gate room," she began to shove him with urgency as he tried not to laugh, wanting his video camera to film her in the middle of the night, dark circles, thick accent, trying to make coffee, hell trying to open the bag of coffee, using a variety of Cajun expressions.

It would be the best blackmail later...

"No gate travel; we're trying to slip in quiet. We're taking the Odyssey," Daniel replied, pointing upward, indicating his real method of transport. Adrienne stopped shoving him, backing up quickly for fear of getting sucked in to the beam, barking some orders of her own.

"Ok, well, be careful ahn make shore ta check-" she was going to say check in with her but the beam came and zapped Daniel into space before she could finish, blinding her in the process. Blinking and rubbing her face, Adrienne stepped back, looking at the lab, again taking in the damage.

"Dat man owes me big time. Dinna out on him big time," Adrienne said out loud to the empty room, sighing before leaning down to begin the clean-up.

Daniel stood back from the camera, watching his assistant try to reorganize the lab as her coffee brewed, Sam behind him shaking her head.

"Daniel, I don't think she's ready, it's only been what, six months? And even if she is ready, every other SG member gets a written test and an interview before being assigned to a team, and that's when they haven't been working for us. If she's ready for a team placement, then she's ready and I will promote her. Why are you insisting on treating her differently?" Sam asked, crossing her arms, making a face at her friend, hoping that they were not back to feuding incessantly. She thought that they were over that, way over that, but standing here as Daniel evilly eyeballed the screen, watching poor Adrienne curse and swear her way around their workspace, she wasn't so sure.

"I want to be sure I'm right about her and an interview isn't going to tell us anything. If Adrienne gets wind for a millisecond that we're considering her as the fifth, you'd better believe that she'd prepare a three hour PowerPoint presentation with music that she has preselected for various psychological reasons in order to argue why she is the best candidate for the job. Oh and a list of possible questions and answers that we might ask if she allowed us to speak. That woman's too smart to be tested normally, way too smart," Daniel crossed his arms, thinking to himself it was also fun to torture her; he would finally get an opportunity to dish back out some of the harassment he had endured in their short friendship, or at the very least, a little payback for endless hours of bad rap music pouring from her headphones. He watched as she stopped cleaning, for now, making herself a cup of coffee and scanning the room in that Adrienne way that she did, eyes darting, brain calculating, planning, until finally she began to make a few faces, mouthing profanities in various romance languages. Daniel smiled, containing his laughter, Sam smirking and shaking her head.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked.

"Just a bit," he answered honestly, somewhat, he was enjoying this a lot, shoving his hands into his pockets and allowing himself to laugh.

"How long before you throw a monkey wrench into everything?" Sam now inquired, wanting to hear the full layout of Daniel's scheme, such as it was. Poor Adrienne, the general thought, this wasn't about making her a member of SG-1, this was Daniel's sad attempt at a prank.

"Well, she left the lab at midnight, and knowing her, she read some crazy novel until at least one to ease herself to sleep. She's working on maybe two hours now, if she's lucky. I want to get her good and sleep deprived and then throw it at her," he replied, smiling, leaning forward to peer into the screen, rubbing his chin with his hand.

He really was enjoying this.

"Fine, but I'm not gonna fire or punish her when she pommels you into the ground after this is all over. Adrienne doesn't like to be messed with," Sam warned, memories of foot races, elevator fights and gym bouts gone wrong flashing through her head.

"I can handle Adrienne," Daniel assured her calmly, pulling out the metal chair and taking a seat in front of the camera.

By 9 a.m. Adrienne was brewing a second pot of coffee, her mere two hours of sleep getting the best of her. The lab had been straightened for the most part, only a few loose files here and there, so she decided to rest for a moment, sitting down watching the brown liquid drip slowly into its glass case. There just never seemed to be enough coffee in the world, especially when Daniel gave her tasks like these, never enough, but she sat there, waiting, vowing to stand once she was properly caffeinated.

As for Daniel, he had gone to bed hours ago, having seen Adrienne clean obsessively before, not needing to observe that; that wasn't what this little test was about anyway. Unaware that she was being watched, at this point only by a curious Walter at least, Adrienne just poured herself another cup and paused, her eyes brightening before she frantically dashed to her quarters.

At 1 p.m. Daniel trudged back into Sam's office, having slept in her bunk adjacent to her office so that Adrienne wouldn't find him, because knowing his luck, she'd decide there was something in his room she had to borrow and catch him huddled under the covers. He laughed at the thought, of her barging into his room, unannounced and how strange it was that it really didn't bother him that much anymore. Cracking his neck before slipping on his glasses, he peered over to the monitor, surprised to see Vala sitting at the screen.

"So this is her test? This is your master plan to test to see if she is really ready join us?" Vala asked as Daniel came in and sat down beside her, peering at the screen before shaking his head.

"Yeah, why?" he answered, rubbing his eyes, having missed some crust and putting his glasses back on. He didn't want to be discussing this with her, this was between he and Adrienne and he and Adrienne alone. Vala would just get wild ideas.

"Because I can't tell if she's passing or failing," Vala chuckled, a grin breaking out across her face as she pointed at the screen. Puzzled, Daniel pushed his glasses further up his nose, leaning in and there was Adrienne, in the lab, dancing around like a fool, file folders in one hand and one of his artifacts in the other. As if that wasn't enough the whiteboard was playing an episode of True Blood, close captioned, in French of course, Alexander Skarsgard's half naked body strutting across the screen.

Daniel's jaw dropped.

What in the world was going in on there?

Fast as his hand could move, he shoved Vala aside, reaching over to turn up the volume.

"_Biggie biggie biggie can't you see; sometimes your words just hypnotize me..." _the iPod speaker blared, Daniel now seeing the stereo from her quarters sitting at his desk, the fabric covering vibrating to the beat as Adrienne sang along, dancing low to the floor.

Daniel was staring at the screen in complete shock. What in the world was she doing? And how in the hell could she do that? He was debating whether or not to check in with her from his "mission", just to see what excuse she would have for music blaring when he saw a figure come around the corner. It was Sergeant Satterfield, one of his "admirers" as Adrienne liked to call her.

He smiled at this pleasant turn of events.

Have fun dealing with this one Adrienne, he thought, knowing she hated when Satterfield came down to the lab almost as much as she used to be annoyed by Vala. Sitting back in his chair, Daniel smiled brightly, chuckling a bit, to see how exactly his "Robin" would handle this intrusion. Her face remaining calm, too calm, maybe she wasn't going to react, Adrienne reached into her pocket, pulling out her hand and pointing a small remote over her shoulder to shut off her music.

"Where's Dr. Jackson?" Satterfield questioned, looking over at his empty desk, well nearly empty, everything from earlier cleared away save Adrienne's speaker dock.

"Off world, is there something I can help you with?" Adrienne answered professionally. Satterfield looked disappointed, Adrienne rolling her eyes slightly, making Daniel smile as he glanced over at Vala in satisfaction.

"Oh, I just needed him to look at something," she replied quietly.

"Well, I'm more than happy to take a look at it for you; or if you would like to leave it I can have him look at it upon his return," Adrienne held out her hand, a jovial expression on her face, not one sarcastic tone or mannerism. Breathing out, Satterfield looked disappointed, gazing over at his desk again before stuffing the folder into Adrienne's waiting hand.

"I'd like to have him look at it," Satterfield responded, stressing the word him.

"No problem," his assistant answered, that diplomatic smile of hers plastered across her face, taking the file and walking it over to his desk, tucking it neatly into his "in" box.

Satterfield left without another word.

"I swear fo Gah, I 've got ta be da only woman ahn dis damn base dat dinks sleepin' wit dat man is nah a life priority," Adrienne said aloud to no one in particular, marching back over to her desk.

Vala spit coffee all over the screen, leaning forward in her chair laughing hysterically. Screwing up his nose, Daniel reached out for the screen and shut off the volume, glaring over at Vala as she stood to get a paper towel and wipe off the monitor, still giggling uncontrollably.

"I'm glad that you find her amusing," Daniel glared at Vala, not finding Adrienne's comment the least bit amusing. No one on this base, well other than the doubled over laughter factory standing beside him, was trying to sleep with him; Adrienne just liked to exaggerate.

And tease.

Damn Adrienne.

Regaining her composure, Vala breathed in and just smiled back at him.

"I love her, for so many reasons," Vala choked out, taking the wet towels from his hand, tossing them in the trash as she walked out the door, chuckling with every step. Trying to ignore her, Daniel looked back at the screen to see that Adrienne had cranked the music back up and was dancing around like before, not a care in the world.

"You just wait Miss Perfect," Daniel said, tapping a pen on the screen, "you just wait."

At about 5 p.m. he saw Ronon pop his head around the corner. Scoffing, Daniel leaned forward turning the volume back up. Adrienne could laugh all she wanted about Daniel's little female fan club, but Dex took it to the next level of flirtation. He was very interested in Adrienne, much to Daniel's amusement, so much so that he loved to try to eavesdrop on their ridiculous conversations. Ronon, who himself was a prisoner of the Wraith for years was somehow, in his tall tales, the hero of the entire Pegasus galaxy, all the while Adrienne would just sit there, smiling, laughing and later insist to Daniel that he was just her buddy. If every woman on base was trying to sleep with Daniel, at least they weren't hovering like flies to honey, flies that no matter how much work needed to be done, sometimes he couldn't shoo away.

"Hey Addy, where've you been all day?" Ronon asked, plopping himself down into Daniel's chair like he belonged there. The archaeologist rolled his eyes, but leaned forward to get a better look when he saw Ronon reach into his side pocket and hand Adrienne a bottle.

"Working. Daniel's off world for a few so I get to play the boss," she answered, taking the water and leaning to kiss him on the cheek. Oh please, Daniel thought, I catch heat for speaking to a friendly female while she and Dex are gonna share water?!

He made another mental note for harassment later.

"Nice, how's it going?" Ronon continued, smiling at the peck.

"Fantastic. I mean, he's my friend and all, and I adore him, I do, but really? He makes this sound like this is so frikkin hard. Yeah, I bet it's hard when you have to spend so much time trying to fight off every bimbo on the base," Adrienne said, sitting on the edge of her desk, drinking her gift. Daniel made a face at her response, a little hurt by the assumption, he thought they'd cleared up any old feelings like that, but it looked like Ronon was going to ask for him.

"It's not that bad, what are you jealous?" Ronon joked, nudging her thigh with his foot. Swallowing and shaking her head, Adrienne held up her hand a moment before answering.

"No, I'm not jealous. It's just that, well, they don't know him, ya know? He's just, well, he just deserves better..." Adrienne paused, looking down at the bottle before bringing the cool clear plastic back to her lips.

"Wow," Daniel whispered from the observation room, not even aware that he had spoken. Had she really said that? That he deserved better? That "they" didn't know him? He should have been angry, she had essentially told Ronon that Daniel whined about the complexity of his work but he couldn't stop thinking about her words.

_...he just deserves better..._

Glancing back at the screen, bringing himself back to reality, he caught Ronon as he shrugged, standing from the chair and grabbing her shoulder.

"Well, it's about dinner time. Didn't know if you wanted to join us?" he asked, Adrienne's expression changing instantly at the invite.

"I was planning on going for a run first," she said, her dark eyes dancing over the hands of the clock, calculating the time in her head.

Nuh uh, Daniel thought, forgetting in a flash what she had just said about him, she is NOT going to sit there, flirt, talk about how easy his job was and then go running.

NOT happening.

He stood from his seat.

"I'll wait for you; but I think the others are going to head down now," Ronon added. Oh no, Daniel frowned, and she was not going to get a dinner date with Ronon either, in fact, it seemed as though none of this was going as planned. Adrienne had run the lab before alone, well, with Vala's help and Sam checking in on her twice a day, but there was no way in the world she was going to make it all look so easy, make it look like he wasn't even needed at all.

"Sam!" Daniel shouted over his shoulder to where the general was sitting in her main office on the phone. She put up her finger making an agitated face, her lips pulled tight as she responded to whomever was on the other end of the line. Knowing by that face that it was probably Woolsey, Daniel shut up, slinking back down into the chair watching his assistant and her admirer talk, no flirt, they were definitely flirting, in his lab. He had wanted her to shine, sure, and do well on this test, he had really grown quite fond of her, but he did want for her to encounter a few hiccups. He wanted something that proved she could handle the stress, because handling stressful situations was exactly what she needed to be able to do if she was going to be a full member of SG-1, a full member who could be sent on missions without him or without his help at all.

Apparently she could, much better than he.

Daniel was racking his brain trying to figure out if he should begin his little operation sooner when he felt Sam touch his shoulder, peering over his to chuckle at the screen.

"She's doing pretty well," Sam said.

"Yeah," Daniel responded.

"You seem disappointed," Sam offered, pulling out the chair beside him to sit down.

"Not disappointed per se," Daniel explained, "I was kind of hoping that she would admit that she couldn't do it all by herself or at least made it look like I was needed. But no; she's got everything under control." I want her to need me, he thought, I want us to need each other, isn't that what this working relationship was supposed to be about?

"See, I told you she was a good choice. One day you'll admit that you're glad I hired her. Maybe you're right; I think she's ready. Are you ready to start your last little trial?" Sam inquired, smiling, her eyes on the clock, Daniel following her gaze.

"It's early, but I guess we can," he replied. Still smiling as she stood, as if she knew exactly what was going to happen, Sam marched back through the open door of her office, grabbing the phone receiver, a pointedly different expression on her face than before.

"It's General O'Neill. Yes, we're ready. Only M floor. Lock the lab doors as well," Sam instructed, hanging up the phone to walk back and rejoin Daniel, who sat back, his fingers resting lightly on his chin as the tiny black and white monitor showed Adrienne bidding Ronon farewell, turning on her heels toward her locker to get her running gear. He watched her carefully as he saw the flash of the sirens on M level, the power go out, her head jerking back in the direction of the hallway, fear in her eyes, the infrared cameras making her gaze appear animal like, caught in sheer terror.

"Alright Ad, let's see if you can do this," Daniel said as he sat forward, taking a deep breath. You can do it, he thought, prove me right, he coached silently as Adrienne ran over to the door arriving mere moments before it closed in her face, the emergency locks activating. Slamming the door with her fists, a few choice swear words that this time Daniel could make out crossing her lips, in a fit of something, panic, rage, he couldn't tell which, she turned around and marched her way in the darkness over to the phone.

"O'Neill," Sam answered the very instant it rang in the observation room.

"Sam?" he heard from the other end, surprise in her voice. She must not have planned on Sam answering herself.

"Addy, thank god, are you ok?" Sam answered. She sounded concerned, that was a nice touch, good acting on Sam's part. It was too much, Daniel was just too curious, and he stood, walking to the phone, leaning his head to the receiver.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?" Adrienne inquired, her voice echoing forced calm.

"Nothing too bad. Just had a generator blow. Looks like you're going to be trapped for a while, while we investigate. Sorry Adrienne, I'm afraid that you might be stuck in the dark for a few hours," Sam responded. The cajun sighed, Daniel could see her actions mirroring her voice as he peeked back over to the monitor. For the first time all day she didn't seem as confident, which was good, it was what he was looking for, that balance between talent and humility.

"Sure Sam, no worries. Is there anything I can do?" she asked, her spirits still seeming to be high, somewhat. Daniel knew that wouldn't last for long; for reasons Adrienne had yet to tell him, she didn't like being confined alone in dark places, not that being alone in a dark place was ever really pleasant but Adrienne just seemed to like them less than others. It was yet another reason he was watching this all so closely; if she wasn't going to tell him what exactly was the cause of her anxiety he needed to know if she could work through it. Pushing his glasses up his face, Daniel walked back over to the monitor, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"Just wait it out; I'll keep you posted," Sam replied to his assistant who thanked her and hung up the phone, scurrying back over to her desk for that blasted iPad, he could tell by the sudden glow in her hands. Returning to Daniel's side, Sam took a step forward when the ground under her feet shook lightly.

"Nice touch, how did you do that?" he asked, his face brightening, pointing to the floor. The general didn't look as pleased, straightening her jacket and surveying their sparse surroundings here in the observation room, noting that the clock had tilted ever so slightly.

"I didn't," she replied as the base shook again, more aggressively, Daniel grabbing the desk to brace himself. An attack being her first thought, Sam ran over to Walter's desk, Daniel following, his heart racing, images of what was done at Cheyenne happening all over again. Appearing equally as panicked at the main board, Walter ran his fingers all over the surface, across a multitude of lights and flashes.

"Walter, what's going on?" she asked, examining the board for herself. Red dots signaling emergencies were appearing everywhere and on every level, yet aerial scans showed no indication of anything in the atmosphere.

"Not sure ma'am," he replied, "but it seems that shutting off the power to M level caused a chain reaction of sorts. I'm not sure if it's sabotage or government wiring, but we have small electrical fires and blackouts reported all over the base." The room shook again, catching the general off guard, sending her to the floor, Daniel catching her arm before she made contact. Grabbing the back of Walter's chair, Sam regained her stance, leaning forward to examine the data for a second time.

"Well that doesn't explain the shaking!" she insisted, holding onto the chair as the tremors started yet again, now lasting even longer. The movement subsided, but before she could check the board for any further damage, she heard a ringing from the office, a ring that she didn't ever want to hear.

The red phone.

Her heart racing as fast as her feet to make it to the office, she picked it up breathing out as she did.

"O'Neill."

"Hey hun, you guys feelin' any movement down there?" It was Jack and he seemed to know more than he was saying, more awaiting her response than asking a question.

"Yes Jack, a lot of movement. What's going on?" she asked mouthing to Daniel it was Jack as the room shook again, Daniel grabbing the nearest chair on his approach as Sam braced herself on her desk.

"Well, we were running a little test up here, in our lab, and it looks like the geeks have caused a bit of a problem," he said, trying to stay calm.

"A bit of a problem? Jack, my entire base is shaking!" Sam raised her voice as Daniel tried to ascertain what was going on, frustrated to be on just one end of the conversation.

"We're on it, well, Rodney says he's on it, but you need to clear out and bring your people up to the gate room just in case you guys need to evacuate. You have a light staff today, right?" he asked, and he was indeed correct. They did have a light staff today which was precisely the reason Daniel and Sam had scheduled Adrienne's test for when they did, the base was at minimal. It should be fairly simple to get everyone to this level and evacuated if needed, that was, everyone except for Adrienne, who was locked in the lab, unable to escape.

"Jack, we've got a problem here and I need to call you back," Sam said quickly, hanging up the receiver and turning to Daniel.

"What's wrong?" he asked as the room shook once more, but this time they were both holding on and prepared.

"Explosion upstairs, a real one. Jack wants everyone in the gate room in case we need to evacuate," Sam said. Daniel nodded, his hands up, trying to figure out what he could do to help.

"Ok, do an all call, I'm sure everyone can be down here fairly quickly," he responded, but Sam was shaking her head before he even finished.

"No, Daniel, you don't understand. Not everyone can. With the power fluctuations Walter was showing us, there's no way to open the door to your lab," Sam replied, tapering her words, concerned about his reaction.

A wave of understanding flowing over him, Daniel's eyes widened and he dashed over to the monitor where Adrienne was looking right into the camera, clicking on the volume.

"Daniel, I know you can hear me! Ok, this is cute. Is this a test or something? Do you guys initiate people into your little frat? You know if you're gonna go with that whole cut the power thing you need to make sure that the little red light on the camera doesn't continue to blink, it's kind of a dead giveaway," Adrienne shouted, her hands on her hips scowling at the lens. She had a point about the camera, but refocusing, Daniel clicked the mic, calming his voice before he spoke.

"Adrienne, listen, yes this was a test, we want you on the team, but it's not a test anymore. There's a real emergency. I need you to go get the crowbar out of the supply closet and try to pry open the door," he explained slowly and clearly, hoping she would listen, but she just shook her head, not believing a word he was saying.

"Nice try, but I know how this goes. I need to prove to you that I can think outside the box. Just stop distracting me and let me figure this out," she replied, shooing him away as if he was standing right there beside her and not peering into a tiny grainy screen. Squinting, he could see her milling around, her face in deep concentration mode as she searched the lab, looking for something, for what he couldn't be sure. She was walking, scanning, thinking when the base shook again, sending Adrienne to the floor and Daniel's stomach to his throat.

"Ad I'm not kidding around. This is a real emergency and I just need you to tell me if you can pry the door open," Daniel tried to relay more concern into his voice, hoping that she was alright as she dragged herself to her knees, still shaking her head. The lights around Sam and Daniel flashed and he could hear the general behind him doing an all call ordering all personnel to report to the gate room, an all call that without power Adrienne wouldn't hear. Desperate, he watched her move around the screen, observing the room carefully trying to solve the imaginary task she thought he had set for her, something that wasn't even there, that she had only convinced herself was.

"Ad, listen, please listen. There's no puzzle. There was, there was going to be in phases, but we have to prepare to evacuate to the Gamma site and I can't get to you, so you have got to get to us. Please listen to me Adrienne. Do you understand?" Daniel tried again, pleading, his voice cracking.

Surely she would believe him, he wasn't that good of an liar, he was shocked she hadn't seen through his ruse already, but Adrienne was so goddam over analytical that his heart was racing in fear, fearful that she would die trying to solve a puzzle that wasn't there. The shaking grew stronger and the red phone rang again, Daniel knowing in his heart the message on the other end. Her face sullen, Sam reached over and answered.

"Sam, start dialing the Gamma site. We're gonna have to release some gas to get this thing to stop and we're not taking any chances," it was Jack, ordering the evacuation.

"Jack, Dr. Rowan's stuck in the lab," she replied as she was frantically signaling to Walter to begin dialing. He did as instructed, a look of concern on his face as well for the fate of Daniel's assistant, who had never been anything to him but kind and pleasant.

"Of course she is. The one damn person in the galaxy that's as much trouble as Daniel and we have to hire her," Jack shouted into the phone, "Well, get her out of there."

"We can't Jack," her answer was slow, deliberate, "we're running a test and between that and the safety protocols there's no way in or out," That had been her first thought when she realized that her newest staff member was trapped; she realized that her own safety protocols concerning transport and other beaming capabilities meant that Adrienne, unregistered in the ship's databases couldn't be transported aboard. One of her first orders of business had been to initiate DNA based beaming restriction on the larger ships to avoid a Prometheus type situation, using the fleet of puddle jumpers for emergency evacuations.

Puddle jumpers that were also locked down and inaccessible.

It meant that Dr. Adrienne Rowan's luck had run out.

There was a pause on the other line, broken when Sam heard her husband breath in deeply.

"Sam, honey, I know that she's your friend, but if you don't get the rest of those folks out of there you're gonna lose more than an archaeological assistant," he stated plainly, waiting quietly on the other end for his wife to reply, but she didn't, silence on the other line. Sam understood, knowing that which personnel to save and which she couldn't was part of being in charge, friend or not. Fighting back tears, she hung up the phone, gazing slowly at Daniel.

"We've got to go," she said, admitting it to herself that she needed to get the rest of her staff out of there.

"What?! I'm not leaving her!" Daniel shouted, standing from his seat pointing back at the monitor, Adrienne's image frantically dashing around the screen.

"Jack said that they're about to release a toxic gas, he didn't give any more details, but Rodney's involved so I'm not taking any chances. We've got to go!" Sam's voice was urgent but clear yet Daniel didn't move, his head shaking and lips pursing.

"Sam, I can't just let Adrienne die!" he shouted, a look of panic in his face. She had become more than his assistant; she was his friend, he couldn't just save himself and let her die. She was such a wonderful person, so intelligent, so kind and caring; he couldn't imagine the lab anymore without her.

She couldn't die like this.

She deserved better.

"Daniel, there's no way to get her out. She stands a chance if you tell her to get into the bathroom of the lab, block the lower part of the door and cover her face. She's low enough in the base where the gas might not reach her, much," Sam explained, ordering Walter from his chair, urging the observation personnel forward. Opening the door to the stairwell, she paused, glancing back once more.

"I'm so sorry Daniel," she said, choking on her words and turning, running down the metal stairs. Refocusing, Daniel looked back at the screen, standing to dash out of the side door, hoping there was a crowbar or something on the way. He opened the side door, the base shaking again, lights flickering, the entire hallway dropping to pitch black. He was going to go anyway, pry her out of there in the dark, he was going to save her but there was a smell, slight but clear.

It was the gas.

Sam was right; Adrienne had only one chance.

Racing back to the monitor, Daniel grabbed the microphone, bringing it to his mouth, wishing that his tone would convey the face he would be making at her, faces he now noticed she could read so well.

"Adrienne Margaret Rowan, you listen to me right now. This is not a test anymore. They're making us leave, they're making ME leave. We're going to the Gamma Site. Rodney had to release a gas, a potentially lethal gas, and if you have a hope of surviving you need to barricade yourself in the bathroom, shove anything cloth that you can get at the base of the door and cover your face. Jack knows you're in there and they'll come for you as soon as it is clear. Are you hearing me Ad?" Daniel tried to stress his words so that she would know he was serious. Looking up into the camera, scared, the normally boisterous and rambunctious cajun nodded, her lips mouthing yes but Daniel heard nothing. The camera mic must have broken, but at least she could still hear him. He swallowed, fighting back emotion to speak to her one last time.

"Ok, you can do this Ad. I know you can. Do what I said, please, go get in the bathroom," Daniel paused for a moment, not wanting to leave, but that smell was getting stronger, the lights in the observation room now flicking.

"Good luck," he choked into the mic, shutting it off and turning away, a sick feeling in his stomach. Trying not to throw up, and resisting the urge to go dashing down the hallways to his lab in the darkness and the gas, he raced down the stairs just in time to make it through the closing wormhole.

Daniel sat on a tree stump looking out into the distance, the deep orange sun just barely peeking up over the sloping green mountains of P3Y-229. He hadn't slept in forty eight hours but he didn't care; he just couldn't stop thinking about Adrienne.

He'd left her.

He'd let her down.

And now she was gone.

Hearing leaves crunching behind him, he glanced back to see Vala coming to join him, her face equally as withdrawn and her mood subdued. No spring in her step, she sat down softly on the ground beside him, laying her head over onto his leg.

"I liked her, a lot," Vala said, reaching down to squeeze his calf. Daniel didn't move, didn't look down, just continued to gaze out into the sunset.

"I did too," Daniel replied, trying to not let his emotions get the best of him, having forced himself to sit in silence for hours for fear of what else he might do. Sam had tried to talk to him, but to no avail; he just wasn't ready to talk about it.

"You did everything you could," Vala assured him but Daniel just nodded. No he hadn't, he'd gone through the gate, he'd left her behind. Thinking about it again almost made him sick, which had been painful this morning on an empty stomach, given that Daniel had eaten about as much as he had slept.

They sat there like that for a long while, watching the wildlife outside while the rest of the staff was down below, trying to make contact with command. Sam said it would take a few days to clear out the gas before Jack could dial them and gate everyone back safely.

A few days before Daniel knew if Adrienne had done as he asked, forced herself into the bathroom, and survived.

It had been two.

In his heart he knew she was gone.

They had plenty of supplies in the much larger and rebuilt Gamma site, enough to get them through their wait, and thankfully everyone had made it through.

Almost everyone.

Daniel felt a choke in his throat, trying not to allow himself to lose it sitting right here. He'd been able to hold it together up until this point but that willpower was fading fast as time passed by. Sensing that he just wanted to be alone, she could tell as he started to scoot away from her, wrapping his arms around his waist, Vala picked up her head and stood, gazing down at her dear friend.

"I'm hungry, do you want something?" she offered, hoping he would eat. She knew he'd been sick, she'd heard him when she went to check on him this morning, painful heaving from the other side of the door. Daniel shook his head no, as she expected, but Vala rolled her eyes, knowing he couldn't carry on like this.

"Well, I'm gonna eat and then I'm gonna bring something back. And you're gonna eat it. Understood?" she said putting her hands onto her hips. She hadn't seen him like this in a while, but then again they hadn't lost someone that was one of them, or as close to being one of them as Adrienne was. In all honestly, Vala hadn't realized how good of friends that they had become, she knew that they were spending more time together, socially, but it was more than that...

Daniel seemed completely heartbroken.

She had never really understood it when Cam said that it was hardest seeing your friends suffer, but watching him, like this, was more than she could bear. Lacking the energy to argue, he nodded weakly, enough of a yes to allow Vala to leave, heading back of in the direction of the main door. He didn't watch as she slipped through the side entrance, carefully hidden in the side of the cave, just refocused on the wisps of white as they blanketed the horizon.

His thoughtless trance was broken, when he heard leaves crunching behind him and looked at his watch noting barely twenty minutes had passed. Fast dinner he thought, wondering what Vala brought him, and whether or not he could actually choke it down. He started to turn when he felt hands over his eyes, holding his glasses tight to his face and froze, not wanting to fight with Vala but not in the mood either for anything Vala-like that she might do.

"Did I pass?" the female voice in his ear asked, a female voice that was not the one that promised him dinner. Flipping around Daniel stared dumbfounded, as Dr. Adrienne Rowan, the craziest, most unique individual he had ever had forced upon him, was grinning happily at him, a self-satisfied look on her face, her hands planted firmly onto her hips as she righted herself.

Alive, she's alive.

No other thoughts running through his head other than the realization that she was standing right here, in front of him, he rushed her, grabbing her tightly and hugging her, holding her firmly to his chest, his arms completely enveloping her.

She was alive.

He could only squeeze harder.

"Coo shug, let go, I can't breathe!" Adrienne whined as she started to pull away from his tight and encompassing embrace and he pulled away quickly as well, slightly embarrassed as he realized that she probably couldn't take in a single breath the way he was holding her. Straightening her uniform again and making a face at him, she repeated herself.

"Did I pass?" she asked again, confused, her cheeks red, stammering a touch he noticed, "because for about fifteen minutes I was certain that you were gonna storm in the lab door and inform me I was to remain a desk jockey till the end of my days."

"How did you get out of there?" he asked in disbelief not bothering with her desk jockey joke, she hadn't been that in a while, watching her go into professor mode.

"It was good Indy, shug and I'm not sucking up when I say you are a sheer genius. See, you cut main power but not secondary, leaving the Wi-Fi on. So, I used my laptop, you know, battery powered, to hack into the mainframe, messaged the Odyssey and requested to board. However, they informed me that since I had never beamed aboard or registered to beam aboard that they had no DNA signature to lock onto me, one of Sam's safety protocols I know, and there were no jumpers nearby for a blind beam. That was good Daniel, I would have never thought of that one. But they had beamed you, so I went to your locker and got your leather jacket since your coffee cups were on their way to the incinerator. That had enough Daniel DNA for them to pick up and whoosh! I was aboard. Radioed base and Jack told me to take the Odyssey to the Gamma site. I figured I passed," she explained.

Daniel, however, looked at her flabbergasted by her entire explanation. How in the world this woman's brain operated like that he would never understand but was at this moment very thankful that it did.

"Ad, it wasn't a test. That part wasn't a test, there was a gas leak. We evacuated, you could have really died," Daniel, spoke clearly, the last word so very quiet as it crossed his lips. He watched as Adrienne's face grew pale, her hands together to pick at her jagged nails, biting at her lip ring.

"You're kidding, right?" she said, hopeful, watching his face like she now did.

"Not in the least," he answered. Allowing her fingernails a momentary reprieve, Adrienne pulled her hands apart, sitting on the stump, her eyes wide.

"Tonnerre mes chiens" she whispered, shaking her head and taking a breath.

"I agree," Daniel answered although he had no idea what "Thunder my Dogs" meant. But if it was cajun for holy shit, yeah, he agreed. He sat down beside her, on the ground as Vala had before, this time letting her look off into the distance, reaching across his body without thinking to rest his palm on her shin.

Adrienne was late, again. She knew that Sam hadn't made her decision yet and it was stuff like her lateness that was stalling said decision, but there were some things that she just couldn't help.

Being Cajun was one of them.

Hoping to stay in Daniel's good graces, although he had been very sweet and protective of her since the evacuating incident, she decided to swing by the mess and grab Daniel a coffee to blame her lateness on kindness. Fixing it like he liked it, one cream two sugars, not enough cream in her humble opinion and too much sugar and grabbing him an apple for good measure, she headed down to the lab.

Strangely, the door was shut when she arrived, although not latched and locked. Between the coffees, her backpack and the apple she had no hands to open it. Using her heel to push down the door handle, she turned around and backed herself up to the door donkey kicking it open.

"Indy, I'm sorry, I had to wait in line for coffee since you've hidden my machine from me in your mess," she was saying as she felt the door open up behind her butt, pushing it all the way with her backside so she could enter. She started to walked in backwards, still slightly bent over, her back to Daniel, hopefully not providing too tempting of a target for torment when she heard shuffling behind her.

"That's not the end we put the patch on Addy," she heard a voice say, Cam's voice, and she turned around quickly, her cheeks flushed. Standing in the lab was the entire team, Daniel, Teal'c, Cam and Vala with Sam in official uniform holding a patch, a team patch, the number of which made Adrienne's heart stop. Everyone was smiling, especially Cameron, who grabbed the patch from Sam's hand and walked over to her, laughing as he approached.

"Can you put that crap down, no one falls for it, we know you're just late. I need to stick this on your arm," Cameron ordered, shaking the thick slab of patch in between his fingers. A deer in headlights, Adrienne put the coffees down slowly onto her desk, laying the apple beside them, dropping the backpack to the floor.

"That's it girl right over here," Cam motioned to her, "left foot, right foot."

"She doesn't know left from right," Vala spoke up and Daniel started to laugh, Adrienne further red in the face, taking in a deep breath, willing herself forward. Unsatisfied by her slow advance, Cam marched over, slapping the Velcro backed patch onto the empty spot on the arm of her uniform, stepping back, arms across his chest, smiling.

"Welcome to the club, blah blah, now you have two bosses me and Jackson, so you have to take orders from both of us. Good times. Anyone else like to say anything?" Cameron looked at the others, using his eyes to goad them to speak.

"Nice job," said Sam, stepping forward and squeezing her arm.

"Nice to have someone else to make the boys look bad with me. I will need to meet with you regularly to coach you on putting them in their place," Vala added, winking at her, a devilish smile on her face.

"We are honored to have you AdrienneRowan," Teal'c said while Daniel just smiled, not adding anything much to Adrienne's disappointment. Cameron looked at everyone one last time, thinking Daniel might speak, but when he didn't, just turned back to face their newest member once more.

"Ok, ceremony over, I've got cadets to scream at, let's go," Cam ordered, pointing at the lab door, the team filing out after him. An expression of sheer disbelief across her face, Adrienne just kept staring over at her arm, not moving, not sitting, not speaking. Still quiet, Daniel walked over to the desk and grabbed his coffee and the apple, walking up behind Adrienne.

"I'm proud of you Ad; you did great. I knew you could," he said, wrapping the arm with the apple around her, giving her a half of a hug. Looking up at him slowly, their eyes locked, and she swore she could see the blue of his quivering slightly.

"Thanks," she sputtered out, her heart racing, lost in the moment as he gazed back down at her. Breaking the stare, Daniel, cleared his throat, and returned to his desk, sitting down and getting to work, back at it on the database. He started to type again and paused, looking over at her once more.

"Your father would have been very proud," he added, taking a casual sip of coffee. Nodding, Adrienne turned quickly to hide the tear that was escaping from her eye, opening her laptop to begin her day. While everything booted up she reached for her arm, running her finger along the patch and smiled.

It was nice to finally belong.


	13. Chapter 13 - Part of the Crowd

_Hi all! _

_Just wanted to give you a heads up. There's no adventure in this one, it's just an "aww" story, a team just hanging out story, but it has some little things between them that will be needed later once the "big bad" is revealed. This takes place VERY soon after the promotion. _

"Ha!" Adrienne shouted out and leapt from her computer, throwing her hands up over her head in celebration. Being just generally used to such behavior, Daniel paid her no attention, his eyes focused on the file in his hands that Sam had just brought him. Sam, however, standing there beside his desk, puzzled, watching Daniel's assistant and the newest member of SG-1 scream at an inanimate object. Adding insult to injury, the best one could to a MacBook screen, Adrienne made a crude gesture at the machine and started to yell at it in coarse cajun French, ripping off her uniform jacket and her black t-shirt as she shouted, revealing a tank top underneath. One more fist pump into the air, she ran over to the speaker on top of the cabinet and flipped it on, shoving her iPod into the base. Within seconds a loud rap song blasted through the lab, Adrienne dancing wildly around the room. Sam tried to contain her laughter as Daniel flipped to the next page, peering over his glasses at the information.

"What is that?" Sam inquired, still looking at Adrienne doing some strange hip hop dance move over by her desk.

"That," Daniel began, "is Adrienne sticking it to Rodney. He brought down some stuff from the Atlantis lab this morning he wanted me to translate. I told him you and I were working on something and offered Adrienne. He said that there was no way that she could finish by lunch." Daniel pointed to the clock a quick glance confirming to Sam that it was only eleven in the morning. Waiting for her confused expression to be directed back at him, he smiled once eye contact was made once more, raising his eyebrows as he turned yet another page, "She finished."

Shaking her head in amazement, Sam peeked up at the very enthused young woman, trying hard not to erupt into a fit of laughter. A few months ago, Daniel would have been screaming at the top of his lungs for Adrienne to turn that crap off and get back to work, but not anymore. Now, not only were they friends but just over a day ago, when they all thought Adrienne was going to be the latest casualty to technology gone wrong, Daniel had literally fallen to pieces over the thought of losing her.

Hiding her face from Daniel with her hand, Sam smiled softy. She knew this would work out exactly as planned, just enough spunk, but not too much, and plenty of brains to be a challenge to him, a real equal.

No wonder things down here were running so smoothly.

"Stop smiling," Daniel said, not even looking up from his reading, knowing full well what she was doing. Sam looked over at him innocently, removing her hand from across her lips and returning to a more professional composure.

"I know you well enough to know what that means. Yes, I like her; she's grown on me," Daniel replied, a thin smile started to spread across his lips, a smile he was hoping that Sam wouldn't see. It was true, she was growing on him, and he really wasn't sure what he could do without her anymore. Feeling Sam's eyes boring into his temple, he started to look up, to refocus her attention to their task when a black tank top popped up into his line of sight.

"Excuse me Sam, Daniel, can I run this down to Dr. McKay?" she asked, a huge grin on her face, the folder clasped tightly in her hands.

"Can you be nice?" Daniel teased, knowing she would be, she would be so professional that Rodney would complain later that she had been too professional, or stuffy, or whatever, but she would do so just to annoy him.

"Dr. Jackson, you know that I'm the consummate professional," she smiled, "Only you get to see my wild side," she winked. Laughing, Daniel shooed her away, as she lifted her eyebrows and darted out of the lab, Sam watching her exit as well.

"What was the turning point?" she asked once his assistant had disappeared around the corner.

"Huh?" Daniel answered, confused, still absorbed in the contents of the folder.

"Between you and Adrienne?" she asked, burning with curiosity. Over the years it had bothered her that Daniel always seemed to be alone. Not that she was trying to find him a girlfriend, Vala had pretty much staked out that territory regardless of what she claimed from week to week, but he didn't have anyone like him, anyone he could relate to. Satterfield seemed to get on his nerves, acting more like a fan than a colleague and other than Teal'c no one else on the team really clicked with him, he just didn't open up to anyone and in her opinion, that wasn't healthy. Sam had hoped that Adrienne was that friend that he needed and she seemed to help him stress a bit less, he felt confident handing tasks over to her and therefore was improving his overall attitude, so it was a win win for everyone.

"I don't know. I guess the ride back from San Francisco," Daniel responded, eager to get back to work. Ok Sam, ok, you got your way, we're friends, he thought to himself, please let's just focus. He had hoped his body language would convey his thoughts, but if it did, Sam didn't care.

"Well, I think being trapped in a car with anyone for that long can do it," she said and Daniel started to speak again, desperate to drop this topic of conversation, but Sam just kept talking, "I think I am going to invite her to movie night. She's part of the team now and she hangs out with Cameron and Teal'c anyways, and sometimes Vala. You were the hold out," Sam informed him. Accepting the fact that his friendship with Adrienne was going to be the topic of conversation, Daniel closed the folder, a smart look on his face as he glanced up at his meddlesome friend.

"The holdout?"

Now Daniel was just annoyed. When did work become our little social club, he thought to himself, it used to be just work, but he knew exactly when. When Sam and Jack ran off and got married, the day after Sam was promoted, the day after they could claim that Jack's position was in the civilian government and that as head of the SGC Sam reported to the IOA and not him. That day and now Sam's entire life revolved around this base, so she must assume everyone else's did too.

"Yes. Vala gets on Jack's nerves enough as it is, but could you image the two of you fighting like you used to in my living room? As funny as it is to hear you get cursed out in Bayou slang, I don't think Jack could tolerate that well," Sam said. Daniel, however, shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually, I think he'd probably join her in a verbal assault, but, sure invite her. She's free this weekend," Daniel responded, without thinking, remembering the conversation about Saturday he and his assistant had had just this morning.

"And how do you know that?" Sam asked quickly, the smirk taking shape on her lips. Looking up at her only with his eyes, thrown off by her tone and pause, it took a second before he caught the implication of the statement and rolled his eyes, setting the folder onto his desk to addresses her.

"I know this because we were talking about going to a lecture at the Smithsonian on Saturday and she said she had no other plans," Daniel answered.

"Just you and her?" Sam teased a bit now.

"Yes, Sam, because would you like to go to a lecture on dating arrowheads from South America without access to a carbon dating system? Can you name someone that would? " Daniel crossed his arms, waiting for a response. It was just a work lecture, nothing more, Sam could think what she wanted, but in reality he just wanted to discuss the information with someone who would actually understand what was being said, which narrowed down his field of companions to Adrienne.

"Fine, when is your lecture over?" Sam asked, sensing his discomfort and trying to hold back. It appeared that they really had become good friends lately, really good friends. This was an interesting turn of events...

"At four but then we had talked about din..." Daniel started and stopped as he watched Sam trying not to laugh at him, shaking his head.

"Stop, stop right there. It's not a date Sam, just stop. Adrienne and I are friends. Just friends. I can talk to her and she actually has a clue as to what I am talking about. We were going to check out this Kenyan place that opened because, like the lecture, NO ONE else will go," Daniel responded, closing the subject. Sam gave up her teasing and reached for the folder, returning to the task at hand, her face still beaming. It was a bad idea, she shouldn't even think for a second about Daniel and Adrienne being together but it was too cute not to. It could never happen, they'd all get into serious trouble, two teammates, one that was the assistant to the other, but it was a nice fantasy.

It would be nice to see Daniel finally happy; he deserved that.

Adrienne was straightening her shirt when she realized that she was still wearing the tank top she was dancing around in. Oops, she thought to herself, so much for being professional. Just when she had proven herself to Daniel as actually having a brain, Daniel had decided to let Adrienne translate things for Rodney. She was kind of honored that he felt that she was capable of moving beyond the database and mission prep, but the thought of translating for Rodney had been frightfully intimidating and she didn't want to have Rodney say or do anything, to find any mistake, that would change Daniel's opinion of her, and opinion she had worked so hard to set herself. As she had completed a few more tasks for the demanding scientist her apprehension had gotten a bit better, but she still worried. Approaching the lab door cautiously, Adrienne tucked the folder underneath of her arm and knocked lightly.

'It's open!" she heard him yell from the other side, presumably engrossed in his work. Taking a composing breath, and repeating a yoga mantra or two, she walked in confidently but quietly not wanting to disturb his work and incur his rage. Scanning the room she found him quickly leaned over something on a central table, muttering about someone being an idiot. Glad it wasn't her, at least not yet, she shook her head, trying to figure out what Jennifer saw in him, as she walked over to the workspace.

"Dr. McKay, I've finished those translations that you requested," she said, handing the folder over, smiling politely. He looked up at her and scowled, not taking the folder, but rather standing upright staring down at her. He wasn't that much taller than she, two maybe three inches, but his glare and sharp tongue made up for what he lacked in size.

"That was fast," he stated, smartly, putting down the tablet computer and taking the task from her. Opening the folder, not looking at the contents, he glared right at her, preparing to scold.

"I hope you didn't rush, it's just now a few minutes after 11," he spat, his brown eyes boring into her own. Eesh, she thought, wondering if this was what Daniel meant when he said she tended to glare at people.

Note to self, glaring is mean, and scary. Stop glaring at people.

Except Daniel because he tends to deserve it.

"No, not in the least. I even went back and checked everything twice just to be sure. You were correct in your assumption, they were researching the Asgard cloning patterns," Adrienne threw in the last part, knowing it was an easy way to get on his good side.

Rodney McKay liked being right.

Looking back down at the folder, finally taking those menacing eyes off of her, he began to read the information carefully and pace the room.

"Yes, yes, see that is exactly what I thought. Fascinating. If this is correct..." he said aloud dashing back to his tablet and typing away while Adrienne just stood and waited, hands lightly clasped at her waist, not for a thank you but to be dismissed.

Rodney liked that too.

Finally he looked up, surprised to see her still standing patiently in front of him.

"You're still here?" he asked in his usual tone but Adrienne just smiled, thinking all the while of Daniel's joking order to be nice. Nice she could do.

"I just wanted to see if you needed anything else Dr. McKay," she answered.

"No, no thank you Dr. Rowan, I will let you know if I need anything else," he said looking back down, the tone gone and Adrienne smiled, nodding her head, slipping away while trying not to break out into a skip of glee as she made her way toward the elevators.

When she returned to her floor, she playfully popped her head around the doorframe to find the lab quiet, no Daniel, no Sam, no one, and the main lights had been shut off. Her own laptop, however, was still sitting open, her TruBlood bottle screen saver bouncing across the screen, and she saw a small slip of white paper hanging from the top, a note. Smiling, she pulled it carefully from her computer, knowing who it was from, her disappointment of him not being there when she arrived quickly vanishing.

_Starving. Not like you eat anyway. Unless of course it's Mexican. I'll save you a seat. _

She shook her head at his comment, she ate plenty, just not anything that Daniel deemed as food. Closing the lid to her laptop, she made her way to the commissary.

By the time she got through the line, surprisingly long for this time of day, she found him sitting at one of the side cafeteria tables, a seat saved right beside him among a throng of new cadets, as promised. Smiling, Adrienne made her way through the crowd, plopping down her tray beside his arm, however, he didn't greet her, just looked over at her plate, making a face.

"What's that?" he asked, giving her that condescending look that he used to give her when she first started. Sitting down, Adrienne shot a glare at him, forgetting her vow from earlier, snatching her napkin from the tray to place it on her lap.

"Uh, a tuna sandwich," she replied, smartly, looking away from him to grab said sandwich. Bread in mouth, Daniel watched Adrienne eat her meal, pausing from commenting for just a moment before finally chuckling from his seat.

"I've known you for, what, six, seven months now, and I've never seen you eat a sandwich. Ever," he explained his reaction, anything to get those angry piercing eyes to unlock themselves from his.

"Ha ha Indy, you're so clever. Let's see what you have today shug; lasagna, two rolls, extra cheese, nary a vegetable to be found. Basically heart attack on a platter. I refuse to perform CPR on self-induced heart attacks," she stated, Smiling, Daniel made a pitiful face.

"Aww, even me?" he said, pouting ever so slightly.

"Especially you," she answered, taking another bite of her meal.

"So, we still on for this Saturday?" he asked, his mouth full of pasta, much to Adrienne's disgust. Shaking her head, she placed her palm on his cheek, turning his face away from her.

"Yes, but not if you eat dinner Saturday like that, why?" she turned to her sandwich, not eating it any longer, but rather taking it in to her hands, tearing her meal into smaller pieces.

"Because, Sam has invited you, well, us to movie night," Daniel stated, waiting for her reaction. Weeks ago, when they had gotten back from P5L-325, they hung out in her room for a while drinking some wine, talking about the mission and a few other things, when Adrienne had told him that she didn't feel like part of the group, and even admitted after her official induction onto the team she still felt like an outsider, like she didn't belong. He felt awful, mostly because he had an inkling that he was partially responsible for her distance, since he had made it so clear to her for so long that she was an outsider, an intruder. If for no other reason than to calm his own worries, he was hoping this little invitation would change her mind.

"Really?" Adrienne's eyes lit up, just as he had hoped.

"Yes, really," he said, a feeling of relief forming in his gut that was quickly quelled as he watched her face drop again, almost as fast as her tuna sandwich pieces dropped onto her plate.

"Are we still going to the lecture and dinner?" she asked suddenly now looking confused. She's worried about that? he thought, about breaking our plans? Honestly, he was touched that she still wanted to do something with him given the opportunity to "fit in" which she was so worried about doing and the expression on her face told him that her concern was genuine. Nodding, he smiled at her, swallowing his lasagna this time before answering.

"Lecture yes, but dinner is usually pizza, everyone chips in and it's BYOB. Or wine," he added for her. The twinkle resumed, her captivating brown eyes lighting the entire room, a look that he had learned meant all was right in the Adrienne universe. Smiling, she grabbed her sandwich again, resuming her tearing and comments reserved, Daniel just shook his head and kept talking.

"So, I'll pick you up at ten so we can get parking relatively close to the Mall, unless you want to take the bug into DC Saturday traffic, then after the lecture we'll head over to Jack and Sam's. I won't drink so you can," he explained. There was halt of sandwich piece, just a hair in front of her face and he could tell that Adrienne was holding back laughter.

"What?" Daniel asked confused.

"I'm your date," she picked.

"No, you're not," he defended.

"You're picking me up and driving me home. That's a date," she teased. He stopped eating and glared at her, but she just put down the sandwich bites, holding her fist to her mouth as she chuckled.

"Are you picking up Vala?" she asked.

"No, because you and I already had plans; this is just a change in dinner plans," he answered as if she was stupid.

"Do you ever pick up Vala?" she continued.

"No," again, he answered, giving her the tone of 'are you stupid?'

"Why not?" she inquired, smiling, convulsing, being Adrienne. Annoying Adrienne.

"Because then it would be a - " he stopped himself and made a face.

"Date," Adrienne finished for him laughing, "You're just too easy shug."

"And apparently you live to torment me," he followed up. She smiled again.

"Pretty much," Adrienne answered reaching to pick up her sandwich, or rather what had become of her sandwich to resume eating, Daniel staring at her as she popped a piece into her mouth. He couldn't resist, especially given that she had just accused him of asking her out on a date.

"Why on earth is that sandwich in a hundred pieces?" he questioned, indicating the pile of at least twenty pieces of sandwich on her plate. Still chewing, she looked up at him as if he was asking her something strange.

"And yet I'm the easy target," he replied himself before she could speak, "Madame Neurotic."

When he arrived at her apartment on Saturday, she wasn't ready. Big surprise, he thought to himself, he could only really remember her ever being on time twice since he had known her, the interview and her first off world mission, although he was certain that her promptness for that latter had more to do with Cam than Adrienne. He knocked again, stepping back from the door and shoving his hands into his pockets, hoping she was at least close to being ready to leave. This time, the knob turned but the door didn't open, so he let himself in, preparing to dodge his underwear clad assistant since she didn't seem to have a problem walking around like that in front of him.

Because, he recalled, he didn't count as human in her world either.

However, his worry ceased when Adrienne, clad in jeans and a purple long sleeved T-shirt/blouse cross, was walking away from the door, fully dressed and ready to go, yet not saying so much as a hello in his direction. She walked into her dining area, kneeling at her wine cabinet, or wine shrine as Daniel had begun to refer to it, opening the lead doors to examine her stock. Finally acknowledging his presence, she glanced over her shoulder, motioning with her head for him to join her.

"So, I'm guessing the wine will be for you, me, and Sam, right? The others will do pizza and beer?" Within seconds, she had every drawer to the cabinet open, reading the collection of bottles carefully. Daniel peered over her shoulder, in utter amazement as to the amount of alcohol contained in this lone piece of furniture.

"There must be thirty bottles in there," he stated, counting quickly to see if he was correct.

"Forty one to be exact; I need to go to the wine shop," she answered flatly, pulling out three bottles, a red, a white, and a blush, arranging them in a row on the top. Biting her lip in concentration, she looked back at Daniel.

"Where do they get the pizza from?" she asked.

"I have no idea. A pizza place," he replied. She rolled her eyes.

"No smart ass, I mean is it a chain restaurant, a local eatery, authentic Italian pie?" she said shaking her head.

"You are not trying to pair wine with pizza, are you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at her as she smiled playfully in response.

"Of course I am," she replied, "this is me we are talking about. So, can you stop being a pain in my tchew for five minutes and answer my question."

"Anything to get you moving, I actually would like to get a good seat at the lecture. It's probably some local place, definitely not Italian authentic and it's not a pizza hut. They just get normal stuff, pepperoni and cheese, nothing fancy," he replied. Adrienne smiled, grabbing the white and shoving the other two bottles into their drawers, they were sorted by color he noticed, and wasn't surprised. Satisfied, she walked over to the sofa, grabbed her backpack and made her way to the door without further comment. Shaking his head, he locked up behind her and pulled the door shut, following her to his car.

"Do I want to know?" he asked as they got into his jeep.

"For pizza? Red fancy, white middle, pink crap, it's not that complex," she replied. He laughed, knowing that it was far more complex, but he let her play it off and started the car, making their way to their destination.

Adrienne could not focus the entire lecture, he could tell, her hands resting in her lap, picking her fingernails like she did when she was nervous. In an effort to ease her nerves, Daniel kept leaning over to mention something to her, trying to engage her in the topic, trying to get her to just calm down. He saw her take in another slow breath, so he tilted his head in her direction yet again.

"Ad, did you hear that nonsense, those are not intentional markings, those are bite marks from the animal that pulled the damn thing out of the ground," Daniel whispered to her.

"Yeah, pretty stupid," she whispered back noncommittally.

"You're not paying attention, are you?" he finally asked, tiring of this game with her.

"I'm sorry Daniel," Adrienne whispered back, "I'm a nervous wreck." Frowning, Daniel tried to lean in closer, the best he could in these uncomfortable folding chairs.

"Why? It's just a movie," he asked, and she shrugged, trying to lean in more herself.

"Look, you've always been a part of this little club. I'm the newbie. There's a lot a pressure on me right now," she responded.

"Stop doing that overanalyzing of everything that you do. Just think of it this way, they let Vala come. That should be enough to convince you that you'll be fine," he replied. Adrienne chuckled quietly and reached over to squeeze his hand. He had stopped flinching when she did that, it took him a while, but he finally realized she was just touchy with anyone she was friends with. And they were friends. Good friends, and good friends don't flinch at a squeeze, or, as was her other latest sign of affection, a hug.

Flipping his hand over, he took hers into his own, returning the gesture with a quick grip, directing her with his eyes to the small woman leading the lecture from the front of the room, keeping a light hold of her hand through the rest of the presentation.

She rode the entire way from the Smithsonian to Sam and Jack's with her face in the mirror.

"You look fine," Daniel finally said, "who are you trying to impress?"

She made a face at him, slipping the mascara brush back into its tube.

"You," she said, laughing. Daniel sighed, trying to look over at her and keep his eyes on the road.

"Seriously, Ad, we're going to hang out with our friends. I mean, you're with Cameron all the time, almost as much as me. And Teal'c. And my shadow. And trust me, Sam is pretty fun herself," Daniel was trying to get Adrienne to calm down, but he wasn't having much success. The little bit of fingernail that Adrienne did have was chewed down to the quick, and with her make-up retouched, she was sending her hands straight for her mouth once again. He reached over and swatted her hand away, earning himself an evil glare in return, which he laughed off, continuing to watch traffic with one eye and his assistant with another.

By the time they arrived at Sam's house, Daniel was certain Adrienne's fingers should be bleeding. He pulled in slowly behind Cameron's truck and shut off the ignition, glancing over at her sneaking another nibble of her index finger.

"Trust me, this is a good thing, alright? It'll be fine," he said and leaned over the console, placing his hand on her shoulder. Adrienne just nodded and reached into the floor to grab her bottle of wine not saying a word but walking unusually close to Daniel as they made their way up the walk to Sam's front door. Daniel stepped aside to allow Adrienne to knock, which she did quickly, moving behind him the moment her fist lost contact. There was shuffling from the other side, a click, and the door opened to Sam, smiling cheerfully at their arrival.

"Hey Daniel, Adrienne, glad you made it. How was the lecture?" she asked, stepping back quickly to usher the pair inside.

"Sad when you know more than the speaker does," Daniel answered bluntly, dismissively enough to give Adrienne the jolt of courage she needed, courage to call him out for being a jerk.

"Since every archaeologist in the world has complete and total access to the knowledge of intergalactic beings older than we, sure Indy, she was completely clueless. Here Sam, I brought some wine, I hope that's alright," Adrienne said, striding forward with more confidence than before in the Jeep.

Daniel didn't try to hide his smile.

"Australian Prickly Riesling, nice choice," Sam complimented, taking the bottle gently from her hand.

Adrienne beamed.

So far, so good, Daniel thought, following the chatting women into the living room.

Sam and Jack's house was simple and yet elegant, just as Adrienne would have expected from the SGC command power couple. The door opened right up into a large friendly living room, the walls painted a warm golden color, with a big brown leather couch with matching love seat and coffee table which were angled toward a red brick fireplace which Adrienne noticed also housed the TV in a very complex set-up. Must be Jack's doing, she thought, fighting the urge to go and see exactly how he had set up the system. Truth be told, she didn't know him well enough to know if he would understand her geekiness when it came to electronics. Letting her eyes take in the rest of the new scenery, she looked out to where she could see the door to the kitchen, one of those swinging doors, white, old fashioned, noticing a small window with shutters that was opened. On the other side Adrienne could see Jack and Teal'c, taking slices of pizza out of boxes, placing them on to plates she was assuming, most likely at Sam's request.

"Vala!" Jack yelled, "Move your legs!" Adrienne thought she saw him roll his eyes as Vala, who was sitting on the love seat, alone, pulled her legs from the arm of the piece, muttering to herself. She started to walk on when she heard a whisper in her ear.

"See," Daniel said and backed up quickly, letting Adrienne continue to take in the rest of the SG-1 typical movie night confusion to which he had grown accustomed. Sam was taking the wine in the kitchen to chill it, Vala slamming herself back into the love seat trying to get comfortable without throwing her legs up onto the arm of the furniture once more, swearing under her breath, while Cam, beer in hand, sat back on the sofa, looking over his shoulder longingly at the food on display in the window. Finally taking note of Adrienne's presence, Cameron looked over and sat up quickly, his expression changing from hunger to excitement.

Here we go, Daniel thought.

"Hey Addy," he said standing, "wanna beer?" he offered.

'Sure," she replied blushing, Cam dashing into the kitchen to fulfill her request. Thankfully, Vala looked annoyed as well by his boyish behavior, but that didn't mean Daniel was planning to sit by her, lest he have his own fan club to deal with tonight. Instead, he sat down on the now empty couch pointing for Adrienne to join him and she didn't hesitate to go straight for her comfort zone, him.

¨Thanks,¨ he said quietly.

¨Why?" she asked as she saw the answer in the corner of her eye. Vala was throwing her legs over the couch and muttering to herself something along the lines of "Of course" and "Screw Jack". Adrienne just giggled.

'No prob," she replied smiling, their exchange interrupted by a happy Cameron racing out of the kitchen handing Adrienne a beer.

"It's not your fancy beer, but it's really not that bad, I promise," he said, quickly taking the seat on the other side of her. Adrienne didn't even want to look over at Vala to see her reaction now. From behind the couch, Sam was announcing the arrival of food and Adrienne turned to see her and Teal'c bringing in large plates of pizza, piled high on serving dishes, Jack following with paper plates and the remote control. He tossed the plates on the coffee table, much to Sam's annoyance, and turned to face the TV, activating the power and clearing his throat.

"Ok, considering what I have decided we're watching tonight, there need to be a few ground rules set. The first one is that Daniel is not allowed to speak for the next three hours," Jack began. Adrienne started to laugh and Daniel's mouth dropped open, his face preparing for the fight that was bubbling up inside of him, but before he could speak, Jack activated the On Demand and looked over at Adrienne.

"That goes for you too mini Daniel, I don't care if that monster's not real, if that God was really married to another god, if the damn pegasus starts tap dancing and singing in Chinese, nothing. Are we clear?" Jack said. Confused, and a little frightened, Adrienne nodded quickly as he returned his attention to the screen to start the film. Sam leaned over, sensing Adrienne's discomfort, as she set down the plate of pizza.

"Don't pay attention to him. He blames Daniel still for ruining it when we watched Troy," Sam laughed.

"Because that was Egyptian art made to be Trojan and it was a thousand years too late. A simple google search could have told any set designer that!" Daniel started to argue, the bubble burst, making Adrienne erupt into laughter. Jack whipped around, glaring, shaking the remote at his friend.

"I will kick you out Daniel, I'm not screwing around. I want to see this and I missed it in 3D," he hissed, deadly serious. Adrienne was about to die. She reached over for Daniel's hand and flipped his palm upward, directing his attention with her eyes down to their open hands. He looked at her baffled, so she widened her eyes, glaring down once more, taking her finger and writing into his palm.

_C-A-N-U-D-O-T-H-I-S_

Daniel looked up at her and nodded yes, catching on. Winking, Adrienne brought her finger back to his palm.

_W-E-C-A-N-M-O-C-K-N-O-W_

Jack, however, was much more observant than Adrienne expected. She was just getting ready to ask Daniel if this film was that ridiculous 1980's remake when the general spun around once more, scowling at them before turning his attention to his wife.

"Separate them," he ordered. Standing upright and shoving her hands to her hips, Sam rolled her eyes at him.

"Why? No one's said a word," she replied. Frustrated, Jack walked over to the couch, pointing at Daniel's upturned hand.

"Because the geeks have found a way to communicate and that's just gonna lead to one of them saying something smart!" Jack accused.

"Jack sit down and start the movie," Sam ordered pointing to an ugly recliner Adrienne had just now noticed, the only piece of furniture that didn't seem to belong in this lovely home. Not arguing, Jack sat. Adrienne tried not to laugh, feeling her hand being flipped over and a finger running along her palm.

_J-U-S-T-W-A-I-T_

She glanced over at Daniel as he nodded slightly, and let herself laugh, reaching forward to grab a plate and some pizza.

"He doesn't mean that you know, about you anyway; he just doesn't want to hear Daniel's whining," Cam leaned over to her explaining, "Every time we watch anything historic, Daniel and Jack end up getting into some screaming match about whether or not it's accurate. It's pretty damn hysterical." Adrienne was about to answer when Daniel leaned across her lap, much to her surprise, frowning at Cameron.

"I do not scream, Jack screams. He just doesn't like me to point out anything in anything," Daniel defended himself, hissing at Cameron, and then sitting up quickly to stare at the screen.

"See... just wait, the fun will begin..." Cam whispered, sitting back, taking a long drink of his beer.

"I can't wait." Adrienne answered, doing the same and no longer worrying about herself fitting into the mix and more worried about her bosses having a free for all at her feet that she would ultimately get sucked in to, a free for all that Daniel would suck her in to for support. Calmly, Sam went over and took a seat by Vala, while Teal'c sat crossed legged on the floor. Adrienne offered him her seat, but he insisted that the sofas were too soft, so she sat back and enjoyed her pizza and beer waiting for whatever Cam seemed to think would happen to happen.

And then the fun began. As the movie opened Daniel was shaking his head already, grimacing at the screen. He flipped her hand over, his finger flying across her open palm. Apparently, her little plan was going to work well for them.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong," he spelled.

"Duh," she replied. Annoyed, he made a face and stood to get a soda, as Adrienne sat back to continue watching when she heard conversation from the love seat.

"That's the man from the blue people movie," Vala stated, Sam nodding in the affirmative.

"He's a bad actor," she declared as she sat back on the cushions, glaring at Jack as she tossed her legs over the arm, "and he's not hot either."

"I thought he did well in Avatar ValaMalDoran," Teal'c looked up from the floor, starting a third piece of pizza.

"He didn't have to act, that was a cartoon," she replied.

"No, it's hard to do the voice thing without the body thing," Cameron added, "I used to act in high school and a voiceover is pretty damn difficult."

"Dammit, you guys, shut up, I missed the entire first part!" Jack shouted from the lazy boy. Daniel was coming out of the kitchen, two wine glasses in hand, evidently deciding to drink himself. He walked back over to the sofa and handed Adrienne a glass looking over at Jack.

"Hades killed his family. That was the big guy. That's all you missed. Which is totally wrong," Daniel explained, taking his seat back beside Adrienne.

Jack shot him a glance.

"I told you not to speak! Do that spelling shit with Dr. Perky over there," Jack turned back to face the screen. Scowling, Adrienne leaned over to whisper in Daniel's ear.

"I don't think he knows my name," she said and Daniel backed up, looking at her strangely over his glasses.

"I'm sure he does," he assured her but suddenly didn't sound so confident himself, "he has to..." Daniel looked back over at Jack who was watching the film intently wondering if Jack indeed knew Adrienne's name, in fact, he'd never heard the man use it. Settling back himself, sipping the white wine Adrienne had brought to the celebration Daniel tried to force himself to watch this awful film when the doorbell rang.

"What in the hell is it now?" Jack asked, pausing the movie. He looked over at Sam who was shrugging as Vala leapt up, walking over to the sofa, holding out her hand.

"That's mine, I need some money," she said.

"For what?" Cameron asked.

"For my dinner," she replied, shoving her hand to Cameron and then Daniel.

"We ate dinner Vala," Adrienne replied pointing to the pizza.

"I don't eat that crap," she said, now shoving her open hand at Adrienne.

"I did," Adrienne replied.

"Dr. Perky did you just call my pizza crap?" Jack asked, leaning over the chair. Adrienne looked panicked, but Vala turned to answer him.

"Yes, it's the same damn crap we get every damn movie night. It's awful. I ordered real food, now someone give me $20 so I can eat it!" Vala now turned to Jack. Shaking his head, he pointed to Daniel.

"I already paid for one woman to eat tonight," he replied, cocking his head at Adrienne, who promptly elbowed him.

"You wouldn't stop at the bank!"

Without any warning, and as Cam had promised, all hell broke loose, with Vala and Jack shouting at one another and Cameron trying to keep the peace, all the while Daniel sat back on the sofa smirking smugly. Adrienne was backing up from the screaming while Sam was laughing when an awful smell hit her, making her nose wrinkle and her face screw up.

It must have hit Jack too.

"What in the hell is that awful stench!?" Jack shouted, turning around, searching for the source. A man on a mission, Teal'c walked between he and Vala handing her a box of food, Arabic lettering scrawled on the top of the paper lid.

"Here is your dinner ValaMalDoran. The odor is unbearable and you now owe me twenty dollars," Teal'c stated, returning to his place on the floor. Vala took the box without so much as a thank you and stomped to the love seat where Sam was already making a face, not eager to share her space with this evidently more acceptable meal. Still frowning, Jack started back for his recliner.

"Can we just watch this so it can be over?" Daniel asked.

"Shut up," Jack yelled and hit play. Adrienne finally started to pay attention, but the movie was damn awful, just like Daniel had said it would be. She started trying to spell into Daniel's hand, getting in a few short conversations here and there, but she couldn't keep up with how bad the movie was, so eventually she just gave up and scooted closer to him.

"I'm literally dying over here," she finally whispered.

"I'm glad I'm not alone and look, they're enthralled," he answered. Adrienne looked over at the group and saw that every last one of them was watching the screen and bad CGI intently.

Except Sam.

She was sitting on the love seat, having thrown her feet over Vala, reading a book. Adrienne looked over at her and she made a "shhh" with her finger.

Giggling, Adrienne tapped Daniel and pointed over to Sam, catching a wink as he grabbed her palm and spelled.

_D-O-N-T-G-I-V-E-A-W-A-Y-T-O-J-A-C-K_

She nodded and tried to watch the movie yet again, making mental notes of things to talk to Daniel about later, especially since she was sure that as soon as they got into the Jeep he would start tearing into the film. Sipping her third glass of wine, she scooted herself closer to Daniel since Cam kept leaping from his seat whenever the hero killed a monster, which was often, and pretended to pay attention.

"See Sam, this is why I want a 3D TV! How amazing was that and it could have been that much better!" Jack put the foot rest of the recliner down, declaring as the credits rolled. Sam quickly stowed the book under the love seat, smiling at her husband as though she had watched the entire film.

"Well, I think it sucked," Vala declared, standing as Sam moved her legs.

"It was most excellent O'Neill. We must find another of these greek epics for the next time," Teal'c declared as he stood to stretch. Cameron was nodding his head in agreement and standing to start to clean up while Daniel remained seated, shaking his head.

"Please no," Daniel pleaded, "please let me pick once. I promise, it will not be a documentary, it will actually be something entertaining that doesn't kill brain cells," He started to stand himself, to follow Jack to the kitchen and plead his case, when he felt a weight against him. Looking to see what was impeding his advance, he saw Adrienne leaning against him, fast asleep on his arm. His heart started to race, and he looked up to see that everyone was looking at him.

Looking at them...

"See, even Adrienne got bored, and she's the perky one, remember?" he joked quickly, trying to play it off, but he froze, not wanting to leap up and let Adrienne fall to the sofa but feeling incredibly awkward as she lay over on him.

"Well that's just so cute," Vala said, rolling her eyes and grabbed her smelly Afghan Kabob box from the coffee table and made her way into the kitchen. Cam muttered under his breath and followed her. As quickly as it happened, the embarrassing moment passed and everyone else stood, starting to clean up and feeling that the attention was no longer on them, Daniel tried to gently rouse his assistant.

"Ad, Adrienne, wake up," Daniel shoved her lightly. Moving slowly, Adrienne sat up, rubbing her eyes, sniffing in lightly, her allergies getting the best of her.

"I fell asleep didn't I?" she asked.

"Yeah," Daniel answered, finally able to stand again, which he did quickly, trying to act as if he had been assisting with the clean up all along. Fully awake, Adrienne glanced up at him, realizing what had happened.

"I fell asleep on you, didn't I?" she inquired, growing red in the face. He nodded in the affirmative.

"Oops," she said, "Sorry, you have a comfortable arm."

"No, it's ok. I think it only bothered Vala. That being the case, I should be thanking you," he answered smiling. Pushing past her embarrassment, Adrienne stood as well and started to assist in the clean up. Sam met her at the kitchen door as she was taking the wine glasses in greeting her with a huge grin plastered on her face.

"Hey, I've got those, but thanks," Sam said. Adrienne just smiled, still mortified about not only falling asleep during the movie but on Daniel no less. She started to turn when Sam grabbed her arm, carefully pulling Adrienne aside.

"FYI - when Jack picks, and I'll let you know in advance, and you can sit over by me with a book. He never notices. Just for future reference..." Sam smiled evilly and Adrienne's eyes brightened, understanding that she had been invited again.

That she was part of the group.

That they wanted her there.

That she belonged.

"Unless of course, you prefer your current seat," she adding, winking at her before walking off.

"Wait, no, it was..." but Sam was already in the kitchen. Dammit, Adrienne thought, that was an accident, I can fall asleep anywhere.

Daniel was cleaning up the rest of the living room area when Jack walked over to him.

"That was slick," Jack said.

"What was slick?" Daniel asked, confused.

Jack shook his head; Daniel was completely hopeless.

"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, I don't think you're capable of selecting a film we won't hate so next time it's your pick. If it sucks, you owe me a case of beer. Of good beer. I think your little assistant will know good beer, so you can ask her to help you when you lose," Jack challenged.

"Fine, and if it's a good pick, you stop Rodney from stealing my assistant, all of the time, to do his work. It's hard to get anything done when you keep letting him interrupt me, take her, and then interrupt me some more," Daniel requested.

"Sure," Jack spat, "whatever you say."

He took the pizza boxes in the kitchen without another word.

Pretty soon, everyone started to leave and Daniel signaled to Adrienne it was time for them to go as well. Waving to him that she understood, she stopped and thanked Sam and Jack for having her and headed out to the Jeep, the look in her eyes joyful and happy. Letting her exit ahead of him, Daniel stopped at the door, looking back over his shoulder at his friends.

"Thanks, that meant a lot to her, really. She doesn't always feel like she really belongs here, she feels like an intruder," Daniel said quietly, making sure Adrienne didn't hear and she hadn't, he was sure as he saw her get into his car out of the corner of his eye.

"She's sweet; I like her and we were glad to have her," Sam replied. Daniel yelled around the door to Jack who was standing by his recliner, another beer in hand.

"Jack, I'm leaving. Bye!"

"Bye, and bring your girlfriend next time. She's not so bad," he yelled back.

"She's not my girlfriend," Daniel replied, not as loud, hoping Adrienne hadn't caught that. Sam just laughed and shut the door as Daniel left.

"He's a moron," Jack said, taking a seat again in his chair.


	14. Chapter 14 - Additions

"Ok, so why are we going to Adrienne's apartment again?" Daniel asked Cam from the passenger seat of his truck, the colonel making a confused face at the question.

"Because, Sam and Jack are away doing some of their bureaucratic bullshit, Teal'c's with Rya'c because that damn baby is going to come anytime, and Vala is doing more of her little spy game they've got her doing. Addy said we might as well come over and throw back a few. What's the deal anyway, I thought you two were inseparable now," Cam answered as he tapped the steering wheel to the beat of some country song. Adrienne was right, this was truly terrible music, he'd almost rather hear that god awful rap of hers than this.

Almost.

Making a face of annoyance at Cameron, Daniel looked ahead just as the light turned green and Cam accelerated, barreling his way through Friday evening D.C. traffic.

"Nothing's the deal, she just didn't say anything about coming over at work today, I was just wondering," Daniel trailed, a little hurt she hadn't said anything, after all, they had gotten very close recently and it wasn't like her to not tell him something like this or invite him along. Maybe, he thought, maybe it was just last minute, something they talked about during the run...

"And we're not inseparable, we just have a lot in common is all; she's easy to talk to," Daniel explained, his stomach rumbling, distracting him from his defense of recent events. First everyone wanted them to be friends and now that they were it was a constant source of harassment, garnering the two of them a variety of nicknames that neither Daniel nor Adrienne were a fan of.

He couldn't win.

Glancing at the clock on the dash he saw it was 6:30 p.m. A thought flashed in his head and he pulled his cell phone from his pocket, sliding the activate bar across the screen, trying to remember where Adrienne had shown him to plug in his contacts.

"Who you callin?" Cam asked glancing over at the screen.

"The Italian place by Adrienne's. I'm not eating carrot sticks all night," Daniel replied, holding up his finger to silence Cam and began to order a crazy amount of pizza and sides. From the driver's seat Cam laughed, glad that at least one of them thought of it, deciding not to mention that Daniel had memorized the eateries and phone numbers near Adrienne's apartment, because oh no, they weren't spending that much time together, were they? Cam was really starting to wonder what was going on with the two of them lately, for two people that really seemed to hate each other, they had become fast friends.

From the text he received this morning, Cam had been told that they were supposed to be at Adrienne's at seven, but he knew, and Daniel had already joked that if they arrived at seven she probably wouldn't be ready for them anyway. Adrienne didn't operate on time even in her own home. She often stressed in New Orleans, early was rude, on time was early and late was expected.

Only Vala seemed to think that made sense.

Needless to say, they were both shocked that Adrienne was not only ready to party down at 7:05 when they arrived but had a full spread of Mexican food and beer waiting for them. She made a face at their pizza and breadstick boxes, glaring sharply at Daniel.

"I know this is your doing Indy," she said, putting her hands on her hips, "you have no faith in me." Daniel didn't say a word; he'd been caught red handed. Shrugging, Daniel played stupid and walked the food to the kitchen to slide it into her oven to keep warm. From the other room he heard Cameron already lauding their host on her Mexican spread so he opened the top box and slid out a breadstick, allowing his good buddy a private moment with Adrienne that he could harass her about later. Right as his aching stomach was about to thank him for satisfying the hunger, he felt arms on his shoulders and a face appeared beside his, pausing the breadstick midstream.

"I go to all of this trouble to get Mexican food, to get junk food, and you're in here sneaking contraband," she teased. His face reddened and sighing, he started to put the breadstick back in the box.

"Wow Indy, I'm just playing with you. Bring that stuff out to the table. I think John and Teyla might come by, I called her on my way home, and you boys can down a pizza each; I've seen it done," she smiled, standing and walked over to the wine cabinet, examining it closely. Relieved she wasn't angry, or at least as angry as his stomach was right at this moment, Daniel grabbed the pizza boxes and started to head back out to the white plastic table it looked like Adrienne had purchased just to have people over, sparkling new and smelling of fresh plastic.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, "There's a tub of beer out there, that shockingly you bought." Adrienne made a face, her dark eyes scanning the drawers carefully.

"You don't drink beer," she stated, "and I'm deciding how crazy this little night of ours should get." She put her hand on her hips, examining the insane amount of alcohol displayed in front of them. Laughing, Daniel moved the pizza boxes aside and leaned over her shoulder, peering into the cabinet.

"You're your own personal cult of Dionysus," he joked.

"Shut up Indy," she said, reaching for his shoulder to move him out of her line of sight, her line of sight apparently to his good buddy.

"Cam!" she shouted, "crashing or leaving?" Daniel looked at her, surprised upon the discovery that he wasn't the only person that slept here from time to time, at least person of the male persuasion. He knew Vala went home with Adrienne on some weekends, especially weekends that involved sales, but Cam?

He honestly didn't know what to make of it.

Pushing past him as if he wasn't there, Cam walked into the kitchen area, setting his forearm on Adrienne's shoulder to peer into her shrine of booze.

"Depends, whatcha ya thinking?" he asked, glancing over at her. Smiling evilly, and clicking her tongue ring against her teeth, Adrienne produced a bottle of aged Tequila, dancing it in the air.

Cam's reaction was instant.

"Crashing, Jackson you'll need to call a taxi," Cameron declared in celebration, turning to head back for the food.

"So I'm not your only couch squatter?" Daniel inquired, curious, cocking his head in their fearless leader's direction, their fearless leader who was already piling a plate full of tacos and supreme pizza.

"Uh, no, I just didn't want Cam to drive after a few, I don't play that game," she replied, confused herself before standing on her toes to kiss his cheek quickly, "don't worry you'll always be my favorite."

Just as fast, she turned on her heels, fishing some more items out of the cabinet.

Her favorite?

What was that supposed to mean?

In his latest state of Adrienne confusion, Daniel took the rest of the pizza boxes out to the table as he saw Cameron heading to the front door.

He answers her door?

I don't answer her door...

Shaking his head, he opened the boxes to arrange the food in an inviting manner when he heard John and Teyla entering behind them. He noted that Torrin wasn't with them, thankfully if his assistant was pulling out the hard liquor, so he assumed Teyla had gotten a sitter for the occasion.

This was turning into quite the little event, food, alcohol, babysitters, overnight stays?

Cameron was directing them to the table and showing them the food spread when Adrienne came out, bottles of tequila and margarita mix in hand. She said something to Cameron about salt on the counter and nodding, he went back into the kitchen to acquire it.

Wow, he's really making himself at home, Daniel thought, he's just hosting this thing like it's his party too.

Was this his party too?

He felt himself pushed aside for a second time as Cameron came out, small green tub of margarita salt in hand. Everyone served themselves and gathered around the center table in her living room where Daniel was fully expecting a movie, but instead Adrienne came out with a board game, something called Scattergories. Sitting down she explained the rules and he was relieved it was word game and not a drinking game or something else that would make him look like a complete idiot, in fact, he thought this should be a fairly easy game to play.

John creamed the mess out of him, and everyone else, creamed him so bad that he could just feel the teasing that was to come in the lab next week, all the while, Cam just kept telling Adrienne how smart she was, how good at the game she was, among other compliments and comments, despite the fact that she had about the same number of points as Daniel. Daniel found it to be exceedingly annoying and started to wonder if this was how Adrienne felt about Vala and the way she acted around him, the lap sitting, the sexual comments and he started to sympathize. Maybe he should speak up a little more, get her to lay off a tad, it was very awkward to witness...

Game ended, and Cam, of course, reached over to clean up the boards and cards, Adrienne standing, rushing over to the table and returning with the two bottles from earlier in her hands.

"Upside down Margaritas," she declared, "Indy first!" She motioned for Daniel to join her, where she was setting a chair down in front of her dining room table, some position of authority in this drinking extravaganza of hers. He stood, slightly pleased that she called him over rather than Cameron and walked over, sitting down and looking back at her awaiting instructions. He had no idea what an upside margarita was but despite the crazy look on her face, he trusted her completely.

"It's time for some fun shug. Lick ya hand," she ordered, smiling at him brightly.

"Why?" he asked, puzzled as to why hand licking was needed in this particular activity since he thought he knew what she had up her sleeve.

"Just do it, stop arguing with me," she spat back. He caught Cam grinning out of the corner of his eye, a comment about Daniel's being a light weight surely on his tongue, so he licked his palm, doing as he was told, glancing back to Adrienne for further instructions.

"Now, tilt your head back," she ordered. Yep, it was just what he thought this was, and he didn't argue, just tilted back as requested, hoping his glasses would stay on his face.

"Ok, you're gonna lick the salt off of your hand and then open your mouth. I pour, you shake and swallow. Got it?" Adrienne spat out the directions as if this were the most natural thing in the world, letting your friends toss alcohol down your throat.

"Seriously?" he mused, "I know what this is, this is that crazy stuff you did in college. You told me about when we played that Monty Python drinking game of yours." Adrienne smiled, confirming his suspicion. What had he gotten himself in to?

"Nice memory. Just do it, trust me," she continued, reaching behind herself to pour two glasses of liquid and steadied herself behind him counting off in French. Un, deux, trois and Adrienne watched as the most brilliant man that she knew licked salt off of his hand and tossed back his head, ready for her alcoholic insanity. She poured carefully into his mouth the mix and the liquor and he did as he was told bringing his head up quickly and shaking.

"Woah," he said as he finished swallowing.

"Yeah, give it a sec, the rush'll hit you soon," Adrienne replied, setting her hands on his shoulders, waiting for said rush. It didn't take long, she was able to feel him move underneath of her hands, it had hit him and the look on his face up at her was confirmation of the same.

"I like chocolate shots better," he declared and stood from the chair, slowly, shaking his head again as the first tinges of alcohol began to move through his system. Smirk gone, Cam looked at the two of them amazed, his face in a state of confusion.

"You guys have done shots before?" he asked, "Together?" he continued. Adrienne laughed.

"Yea, we played the Monty Python and the Holy Grail game and Indy actually made it through intermission, well, sorta, right after intermission he passed out on my floor," Adrienne answered, motioning John over to go next since Cameron was talking. The colonel didn't seem too thrilled by her response, at least that is what it looked like to Daniel, disappointment in his face leading him to assume that his assistant and his good buddy hadn't played that particular game before. Eat that Cam, Daniel said to himself and went to sit back on the sofa, watching as John was set up for his shot.

Why do I care? he questioned, forcing the thoughts aside to watch John's reaction.

They continued like this for a while, Daniel deciding to take another shot because it wasn't so bad after all and Cam, in an attempt to prove his drinking prowess, taking more than Daniel could count. Adrienne shot a few herself but not many, Cameron rushing to pour before anyone else could, not that anyone was racing him to it, but based on his behavior you would have thought they were. Alright, I'm not imagining things; this is really getting annoying, Daniel thought to himself, but didn't try to step in to pour, just sat back and let Cam run the show. Laughing and talking in between shots, they partied well into the night, having a general good time, enjoying an evening of no work drama and no worries.

Eventually the food was gone, including Daniel's pizza run, and Adrienne had put the tequila away, a silent signal that it was time to shut down the party.

Teyla declined an invitation to stay, citing Cassie Fraiser's inability to stay the night with Torrin, and bid the group a farewell, thanking Adrienne for her invitation. Adrienne was glad they came, it was nice to have two other people on base who could be good friends of the opposite sex with nothing else between them than friendship, it made her feel like she and Daniel weren't so strange after all, despite what Vala kept insisting.

Turning from the door as she shut it behind them, Adrienne noted that Cam had already started to lay down on the sofa, so she dashed down the hall, grabbing him some extra linens and tossing them onto his head. She figured she'd let him try to assemble the sofa, drunk, and let him fall in the floor a few times before she offered to help. It'd serve him right for over doing it tonight, even though he was quite funny opened and relaxed like this. Making her way to the kitchen and the mass of dishes that lay before her, Adrienne barely noticed when Daniel entered, a bit tipsy himself.

"Ad, have you seen my cell phone?" he asked, his speech slightly slurred. Trying not to giggle at him, Adrienne reached up on top of her fridge, grabbing it and passing it over.

"Who ya callin?'" she asked, reaching back to fill the dishwasher with plates.

"A cab," he replied, trying to figure out how to use the iPhone Adrienne had insisted that he get. It was hard enough to operate sober. Of course, the latest peer pressure he had succumb to had to be from Adrienne and it had to be to buy this damned impossible telephone. He heard her laugh and felt the gadget removed from his grasp.

"Thanks, I'm still trying to figure out how to use that thing," he said as Adrienne set the phone back on the fridge, Daniel looking at her strangely.

"Don't call a cab, that's a waste of money" she said, "stay." Daniel cocked his head back at the entrance to the kitchen, shaking it in the negative. Ooh, head shaking, bad idea, he scolded himself.

"Cam's claimed my spot," he said, wondering too if maybe Adrienne had something else since she had offered for Teyla and John to stay as well, but again she laughed, shutting off the water and reaching for a dish towel.

"Don't be so coo-yon, you can sleep with me," Adrienne replied, continuing to clean, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, to invite a male friend to bed with you.

Daniel, on other hand, panicked.

"What?" he asked, making sure he heard correctly.

"Daniel, stop being insane. We're two adult friends, I think we can handle it. And I am not Vala, trust me you are not going to wake up to me crawling on top of you," Adrienne argued, "In fact, I'm pretty wired still, so you go crash; I'm gonna clean in here, decompress and then worry about sleep when the urge hits me."

Daniel paused for a moment, not having any idea as to what the proper response would be.

In the bed?

With her?

He started to try to analyze the situation but forced himself to stop. This was Adrienne, he told himself, there's nothing to analyze, she is just what she seems, nice and no games. She's not going to do anything, say anything, try anything, to do anything to make him feel uncomfortable, unless she was trying to play a trick on him in which case he really needed to be worrying more about his retaliation. Decision made, he looked back at her, just to check one last time.

"Are you sure?" he clarified, seeing that apparently it was since she was loading wine glasses into the sink, not one smirk or smile, not one flirtatious glance, just focused on her task at hand, washing the dishes. She didn't even look up as she answered.

"Oh yeah, no big deal. Cam may harass ya 'bout it lata, but he's so sloshed righ now he's got no room to talk 'bout anyone doing anything," Adrienne added as she put dish liquid into the sink and began to toss more items in. Frozen in her kitchen, trying to determine if it was the tequila making him actually consider doing this, he just stood there, staring at her. Feeling his gaze on her, she laughed and pointed at the phone.

"If it's going to bother ya dat much, call a cab. I was just offerin'," she said simply and began to wash the shot glasses. He stood there, thinking it over one last time. Daniel didn't want to look like an idiot or a prude for that matter; they had a good thing going here and he didn't want to set their friendship back.

Ok Daniel, let's do this, he coached himself.

"No, it's not bothering me, I just didn't want to impose," he covered, walking forward to start helping her with the dishes. Smiling softly, she glanced over at him and pushed his hand away.

"Seriously, for as loud as I am normally, when I have a night like this I need to decompress. Head to bed; I'll be there eventually, promise," she replied. Accepting her answer, Daniel just nodded and went to her room, wondering if he could actually go to sleep in there or just worry until he passed out.

He had seen her bedroom before, she'd given him the entire Dr. Rowan apartment tour ages ago when they first started hanging out, but its sheer tackiness never ceased to amaze him. The entire room easily could have been the movie set of some greek epic, from floor to ceiling. The walls were painted a deep red, not quite blood red, more like royal burgundy, trimmed at the top by gold stenciled accents of the greek key pattern. She had painted these herself one weekend; he remembered her looking up stencil patterns online in the lab, insisting that she had finished all of her work.

Her furniture was all antique and it was obvious that she had taken much care in selecting pieces that looked like they would have come from a Roman Villa, off white, carved with fluting, some even depicting mythology. In the far left corner was a large Grecian Red Amphora, which Adrienne used as an umbrella holder and her dresser, positioned at the foot of her bed was carved with the birth of Aphrodite on the front of the drawers, which surprised Daniel considering her overall aversion to anything even remotely romantic. Any free space left on the walls was decorated with various pieces of art each of which looked as if they could have very well been stolen from a dig site or at least the British Museum, either way he hoped neither was true.

And then there was her bed.

It was a dark wood canopy bed, made of wormwood giving it a feel of age that Daniel knew was not the case, she had ordered it just for this apartment. Fully curtained in sheer purple fabric, the color of Roman royalty, her bed was the centerpiece of the entire display. Daniel just sighed and walked over to the side, pulling back the curtain to enter, not bothering to tie it into the gold tasseled cord that was at each corner. There, as he remembered, he saw her purple, burgundy and gold satin bedspread over what he knew was under there, deep purple satin sheets. This was how she lived and how she slept and yet she made fun of Vala's over the top attitude. At least when it came to decorating, it was the pot calling the kettle.

"How in the hell does she sleep in this?" Daniel said out loud as he kicked off his shoes and crawled into the bed, leaving his jeans on and trying to get comfortable without slipping onto the floor.

Adrienne shut down the kitchen and put the rest of the dishes away, not bothering to look over at the clock to see what time it was; she was finally tired and craving her bed. Walking out into the main area to lock up the apartment, she noticed Cameron sliding off of the sofa, mumbling in his sleep. She let out a sigh, sliding the deadbolt into place and walking over to the coach, pulling off the colonel's boots to shove him to the best of her ability back onto the furniture. He was heavy and complained when she moved him, so she just gave up, covered him with the blanket she had collected from her closet and took herself to bed.

It was pitch black, so Adrienne assumed that Daniel was already asleep. Tiptoeing quietly to her dresser, Adrienne pulled out some pajama pants, changing into them, tossing her old clothes into the hamper. Trying to stay quiet, she knew how horrible his sleeping habits were and she didn't want to wake him, she inched her way to her customary side of the queen sized bed, pulling back the curtain and crawling in.

Sitting right on something, hard, warm, alive.

She had sat directly on Daniel, who was sleeping in her spot, startling her so badly that she cascaded right into the floor.

"Adrienne, what are you doing?" Daniel shouted out, jolted awake himself, his assistant sitting on the floor laughing hysterically from not only exhaustion but the sheer ridiculousness of the entire situation.

"Trying out a Vala," Adrienne couldn't resist, barely choking out her answer as she kept laughing, her head between her knees. Her nightstand light clicked on and she saw that Daniel was sitting up, looking at her in embarrassment, his cheeks red as his face flushed.

From the floor, Adrienne just continued her giggling.

"I usually sleep there, remember, away from the door, I'm just trying to crash. Scoot over," Adrienne said, wiping tears from her eyes. Daniel felt like an idiot, he should have remembered that odd habit in particular, but he felt too stupid to apologize and just scooted over as requested. Standing and shutting out the lamp, Adrienne reached across the bed, pushing him on the arm and further over to the side. She got in, still laughing, reaching behind herself once more to squeeze his bicep, hoping he wasn't too embarrassed, and let herself fall asleep.

Adrienne thought she heard ringing in the distance but it stopped, so she just scooted herself deeper under the covers and back toward the warmth behind her, pulling them tightly over her shoulders and feeling a squeeze at her waist. Eric was oddly warm tonight, but she was going to take advantage of that, let him hold her before he decided that he needed to get back to work...

More than anything Daniel hated to be awakened by the phone, especially when he was sleeping so well. He never got to sleep this well, he was comfortable, warm, relaxed but that stupid phone kept ringing.

"Hello?" Daniel answered groggily, having reached for the corded phone on the nightstand, further away than he had expected, one of his pillows having moved in front of his body.

Damn this was a big pillow.

Having no idea what time it was, but knowing he was exhausted, he cursed in his head, hoping that this was important.

"Daniel?" Sam asked, surprised, on the other line. Sam calling before the sun rose was never a good sign, but he wasn't sure why she sounded so shocked.

"Yeah," he replied, still half asleep, shoving the pillow aside, but it wouldn't move. What in the hell had he been working on before bed? He thought he heard Sam saying something in the background and a man laugh, Jack's laugh and was getting seriously annoyed now, this had better not be some kind of joke.

"Where's Adrienne?" Sam continued, and he could hear her laughing now, trying to contain herself.

What was going on?

"I don't know, at her apartment," Daniel answered with attitude in his voice; he was her friend, not her keeper, but Sam seemed to completely disregard his tone, now laughing even harder.

"Daniel, do you know where you are?" Sam added, roaring into the phone.

"Eric, you're heavy, get off of me..." a voice mumbled from underneath of him, a familiar voice, his assistant's voice, as she rolled over pushing him back only to bury herself in his chest.

Dammit...

Of course it hadn't been a pillow.

Rolling his eyes, Daniel sat up quickly and slipped away from her still reaching grasp, left leg cascading off the side of the bed. He was in Adrienne's bed and he remembered everything, the party, the shots, the invitation to this very spot. Of course Sam had to call and with Jack's goading was going to jump to some crazy conclusion. He knew this was a mistake, he should have just called a cab. This is going to be fun to deal with.

"Hold on," was all he said, delaying the inevitable, and reached over, shoving Adrienne's shoulder as she slept on her side, still reaching out for him. I don't have to tell her, he thought, she can just think that Sam called that should be enough embarrassment. Coming to slowly, rubbing her hand across her face, Adrienne opened her eyes.

"What?" she questioned, sitting up, looking over at him, her eyes glazed.

"Phone," he answered, quickly removing himself from the uncomfortable situation, rushing from the bed and straight for the bathroom.

He knew this was a bad idea; why did he agree to this?

"Hello Addy, is there something you need to tell me?" Sam asked on the other line. Adrienne sat up, rubbing her eyes, confused, glancing around the room for whatever might be wrong.

"I don't think so, what time is it?" Adrienne inquired, noting the lack of light in the room and the darkness outside her window, remembering she had left her cell phone in the kitchen, on top of the fridge beside Daniel's.

"It's four; why is Daniel sleeping with you?" Sam answered, beginning her interrogation without missing a beat. Adrienne finally registered what had happened, and how this might look, her stomach sinking.

"Because Cam stole the sofa," she replied matter of factly, hoping her words and tone would convey the message. It must have, Sam stopped laughing, clearing her throat.

"Oh," she responded, remembering their lunch conversation by the sound of it, "you had a party, that's right."

"Just a little one; John and Teyla left about midnight, Cam was knocked out at twelve thirty and Daniel shortly after. I cleaned up a bit and was in bed by one or so," Adrienne explained.

Poor Daniel, she thought to herself, I need to go find him and make sure he's alright.

"How drunk is Cam?" was Sam's next question, giving Adrienne the excuse she needed to check on her probably mortified friend. Covering the receiver of the phone with her palm, she shouted out into the open room.

"Indy! Can I get a status report on Mitchell?" she heard him mutter something from across the way and saw her bedroom door open, his silhouette leaving. At least he didn't retreat from the room, but it looked as if he had gone to the bathroom, Adrienne hoping it was not to hide. There was a glimmer of light as his figure re-entered the room, the shadow of his hand passing through his hair.

"Passed out, but did respond slightly to my kicking him," Daniel answered and came back over to the bed, turning on the nightstand light. Adrienne pointed beside herself and he sat down, much to her relief, figuring the damage had been done.

"We can move him if we have to, but he shouldn't operate any machinery, is everything alright?" Adrienne asked, leaning her head over onto Daniel's shoulder, trying to gauge his current state. He let out a sigh and didn't shrug away, so Adrienne figured they were alright, reaching to slip her free hand into his, squeezing it lightly.

"The baby's coming. Teal'c wants everyone to gate to Chulac to be there for the birthing ceremony. I was going down my phone in ABC order and fortunately your little party is going to save me some phone calls. Get them moving and get down here," Sam explained and hung up without so much as a goodbye. Sighing, Adrienne sat up, leaning across Daniel to hang up the phone, looking up at him.

"What now?" he asked, "I want to sleep."

"We're being summoned to Chulac. Teal'c is going to be a grandpa," Adrienne answered. Daniel nodded and stood. If there was one thing would get him out of bed when he was this tired, it was a celebration of life for his dear friend. He was heading back out to attempt to reason with a most likely still inebriated Cam when he felt a hand at his wrist.

"Indy, you ok?" he turned to see Adrienne sitting on her bed, those deep eyes of her twinkling in the dim light of the lamp. It had taken him a while to see through the jokes and sarcasm, but he was starting to read her face and she was thinking exactly what he had been thinking, that this might have been a bad idea.

"I'm fine. We're two adult friends. Let them think what they want," he lied deftly, knowing full well that he would have to play damage control later, but his words had the intended effect, the worry leaving her face and softening her stare.

"I, uh, was, uh, dreaming about Eric, did I?" she asked now, stammering, Daniel cheeks flushing.

"Nothing too embarrassing, trust me," he assured her, peeking over his head to change the subject.

"Go get Cameron; we'll take his truck. I'll go find his keys," Daniel replied, pulling away from her grasp, trudging sleepily to the door.

It took both Daniel and Adrienne to get Cameron moving and out of the door, he was whining and still very asleep, and very sauced as Adrienne so delicately put it. Tossing him in the passenger side quickly, they slammed the door shut, just in time for him to slump himself over to the side. There was no way they could take their friend in this state walking into the SGC, not that he could really walk anyway, so Adrienne convinced Daniel to stop at 7-11 to get some energy drinks in an attempt to revive him fully. Sitting in between her two friends, Adrienne rode backwards, trying to coax Cam into taking the energy shot and then sipping some tea. He wasn't very cooperative, much to Adrienne's extreme annoyance Daniel could tell, as she grabbed the shoulders of his t-shirt and slammed him back into an upright position.

"Cameron Mitchell ya listen ta me. Teal'c needs us. Ya FRIEND! Naw, sit ya stupid redneck ass up, chug this right naw before I force it down ya gullet!" she shouted at him, her southern accent on the word gullet so thick Daniel had to contain his laughter. Cam opened his eyes, finally, and jerked the shot from her hand, chugging it and tossing the bottle aside before laying his head back against the glass. Satisfied, but still relatively angry, Adrienne huffed loudly, slamming herself into her seat beside him.

"I hate when adults act like children," she spat. Refraining from pointing out a few of the more ironic elements of that statement, Daniel hid his laughter by clearing his throat, focusing on the road ahead.

When they arrived, Sam and Jack were waiting for them at the gate, impatiently Daniel could tell on Jack's part, but there was really only so fast they could get Cam moving without causing him to vomit all over the SGC floor, which he had begun threatening he would do the moment Daniel pulled the truck into a space. Adrienne pulled him along, setting him down in a fold-out chair while Walter dialed, stepping over to talk to Sam as Jack walked right over to Daniel, leaning in close to his ear.

"I'm proud of you; you're learning," he said, elbowing his friend in the side, "just keep it quiet, things like that aren't supposed to be going on."

Daniel shook his head.

"See this is why I should have called a cab. Nothing happened. She was doing dishes when I went to sleep while Cameron was, inebriated, on the sofa," he retorted, annoyed. Of course Jack would turn this into something it wasn't, he would expect nothing less.

"This, my friend, is why you shall remain alone until the day you die," Jack replied, patting him on the arm, gazing out toward the event horizon. His heart just not feeling up to an argument at a few minutes past five in the morning, his thoughts still back on waking up with his arm wrapped around his assistant, Daniel returned to Adrienne's side, aiding her in hoisting the now less belligerent Cameron through the glittering pool.

"It is almost time," was the first thing Daniel heard before he could look up, Teal'c's loud voice resonating all around them.

"Come, come," he urged, ushering his friends down the ramp and to the direction of the city, lit by candle lamps and other simplicities that one would not expect given their understanding of Goa'uld technology. When Daniel was finally able to look up, shoving Cam's arm further down his shoulder, he noted Teal'c was dressed in robes like he had never seen before, a deep blood red trimmed in gold and silver, with long flowing sleeves and a large hood. Teal'c himself looked very tired, as if he hadn't slept in a few days and Daniel could only assume that the birthing process was a long and involved one that he had to remain awake to attend. As he walked away, Daniel could see dirt stains all over the robe, as if he had been kneeling or some other form of meditation and Daniel was about to ask when Cam shoved himself away, bending over, heaving onto the ground. Daniel leaned over to help, when he felt a tug at his arm, turning to see Adrienne pulling him aside.

"So, what exactly happens here? Of everything I've read there is no mention of Jaffa birthing rituals, only coming of age ceremonies," she whispered, ignoring Cam's coughs and sputters.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I know that during the war with the Goa'uld there was a dramatic decrease in births, as is to be expected, so we've never really had an opportunity to experience it," he answered. Adrienne just nodded and kept walking, her mind in its typical overdrive despite the hour. Teal'c had been gone from base for days, ever since Bra'tac had sent word that Kar'yn had gone into labor.

Days, and the baby was just now coming.

Yet another reason to not have children, Adrienne thought.

"T?" Jack asked as they walked on, "Is this going to be ass nasty? I don't do, well, I didn't even watch my own kid being born."

"It is no more than watching a man die. I know you have watched a man die ONeill," Teal'c replied.

"Yeah, but, uh, never mind buddy. Walk on," Jack replied as Sam reached over and clasped his hand. Daniel looked up at his friends, happy every time he saw them together when suddenly he remembered Cam, who was walking along, in silence, staggering slightly as the energy drinks began to kick in slowly, falling further and further behind.

"Can you check on him?" Daniel slowed, cocking his thumb back in the direction of Cam, trotting along behind them.

"Hell no, you do it Indy," she answered.

"Flip a coin?" he offered, hoping that he wouldn't be stuck with the task, especially if Cam was going to be bent over and puking every few feet. Let Adrienne deal with her hung over secret admirer, give her a real taste of Cameron, he thought, pausing.

What is wrong with me?

"Only if I can see it first. I don't trust you; I know you too well," she smiled, breaking his thoughts, thankfully. Daniel reached in his pocket and pulled out a quarter, turning it between his fingers at her request even though she was just teasing him, making sure to do it slowly and dramatically. Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"Heads or Tails?" he asked.

"Tails," she responded. Flipping the quarter into the air, Daniel caught it in one hand, flipping it onto the back of the other. Adrienne held her breath for a second, not wanting to deal with Cameron in this state, not wanting to deal with anyone is this state as Daniel slowly moved his palm away.

"Heads," he said, smiling brightly, "Have fun Ad." Laughing, he jogged ahead to catch up to Sam and Jack.

"Bon rien," she muttered, already plotting her revenge as she walked back to Cam.

"Hey handsome, how ya feelin'?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He still smelled like tequila, and it was making her slightly ill, but she held it together for his sake, willing herself into caretaker mode.

"Awful, what in the hell did you do to me?" he asked. Laughing, his running buddy brought him upright, supporting his back with her palm.

"I thought you went to college Colonel Mitchell," Adrienne played, but he didn't seem too playful right now, glaring up at her with a grimace on his face.

"In college we drank beer, like normal folks," he retorted as Adrienne patted him on the back.

"Come on," she said, "let's go see what insanity Teal'c has in store for us."

It was indeed insanity. They heard Kar'yn screaming before the town came into sight and at her scream, Teal'c threw his arms up and began to chant something in Goa'uld, turning to face the group and rouse them to do the same. Confused, Cam looked over at Adrienne, knowing he was supposed to say something but not exactly sure what.

"It's fast, but I'll try," she said, beginning to translate since she knew Cam would want to know first what he was saying before he said it.

"Bring it to the light, to the light of our world. Gods bless this child and bring it to the light of our world," Adrienne said, concentrating hard on what Teal'c was saying, since it was going pretty fast and sandworm, as Jack liked to call it, was not something Adrienne knew very well other than the journals that Daniel had given her.

"He's going pretty fast but I think that's the just of it. Sounds an invitation to come to us, to be born or something," Adrienne explained as Cameron smiled, reaching for her shoulder.

"Girl, you never cease to amaze me," he said. Adrienne blushed at his compliment, turning away so he couldn't see, but before she could reply, they heard loud shouting ahead, shouting of the General Jack O'Neill sort.

"You two better get your asses moving, Kar'yn's gonna pop this kid out!" Jack was standing outside of a doorway, yelling. Daniel and Sam were nowhere in sight, so Adrienne assumed that they were already inside when she heard Kar'yn scream again. Squeezing Cameron's arm, Adrienne led him gently into the house, her heart racing like she was entering some sort of Halloween attraction, the shrieks of pain coming from the poor woman in the throes of labor sending chills down her spine. Jack bobbed and weaved, leading them through the beautiful house, laid out as a labyrinth of rooms and passageways into a back ceremonial chamber.

The room itself was dim, lit only by large candles set up all around, on chairs, tables, shelves, even some along the floor, which made it hard to make out the etchings and paintings on the walls, but to Adrienne they looked like paintings of landscapes and foliage native to the planet. There was a thin pad in the middle of room, where in an even thinner linen robe which left little to the imagination, was Kar'yn, Ry'ac's very pregnant, very labored wife. In a flash of shame, Adrienne felt bad for the poor woman's dignity but assumed it was just part of the ritual, reminding herself that the Jaffa were anything but modest. The expectant father himself was leaning precariously on his knees with Kar'yn laying against him, chanting the same chant Teal'c had been reciting outside while Ishta knelt at Kar'yn's feet, obviously there to deliver the baby. Crouching beside her was Sam, trying to help, rubbing Kar'yn's leg gently and whispering soothing things in her direction. Sensing that this may be a little too much for her hung-over friend, Adrienne led Cameron over to the wall, propping him up against it carefully before hurrying over to Daniel's side.

"Is everything going ok?" she asked but before Daniel could answer her Ishta was shouting in her direction.

"AdrienneRowan, come. We are in need of your assistance," Ishta did not make eye contact with Adrienne, or any of the men she was standing with for that matter, her gaze locked on Kar'yn's convulsing abdomen. Uncertain as to why she was being called, Adrienne looked back to Daniel confused and worried.

"It appears that all of the women participate in the delivery and we chant. Are you alright with this?" Daniel asked, whispering the last question, making sure Adrienne was up to the challenge. She nodded in agreement, her face taking on the stoic quality it did when there was a task to be accomplished.

"No, that's fine, it's only blood, I'm just a little surprised," Adrienne looked back at Sam, rocking and soothing the poor young woman, seeming to know what she was doing for someone who according to Daniel had yet to experience a Jaffa birth herself.

She hadn't lied to Daniel, Adrienne was used to gross things, after dealing with her father for years, she just hadn't expected that at 5:30 a.m. she would be helping deliver a baby, in a room with an audience and zero medical equipment. It looked as though Daniel was reading her mind, scanning the room himself for something more sanitary than a mat and some bare hands, but she knew there was nothing, they were going to have to accept and do this their way. Adrienne touched him lightly on the shoulder in an effort to assure him and walked over to the women, where Ishta, finally making eye contact with the normally feisty cajun woman, pointed to their patient, beginning immediately to bark orders.

"I am pulling, you and SamanthaONeill will need to allow her to push her feet against you," she commanded with authority. Adrienne knelt at Kar'yn's right foot, taking it into her hands and resting it against her thigh. There was another contraction, the poor woman's body convulsing, and Kar'yn let out a scream, pushing forcefully against Sam and Adrienne while Ishta was reaching between her legs, searching for any sign of the baby. Surprised by the small women's strength, Adrienne tried to brace herself a bit better, Kar'yn pushing much harder than expected. She could hear the men chanting as she held on, Daniel's voice almost as loud as Teal'c's, and remarkably it had an almost soothing effect on her, making her question whether it really was a prayer to whatever gods that they may still believe in or whether it was just designed to calm the mother, or perhaps even the crowd. In an instant, almost as quickly as it started, Kar'yn relaxed and the contraction was over. Eerily calm, Ishta looked over at Sam, not removing her hands from under the folds on thin linen.

"It is soon; I feel the baby," she stated. Taking a break herself, the beautiful Jaffa woman slung her long blond hair over her shoulder and signaled that both Adrienne and Sam could rest, for the time being, Sam resuming rubbing Kar'yn's leg lightly while Adrienne sat back on her heels. She looked up to discover that the men had taken a seated position, one in which they appeared to be preparing to Kelnareen with Jack, in particular, looking rather uncomfortable. Before Adrienne could make eye contact with Daniel, both to check on him and let him know she was alright, Kar'yn shouted out again, her screams ratcheting through Adrienne's skull. Squinting to force away the piercing sound, Adrienne got to her knees as Sam was doing the same, to brace themselves as Kar'yn began pushing once more. Ishta reached out and then threw her head back, wailing like a mad woman.

"The head comes!" she shouted, more like a war cry than an announcement of birth, and her cries were soon drowned out as Teal'c and Ry'ac both began to chant more furiously, Daniel joining them once he was able to match the rhythm of their song. Glancing over at one another in a complete state of confusion, Jack and Cam were trying to figure out what to do but that didn't seem to matter, the baby was coming, right now. Ishta looked up at Kar'yn, severity in her glance, glaring at the young Jaffa, who was screaming and sweating and holding onto to Ry'ac for dear life.

"Push Kar'yn," she ordered. Kar'yn grunted and threw back her head, shrieking and pushing, her shouts so loud one could almost feels the walls shaking all around them. There was power in not only her screams, but in her petite frame as well, Sam and Adrienne being forced to near standing to provide a counter to Kar'yn's pushing, during which Teal'c and company just continued chanting.

Ishta was screaming, swearing in Goa'uld, and Adrienne could tell something was wrong as the warrior woman stopped her chanting and called for Teal'c to come and assist her in the delivery, at least that was what Adrienne gathered to the best of her translation ability. Rising, but continuing the chanting, Teal'c grabbed Cam from the wall to accompany him, pushing Sam out of the way and motioning for Cameron to take Adrienne's place at Kar'yn's left foot. Adrienne scooted over, trying to get out of the way, but felt herself being pulled back in the direction of the birth as Ishta was dragging Adrienne to her side.

"The child is great, my friends, I need your help," Ishta stated, calmer than before, though her eyes conveyed some fear that no amount of training could hide. Sam and Adrienne looked at each other, understanding that Ishta needing help pulling the child through and together reached underneath the fabric and in between the legs of the weak and whimpering woman, feeling for child. Surprisingly, Sam pulled her hands back as soon as she came in contact with flesh, having discovered her limit in this but Adrienne had dealt with far worse in cancer ward after cancer ward with her father.

This was life, while Adrienne was used to death, and despite the blood and gore she felt oozing around her fingers, she welcomed the sensation of helping to bring good into the world. Ishta smiled in approval, seeing that Adrienne was up to the task, and reached inside the smaller woman's body the best she could, ordering Kar'yn to push once more. And then she felt it, Adrienne felt warm, wet skin in her palms, a shoulder, a tiny armpit and life.

"Push!" Adrienne shouted, excited, her screams echoing over the rest of the room, getting lost in the moment and pulling the baby frantically toward her. There was more yelling, Ishta, ordering in Goa'uld that Kar'yn push and Adrienne felt pressure, a shift in the child as she pulled and suddenly, there was nothing pushing against Adrienne, she was free, falling backward, the child slipping from her grasp. Shoved aside, Adrienne fell onto her butt, crab-walking out of the way as the Jaffa woman reached out, taking the baby fully into her hands. Ry'ac was suddenly behind her, a huge knife in hand, reaching for the cord, his chanting different this time and his face that of a proud papa.

Relief washed over her, it was done, and as Adrienne went to stand, her feet flew out from under her, sending her cascading into another pile of warmth, which upon investigation wasn't afterbirth, or another maternal fluid; it was vomit. Quickly examining herself, she saw that her jeans were covered in blood and amniotic fluid, as were her hands and the puke, which she quickly ascertained had come from Cameron, who she could see throwing up in the corner, was on the seat of her pants and the bottom of her shirt. She wanted to scream, thoroughly disgusted by the entire scene, when she felt hands under her arms and with a quick glance saw that Daniel and Jack pulling her upright.

"Come on Dr. Perky," Jack said, "Out of the way." Once she was on her feet, he relinquished her to Daniel and went to check on his wife, who was safely out of the way of gore. Adrienne looked back over just in time to see Ishta delivering the afterbirth, and that was it, it was too much, she had reached her limit. Trying not to be ill herself, she looked over at Daniel, her eyes pleading for reprieve.

"We're officially at the point where I'm not ok, so can you tell me where the bathroom is?" she pleaded, Daniel nodding quickly in agreement.

"No problem, we need to get you cleaned up ," he replied sweetly, taking her by the arm and leading her from the room. He showed her the way, happy to be out of the room and the scene unfolding, previous birthing experience or not, weaving through the house, the maze-like pattern of interconnected rooms and slight hallways. The house that was once Teal'c's when he was first prime, but Daniel had been here many times since, so he knew he would find the bathing area at the back of the domicile.

The bathroom was very similar to an ancient Egyptian bath, a large pool with fountains in the center. The sides of the room were flanked with golden tables, home to various perfumes, soaps and make-up, a spread so lavish Adrienne thought she was in a burial chamber or a temple to the gods. Over to one side there was a spigot which Adrienne hoped worked like a shower, which considering the rest of Goa'uld technology, one would think they could at least create a shower like bathing system. Unsure, she looked back at Daniel for help, since he was still standing there for some reason, presumably to offer assistance.

"Does this work like I think it does?" she asked, worried but hopeful. Nodding, he knelt down on his knees and leaned over the tub, turning a very ornate knob, sitting back on his heels. Much to her relief, water came shooting out all around it, turning the pool into a shower bath combination of cycling water rather than a stagnant pool, warm she could tell with a touch, inviting her aching and filthy body to relax and enter.

Which brought her to her next problem.

"Thanks, uh, can you find me some clothes Indy, please?" she asked. Daniel nodded, glad that she didn't ask him to help remove the disgusting articles from her body, the smell was just awful and he couldn't image having to help her peel them off of her skin, the thought made his skin crawl.

"Sure, I saw the room that Teal'c uses when he stays on Chulac, he's bound to have something Earth-like in there. T-shirt and drawstring shorts if I can find them?" he asked, starting for the door and to his escape, planning on locking it behind him to give her privacy. She nodded appreciatively.

"You're my hero," she joked, turning her back to begin peeling off the very disgusting jeans that she was wearing. From behind as he stepped through the doorway, Daniel heard a zip and then the wet suction of moist denim from skin, making his stomach turn.

It's too damn early in the morning for this, he thought, pulling the door closed behind him.

Jack caught Daniel in Teal'c's room as he dug through a large trunk of assorted garments, tossing robes and shirts behind him. Glad to have finally found his old friend, Jack walked right up behind him, tapping him on the shoulder.

"There you are, I've been hunting around this damn maze looking for you, well, you and your shadow. It's a girl by the way, not sure if Dr. Perky caught that before she went ass first into Cam's dinner," Jack said, Daniel not bothering to look back as he dug deeper into the trunk.

"That's great. Have they picked a name yet?" Daniel asked, finally finding an SG t-shirt, albeit too large for Adrienne, amidst the Jaffa robes. Maybe, she can do something with this, he thought, and pulled that out, tossing it aside.

"No, apparently the kid goes without a name for three months or some damn nonsense and then he's going to drag us all back here for more chanting," Jack answered, pausing to watch Daniel root around in Tealc's things, adding, "and what are you doing anyway?" Daniel didn't stop his search, but did cock his head slightly to answer Jack, somewhat acknowledging his rudely stated question.

"I'm trying to find Adrienne some clothes. She's bathing now to get off everything she managed to get on herself in the past few hours," Daniel answered matter of factly, as if getting his assistant clean clothes was a normal occurrence. Smiling slyly, Jack knelt down beside him, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they were alone.

"And you are going to invite yourself into that tub, aren't you?" Jack asked him quietly. Daniel glared at him, knowing he should have expected the comment, given the circumstances, and rolling his eyes.

"Give it up Jack, she's my assistant," Daniel replied, finally deciding on a large purple wrap that Adrienne could probably fold into some kind of skirt, tossing it over his shoulder and standing, closing the trunk. Shaking his head, Jack stood as well.

"Come on Daniel, really? You can't be telling me that you haven't thought of it. For crying out loud, you're with her almost every damn second of the day, and you aren't trying to figure what it would take? Honestly?" Jack asked, crossing his arms. Pushing past, Daniel walked over to where he has thrown the t-shirt over onto the bed, adding that to the wrap and making his way for the door, stopping only to answer Jack.

"Jack, she's my assistant. And my friend. That's as far as it goes. That's as far as it will go. Now, I need to get these to get back to her before she starts wandering around here and gets herself lost," Daniel explained, turning for the door.

"Uh huh, and that's why we're getting clean clothes for her and drawing her a bath, after waking up in the bed with her. You keep telling yourself that Daniel, let's see how this all plays out," Jack taunted and left the room, on his way to the excitement down the hall. Rolling his eyes and trying to push away the image from just a few hours ago, Adrienne nestled so very close to him, Daniel found his way back to the bathroom, knocking lightly on the door when he arrived.

"It's open," he heard her voice from the other side, reaching for the knob to find it was indeed unlocked. He pushed the door open, entering the bathroom, and there she was, tightly wrapped in a towel of sorts, sitting patiently waiting for him on a large stone bench. She looked much better, color back in her face and smiling again, the look he was used to.

"Huge t-shirt and some kind of wrap, best I could do," he stepped forward, handing his find over to her, apologizing. Taking them, she held each piece out, determining what would work, cocking her head over to a pile on the floor.

"Thanks; I think I'm gonna burn those," she indicated, making a disgusted face of her own. Daniel laughed but didn't volunteer to pick them up, she could burn those all by herself. Scrunching up her face again, playfully this time, she stood to get dressed, reaching to undo the towel. Panicking, he started to leave but she motioned for him to stop, shaking her head at the misunderstanding.

"Sorry Indy, just turn around, don't leave, it took so many turns to get here I'm not sure if I can find my way back," she said, pausing the removal of her towel, forgetting herself for a moment. Friend or not Ad, you need to remember he's male, she scolded herself for acting before thinking.

And you woke up in his arms this morning.

Focus Addy, focus.

"Yeah, it's a lot like a maze, almost as if they took a three story house and just crammed it all into one floor," Daniel replied, relieved that was the only reason she wanted him to stay and turned around as she requested. Clear from his line of sight, Adrienne tossed the towel onto the bench, starting with the t-shirt, which, as expected fit her like a dress, a dress much too short, which considering that she almost sent Daniel into the stratosphere a moment ago, she didn't think that would be a wise selection. She took it off and tossed it aside for the time being, hoping to make a sarong type dress out of the large piece of fabric he had brought her as well. She knelt onto the cold tile and began to fold.

"Is it so big because he was first prime?" she asked, curious as to how he had obtained such a large home and hoping to take Daniel's clearly anxious mind off of what was happening behind him. It worked, he stopped shoving his hands nervously into his pockets to shrug slightly before answering.

"I believe so. Actually, no, I'm certain that when I met his former wife she said just that," Daniel answered.

"So, she's not dead?" Adrienne inquired further, finding the shape she wanted and folding furiously.

"No, she is, they were no longer together by that time. It still upset him though," Daniel answered, not wanting to give up too much of Teal'c's personal information; it was one thing to spill his own guts to Adrienne, it was quite another to spill someone else's.

"I'm good," he heard her say and turned back around hoping she really was and there Adrienne stood, wearing the large purple wrap as a dress, wrapped once around her middle and tied behind her neck. Her hair was still wet and she had no make-up on, but she was still absolutely lovely.

Stop it, he told himself, what in the hell is wrong with you?

"Sorry to ask, that was probably nosy," she continued, sensing his tone, "Teal'c is such a great person but he keeps a lot to himself. Like someone else I know," she added the last part looking at Daniel. She leaned down to collect the t-shirt, handing it back to him and walking over to the pile of mess, kneeling to carefully wrap her dirty clothes into the cleaner parts.

"I'm not that closed, anymore," he protested a bit, knowing she was right. In fact, she was the only person he had really talked to in years, and even now he still didn't tell her everything, there were just some things that good friend or not were none of her business, or anyone else's.

And then there were somethings that he never wanted to speak of again.

Those things he just pushed aside, forcing his gaze back at his assistant.

"Uh huh, we'll see how it goes down next time we play 20Q. Now shug, can you show me to the burn pile, please," she teased, lifting the wad of clothing closer to his nose. The odor of bodily fluids hit him like a slap in the face, and he reached to cover his nose, turning his head upward, pushing the pile away. In an effort to avoid helping her any longer, at least in dealing with that lovely mess of fabric, he had started to walk away when Adrienne grabbed his arm.

"Daniel, listen, we're pretty good friends now right?" she asked, her expression serious, her beautiful dark eyes full of worry. They really were, he thought, she was now a member of the team and they did spend a good amount of their free time together. They talked and he had told her things that he told no one else before and was certain she had done the same. They really had gotten close lately, closer than he ever thought was possible, not only with her, but with anyone for that matter.

Close enough where he really wasn't upset about this morning, in the least.

"Yeah, we are. What's wrong?" he asked, reading the concern in her face.

"I just need you to promise me something. If we're still friends when, or if, dear God if, I ever marry someone and decide to have a kid, and again this is a huge if, please, please, please make sure it's nothing like that. No matter who I marry, even if I fall in love with some god damn space prince, ok? The birth of my child should be a private thing between my husband and I, not a chanting gore fest with our entire friend circle. Promise me?" she inquired sincerely, but Daniel was already laughing about halfway through her speech. Frustrated that her request had not been taken seriously, Adrienne made a face at him.

"What's so funny?" she hissed, not thinking her concerns were something to be laughed at but Daniel just laughed harder, bringing his hand to his face.

"You," he choked out in between gasps for air, "you as someone's parent."

Saying it out loud made him laugh even harder.

"I hate you Daniel Anthony," she spat and stormed out of the room, Daniel following close behind her, still laughing.

When they got back to the ceremonial room Sam was outside, waiting for them, her finger to her lips indicating they stay quiet.

"She's asleep and Teal'c and Ishta are preparing some other ceremony for Ry'ac, her and the baby. Jack says we can go home," she said, looking at the clothes in Adrienne's hand, reaching out and taking them without question.

"I'll get these washed on base. Your jeans cost too much to trash them," Sam said smiling, remembering the shopping trips Adrienne had made with her and Vala. Thankful, Adrienne nodded and let go of the clothes reluctantly, feeling bad with someone as high ranking as Sam taking her dirty laundry, but maybe that was part of being a member of the team. Together, in the direction of the rising sun and the Stargate in the distance, they started the walk back.

"The baby looks alright?" Daniel asked Sam once they were out of the earshot of the house, not wanting to cause anyone any undue alarm.

"Yes, according to Ishta, but I think I'm going to send Carolyn over just to check, just in case. It's a new era for the Jaffa, one in which their parents do not carry symbiotes. We'll need to keep an eye on her," Sam said as she continued her stride. Adrienne was quiet for a bit, not knowing enough about childbirth or new babies, until she had an idea, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.

"Sam, you have your watch?" she asked, her eyes widening in excitement.

"Of course, it's 9 am our time, why?" she answered but Adrienne just smiled, breaking out into a mad dash for the gate.

"Ad, where are you going?" Daniel yelled after her, puzzled by her sprint.

"To the mall!" she shouted behind, racing ahead to the DHD.

Teal'c returned home three days later, just as he had assured Jack, calling his friend down to his quarters to explain his role in the naming ceremony. Daniel couldn't wait to hear what that entailed, nor could he wait to accompany Jack to film the entire ordeal, the free Jaffa and their rituals never ceased to amaze him. Looking up from his computer, he saw Adrienne out of the corner of his eye, standing on the center table, hanging a large banner across the center of the room.

"Ad this isn't low key," Daniel said, earning him a scowl and some muttered Cajun swears.

"Yes it is. I changed it from the mess didn't I? And besides, aren't you the one telling me all of the time that Teal'c and Vala and Dex like these little earth experiences. Well, a baby shower is an earth experience," Adrienne retorted as she pinned the corner to the ceiling tile, cutting her eyes down at him a second time.

"I thought baby showers were for the mother?" Daniel asked rhetorically, knowing her answer already, standing and walking over to the small white plastic card table Adrienne had brought from her apartment, decorated with a rather large spread of food. Sensing his motion, she shot him a glance just as his hand reached out for the plate of cookies, cookies he knew she bought from the amazing bakery down the street from her place.

"Touch those and die," she said and without a beat defended her party, "and one Kar'yn cannot leave because of THEIR traditions and two, you didn't grow up in New Orleans; we do things a bit different there, ya know?"

Daniel smiled, mostly at her pronunciation of New Orleans, which was more like Nahlens, but also at her insistence for normalcy. Over the years they had all gotten so used to the insane that sometimes they forgot the little things, birthdays, anniversaries, but Adrienne refused to. In fact, she kept a sheet of paper taped behind her desk with everyone's birthday listed, even Jack's. She had even given Vala a birthday, Halloween as a playful joke between the women, shocked that she didn't have one she remembered.

"Do you need any help?" he asked, letting her have her fun. She hopped down from the table and stood back to examine at the room, peeking back over her shoulder at Daniel.

"Nope, I've got it Indy!" she replied, dancing past him to the phone, dialing a few numbers with a smile.

"Cam, yeah, it's ready. See you in five."

Smiling as she set the phone back into its cradle, Adrienne scanned the room one final time, while Daniel, seeing his chance, walked over casually to the table, reaching slowly to steal a cookie. Scowling, but not even looking up, Adrienne smacked his hand lightning fast, returning her arms to a cross at her chest.

Teal'c wasn't sure what AdrienneRowan and DanielJackson could possibly need him for in the lab, since both of them could read Goa'uld and AdrienneRowan was not likely to summon him to the lab; she would usually just hunt around for the answers that she wanted and track him down where ever he was. However, ColonelMitchell was quite insistent that he come, so he put down his training equipment and followed, hoping there was nothing amiss.

When they arrived, Teal'c noted that door to the lab was closed, which was also strange, since DanielJackson always made a point to leave it open. ColonelMitchell did not seem to notice this however, stepping forward to knock as Teal'c cocked his head at his friend, looking at him strangely, wondering why he wasn't just entering the lab like normal. Without a word from the other side, the door opened slowly.

The first thing Teal'c noticed was the huge banner hanging across lab, plastered with an image of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader that read "Luke, I am your grandfather," and a smaller banner attached to the bottom which said "Congrats!" Standing behind the center table and another white table, both of which were covered in earth party food were SamantaONeill, JackONeill, DanielJackson and AdrienneRowan, a box in her hands.

"Congrats grandps!" she declared as she marched forward, handing him the box and stepping back to the group. Puzzled by the gesture the big warrior carefully opened the box, keenly aware that every eye in the room was watching, and setting the lid on the table, reached slowly inside, past piles of thin pink colored paper until he felt a wad of fabric. Frowning, he pulled out the mass of cloth, which upon careful examination seemed to be Taur'i baby clothes, very familiar looking Taur'i baby clothes. Coming to the realization as to what was in his hands, he looked up again at AdrienneRowan, who was nearly bursting with excitement.

"AdrienneRowan, this resembles the dress that PrincessLeia wore in Star Wars," he stated plainly.

"Yes! Keep digging! There is one for every outfit that Carrie Fisher wore in the entire series! Except for slave Leia; Daniel didn't think that was appropriate," Adrienne explained, pointing cheerfully inside the box, hoping that Teal'c understood this was a group gift. Confused, Jack leaned over to Daniel.

"This is what we chipped in for? For your girlfriend to buy the kid a geek wardrobe?" but Sam elbowed him before Daniel could answer, directing the rest of SG-1 over to the party.

There was a knock at the door to Daniel's apartment, surprising him as he placed his finger inside the spine of his book. He wasn't expecting anyone, but he had a feeling as to who was on the other side, the only person who would come over, unannounced, this late in the evening. Tucking the book over onto the side table, he stood and made his way to the door, opening it and sure enough, there was Adrienne, take-out in hand.

"Hey," he said and didn't invite her in, just stepped back trying to figure out why she was here.

"I need you, now," she replied as she waltzed through the threshold. Daniel shut the door confused, his heart racing at little at her words and insistence, yet, rather than throw herself at him, or near him for that matter, she handed him her cell phone and took the food to the table, talking back at him over her shoulder.

"If Cam calls, just tell him you had to have me over to work on something. Please," she begged from the table as she sat on the sofa, opening the lid to the pizza box, grabbing herself a slice. Laughing, Daniel tossed her phone onto his coffee table, shutting the front door behind him.

"Why?"

Daniel had to hear this one. Here was Adrienne, avoiding Cameron, her good buddy who has made himself home at her apartment by hiding at his. Removing the pizza from its advance to her mouth, she made a face, sighing and slouching further into his couch.

"He wanted to take me line-dancing. I would rather rip out my eyeballs," she said as he walked to join her, plopping down beside her on the sofa.

"So what exactly makes you want to rip out your eyes, going out with Cam or the line-dancing?" Daniel asked, curious as to her answer.

"I'm not discussing this with you smart ass, just be thankful I brought junk food with me, ok?" she pointed back to the boxes, stuffing the slice into her face.

I am, he thought to himself as he reached for some pizza himself, I am.


	15. Author's Note

Author's Note:

So, I had so much fun with their adventures together as friends, as wanna be lovers, together, etc. that I'm gonna just put those stories as side stories in another "story" (Wow - that was an awful lot of times to say story). These might not be edited as carefully since they're really not part of Daniel's "happily ever after" but they are a fun read.

I'll label these the best I can as together, pining, friends, etc. but if you just want some fun and silliness that may or may not be 100% canon (because really - how many vacations DID they EVER get to take) pop on over and follow that line!

Thanks for reading!


	16. Chapter 15 - The Hard Truth

_No pining, no hoping they get together in this one, just story. _

_Be mindful of details, in this little saga__** everything**__ is in the details. _

"Teal'c!" Cameron was shouting from behind the DHD, his eyes darting around in an attempt to ascertain the location of the attack, to no avail, turning back to yell at his teammate. "I'm taking fire man, can you guys hurry it up?!"

Looking over his shoulder it was obvious to the Jaffa that Daniel had no intention of stopping what he was doing despite Cameron's dire predicament. He was working, reading and translating something, completely blind to the gunfire erupting all around him.

"DanielJackson, we must hurry," Teal'c urged him, "ColonelMitchell is taking fire."

Engrossed, Daniel ignored him, his blue eyes scanning furiously as he kept working on what was left of the gray stone wall crumbling before him, mumbling under his breath.

"I can't believe that she missed this. This is insane; this just isn't like her. God dammit Ad," he whispered, hissing it was more like, and kept writing, comparing the notes in his lap to a file folder carefully etched in a woman's handwriting. Teal'c looked ahead to Cameron, who was pinned down waiting to jump up from beside his protective position at the DHD to dial home, looking for a signal, anything from his two companions that would indicate that it was time to move.

"DanielJackson, we need to leave, immediately," Teal'c was more stern this time and the archaeologist finally looked back at him, affirming to Teal'c that he had been completely unaware of the situation going on around him, flinching only as a blast went off by his head, shattering a piece of stone wall beside him.

"Dammit, ok, fine, but we're gonna have to come back," he said as he grabbed his head, searching for any areas of contact or bits of rock. Brushing some dust from his hair and scowling, Daniel grabbed his pack, shoving the folder down into it, another bullet nearly missing his foot. He swore again, in French by the sound of it, and pulled his Zat from the leg holster, glancing back at Teal'c.

"Let's go," he agreed and stood, following close behind Teal'c's swift advance toward the gate, firing at the Lucian attackers surrounding them. Reaching the DHD first, Teal'c turned in order to cover Cameron so he could stand and dial, Daniel pivoting, jogging slightly backwards as he let off a few blasts of the zat himself in the direction of a group of fighters hiding behind a cluster of trees. Assured his teammates had the situation under control, Cam looked left and the right carefully, leaping to his feet and leaning over to the symbols finding the ones needed to get them home, a barrage of bullets flying all around them. Chevron one, two, three were dialed when there was a sound of impact, and out of the corner of his eye Teal'c saw Cameron crumble to the ground.

That shot was too close, Daniel thought, his fears conformed as his friend fell, no shout, no sounds, just an unconscious heap onto the dry dirt. Daniel rushed to help, running much faster the rest of the distance between he and the gate, digging for the emergency supplies he kept in his vest as he slid to his knees, reaching out for the injured Colonel.

"Teal'c!" Daniel screamed as he rolled Cameron to his side, discovering a blast hole at mid lower line of his back, blood pouring out uncontrollably. Not bothering with any first aide supplies, Daniel applied pressure directly with the heel of his hand, reaching underneath the colonel to provide a counter pressure, gripping Cam as hard as he could.

"Dial home!"

Trying to cover the two men, now at his feet, and dial, Teal'c worked fast and frantic, resetting the process to ensure they would arrive home, the right home, safely. Beneath him were orders from Daniel, not directed at him but directed at Cameron, demanding that he wake up, stay with him, stop bleeding. It was amazingly loud despite the buzz of bullets filling the air like a swarm of locusts.

Chevron one, two, three, four, dialed, when he felt pain rip through his leg, a hot burning crawling up his thigh, but he kept dialing, the sounds of Daniel screaming at Cam to look at him, to make eye contact, keeping him motivated.

Five, six, seven, engage and he ducked back down to Daniel, holding his leg in an effort to stop the bleeding of his own that was soaking through his BDU pants. No time to tie off the wound, he decided, as they watched their escape appear in front of them, Teal'c hitting the button on his signaler, indicating that they were coming in under fire, and injured. Knowing they only had one shot to make it home, the two men nodded at each other, grabbing Cameron between them and running for the gate.

SG-3 was waiting for them as they crossed over, covering their entrance, in protective gear as bullets and lasers poured through the gate behind them, ripping through Daniel's backpack, a little too close for comfort before the gate shut behind them.

Sirens blaring, the side doors opened, Dr. Cassie Frasier tearing into the gate room, a stretcher and orderlies trailing her.

"Who's hurt?" she asked even though it was plain to see that Cameron was barely conscious, slung by his arms between Daniel and Teal'c, a line of blood streaming down the gate ramp, leading to their injured leader, his waist tightly bound by some rough Daniel Jackson first aide. Despite her small stature and youthful appearance, Cassie took charge instantly, pointing and commanding the orderlies to take Cam from Daniel and Teal'c to set him on the stretcher, rushing over, shoving the stethoscope buds into her ears, shouting over her shoulder at the other two members of SG-1.

"How 'bout you guys?" she asked, hoping for the best since she could only focus her attention on Cam right now, who was losing blood fast, the white sterile bandage already a deep red.

"I have taken fire to my right leg but I shall be fine," Teal'c answered, planning to walk to the infirmary, have the wound cleaned and then treat it himself with deep meditation and extra Tretonin. Daniel, unharmed except for what he was certain were partially ruined files in his pack, shook his head in the negative, running his fingers slowly through his hair. Satisfied with the state of the other two men, Cassie directed the stretcher taken to the infirmary, running beside it, the heel of her hand pressed firmly onto Cameron's lower back.

It was then that Daniel noticed the sirens were going off all around them, and he closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose to ward of the headache that was taking shape between his temples.

"What happened?" Daniel heard a shout in his direction, opening his eyes to confirm it was Sam, today wearing standard SGC blues, rushing toward them, "I thought everything was clear."

"No," Daniel answered, readjusting his glasses and storming toward the exit, "It was not clear. Not at all!" he shouted, pushing past Sam and turning left to head for the lab.

He was only feet from the door when he saw her running toward him, knowing she must have heard the sirens, hell, all of DC probably heard them, racing to see what was going on. She didn't hesitate as she came to a stop in front of him, throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly in the middle of the hallway.

"Dear God Indy, are you ok? What happened?" Adrienne asked, worry in her voice, as she pulled away, running her palm lightly down his cheek, scanning him with her careful eyes for injury. Her heart stopped as she could see what looked like blood dried onto his black uniform, reaching out for it wondering why he hadn't gone to the infirmary, but he knocked her hand away, shoving her away from him.

"That's what I'd like to know Adrienne! What exactly happened?" he shouted at her, throwing up his hand, his face red with rage. Her expression changed, Adrienne now looking frightened and confused, no longer for her friend, but for herself.

"Daniel, what are you talking about?" she asked, visibly upset, not bothering to call him Indy or even try to play around; he was clearly very agitated and not in the mood for games.

"I'm talking about your prep work. I'm talking about your analysis of the MALP video that not only gave us the all clear but completely misidentified the language it found, which is part of the reason we were ambushed!" he was screaming at her loudly in the hallway drawing a number of stares, a few personnel stopping to gape at this display here outside the lab.

Adrienne looked around them embarrassed, hiding her reddening cheeks with her hand, reaching out to pull him aside.

"What do you mean misidentified?" Adrienne inquired, puzzled, clasping his jacket sleeve to pull him over while she thought. She was always so careful with her work, she accepted no less than perfection, especially for a task that Daniel had asked her personally to handle, disappointing him was a non-negotiable. Racking her brain, she remembered that she had completed that mission prep last Friday when...

"Oh shit," she finally said. She had completed that mission prep before a few of them, mostly Adrienne, Vala and the Atlantis crew had gone to dinner. Daniel was off world, otherwise they would have been at a movie or something silly, and she remembered Ronon and Vala standing at the doorway goading her to leave it for later. Instead, never able to leave a task undone, she just pushed herself to finish and tore out of the door with her friends.

"Oh shit!? That's your response, oh shit!" Daniel, pulled away from her grip, stepping further away from her, his face red with anger, the blood vessel in this forehead throbbing. There were whispers, Adrienne felt dozens of eyes on them, on her, and out of the corner of her now dampening eyes saw Sam barreling toward them.

"Daniel, I'm sorry. I really thought everything was alright, I - " Adrienne was stammering trying to apologize but was shaking in fear at her friend screaming at her with such fierceness in his voice. This was the angriest she had ever seen him, including the time they had both put one another in the infirmary and even then she had never seen him like this, so enraged, so disappointed.

"Well, it's not Ad, it's not. Cam was shot and I have no idea what his condition is. So, I hope that margarita, that run, that what the hell ever was worth it for you. Because you may have cost us a team member and I have to now go down to the lab and figure out what went wrong instead of be there for my friend. I have to redo the work in order to find your mistakes so no one else gets hurt! Nice going Ad! I agree, oh shit, sums it up nicely," he shouted and shoved her shoulder, storming past her heading for the lab.

Adrienne stood in silent shock in the hallway with everyone, including Sam, looking at her as she tried to fight back tears. She wanted to go catch up to Daniel, beg his forgiveness, try to help fix her mistake but she was frozen in place, shaking where she stood. Personnel who had stopped to watch the scene unfold were now moving on, looking down as to not make eye contact with her, adding to her shame. Quietly, Adrienne lowered her head unable to run and hide, wanting to just disappear when there was a hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Sam standing there, staring over at her.

"Let's go check on Cameron, you can tell me what happened along the way," Sam quietly instructed. Nodding slightly, Adrienne sucked back the tears that were beginning to flow more freely, following Sam to the infirmary.

Enraged, Daniel went back to the lab to pull Adrienne's files. Of course, nothing was on paper, so he grabbed that stupid iPad thing of hers, firing it up with a tap of a button and a quick flick of his finger. He had no idea how to use the damn thing, but fortunately she had made a little file folder icon with an Earth Chevron on it.

"How fucking clever," he swore aloud and tapped it, searching for the mission files, the icon revealing pages and pages of files with planet codes and virtual sticky notes. Luckily, one had an exclamation point and a date, today's date, so he touched that picture lightly, sitting down in her chair to read.

Daniel was so angry he could barely think as he scanned through the preliminary statistics of the planet, angry at both at her and at himself. As she had slowly become a part of his lab, his team and his life he had found that she was not only reliable, but thorough, and he had passed a lot of his tasks over to her. He trusted her to do her job, in some cases lately his job, and do it well. Up until this point she had completed each and every thing asked with perfection; it was as if someone had xeroxed him in the lab.

But this?

This was insane.

Had they grown too comfortable with one another? Did she think that now that they were friends she didn't need to be as careful because she no longer needed to prove herself to him? Either way, someone needed to explain to her the gravity of what she had done, how Cam had almost died on a routine scouting mission.

Flicking the stats aside, the MALP video was embedded in the file, again surprisingly easy to find, calming him a bit to find that she was at least organized even if she had screwed up royally. Video playing, he saw that the coast was clear on that, no indicators of any inhabitants, so she hadn't missed any would be attackers, that, at least, was just coincidence. True, Vala should have been poking a little more into Lucian affairs, as intelligence was her job now, but he had learned a long time ago not to count on her to prepare in advance for anything; she was more of the fly by the cuff kind of person.

Right now, he was focused on Adrienne.

The video ended and Daniel switched the view over to the still photos to look over what had brought him to the planet in the first place. When they had first gotten that information from the original MALP run, it looked as if the crumbled stone pillars by the gate were in ancient, an older form, but it was hard to make out exactly what they said. Busy working on the follow up from P5L-325, Daniel handed over this prep to Adrienne who had insisted they were in ancient; she had even rushed to get Sam to send another MALP, thinking she saw something there that would provide some defensive information. Daniel stared at the original photos, photos he really hadn't paid attention to, given that it was her task. Granted, maybe his glasses were not as sharp as her eyes, even though she wore contacts herself, but still he couldn't see anything in these pictures, to him, the writing looked like rubbish. He had trusted her though, like he always did, and they sent a second MALP through.

Daniel changed to an additional set of photos from the second MALP run. These were not much better, but he could make out a few symbols here and there. Yea, they looked like ancient if you were just looking quickly, but he wasn't looking quickly and she shouldn't have been either. These symbols were clearly a bastardization of another language, one he couldn't quite make out. This was strange, this was wrong and she should have picked up on that. How in the hell did she miss this? How could she have been so careless? At a momentary loss, Daniel reached over for her phone, tucking the receiver at his shoulder and dialing.

"Gate room," Walter answered with authority. Daniel was glad it was Walter, unlike some of the younger cadets and officers trying to prove themselves, he just went along with what was asked and didn't question having been around long enough to know and trust Daniel and the members of his team. Walter must have been starting his duty when Daniel and company arrived back, he hadn't seen him when they left.

Thank God for small miracles.

"Walter, it's Daniel. Can we freeze any trips to or from P84-R47? I need to go over this some more, before we risk another team" he requested.

"Yes sir. Consider it hostile?" he asked, reading his mind, either that or he'd heard about what happened, but either way he was right on target.

"For now, yes. Thank you Walter," Daniel replied and hung up, continuing to go back over Adrienne's work, trying to figure out exactly what went wrong and what exactly he was looking at.

Dr. Carson Beckett met Sam at the door as Adrienne trailed behind.

"He's stable General, but he's lost a lot of blood," Carson informed her. Glancing over his shoulder, she could see Cassie adjusting an IV, her face in deep concentration.

"Ok, that's something; does everything else look alright?" Sam inquired further, looking back at Carson to read his eyes.

"Yes, for now. It was a clean shot, missed all of the major organs. But he might be out for a while," the doctor answered, stepping aside to allow Sam and Adrienne to enter the infirmary, but while the general stepped forward, Adrienne continued to lag behind.

Approaching Cameron's bed, Sam already at his side, Adrienne saw that he was shirtless, his chest wrapped in a tight bandage and body pale from loss of blood. Deep purple bruises spread across his cheeks, suggesting to Adrienne that he must have slammed himself into the DHD as he fell and there was a large gash starting at his jawline and running down his neck, frighteningly close to the jugular. He looked like death and it made Adrienne cringe, goosebumps erupting up and down her arms, her own cheeks losing their color. Sam looked over at her, but remained silent, allowing the young woman to understand exactly what had happened in her haste.

"Cameron, dear God," Adrienne whispered, taking a few more slow steps forward, tears in her eyes, leaning over and hugging him as tightly as she dared.

"Cam, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen," Adrienne laid her head on him, as if that would wake him up, her tears racing down her cheeks and dripping onto his chest. Sam felt bad for a moment, yes, Adrienne had made a mistake; a terrible mistake, but it was nothing that they all hadn't done before.

At least no one had died.

Choosing to let Adrienne deal with this in her own way, Sam stood back to let her take it in. If anything, it would teach her to be more cautious with her work; no one was perfect and sometimes that was a hard lesson. She glanced back over at Adrienne to see that she was standing once more, holding onto Cameron's hand, trying to joke with him about running, trying to be strong, sucking in tears as she spoke. Unable to hold back any longer, Sam reached over and touched her shoulder.

"Let's go. I'm sure one of the doctor's will let me know once he wakes up. Why don't you go and see what we can do about the information Daniel was able to get," Sam urged Adrienne to move on and stop blaming herself without saying as much. Nodding her head in agreement, Adrienne squeezed Cameron's hand once more and leaned over to kiss him, pecking his cheek gently and pulling away, trailing Sam out of the infirmary.

Daniel stood from Adrienne's desk feeling a little bit better. Honestly, she had rushed, but he could see why she had thought it was ancient; there were certain words in each of the images that were borrowed words. While the remainder of the passage was most definitely not ancient, he had to admit that he would have been intrigued in the same way she must have been. It would have been something that he would have insisted checking out for himself, but it would have been nice to have been warned that it was something they hadn't seen before, something that needed further investigation, a larger team sent and more protection. It wasn't something she should have missed, something she should have brought straight to his attention and didn't but it clearly wasn't intentional, just not well thought out.

He glanced over at the clock checking the time to discover that it had been about two hours since they had returned. Sam hadn't called a briefing yet, so she was probably checking on Cameron, something he should have done already himself but had just been too angry to do so. Walking briskly over to his own desk, Daniel was determined to go through the photos once more to see what else he needed to know and whether or not he should return to the planet, regardless of the fact that he wanted too. This was too suspicious, why in the world would a collection of obviously Ancient ruins have some other strange language on it that he hadn't seen before that really didn't seem to match any of the rest of the text in style or depth of the carvings.

It just felt wrong.

Biting his lip, deep in thought, he grabbed a note pad and sat in his chair, starting the prelim work from the beginning as if his assistant had never seen the file.

Cam was stable and Sam was sure that Daniel was working on whatever information he had gathered from what Adrienne had worked on before. Adrienne had left the infirmary without another word, and Sam figured she would give her some time alone, the poor woman really not looking like she wanted to talk although she was fairly certain that most likely she had gone back to the lab to talk with Daniel. The general knew that Adrienne would hate to think that he was still angry with her or worse disappointed; she had worked so hard to get him to see her as an equal and now that they were friends she would be taking this all that much harder. Rather than bother the two archaeologists and what Sam hoped was some sort of reconciliation, she decided to swing by Teal'c's quarters to check on him.

The strong handsome man was sitting on the floor of his room on a small red carpet, wearing very short shorts with his legs folded, in light meditation. Sam could see that he had taken care of his own wound, the shorts he was wearing chosen to allow him to tie a large bandage onto his upper thigh. She hated to disturb him when he was like this, but she needed something if she hoped to start piecing together a report, one she was hoping to write without a briefing that would result in more shouting and tears. Tiptoeing across the room, she knelt gently by his side, rousing him at his shoulder.

"SamanthaONeill," Teal'c said without opening his eyes, his back arching to a less crouching position. She smiled at the recognition, realizing that she should know better with him by now, there was no surprising the Jaffa.

"How fares CameronMitchell?" he asked, his eyes still closed, his hands resting on his knees.

"He's as well as can be expected. Looks like we're down a team leader for a few weeks, best case scenario. How are you doing?" she replied, taking a seat on the floor in front of him, unable to cross her legs in her dress uniform. Breathing out slowly, he opened his eyes, his deep strong stare meeting her gaze.

"The bullet was small and I have extracted it with tweezers. I have taken an extra dose of Tretonin and I believe another dose of Tretonin and more mediation shall be sufficient to heal me. I will be ready to resume duty in a few days," Teal'c responded professionally.

"The last thing I'm worried about right now is any of you resuming duty. I'll leave you to your meditation, but I just needed to ask you a few questions first if that's alright," Sam replied, feeling slightly guilty to interrupt his recuperation. Cameron, however, was unconscious and Daniel was too upset right now to think straight, in fact, he was probably having a stern conversation with Adrienne right now, which gave Sam yet another thing to worry about.

She hoped he wasn't being too hard on her.

"Of course, what do you wish to know?" Teal'c inquired, looking at Sam preparing to speak.

"What in the hell happened out there?" Sam asked the only question that was on her mind. She had heard Adrienne's side, the shoddy prep work, but she still didn't understand why one mistake in translation had led to them almost losing a member of the team. Teal'c took a breath, his position relaxed and began to speak.

"When we crossed through the gate DanielJackson proceeded straight to the ruins a short distance away. The area appeared uninhabited so ColonelMitchell remained at the gate to stand guard. I accompanied DanielJackson to the area," Teal'c began.

"And you saw nothing? No one when you arrived?" Sam hated to interrupt, but she needed to be clear.

"No one. As I said, it appeared uninhabited. DanielJackson walked over to the portions that he claimed AdrienneRowan recommended he investigate. He examined it quickly and stood, saying something about it being incorrect and insisting we walk further. I followed DanielJackson and he examined every stone in the area, continuing to claim something was incorrect. It was then I heard a shot fired," Teal'c explained. Sam held up her hand to halt his explanation, deciding to try to finish for him.

"So, you all started taking fire about the time that Daniel realized he had been sent to investigate something that wasn't there?" she asked, a sinking feeling deep in her gut. Daniel was right, Adrienne had screwed this up, royally.

She'd led them into a trap.

"Precisely," the Jaffa responded, "DanielJackson did not want to leave, but I was able to persuade him. ColonelMitchell was shot dialing home as was I."

Sam stood and straightened her uniform, looking back down at Teal'c. She had what she needed, or at the least what she needed from her Jaffa friend.

"Thank you Teal'c, and please rest. I'm going to check on Daniel," Sam thanked him, turning to leave.

"SamanthaONeill?" Teal'c spoke once more, looking up to Sam who turned again to face him.

"Tell DanielJackson not to be angry with AdrienneRowan. There was something not right with the place, we were meant to be there, in that manner, a small team, barely guarded. I believe it was a ruse," Teal'c offered quietly, closing his eyes without further word. A sinking feeling in her gut that he was correct, that this was much more than Adrienne screwing up, Sam let out a sigh and left the room, the main lab her next destination.

Daniel had just about finished going over what he could of the photos when he heard a knock at the open door and peeked up to see Sam walking over to him.

"Hey, I was gonna come find you," Daniel said as he pushed his glasses up his face. Curious as to what he found, she walked up to his desk, pulling a chair over from the center table and sitting down beside him.

"Anything?" she asked pointing to the iPad he was working on. Daniel nodded and turned to machine to face her, scrolling down the images once more.

"Yeah, I can see why she put thought what she did. It wasn't carefully done by any stretch, but honestly this new to everything, well, she should have come to me, but I can't deal with that now. I want to finish this, go over it with her and possibly go back, with reinforcements and maybe an extra team." Daniel set the machine down and sat up in his chair, feeling the ache of the day taking a toll on his body. Noting that Adrienne was missing, not sitting at her desk nor sitting on the center table like she did when they were working late, not anywhere, Sam sighed. Shaking her head and planning her next stop, she glanced back at Daniel.

"Did she go back down to see Cam again?" Sam inquired, but rather than give her the answer she expected, Daniel seemed puzzled.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since we got back. I assumed she was with you," he replied, looking at Sam confused. Last he remembered, Adrienne was standing in the hallway, blankly staring at him, Sam fast approaching from behind her.

"She was, we went to see Cam but when we left she didn't have much to say and was heading in this direction. I had assumed that she was coming to talk with you," Sam answered, concern growing in her voice. Daniel just shrugged, rolling his eyes as he set the iPad back onto the desk.

"Honestly, I told her off pretty good, I'm sure she's still upset with me. She probably went to find Vala and talk about how much of an asshole I am. I'll go find her and get this mess fixed," Daniel said as he stood from the chair, pushing it under her desk, taking a moment to straighten his workspace as she insisted he do. He waited for Sam to stand and leave ahead of him, shutting out the light and headed for on base quarters.

"My dreams have come true," Vala announced as she opened the door to her quarters, stepping back to allow Daniel to enter. He didn't acknowledge her statement.

"Have you seen Adrienne?" he asked, crossing his arms but Vala just made a face at him, pursing her lips in disgust.

"I wait years to have you arrive at my door and you come asking for her?" Vala shot back and this time he shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"Yes Vala, I'm looking for Adrienne. I thought she might be here," he clarified, hoping she would drop the act and tell him where she had last seen his assistant.

"Haven't seen her," she spat, turning to head back to her bed where Daniel could hear the TV on from across the room.

"You're sure you haven't seen her?" Daniel asked again thinking that Vala might be covering for Adrienne, hiding her, certain that she had come here to complain about him.

"Positive. I had today off so I decided to lay around watching Lifetime and go get my nails done later. None of the above would Adrienne ever do," Vala answered honestly.

She was right; Adrienne didn't even have nails.

Daniel sighed.

"Well, if you see her can you please tell her that I'm looking for her?" Daniel requested, politely, his annoyance turning to worry.

Where was she?

"Whatever," Vala responded, throwing herself back onto the bed, "Sure you don't want to join me?" she teased, patting the place beside her.

Not acknowledging her with a response, Daniel left, only one thought on his mind.

Daniel checked the commissary, the gym, the library and he even went back down to the infirmary thinking she would be with Cam but she wasn't there either. After speaking with Cassie, since Cam was still unconscious, he decided to check her on base quarters next and if she wasn't there to call her apartment. Standing outside the door of her quarters, he regained his composure before knocking lightly.

"Ad, can we talk? I'm sorry I screamed at you. That was unnecessary and uncalled for and I would really like to talk to you. Can you open up?" he spoke into the door trying to keep his voice down; the last thing they needed was another audience. He knocked again, a little harder, but she didn't open the door. Pressing his ear to the door jam he couldn't hear a sound from the other side, not even angry rap music, her go to for a bad mood. Scowling, Daniel entered in her room code, since he had memorized all of her codes in retaliation for memorizing his, watching the light changed to green, and turning the knob, sticking his head in slowly to the other side.

"Ad, please, I'm sorry, but we need to talk about this," Daniel said into the dark room when it clicked; the room was dark.

Very dark.

Too dark.

He flicked on the light, and the room was empty, his assistant nowhere in sight.

It wasn't totally empty, but it was obvious that she had moved out the few things that she had left in her quarters after she had secured an apartment, leaving behind her military issued furniture and a few crates in the corner. Her linens were folded nicely on the small single bed and everything was put back in place for use by the next person. Daniel scanned the room, looking for a sign as to what she had done when he noticed a sheet of paper sitting neatly folded on the desk, his name written on the outside.

He recognized the handwriting immediately.

_Daniel,_

_I'm thinking you will most likely be the one who finds this, but please assure Sam that I'll be submitting a proper notice via email once I can think straight enough to draft a tender of my resignation. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for everything. The truth is that you've been right all along. This is not a professor's job because in academia one doesn't risk the lives of their friends with an error in research, or being lazy. I was wrong and both emotionally and professionally I do not believe that I can handle such responsibility. But I thank you for trying and for being such a good friend. I'll miss you._

_Adrienne _

Daniel set the note back on the desk, his stomach sinking to the floor.

She quit.

This wasn't a fit, a scene for attention, she had just quit, quietly and without notice. Why did he have to come back through screaming at her? Why didn't he just pull her aside and talk? He needed to fix this, he needed to find her, wherever she had gone.

He couldn't lose her.

His first thought was to check her apartment, having cleared out her things, it made sense that she would go there next. He didn't bother calling Sam to explain where he had gone, she didn't need to know about his whereabouts nor about Adrienne's note, he just rushed back to the lab to grab his wallet and keys and then rushed back to her quarters, grabbing the note. Scanning the room once more, worried Sam would come here as well, concerned about the both of them, Daniel walked over to her bed and messed it up trying to make it look like she typically left it, even throwing a few items on the floor. Satisfied that it was the best he could do, he put the note into his pant's pocket and headed for his jeep.

He didn't even need to bother with knocking at her door, he knew she wasn't there the moment he pulled into the parking lot of her complex. Her beetle was gone and since their parking spaces were assigned, it wasn't possible that she could be parked elsewhere. He pulled into the guest space he usually parked in when they hung out and shut off the Jeep, trying to think about where else she may be.

"Adrienne, where are you?" he asked aloud as if asking would make her appear. He was annoyed, annoyed to be chasing her down like this but also very worried. Adrienne wasn't the type of person to do something drastic normally, he knew her pretty well. Her quitting wasn't dramatics, it was fear. All these many months she had risked her life and seen others risk theirs however this was different; today Adrienne saw that it wasn't just about risking her life in the field, it was about taking chances with the lives of others. Daniel himself had sent many a men and women on missions with limited information, some to their deaths and it was a hard thing to live with, but it was part of the job. He had wanted Adrienne to understand this earlier, he just didn't go about it the best way. Adrienne was a woman of reason and he should have reasoned with her, not screamed at her.

Sitting back in the driver's seat, Daniel racked his brain, trying to think where in DC she would go, for coffee, to the movies, or the mall. Unsure of the time, he looked at his watch, noting it read six o'clock.

And then it came to him.

Reaching quickly for his keys he started the car, pulling out of the space quickly, heading for the interstate.

Adrienne sat on the blanket debating whether or not to go get another taco from the truck before the man shut down for the evening. She decided against it knowing that her stomach would punish her for it later if she did, like it was starting to do already. Frustrated and sick, she crumpled up the wrapper of her last indulgence and laid back on the blanket she had fished out of her car, looking up into the D.C. sky. She had come down here with every intention of walking straight into the office of the director of the Smithsonian and requesting an interview when she realized she was in jeans.

And her resume was on the iPad.

Which was in Daniel's lab.

And he was mad at her.

Probably worse now since she had quit without so much as a goodbye. So, without anything else better to do, and not wanting to stay in her apartment, she had just gone and bought some tacos.

The museums closed and she watched the people file out, guests first and then historians, scientists and archaeologists, one by one, people who were who she thought she would someday be. After all, when she flew up here the first time she thought that fancy black car that met her at the airport was there to take her to the Smithsonian and not to a secret base buried deep under the Pentagon. Adrienne knew she couldn't stay here all night; but she at least wanted to wait until traffic died down a bit; she hated driving the bug in traffic especially with her shiny new fender, a reminder of the last time she had driven in traffic.

She closed her eyes, enjoying the sunshine on her face. Ice cream, she thought, I'll get some ice cream on the way home. Feeling the UV rays warming her cheeks, so hot they felt like they were on fire, Adrienne laid back trying to clear her mind, forcing her thoughts away from Cam's pale body, Daniel's angry face, and Sam's look of disappointment. Suddenly, the feeling was gone and her cheeks cooled rapidly breaking her meditative type focus. She opened her eyes hoping the passing cloud that was blocking her warmth wasn't going to rain on her since the bug was parked a good distance away.

It wasn't a cloud.

At first they didn't say a word to one another. Adrienne lay there trying to imagine how in the world he had found her while Daniel just stood there, looking down at her, no funny face, no smart remark, nothing. Finally, her heart racing so fast she could barely breathe, she sat up, directing her gaze to the ground.

"Hey," she said, keeping it simple, bracing herself for the yelling that was to come. She knew he would say she was acting like Vala; that she had stormed off like a child throwing a tantrum. Mentally prepared for the fall-out, she looked up at him.

"Can I sit?" was all he said in response. Surprised, Adrienne nodded and scooted over, making room for him on the blanket and he sat down quietly, not saying anything further. They sat there in silence for a while, Adrienne sitting cross legged, picking and pulling at the blades of grass in front of her, Daniel sitting with his knees up, watching the horizon.

"You hungry?" he asked, glancing over as Adrienne tore apart a piece of grass like she would normally tear the skin on her nails. Returning his gaze, she was slightly surprised; he didn't seem angry, he seemed concerned.

"No, I had four tacos and two sodas already," she answered, embarrassed at admitting it aloud all the while her stomach was rumbling, reminding her of her poor choice of nourishment.

"From where?" Daniel asked looking around, trying to remember if the Smithsonian cafeteria served tacos.

"A taco truck," she answered and pointed over to where it had been parked most of the day. Now, Daniel made a face at her.

"Wow, I really must have been an ass this morning for you to resort to a food truck," he tried to joke but Adrienne didn't laugh, just stared ahead and then quickly back down at her hands.

"I didn't do this for attention," she stated instead.

"I know you didn't," Daniel replied, sincerity in his voice.

"How's Cameron?" Adrienne asked, avoiding the topic of her departure.

"Same," he said. With that response, Adrienne looked over at Daniel with a look on her face he had seen a million times on his friends, the look of understanding, total understanding of what this job was.

"I can't do this," she finally said, "I can't be responsible for the lives of others like that."

"That's part of what we do Ad," he began, "and you never know if who goes through that gate is ever going to come back. Including yourself." That didn't seem to be the answer she wanted, in fact, she seemed more upset by his words.

"Daniel, I screwed up. I screwed up so bad," she continued, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them with her arms, setting her head down to hide her face. She was crying, he didn't need to see the tears to know. Without thought, Daniel reached out, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her close to him.

"Yeah, you did," he said, "but it won't be your last time screwing up either. Honestly, if we counted the number of times I've screwed up," he paused for a second and laughed, "well let's just not count the number of times I've screwed up, ok?" He smiled at her, hoping she would understand and she must have, peering up and giving him a half grin.

"You haven't sent that email, have you?" he asked, hoping to keep her talking.

"No, I left my iPad in your lab," she replied, not pulling away, still gazing up at him, tears pouring out of her breathtaking eyes.

"Good," he answered and sat up, reaching into his pocket, pulling out her note, waving it between his fingers.

"Technically," he said, "I'm your boss and I don't accept your resignation." He tore the letter into two pieces and handed them to her, but she didn't take them, shaking her head and finally pulling away.

"Daniel, I can't," she started, but he just frowned, crumpling the paper in his hands, turning so he could peer into her eyes.

"Yes, yes you can," he said, "I know you can. You just got your first taste of reality and humility," he added the last part carefully, "You need to learn from this. You're not perfect and your actions can cause far worse than a phone call from an angry parent."

Looking away again, she let out a sigh and released her legs, crossing them once more in front of her. Stuffing the fragments of the note deep into his pocket, Daniel moved over closer and put his arm around her again, pulling her to him. She didn't speak, didn't fight, just leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Grasping her tightly, he held onto her and they sat like that for a while, together, not saying a word as the sun set across the mall.

"Isn't there a song about this," Cameron teased.

"I believe that song is about Santa Claus ColonelMitchell," Teal'c answered.

"If you're insinuating that I'm a jolly fat man Cam, I'll beat your ass," Adrienne responded, closing the cover to her iPad and looking up at her team.

"We're good to go and yes, Cameron, I've checked it. Twice," she continued, reaching for her tac vest to slide it onto her shoulders. She was buckling it as Daniel and Vala entered the locker room, chatting away about something else Vala was trying to convince Daniel would be in his best interest. She would ask him about that later, but now she needed him. Reaching back over to the bench, Adrienne grabbed the iPad walking it over to Daniel.

"Here, take a look at this one more time before we leave," she insisted passing it over to him.

"I'm good," he put his hand up making his way over to his locker.

"Daniel, I want to be sure," Adrienne urged, following him, opening the cover and beginning to flick her finger around the bright LED screen. Frowning, Daniel reached over, grabbed the tablet and closed the cover, looking her in the eyes, as he handed it back to her.

"I trust you Adrienne," he said with a soft smile, grabbing his own vest from the locker.

"Did you look at it?" she asked, peeping up to make sure that Walter was the only person in earshot.

"Of course I looked at it but you know I can't read that shit. Let's just go with what Daniel says it says," Jack responded, his fingers listlessly tapping the folder in front of him, home to picture upon picture of crumbled rock.

"That's what I'm talking about Jack. It's all standard ancient until the last part. Daniel swears it looks like Abydonian, but written upside down and backwards," Sam clarified, scanning the notes Daniel had made for her for a second confused time.

"Sam, all of this shit looks upside down and backwards to me. I'm still not letting you send anyone back there. Dr. Perky's landed Cam in the infirmary, Teal'c limping around for a few days. We were damn lucky to get the team moving again in two weeks. If you want to send Vala and her guys via ship in a week or so that's fine, but for now, I think we should leave Daniel's order and consider it hostile."

Rolling her eyes at her husband's never ending stubbornness, Sam closed her own folder, tucking the legal pad inside.

"Alright Jack, I agree, I guess. But don't you think it's odd? After all of this time, within a matter of weeks we find something Abydonian in origin on two different planets, nowhere near Abydos," she tried reason, after all, he was a smart man no matter how much he tried to play off that he wasn't.

"Ra was just a busy bastard hun, and about as careful as the Ancients," was his reply. Sam nodded, a gesture that he couldn't see, peeking up at Walter to tell him with a glance to remove the planet code from the logs.

"Just get tired of picking up the pieces," she answered, breathing in deeply, "meet me for dinner at six?"

"With bells on gorgeous."


	17. Chapter 16 - Subordinate

_Need to leave romance behind for a while and focus on the adventure arc. We'll get back to it, promise, just consider them very very good friends and pay attention to the activity around them. _

_*** Special note: I am aware that the civilization could be offensive to some. That is why the team is offended, because these people ARE bastardizing something that is normally good ***_

"That was two hours of our lives that we'll never get back," Daniel said as he threw the empty popcorn container into the trashcan tucked into the wall right outside the theatre. Adrienne was already shaking her head, knowing the harassment that was to follow.

"Come on," Adrienne teased, "that wasn't so bad. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed Jason Momoa shirtless for 120 minutes."

"Uh huh, I bet you did," he shook his head and walked out into the mall area, eager to get out of the way of swooning women and violence charged teens that were exiting the theatre behind them. There were footsteps, loud footsteps of unfeminine big feet and he felt his arm being grabbed, slowing his pace.

"Come on Indy, a girl can dream can't she?" Adrienne argued, tossing the soda cup into the trash, not relinquishing his arm for fear he might dart away and leave her behind, "You're just mad there was no skin for you."

"Oh there was, I'm just mature enough to watch a film for the story, not naked bodies," he lifted his eyebrows, grinning half way.

"You're also a good liar," she smiled. He was always like this when it was her turn to pick a film, but he had admitted that they were better than Teal'c or Cameron's choices. Lately, it seemed that the rest of the team always had something else to do and movie night had fizzled for a while, a lot had fizzled, Sam seeming to be more preoccupied than usual.

Adrienne was worried it was her fault, seeing as that was the only difference, her presence at movie night, but Daniel disagreed.

"For starters," he had told her one day in the lab, "I think that Cameron's hot after Carolyn Lam..."

"Her? Really? She seems so... grumpy all of the time?" Adrienne was shocked; Cam seemed too fun loving to be interested in her.

Carolyn seemed more, well, Daniel's type.

Adrienne wouldn't dare say that though, their friendship still had boundaries, even if Daniel insisted on crossing those boundaries daily by trying to get Adrienne to date Ronon Dex. One might jump to the conclusion that he was trying to be sweet, that he cared about her happiness, but she had determined that he really had no interest in her personal life; he just wanted something else to make fun of her about. This was what their partnership had become, a series of one ups in which Dr. Daniel Jackson and Dr. Adrienne Rowan were in constant friendly competition, a competition of who could cause the other the most grief.

Right now they were at a tie.

"So, I think movie night ending is just a way for him to have another free night, just in case he can get her to say yes," Daniel shrugged. It was then that Adrienne suggested the two of them keep it going, and indulge themselves with the nerd flicks that the others never agreed to, or movies that the group would have watched and kicked them out for making fun of.

Daniel had quickly agreed.

As they crossed the mall, Daniel insisting on parking in Siberia for some unknown reason, Adrienne saw a large sale sign plastered over top of the entrance to her favorite clothing store and began to run ahead, glancing back over her shoulder at her companion.

"What time is it?" she shouted back.

"8:50, why?" he answered, regretting doing so instantly; he knew where she was going. Adrienne didn't like too many girly things; she wore some make-up, occasionally had her nails, what little nails she had, done, but the one thing she did like was clothes. Crazy clothes. Lots of crazy why would someone ever wear these in a million years clothes.

Sighing, he cursed himself, knowing that he should have suggested the theatre that was not in a shopping center. Smiling at his response, Adrienne darted into the store, making a beeline for the back and he rolled his eyes following, hoping the employees were not so dedicated as to keep the store open the final ten minutes they were supposed to. As he crossed the threshold, however, he saw Adrienne holding up some strange top full of holes and he knew at that instant he was not gonna be that lucky.

"I've been dying to buy this sweater and it is only $50, I have to get it!" she held it up to show him before tossing it over her shoulder and making her way over to a table of bra-like shirts. Reluctantly and walking slowly, a small part of him still hoping that the employees would shoo them away, Daniel approached his friend, looking down at the item in question.

"That's a sweater?" he asked, hoping she was mistaken as Adrienne continued digging through a pile of black shirts.

"Yeah, isn't it cute?" she responded but didn't look back to him for an answer; it must have been a rhetorical question.

"But it's short sleeved and full of holes, how on earth is that a sweater?" he tried to reason with her, completely confused by the neon orange garment in her possession that looked more like a fishing net than an article of clothing. His brain finally registering the price she was so excited about, $50, he reached over to look at the tag to see the before sale price.

It read $99.

"Adrienne this thing was $100 and it can't even keep you warm," Daniel exclaimed. The thought of paying that much for anything so stupid was beyond him, this was more like a Vala purchase, illogical and impulsive.

Oh this could be so much fun.

"Well, it's $50 now, and I think I have a coupon. And don't get too excited, you wear this under it," she said as she held up a little bra-tank-top-like thing, sensing his thoughts. She knew he was going to make a comment, a comment of the 'Ronon will love it' persuasion, but he decided to show her that she didn't know him as well as she thought.

"Why?" he asked instead, trying not to convey a tone in his question, it was so much better to wait and gather more fuel than it was to just start right in with her.

"Because it's in style." she answered simply, but he knew that wasn't her reason, in fact he knew what her reason was, he just wanted her to say it.

"So is reality TV, but you don't seem to care about that?" he replied. He knew she just wanted it because it was crazy, neon, rock star like and crazy, and to Adrienne, crazy meant fun. Say it Ad, he thought, say because it's fun so I can continue to have more fun with this...say it...I've already got a comeback for crazy on deck...

"This is why I shop with Vala," she replied instead, selecting a black shirt, a cami she called it, heading for the register.

"Thank God for small miracles," he whispered, relieved this little venture was over, but disappointed that she hadn't opened up a new door to teasing. Oh well, he thought, following behind, but she must have heard his praise to a deity in which she did not believe, because as soon as he got to the register he felt a bag slam into his stomach.

"I assume I'm your pack mule as well," he said.

"Yep, now where is this coffee shop of which you speak?" she inquired smiling. Adjusting the bag, Daniel just chuckled, pointing the way with his free hand.

He really couldn't pick on her too much, other than outrageous music and clothing, Adrienne was pretty mild mannered and got the job done, and, he had to admit, he liked hanging out with her. She'd become his closest friend, probably the closest he ever had. Daniel was starting to answer her question, explaining this new find of his from the other week, when a soft ring echoed from her purse.

"Fun's over," she stated, frowning slightly.

"How do you figure?" he asked. Adrienne pulled the phone out of her purse and flashed the screen at him. It read, _Sam Work,_ and of course, knowing Adrienne, an assigned ringtone.

"Hey Sam," Adrienne answered, "What's up?"

"We've got a bit of a situation here; I need you to come in," Sam replied, her voice concerned and professional. It worried Adrienne, it wasn't like Sam to call on a Friday night off unless something was really wrong.

"Sure thing, it'll take about an hour or so to get back though. I'm not close," Adrienne explained.

"That's fine," Sam continued, "You and Daniel are the last two I needed to get a hold of. Speaking of which, do you know where he is? I've been calling him, but there's no answer at his apartment and his phone is off."

Adrienne giggled slightly. Sam didn't know that they were spending so much time together, other than the occasional Smithsonian lecture or other academic pursuit and Adrienne was a little nervous of what she would think if she knew, what any of them would think if they knew how much she and Daniel really were together now, outside of the lab. Riding with him to movie night was one thing, but they now spent at least one free night a week doing something together, if not more, and lately it had been more.

More as in it was now nearly every day, which was a little odd to her as well.

On the other hand, however, she couldn't lie, cutting her eyes over at him before answering.

"Standing right here," Adrienne replied quickly.

"Oh, you guys are together?" Sam inquired, changing her tone for a moment. Adrienne suppressed a groan.

"Yeah, went to see a movie, we were just leaving," Adrienne added, hoping Sam's concern about whatever was going on would supersede Adrienne and Daniel being together, again.

The woman had impeccable timing.

"Alright, well, see you two in an hour or so." Sam hung up. Adrienne gave her phone a squeeze and tossed it back into her purse, peeking over at her companion.

"Back to work?" he asked, looking a tad disappointed. It almost made Adrienne smile; it was good to finally see Daniel wanting to do things for fun that were not work related, it seemed to make him happier in general.

She couldn't imagine what his blood pressure used to be.

"Yeah, and your phone's off," she told him. Puzzled, he handed her back the shopping bag and pulled it from his back pocket, staring at it, swearing he had turned the thing on as soon as the credits rolled, but the screen was black.

"I hate this thing," he said as he tried to turn it back on, for a second time. Shaking her head, Adrienne grabbed his arm so they would keep walking, but pulled the phone from his hand, squeezing something on the side, flicking around on the screen, bringing it back to life. It made the standard electronic beeps indicating that it was ready to be used and she passed it back, sticking her tongue out at him.

"How could you manage without me?' she teased.

"You just keep thinking that Dr. Rowan; you apparently need those boosts to your self-esteem," he smiled back at her as they exited the mall into the parking lot.

Since they were in his jeep, Daniel drove back to the SGC, fussing his way through the traffic and nonsense of the surrounding area. They parked and dashed inside, more than an hour having passed and of course the elevator seemed to move as slow as possible, so when they got to the bottom floor they raced down the hallway, opening the door and, once again, were the late ones.

Daniel had long ago decided that friendship with Adrienne meant never being on time ever again.

"You two are now quite literally together all of the time." Vala started right into them, but neither responded as Adrienne sat down beside Vala and Daniel over by Teal'c.

"Sorry to end everyone's weekend off so abruptly, but we have a bit of a situation," Sam began to explain as she was pulling up images on the Smart Board. Her face was full of concern as she cued up pictures of a desert terrain, images that Adrienne knew she had seen before but just couldn't quite place.

"If you will recall, last month we made contact with the inhabitants of PSF-293," Sam started and the pictures on the screen were images of what appeared to be a nomadic desert civilization, tents set up in a circular formation, camels surrounding the encampment. "They contacted us back after receiving Daniel's video message on the MALP."

"Right," Daniel interjected, "They appear to be kin to the people of Abydos."

"Exactly," Sam continued, taking a breath, "In fact, they even seemed to speak the same language," Sam rolled some footage and a man in a desert robe was speaking a foreign tongue. Confused, Adrienne made a face and raising her pencil, the memories of the planet code flashing back into her head.

"Excuse me, Sam, I wasn't shown this footage," she stated. The images she couldn't forget, after she and Daniel's excursion to chase down Shar'e's possible kin and the ruins with the very odd inscriptions in the same language, he had been looking for answers. Sam too had shown concern; she didn't think these events were coincidences. She had gone through the images with him carefully, agreeing a team should be sent through, but wasn't aware there had been anything to translate, in fact, if there were, she was fairly certain that Daniel would have been first in line to go.

"No," Sam replied, "Daniel came by and listened to it one night, it wasn't pressing."

"It was just a simple greeting and an invitation to visit, I didn't think I needed to bug you in the middle of the night for something I can handle Ad," he said. He needed her and she had been a help, but he had done this a long time without her, and once he had determined that this dialect was not the same as Kasuf's people spoke, it hadn't really been that high on his list of priorities.

"I know," Adrienne said, "it's just that you don't get to hear spoken Aramaic that often." She seemed disappointed to be left out, not angry. Daniel was completely lost by both her statement and her reaction.

"It's Abydonian, not Aramaic, little different from what I am used to, but close enough," Daniel made a face at her as he peered above his glasses, not understanding why she had made such an assumption. He had her listen to tens if not hundreds of recordings at this point, she should know better.

"No, it's not, it's close but..." Adrienne said quietly, trying to be as respectful as possible to her friend and stood from her chair, politely requesting the remote from Sam, rewinding the video. She played it again and paused after the man made a strange noise with his mouth, looking back at Daniel.

"Hear the guttural. More Hebrew in origin than Egyptian. That's Aramaic. He's inviting our best warriors, and using the masculine plural," Adrienne explained, handing the remote back to Sam as she took her seat, but Daniel was shaking his head, staring at her like she was crazy.

"Ad, with all due respect, I think I know Abydonian when I hear it. Sam, play that again please," Daniel stood this time, walking over to the monitor, standing as close as he could to the speaker. The footage was played again, Daniel straining to hear before his face grew pale, his eyes widened and he leaned his head back, cursing Adrienne could have sworn, as he plopped down in the chair by the screen, his head sinking into his hands.

"Dammit, she's right," he sighed, "How did I miss that?"

"Yes, she's right. Which is why you all are here. I sent SG-14 to meet with these people," Sam said, addressing the group this time.

"So what? SG-14 can handle themselves. Trust me, I've seen them fight," Cameron interjected, looking to his teammates for support. Vala nodded in agreement, as did Teal'c but Adrienne was shaking her head, her face now as pale as he boss's. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Daniel directed his glance to Cameron, a look of real worry in his ocean blue eyes.

"Cameron what we missed, what I missed, was the male part of the request and SG-14 is..." Daniel began.

"All women," Cameron finished for him, finally catching on "Now, I take it these folks aren't very girl friendly?"

"Not unfriendly, per se, more like patriarchal. But we've most likely insulted them by sending women as our emissaries," Adrienne clarified, a sinking feeling beginning in her stomach.

How insulted were these people?

Was SG-14 okay?

"Insulted them?" Vala asked, "I'll show them an insult. What have they done with SG-14?" As if she anticipated that question, Sam turned to the board in sullen silence, clicking the remote, a grainy MALP video appearing on the screen. It was the same man as before, speaking the same foreign tongue, albeit his tone was decidedly different, clearly angry. Everyone looked at Daniel for translation, but he just shook his head and pointed to Adrienne, deferring to her. Adrienne made a face at him, not liking where this was going, but began to translate nonetheless.

"You greeted us as friends but it appears that you choose to insult us by sending women as your representatives. This is unacceptable, we requested your finest warriors, again he's using the masculine plural. We have taken them into custody until you meet us with proper representation," Adrienne stopped as the recording ended, peeking over to check on Daniel before the questions came.

"Proper representation? What's wrong with these people?" Vala asked, getting heated. She didn't take kindly to women being treated like lesser citizens, in fact, it was one of the reasons that Adrienne liked her so much, it kind of made up for that hyper sexuality code she lived by.

"It's complicated," Adrienne started, "but it's a religious belief and many religious beliefs like this, such as the subjugation of women, grew out of a need to differentiate themselves from other religious groups that were worshipping women, like those of Egypt and by consequence the Goa'uld, think about how many female Goa'ulds you all have met. Am I right Daniel?" Adrienne explained, adding the last part in an attempt to include him in the conversation, to no avail, since he didn't look up, just kept staring at the Smart Board.

"Yeah," he answered noncommittally. He was going to beat himself up about this, Adrienne knew it, suddenly wishing she was sitting beside him instead of across the table.

"Therefore," Sam quickly changed her tone, "I think it's best to send you, well most of you, to try to negotiate their release or coordinate their escape."

"Most of us?" Vala inquired, but Adrienne knew where this was going.

"Yes," Sam replied, "I think it's best that Cameron, Daniel and Teal'c go, considering the circumstances..." her voice trailed a bit. Adrienne didn't argue, she completely understood Sam's reservations. Vala on the other hand...

"Since when are we going to let some little villagers intimidate us? They don't like women? Well f-" Adrienne grabbed her arm before Vala could let profanity fly in the briefing room. Vala scowled at her friend, but didn't argue, instead glancing over at her friend for support.

"Come on Addy, you can't agree with her?" Vala pleaded but Adrienne sighed, shaking her head as she pointed a pencil at the board, emphasizing the angry glare on the man's paused face.

"Sorry Vala, but I do. I mean, they took out the entire team and Sgt. Mardsen is a black belt in Judo; she's crazy tough, you've seen her fight. I'm more than happy to sit this one out," Adrienne replied as Sam was nodding in agreement. The general walked over to the monitor, switching off the screen sullenly when Daniel looked back at the group, finally coming back to the conversation.

"Adrienne needs to come," Daniel said from where he was seated. Everyone turned to look at him, their faces in varying degrees of shock.

"I need her to come," he clarified, hoping that would ease the harshness of the glares being shot in his direction.

"What the hell man, do you want us to join SG-14?" Cameron looked at him in shock, ready to defend Adrienne. She appreciated the sentiment, she did, but Daniel wasn't going to budge; he was doing exactly what she knew he would do, attack himself.

"Look, I already screwed this up once. Aramaic, in fact all of the ancient biblical languages are Adrienne's speciality, not mine. If what they are speaking is Aramaic, then I would prefer to defer to Adrienne's interpretation," Daniel explained.

"Daniel," Sam started, "I'm not comfortable sending another woman into this situation."

Pausing his argument for a moment, Daniel peered over at Adrienne, trying to read her face for an objection, but it didn't seem she had one. She didn't want to go, but he was right and she hoped he could read her eyes without having to add to the tension in the room. This was her area of expertise, any group of people that had contact with the classical world, not his; sending him would have been akin to getting Adrienne to try to read cartouches, close but not perfect and right now, they needed perfect if they wanted to get the missing team home.

"If this is an early Islamic type society, which is what it appears to be, if Adrienne goes as my sister, there shouldn't be a problem," he added. He was right, and Adrienne almost laughed at the suggestion, considering that at this point in their friendship she might as well have been his sister even though they looked nothing alike. However, still concerned, Adrienne looked at Sam and then back at Daniel, talking directly to him as if no one else was in the room.

"Indy, what if they demand a betrothal offering for the release of the others. Not that I wouldn't put myself on the line for SG-14, I would, but I would prefer not to be sold if we can avoid it," Adrienne kept her voice calm, trying to reason with him, not desiring to upset him further. This time, his face brightening, Daniel looked at Teal'c, a smile spreading across his face.

"Well, they'd have to look elsewhere because Teal'c is soon to be my brother in law," he answered, looking at her hopefully. Adrienne's eyes widened, understanding instantly Daniel's plan.

"Of course, exploit the family unit! Cam can be our brother and he is betrothed to Mardsen!" she shouted. It was brilliant, nothing was more important in a society such as this than family. Go through as a family unit, come back as a family unit. It just might work.

"Exactly, and that only leaves us three women to speak for. We can say that Cameron, as our leader, sent Mardsen, her being his subordinate," Daniel began to explain to the group as a whole. Adrienne did a mental count in her head, noting that Daniel did not offer to marry himself to one of the other three women, and while she found it odd, she kept her mouth shut figuring he must have his reasons. Taking a seat finally, Sam looked over at Daniel, gravity in her face no where near as excited as Adrienne was about this plan.

"I'm still not in favor of this," she spoke again.

"Me neither," Vala interjected, nodding emphatically at Sam's disagreement, "If Addy goes, I go."

"Vala, trust me, if they don't buy I'm Daniel's sister, I'm dead. You would have to be overly cautious with this, ridiculously so. If you were to bat an eyelash at the wrong man, they would stone you," Adrienne explained.

"Stoned? Like with rocks or - " Vala started but Adrienne put up her hand.

"With rocks Vala. The ouch kind of stoned," Adrienne answered, shaking her head.

Ignoring the exchange, Sam redirected her attention to Daniel and Teal'c, who were both looking to her, awaiting her final approval.

"You really think you can pull this off?" she questioned. Already worried about the fate of SG-14, the last thing she wanted to do was send SG-1, Adrienne as a woman in particular, into a trap.

"GeneralO'Neill, I will protect AdrienneRowan with my life, you have my assurance," Teal'c assured her. Daniel simply nodded, agreeing to the same without a word. She might not know it, but he would; he'd never let anything happen to her.

"Fine, then I will leave it up to your judgement. You all need to get some sleep, you'll be leaving at 1100 hours and their days are longer," Sam said, taking one last minute glance at Daniel, before excusing the group.

As the others filed out, Adrienne lagged back to make sure that Sam could secure for her the appropriate female attire, not wanting to insult their hosts further and saw Daniel leave the room alone out of the corner of her eye, quietly. Assured Sam could acquire what she needed, she made her way for the lab to check on Daniel, worry knotting her stomach as she made the short trek from Sam's office to their workspace. Thankfully he was there when she arrived, sitting in his desk chair, feet propped up on the surface, tapping a pen on his leg and staring off into space.

"You do realize you're forcing me to wear a burka?" she asked him, the sarcasm dripping from her voice. She hoped to elicit a smile but she got nothing even close in return.

"Oh, yeah, glad you thought of that," he responded, not bothering to look at her. Frowning, Adrienne set down her messenger bag at her desk, turning to close the lab door behind her.

"It wasn't your fault," she said as she walked over to him, wondering if he was in the mood to talk or if this was one of his leave me alone moods. He had been a lot more talkative with her lately, so she hoped it was the former.

"I shouldn't make mistakes like that. I was so focused on it being Abydonian, so sure that this was the link between the odd things that have been going on that when it wasn't what I expected, I just shoved it aside. God knows what they have gone through because of that, because I just deemed it below my interest to care," he said, still staring ahead at nothing.

"We all make mistakes. Think about how boring life would be if we were all perfect. And we can add it to your nickel jar, right?" Adrienne pointed out and walked behind where he was sitting, wrapping her arms around him, bringing her face beside his.

"I do recall a very similar conversation not too long ago when you were telling me something about it being part of the job. Let's just do this, and get them back, " she said, squeezing him tightly, kissing his cheek and he leaned back against her, reaching up with his right hand to squeeze her forearm.

That action alone made her stomach flutter, so she stood quickly, patting him lightly on his shoulder.

"Come on," she continued, "we should probably get some sleep. Desert heat plus lack of sleep really don't mix." Daniel didn't say a word, just stood, shutting off the lights and locking the lab. Without a further word, they walked to the elevators that would take them to their respective quarters.

"Addy, are you in there?" Cameron teased as she entered the gate room.

"I just want you to imagine the obscene gesture I'm making at you underneath this thing," she replied. The only part of Adrienne visible was her eyes, the rest of her was covered from head to toe in an off white robe made of heavy linen material, that included a hood over her head and then continued it's shapeless form down the rest of her body. Daniel saw her roll her gorgeous brown eyes at the group, making his heart stop for just a moment, reconsidering his plan in that very instant.

What if she got hurt?

"Yea, go ahead. Let's all get it out of our systems now. I threw my tantrum in my quarters before I came down," she told them, her voiced muffled by the layers and layers of fabric. It wasn't that Adrienne would mind being covered, it was the fact that she was literally wearing a symbol of women's repression. Daniel was reminded again of how proud he was of her restraint and how he did need her expertise in this, that it was a risk he'd have to take.

"No comment," he said, smiling at her.

"Good," she told him as she turned in his direction, "because if you did I was gonna have my fiancée kick your asses. Right honey?" she cocked her head over at Teal'c and he laughed loudly at her joke. Mentally coaching himself for the challenge set before them, Daniel looked back to Walter, gave him a thumbs up sign and the gate began to move.

It was an awful three hour walk to the village. She might have made fun of it originally, but Adrienne was thankful for the burka once they were on the other side of the gate as the wind was whipping around them, the boys coughing loudly as they fought to keep the sand out of their mouths. Even though Adrienne was able to keep the granules out of her face, she was baking underneath the layers of fabric, so by the time they reached the village all she wanted was a shower and to be freed from the confining material. She must have made a noise or some other indicator of disgust because Daniel slowed down to walk with her, reaching his arm around her, drawing her in close.

"I appreciate this," he said, that same look of concern on his face from the night before.

"You better," she joked, smiling but realized that he would not be able to see. Instead, she reaching across her chest and squeezed his arm, hoping he would understand. Pulling away Daniel adjusted his pack onto his shoulders, the four of them walking right into the village.

Oddly there was no one to greet them, something very much out of the ordinary, so Cam ordered weapons up, Daniel pushing Adrienne to his side protectively, as they marched straight to a large tent that was in a position toward the back, a tent that seemed large enough to house some sort of leader and his entourage. It was a type of Bedouin village, however it seemed as if these tents had been there for a while, a long while, adding to the peculiarity of their situation.

"Coooh, dat's strange" Adrienne began, "They're using these tents as permanent structures. That's not normal, at all." Daniel was about to agree with her, and chide her for slipping into bayou slang, when suddenly the group was surrounded by men holding large curved swords, two of them with Jaffa staff weapons. Cam held his gun aloft and then put it on the ground to show he was no threat, signaling that Teal'c and Daniel do the same, which they did while Adrienne didn't move, standing still beside Daniel, her head slightly bowed.

"Friends!" Daniel shouted to the group in Aramaic. One of the men holding the staff weapon walked in Adrienne's direction, examining her from head to toe, stabbing her sharply in the back with the stick. His trained mind immediately on the defensive, Teal'c stepped forward, placing his arm protectively in front of his female teammate.

"You have insulted my friend," Daniel said quickly, "she is his." Adrienne held her breath, hoping it would work since after the last team, they might recognize the outfits and not buy into what Adrienne was wearing. Thankfully, the men bowed their heads in apology at Teal'c and turned to speak to Daniel, who had, Adrienne was very surprised to see, stepped up as if he was their leader. Daniel cocked his head as he listening to the man, as if he didn't understand something and Adrienne knew what: the last word, _property,_ was strictly ancient Aramaic. In an effort to help, Adrienne took a step forward to Daniel, feigning a cough.

"He says I'm property," Adrienne tried to whisper softly, but was slammed in the back by a staff weapon, thrown to the ground face first. Daniel started to move, but Teal'c grabbed his arm and then turned to the attacker, punching him in the face. Taken completely off guard, Adrienne kept herself on the ground, her lip throbbing in pain right where her scar was, fearing to move. It wasn't that she couldn't defend herself, but for fear of the message it would send to their already offended hosts. She heard Daniel exchange some words with the men, peeking up at a slight movement to see that Teal'c had knelt beside her.

"Are you alright AdrienneRowan?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a little sore, and I didn't bust my lip open again. Help me up?" she answered and he pulled her carefully up to her feet. Daniel gave her one of their silent looks, his own azure eyes full of worry, and she tried to convey to him that she was alright and that he needed to focus on the task at hand. The man who slammed Adrienne scowled at her, telling her with his expression that she had committed a grave offense that she needed to not commit again, which she didn't plan on anytime soon; she had no intention of pushing her luck. Without further incident, the group of guards led them to the door of the large tent, trimmed in gold threading, clearly the tent of a person of importance, a person like a king. Again, Adrienne felt the entire situation was wrong, Islamic nomads didn't behave in this fashion, but refrained from comment, wishing she could reach Daniel to spell into his hand.

When they arrived at the entrance, the man motioned for Daniel only to enter, taking him as their leader, Cam not arguing for a moment. Worried, he shot Adrienne a glance and then looked back at the man, straightening his stance as he spoke.

"You have insulted my sister. I demand she remain at my side so I can insure her protection." he told the man, again in Aramaic.

"What about her betrothed?" the man asked, indicating Teal'c protective position in front of his bride to be. Refusing to allow Adrienne to be hurt again, Daniel shook his head, stepping backward toward his assistant, guarding with his own body from a threat that wasn't there.

"As her brother, I have first rights," Daniel countered, remembering familial policy in early Islamic societies. Knowing he was correct, the man relented, stepping aside to allow both man and woman to enter. Daniel moved behind Adrienne, placing his hand on her back, drawing his face close to her head.

"I'm sorry about that Ad," he whispered as they were led into the tent, Daniel not leaving her side.

"You guys act like I'm made of glass, I'm fine," she assured him faintly, not wanting to be struck again for speaking out of turn. He gave her a look and pushed her forward along with him, his soft touch gently drifting away as they walked through the opening.

The sun created a blazing glare in the tent, so bright that Adrienne was unable to see until the tent flap closed behind them. It clicked out the sunlight like a switch and in front of she and Daniel was a large fat man in a turban seated proudly on a large hand carved throne, painted as red as blood. His skin was a deep brown, wrinkled by the sun, and he was surrounded by half-naked women massaging oil into his body, making the oversized heaving chest shine in the candlelight. Other than the turban, the only other article of clothing he was wearing was a pair of blue balloon pants, gathered at his thick waist by a bright green scarf and accented on the bottom by bright green shoes that came to a curled point, looking like something out of the north pole rather and Saudi Arabia. It was like a scene out of some bad TV movie, so many misinterpretations of a culture Adrienne knew to be less severe, less troubling. Reaching for Daniel's fingertips, Adrienne couldn't hold back any longer, grabbing them and drawing him closer.

"This is not an early Islamic society; this is some sick bastardization," Adrienne tried to whisper to Daniel but was struck again in the back forcefully sending her tumbling toward the ground. This time, however, she managed to catch herself on her knees, avoiding further damage to her lip.

"How dare you strike her!?" Daniel shouted at the guard as he raised the staff and returned it to his side, yet the man seemed unconcerned and did not reply, walking back over to his station behind the two of them, staff held at his side, staring forward.

"You would do better to keep your woman in line," the turbaned man said as he grabbed a large slab of bread from a plate brought over by a half-naked blond woman who was ducking into a side entrance of the tent, She was limping and in obvious pain, large purple bruises covering her exposed legs. Having taken what was needed, the man shoved her away like some kept animal and proceeded to dip the bread into a large cup. The woman peeked at Adrienne quickly, still pressed against the floor, and as she scurried away the young archaeologist recognized her immediately as Sgt. Mardsen of SG-14.

The cajun swallowed nervously, peering up at her dear friend.

"My woman, my sister, was speaking to me," Daniel continued, "and that woman belongs to my brother." Apparently, he had seen Sgt. Mardsen too. A slimy smile across his face, the fat man sucked red liquid from his treat, slowly, making Daniel await his response, licking the excess fluid from his fat fingers before popping the bread into his mouth.

"If she is so important, why did he send her unescorted?" the man asked, his mouth full, pieces of bread falling from the corners. Adrienne was disgusted and reminded herself to never give Daniel a hard time about chewing with his mouth open ever again, at least he had allergies or ADD as an excuse, this man was just disgusting.

"Because she does what she is told. She was told to bring her handmaidens with her to see if you were a worthy man to deal with. However, instead of sending greetings to us, you steal our women. We demand their return." Daniel spoke, although the grammar was rotten enough to make Adrienne wince.

Now she knew how he felt when she tried so poorly to read Hieroglyphs.

"We do not talk to women, unless we are telling them what to do, or how to do it," he laughed loudly and Adrienne looked out of the corner of her eye to see a young woman, maybe 19 years old or so, being brought into the room. In that same foreign tongue, he ordered her to do something so shocking that Adrienne made a noise from under the burka, debating inside whether or not to blow the entire cover and pound the fat man into the ground. She heard a staff weapon whip through the air but thankfully it didn't make contact, so Adrienne remained close to the dirt waiting for Daniel's next move.

"Enough!" Daniel shouted, "And I will not bear witness to any of this." Adrienne hoped he was talking about that poor woman and not just her, "The next man that strikes my sister shall find out exactly how I repay such attacks," Adrienne smiled, even though she knew it was part of the act, but it was nice to hear her friend talking about breaking bad on someone on her behalf.

"We have our ways and they are not to be questioned. You have disrespected our family and therefore we demand you release our women, now!" he shouted. Adrienne lay pressed to the sand floor quiet.

"This is who I had hoped to meet! A man! Come my friend, bring your brothers and be our guests. We shall talk of a union between our people," their host declared, his tone changing abruptly at Daniel's threat. She didn't look up, but felt Daniel grab her arm forcefully, and slightly painfully, pulling her to her feet. She let him, knowing his strenuous grip was also part of the act, but stumbled into him a bit as she stood, realizing that the blow to her back a second time might have caused some injury that she didn't feel from her huddled position on the ground. Sensing her stumble, he caught her in his arms, pulling her close to him, a feeling of safety coming over her at his embrace. Not wanted to let go, for fear of suffering at their hands as Mardsen had, combat training or not, she scanned the fat man out of the corner of her eye as he stood, giving orders to the rest of the room.

"You!" he pointed to Mardsen, "take her to your other women." The man reached forward and grabbed Adrienne from Daniel before he could react, throwing her at Sgt. Mardsen. The women caught one another but Mardsen didn't say a word, didn't even make eye contact with Adrienne, just stood her upright and took her gaze to the floor. Glancing up and forcing herself not to be scared, Adrienne looked Daniel dead in the eye and blinked "OK," in Morse Code, hoping he would catch on. Frowning, looking like he was just as worried as she was, he winked at her once and followed the man out, leaving his assistant, his friend, behind. Urged on by two large men with very sharp blades, Sgt. Mardsen escorted Adrienne through a flap and into a tent attached to the back of the one they were in, to where the rest of the women were being kept.

The women of SG-14 were not huddled together like one would expect women to do; these were tough, strong women, and they had paid for it; almost every one of them was stripped down to some belly dancing slave outfit that rather than be sexually revealing was more revealing of the awful injuries they had sustained. Lt. Tuiy had a black eyes and deep rope burns onto her arms. Major Smith's entire stomach was black and blue, but she was still holding her head high; high enough for Adrienne to see the deep gash on the bottom of her cheek. The last member of the team, Adrienne didn't remember her name, no longer had legs that resembled any skin tone, instead they were a deep purple and it looked like her ankles were bleeding underneath the ropes tied to them.

Adrienne was about to speak to start to question the women to gather the severity of the situation, when a man entered the room behind she and Mardsen, shoving the archaeologist to the floor. She didn't fight him, just caught herself on her elbows, trying to keep her face up and mouth protected. Using his feet to move her, he kicked her, very nearly full force in the thigh, motioning for her to roll onto her butt and leaned over to tie her feet together tightly, but not so tight that she couldn't shuffle forward, with canvas rope. Pushing Adrienne out of the way forcefully by the shoulder, dismissing her she assumed, he walked over to do the same to Mardsen, slapping her in the face once he was finished and left, spitting on the ground at the doorway in disgust. Once Adrienne was satisfied that he was gone, she looked over at Mardsen, coming to her knees painfully to crawl over to her.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"We're alive. Glad to see you guys," she answered curtly.

"Sarge?" the red headed woman spoke, "Isn't that Jackson's assistant?" Adrienne leaned over a bit more so they could see. She wanted to say, yes, and I'm a full-fledged member of SG-1, but now was not the time to be offended.

"Yeah, I'm Adrienne, Dr. Adrienne Rowan, and I'm Daniel's assistant. Sam sent SG-1 to help," Adrienne answered instead.

"Help?! Then how did you end up here with us?" Major Smith spat at her, not the reaction she was expecting.

"It just kind of happened that way. Don't worry, they've got it under control," Adrienne assured them. The women of SG-14 all dropped to silence, sitting in the darkness of the tent alone. No one said anything more, either out of worry or despair, and Adrienne wanted to give Daniel a chance to set this right without causing any problems on her end. Sitting in silence, she meditated, clearing her thoughts of worry.

Time passed, but Adrienne had none of her usual gadgets to tell her how much, so she tried to judge the best she could by the little bit of light peering through cracks in the tent, to no avail. She was growing anxious, it wasn't like Daniel to leave people like this, but she kept silent, running her finger lightly in the sand.

"We're screwed," Marden said finally. Adrienne looked over at her surprised, most certainly not expecting for a military type to give up so easily.

"Why do you say that?" Adrienne asked, trying to remain hopeful and confident in her team, in her boss, but Mardsen was looking away, at the same slit of fading light that Adrienne had looked at before.

"It's taken too long. They are probably dead or enslaved at this point." Mardsen replied. The thought gave her chills, imagining him, imagining Daniel, well not just him, but all of them dead.

She wouldn't accept it.

"Sergeant Mardsen, I'm sure - " Adrienne started but she was interrupted by Mardsen, who was looking back at her.

"Anne. If we're all gonna to die here please call me Anne," the woman insisted, but Adrienne was quick to disagree.

"We're not gonna die. Daniel'll be back, I promise." Adrienne answered, noticing her slip in word choice, Daniel and not the team. She pushed the thought aside.

"You seem to have a lot of faith in him," Anne stated.

"I do," Adrienne mumbled and was silent again, a hint of embarrassment flushing her cheeks. She had a lot of faith in him, he would never let her down; she had never trusted anyone in her life like she trusted Daniel Jackson.

She was just going to sit here and wait a bit longer.

The light in the cracks of the tent disappeared and Adrienne knew it was nightfall. Like most deserts, the temperature dropped dramatically as the sun went down and Adrienne could see the other women freezing, so she began to rip at her burka, trying to make some kind of makeshift covering for her companions. Shaking her head at the attempt, Anne reached over to hold her hand.

"Don't bother," she said, "If we try to cover up, they'll just beat us some more."

Not desiring anyone to be injured any further, Adrienne tossed the pieces aside, peering back up at the exit to the exterior when she heard loud laughing.

Loud familiar laughing.

The door moved and Daniel came through the flap, followed by the Fat Man, Teal'c and some of the other men from before, the ones that had pointed weapons at them when they arrived, Daniel and the Fat Man speaking in loud, bad, foul Aramaic.

"No, I have not yet taken a wife, I have had to keep my sister in line, to train her to serve a man, but thankfully my friend here has agreed to take over for me in that regard so that I too may be able to enjoy the company of a good woman instead of dealing with her," Daniel spat, glaring down at her. She knew he was acting, but his words were so unlike him, it made her sick to her stomach; it made her feel like exactly what their hosts had referred to them as: property.

"She does seem to be trouble. Don't worry, we shall work on her here, try to teach her to respect men. We show our women who is in charge," the Fat Man answered and Daniel laughed, glancing at Teal'c, silently signaling that he should laugh as well. The Jaffa did as requested, falling in line with the leering men, who were carefully looking over the half-naked women, save Adrienne, splayed in front of them.

"Hear that sister!" Daniel now said to her, "I have finally found someone to help me calm you down! They will teach you," he knelt close to her, bringing their faces dangerously close. His breath smelled of middle eastern food and wine and she hoped he hadn't been drinking too much, she knew he couldn't hold his alcohol to save his life.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, wishing she could work with him on this instead of being trapped here, like an animal.

"Play along," he whispered, grabbing her by her burka and pulling her face closer to his, their noses almost touching.

"Do you HEAR me sister? You think that ROPES are bad? You just wait. Pretty soon these ropes will seem FLACA and then you will see that you should have listened to me," he spat, making Adrienne cringe in fear at his non characteristic behavior. He threw her back toward the floor, making her land on her bruised bottom in agony.

"Flaca?" the Fat Man questioned, catching the strange word in Daniel's Aramaic speech. He didn't look back at the man just stared intently at Adrienne while he gave his explanation.

"Where I come from it means, tolerable, she needs to know what will come of her if she keeps us her insolent behavior, that her punishment will only be worse," he stood, explaining as he glared at Adrienne.

"Tomorrow then. We shall begin to teach her respect tomorrow. But now, we must drink!" the Fat Man declared and led the group from the tent, babbling on in the ancient language about food and wine. Pausing, Daniel looked over his shoulder at Adrienne once more, blinking his eyes.

Adrienne got the message.

"Come on," she whispered to Anne the moment the swatch of fabric dropped, "we don't have a lot of time."

"For what?" Anne looked confused and even after the visit, still lacked the glimmer of hope that was now shown in Adrienne's eyes.

"He's gonna get us out of here. Help me with these ropes," Adrienne slid the pieces going from the sides of her ankle bindings onto the ends of her feet and began to push forward. Two of the other women followed suit but Sgt. Mardsen and Lt. Tuiy just sat there.

"Adrienne, don't you think we've tried that, they won't budge," Anne explained.

"I know that. He said flaca. It's Spanish; it means loose. He just needs them looser, as loose as we can get them, not off," Adrienne said as she continued to push and pull the ropes. Somewhat affirmed by her words, Lt. Tuiy looked at her once more and started to copy her motions.

"What's he planning on doing with us, still bound, in looser ropes?" Anne asked, still not joining the group in their stretching.

"I have no idea," Adrienne answered her frankly.

"Yet you're just going to take his word for it?" Anne glared at her with a condescending look on her face.

"Yeah, I am," Adrienne spat back, angered by her insinuation.

"Look Adrienne, no offense intended, but you are banking on the head geek of the SGC getting us out of here when we, a combined skill set of military and martial arts training couldn't save ourselves. Excuse me while I hold my breath," Anne let the rope drop to the floor but Adrienne was infuriated.

"Well, you can stay here then, because Daniel will get us out of here," she had to control the volume of her voice, aware that she was near shouting, "I know he will; I trust him."

Anne rolled her eyes but started to push, sensing the certainty in Adrienne's voice as the overdressed cajun woman continued her work. She knew Daniel would get them out of this. He would never leave a person behind if there was a chance to save them.

He would never leave her behind.

She tried to be strong and started to push again.

It was almost dusk when Daniel came rushing into the tent. Adrienne and the others stood, the small red-headed woman taking the lead as they moved the train of women from back of the tent to front, leaving Adrienne lagging behind since she had been the last one to be added to the chain. In his hands he was carrying two small buckets of water, which he placed right beside the opening on the outside.

"Quick," he said to them, "take these water buckets and soak your ropes."

"I thought you were rescuing us?" Anne Mardsen asked, looking at him doubtfully.

"I am, this is canvas. Poorly made canvas. I noticed when a tent fell down at the feast; it was soaked, the rainwater from the morning rain had weakened the material. If you ladies were able to stretch it out good, all we need is to add some water to it and it should pull right apart. Teal'c and Cam are heading to the gate to dial home and cover our escape, and most of the guards are drunk," he explained as he began to soak Lt. Tuiy's bindings. As soon as the fabric was drenched, he reached down and pulled forcefully as promised the weakened fabric coming apart in his hands. The other women, including Anne, dove toward the water buckets, repeating the process as they made their way out of the tent.

Scanning the group, Daniel looked for Adrienne and didn't see her, only the newer piece of canvas that had been tied to Anne's leg leading back into the tent.

"Sergeant, where's Adrienne? Did she manage to get her bindings off?" he asked, but before she could answer, he heard a thunk come from behind the team leader, from inside of the tent.

Dropping the bindings, he left the other women and dashed inside the tent.

Adrienne was on the ground trying to get up, reaching toward the back of her head. It was clear that the man standing over her had caught her from behind as she was following the others out based the way she had fallen, her left tied foot almost to the opening, the rope digging into her skin. Adrienne was laying on the floor, however, face down, her head pointing in the opposite direction. Completely ignoring Daniel, her assailant stood over her, prepared to swing the staff once more and she was trying to get up to fight him, but the force of the surprise blow had left her woozy and staggering to get onto her knees.

Without hesitation, Daniel ran toward the man and caught the staff as it flew through the air, the weapon hitting his hands with such force that the pain ratcheted through his arms, but he was determined not to let him hurt her.

No harm would come to Adrienne if he could help it.

He held onto the staff despite the pain and threw the man to the ground, bringing the weapon to his side and moving to stand over Adrienne. Staff now in his possession, Daniel brought it up into the air and down on the man's head, knocking him out cold, stepping forward to swing again at the man if needed, but he didn't move, lying there sprawled onto the ground, unconscious. Disgusted, he tossed the weapon to the other side of the tent and ran over to Adrienne, falling to his knees beside her.

"Adrienne, are you alright?' he asked her, trying to pull her off of the ground and into his arms.

"I, uh, Daniel," but she was hovering on the edge of consciousness, completely out of it, her lip busted open where her scar had been before, a thin stream of blood oozing from it. Rather than try to see if she could walk, he gritted his teeth, remembering that with all of her athletics and genetic she wasn't a small woman, but in one powerful lift, swept her up into his arms, holding her close and pushing his way through the tent.

Sgt. Mardsen was waiting for him, clasping the end of the rope that had been between she and Adrienne, having freed his assistant as well.

"We're free and I've sent them ahead, is she?" she asked cautiously as Adrienne lay limply in Daniel's arms.

"Yeah, she's fine, let's go," he ordered, adjusting Adrienne closer to him leading the second woman as they made a mad dash for the gate.

When they crossed back onto their side, the medical staff was waiting, having received the transmission from Cam ahead of their arrival. SG-14 went first, Dr. Lam ordering them onto stretchers while Teal'c and Cam came next as Sam was entering the gate room herself.

"Where are?" she asked, but her question was answered as Daniel came through the gate, Adrienne in his arms.

"Is she?" was her next question, one that she was afraid to finish.

"Banged up but she'll be alright. Get SG-3 and 11 ready to go.' he stated, a look of severity in his face.

"Why?" Sam replied, puzzled.

"Because there are some folks on the other side that like to abuse their women and I think that's something we can't ignore." Daniel said and quickly walked over to where Cassie was waiting, laying Adrienne onto a stretcher. Finally looking at her, a dark purple bruise streaked across her cheek as he moved the burka's fabric away, nausea racketed his inside. He leaned over to whisper to her, "I'm so sorry Ad," reaching to grasp her hand, but he wasn't sure if she heard as Cassie wheeled her away and out of his reach.

"Not your typical selection," he joked.

"How do you know my typical selection? You're the self-proclaimed expert on me now?" she defended her choice for the night, teasing him of course. He knew her pretty well, which was exactly why she had picked tonight's feature presentation, to mess with him.

"I mean, it was animated," he said as he zipped up his coat. Adrienne was thankful that this time he managed to park a reasonable distance since it was getting so cold outside.

"I guess I just wanted something different that's all. I heard you laughing..." she replied, doing the same with her own jacket, opening the exterior door and shivering at the blast of cold air that greeted her. Daniel caught the door behind her and held it open so she could walk ahead of him into the parking lot.

"At it, not with it," he clarified and pointed over to the car, only two spaces back from the front. Adrienne shook her head, deciding not to dignify his smart remark with a response, shoving her hands into her pockets to warm them. They reached his jeep and he unlocked and opened the door for her, then walked to the other side, getting into the driver's seat as Adrienne climbed in the passenger side door, grabbing the roll bar to pull herself up, bumping her head strongly.

"Ow!" she exclaimed grabbing her head with her hands. Panicked, Daniel quickly leaned over the seat, reaching for her head and scanning her stitched lip, checking her for any injury.

"Adrienne, are you alright, do you need - " there was alarm in his voice as he started to check her over.

"Not made of glass Daniel, I'm not made of glass," she responded and shooed him away, leaning back and out of his probing reach.

"Ok," he backed up without argument, slowly and started the car, casting one more glance in her direction.

She shut the door to the jeep, touching her lip to check the stitches and smiling. It was nice to be cared about, she thought, looking up at the stars in the night sky as Daniel pulled out of the parking lot.


	18. Chapter 17 - Second Guesses

_I'm addicted to the adventure as much as I'm addicted to the romance. Just an adventure story, no arc, no romance. Ok, well no advance in the romance, just some thrills at status quo. _

_Oh, and something about Addy you need to notice. Pay close attention. _

"Are you guys going to ever be finished? I thought having Addy was supposed to speed up this process," Vala sighed as she sat down on a broken column in the center of the foyer of the temple, coughing at the dust rising around her as she flopped her BDU clad butt onto the stone's surface.

"Vala this is sped up; imagine if Adrienne wasn't here," Daniel replied, turning away from Vala and continuing to work, his glasses sliding down his nose as he read, forehead furrowed in concentration and annoyance. Leave it to Vala to think that translating Ancient, about five full walls of it, in this lighting, in this cold temperature was a task that was going to take simply a few hours. Ignoring her continued whining, he kept reading as Adrienne glanced over at him.

"Puis-je plaisante pas avec elle?" (Can I mess with her?) Adrienne asked, that evil smile on her face, the smile Daniel didn't trust. Adrienne must be getting antsy herself, he thought.

"Comment?" (Mess how?) Daniel responded, treading lightly. Messing with Vala could mean anything from Adrienne just teasing her verbally to a full on prank, although he had no idea where his trusty assistant would get the materials for said prank. Adrienne claimed Vala was just an easy target and Daniel couldn't disagree and after years of Vala being the ringleader in screwing with people, she deserved to be the recipient of a few jokes. Smiling and winking, Adrienne raised her eyebrows and gave him that look, the look that meant she was up to no good, the look that told him exactly how Adrienne planned to mess with her.

Her new stock joke.

"Devez-vous?" (Must you?) he pleaded, weakly. He knew it was a sure fire way to send Vala into a complete downward spiral, but he wasn't a fan, given the current mutters all over the based. Adrienne, instead, just winked. There was no stopping her at this juncture, her mind was made up.

"Je vais avoir deux se tortille mal à l'aise pour le prix d'un, c'est un gagnant-gagnant pour moi," (I get two uncomfortable squirms for the price of one; it's a win win for me)," Adrienne smiled. No longer willing to entertain another of Daniel's protests, Adrienne leaned over her shoulder casually at Vala.

"Vala, come here," Adrienne motioned over to her. Groaning loudly, Vala stood, trudging her way over to Adrienne coming to a stop behind her about three feet away, too far, so Adrienne stuck her finger next to her cheek and motioned Vala closer. Vala rolled her eyes but stepped closer, groaning with each step forward.

"We're taking long on purpose, to make sure we're still here for nightfall," Adrienne whispered coyly.

"Why?" Vala asked, annoyance growing in her voice.

"Because we're miles from the gate and alone," Adrienne said the last word in a way she hoped she would understand, which clearly she did as Vala's eyebrows perked up but her face changed quickly.

"No, I'm here," Vala answered not buying into Adrienne's little game," and besides you guys aren't planning to... are you?" Vala asked, now confused. Adrienne shrugged her shoulders and continued, putting on her best bad girl act.

"I mean, you can stay, I don't mind, but it may make Daniel a bit uncomfortable..." Adrienne trailed off a bit for effect, biting her bottom lip shyly. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Daniel's face growing redder. She couldn't tell if he hated when she did this or if he liked the attention, but it served its purpose, the reaction she had intended growing in her tall loud mouthed friend.

"Ugh!" Vala shouted, repulsed, "I'm leaving. You two can do whatever strange things to one another that you like to do in dark dirty places without my company," she stormed out of the temple in a fit of rage, grabbing her pack as she exited. Satisfied, Adrienne looked over at Daniel who was now visibly red in the face.

"There," she said, "quiet."

"I just can't believe she falls for it every single time," Daniel answered, the color of his face normalizing as he continued to work.

"She knows we're not together; she thinks it's more of a friends with benefits situation. Better for us that way I think," Adrienne replied, turning back to what she had been doing.

Daniel shook his head and returned to his task as well, not ever entirely sure if he should be pleased, embarrassed or angry when Adrienne pulled the "we might be sleeping together card" but knowing she played it at all gave his nerves terrible fits. Forcing himself to focus, he soldiered on, trying not to wonder about what Vala might think that he and Adrienne were doing right now.

Their first indication of exactly how long they had been working was when Adrienne realized she needed a lamp in order to read the carvings in front of her. Night had fallen, and despite her earlier jest, there would be no romantic liaisons between anyone, just more hard work, more dust and more backache. Stretching, she put down her composition book and pen and walked over to where Vala had been sitting earlier looking for the large black bag of supplies that she had assembled early this morning to add some illumination to their workspace. Scanning the ground near the busted column, she discovered that it wasn't there, the bag was gone, it's impression left behind in the dirt.

"Dammit!" Adrienne swore out loud, retracing their footsteps around the temple. Daniel looked over his shoulder at her, peeking over his glasses.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Spinning on her heels, Adrienne turned to face him, a look of frustration and annoyance plastered on her normally smiling face.

"She took our bag!" Adrienne fussed as she stomped around, "Jealous collette took our damn gear!" Daniel stopped what he was doing and turned to join her in the hunt, although he was reasonably sure that Vala had indeed taken Adrienne's gear in retaliation.

Vala seemed to be in constant competition with Adrienne for Daniel's attention lately which amused him since Adrienne could care less and only used Vala's jealously for her own personal entertainment. Even if he did think of Adrienne in a romantic way, which he didn't, she was his closest friend, he was fairly certain that if Adrienne was interested in anyone on base it would be Ronon Dex. He had been working her pretty hard on Ronan, who seemed to be right on the verge of asking his assistant to dinner. Regardless, he and Adrienne were just friends, albeit good friends, but nothing Vala or anyone else needed to worry about. Searching just enough to placate his very angry cajun comrade, Daniel stopped, glancing over at her and clearing his throat.

"Yeah," Daniel began, "she took it."

Adrienne swore profanely in straight from the bayou Cajun. While Adrienne preferred to speak French to Daniel so that no one else would understand the conversation, she greatly preferred Cajun for her profanity claiming it had more passion and fire. He laughed lightly, enjoying her frustrated Cajun fueled outbursts that seemed to occur on a regular basis.

"I'll radio her, tell her we're finished," Daniel offered, reaching for the radio on his shoulder but Adrienne made a face at him.

"You think telling her we finished will get her to come back," Adrienne retorted emphasizing the word finished. It took Daniel just a second to catch on, before sighing out and reaching back for the radio.

"Ad, get your mind out of the gutter. I meant with our work. Which essentially we are, unless we can get some light in here," Daniel rolled his eyes at Adrienne, squeezing the button on his shoulder, hoping Vala would answer; he didn't want to leave the temple just yet.

"Vala, come in," Daniel said as Adrienne sat, taking Vala's former seat crossing her legs in frustration, her eyes cutting into him as if this was his fault. Trying to ignore his assistant's anger, he clicked off the radio and waited for a reply but none came. He walked over to Adrienne and sat down beside her on the ground, his legs tired from standing all day.

"Vala, jokes over, you've got our stuff," Daniel spoke again, sternness growing in his voice. Her mood changing, from annoyance to embarrassment, Adrienne could read his face now. She knew he was upset that his work was being interrupted and she shrugged, dropping her hands into her lap, picking the skin on her fingernails.

"Sorry Indy, I didn't mean to really set her off, that bad..." Adrienne apologized, weakly. Daniel knew that Adrienne was secretly pleased to have won in this latest prank of hers, even if it cost them their gear temporarily. Trying not to snap at Adrienne, or Vala for that matter, Daniel figured that he would try one final approach.

"Vala, it was a joke. No one did anything inappropriate, ok. Adrienne was kidding and she is very worried that she upset you," he said a final time, Adrienne mouthing quickly, "I am not," at him. However, they had no success with this as well so Daniel stood, sighing, brushing dust off of his pants. Her eyes sending him a rage filled warning, Adrienne grabbed his hand as she stood right after him, jerking him back in her direction.

"Daniel, you do realize that if you run out there you are playing right into her game, right?" Adrienne stated. That was the one reaction that Vala could get out of Adrienne; concern. Adrienne was forever a worrier and had often cautioned Daniel of actually getting involved with Vala, again. She never got into detail as to why it upset her so much, but he knew that she worried about him, about his feelings and he appreciated that.

He'd never really had someone care about his well-being so much, it was always the other way around.

Knowing that she was correct, he sat back down, stealing her stone pedestal in playful apology, looking as she apparently made the decision herself to go after her friend, heading out the main entrance.

About thirty minutes later Adrienne came storming into the temple, black bag in hand. It was covered in dirt, obviously been manhandled and the look in Adrienne's face answered one question brewing in his mind but not another.

"Where's Vala?" he asked, preparing himself for the answer.

"I donna fuckin' care," Adrienne answered, holding the bag up in the air, "She broke my light!? Da cool LED one I found at Lowe's. Do ya know 'ow much dat cost?" He did, down to the cent; she reminded him of this every time he used it. He shook his head, now annoyed by Vala's childish behavior, and toward a friend no less, reaching for the bag to examine the remainder of the contents. Adrienne was right; her light was smashed to pieces. Daniel carefully dug around the shards of glass looking for a flashlight, because at this point while he didn't plan on working anymore today, much less with Adrienne being this angry, they would need a flashlight to find their way back to the gate. Relieved, he found it very quickly, clicking it on to make sure it still worked.

Fortunately, it did, one less thing for Adrienne to yell about.

"Come on," Daniel said as she looked over to Adrienne who was standing, facing him, arms crossed, "let's head back."

"See," Adrienne complained as she walked toward him, "This is what pisses me off. If what we do is so damn boring, don't come with us, or sit 'ere and tuat t'en grosse bueche!"

"She likes to learn things Adrienne, she never had a formal education like we did," Daniel defended lightly, very lightly, as once Adrienne had slipped in to full Cajun there was no going back. Growling, surprisingly, Adrienne walked past him, ripping the flashlight from his grasp.

"Ya jus keep telling yaself dat Indy, but da reality of da situation is dat she's jus 'ere ta stare at ya ass," she shot back at him, walking toward the exit of the temple.

"How would you know that unless you were looking too?" he joked, deciding instantly it was the stupidest thing he could have said at the moment as she came to an abrupt halt, turning to glare at him evilly even though it was too dark to see.

"Kidding, never mind, just go," Daniel hoisted the bag up on his shoulder and looked behind him to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything. Satisfied they weren't leaving anything behind, he followed the small bobbing light Adrienne was making with the flashlight ahead.

It took about an hour to arrive at the gate. Daniel started to radio Vala again, but Adrienne grabbed his hand and gave him a look, yet again, daring him to do it. Reluctantly, he removed his hand, letting go of the button and made a face, hoping that this little incident would not result in a falling out between the two of them. The two women really had become good friends. Maybe leaving early, Daniel could gate back home and run to the hardware store in order to replace Adrienne's lamp before returning. He even considered forging an apology note from Vala to help keep the peace.

"Hey girl! You guys have fun?" Cameron waved as he saw the two of them approach. Adrienne waved back, picking up the pace to jog up and meet him.

"Tons," she laughed, "but I'm sure you've heard all about it."

"Oh really?" Cameron raised an eyebrow in curiosity and Adrienne scowled, her eyes already rolling.

"Yeah; apparently the sheer assumption that I would lay a hand on Daniel costs me a perfectly good LED light," Adrienne pointed back at her boss, who, grimace on his face, held the bag aloft so that everyone could see.

"The girls had a little misunderstanding. How long ago did Vala go back?" Daniel asked, setting the heavy bag down on the ground, cocking his head as he did carefully, enough to glance over at Adrienne to see her reaction. She had none.

"Go back?" Cameron looked confused, "to where?"

"Back to base," Daniel added. Cameron looked over at Teal'c who shook his head.

"DanielJackson, ColonelMitchell and I have been at the gate all day, playing cards. ValaMalDoran has not come," Teal'c looked over at Daniel, his look as puzzled as Cam's.

"So," Daniel clarified, "you two are certain? You haven't seen her all day?"

"No, not one peep. Trust me, Vala's not going to sneak up on us, we would hear her bitchin a mile away," Cam added, Teal'c nodding in agreement behind him. Growing more concerned by the minute, Daniel peeped back at Adrienne, looking for support, something, anything but more anger.

"Why are you looking at me?" Adrienne asked, "I have no idea where she went. She's your girlfriend." she spat, adding the last part for effect. No support there, Daniel turned back to face his team, something in his gut telling him that this was all wrong.

"We need to find her," Daniel stated looking at Cameron and Teal'c who were nodding in agreement just seconds before there was a noise and some more swearing behind him.

"Wha!? Dis is insanity! Why in da world do ya'll bow down to 'er childishness? Well, ya tree can have fun playing hide ahn seek wit da gah damn drama queen! I'll go 'ome and inform Sam dat da boy's club is lettin' da entire mission volla merde for some galette," Adrienne shoved her way past Daniel and began to dial home, slamming her palms against the symbols. Cautiously, especially since he had a slight understanding of the swears that had just rocketed from her mouth, he reached for her shoulder but she shrugged him away and kept dialing.

"Adrienne, really, I know she can grate your nerves sometimes, I do, but this isn't like her. If anything, she would be causing a huge scene if she were angry, not quietly slipping away," Daniel tried to reason with his assistant although he was slightly worried that they were beyond the point of reason as Adrienne spun around, glaring at him intensely, before spinning back to face the DHD.

"Daniel, I'm nah gonna indulge 'er," Adrienne said, not bothering to make eye contact, her hand about to touch the center globe.

"I'm not asking that you indulge her," Daniel replied, pausing and breathing in as he reached out for her shoulder again gently, hoping she wouldn't turn around and punch him, "I'm asking that you indulge me."

Adrienne sighed out and stop dialing, bowing her head in frustration. She could never say no to Daniel, ever.

It annoyed her greatly.

"I 'ate ya Daniel Anthony," she spun around once more, her face in a scowl, cutting her eyes at him.

"I know you do," he answered, and turned to face the group, "In pairs?" he suggested, "Meet back here in an hour?"

"Sounds good, T and I'll head making a circle from here to the ruins and you guys can circle that side," Cameron ordered, double checking the area with a quick scan before he and Teal'c headed to the left. Indicating with his hand for Adrienne to lead the way, the two archaeologists set out in the opposite direction.

Adrienne didn't say a word for a full twenty minutes. Daniel knew she was angry, but he also knew at this point in their friendship exactly how far he could push her so he kept his mouth shut. Honestly, he couldn't figure out when their falling out had occurred, but he did know that Vala had been making comments to Adrienne, comments about her being single and other things of the sort. She was so hostile when it came to relationships, in fact he had backed off completely on trying to set her up with Ronon, even though it was clear that the Sateadan man was very interested, but unlike Vala, he had respected her request that he stay out of it. He was guessing, that in true Vala fashion, she hadn't, and that was making Adrienne a little touchier when it came to things that she had before overlooked, mostly at least.

"Merde!" Adrienne shouted as she slipped on a rock, crashing to the ground, barely catching herself on her left side. Daniel knelt down quickly to make sure she was alright, she was still a bit sore from their last mission, the stitches still in her lip although Carolyn had done so well they were barely visible. He instantly felt terrible to see her hurt again, reaching for her face and running his thumb across her lip, hoping she hadn't split it a third time. No longer swearing, she patted his hand lightly and sat up, pulling up the leg of her BDU pants to examine her knee.

"I'm good shug, it's my knee, I just tripped. It's hard to see out here," she said, her tone a little softer with him than before, putting the flashlight in her mouth to inspect her injury. Shaking his head, Daniel reached over and took the lamp from her mouth, shining the light onto her leg. There was a light trickle of blood sliding down her shin, almost to her yin yang tattoo, so Daniel tucked the flashlight under his arm and reached in his vest, grabbing some alcohol swabs and a bandage.

"Here," he said, "let me get that," he reached over to fix her knee, hoping to contain the rage that he was afraid she was going to unleash on Vala, and since she was missing, on him by default.

"I've got it Indy, just point the flashlight please," Adrienne grabbed the first aid supplies from his hand, and began to fix the nasty scrape, wiping the blood vertically up her leg not even hissing at the alcohol on the open wound. Passing her a bandage, he watched to make sure that she hadn't mended herself in haste, and as she reached to pull her pants leg back down, she paused about halfway gazing up at him.

"Daniel, what are we doing?" she asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Looking for Vala," he gave a rhetorical response to a rhetorical question.

"No, I mean traipsing around in the dark after an adult who throws tantrums. Why does she get away with this over and over? If I spent my free time crawling all over you or Cam, talked like a prostitute and bumbled my way around command like a moron, you would have canned me a week in, if that long. Why does she get a free pass?" Daniel could see Adrienne's face in the dim light of the flashlight and she wasn't angry, she was offended. Adrienne had worked hard to get where she was in life and he could see how she saw Vala as the stereotypical woman who used her body to earn her way through. Not that Adrienne wasn't pretty, she was very attractive in Daniel's opinion, but Adrienne wanted that to be the last thing you noticed about her.

She wanted you to notice her brain first, or her ability to punch you out.

Vala's constant hunt for a man and her insistence that Adrienne do the same probably wasn't helping much either. Sitting back on his heels, he reached his hand out for hers, interlocking their fingers.

"Ad, I know you haven't known her as long as I have, as long as we have. Once you get to know her better, she lets her guard down and you see that she is an intelligent competent person. One that despite the grand performances she's put on for you, would not just run off like this. You only know the crazy side, we, well, I know the other. Trust me," he tried to explain, his stomach a knotted mess, as if part of him didn't want Adrienne to know how close he and Vala had been. No comment in reply, Adrienne sighed again, pulling her hand from Daniel's, reaching underneath her bottom to push herself to her feet, glancing back and reaching down to grab his hand and help him up.

Without further argument, they walked on, continuing to look for their friend.

One fruitless hour later, they were headed to the gate, not one sign of Vala to be found. Daniel could see that Cameron and Teal'c had beat them there and from the gate ramp Cameron was waving his arms, holding up a gun over his head while Teal'c was already dialing behind him. A glimmer of hope, although Vala wasn't with them, Daniel and Adrienne jogged up to meet them.

"Cam, what's the rush? Did you guys find her?" Adrienne asked, looking at the both of them strangely.

"Nope, but this is her P-90; she wrote her name in fingernail polish on the handle," Cam turned the gun to hand over to Adrienne who flinched away nervously, Daniel stepping forward before she could be embarrassed by her fear, making a note to himself he really needed to ask her what the gun issue was anyway. Looking it over, the pink paint confirming what Cam already said, he peered back over at Adrienne before handing the weapon back to their team leader.

"Something's wrong. She loves this gun," Daniel said, turning to Cameron, "Where did you guys find it?"

"About a half mile from the temple. It was thrown in a bush like someone tossed it away. Dirt kicked up, general mess. Signs of a struggle," Cam said and immediately Adrienne started to feel a sinking in her gut; maybe Daniel was right, maybe this wasn't a ploy for attention. Seeing Daniel's non-verbal agreement, Cam walked back over to the gate, indicating to Teal'c that he should continue to phone home.

"I'm going to dial home. We need to talk to Sam. I think we should call in our intelligence agents, this doesn't look good." Cam turned to wait for the wormhole to open, the blast of cold air having an almost ominous feel to it and they left the planet behind, along with their teammate.

"But we don't have any evidence that she has been kidnapped," Sam argued, "She could be anywhere."

"Sam, there were clear signs of a struggle, I think we need to assume the worst," Cameron argued as Daniel and Teal'c nodded in agreement but Adrienne kept silent, torn as to what to do. There is no way, she thought to herself, no way that she would go to this length for attention, but the way Vala had been acting lately, so insistent that something was going on between her and Daniel one day and showing up prancing herself into his lap another, Adrienne was completely confused. So what if Vala still had feelings for her friend, why did she care? But she did, for some reason, and she wasn't sure why. Noting her silence, Sam looked over at her puzzled.

"Adrienne, you don't seem to be on the same page as everyone else, is there something you need to add?" Sam inquired.

"Look, Sam, I love her, I really do, but you have to admit that every single time she doesn't get her way, about anything, she flies off the handle. I work out with her, almost every day, and I just find it hard to believe that she would be taken without any of us hearing her at least scream," Adrienne replied, glancing quickly over at Daniel, hoping he understood. Sam nodded her head, a small part of her wondering the same thing. She knew that Vala felt threatened by Daniel's feisty assistant since Adrienne had been promoted up to the team and what had started as friendship between the two women was now filled with some tension, at least lately. Sam thought that there might be another source of tension, noting how much more protective Daniel had grown of Adrienne, especially after the mission to rescue SG-14, but she kept that thought to herself, looking back out across the group.

"Ok, let's play out worst case scenario, to ensure that we are covering all of our bases. I'll assemble an investigative team immediately to return to the planet. Daniel start calling our allies; see if anyone has heard anything and if I find out this is some elaborate act, I'll deal with her myself," Sam added the last part as she looked over at Adrienne, who gave a slight nod and dismissed the group to their tasks.

Three hours later Adrienne went to bring Daniel something to eat. He had been sitting in the observation room for hours, dialing allies and asking for information and Adrienne knew he hadn't eaten since they broke for lunch almost twelve hours ago. By the time she arrived it was midnight and Daniel had been alone for quite some time, having dismissed Walter for the evening.

"Any luck?" she asked, not bothering to hide the worry in her voice.

"Not one peep. No one's heard anything. It's like she just vanished," Daniel replied, his voice sullen, slowly turning the chair around to look at her. His eyes were so tired, the normally mesmerizing ocean blue against white replaced by redness and despair, their usual sparkle gone. Knowing he needed her, regardless of the complete confusion that was going on inside of her and had been all day, Adrienne set down the sandwich and soda, pulling up a chair beside him.

"I'm sorry I doubted you, that I doubted her," Adrienne said quietly.

"I would have in your position too," Daniel replied quickly, reaching out for the soda and opening the top. He took a long swig and set it back down on the counter, grasping for the sandwich and pausing, making a face.

"Wrong thing?" Adrienne asked, standing in a silent offer to get another.

"No, it's fine, I'm just not very hungry."

Daniel turned back to look at the screen, pushing the plate away and resting his chin on his fist. Scooting to the edge of her chair, Adrienne reached out for his leg, rubbing it up and down lightly, not knowing what else she could possibly do.

"I know she means a lot to you," Adrienne said, cautiously.

"She does, not in the way she would like but, I just can't bear to lose anyone else. We're all like family here," Daniel answered, lifting his head slowly to glance at her. Without thinking, not about Vala, not about her assertions, not about any of the gossip floating around the base, Adrienne leaned forward and rested her forehead to his, slipping her hand behind his neck, bringing him so close, dangerously close.

"We'll find her," Adrienne assured him, her alluring brown eyes locking with his own, eyes full of total concern and unconditional caring. Being this close to her made Daniel strangely nervous and he couldn't figure out why, they were friends, dear friends was all, but he didn't want to pull away. It wasn't that he thought he would offend her, but he just wanted to stay there, basking in her touch, but as soon as the sensation of comfort hit him, she was backing up, squeezing his neck lightly before kissing his forehead. Without another word, she stood from the chair, meandering slowly toward the door.

"Ad?" Daniel glanced up at her, catching her right before she made it to the hallway.

"Yea Indy?" she stopped and looked back over her shoulder, the worry in her face worsening, the dark circles under her eyes a clear indication that Daniel wasn't the only one worried and not sleeping.

"Do you mind hanging around?; it's too quiet here," he felt like an idiot asking, he hated asking, she needed sleep as bad as he did, but he just wanted some company right now.

He wanted her company; he just wanted her close.

"Sure," Adrienne answered, smiling, walking back over to where she had been sitting, reaching out to place her hand on his back as she sat. She rubbed it lightly and turned to the computer console in front of her, as he faced the one in front of him, deciding to read the news while she waited.

"Incoming wormhole," the 5 a.m. lieutenant signaled the message, starting the sirens. Adrienne awoke groggily, her aching neck, cursing herself for falling asleep on the keyboard. There was Daniel, standing beside her, his arms crossed nervously across his chest, waiting for the iris to open. He noticed her waking and silently pointed to a cup of coffee that was over where he had been sitting, a cup that was obviously his, but she didn't care. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she grabbed the half empty mug, chugging down the rest gratefully before standing to join him.

"Something?" Adrienne asked.

"Hopefully," Daniel stood, his eyes still locked on the gate activating on the other side of the glass, "Sorry it was cold."

"It's ok, you know me, I just want the caffeine," she replied, starting to reach out to touch him again, but paused, that awkward feeling returning, instead shoving her hands into her pockets. As the wormhole formed a faint radio signal came through, the computer transmitters racing into action.

"Dr. Jackson?" the voice was faint and Adrienne didn't recognize it, glancing over at Daniel for clarification.

"Yes, Sergeant Patrick, it's me. Do you have something?" Daniel answered. The name Adrienne did recognize from meetings and conversations with Vala; it was one of their spies in the Lucian Alliance and he was taking a big risk contacting home base outside of scheduled check-ins. He must have something.

"We've got some information on Miss Mal Doran," he reported professionally.

"Great, we hear you," Daniel answered.

"It appears that she wasn't taken by the Lucians sir. I've found indications that a woman matching her description is being offered for sale at a slave auction next week," the man said plainly. Daniel looked shocked; he was almost certain that she had been taken by the very people they were paying her to spy on, not slave traders.

"Are you sure?" he asked for confirmation.

"Yes, quite sure. I'll try to send a radio image, but they listed her as a tall spirited brunette in the description," the man confirmed.

"That's Vala," Adrienne answered, giving in to her earlier temptation, reaching out and squeezing his hand quickly before letting go.

"Ok, can you please send coordinates and times for the auction?" Daniel requested.

"Of course sir, transmission coming through," Patrick responded, various signals appearing on the computer screen. Grabbing a nearby note pad, Adrienne sat down at the computer, jotting down the information with one hand, cross referencing the coordinates with her other, the information quickly popping up on the screen.

"We can get there by Daedalus in two days. Auction's in three," she looked up at him.

"Go get Sam," he replied and left the observation room.

The trip on the Daedalus was long and melancholy; the fear of losing one of their own was too great. Everyone, including Adrienne, was a combination of worried and depressed.

Being a woman, Adrienne could only imagine what might have happened to Vala being trapped on a slave collection ship. It made her shiver to think about it, made her sick, nervous, and feel guilty for doubting her friend. Ok, so Vala got on her nerves with her over the top flirtations, but she had been nothing but a good friend to Adrienne and the first chance Adrienne had to doubt her, she was ready to leave her to her doom. She didn't eat much, she couldn't and for once she couldn't sleep, sleep filled with nightmares too horrible to talk about. She'd shown up at Daniel's door the second night of the voyage, letting herself in and crawling into his bed with nary a word. He didn't bother to move her, she looked terrified, but she clearly didn't want to talk, so he lay there beside her in silence, reaching out only to hold her hand. He had his own problems to worry about, he kept blaming himself for letting Adrienne send Vala away, feeling as if sending her alone outside made her an easy target.

Cameron and Teal'c were obsessing in their own ways, thinking that they should have seen something, heard something in the sky, and couldn't believe that on their watch they missed a ship, an entire slave ship full of others just like Vala. They tried to pass the time but playing cards just made them sick to their stomachs.

All alternating between wanting to be alone to think and wanting the company of one another, it was the quietest two days Adrienne had experienced since becoming a part of this group, two days she hoped in her heart would be much more jovial upon the return.

As Adrienne predicted, they arrived in two days, one day to spare before the auction. Captain Carval called them down to the bridge as he slowed the approach of the large vessel, hoping to keep their presence limited. In silence they stood and watched the red planet come into view, sparse colonies populating the surface and by the look on his face, Adrienne could tell Daniel was plotting already.

"Ok, I think it's best if Cam and I head to the surface, make sure that it is indeed Vala and then see if they're willing to sell her in advance. I don't wanna start a fire fight, I just wanna pay their price and get her back," Daniel stated simply, but Adrienne was shaking her head at him the moment he spoke.

"Really Ad, what else is it going to take for you a DNA test?" he snapped, forgetting himself and regretting it instantly as he saw sadness flicker in her face. I'm sorry Ad, he started to say, but she was opening her mouth to speak herself.

"No shug, you need to think rationally for five seconds. First, do we even know how to pay for her if they'll sell her to us? It's not like we are walking around with some kind of universal currency," she stated, no tone, none of the attitude from the other day, just honest concern.

"I have that taken care of, Sam's Asgard simulator can reproduce just about anything we would need especially if we can trade with a mineral," Daniel answered, but his normally fearless assistant still didn't look convinced

"Daniel, shug, even if they aren't Lucians, won't they know who you are? You're kinda recognizable..." Adrienne added carefully, the look in her eyes telling him that this wasn't about Vala any longer; she was worried about him. Daniel went to argue, to assure her he would be ok, but she was right. If he went down the chances of getting caught and attacked were monumental, there may be a firefight anyway, despite his best intentions.

"Adrienne, we don't have any other choice. Teal'c is even more well-known than I am and Cameron can't go down there alone," he countered, shaking his head, having no better option.

"We do, me. I plan on taking Lando here and invading Jabba's Palace myself," Adrienne declared, only Teal'c smiling at the analogy.

"What?" Daniel asked confused.

"If you watched movies like normal folks Indy I wouldn't need to explain. Come on Cam, let's suit up," she turned to head for the weapons room, escaping quickly before he could argue. Cam walked behind her without argument, silently agreeing that this was the best course of action. Daniel paused for just a moment, his brain not completely registering what had been implied at first, turning quickly once he realized what Adrienne was saying. Jogging to catch up with her, pushing past Cam, he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her to a stop.

"Ad, you're not going," Daniel ordered simply.

"Um, last time I checked Cameron was the head of this team, not you," Adrienne pulled her arm away from his and shouted to Cameron, who had quickly passed by the two, avoiding the possible blow out that was going to occur in the hall.

"Mitchell! Can I go to the surface with you?" she asked, in a tone that was mocking of Daniel's order.

"Looking forward to it girlie!" he shouted back and kept heading for the weapons room. Adrienne turned to face Daniel, satisfied.

"You only count as my boss on-world. I'll see you when I get back. No worries; I'm a smooth talker," Adrienne turned once more to follow Cameron. Daniel grabbed her arm again quickly, Adrienne whipping her head around with such an evil look that he let go, memories of being busted in the head flashing back.

"What is your problem?! I was wrong, ok? She's a pain in the ass but she's my friend too. This is my fault and I'm going to make this right. Now I need to go get my staff weapon and a tac vest," Adrienne argued, tears filling her eyes. She felt bad, she felt at fault and this wasn't about making him mad, this was about atoning. Daniel looked her in the eyes and shook his head, knowing this was a battle he wasn't going to win, that he was going to have to let her go, into yet another situation that would be possibly hostile to women, without being able to be there to help her.

"Adrienne, I, you just need to be careful," he said, refusing to argue with her further, his heart racing with worry and panic, visions of her on the floor of a dirt hut flooding his head, her blackened cheek, but she wasn't going to just sit here and wait.

"Don't worry, you'll have the two of us fighting over you again soon enough," she joked, and leaned in to kiss his cheek, Daniel instinctually reaching out for her to rub her arm and stopped, pulling back quickly. Her eyes gazed downward quickly, breaking their stare and she turned, heading for the weapons room, Daniel watching her rush down the hall.

"I still think you're trying to recreate a movie. You don't think this is a bit over the top?" Cameron asked Adrienne once they were beamed to the surface, both members of SG-1 covered neck to toe in Kull warrior suits. Adjusting the material around her curvy hips, Adrienne was starting to regret that she had taken Vala's suit since Vala had made adjustments for a woman's anatomy forgetting that while Vala was tall and thin, Adrienne was a few inches shorter, athletic and curvy. Cameron noticed the adjustment, frowning as he motioned with his hand at her obvious irritation.

"You don't even look like you're comfortable in that thing," Cameron noted as they walked on toward the major activity of the city.

"I've got a bit of a tchew, ok, but trust me, this will work," Adrienne assured him, pulling the tight fabric from her backside.

"You do realize that I have done this a million times before while you've only seen it on TV?" Cameron asked, but Adrienne just smiled with that Miss Perfect smile of hers, walking on confidently before halting to peek back at him.

"Uh Cam?" she asked as she pulled the helmet over her head.

"Yes Princess Leia," he teased as he did the same.

"Where do you think they keep the slaves?" Adrienne admitted the one flaw in her plan.

"Come on," Cameron laughed and shook his head, making his way toward a large industrial looking building in the distance.

When they arrived, the first thing Adrienne noticed were the large armed guards standing in front of the tall buildings, humanoid, but definitely not one hundred percent human, sickly olive green skin and solid black eyes the only things showing under layers of tattered brown leather armor. For as tough as she played, hell, as tough as she was, Cam could sense Adrienne's frustration by the pace of her stride, stepping forward to speak to the guard as his companion nervously adjusted her helmet.

"We are looking to acquire a female," Cameron spoke, with his words a chill racing down Adrienne's spine, memories of being called property, being treated as property making her ill.

"Sale is tomorrow, no advance purchases," one of the men answered, thick brown lips moving behind a face shield, muffling his voice.

"We want a female that hasn't been used, we don't want to wait," Cameron stressed the word used and Adrienne grew sicker.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, she thought, maybe she should have stayed on the Daedalus and let Daniel handle this.

For some reason she wanted Daniel by her side right now.

"I said come back tomorrow," the man growled, taking a step forward to challenge Cameron, not fearing the Kull warrior standing in front of him.

"Let me see your superior," Cameron demanded, taking a step forward himself to meet the man, but hesitated, a poor choice. With the colonel's defenses down, he reached for Cameron's throat, lifting him off of the ground. Her heart pounded in her chest, the second guard advancing toward her moments before her training clicked on. Taking a stance, Adrienne pointed her staff weapon activating the head so that it would open, glaring at the man through the thick plastic helmet. She didn't dare speak, dare give away that she was a woman, but she didn't have to as the man tossed Cameron aside, looking at his companion.

"Pirates, in stolen suits," he said, kicking dirt in Cameron's face, fortunately protected by the helmet. In an attempt to avoid further confrontation, Cameron got up slowly and began to walk away, signaling that Adrienne follow.

"We can't just leave," Adrienne insisted as she caught up to him, ripping off her helmet once she was certain they were out of sight of the two men, creatures, whatever.

"Well, they're not gonna let us in so we need another plan," Cameron continued on, making his way to the rendezvous point, intending to call Daniel and go with his first plan, scolding himself for buying into Adrienne's crazy fantasies in the first place.

Sensing that Cam made up his mind, Adrienne slowed her stride and looked back to the tall gray building rising in the distance, so cold and hostile, even for this poor excuse for a city in which they stood.

She just couldn't leave Vala in there, there had to be a way, what if they were...

No, she wasn't leaving, she refused as more shudders rocketed her spine. Reaching into the very tight pockets of the uniform, Adrienne pulled out two small items, glancing up to make sure that Cam was still walking ahead, deftly ducking into an alley.

"She did what?!" Daniel was screaming when Cameron beamed back up to the Daedalus, his heart racing, his mind in a million directions.

"She ditched the suit and disappeared. You know Addy, when she's made up her mind, well, she's made up her mind," Cameron responded, feeling bad for letting Adrienne out of his sights. By the time he had realized that she was gone, she had already taken off the Kull suit, folding it neatly onto a trash bin he assumed in the hopes that he would find it, and was gone, vanished just as Vala had. He had no idea what she had up her sleeve, or if she had anything up her sleeve, save for the fact that would be kidnappers generally don't leave things behind neatly folded.

"Did she take her signal, anything?" Daniel asked, his nerves getting the best of him, so much so he thought he felt his hand shaking. Adrienne had never been in a situation like this; would she have any idea what to do?

"No," the colonel responded, showing Daniel Adrienne's personal call sign, a defeated look on his face. He let out a sigh, passing it over to Daniel, as if relinquishing the item itself was passing the problem over.

"I hope she knows what she's doing and not just trying to act out something she saw in a movie," Daniel said, taking the small black box and flopping himself down into the spare chair on the bridge, his brow furrowed as he stared out to the screen, the cruel redness of the planet paining his eyes.

The truth of the matter was that Dr. Adrienne Rowan had no earthly idea what she was doing.

Her brain running about a dozen Sci-Fi movies through her head, the very terrified archaeological assistant tucked her tank top into her sports bra, trying to make her athletic gear look as sexy as possible. She knew the running shorts might do the trick being that they were skin tight and Daniel continuously harassed her about them, but her sports bra and tank top where what worried her. Would they look too much like what you wear under you uniform since that is essentially what they were? Scanning the loud market that she cut through on the way back to the towers, she saw a thin linen robe hanging on the corner of a stall and stole it quickly and stealthy, wrapping it around her body.

"That should do the trick," she whispered, hoping that was true and she wasn't just trying to convince herself. The crowd thinned and the buildings in the distance were no longer the tall spires she had spotted from the alley way. The goliaths stood in front of her, the same guards that were standing there from before, large and even more imposing without Cam there in case this went wrong, their pitch black eyes glaring at her suspiciously.

"Hey handsome," Adrienne said, literally doing her impression of Vala that she did with Daniel in jest. Adrienne sucked at sexy; she was much more of a direct kind of girl, not that anyone on base would know that, so she worried as she walked with a sashay in her hips she only ever did sarcastically.

The guard, of course, didn't respond.

"I'm here to see the man in charge," she said, trying to add more seduction to her voice, panicking slightly at the man's lack of interest.

"No one gets in until tomorrow," the guard repeated, eyes forward, not even a peek in her half-dressed direction. Damn big cajun hips, Adrienne thought, changing her strategy and focus.

"My boss said to tell you that I'm a gift for certain advanced considerations," Adrienne leaned forward, hoping that would get a reaction. Come on little ladies, she chanted internally, don't fail me now. For a brief instant she thought that hadn't worked either when the guard to the left turned to look at her, examining her from head to toe.

"Who is your boss?" he asked, although not as gruff this time. Yes, Adrienne thought excitedly, this is working, I actually can pull off seductive, who'da thought?

"I can't tell you, only the man in charge," she insisted, licked her lips slowly, working now off of movie knowledge and not life experience, praying to any god she knew that this wouldn't blow up in her face. Nodding, the larger guard looked over at his friend, his head angled at Adrienne.

"I'll take her in," he winked and without warning grabbed Adrienne forcefully by the arm, yanking her over to the door.

I bet you will you sick bastard, she thought, holding back her training and her desire to clock the big lug in the head; she needed to get into that building and she needed to find Vala.

The large, grotesque alien opened the doors and shoved her ahead of him, looking back at his friend, head bobbing again, and Adrienne could only image the disgusting expression contained underneath of his mask. Stumbling, dramatically and falsely, to buy time in order to get a look at her surroundings, Adrienne fell to the floor, doing what she did best, scanning and memorizing.

They were in a large lobby that had the building been on Earth might have easily been mistaken for a hotel. There was a central fountain and Adrienne could see across the room and to the upper left what looked like an auditorium, rows and rows of reddish stadium-like seats, that while plentiful were in a state of disrepair. That must be where the auction is held, she noted, seeing risers on the stage that appeared as if they may be there to display people, women, women for sale. There was a sharp pain in her ankle, and she looked back at the guard who was actually pulling her by her ankles to him, reaching down once she was close and dragging her to her feet. His thumb pressed painfully into her bicep, that was gonna bruise, he escorted her past the fountain to the other side of the room where Adrienne could hear screams, female screams.

Lots of female screams, making her skin crawl and her stomach turn.

What had she gotten herself into?

Approaching the door, the guard leaned forward, the optical scanner recognizing the cold piece of obsidian shoved into its face. The door opened automatically, swinging into the room, Adrienne quickly shoved in behind it.

This wasn't where the slaves were kept, she quickly ascertained as her face slammed onto a frigid stone floor, but they were close. She could hear their cries from here, loud, clear and heart-breaking. Looking around before she was ripped to her feet again, she saw that they were in an office of sorts, dingy and unkempt, the back wall a sheet of glass displaying in the distance a factory like floor filled with rows and rows of crumbling and rusty cages, all holding women.

They held slave women, the women that were going to be sold into whatever horrors awaited them in just mere hours.

Adrienne grew sick, her nerves causing her to begin to lose the meager lunch of saltines and carrots she had eaten hours before, choking on her own vomit as the guard whirled her around, slamming her into a table, holding her with one hand while undoing his pants with another.

"I get to inspect all gifts before the boss," he informed her, ripping off his mask to reveal a misshapen face, olive green as the rest of what she was able to see, a large crooked nose, obviously having been broken a number of times hovering over thick brown lips, slimy with some kind of moisture that Adrienne didn't care to identify. Repulsed, Adrienne stuck to the plan, leaning back submissively, keeping her eyes where they needed to go. She felt his huge fingers grab at her shorts and flinched, just for a second, letting him move one step closer kneeing him powerfully in the groin. Falling back, moaning and holding his crotch, Adrienne jumped on him, pressing her forearm tightly into his throat, her elbow pressed firmly into his windpipe. He clawed and gasped for air, but between the ache in his crotch and the lack of air, Adrienne knew she had the advantage and in seconds the man relaxed under her attack. She stood, adjusting herself and covering her midsection, tossing the linen robe onto the limp, disgusting body at her feet, spitting on him before getting a better look at her surroundings.

It had worked.

She could breathe again.

In the distance, through the dirty yellowed glass, she could see there was an elevator and a staircase that led to the slave area, seemingly located on the outside of this room. The staircase would be more discreet but the elevator was closer and there was no time for debate. Glancing back once more to make sure she would not be followed, she slipped out of the office and toward her destination.

There were few people in the center area; apparently the guards took their job seriously and no one was going to get into this building prior to the auction. As a result, there were no guards in the common area which Adrienne considered a stroke of luck, again. She didn't know how long this was going to last, a small part of her hearing Daniel inside of her head scolding her for doing this at all.

But she wasn't going to leave Vala, no matter what.

Dashing over to the elevator, she slammed her thumb into the only button she saw on the outside wall, hoping that it would open.

Stroke of luck number three, she thought, as the door slide into the sides, allowing her passage.

Once inside the elevator she panicked, regretting this course of action all over again. The buttons were not in any language she knew, Daniel would probably have known, but Adrienne was completely clueless, alone, with no way to reach him. There she was, frozen, thinking about Daniel again and what was going through his head.

What if he came looking for her?

What if the guards attacked him, took it out on him, punished him for her actions?

Trying not to think about it, she took a deep breath and pushed the button furthest down, chanting under her breath for it to be the correct direction. A violent shake startled her, but the elevator began to move downward, making Dr. Adrienne Rowan say a silent prayer of thanks to a deity she didn't believe in.

When the doors opened, Adrienne was expecting to have to dodge people or make excuses to explain her presence, unchained, uncaged and walking freely on this level but instead, they opened right into a row of cages, holding more women than she had ever seen collected in once place. A quick scan of the crowd told her that this was a special kind of slave auction, one in which men would be doing most of the bidding, one where the women would be auctioned as they were right now, barely clothed, some totally nude, shivering in the corner in fear. Fighting the illness that was crawling its way up her throat for the second time, Adrienne began to run between the cages, terrified for Vala's safety, searching in desperation for her friend.

As she sped past, the women noticed her, some just weakly peering up, their eyes sad, void of hope, while others began to reach out and beg for help in dry strained voices. She shushed them the best she could, fearful of having too much attention drawn to her, but they just wouldn't quiet, so she ran faster through the rows, the ruckus getting louder, making Adrienne more nervous, her heart racing in her chest, looking all around her for the inevitable attack that was to come when she saw her.

Slumped in a rusty cage wedged in between a smaller cage holding two sickly blue women was Vala, laying in a sports bra and ripped BDU pants, seemingly unconscious.

"Dammit," Adrienne cursed, " I can't carry you out of here!" she hissed, thankful it looked as if her friend was mostly unscathed and rushed over to the cage. Falling to her knees, she reached for Vala's hair, pulling it harder than she would have ever pulled were she ever to pull her friend's hair at all, fear taking over her good sense.

"Vala!" she hissed, "Vala dammit wake up! It's me; it's Addy! Wake up. Please." Vala stirred for a bit, pulling slowly from her grasp, peering up at her.

"Addy?" she appeared confused, not good Adrienne was thinking, worrying she had been drugged or otherwise altered, "How did they capture you too, weren't you with Daniel?"

"I haven't been captured, I'm here to rescue you," Adrienne answered and stood looking for a lock, hoping that Vala would snap out of whatever daze she was in.

"You, rescue me?" Vala look unconvinced.

"Yes me. Does it require a man for your rescue to be satisfactory?" Adrienne asked, crossing her arms daring Vala to question her, a half a smile on her face.

"No, it's just, never mind. Where are the others?" Vala continued.

"Got a little stonewalled so I had to improvise, now back up," Adrienne ordered. She knew that this wasn't going to be easy to open, but she had brought something that should work, one of the two items she had taken from the Kull suit as she had frantically stripped in the alley.

Pulling it out of her bra, she smiled brightly, shaking it in front of her as Vala's eyes widened.

"A focus grenade?!" Vala asked rhetorically. Not replying, Adrienne smiled and winked, lifting the lock, trying to slip the bomb into place.

"You have a focus grenade hidden in your bra? Addy, I've underestimated you!" Vala declared gleefully and backed up, whatever drugs were in her system washed away by this new development. Adrienne smiled and stuffed the bomb the last bit in, giving Vala the verbal cue to back up.

"3...2...1" there was a light flash and a pop and Adrienne saw Vala's door swing open, freeing her friend, who dashed out, grabbing Adrienne's arm, and leading her deeper into the maze of cells. Confused, Adrienne stopped and pulled, trying to get Vala's attention, glancing back over her shoulder at the elevator from whence she came. Vala paused and let go, allowing Adrienne to rub her wrist which had been yanked so forcefully, throwing up her hands in frustration.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Where are we going, the exit is that way," Adrienne pointed back to the staircase she had preferred to take earlier but Vala shook her head.

"Addy, do you know what kind of auction this is?" Vala asked and knowing the answer, Adrienne put her head down, avoiding eye contact with her admission.

"Yeah," she admitted.

"We need to let these women go," Vala stated. Taking a breath before she spoke, Adrienne glanced up at her friend slowly and sorrowfully.

"Look Vala, I want to help them too, it's making me sick even being in this room thinking about it, but in case you didn't notice, it's just you and me right now, and we're a bit short on weapons and clothing," Adrienne explained.

Looking herself and her rescuer up and down, Vala tried to think, knowing Adrienne was right. She glanced back down the passage way, her expression changing and she started to run faster than before, through the cages of screaming captives. Adrienne hesitated, not having any idea what her colleague had up her sleeve, but figured she owed her and needed to trust her right now so she followed, looking behind her every so often as she ran past the pleading women, some of whom were now beating on the sides of their cages. They reached a wall at the back of the large room, a red door cut into the wall that Adrienne was just now noticing.

"What else ya got shoved in there?" Vala said, turning around and pointing at Adrienne's chest. Shrugging, Adrienne reached in and pulled out a small pocket knife, twirling it in her fingers.

"Not a staff weapon if that was what you were hoping for," Adrienne answered, handing the small object over. Vala took the blade, looking it over carefully, nodding as she did.

"It'll do. Remind me to teach you how to pick a lock, a real lock, if you're gonna go all sneaky on me," Vala smiled at her and started with the lock. Adrienne cursed herself for not bringing her radio, she felt the need to call Daniel, to find out if he was alright, to make sure he hadn't followed her here...

"How long?" Daniel demanded.

"Dude, chill, it's only been four hours. I think the fact that no one's coming to blast us out of the sky is a clear indicator she might actually have everything under control," Cameron lied. He was just as worried about Adrienne as Daniel was, but he wasn't about to show it; at least one of them needed to keep their head straight and in about 15 more minutes that one wasn't going to be Daniel. Adrienne was like his evil twin, and Cam knew he would be devastated to lose her, despite any insistence otherwise.

"Adrienne tries too hard; she tries to hard to act like she's been with us and doing this for years. If it was Vala down there, going after Adrienne, I wouldn't be so worried. But Adrienne," Daniel shook his head, still standing looking at the output screen on the main bridge, his heart in utter turmoil, as Teal'c entered, walking right up to where Daniel and Cameron were standing, his wise eyes scanning the screen as well.

"Do not worry about AdrienneRowan. She is strong and smart. She would have made a great Jaffa," Teal'c smiled. Daniel looked at him and shook his head, thinking to himself how much about Adrienne Teal'c really didn't know, how much that Daniel still felt that he didn't know, when he noticed out of the corner of his eye a large flash on the screen.

Peering over he saw what appeared to be a large scale explosion erupting on the planet's surface and his heart stopped. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry out, but before he could say a word Captain Carval was calling his attention to the screen again.

"Sir, we have a ship hailing us," he said. Daniel glanced ahead, trying to figure out if they needed to raise the shield and prepared for an attack when Cam spoke.

"Open the damn channel," Cameron ordered as every member of SG-1 that was present stared at the communicator, hoping for a miracle.

"Hey Indy!" it was Adrienne's voice over the loudspeaker, Daniel almost collapsing with relief.

She wasn't down there, she had done it.

"Adrienne!" Daniel shouted incredulously, "how in the hell?"

"Thank you Daniel, it's good to know that I've been missed. I love you too!" Vala snickered. Daniel let out a breath; it was both of them, alive and unharmed.

She did it, she really did it.

"You there Indy? I have an overwhelming urge to give you a stern lecture on the role of women in a free society, but it is kinda hard to educate you and take Vala's orders on how to work this damn thing so can you just open the hatch and let us in," Adrienne stated, happily, he could almost see that brilliant smile on her face. He turned to comply but Cam was already at the control panel opening the hatch.

Daniel didn't even wait for the confirmation of landing, he didn't even say a word to the others, instead he tore off, running full force toward the landing bay.

"So, there's Addy, kneeling at my cage, just damn lucky the sedative wore off and she starts pulling focus grenades out of her bra!" Vala was roaring at the dinner table as Adrienne got red in the face in embarrassment at her telling of the story, part of her still not believing that she had indeed shoved an explosive into her undergarments. Cam slapped her on the back hard, trying not to choke on his dinner, as Teal'c was shaking his head, apparently as surprised at her actions as she was.

"Addy, our Addy, the Southern Belle of the SGC, shoving bombs in her brassiere. What have we done to her?" Cam said choking on his food again, this time Adrienne leaning over to slam him on the back. He nodded appreciatively, regaining his composure, reaching to chug down a glass of water.

"I have no idea. All of this time I thought that Daniel was rubbing boring off on her, but apparently she's a tricky little minx. She must have taken out five guards herself and when we got to the lock control panels for the cells, she was ripping out the wires like a crazy woman!" Vala continued while Adrienne just sat there, her face continuing to flush.

Taking out those guards, ripping up the control room, ushering those women out and rigging the generator to make the place blow, that was not bravery, that was fear, sheer fear of what would happen to those women, to Vala, or to herself were she caught. But let Vala think Adrienne was trying to save the day; maybe it would make up for their previous disagreements, for the weird tension that had begun to build between them. It was tension that Adrienne had been trying to figure out, where had it come from and the only explanation she could come up with was Daniel; that Vala thought something was really going on between her and Daniel.

It was a stupid thought, but Adrienne didn't feel like trying to have that conversation with her now or any time soon, and now reminded of Daniel, stood to leave, noting his absence at the meal.

"Girl, where are you going?" Cameron asked.

"Time's up playing superhero," Adrienne stated, "back to boring computer geek for me." Cam nodded, noting as well that Daniel had not come to dinner and as the hired thug for his childish behavior, Adrienne would have to go see what was wrong. She deals with him much better than I would, Cameron thought to himself, much better.

Vala just made a face.

"You keep your hands off my man," Vala teased. Adrienne smiled and leaned over Cam, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing their faces together.

"You can have the grumpy dork. I've got my sights set elsewhere," Adrienne played right back with a smile, kissing Cameron lightly on the cheek. He flushed red himself and began to laugh as Adrienne waltzed, doing her best Vala impression, out of the cafeteria.

Changing her step as soon as she reached the hallway, she walked down the corridor to on ship quarters and knocking lightly at his door.

"It's not locked," she heard from the other side, turning the knob and entering and there he was, not moping, just sitting in front of a portable monitor and working away, like nothing had ever happened. She smiled, thinking all was back to normal, and walked over to the desk, standing behind him.

"Hey Indy, ya good?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.

"Yeah, just going over something from the temple. I plan on heading back once we're all home safe," he replied, out of it completely, seeming intent on what he was doing. Not satisfied by his answer, Adrienne reached over and pulled his face to look at hers.

"Why aren't you in with the rest of us?" she asked, wanting to say, you look like you are throwing a tantrum because this didn't go as planned, but she didn't. After this episode, she had learned that she needed to stop making assumptions about everyone, no matter how much she thought she knew them.

"Just Vala rehashing your insanity, that's all," Daniel finally looked up at her with slight annoyance, a menacing frown on his face.

"Fine," Adrienne just sighed out, "let's get started. Daniel I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I sent Vala away and did so by making a joke about you and me sleeping together. I'm sorry that she was kidnapped and I thought that it was a prank. I'm sorry I doubted her and that she annoys me with her constant sexual advances toward you which always seem to come when we are trying to work on something important. I'm so sorry. Did I forget anything?" she finished, crossing her arms in front of her chest, but he didn't respond, just turned the chair and laughed.

"Now who's being dramatic?" he asked.

"Go to hell Indy," she replied.

"That's the Ad I know. Stop apologizing. I'm not mad at you. I was just worried about losing a friend which quickly turned into worried about losing two friends. I worry. I care. I have my own way of dealing with it. Happy?" he asked.

"Whatever," Adrienne answered, smiling, walking over to his bed, sitting down, relieved that he wasn't mad. After everything, she just couldn't handle him being angry with her. Hearing the plop behind him, he looked back over to her, the smile quickly vanishing from his face.

"Adrienne, don't do that again," he said plainly to her. Pulling up her legs to cross them, yoga style like she did, and picking her fingernails nervously she looked up at him, her bewitching eyes casting her spell on him, his stomach fluttering, his nerves a disaster.

She's fine Daniel, he told himself, she's right here. What is going on with you?

"Daniel, I'm part of the team now. Aren't we supposed to do just what I did? Go after each other. Free oppressed peoples. Fight for justice, blah blah blah," she tried to kid, lighten the moment, but it didn't work, he just made a face at her.

"Promise me that you'll at least radio me, or something first before you do anything like that again. Ok?" he asked. Adrienne looked at him exasperated and annoyed. She thought they had been through this; Adrienne could take care of herself yet as she glared at him the look on his face softened.

He cared, he was really worried about her, that same look of worry that she had seen when he realized Vala had been taken, in fact, he looked far worse, his face flushed, his bright blue eyes sad. She wanted to reach out, she wanted to touch his face, tell him that she was truly sorry, that she'd never do anything like that again...

Gross Ad, he's like your brother, she thought, what in the hell is wrong with you?

"Ok, I promise. I won't do anything stupid, without at least informing you that I'm going to do something stupid, ok?" she said, standing from the bed and heading over to the door. Daniel thought she was leaving and went to say goodbye, but paused when he saw her get to the door and close it tightly engaging the lock. Smiling, she sauntered over to the bed, removing her combat boots and laid down backwards, putting her feet on the headboard. pushing it, rhythmically. His face reddening, he started laughing at her, putting down his journal and turning from the computer to watch her little plan unfold.

"Seriously?" he asked as Adrienne laughed but kept pushing her feet against the wall.

"I swear, if it wasn't so easy, I just wouldn't have the temptation," Adrienne answered, "but ya might wanna moan, for effect."

Before he could laugh or answer there was one sound outside that was clear: Vala shouting in the hallway.


	19. Chapter 18 - Beliefs

"Adrienne, are you in here?!" she heard a familiar voice calling her name as she rinsed shampoo from her hair, startling her so that she was unable to catch a dollop of soap trickling its way into her eye. He couldn't be in here, she thought, wincing in pain as the chemicals invaded the soft outer covering of her ocular organ.

She must be hearing things.

Maybe a five mile run at three in the morning was a bad idea, reverse schedule this month or not, or maybe the exhaustion of a middle of the night workout had made her begin to imagine things, imagine her boss tracking her down at all hours of the night. Assuring herself that she was indeed going insane, she turned her head, rinsing the remainder of the shampoo from her scalp to avoid any further burning confrontations.

"Ad, you have got to be in here!" she now heard, louder this time, his voice echoing off the tiles. Oh my lord, finally registering to her that she wasn't imagining this, he has followed me into the showers. Part of her still in disbelief that he would have the audacity to storm his way in here, universe hanging in the balance problem or not, she stuck her head out of the curtain and there he was, looking right at her, a folder in his hand which he was opening as soon as he heard the metal rings against the bar, taking that as some signal he should speak.

"Hey, listen, I'm not getting the same thing that you are here and I know that Babylonian is neither of our areas of speciality but I think we need to go over this immediately since we're leaving tomorrow..." he began, trailing off as he muttered something to himself, no eye contact, just staring at the folder. Adrienne stood there, water still pounding down her back, protected only by the curtain, glaring at him like he had lost his mind.

"Daniel, you do realize where you are right now, don't you?" she asked, not fully believing the words that were coming out of her mouth. He stopped, his face not showing one inkling of surprise, looking around himself and then back at Adrienne, shrugging.

"Yes, Ad, the women's locker room, but it's three in the morning and you're the only person on this base insane enough to exercise and shower at this hour, especially when there are other things to be done," he retorted, not liking the suggestion that he was an idiot. Adrienne, however, made a face at him.

"I'm not discussing work while I'm in the shower, a shower after a run that you gave me permission to take, so you can just trot your happy little self back to the lab and I'll be with you shortly," she replied, ducking her head back into the curtain to rinse once more before shutting off the water.

"Adrienne, I'm not going to operate on Cajun time for this one; I'm going to wait right here and move you along at normal speed if I have to," he answered, shouting over the water so she could hear him, to make himself clear. This mission had him worked up and he needed her backing on this, one way or the other.

"Whatever," she hissed back and shut off the water, reaching for her towel just outside the stall, wrapping herself in it. She was just about to open the curtain to fuss at him again when she heard voices, female voices coming from the direction of the changing area and Daniel swearing in a whisper. Quickly, she opened the curtain and pulled him into the shower stall with her, closing the cover quickly behind them.

"This is why one does not barge in the women's locker room to talk about something stupid!" Adrienne hissed, trying to be angry but also trying not to laugh at the ridiculousness of their current situation. They always managed to get into awkward situations that Vala would have died for, but Adrienne? She just died of embarrassment.

Why wouldn't this man give her a moment's peace?

"Ok, ok," he said, " stupid idea. But really, who in the hell else works out in the middle of the night?" he whispered back. Adrienne opened her mouth to answer, to inform him that reverse schedule meant that you reverse your schedule, not that you just stay up for seventy two hours straight, working, but the voices were now closer, Daniel looking at her in sheer terror. Growling, she clamped her hand over his mouth and brought her lips to his ear.

"Climb up on the bench," she instructed, pointing to the bench in the shower stall suddenly very glad she picked the big one in the back today. Not seeing any other option, he grabbed her shoulders, trying not to slip, stepping his boot carefully on the very wet wooden seat, hoping to not pull off her towel in the process because then she would really kill him. Supposed "best friends" or not, he never seemed to be able to do or say the right thing with her at times, which while before caused significant tension, now just caused continual harassment.

Once he was safely on the bench, Adrienne reached over and turned the water on again, spraying his pants leg in doing so, reaching to open the curtain.

"Where are you going?" he whispered frantically, a panicked look in his eyes, shaking his leg to avoid the water. Her expression changed to that glare he was so familiar with, the one that would kill small bunnies and other innocent creatures.

"I'm going to figure out a way to get you out of here without a sexual harassment lawsuit. Don't go anywhere, don't speak and don't breath," she ordered, ducking out of the stall. Accepting his temporary prison, Daniel knelt the best he could on the bench, feeling the water penetrate his pants leg and start to soak the skin underneath.

Adrienne was relieved that it was just Anne Mardsen and Lt. Tuiy of SG-14, her first worry that it was Vala, or worse, Sam and they would see through her act and jump to conclusions. Anne, however, was very nice, didn't know Adrienne that well, and had been particularly friendly with the archaeological assistant since their mission to PSF-293. In fact, Adrienne was even half-tempted to tell Anne what had happened, just to mortify Daniel further, knowing Mardsen would be happy to help harass him. She wasn't so sure about Lt. Tuiy, however, and the last thing that either of them needed before a big mission was to be dragged into Woolsey's office having to explain that she and her boss were not having a romantic liaison in the showers. It was Sam's office really, but Woolsey had declared himself the official head of the SGC for the overnight shift, where they had been this past month but not really wanting to explain herself to either, Adrienne needed a better idea.

"Hey Anne," Adrienne said smiling, "just warning you guys but I've had that shower running for twenty minutes and it's still freezing cold. I've suffered as much as I can; I'm gonna grab my conditioner and try one more time, but if I was still dressed you can best believe that I would be heading to my own quarters to shower," Adrienne explained, trying to make herself look like she was freezing, letting the nerves of she and Daniel getting caught like this act as her cover. It seemed to work as Anne made an annoyed face glancing back at her companion.

"Typical government facilities," she replied, buying Adrienne's excuse, thankfully "do you want to call maintenance or me?" Adrienne tried to look annoyed herself, but was relieved Anne asked, having not thought ahead as to how she would explain herself out of this little lie.

Maybe Daniel was right about lying...

"I'll call, say it made me late and Daniel's mad. That'll probably do the trick," she lied, again, deftly, Daniel's voice scolding her for continuing to lie floating through her head. Anne laughed, nodding in agreement.

"I love how you always toss the blame back on him," Anne said, still laughing.

"Hey, certain powers know not to cross him; I use what I got," she replied. Anne nodded again, not saying anything else, but her face spoke volumes. Yes, I know, Adrienne thought, you're thinking what everyone else is thinking but he's not my boyfriend. He's my boss, regardless of how good looking he is and he's like my brother and that's just, well, weird.

"Alright, thanks for the warning Addy. Enjoy your cold shower," she added, tossing her gym bag over her shoulder and Tuiy, who was never much of a talker anyway, followed her out of the locker room. Relieved, Adrienne rushed over to lock the door, yelling over her shoulder.

"Coast is clear!" Within seconds she heard the water turn off and a curtain open, wet footsteps slapping against the tile. Trying not to laugh, but oh how he deserved it, Adrienne just walked over to her locker to get her things and try to put clothes back on quickly, yoga pants and a tank, knowing that she did need to get back to work and this knowledge having nothing to do with his storming into her shower.

"I'm soaked," he complained as she heard the footsteps stop behind her, of course before she could get dressed. Shaking her head, she turned to look at him, and soaked was the best word for it, his left pants leg of his black BDU pants dripping water onto the floor and his right pants leg not that much better, although it did seem he had managed to angle himself as to keep his torso from the stream.

"Serves you right. What happened to "I don't need an assistant"? Now you can't go five minutes without me," Adrienne said, crossing her hands across her chest, frowning at him. He grumbled a bit, something about life being easier before she was around, things he didn't mean but liked to toss back at her but Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"You're a pain in my ass; just turn around," she ordered and he did, pouting like a child, so she stripped the towel off, drying herself quickly and dressing even faster, throwing the damp towel on his head the moment she pulled the tank over hers.

"Here, this is the best I can do," she said. Frowning himself, he took the moist and used towel, tossing it onto the bench beside him and started to unbuckle his pants.

"Thanks," he muttered, toeing off his boots and stripping the wet fabric from his legs. She stared at him shaking her head as he pulled the soaked BDU's from his feet standing in front of her in black boxer shorts, which thankfully didn't seem to be wet in the least.

God knows what he would have done if they had been.

"Daniel, I have no pants for you," she clarified, still trying to figure out how to get him out of here, in his underwear, carrying wet britches down the halls of the SGC. She stood for a moment thinking when it came to her and she walked over to him, grabbing the pants from his hand and walking them over to the swimsuit spinner. Shoving the clothing into the spinner, she slammed down the lid, letting it spin for a few seconds before deciding that they were dry enough, he deserved some discomfort, pulling the garment from the machine. She stormed back to him, maintaing her cool and shoved them into his chest, holding her hand there for a moment.

"There are limitations to being one's assistant and friend. Invading the showers crosses that line," she said and began to leave, deciding that she no longer cared how he got out of the locker room.

"Well, if I had an assistant that didn't use our friendship as an excuse to be late, constantly, maybe I wouldn't need to track her down in the showers to make sure she got back to work on time," he retorted, fastening his pants and stepping into his boots again. Glancing at the clock over the mirror, she saw that he was right, she was thirty minutes late, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of being right, silently ripping the drenched file folder from his hands before starting to leave, again.

He ignored her attitude and followed, cautious as to who would see him leaving the locker room with Adrienne, stopping to look left and right before exiting right behind her. Base gossip about them was far worse than it was about he and Vala, and in this instance they really were just friends, there was nothing going on but it always seemed to appear that way to outside observers. Coast clear, and no explanation needed later, he followed behind, beginning to talk along the way.

"As I was saying earlier, I'm not getting the same thing here as you are and I think we need to sit down and compare notes. I want to make sure we know what we're walking into," he started, looking down at her as she was reading carefully, her computer-like brain processing the Akkadian cuneiform script and mumbling to herself. A few lines further and she stopped talking, stopping dead in her tracks, looking up at him.

"How'd you get that?" she asked pointing to a central line of text, "it clearly says

'And the glowing ring of life, a gift from Marduk, brought us the Tablets of Destiny' I think we both know that that means Indy," she said, giving him the why do you ever doubt me look as she eyed his translation once more.

"Stop thinking like a Greek for five minutes, quit the Socratic analysis and look at it again," he fussed, pointing at it a second time.

"You need to stop thinking like an Egyptian and looking for hidden mystical patterns. Sometimes, Goa'uld, Ancients, Ori or not people just wrote down what happened from their limited point of view. End of story," she said, shaking her head at him and marching forward to the elevators, stopping to hit the down arrow. She closed the folder and turned to face him, handing it over and shaking away a few droplets of water that were still dripping from the paper.

"I'm not looking for hidden symbols Ad, I'm saying that for once, can you just see it from my point of view and can we go over it line by line, slowly. Together," he asked, trying not to cause an argument, she still didn't seem all too pleased with her retrieval. The elevator door opened and they stepped in, Adrienne just smiling at him.

"How long have we been friends now and you still act like everything is going to make me mad?" she teased.

"Well, it used to," he replied.

"Yes, and you used to also act like a selfish asshole, but let's not go there," she said, hitting the button for the basement, leaning back against the wall, her body still not used to the schedule as Daniel shook his leg, trying to loosen the not totally wet, but definitely not totally dry pants from his skin.

"See, and if you look here," Daniel said plopping a large book in front of Adrienne, "It says that the real Tablets of Destiny were said to be sealed in a cylinder..." he explained peering over at her, but she was still looking at him funny.

"I can read Indy. I see what it says. What I'm telling you is that you are seeing ZPM's where ZPM's there are naught," Adrienne responded, crossing her arms, "And shug, if you start yelling ZPM you're gonna get Rodney added to this little jaunt right damn quick and neither of us want that," she added, reaching for his arm sweetly so he knew that she didn't mean to be harsh. Daniel stood upright and shrugged, gazing back down at his translation.

"Can you at least agree with me that it's a possibility? That maybe, since the real Tablets of Destiny have not been found here on Earth that they're on P34-210 and they are really a ZPM. It makes sense, after all, Marduk comes, other Gods come and take over, Marduk returns, reasserts his rule and leaves tablets. Sounds like Ancient intervention to me..." he added, stepping back from the table looking at her as she bent over again, running her chewed fingers across the text and nodding in agreement.

"No, you're right, I see that, yes," she said, Daniel smiling in satisfaction.

"Now, if I can just get you on tape saying that, it will make my day all the better," he joked. Adrienne shook her head but laughed as well.

"Alright, you win, you got me to agree with you. But we really need to go to sleep, soon, or else we're never gonna be able to function tomorrow. You, mon ami, have a briefing to lead," Adrienne noted, pointing to the clock which read like a sick twisted joke that it was 5:30 a.m. and their reverse day would start with a meeting at 2 p.m.. Daniel nodded in agreement, yawning as if Adrienne's mention of the time cued his body to the needed sleep.

"I like to go to bed on a high note, one in which Dr. Adrienne Perfect Rowan is wrong," he smiled. Cutting her eyes at him she walked over to the door, shutting out the light and leaving him in the dark. She heard him shouting something rude in French behind her, laughing lightly into her hand as she headed for her quarters.

"Ok everyone, P34-210 is a planet similar to the Fertile Crescent of Ancient Earth as you can see from the information in your files, Ad if you would," Daniel began the meeting looking over at Adrienne to cue up her slide. She stood from the table and pulled down the projector, ready to roll and Daniel waited for the first slide to pop open, showing a vast fertile land through the eyes of the MALP before continuing his lecture.

"The inhabitants of the planets refer to themselves as Akkadians, which ties them perfectly to the early Babylonians here on Earth, indicating a possible transplantation by the Goa'uld or even the ancients as a counter measure, proche," Daniel continued, asking Adrienne in French to change to the next slide. She flicked her finger and a picture of a large tower appeared in front of them.

"Most curious about this planet is not the people, who conduct themselves as typical mid era Babylonians, but this tower, located far from the settlement itself, which is strikingly similar to the Tower of Babel mentioned in the book of Genesis," Daniel walked over to the projector to point to a huge stone structure project as Vala stuck her hand up, completely confused.

"Ok Blue Eyes, alien in the room, what in the hell is Genesis or the Tower of Babel?" she asked. Daniel looked over at his "Robin" knowing Vala preferred her simplified and much more humorous explanations so Adrienne addressed the group, in truth directing her slant at Vala.

"Genesis is the first book of the Jewish religious text the Torah, later adopted by the Christians. More or less it's a crazy beginnings story that overlaps, exposes the sins of humanity and makes for cool, kinda saucy soap opera like read. The Tower of Babel is when, according to this same text, we earth folk tried to build a tower to march ourselves to heaven and God gave us the hell no. More or less it's a biblical archaeologist's fantasy land," Adrienne smiled, raising her eyebrows, declaring it her fantasy land being that the Romans were early Christians themselves, something Daniel could understand, himself enjoying nothing more than digging around in the ruins of a pyramid or Egyptian temple. Daniel waited for her to finish before continuing.

"Which is why Adrienne is leading the group to investigate the tower," he added for her benefit, smiling as she did a little happy dance in her chair. John Sheppard, joining them on this mission, looked over at her nodding.

"On your own kiddo, nice," he praised and she beamed, pride welling inside of her. Daniel waited for a moment in case anyone else wanted to stroke her ego, an ego he had to deal with day to day, but the group remained silent.

"I on the other hand am going after something completely different," he smiled a bit and looked to Adrienne to cue up the next slide. She just sighed and popped up a picture of two clay tablets that looked eerily like...

"Wait, wait," John raised his hand this time, "I've seen this one. Charlton Heston?" Adrienne put her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh and give away her little alteration to his presentation, but Daniel noticed, shooting her a look if disapproval.

"Yes, this particular rendering that my assistant has chosen does look quite similar to the tablets said to have been the Ten Commandments but Ancient Babylonian literature and images from the MALP lead me to believe that the actual Tablets of Destiny might actually be code word for a ZPM," Daniel corrected.

That got John's attention.

"Excuse me?" he said, sitting forward in his seat.

"Yes a ZPM," Daniel repeated and glanced over at Adrienne who clicked to the next slide, showing a MALP picture with highlighted text rather than another pop culture reference, much to Daniel's relief. Stepping closer, Daniel pointed to the highlighted area.

"This line here says that Marduk came back to leave the Tablets of Destiny after the other gods were proven unworthy. Then adds here that whoever held the tablets ruled the universe," Daniel continued. John looked very interested, glancing over at Ronon who was nodding his head. Still somewhat lost, Vala leaned over to Adrienne, trying to make her confusion not as noticeable.

"Is that what is says?" she whispered, catching the sarcasm in Adrienne's part of the presentation, which in and of itself made her feel better for not knowing what in the hell Daniel was blabbering on about. Adrienne looked over where Daniel was showing John something more specific and leaned back casually.

"Yes, and it also says that Marduk was a damn dragon, but he's only literally translating what suits him apparently," she whispered back and sat forward again just in time to cue the next slide. Daniel, completely blowing off the original intention of the mission, exploring the tower, started to talk more about the cylindrical container that might possibly house a ZPM. Adrienne was about to change the slide again at his request when Rodney McKay burst into the briefing room, storming right up to Daniel.

"Dr. Jackson, when were you planning on informing me that you were leaving to secure a Zed-P-M?" Rodney demanded, glaring at John as though he had withheld some vital information. Daniel kept his cool, letting Rodney yell a little more about being included and then spoke.

"Dr. McKay, we're not even sure if this is a ZPM; this is a mission to see if my hunch is correct," Daniel calmly replied. Smirking, Adrienne leaned back to Vala, turning her head to whisper.

"Hunch my ass, last night he was chasing me around the SGC claiming it was fact," she hissed, neglecting to mention exactly where he had chased her too, but the thought of him chasing her at all was funny enough evidently as Vala hid a chuckle.

"Well, you can give any lame excuse you want here, but I've already spoken with Sam and I'm going with you," he informed Daniel and turned to face the group, smugness plastered all over his face as Daniel shook his head in disagreement.

"Rodney, I'm already at five people, and as it is we have to split the time and work in shifts to get both objectives accomplished due to that issue in manpower alone. How did you get Sam to agree?" Daniel asked, confused, yet Rodney was prepared for this argument, happily slamming a sheet of Sam's letterhead onto the table.

"Two missions now Daniel, none of this shared mess! One for the Zed-P-M and one for the tower of rocks. Let Dr. Rowan assemble her own team to go play in the dirt!" Rodney hissed, glaring over at Adrienne, "Sam says that I am to accompany you, John and Ronon to the ZPM site," Rodney added as he returned his gaze to Daniel.

"Wait, that'll only leave me with Vala, and she is helping me dig, everyone else is on the day shift! I can't work with just one person!?" Adrienne protested her anger rising, knowing that Daniel should have kept his mouth shut. He should have just let the two of them investigate the possible power source rather than turn it into part of the mission, but as always, Daniel had insisted that was lying and he didn't believe in lying.

"And what happened to the original mission? We're completely abandoning that because Daniel is seeing ZPM's written in the sand!" Adrienne raged, feeling bad that Daniel seemed to be the focus, which while he was the cause, it was Rodney that deserved the brunt of her wrath, but the scientist simply shrugged at her, not seeming to care. Daniel shook his head, looking back at Rodney, the memo and Adrienne, reading the piece of paper again before peering over at Adrienne, who was scowling at him.

"Ad, you're gonna have to find two more people. See who you can convince," he admitted, upset that she wouldn't be joining him on his part of the mission, setting the paper down onto the table. Fuming, Adrienne stood from her seat, grabbed her cell phone and walked the iPad over to John.

"Please don't let my boss break this," she requested and looked over at Daniel, her glare less severe but still pretty angry. Between this and last night, he wasn't going to owe her a Mexican dinner, he was going to owe her a Mexican feast complete with Mariachi band.

"I guess I'll be back in a few then," she said, relenting, heading out to beg some friends for a favor.

Teyla was in her quarters with Torrin and had no problem getting ready to leave since she was just spending her time off cleaning her quarters. She called down Carson, who was doing more or less the same organizing the medical lab and welcomed the interruption of babysitting. Adrienne thanked her profusely, agreeing to meet her at the gate, dashing off as she texted her next choice frantically.

"Dammit Cam, if I have to take some obnoxious grunt because you're nowhere to be found, I'm gonna kick your ass!" She spat, as she power walked to the gym, frustrated by his lack of response. Scanning all around her as she barreled her way through the double doors, she saw him on the track, running without her. Damn him, she thought, damn him and his normal work schedule this week.

"COLONEL MITCHELL!" Adrienne screamed at the top of her lungs watching as the colonel froze, looking around startled. Laughing at his reaction, Adrienne dashed up the stairs to the track to meet him and inform him that she was the yeller.

"Hey, I need you," she requested as her head popped happily up the spiral stairs at her running partner, who was stopped, leaning over onto his knees.

'Honey, I've been waiting to hear those words come out of your mouth for over a year now," he answered. Adrienne blushed and laughed, knowing he was kidding, despite what Daniel said, but flattered nonetheless.

"Rodney's shang-highed our mission and I need some extra hands to do the real work while Daniel plays Indiana Jones. Thinks he's found a ZPM," Adrienne explained.

"I take it you don't," Cameron responded.

"Not totally. I mean, I can see his point, but the argument can also be made it's just a big stone box with big stone books in it, but whatever. Let him believe whatever makes him happy," she shrugged, Cam nodding in understanding. He could appreciate that even though the two of them seemed to be inseparable that Adrienne didn't just go along with anything he suggested, she still spoke her mind not caring about his reaction.

"Alright, fine, when do we leave?" he asked, Adrienne peeking at her phone, remembering how last minute this favor truly was.

"Two hours," she said quietly, feeling bad for rushing him. Shock on his face, he dashed off again, yelling over his shoulder.

"Gotta shower then! Meet you there!" he shouted as he tore around the corner heading for the stairs and the locker room.

John was standing with Ronon while Rodney fussed at Daniel, all of which Adrienne had expected, when her own crew arrived, no arguments, no eye rolling, a perfect group she wanted so bad to rub into Daniel's face.

"Well we got the shaft," John said quietly to Ronon, "we get the two arguing dorks while Cameron gets the beautiful women." Ronon chuckled a bit and nodded his head in agreement as Teyla and Vala strode in behind Adrienne, who was in a much better mood than just hours earlier, reaching to tap Daniel on the shoulder.

"Alright, we're good now," Adrienne said, glaring in Rodney's direction, hoping he understood that he hadn't ruined her mission at all. His face furrowed in disapproval, his eyes daring Adrienne to make a snide remark to Rodney, Daniel looked back to the observation room to order the dial and pulled her aside, an evil grin across his face.

"I see you have chosen Cameron to accompany you," he teased.

"Kiss my ass Daniel," she replied, "only because you took my boyfriend." She cocked her head over at Ronon.

"You're never allowed to give me hell about any women, ever again Ad, ever," he answered, rolling his eyes, looking ahead toward the gate as that familiar blast of energy radiated the room, the magnetism sucking them slightly forward and setting into blue crystalline water. Shouting a few orders, Colonel Sheppard led the two teams through the portal and to the edge of the galaxy.

"Alright, radio contact open at all times and check in every three hours," Daniel ordered once they got to the other side, determined that Rodney's interference or not, this mission was going to run as originally planned. Everyone instinctively checked their radios and all items in working order Daniel's group set off, with him lagging behind looking at something in his prepared folder.

Vala couldn't resist.

"Don't get eaten by the dragon," she teased. Pausing, sapphire eyes peering over his glasses, Daniel frowned, shooting a glare at his assistant.

"You told her about the dragon? I thought you said you believed me," he said, a hint of hurt in his face.

"I figured I'd let you have one small victory," she joked, regretting her spill to Vala instantly, not intending to hurt his feelings. Daniel shrugged and shut the folder, tucking it under his arm following his group. Vowing to make it up to him later, Adrienne turned to face her own little circle, hoping they couldn't read the worry in her own face.

"Colonel, lead the way please. Let's go play in the dirt!" she declared and as requested, Cameron ordered the group forward, P-90 out, taking the lead.

"This is fantastic! Vala, can you bring me that camera please," Adrienne requested from about 10 feet in the air, where she had strapped herself to part of the tower and was reading frantically, her excited eyes scanning each and every line of text, carefully carved in cuneiform with even some of the original blue paint intact.

She wished Daniel was here to see this.

"What'd ya find Addy?" Cam shouted up as Vala threw the camera around her neck and began to scale the side of the tower, the lower protruding rocks making a belay like Adrienne was wearing unnecessary. Vala wasn't afraid of heights, but she had no desire to just hold on the side of a building like Adrienne did, so she didn't bother with a harness.

"Cam, it's just what I thought, what I'd hoped. This is the actual tower of Babel, or what our tower was based on, however while the book of Genesis claims God blasted the people down from the sky and they scattered speaking a variety of languages, the tower wasn't completely destroyed as it is portrayed in pop culture. This find, this affirms the biblical text, and God blasted them alright, right through the Stargate!" she shouted down excited, turning back to the carving, her fingers running over the rock lovingly.

"You're speaking Daniel; did you find something good?" he restated, seeing that Vala had made it to her, Teyla returning to digging in the square that Adrienne had assigned her.

"Yeah, real good!" she assured him and took the camera from Vala who had just reached her, handing it over cautiously with one hand and holding on with the other. Without pause, Adrienne leaned back into the harness taking pictures, snapping away like Daniel did, talking to herself the entire time. Curious about all of this religious lore that Adrienne knew so much about, that seemed to be so prevalent on Earth, Vala peered at what she was photographing; trying to make out a few symbols she thought she knew.

"More evidence that you're right?" Vala asked, adjusting her hold to read, wishing she had brought a harness since this seemed to be interesting, interesting enough to hold her friend's attention, who, unlike her boss was not boring.

"Oh, no I'd need to see what Daniel is working on before I can rub this in his face, but I guess so," Adrienne answered, more pops and flashes, but Vala shook her head, needing to reword her question.

"No, I mean about God," she clarified. Adrienne paused her picture taking for a moment, looking over at her friend strangely.

"Well, I mean, maybe a little, but until I figure out who blasted the humanoids off of this tower, it's still a little inconclusive," Adrienne replied, her eyes this time trying to read Vala's own dark orbs however, she didn't need to search, the expression on Vala's face alone leading Adrienne to believe that there was something else wrong, and the cajun had an inkling as to what that might be.

"Vala, does it bother you that I don't believe in God?" Adrienne asked, fairly certain that was what her friend was hinting at but she was puzzled. Of all people, after having been host to a "God" herself, Vala was the last person she could imagine wanting to believe in God, but of all of the things Adrienne had told her friend in confidence, that was the one that really seemed to upset her.

"No, it's just, strange. You would think that considering your culture you would want to see your father again and that would motivate you to believe that someday you just might," Vala tried to push it back onto Adrienne, not fully admitting that there was anything wrong. She knew she was walking on ice here, but Adrienne shook her head, hoping she could explain this in the least offensive manner possible.

"That's precisely the reason why I don't believe in anything until I see it. I can't spend my entire life believing in something that might not exist, trying to dedicate my entire existence to a small chance that a two thousand year old story might be right, then when would I live my life?" Adrienne answered. Vala sighed, adjusting her grip on the rocky side, glancing back at her harnessed companion.

"You just seem so sure; I wish I could be that sure," Vala answered her honestly, having spent her entire life believing that there had to be someone, something that would come along and atone for her suffering. She had her friends, true, but she had always hoped that in the end it really wouldn't be over, that this was just a rough stopover to something better, but Adrienne, the person she deemed to be an expert on such matters, didn't even seem to think that anything existed.

"I'm not sure, by any stretch, I think you just need to be sure of who you are as a person, right here and right now and what makes you happy and not worry so much about some higher power playing chess with our lives," Adrienne explained, smiling softly.

"But what about all of the things that have happened to us, to me? I mean, people aren't supposed to survive being a host, but here I am. After everything I've been through, I finally have a family and a life. I just like to think that someone cared enough to intervene on my behalf," Vala argued as Adrienne let out a sigh. She guessed she could see her friend's point of view, and after everything that had happened to her, she could also understand the need to feel like someone was watching over you. Hanging the camera from her neck, Adrienne reached out and put her hand on Vala's shoulder squeezing it gently.

"Vala, please don't think that just because it's what I believe that it's fact. We're all entitled to our own opinion," Adrienne said, trying to comfort her.

"And you just think it's all an accident, everything that has happened to you? You don't think someone came along and helped you take care of your father, get this job?" Vala inquired.

Adrienne shook her head.

"No, I think that life just happens, and besides, where was God when Dad and I were homeless, when Dad was screaming in pain, when I was...," she stopped, swallowing, not wanting to go on, "where was God?" Adrienne asked, more of an overall declaration to herself than to her friend. If there was a God he certainly had either pretty crappy timing in her opinion or at least kept neglecting the chess board when it was Adrienne's move, but either way, she wasn't going to start saying nightly prayers just yet.

"It's because he was waiting," Vala said, quietly, as if she regretted saying it or was unsure of her words, confusing Adrienne further.

"For what?" Adrienne asked, her tone changing, more defensive and irritated, "For me to prove myself? To have a total meltdown? To be at the brink of I dunno, death?"

"No, he was waiting for you to be ready," Vala replied, certainty in her face now, but Adrienne just wanted to end this tiresome conversation.

"Look Vala, I'd love to talk with you about this, I would, but I'm really trying to get something done here, so if you have something to say then just say it," Adrienne demanded, as nicely as she could yet unable to control her words.

"He was waiting for you to be ready for Daniel," Vala replied, a tone of seriousness in her voice. She wasn't making a sex joke, she wasn't making a joke at all and it made Adrienne more nervous than she could understand.

"Vala we've been over this," she countered quickly, her eyes returning to her task. Smiling, Vala just shook her head.

"Addy, I'm not talking about, well, I mean, it's real. It's love."

"Are you finished?" Adrienne glared over at her, frowning, just like Daniel would do...

"I'm going to head back to that square you had me working in, you alright up here?" Vala asked, changing the subject. Adrienne nodded and thanked her, annoyed by her comment but happy to have her gone and returned to her task, trying not to think another thought about their conversation.

Daniel hoped Adrienne was having much more success. According to his research and the MALP video, there should have been what looked like the leftover foundation of a temple just a few miles from the impressive tower, but there was nothing. He was starting to believe that he had done his math wrong and maybe should have called in Rodney in the first place, or, at least, that was what Rodney was having him believe.

"Daniel, are you certain that the images here were due east of the tower. Judging by what looks like dust particles blowing in front of the camera I think that we should be heading west," Rodney was fussing already. Of course Daniel had thought of that, and he also knew that a MALP on a desert terrain kicked up dust in all directions so that dust direction couldn't be trusted, but he humored Rodney, just so he wouldn't have to hear about it later if he was wrong.

"Possibly Rodney, but it's also possible that I miscalculated the MALP's land speed over this terrain and it's just further out than I anticipated," he stated, finding it easier to blame it on math than common sense and harder for Rodney to argue.

Gazing ahead into the sun, Daniel focused his attention to the top of the horizon to see if he could spot John or Ronon, who had walked ahead, most likely avoiding Rodney's ranting. He squinted into the light and put his hand up to shield his face trying to discern the shapes in the distance when he heard his name being called over the radio.

"Hey, Daniel, we got it!" John Sheppard's voice boomed over the radio and Daniel breathed a sigh of relief, glad that this wasn't going to be a wash.

"Alright, thanks John, you know what we're looking for. We'll be there soon," Daniel signed off the radio, looking up just in time to see Rodney sauntering over to him.

"Looks like you lucked out this time," he sneered. Daniel just walked on, leaving his colleague behind, deciding to radio Adrienne on the way.

"Ad," he called to her, "any luck?" There was static as he awaited her reply.

"Hey Indy. Oh, I'm quite literally crying with joy," she answered, giddiness in her voice that Daniel could see on her face even though she was miles away.

"That good huh?" he asked, happy at least one of them was getting some good information out of this. He hoped for a moment that she was taking lots of pictures, but reminded himself who he was dealing with; she would have hundreds, organized and ready to go through before she went to bed that night.

"Oh yeah, I could stay here for days. How 'bout you?" she inquired, catching a tone in his voice.

She knew him too well.

"I'm calling you to make myself feel better," he admitted.

"No dragons? Moses hasn't met you out there yet? How 'bout a burning bush?" she teased, trying to lighten the mood but Daniel wasn't amused.

"Clever Ad, you're such a comedian. I wanted to let you know that we just found the ruins so I'll radio you when I have something to shove back in your face," he responded, knowing she was kidding, but still annoyed and slightly embarrassed.

"Lata shug," she responded and disconnected, Daniel returned his hands to his sides, jogging lightly to catch up.

The wind was picking up around them hours later as they tried to grid the area at Daniel's insistence. Bandana wrapped tightly around his face, Daniel ran his eyes along the area, making sure that they'd hadn't missed an inch as John and Ronon were using their shirts to cover their own facing, roping off the areas he had marked. Rodney just tromped around, complaining and coughing on dirt.

This area was lower than the rest of the ruins, long abandoned by the villagers who were comfortable in their town miles away. It looked like it might have been a creek bed from days long past, so while this was exactly what Daniel was used to, sand, wind dirt and all, Rodney was not as amused.

"How are we supposed to find anything in this mess!?" Rodney shouted. Rolling his eyes, John looked up at him, wishing he has brought an orange as a snack, and orange he could throw at him.

"You could've stayed home; I think the three of us are perfectly capable to bringing back whatever we find," John argued.

"Nonsense, knowing my luck Daniel'd break the damn thing," Rodney retorted.

"Exactly, since breaking important artifacts and scientific discoveries is what I do best," Daniel responded, looking over at Ronon holding out his hand, "Dex toss me that string please." Ronon reached over and grabbed a ball of red string, throwing it as requested as Rodney started coughing violently, covering his face again, but not violently enough, unfortunately, to cease his complaining.

"And why are you doing all of this? Why are you setting this up like a dig site? We're looking for a ZPM period; if it's not here then we leave," Rodney scowled. Daniel just ignored him and kept preparing his grid.

Adrienne yelled down the side of the tower.

"Cam shug, I need you to pull, I gotta go up higher," she shouted but Cameron shook his head.

"Adrienne, I don't like you so high up there," he yelled back, "we don't have any medics or anything." She groaned from the tower.

"Cameron, we're belaying here, not free climbing. If I fall you do have the other end of the rope," she insisted.

"I'm well aware of how belaying works Addy, but I'm also not a fan of watching my friends scale large unknown rocks," he retorted.

"Look Cam, just let me confirm something and I'll come down, I swear," she tried again hoping he could see her sweet grin from the peak. Relenting, Cameron grumbled to himself, but began to pull the rope slowly, watching Adrienne grab a protruding brick above her head, hoisting her body upward.

She pulled and pulled and grabbed and got herself upright, hooking her harness strap to another brick, resting back lightly to test the hold. Satisfied, she began to read again, the top part of some large plaque that had been hammered into the side, a plaque different from the others, metal hung on the stone, seemingly more important than the others.

And then Dr. Adrienne Rowan screamed.

"Daniel!" he heard shouting coming from his radio. It caught him off guard but he finally recognized the voice as Adrienne. He grabbed quickly for the button, panic racing through his body.

"Ad, is everything alright, why are you screaming?" he asked holding up his hand to John and Ronon who had heard the shout and came running, looking equally as worried about the other team.

"Did you find it?" she asked. Daniel let out a sigh, signaling to Ronon and John that everything was alright that she was just calling to harass him and breathed in to quell the butterflies in his stomach.

"No, I didn't find it. Are you calling to rub it in as you unravel the mysteries of the book of Genesis?" he said into the radio sarcastically.

"More like the book of Revelation. Indy, you need to stop digging. RIGHT NOW!" she ordered. Daniel made a face he knew she couldn't see, confused, even more so given the tone of her voice.

"Adrienne, what are you talking about? Is there something wrong?" he asked. Daniel looked up at John and made a time-out sign with his hands. John nodded, turning to Ronon and shouting over for Rodney to stop. Everyone froze, looking back at Daniel, sitting in a square of red thread talking into the radio.

"Daniel, shug, you were right. Very right. I should have believed you. There IS a ZPM. It IS the Tablet of Destiny. But we didn't research enough," she started to explain.

"Ad, I read everything; the entire inscription from the MALP. You did too. What else did you find?" he asked as John walked over, kneeling beside him in order to listen for himself.

"The rest of the inscription, we should have sent something back to see if there was more, because there is, about four stories up, and don't start fussing at me, I'm in a harness," she began. Daniel didn't respond, letting her finish.

"Alright, I want you to step back shug and look at the layout of the ruins. Slowly," Daniel stood, motioning for everyone else not to move and walked himself backward.

"What am I looking for?" he asked, scanning the ground under his feet.

"Evidence of water," she said. Daniel surveyed the surrounding terrain and sure enough, surrounding the ruins was what appeared to be waves into the soil, not just the small creek bed he had noticed before, but evidence of a river.

"Yes, looks like this might have been a small to medium body of water, why?" Daniel asked and heard Adrienne breath out, pausing like she was thinking before her answer.

"And he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the whore is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire," Adrienne read.

Daniel froze.

"It's a bomb," he said.

"Bingo Indy. Power to control the world. Touch and you explode," she answered, "and for the record, if you get out of this, I take full responsibility for this being that the Bible is supposed to be one of my areas of speciality," he heard her voice say.

"Let's lay blame later; just come running if you hear a blast," he answered, turning to face his colleagues.

"Daniel," he heard her say once more, her voice quiet and worried, "please be ok. I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

"Hey, we haven't seen any dragons, so you weren't totally wrong," he replied, trying to ease her anxiety and looked up at his crew ending the communication.

"We've got it get it out of here. VERY slowly," Daniel stressed as Rodney looked at him disgusted.

"We haven't found the Zed-P-M?!" Rodney shouted.

"It's not a ZPM," Daniel answered, stopping to clarify, "well, it IS a ZPM, but it's also a bomb." Rodney let his head drop and looked at Daniel like he was an idiot.

"What's brought on this revelation Dr. Jackson?" Rodney asked, confused by the change in plans.

"Adrienne has gotten to the top of the plaque on the tower and it says more or less that if we mess around in here we will be consumed by fire, now let's go," Daniel said, slowly gathering only the most important items and preparing to leave. Following his lead, John and Ronon started to step carefully toward the outside of the ruins while Rodney whipped his head around at them, shooting daggers with his gaze at each of them.

"Where are you two going?" he hissed.

"I don't care who said it, I don't play with bombs," Ronon answered.

"I second," John said, continuing to back away. Rodney took a step forward, shouting about foolishness and not listening to one's assistant and then he paused, stopped shouting and looked down, his mouth open wide.

"Cam!" Adrienne was shouting down the side of the tower, "Let me down!"

"Everything alright?" Cam inquired from the ground, testing his hold on the rope, checking to see if she was slipping without his knowledge, "Why are you screaming? What is going on?"

"I'm fine, but I need to get down fast," Adrienne ripped the rope and started trying to belay herself down quickly screaming below her, "Come on, fast, fast, quick!"

Cameron couldn't understand why Adrienne was so frantic as he lowered her rope, but started to do as she asked. She was about halfway down the tower when there was a loud explosion in the distance, the feisty cajun woman screaming louder than he had ever heard her scream before, panicking, grabbing the rope and starting to pull it desperately. The colonel belayed her down faster as Adrienne was shouting, babbling really, barely understandable for Vala and Teyla to run in the direction of the boom. Dropping the legal pad she had been writing on, Vala dashed off without question, Teyla following, as Cam ran the rope, hand over fist quickly looking up to check her downward progress to see that Adrienne was rapidly undoing her harness.

"Cam!" she shouted seconds before he saw her falling in his direction from a few feet up and he caught her the best he could, both of them falling onto the thankfully soft ground. Adrienne stood and ran, no explanation, tears streaming down her face, sprinting faster than he had ever seen her run before.

Cam leapt up, racing behind her.

"Addy, what in the hell is going on?" he shouted and she stopped only for a moment and looked back, her face an expression of sheer terror, her eyes full of worry.

"Daniel found a bomb," she said and turned again, sprinting full force.

Understanding immediately, Cameron picked up the pace.

"NOBODY MOVE!" John yelled out scanning the blast area around him. Ronon was laying on his side holding his face, where a piece of shrapnel had obviously cut his cheek and Daniel, who had been the furthest away since he was looking for whatever Adrienne had asked him to look for, was laying on the ground, half sitting as he shook his head and put his glasses back on. Seeing that both of them were alright, John started to walk slowly around the ruins, favoring his right leg almost certain that the ankle was either broken or close from the blast.

"McKay, where in the hell are you!? RODNEY!" John was shouting and limping around the blast site, stepping carefully over the rubble, pieces of stone and rock and shards that were obviously ZPM glass. He studied the mess when he saw Rodney, slumped over about twenty feet away, not moving and shouted back behind him.

"Jackson, Ronon, I've got him! Go around, I'm gonna need some help," John yelled, stumbling over to the unconscious scientist.

When Vala looked behind her and saw her good friend jump off of the tower and onto Cameron she waited, just in case she was hurt, Teyla looking back as well. However, once she saw them both running and apparently uninjured, she kept moving. She could see smoke ahead and heard someone shouting "Nobody move!" stopping her dead in her tracks as Cameron and Adrienne caught up to the two women quickly.

"Vala, why are you guys stopping?" Cameron asked, yet stopped himself, not knowing what caused the alien women to halt.

"I heard someone yell to stop; do you think there's another bomb?" she asked looking at Cameron who glanced at Adrienne but the cajun shrugged.

"Why do you guys always look at me?" she asked, reaching for her radio.

"Daniel, it's Adrienne, please answer me," she called.

No answer, just static.

"Maybe the bomb's affected the radio waves," Vala surmised. Adrienne looked at her shocked and this time it was Vala that shrugged.

"What? Hang around this bunch long enough and you learn a thing or two," she stated. Adrienne let out a sigh and tried again, her stomach in knots and her face sticky with dried tears.

"Daniel, come on, please tell me that big boom didn't blow your face off," she said this time, trying to be funny for herself more than anything. She felt her lip trembling and the thought of finding him dead, finding him hurt was too much to bear, the tears were beginning to well up in her eyes again as she waited. There was more static and then, finally, a beep.

"No, I'm still intact; but we were almost rid of Rodney for good," she heard him joke back making her almost faint with happiness; the last thing she needed was to be picking up pieces of her best friend. She breathed out happily, sucking in tears and responded.

"Can we move?" she asked, remembering why they had stopped in the first place.

"Yea, it's clear," he replied and Adrienne didn't wait for further instructions, leading the quartet in a race to the ruins.

Rodney was alright by mission standards, although one would think a broken arm meant he was going to die the way he was moaning and whining and lashing out at his would be helpers. He wasn't very happy with the idea of having to walk back, his arm in a sling, without a ZPM, but considering what could have happened, John was quick to shut him up. He threw a fit, demanding to examine the pieces carefully and take a few back to his lab, so John relented and let him dig around, one armed for a few minutes after Daniel and Adrienne assured him that there was only one bomb.

Still unhappy with the results of this mission, Daniel decided to walk back to the tower at see what Adrienne had found, leaving the annoyed and annoying scientist behind.

"Wait up!" Adrienne yelled, "Where are you going?" He stopped, not thinking of asking her to come along, just wanting to be alone for a while and think about how he'd just screwed up, again. Adrienne wasn't going to care; she jogged up to him and he knew she wouldn't stop until she knew what was wrong so he figured he might as well tell her, waiting until she made it to his side before he answered.

"Just wanted to go check out that tower, see that at least one of us didn't foul up this entire mission," he said walking again once she reached him.

"You didn't foul up this entire mission," Adrienne defended, grabbing his arm. He stopped and glared right at her, that look on his face of don't question what I am saying.

The look Adrienne had learned to ignore.

Sighing, Daniel peered back behind him, noting that they hadn't been followed.

"Listen Adrienne, I don't know what's going on with me lately. First, PSF-293 and now this. That's two close calls back to back. I'm just not sure if I'm cut out for this anymore," he responded, looking at her with self-doubt. She was confused, so confused, Daniel never seemed to be the person that would give up on anything but right now he just seemed so lost. Peering behind herself to see that no one had followed them she saw that they hadn't; they were alone. Her enchanting eyes locking with his own for a moment, a brief moment, but long enough for him to be completely absorbed in her gaze, Adrienne stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling herself close to him and hugging him tightly. He lightly wrapped his arms around her shoulders out of instinct, just feeling as if that was something he should do, that he should return her embrace.

"Listen," she said still holding him, her head resting against his chest, "You're not losing anything. Things are just different now, different than they were. There's no clear cut baddie, no singular goal. You've been asked to do the job of ten people and keep track of all of it with only me to help, and even with two of us we still can't do everything. It's an impossible task." He breathed out, knowing she was right, to an extent, resting his chin to her head.

"I can't screw up like this. I mean, when you do I tear you up, but there's no one there to chew me out when I do the same," he responding, turning his head to the side without thinking, his cheek coming to rest on the top of her head, her hair tickling his jawline. He was so caught up in how close they were at this moment, his nerves giving him fits, his thoughts toying with idiotic things Jack had said to him that he was shocked when Adrienne pushed him back roughly, slamming her hands into his chest.

"Dammit Dr. Jackson, what in the hell is wrong with you? You didn't think to take the time to fully analyze the tower before moving on to your next project.? Can't finish one thing before starting another?" she screamed, badly. One thing Adrienne was not was a good actress and her stance there, faking being mean, which considering how hostile she could be when she was actually angry, was just so hysterical that Daniel just started laughing.

"You're really bad at that you know," he said, getting a smile in return.

"And you're really good at what you do, despite what you believe. So what? You've hit a few rough patches. Who doesn't? I still think you do great," Adrienne answered but Daniel just shrugged and turned to walk away before pausing. There she was again, right there to be his cheerleader, right when he needed someone the most without an agenda, without worrying about what someone else might think, without hesitation.

Adrienne Rowan really was special.

"Come on," he said over his shoulder, "let's see what you've found here," walking on, pointing to the tower rising in the distance.

"Adrienne!" she heard shouting echoing over the tiles of the bathroom.

It was a male voice.

It was his voice.

Again.

Adrienne stuck her head out of the shower, searching, and there he was, standing on the other side of the curtain, staring right at her, file in hand.

"I thought we went over this! DO NOT BOTHER ME IN THE SHOWER WITH WORK!" she screamed, deciding that after the last episode she had every right to be angry. However, rather than argue back Daniel erupted into laughter.

"What do you want?!" Adrienne continued.

"Nothing, I just wanted to see your reaction," he said between chuckles and breaths, turning on his heels, walking out of the otherwise empty locker room. Fuming, Adrienne ripped the curtain shut.

"I hate that man," she said out loud.

"Right..." she heard an accented voice answer and laugh. Scratch empty, of course she had to be in here but whatever Vala, she thought, believe what you want.


	20. Chapter 19 - Perspectives

_Ok I'm going warn you. The next two kind of have the same theme but the dialog was just so funny and so fun to write I couldn't get rid of one or the other. _

_Also, we've got some important arc info in both, so again, pay attention. _

_Thanks for your continued support and readership. It means the world. _

"Twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," Adrienne counted off, setting the weights down on the floor beside her desk, and walking back over to the center table where Daniel was examining some photos carefully, hunched over the desk in a zone she was hesitant to interrupt. She stood back, waiting for him to break his trance, not wanting to break his train of thought.

"It is the source of all power, used to light the fire of the gods in the temple," Daniel was reading, aloud now, intending for her to hear, running his fingers over the Mayan Hieroglyphs. Taking that as her cue to speak, Adrienne peered around his arm, her chin resting on his bicep, scanning the line as he had.

"That's what I got," she said shrugging, "but I wanted you to check behind me before I called Rodney and had him coming down here and taking over." Adrienne explained as she looked over at him for approval. After P34-210, Rodney needed to be the last person to know about anything that the archaeology lab could find.

"No, thanks, good call," Daniel said quietly, reading on. Smiling, Adrienne walked back over to the weights.

"I try," she replied, picking them up again and positioning herself in a low stance.

"One, two, three," she began to count again, lifting the weights up to her sides, curling her biceps.

"Ad, did you see this...What are you doing?" Daniel asked, turning around to face her, his expression changing as soon as he saw her. She had her back to him just pumping away and counting along, actually working out in the lab.

Daniel was at a loss for words.

"Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen," she counted off quickly and placed the weights back onto the floor, redirecting her attention to their set up in the center work area.

"Sorry, this time crunch that Sam put us on has really messed up my workout schedule. I haven't lifted in two days and my arms are yelling at me for it," she explained walking to join him at their spread of photos. He could have lectured her on the importance of this mission, but he knew she understood, so he just laughed. Adrienne had a clear set of priorities in life and her health was at the top of them. In fact, he was pretty sure her list was, in order, her health, her car, and then her friends. He smiled inside; silently glad he could now be included in that last category, in fact, according to her, at the top of that category, but still after her car.

"No, it's alright. I just never know what to expect with you around," he said jokingly as she lifted her eyebrows.

"And I like it like that. Ok, so you mean the part about the temples leaving, yeah, I saw that and thought what you're probably thinking," she said, Daniel already nodding his head.

"Yeah, motherships; but why would the Goa'uld have a ZPM?" he wondered out loud as the sound of footsteps echoed through the hall.

"DanielJackson," Teal'c greeted his old friend as he entered the lab, "I am traveling to Chulac to see Ry'ac before we depart for the next mission. Is there anything you desire?" Teal'c had started to come by and ask Daniel before he left for the Jaffa home world, ever since finding that tablet written in Abydonian in an abandoned village, a planet that was a sister to the Jaffa homeworld. Since, Daniel had asked Teal'c to bring various items back from Chulac for Daniel to investigate, in an effort to learn about how that tablet might have arrived there, or how Shar'e and Kasuf's kin had managed to escape the tyranny they had not.

And to figure out what was going on, which both he and Sam agreed was more than just a few coincidences.

"No Teal'c, unless you see something of interest, but thank you," Daniel replied, looking back to the photos, looking for answers here to make up for what he had been unable to find through the great warrior. Here was more evidence of Goa'ulds still nosing around the galaxy in ways they were just now discovering. It was all very interesting.

"Can you bring me one of those navy blue wraps Teal'c, like Ishta wore at the naming ceremony?" Adrienne turned and requested politely. Teal'c smiled at the request; he liked AdrienneRowan. Not only was she a fine warrior, but she was good for DanielJackson; she made him a better person, he had just yet to recognize that.

Teal'c was confident that someday he would.

"Of course AdrienneRowan. I shall see you both in two days," he bowed slightly and left. Daniel, on the other hand, looked back at Adrienne smirking.

"You now have Teal'c shopping for you?" he teased his reply coming as Adrienne bumped her hip against him.

"Stop picking on me, did you see how beautiful Ishta looked at the ceremony? I have got to get one of those," she answered. Shaking his head, Daniel turned to look back at the photos as Adrienne ran back over to the weights for a third time.

How many times was she going to do this? he thought, glaring at her in annoyance.

"One more set on this lift, thirty seconds max," she promised, reading his mind and collecting the weights from the ground, beginning to lift once more. Daniel leaned against the table, waiting patiently and she pumped her arms, counting off. She was lucky, he thought to himself, lucky he liked her so much, lucky that she was so useful. From other people, he wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior, but Adrienne, he tended to let her get away with anything now, because he knew that he could always count on her to bring it in, be serious, and work hard when it came down to it. Quickly, as promised, she counted off her set and plopped down the weights, dashing back to the table.

"Yes," she said as if she hadn't dashed off for a mini workout, "I was thinking motherships as well, but that's so late, especially for the Mayans, historically speaking, if we are using Earth history as a basis for dating. Unless we're talking about a lesser system lord, but wouldn't Ra have monitored that a bit better?"

"You would think," Daniel responded, but made the note on the notepad anyway, just in case, changing to the next set as they kept working their way through the photos.

Vala mumbled to herself as Sam ordered her down to the Archaeology lab. With the Lucians so quietly lately, Vala had been pretty active working with various teams, including her own and she didn't mind at all. Being sent as the expert to assist other SG teams made her feel valued, that Sam needed her around and after so many years of being treated like she was the one in everyone's way, it was nice to feel appreciated. However, there was one favor for Sam that Vala didn't enjoy and that was being sent to assist Daniel and Adrienne. She liked Adrienne, a lot, considered the young cajun woman one of her dearest friends, but Daniel and Adrienne together, now that they were friendly, now that they seemed to spend every waking moment together, now that she wasn't quite sure if they were ever apart, was just obnoxious. They never seemed to speak English and they would stand at that table looking at files and communicating with one another in secret code like they were in their own little world. It would be only slightly annoying if Vala actually thought they might be flirting with one another, but it was more than that.

They were completely in sync with one another, completely.

It was creepy.

Daniel was standing at the chalkboard lining up an assortment of pictures with magnets speaking to Adrienne in that one language they talked in the most, French, Vala thought Adrienne had called it, while Adrienne was sitting on the center table, cross legged, flavored water in hand just babbling right on back. Vala cleared her throat as she entered the lab, more so out of annoyance than anything else, a fact that was completely missed by Adrienne who glanced in her direction smiling.

"Vala, ca va bien?" Adrienne asked politely, in that damn language she didn't speak. The only word Vala knew in that sentence was good, so she responded in the like.

"Yeah, fine. Sam sent more photos," Vala responded, handing Adrienne the folders. She didn't bother waving at Daniel, who was engrossed in the chalkboard. He had no idea she was here and there was one thing and one thing alone that could get his attention and that one thing peeked up and said something in French.

On cue, he looked up.

Creepy.

"Hey, Vala, why didn't Sam just send them to Adrienne electronically?" he asked. Because she likes to make me her errand girl, that's why, Vala thought to herself, but instead she just shrugged.

"I don't know, she just told me to run this to you guys and see if you had anything ready," she replied curtly, crossing her arms and almost tapping her feet as she waited. Pinching the bridge of his nose as he shoved his glasses up his face, Daniel walked back over to the table and pointed to a spread beside Adrienne's leg.

"Not really; these MALP images are pretty grainy. We're having a bit of a time constructing a path through the jungle that actually gets us anywhere, much less where we think the temple complex might have been and we can only make out about half of the script. You can tell her that she's just going to have to live without both of us this week because if this is all the information we've got then I'm going to need Adrienne to come on the mission as well," Daniel replied. Of course you will, Vala thought, she's practically attached to you; so much for her being my friend. She shook her head, uncrossing her arms and breathing out loudly.

"Alright then, so nothing, more nothing and there needs to be two of you on the mission to confirm, nothing," she clarified as Adrienne glanced over at Daniel and said something in French.

Vala rolled her eyes.

She hated when they did that.

She liked things better when Adrienne thought he was a dork and wanted nothing to do with him outside of his being her boss. Evidently not agreeing with whatever she had said, Daniel shook his head at Adrienne redirecting his attention to Vala.

"Basically," he answered. Letting out a huff, Vala turned to leave without so much as a goodbye.

"Just fuck and get it over with," she spat under her breath as she left the lab, neither of them responding, so they must not have heard. Still annoyed, she headed back to Sam's office to report her findings.

Adrienne was too tired, not physically, but mentally to drive home. The beetle meant too much to her to risk running into a street sign or something just because she was driving drowsy. She ran, showered and trudged down to her quarters hoping that there was something cheesy on TV that didn't require much thought as she wearily coded herself into her room and opened the door.

There was Daniel, sitting on her bed a familiar manila file in his hand, reading away like he was just supposed to be there.

Adrienne made a face.

"Seriously Indy, what could you possibly need?" she asked, shaking her head.

"I didn't want to interrupt your run and I was waiting outside but Vala came by and had something smart to say," he answered without looking up, just stood quickly and rushed over to where she was standing, head down reading, folder still in hand. Tossing her gym bag into the corner, she jerked the file from his palm with one hand, halting his graceless advance with the other and walked back to the right side of the room, flopping herself across the bed.

"I take it you're not going home either," she inferred, thinking it was an obvious fact since he was standing right here yet asking anyway.

"No, I'm too worked up over this. I really didn't need you to look at anything; I just didn't want to go home nor did I want to go to sleep," he answered. Rolling her eyes, Adrienne shut the folder, laughing at him and her assumption that he had brought her work to do, tossing it over to the desk and leaning back against her pillow, where he had been sitting just moments before.

"Then you call Daniel, on the phone. The conversation goes like this," she mocked, making her fingers look like she was talking into a phone and spoke.

"Ad, I'm bored. What are you doing? Do you want to hang out?" she said, mimicking his voice the best she could. Frowning, he came over and sat on the bed beside her, reaching down to untie his boots.

"Smartass," he joked. Adrienne just shoved his shoulder, moving him out of her way as she headed over to grab her computer from her backpack and what Daniel referred to as her geek box, a small black plastic container full of cord and wires and other crazy things that Adrienne used to hack into more simple electronics. He couldn't complain much, in fact, Daniel had cancelled cable months ago learning that with Adrienne as his best friend he could watch whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, all he had to do was ask, although he wasn't entirely sure if it was legal.

He'd learned too that was something he shouldn't ask.

Tossing his boots over by the door, he walked back where he was sitting on the bed when she arrived, on the side, if you could call it that, closest to the door, watching her walk over to the TV and pop open the box digging out a few wires and plugging them into the set.

"Horror, Sci/Fi, Fantasy, Drama, Romance, Comedy?" she asked over her shoulder as she pushed the last cord in. Not caring, he shrugged; watching movies was their failsafe bored entertainment and unless he had read about something or heard about a film in the commissary, he didn't pay attention to such things and often deferred to Adrienne since other than horror movies her tastes were more similar to his than anyone else's. Gazing over as she flipped through her video library, he thought for a moment about what he used to do before they were friends.

Work more?

Go home and work there?

Fight off Vala?

It was still strange to him actually having something fun to do, something he would consider fun, with another person. A woman at that.

"Romance," he joked, wanting to see her reaction. Romance was her least favorite type of film; he was actually surprised that she even suggested it quickly realizing that it was a joke, the evil glare he was receiving supporting that very theory.

"Go watch that with your girlfriend," she replied flatly and Daniel couldn't resist, especially considering the mood she seemed to be in.

"Which one?" he asked, ducking under his hands in case his assistant decided to let loose anything in his direction, but she didn't, instead, swearing at him in french and cuing up a film. It was a zombie movie, of course. She turned and smiled smugly.

"Arrogant remarks get you zombies," she replied. Daniel rolled his eyes, trying not to smile. This was why he liked spending time with her; she was fun to pick with and there were no expectations or awkward moments, it was just them. Dreading another gore fest, he decided to suggest a compromise.

"Let's go out on a limb here. How about werewolves?" he suggested, thinking that of the entire horror genre they tended to be the least gruesome. Adrienne raised her eyebrows surprised.

"Excellent choice my friend," she answered and started hacking away, pulling up some movie on her computer. Adjusting the settings on the TV, she made her way back over to the bed, crawling over Daniel to sit by the wall. Even awake, he had noted, she didn't like to be close to the door if she could place another person between herself and the entrance. He had wondered for a while now why this was, but was afraid to ask, it just seemed to be something that she would tell him when she was ready.

There was a scream, of course there was, and movie started up, red cornstarch blood plastering itself on the camera lens, interrupting his thought.

So much for less gruesome.

Adrienne's neck hurt when she woke up. She was trying to figure out why she was sleeping sitting up when she realized she was leaned over onto Daniel's lap who was asleep as well, his arm draped across her neck.

"Leave it to us to fall asleep during a horror movie," she said, wriggling out of his arm and reaching across him to grab her iPod.

It was 3:15 a.m.

Not worth it, she thought to herself, let everyone think what they will. Daniel was wrong; half of the base didn't think they were sleeping together, it was more like three quarters. Clicking the TV off with the remote Adrienne pulled back the covers and gently removed his glasses, setting them on the nightstand. As carefully as she could, trying not to wake him, the dark circles that had formed under his brilliant blue eyes showing more prominently in the light of her side lamp, she pulled Daniel down beside her, reaching over him one last time to shut off the light, before crawling herself under the covers.

Daniel woke up shivering slightly, reaching down to pull the blanket up to his shoulders, but didn't feel anything there. Opening his eyes he looked to the floor to see if he had kicked it off, which is something he did often, but he hadn't, he was laying on it. Confused, honestly not remembering when he went to bed, he started to sit up a bit so he could get under it when he felt something at his waist. He looked down and saw an arm clinging tightly to his abdomen, an arm connected to Adrienne who fast asleep, curled up beside him. They must have fallen asleep watching the movie and it looked as if she had woken up and tried to make him comfortable, separate them in bed with the blanket the best she could and gone back to sleep. She had even set his glasses over on the nightstand so he wouldn't bend them, as he was likely do to. Touched by her thoughtfulness, but needing to get back to his own room, he stood from the bed lifting her arm gently and reaching back to cover her up.

"See you at breakfast Ad," he whispered, grabbing his bag and glasses and heading for his own quarters, all the while thinking how nice it was to have a friend like Adrienne.

Sam had begun the briefing with the bits and pieces Daniel and Adrienne had meticulously put together over the past few days when Jack entered the room, a look on his face that she had learned over the years meant things were about to take a turn for the worst. Everyone was reading through the files in front of them and had barely noticed his entrance, but Sam wouldn't have missed her husband's arrival, even if he hadn't waltzed in making a grand entrance.

"Bad news for my favorite people," he announced, interrupting his wife and gaining the attention of every last member of SG-1, their heads popping up in surprise at the general's arrival.

"What kind of bad news Jack? Daniel and Adrienne think they might have found a Z," Sam began but Daniel shushed her, shaking his hands in front of his face.

"Cosmic Key," he started, "we might have found a Cosmic Key," he corrected.

"What in the hell is a Cosmic Key?" Jack asked, interrupting his own announcement in sheer confusion as Daniel was either speaking Daniel or some other strange language he had somehow missed, but that little assistant of his was giggling until Cameron slammed the table looking over at her.

"Masters of the Universe!" he shouted, earning him an excited high five from the young archaeologist. Shaking her head Vala leaned over the table confused.

"Who are these Masters of the Universe? Is this something we need to be worrying about?" she inquired, reading the file in front of her again as Adrienne was laughing.

"No, no, it's a movie mon ami, with another hot Swedish man..." Adrienne explained, nodding her head emphatically. Frown changing to a smile, Vala leaned back in her chair nodding.

"Top of the list. Move that to the top of the list," she replied, Daniel laughing at the entire conversation, even Teal'c and Sam smiling as Jack continued to look confused. Noting the general's expression, Adrienne held up a finger and grabbed Daniel's legal pad scribbling madly.

_Cosmic Key = ZPM_

_Whenever we say ZPM Rodney appears _

Jack shook his head.

"I've seen the damn movie, let me guess, another Dr. Perky original?" he asked. Smiling, Adrienne gave him a thumbs up, glancing back over at Cam who was subduing a chuckle. Disregarding today's episode of random silliness, Sam continued, looking back at her husband.

"I'm not canceling this; I don't care if Woolsey thinks he's found Santa Claus. We need this just to keep the lights on at Atlantis Base," she argued in advance, the look on her face being one that Adrienne would not want to cross but Jack shook his head.

"No, no, not IOA bad. Bra'tac bad. Teal'c, he called in while you were away. You're needed elsewhere my friend," Jack said, taking the empty seat beside where his wife stood at the head of the table. His expression suddenly serious, Teal'c grabbed his chin gazing down at the table.

"The election of a president must not be faring well, just as I feared," the Jaffa answered, standing slowly from his seat. Teal'c looked tired, not as in needing sleep, but tired of having to intervene in Jaffa political affairs once again. The warrior had just gated home this morning from visiting with his family and was planning on a nice easy mission with his friends and not having to walk into a political mess, however, he didn't complain, knowing it was his duty. Cam, on the other hand, wasn't taking the news as well, his hands collapsing loudly onto the table as he lifted his shoulder looking over at Jack.

"General, sir, that leaves me a man down on this and the geek squad can't guarantee that we aren't walking into some mess," Cam started but Jack threw up his hand, shaking both it and his head to silence the argument.

"No Colonel, I've got that covered," Jack replied, smiling, leaning back into his chair, looking as if he would toss his feet onto the table were it not for the restrictiveness of his uniform.

"Sheppard has got his entire crew right now trying to keep their damn base afloat and I don't really trust anyone else," Cam asserted, as politely as he could and all the while Jack just kept on smiling.

It was Daniel that caught on first.

"You're coming, aren't you?" he asked, Adrienne peeking over at her boss, her eyes wide with shock. Jack hadn't come on a mission since she came aboard, and as far as she knew he hadn't gone on one in years, but rather than respond to Daniel directly, he just continued to lean back in the chair grinning like a Cheshire cat. Trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, Adrienne reached her hand under the table and ran her finger along Daniel's leg, spelling feverishly.

_I-S-H-E-F-O-R-R-E-A-L_

Using his left hand to rub his face feigning deep thought, Daniel slipped his right underneath himself and grabbed her hand beginning to reply with a spelled yes when Jack looked up at both of them, his smile changing to a scowl.

"You two can stop that spelling shit. Yes, I'm coming," Jack said reaching across the table to snatch Teal'c's folder, flopping himself back in the seat.

"So people, where are we going?"

Adrienne grabbed Daniel and pulled him into a supply closet as soon as Sam had excused them. Teal'c had left as soon as he could, the graven expression on his face making Daniel worry about him and a situation he wished he could help with and couldn't, while Cameron and Vala had headed to their quarters to pack. In hopes of seeing what Jack was thinking, Daniel had hung back, but Sam beat him to it, giving her husband a silent order to meet her in her office. She sure played the wife card just right, Daniel thought, that woman would scare the daylights out of me with that look.

Deciding to go pack himself, he was surprised by Adrienne grabbing his arm and throwing him into the small dark room, because, primarily, she hated small dark rooms.

"Why is he going?" she hissed, closing the door behind them, locking them in the blackness.

"I don't know, bored from sitting behind a desk so much, mission too important for Sam? Ad, it's Jack, you never really know his motives until he's playing them out. Why do you care so much?" he asked, feeling quite stupid talking to her in a closet.

Why was she so worried, it was just Jack?

Trying to comfort her he reached out for her arm, feeling her hand slide quickly over his and pull away from his grasp, but not letting go of his hand. Holding it tightly in the darkness she answered.

"He hates me. He thinks I'm an idiot. It took me long enough to convince you that I wasn't an idiot," Adrienne protested but instead of an argument or support, she heard Daniel laugh.

"He doesn't think you're an idiot, he's just not used to overly positive people. If the SGC were a color wheel, I'm green, they are all shades of black and gray and you're the sparkling pink bomb that showed up and hurt everyone's eyes," he tried as nice as possible to explain to Adrienne why Jack did think of her as he did. In fact, he knew from conversations with Jack that he had been quite impressed with Adrienne's performance thus far, he just didn't understand why someone so smart was so, boisterous. Daniel had tried to explain Adrienne's 'life is a gift' philosophy, but Jack just rolled his eyes and changed the subject. He felt Adrienne drop his hand, and he pulled it back, shoving it into his pocket.

"You suck at analogies Indy," she replied, but seemed to have less stress in her voice so he took a different approach.

"Look, Ad, neither of us are experts on Mayan culture. We're going to have to work together on this one and that'll impress him, to see me working with someone and not just ordering you around. Trust me," Daniel assured her. Adrienne let out a sigh and reached behind herself for the doorknob, opening the door, walking backwards until she was halted by a hand at her back.

Turning slowly to see who had caught her, her heart stopped as Jack was standing right there smirking at them.

"The closet guys? Really? Don't you both have beds in your quarters? Unless of course you're working on some kind of list in which case kudos to you Daniel," he deadpanned. Adrienne turned red in the face, a look of horror wiping over her but Daniel just stepped forward ignoring his remark.

"What's your angle Jack?" Daniel asked, not trusting this sudden interest in exploring once again, without Teal'c, his closest friend, and with Vala, who seemed to annoy Jack more than anyone else in history.

And with Adrienne.

Especially with Adrienne, who Jack seemed to think only existed as Daniel's personal concubine.

"Why does there have to be an angle? I feel like I deserve some time not behind a damn desk listening to that little weasel and the foreign weasels tell me about things they don't know about. Plus I heard we're going to a Cancun planet. I like Cancun," he answered Daniel, matter of factly. Partly nerves, party appreciation for the comment, Adrienne laughed out, quickly clasping her hand over her mouth only a moment before receiving a serious glare from the much decorated general.

"Yeah Dr. Perky, Cancun. You seem like a party goer with all those holes in your face and those crazy tattoos. Yeah, I know about those too, don't think your little wardrobe selection's got anyone fooled. You know, I bet you've got lots of stories you're withholding from your boyfriend here," Jack said to her thumbing over in Daniel's direction, eliciting even more scarlet from the cajun's cheeks. Not amused, Daniel stepped forward, tapping his finger to the file and looking up at his friend, trying to stress the importance of the contents with his expression and voice.

"Read the file. Really read it. The MALP information was bad, so it took me and Adrienne a long time to go through everything. Teal'c was very familiar with the material..." Daniel stressed, knowing full well that Jack wasn't going to read one damn thing, his first clue that Jack was already nodding his head sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Legends of the Hidden Temple, Romancing the Stone, Cosmic Key. Which by the way Dr. Perky, that was quite clever, I wouldn't have thought of that," Jack complimented and turned away, walking down the hall to the elevators.

"Pack your trunks Daniel!" he shouted into the air. Shrugging, knowing there was no way out of this, Daniel glanced down at his very worried assistant.

"He thought Cosmic Key was clever," he offered.

Adrienne shoved his arm.

P5R-387 was hot, really hot, and Adrienne was glad she had chosen to wear a tank top under her tac vest and jacket. As soon as they made it safely down the ramp she tossed off her backpack and started to undo her jacket, the warm moist breeze not offering much relief.

Out of the corner of her eye, Vala saw her and did the same, thankful she wasn't the only one to plan ahead, as she was dying under all of this gear. Hearing the sounds of zippers and gear hitting the ground, Jack glanced back at both of them, his expression changing as if they were insane before looking back at Cameron, pointing his thumb in the direction of the disrobing women.

"Is this normal? Since when do team members strip as soon as we're off world?" he asked, cocking his head at Adrienne and Vala, who were already stuffing their jackets into their packs when he turned to see Daniel was doing the same. Cam looked like he wanted to but stopped, his gaze cool and professional before his superior, military training teaching him that whenever a general gave you that look you froze and waited to be told to continue. Before the colonel could answer him, with a response that was purely fictional, there was a clearing of a throat behind him and Jack turned to see Dr. Rowan, completely reassembled except that she was wearing her tac vest over a tank top, smiling at him.

"Sir, I grew up in the Bayou and if you don't allow the heat to escape your body in humidity like this it can cause heat exhaustion or even hallucinations," she stated. Jack started to argue but stopped, making a face. They did used to go to some really hot places and he remembered feeling sick to his stomach on many a mission, so maybe Daniel's little lackey was right, maybe this was the best course of action.

"Alright, I'm the intruder here, we'll try it your way," he conceded, much to Adrienne's delight and began to remove his vest as well, Cam breathing out a sigh of relief before he did the same. Looking over at Daniel, who was also in a sleeveless shirt, backpack reattached, Adrienne said something in some strange language, one that Jack definitely did not recognize, forcing him to glare at the pair of them.

"Oh no, you two aren't gonna do any hidden nerd language you speak on this little adventure. No French, no SandWorm, no Ancient, no writing in each other's hands, no nothing. It's rude," he said unbuttoning his jacket. Adrienne made a face and looked at Daniel who shrugged while Vala leaned over to Cam smiling.

"Glad someone else is annoyed by them," she whispered. Trying not to laugh, Cam started to examine the paper map Adrienne had printed out for him, his finger trailing the small red line that snaked through a computer graphic of a jungle. It was a mess, Daniel had been right, but it was something and it was all they had.

"This way people," he ordered and led the group forward into the wet, green forest that lie in their wake.

Four hours into the jungle they were still walking down overgrown paths and ducking underneath low branches. There was no sign of ruins, no sign of people or anything and neither Daniel nor Adrienne seemed to have anything else to offer. His feet aching, and sweat pouring down the back of his legs, Cam looked at his watch.

"7:00 earth time," he said, stopping his stride, grabbing a moss covered branch to hold on to. The group came to a halt behind him as Daniel peeked at his watch before gazing up into the jungle canopy, trying to judge the daylight through the thick foliage.

"Stop for the night?" he suggested. Cam nodded his head in agreement, dropping his backpack to the ground. Without further direction, Adrienne grabbed her staff weapon from her back beginning to carefully carve a circle onto the ground around to create a ring for a fire, while Vala walked over to where there was the least amount of brush and started clearing an area. Jack looked at them dumbfounded as they all took to their tasks, not a one complaining, not a one assigned, just starting setting up camp like this was something that just occurred on a regular basis.

"Wait, we make camp now? Since when?" he asked. Daniel glanced up at him like that was an idiotic question.

"Since we go to planets that are either uninhabited or sparsely inhabited Jack. Since the Goa'uld aren't around to try to kill us and Vala keeps tabs on the Lucians. That's why missions are longer now and Woolsey does that mandatory leave nonsense," Daniel answered the confused general, who scooted out of the way as Vala stomped by him, a large branch in hand, almost smacking him in the face.

"You'd think being married to that woman I'd have a better understanding of what's going on right under me," Jack commented to himself as Daniel laughed and went to help Adrienne with the fire.

Fire made, camp set and everything good for the night, Cam passed some Powerbars around the group to accompany the MRI's that Vala was heating. Jack took one as did everyone else, everyone except for Adrienne who didn't seem to have anything to eat at all, sitting their quietly sipping a bottle of water. Puzzled, he leaned over to Daniel who was sitting between him and the young archaeologist.

"Why isn't your girlfriend eating?" he asked. Daniel made a face.

"She's not my girlfriend," Daniel replied.

"Fine, whatever. Why isn't she eating?" he asked again. This time, Daniel leaned over.

"She'll eat in about an hour. She follows a very strict diet," he whispered and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Do I want to know why?" he asked. Cutting his eyes at his assistant, Daniel shook his head.

"Just accept that she's weird like I do and things go much smoother," Daniel answered, apparently not quiet enough, as he felt an elbow slam into his side.

"I'm not weird," Adrienne stated and stood, walking out to the open space behind their camp. Surprised, Daniel glanced behind him as did Jack, as the young woman made her way into the one open space in the jungle.

"Go on, you might want to make sure I didn't piss her off too bad," he said. Daniel shook his head, following where Adrienne had gone, not to see if she was angry, he knew she wasn't, but because he would rather be sitting with her than listening to Jack lecture him on his personal life. She stopped only a short distance from the camp and was staring off into the sky when he noticed she had grabbed her bed roll as she passed the outskirts of the campsite.

"Look at all those stars, it's just breathtaking," Adrienne stated, tossing her sleeping bag onto the open ground and Daniel smiled. Adrienne never ceased to amaze him. It had always fascinated him how Shar'e was mystified by the simplest of objects, a pen, a watch, and her childlike wonder and appreciation always made her that much more endearing. What was so amazing about Adrienne was that despite the fact that she either took the time to learn or knew the origin and purpose of each and every thing she touched, it still amazed her in the same way, just for the simple appreciation of the object itself and the human or alien innovation behind it or the inspiration it gave her. Stopping to breath in the thick moist air, she laid on the bag, resting her head onto her laced hands looking up into the sky.

"Ya know, it would be interesting to have an aerial map of the planet, fix our point relative to the equator and get a better idea of the gulf stream. I would love to know if the starlight is adversely or positively affected by cloud patterns," she said getting another laugh out of Daniel.

"The things you think about Ad," he replied, walking over to sit beside her. She turned her head to look at him, her dark eyes having that excited look, the look he had come to relish in working with her.

"So you never just want to stay on a planet? Explore every inch of it, flora, fauna, geography?" she inquired and Daniel shrugged, wrapping his arms around his knees.

"Sometimes, but that would take a lifetime," he responded. Slowly, Adrienne turned her head to gaze back up at the sky.

"The database will take a lifetime," she replied quietly. He spoke without thinking.

"Not with you," he said, dropping to silence, realizing as soon as the words crossed his lips how that might have sounded even though he believed it with every fiber of his being, but Adrienne didn't tease, just giggled lightly beside him.

"I'm glad you have so much faith in me," she answered, Daniel immediately relived she hadn't read anything into that.

"You've proven to be a very valuable asset to our department," he stated professionally and Adrienne began to laugh again, a bit louder, peering over at him.

"Which cue card to save my job from Woolsey did that come from Indy?" she asked. Daniel looked down at her.

"You're so awful to me Ad," he joked, and she was, but he loved it. He wasn't sure why, but when she teased him it was different somehow, not embarrassing, not demeaning, and maybe even true.

Well, usually true, she was pretty good at pegging him.

"Only because you make it so easy," she responded and sat up, standing. Daniel watched her get up, wondering if he had offended her.

"Where are you going now?" he asked, noticing her heading back in the direction of the fire.

"I forgot to bring a drink over, ya want something?" she asked kindly. Daniel shook his head no and looked back up at the sky as Adrienne headed back toward the encampment.

"They do look pretty amazing here," he said to himself, laying back on her sleeping bag and gazing up to the stars.

Jack awoke the next morning, the fire having burned down low to the ground and saw Cam, on morning watch, starting a cook fire to make breakfast. Peering across the fire to the other side, he noted that Vala was starting to stir as well, looking like she had slept curled up on the blanket closest to the blaze, evidently not realizing how cold it got in a rainforest. Cracking his neck, Jack looked to his right and saw Daniel and Adrienne, both still asleep, side by side, Daniel sleeping on his back and Adrienne rolled onto her left side, but lying very very close to him.

Really? he asked himself, they even sleep beside one another?

He shook his head, blowing it off, starting to stand to get some breakfast when he noticed Adrienne's foot. Her right foot was stretched behind her, not holding her side up, but rather resting on Daniel's leg. Jack was shaking his head about to shout something obscene to Dr. Perky about playing footsie with her boss when he noticed Daniel's hands, one of them tucked behind his head and the other one resting against the small of Adrienne's back. He stared at them, dumbfounded, trying to figure out what to say when he felt someone plop down beside him.

"We're considering taking a pool to see when they clue in. Cam says it might be a nice payout," Vala explained as she sat, handing Jack a packet of crackers and a bottled water, "Powered eggs and coffee should be ready soon," she added but Jack was still staring at his good friend and this woman he was lying beside. At a loss for words, he just shook his head and looked over at Vala.

"Are they like this on every mission?" Jack asked and Vala nodded.

"Every damn mission," she responded and he could hear the disgust in her voice. Redirecting his attention once more to the sleeping teammates, Jack opened the pack of crackers and balled up the wrapper, throwing it in Daniel's direction. The brown military paper hit him on the cheek and bounced to the ground and Daniel grunted, wiping his face with the hand that had been resting against Adrienne. Curious, Jack glanced over at Vala, holding out his open hand.

"Give me your wrapper," he ordered and Vala handed it over mystified. Closing one eye for better aim, Jack balled it up and threw again, hitting Daniel square in the center of his face. This time Daniel rubbed his nose and rolled over, throwing his arm over Adrienne, who in her state of sleep just moved her body closer to him. He lay like that just for a moment, asleep and holding Adrienne when suddenly he sat with a start, looking down at his assistant and then glaring over at Jack.

"Cute," he commented and sat up, grabbing his glasses off of his pack. Jack just smiled.

"Power of suggestion," he responded, watching a frowning Daniel lean over, shaking Adrienne.

"Ad, wake up," he shook her gently.

"Is there coffee?" she asked, rolling over to face him.

"I'll get you some," he replied standing quickly. Mouth open, Jack just shook his head again looking at Vala who nodded.

"Every damn mission," she answered the question he didn't need to ask again, as he caught out of the corner of his eye Daniel going to the cook fire to secure the promised coffee.

"If they share a cup I just might vomit," Jack said. Feeling validated that someone agreed, Vala stood and laughed, going to get some coffee herself.

Everyone was ready to go only 30 minutes later, again to Jack's surprise. He guessed this camping thing was something that everyone was just now used to and decided to not say another word to Daniel about this new mission practice or his little groupie as he and Adrienne ate breakfast and got ready like a damn married couple. It was a level of restraint that Jack wasn't used to, but he really wanted to see how this all played out.

It took another four hours to arrive at the remains the MALP had sent back photos of, the same ones that Daniel and Adrienne found while reading something about fire that powered temples. Daniel must have seen something familiar because as he and Jack walked ahead, the ruins coming into sight he suddenly stopped and looked back, shouting something to Adrienne in French. Jack promptly smacked his arm.

"I specifically said no foreign languages," Jack scolded as Daniel completely disregarded his statement and continued talking to Adrienne who was now interrupting him and finishing his sentence, in French. Excited, she ran up, pushing past the general, babbling on incoherently and Jack just stood and watched as the two of them walked ahead ripping off their backpacks, Daniel waiting as Adrienne dug out that iPad of hers taking pictures and typing as they continued to babble. Cam and Vala came and stood beside him watching the scene unfold.

"Mitchell, what in the hell is going on right now?" Jack asked as he heard Adrienne shout out "That's what I'm talking about," and watched Daniel and Adrienne fist pump each other and then keep speaking French. Jack's mouth dropped open.

"That's how they operate. We just stand and wait until they start speaking English again," Cameron replied, Vala nodding in agreement.

"I tell her all the time they're different, but she thinks I am seeing things," Vala added. Jack shook his head.

"Oh no, you're not," Jack confirmed and started to approach his old friend, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Daniel, amigo, care to clue the rest of us in?" he inquired trying to pull him away from the enthusiastic young woman. Shaking his head, Daniel brought himself out of his nerd trance and glanced back at Jack.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, this is what we've been spending the past couple of days on; it says just what we thought it did and Adrienne's just looking at the rest of the inscription to make sure we don't have a bomb like last time," Daniel answered and then, like Jack was not even there starting speaking French to Adrienne again.

"Dammit Daniel, I said no damn French!" Jack shouted. Daniel turned back around to face him quickly, looking annoyed.

"Look, Jack, you haven't been on one of these in a while alright. This is just how Adrienne and I do things. We're not trying to be rude, it's just faster and it's how our brains work. As soon as we figure out where this damn thing is, we'll tell you. Why don't you help set up camp?" Daniel offered. Jack looked at him like he was insane.

"Set up camp? Who died and left you in charge? Doesn't Cam run this team?" Jack was really getting a lesson in the new reality of the SGC; a reality where the geeks called the shots, worked in creepy little multilingual pairs and SG teams operated like boy scout troops. He turned around to see what Cameron's reaction was and noted that he and Vala were already making camp so Jack threw up his hands, giving up completely.

"When in Rome..." he said to himself, pitching in to help.

General Jonathan J. O'Neill, the man not in charge of this mission, had just gotten the campfire area started as Vala and Cam cleared more brush when he heard a shout, a woman's voice, shouting, in English and looked up to see Daniel drop the file in his hands, frantically racing off in the direction of the scream.

"Are you kidding me, now he runs toward the danger?" Jack dropped the stick and started to dash himself, Cameron and Vala running to join him. He jumped over a few fallen walls and some creepy concrete skulls, ducking under some rather large jungle like trees until he saw Daniel standing beside a large hole appearing pretty pissed off.

"Where's Dr. Perky?" Jack asked looking in the same direction Daniel was, downward. He could see a flashlight in the hole and had his answer, glancing back up at Daniel who seemed like he was caught between a panic attack and full on rage. Scowling, the archaeologist knelt down at the hole, holding on the edges to yell.

"I said not to go down there without me!" he shouted.

"You said you were right behind me!" she countered back.

"Trouble in paradise?" Jack joked and Daniel shot him a glare, peering back down the hole.

"We have no idea what in the hell is down there!" he scolded again, weakly, even Jack could tell he didn't mean that; Daniel was more concerned about her going ahead without him.

"Yes we do. We read the same damn wall Indy. The ZPM is down here, nothing else, save for a few rats. If you're too scared to come down send Vala! I don't think she's afraid of rats!" Adrienne shouted back. Nodding as if she was agreeing, Vala laughed as she came to a stop behind them, opening her pack to get her climbing gear, Daniel's eyes daggers as he glared back at her.

"Where in the hell do you think you're going?" he hissed. Not pausing for a moment, Vala stepped into her harness, pulling it up to her hips.

"I'm climbing down like Addy asked," she responded, clipping the belay rope to herself.

"Since when do you take orders from Adrienne?" Daniel demanded, looking at Vala now like she was nuts.

"Since she was hired. I listen to you; I get in trouble. I listen to Addy; I get out of trouble. Fairly simple, don't you think?" she answered and went to wrap her rope around the tree beside the one Adrienne was using, tightening it around her waist and starting for the hole, climbing over the edge. Daniel let out a huff, walking over to his backpack to get his own gear, realizing he was just going to have to climb down himself. Storming over to confirm his thoughts, Jack stared in disbelief as the brilliant archaeologist, the brilliant clueless archaeologist, sat on the floor of the jungle, pulling a climbing harness from his back and slipping it over booted feet.

"You climb now too?" Jack couldn't believe all of the new information he was learning on this trip. Daniel was almost in charge of SG-1, or at least acted like it, he had been right about Dr. Perky because Daniel sure as hell acted like the girlie was his, they acted like god damn scouts (Jack was still stuck on that) and now all they all packed like they were going on some damn mountain adventure.

What was going on?

Daniel didn't dignify Jack's smart remark with a response, simply grabbing his harness, leaning back to peer over seeing that Cam had joined them, curious to the source of the screams as well.

"You got everything up here?" he asked and Cameron nodded.

"Yeah, I'm gonna set up to get you guys out of there if we need to and keep watch. Let me know if you know you're gonna get out of radio contact," the colonel ordered. Agreeing, Daniel nodded and clicked his harness in place, walking over to the tree Adrienne had used and locked himself on, finally acknowledging Jack.

"Staying or coming?" he asked.

"Is there a chance that your girlfriend's gonna blow us up?" Jack asked right back. Daniel shrugged.

"Yeah, there is," he answered honestly, Jack throwing up his hands in celebration.

"Well, that's a bit more like normal at least," he replied, reaching in his pack to see if Teal'c's bag had a harness and it did, of course his old buddy would be in on this insanity, why the hell not? He started to put it on when he saw Daniel heading down into the hole, a look of determination on his face.

"Dammit Daniel, can you wait a second?" Jack yelled, pulling the harness to his waist but Daniel shook his head.

"Catch up. I need to make sure Adrienne's not trying to save the day," Daniel responded as he started down the hole.

"And she's not my girlfriend!" Jack heard Daniel shout from about halfway down the chute.

"Oh sure she's not, because you chased down me, Sam or Teal'c with such intensity," Jack mumbled to himself cocking his head back at Cam.

"You got this Mitchell?" Jack asked, Cam nodding in reply.

"Do you see what I work with now? I welcome the quiet," he joked. Sharing a smile, Jack hooked himself up to a tree and followed his old friend down the hole into the abyss of the ruins.

It was dark, really dark. Jack was about to hunt for a flashlight that he was certain would be in his borrowed pack when he saw a blink of light in the distance and chose to follow that rather than risk spilling the entire contents of Teal'c's mission bag onto the dank cave floor. He knew that he was on the right track when he heard voices that were not speaking English.

Daniel and Adrienne of course.

When Jack got to the room, cave, or whatever it was the two of them were laying on their stomachs, flashlights in hand reading some gibberish on the ground. Over the years Jack was used to Daniel reading gibberish while he waited, forever, and now it was just odd to see essentially two Daniels laying on their stomachs reading, well, gibberish. Finally Adrienne stood, saying something to him in a language Jack didn't recognize, and Daniel nodded although there was concern in his face as Adrienne began to strip.

"Why in the hell is she taking off her clothes?" Jack demanded, knowing it wasn't going to be anything inappropriate, hell, he wasn't even sure if Daniel knew what to do if a woman took off her clothes, but Adrienne rolled her eyes at him, making a face, unbuttoning her pants and sitting on the ground to remove her boots.

"The ZPM is down there according to that writing over there," she pointed to a carved wall behind her and continued, "we thought it might be so we planned ahead." Adrienne stood and Jack saw where she was pointing this time, to another hole in the ground, although this one was filled with water. Kicking off her pants, Adrienne pulled off her tank top to reveal she was wearing a sleek black one piece bathing suit underneath. She and Daniel must have prepared for this, maybe he should have actually read that file.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Adrienne reach back over to her climbing harness, tossing the straps over her feet and pulling that back up her hips once more. Daniel walked over, carefully reaching for her waist, tenderly running the black rope through the harness as they were speaking again, in whispers that sounded like French, standing very close to one another, much closer than even Jack expected. With a raise of her eyebrows, reaching out to rest her palm flatly on his bicep, Adrienne handed Daniel the rope with her free hand that was dangling in front of her, walking over to the pool of water, taking a deep breath and jumping in. Daniel looked at his watch and passed the rope over to Vala who was eyeing the water carefully.

"I don't care what she says. At 90 seconds we pull her up," he stated, Vala nodding quickly.

"I agree; I haven't seen her go much longer, even when she and Dex have put beers on it," Vala replied as Jack walked over interested in this new development.

"Wait, you mean to tell me that you guys knew this would take a few days, Dr. Perky would have to go swimming in the great beyond, so much so that you have prepped and trained for it? This is just going, so, well," Jack shouted, gazing down at the hole wondering exactly how much time had passed, almost worried about the young woman buried beneath the surface. Daniel was staring at the hole himself, showing equal concern, answering Jack without looking up.

"You guys said I needed help and got me an assistant. Sam wanted us to become friends and vióla, friends. We work well together Jack, and without the pressure of everything resting on my head and my head alone, I'm able to prepare better for things. If you had read Teal'c's file that I gave you beforehand you would have known all of this was coming," Daniel replied without eye contact, scanning his watch again.

"Alright Ad, no more screwing around," Daniel said, beginning to brace himself at the edge of the pool, glancing over his shoulder for Vala to come help pull on the end of the rope she was holding when Adrienne popped out of the water, gasping for breath, pulling herself up to the edge of the hole.

"I found it, but it's wedged pretty tight. I need goggles, a K-Bar and a rope, well, and an air tank, but if we take turns I think we can get this out without the last thing," Adrienne informed the group, but Jack could tell that she was really only talking to Daniel their eyes locked on one another's. He said something in French to her in reply and she laughed, answering him, in what sounded like Sandworm, Daniel roaring as Jack cleared his throat, confused but feeling like the butt of a joke.

"Um, what's so funny?" he asked. Daniel, who was now kneeling at the edge of the hole with Adrienne holding onto his leg to stay afloat, looked up at him.

"Adrienne just suggested that you go down with her, give you something to do," Daniel translated half way, leaving out the part where Adrienne was joking about Jack floating well, being that he was full of hot air. Jack could tell there was something else to their adorable bilingual conversation, glaring down at Adrienne in warning.

"Is it moving at all?' he asked rudely, ignoring what he was certain was a smart remark from the feisty cajun. Adrienne nodded.

"Yeah, that's why I suggested a K-Bar or something. I don't think it needs to be blasted and I wouldn't want to risk fracturing the crystal casing. We can take turns, pick at the surrounding rock and slip it out gently," she answered, very professionally. Grimacing, Jack started to remove his pack, looking over at Daniel.

"I was kidding about the trunks," he said, Daniel shrugging.

"One more word about reading that file and I smack that look off of your face," Jack added. He pulled the harness over his pants tighter, not having anyone to come and help check his ropes, although he was tempted for a moment to ask Vala, just to see the twins' reaction, but didn't and jumped in right beside Adrienne, water droplets spraying around him as he entered. The water was ice cold and he felt chills rocket through his body at first contact, making the young woman peer over in concern.

"Dunk your head; it'll get you over the cold faster," she informed him.

"I was swimming long before you were born Dr. Perky, give me a damn second," Jack informed her but Adrienne just smiled as he did exactly as she suggested, dunking his head under the water. He came back up, pushing the water out of his eyes and smoothing his hair, taking a deep breath to stretch his lungs before braving the dark waters.

"Let's go," he ordered, pulling his body under. Adrienne adjusted the goggles to her face smiling at Daniel and followed, swimming to catch up to the surprisingly fast older gentleman.

Jack quickly saw what Adrienne was talking about. In the slight distance there was a sparkle, reddish blue, faint but present. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind, seeing her swimming carefully and pointing right at the glow. Nodding, Jack reached for the knife at his belt as Adrienne signaled to him that she was going up for air. Assuming that she planned dive back in after he had returned, he nodded once more proceeding onward toward the shine in the slight distance.

There it was, a ZPM is all its glory, the first one they had found in a long time, intact, and better yet, it appeared to be fully charged. Maybe Atlantis could keep the lights on a little longer. Pleased, he swam to the object pushing and pulling to figure out where it was loose, if it was loose at all as Dr. Perky had claimed when he saw a rock wedged over the top and smashed the knife into it. He was able to chip away somewhat, but he needed air, fast, so he headed back up to the surface.

Adrienne was waiting for him, this time sitting on the edge of the hole, her feet dangling lightly in the water, with Daniel kneeling protectively right behind her. Glancing down, she grabbed a knife from beside her and pulled the goggles back onto her face.

"Work from the top," Jack said. Nodding in understanding, Adrienne slid back into the water, slipping the knife between her teeth. She was about to dip under when Daniel grabbed her arm.

"90 seconds Ad. Don't go rogue," he warned. Adrienne smiled to the best of her ability with a blade shoved in her mouth and ducked under, her form disappearing quickly in the blackness. Shaking water from his ears, Jack hoisted himself to the side, sitting on the ledge as the cajun had before, just no where near as close to Daniel.

"Good catch you two," he said, giving his head a second shake, "it looks fully charged." Daniel nodded his head.

"Yeah, and it was just a stroke of luck too. Sam sent us those awful images last week but we didn't bother looking at them for days. Adrienne and I were going through them the other night just because we couldn't sleep and there is it was. As bad as those pics were, we would have probably ordered another MALP sent before we really stopped to look at the pictures were it not for the fact that we were just antsy and bored in the middle of the night," Daniel explained.

"We?" Jack asked, "We couldn't sleep. You make it sound like you guys go to bed together," he noted, Daniel rolling his eyes.

"No, Jack, stop with your insane ideas. It's not like that," Daniel insisted, peering into the water and looking back at his watch.

"Oh, and I'm sure you watched the time for me like that too, didn't you," Jack teased and Daniel let out a huff.

"You'll come back when you need air. Adrienne'll kill herself to get that ZPM because she knows we need it," Daniel replied, not acknowledging Jack's other insinuation.

"Sounds like someone else I know. Where's your ex?" he asked, noting Vala's absence.

"She left. Ad and I have this under control," Daniel answered, quickly adding, "Don't call Vala that."

"Why, that's what it is, isn't it? How does she feel about you and Dr. Perky?" Jack continued, putting him quickly on the receiving end of an evil stare but before Daniel could answer, Adrienne popped out of the water.

"Top's free. Looks like something almost coral like has formed around the bottom left side. Not sure if we're talking about a living organism or not so be careful sir," Adrienne informed him.

Jack just nodded and jumped back into the water.

Daniel's feisty little groupie was right about the coral, but fortunately nothing slimy and bloody came out when he dug in, so the blade slipped in quickly and easily on the second stroke. He had just about gotten the ZPM loose when he needed air and he cursed his aging lungs swimming quickly back up to surface to discover Adrienne sitting back where she was before, this time leaning against Daniel.

Jack tried not to laugh.

"Not alive, or at least not bloody. It's all yours," Jack said and nodding, Adrienne leaned forward and dove back in, her feet leaving a light spray in their wake. Coughing, the general crawled back up on the ledge beside his friend, breathing deeply to control the barking emanating from his chest and throat.

"I'm too old for this shit," he said as Daniel nodded.

"See why I'm glad Sam got her. She could do this all day," he agreed. Jack started to pull the wet shirt from his body, squeezing it out at the hem, hoping the young archaeologist would get the thing freed so he didn't have to go on another deep sea exploration.

"Yeah, I bet that's why you're glad," he joked, now standing to loosen his pants from his soaked legs, Daniel shaking his head.

"Jack we're just really good friends. I really haven't met anyone quite like her and we get along well. We're a lot alike in many aspects. You're imagining things," Daniel retorted, looking up, but not standing, keeping one eye on the hole. Jack knelt down to join him in his trance.

"I've know you for a long time Daniel, a long time," Jack started but Daniel didn't respond, just kept alternating his gaze between his watch and the pool of water in front of him.

"You're in love with that woman," Jack continued, finally getting Daniel's undivided attention, as he glared viciously at him.

"No, I'm not," he said quickly. Laughing, Jack sat back down, giving up on comfort, or dryness at this point.

"Believe whatever Daniel. When you figure it out I'm going to be standing there waiting to say 'I told you so,'" Jack informed him as bubbles began to rise in front of them, effectively ending their brief conversation. Gazing down, the men saw a gleam in the water as Adrienne popped up smiling, ZPM in hand.

"All hail Arthur, king of the Britons!" she exclaimed, handing Daniel over the ancient device as he chuckled at her joke.

"Stop quoting the Pythons," he replied, smiling.

"It's made this mission for me that you know that, more so than finding the damn thing," she said as he took the ZPM and she hoisted herself out of the water, strolling over calmly to her backpack. Kneeling, she pulled out a towel and a tightly tied canvas bag. Jack walked over to Daniel to examine the ZPM and his friend handed it over happily, obviously pleased with their work.

"McKay's gonna shit himself," Jack responded. Daniel laughed and reached behind himself without looking as Adrienne slapped the canvas bag into his hand. She strode back over to her pack in silence, toweling herself off before climbing back into her uniform. Daniel opened the bag so Jack could slide the device inside, tying it off and tossing it over his shoulder as Adrienne waltzed on over like retrieving a ZPM was just something the two of them did every day, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Anything else we needed to do Indy?" she asked.

"Not a thing," he responded, "Unless you want to explore a bit more."

"Always," she replied, "but what's the time clock looking like?" He smiled.

"Well, we barely have enough time at my speed, much less yours," he teased. Shoving him playfully, she adjusted the pack onto her shoulder and headed back down the dark corridor.

"Christ make the flirting stop!" Jack pleaded, again amazed at the ridiculous dialog between the two of them, like they had known each other for years and not a little over nine months. Not responding, grabbing his own bag, Daniel followed behind his assistant.

"He who does not deny," Jack said, shaking his head at the entire incident, bringing up the rear.

After tearing down what little they had set up, not needing to remain longer and anxious to get back, the group started their trek back toward the gate, excitement in their step. They walked a little further than they did the night before at Cam's insistence, but still stopped for camp. After taking note of the previous night's events, Jack paid closer attention to his good buddy, if not for anything else just to prove his point. Adrienne set up her place first and without hesitation Daniel set up right beside her, rolling his sleeping bag out much closer than any normal friend would have. As she had the night before, Adrienne didn't eat the normal food like everyone else, instead pulling out of her pack some weird preserved rabbit food that she passed right over to Daniel, who took it and ate it, no questions asked. In addition, when Cameron went to divide up the watch schedule, for an eight hour night 90 minutes each, Daniel spoke right up and said that Adrienne should get a break because she had retrieved the ZPM. Forget that Jack had too, the man didn't seem to remember that part of the mission at all. Surprisingly, no one argued and in fact seemed to expect Daniel's request, submitting to two hours shifts for each to make up for her excusal from the duty. Intending to wake early the next morning, they all went to their respective sleeping areas as Jack had volunteered to take the first shift, watching each of them settle down for the night.

He hadn't done so to be nice, he wanted to spy a little more to figure out exactly what was going on between Daniel and his assistant, something that had started out as a new way to harass Daniel but was apparently something more, something much more.

Something he was getting worried about.

Sure enough, as everyone hunkered down, wishing each other a good night when he heard a woman's voice whisper something in French and a bit of laughter and peeked over to where the Bobsey twins were laying. Daniel, like last night, was lying on his back while Adrienne was on her side, this time facing him and they were talking quietly, but doing so in French as if they knew Jack was spying on them. Jack just pretended to play cards with himself when he heard Daniel begin a sentence, Adrienne finish it and then they both laughed. They continued like this for a while until Jack no longer heard voices and peered over to see that Daniel still lying on his back but Adrienne was now asleep on her stomach, right beside him with her head on her right arm but still leaning onto his bicep. He was staring at them in utter disbelief when Cameron leaned over, evidently waking for his shift.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sure she does; she runs straight into danger for him. I think he might too," Cam said as he sat down but Jack was frowning.

"But they're not, right?" he asked, shaking his head, "nothing other than this?" Cameron shrugged.

"Not that I know of. The last time Adrienne was in trouble, Daniel just about hospitalized himself trying to save her; he puts himself in situations that he shouldn't for her sake. Adrienne too, no regard for herself in the least. It's not just the 'leave no man behind' mentality, it's more. I've considered talking to Sam about it, but frankly sir, I'm not sure what to do," Cam replied, grabbing a piece of grass from the ground and beginning to rip it nervously to shreds. Jack was silent for a while, watching his friend sleep. After everything, yeah, Daniel deserved some happiness but if this was where he was planning on finding it then his old friend was gonna be in for a grim future, one that Jack has spent most of his life with the SGC living. The hoops and technicalities he had to overcome to be with Sam were more than he had ever imagined, and he and Sam no longer directly worked together. Sighing, Jack looked at his watch.

"I'll take your shift Mitchell," he offered, "Let me talk to him."

Daniel felt the buzzing of the alarm in his pocket and took out his phone, trying to remember how to shut off the timer he had used. Thankfully he remembered so he didn't have to disturb Adrienne to fix it and she would have, without question, but it still made him feel bad to wake her up and ask. He sat up, stretched, cracked his neck and stood, walking over to the fire, surprised to see Jack waiting for him.

"Where's Cam?" Daniel asked, coming over to sit down beside him.

"I took his shift; Daniel we need to talk," Jack answered, diving right in. Daniel looked over at him confused.

"About..." he asked, trailing a bit. Jack just pointed over at Adrienne, who now had her arm out as if she was looking for her missing companion. Shaking his head, Daniel let out a sigh, his eyes quickly gazing to the ground.

"Jack, look, I told you, she's not my girlfriend. She's, ugh, for lack of a more adult sounding word, my best friend. That's all," Daniel insisted, not wanting to have this conversation again.

Why was Jack so adamant about this?

"I don't doubt that, the way the two of you are all giddy over dorky stuff. It's creepy to see a little female you over there, I can assure you but Daniel, it's more than that, a lot more than that and somewhere in that mess of yours you call a brain you know that," Jack continued but Daniel just kept shaking his head. Frustrated, Jack held up his hand, halting the archaeologist's protest.

"Hear me out Daniel, please. I'm being serious here," he stated as the other man looked away.

"I don't know what you see in that little girl, but apparently you see something. She seems to make you happy, or at least you don't act like you used too, all guarded and secretive and I'm not the only one that's noticed. Look, I'm not trying to get you to admit anything or convince you of anything, all I'm saying to you is this: When it happens, when you really find that one person, don't let idiotic things stand in your way or else you'll regret it," Jack continued, pausing to let him take in his words. Unclasping his hands, where he had been picking at his fingernails, Daniel looked back over at him, his eyes full of something, despair, annoyance, for the first time ever Jack couldn't tell what.

"Jack, I care about her, I really really do, but it's just not what you think," Daniel assured him and Jack sighed, understanding that this conversation was going nowhere, that his friend wasn't going to listen to him.

"Alright, lecture over, but don't be surprised alright? It may just bite you in the ass when you least expect it. But Daniel, if it does, when it does, you can't tell a soul, no one. The backlash from Woolsey and those other assholes would be... just keep it quiet, ok?" he said as he stood and went to his sleeping bag. No response to be had, Daniel leaned back, laying in the grass and just looked up at the stars, trying not to think too much about Jack or his crazy ideas.

Jack kept his promise the next morning and didn't bother Daniel anymore about Adrienne, or anything for that matter. The men hiked in silence while Adrienne and Vala hung back talking about their cable TV vampire show which was apparently a new episode this week. Jack noticed that Daniel didn't say much to Adrienne at all for most of the walk back for some reason, none of the touchy-feely stuff from yesterday, maybe to prove to Jack that he really wasn't in love with her at all, or maybe not, the general really couldn't be sure.

They got back to the gate and Daniel started to dial when finally Adrienne had something to say to him. Jack was standing slightly over to the left of the DHD pretending not to listen as the perky young woman danced up to her boss, resting her palm again on his shoulder.

"Hey Indy, wanna come watch vampires on Sunday? I promise all Swedish men should be keeping their clothes on this week," she joked. Daniel just shrugged as he dialed, not even making eye contact with his answer.

"Maybe, let me see how it goes when we take this to Rodney. I may be trapped at work all weekend," Daniel replied flatly, continuing to dial.

He turned her down, Jack thought, maybe I was wrong, he' s not even looking at her. Rather than slink away hurt, as Vala would have done, Adrienne just nodded in understanding.

"Ha, fair enough. You have fun with Rodney shug," she laughed and walked back over to Vala who looked at Daniel, making a face and sticking out her tongue. That was all, the conversation ending, as if it has never started, no drama, no nothing. Thinking he might have been wrong, Jack barely noticed the woosh of air around him as the wormhole opened and the team walked up the ramp and through the gate, leaving the jungle paradise.

Sam was waiting for them on the other side, her expression that of extreme delight as Daniel walked up to her, handing over the bag.

"It would be nice to get at least an hour with it before McKay goes into McKay mode," he said, a half a smile on his face. Returning the gesture, Sam took the satchel from his hands, holding out the treasure as if she was afraid it would disappear if she held it closer and accepted its existence.

"I'll do my best, but you're gonna want to hang around just in case. I'm sure he'll have you on speed dial," she replied and Daniel nodded his head, heading to the infirmary for the mandatory check-up. Jack walked up to his wife and hugged her tightly, pulling away slightly, his eyes following behind Daniel, who left without so much as a word to his assistant, who was hanging back, chatting with Vala and Cameron on her own way to the infirmary, in deep conversation about something else that was happening in the DC area this weekend. Sam could tell Jack was watching them leave, squeezing his arm gently.

"Something wrong?" she asked sweetly but Jack shook his head.

"Nothing. I thought there was but, it's nothing," Jack replied and grabbed her hand to walk away.

Rodney informed Daniel that he would no longer need his assistance at about 7 p.m. on Sunday, after nearly twenty four hours of non-stop complaining. Daniel was grateful, relieved, having found nothing on this ZPM that mattered to his work at all.

Plus Rodney had given him a splitting headache.

Trying not to demonstrate his extreme excitement over his new found liberty, Daniel made his way down to his own lab to pack his things and head for home.

When he got to the lab it was quiet, eerily so. He really wasn't used to quiet anymore, if Adrienne was here there was usually some music blasting or she was waiting to tell him something either work related or just something silly but right now the room was so silent that despite the piles of papers, boxes of files and artifacts it seemed strangely empty.

Suddenly very lonely, he glanced at his watch, noting it was only half past seven, just enough to get to her place before True Blood. True, he thought that show was insanely stupid, but it was fun to tease of her and Vala as they watched.

And he missed her, a lot since they got back, in fact, they hadn't talked since their arrival.

He knew it was his fault, a small part of him hearing Jack's words every time he went to send her a text or an email, pushing the phone or computer away, determined that Jack wasn't going to be right, there was nothing going on between he and Adrienne. Sure, the base personnel that didn't know them well talked, as if a man and a woman couldn't just be friends, but now Jack even thought something was going on...

Here he was, in the lab, alone, staring not at the work he should be doing but at the phone in his hand, a blank screen waiting for his words. Daniel paused, unaware that he was holding his breath, debating what he should do.

Is Jack right?

Am I in love with Adrienne?

"Screw you Jack," he finally said aloud, his finger flicking around on the screen searching for that name, the only name that could make him feel better, the only name he wanted to see right now.

_Could sure use some idiotic programming if the offer still stands..._

He was just at the elevators when he felt his phone buzz.

_Always Indy, always. Bring wine :-) _


	21. Chapter 20 - Normality

_Yes, yes, yes, a lot of the same premise as the last BUT the adventure is what is important here. _

_Daniel & Addy? _

_Yeah, I just lacked self-control. _

_Enjoy._

It was 2 a.m. when Daniel couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. He hated to stop, having made so much progress already in the database, but there was no way he could stay awake. He had sent Adrienne to bed a little over an hour ago after she stood from her desk and offered to get them coffee for the third time, her night owl tendencies too dying off in the monotony of translation. She had reluctantly gone to bed only on the promise that he was shutting down the lab after her. Honestly, he had had every intention of doing so until he had reached the section concerning Asgard interaction with ancient earth cultures, cultures other than the Vikings, cultures much older than the Vikings. He had been going through the database in order, wondering where this section would be and there it was, smack dab in front of him at 1:15 a.m., a full hour after Adrienne had gone to bed.

But now it was 2, and Daniel had caught himself reading the same line four times.

Continuing at this juncture would be pointless. He marked his place in the system, and cleaned up his desk, shutting down the rest of the lab for the night and pulling the door closed behind him.

The halls of the SGC were quiet, only a skeleton crew working the graveyard shift, not a soul was to be found in the hallways, only slight commotion coming from the commissary. Nights like this he was even more thankful Sam had granted both he and Adrienne on base quarters so they could work late into the evening, especially since both of them seemed to function so much better after eight p.m. and there were fewer chances of interruption. He was also thankful Sam had hired him a fellow workaholic, a kindred spirit that would work herself to death as quickly as he would.

A kindred spirit who'd become his best friend.

He should probably thank Sam for that as well.

Reaching the door to his room, Daniel punched in the key code, waiting impatiently for the green light allowing him to enter. It was pitch black inside as the door swung open, but he didn't bother with the light, making his way around the room based on memory. Silently counting the steps over to his hamper, he stripped down to his boxers, tossing his clothes inside, setting his glasses on his dresser and turning to make his way to the bed. He felt for the head board and pulled back the blanket, crawling inside, his body aching for sleep.

He wasn't alone.

Daniel froze in time, in a panic, wondering how she had gotten in here. Since the beach trip, Vala was back to pursuing him full tilt, moving beyond innuendos to all out advances including showing up at his quarters late one night in a silk robe and silk robe only. Adrienne found that insanely amusing, vowing to install spy cameras in his room, pointed at his face just to be able to see his reaction. But now, now there was no slamming the door in her face, now there was virtually no escape.

She was here in his bed.

He should have listened to Adrienne.

He should have changed his passcode to something less predictable. DAJ1965 was easy, even if Vala didn't know his middle name, it would only take her 26 tries to get it right. In an effort to remain as quiet as possible, Daniel began to inch his way out of bed, planning to throw on some sweats and head down to the VIP room to avoid causing a scene.

"There's no heat on my level Indy, so I just came here. I don't have the new code to the VIP room yet," Adrienne said from the bed, Adrienne. Thank god, Daniel thought, breathing a sigh of relief and sitting back down leaning onto the pillow beside her.

"No heat?" he asked, trying to see her in the darkness. Adrienne had huddled herself over to the concrete wall, as normal, and he could tell she was wearing a t-shirt and pajama pants underneath the blanket. He hadn't checked for any reason other than to assure himself that it was alright; it was just Adrienne and she was just here to sleep. Adrienne would keep her hands to herself, well, to an extent; she really didn't mean to grab on to him when she slept, she didn't mean anything by it and he had done the same to her.

It was nothing, despite Jack's insistence otherwise.

"Yea; they sent an email at about six warning those of us with off base housing to go home or see Walter about an alternate assignment until it's repaired. I didn't check my email," she replied, not turning over. She hadn't checked her email because he had them working so hard tonight and for a moment he felt bad; it was his fault that she was here, smashed into his bunk with him. When he didn't answer, he felt movement and could see her outline, that she had sat up and was looking at him.

"If you give me the VIP code, I can head down there; I was barely asleep," she offered. but Daniel shook his head, a futile gesture in the darkness.

"No, just stay here, it's not like we haven't done this before," he answered, sliding down into the bed and rolling over, turning his back to her. The base would talk, they always did, but he just didn't care anymore. She was his best friend, and he wasn't going to oust her at two in the morning after her losing her own room was essentially his fault. He felt her lean over him, kissing his cheek, and then the bed shake as she was turning herself back over to her left side.

"Night Daniel," she whispered into the darkness.

"Night Adrienne," he answered back and fell asleep.

It was nice to not be awoken by sirens or other alarms for once. Daniel opened his eyes and peeked over at his alarm clock, squinting to see that it was almost 9, later than he usually liked to get up, but considering what time he had made it to bed, he wasn't going to beat himself up over it. He just wanted to get breakfast and get back to work; it wasn't every day you discovered that the Asgard did a lot more than influence the Vikings. Sitting up, Daniel pulled back the blanket, looking over to his side where his assistant was sleeping peacefully, tucked quietly under his blanket, her back to him, still facing the wall. It was Saturday, a Saturday off, and technically she shouldn't be working at all, so he decided to leave her sleeping. He got up quietly, reaching back over to make sure that she was covered, even pausing to tuck the fabric underneath her back, and made his way to the shower.

He was just about finished when he heard the door open and saw a figure enter the bathroom, but he didn't flinch; he knew who it was. It used to bother him, he used to worry that she would act like Vala, try to weasel her way into his room, his bed, his shower, but he had learned with Adrienne that wasn't the case, so he just leaned into the stream to rinse the shampoo from his hair.

"Hey Indy, shug, sorry to bother you, but I have a ton of things I have to get done, is it alright if I bail on you today?" Adrienne asked. Yeah, this is what Jack was talking about, the woman is in the bathroom with you after spending the night with you Jackson. Oh, this all just looks so normal, and it wasn't, he knew, but it was alright.

Acceptable?

It was something, it was the way they were, and Jack could think what he wanted.

"Yeah, Ad, I wasn't expecting you to work this Saturday anyway, that's fine," he answered, shutting off the water without thinking. He realized his mistake when a towel was shoved into the stall, the curtain still closed, as if she had anticipated his forgetfulness. Not normal, dammit Jack, he swore internally, his stomach in knots at the thought. Quickly he reached out, ripping the towel from her hand and began to dry off behind the safety of the curtain.

"Well, I know I said I'd help you get through that section, so I'll hurry and get back as soon as possible. The big issue will be getting the car inspected, but after that the rest of the things are run in and run out. No big deal at all," she explained.

"Don't rush, just get back when you can," he assured her, much too quickly, a tone in his voice that he knew she would be able to read. Clearing his throat to distract her, he wrapped the towel around himself, stepping out carefully to discover that she was still there, sitting on his bathroom counter cross legged. Oh how Jack would love this, he thought, his heart starting to beat a little faster.

Why was he feeling like this?

It was just Adrienne and she was like his...

"You're a liar Indy," Adrienne accused, interrupting his thought, "you found something good and you just don't want to share..." she trailed, waiting for him to answer. Ok, so maybe he did want her to go do her errands, whatever she had to do to allow him to relish in this find alone for just a short while. Not that he didn't want to share it with her, he did, but for something like this he wanted to get all of the facts and information before he presented it to her because he liked to wait, to see the excitement in her eyes.

And he liked to impress her.

He wasn't sure why, but he did. His nerves quelling, he tapped her lightly on the shoulder for her to hop down from the counter so he could brush his teeth and she did, standing and leaning against the wall, smiling at him. Unable to contain it any longer, he relented.

"Ok, yes, I found something good. Really good, but I don't want to take you away from your very important state inspection," he teased. She knew him too well, she'd read it in his voice the moment she stepped in this bathroom.

Not normal.

Your best friend, hell your assistant shouldn't know you that well.

And cue the nerves.

Damn you Jack.

"Daniel Anthony you rat bastard," Adrienne swore at him, "you're holding out on me! I can get the bug inspected late; what did you find?" she pushed but Daniel didn't answer, just started to brush his teeth hoping his facial expression didn't give anything away when Adrienne reached over and grabbed the toothbrush from his grasp.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked, laughing and glaring over at her, trying not to choke on toothpaste.

"Spill Indy," Adrienne demanded, shaking the toothbrush in front of his face. Daniel was trying not to laugh as she taunted him with it awaiting his answer.

Not normal.

"I'll tell you, just give me that back," he replied, although he was sure that what really came out of his mouth was something along the lines of 'all well woo, ust ev me dat ack.' Giggling, Adrienne reached the toothbrush forward as if she was going to hand it over, but pulling back right as he extended his arm, sending him staggering forward, his towel slipping down his hip slightly.

His heart stop as he pulled it up quickly, I almost dropped the towel, he thought, right in front of her, but if she noticed she wasn't going to say anything, setting the toothbrush on the counter cutting her eyes at him playfully.

"Fine, you be that way. I'm going to go to my quarters, shower, get decent and meet you in the lab. Do not, Daniel, I repeat, do not start without me, whatever your big secret is," she ordered. Relieved that she was leaving, Daniel just smiled and continued brushing his teeth, watching her dart out of his bathroom.

Damn you Jack.

No.

He looked back into the mirror before spitting into the sink.

Adrienne quite literally ran into Vala in the hallway. Surprised, she caught Adrienne by the shoulders and pushed her back, holding her upright so she wouldn't fall.

"Dammit Addy, what in the hell's the hurry?" she asked, confused as to why Adrienne was running around base on a Saturday morning like a mad woman. Vala remembered they had planned to get together tonight after Adrienne had run her errands but she had no idea what the crazy cajun was doing here instead of taking care of those very errands.

"Gotta get back to my quarters, grab my things, shower, get dressed and get to the lab, sorry," she apologized, grabbing her friend's shoulders this time to move her aside as Vala looked at her puzzled.

"Wait, you're heading to your quarters? From where?" Vala inquired, reaching for her arm to halt her retreat. She stared at her friend trying to figure out where Adrienne, up this early, without a gym bag was coming from when suddenly her eyes widened, looking back in the direction from which she had come.

"Wait, you slept with Daniel!?" Vala exclaimed. Adrienne, not thinking, since this wasn't the first time they had crashed together in his room, just nodded not realizing that this was something she had never mentioned to Vala. She just assumed that everyone knew, that they were friends and just spent the night at one another's places, whether those places be their apartment or their quarters. Vala, apparently, wasn't privy to this knowledge, Adrienne discovered, as her friend's jaw dropped and she looked like she was going to explode.

"Dammit Vala, slept as in unconscious, not sexually. The heat on my floor is busted, so I just crashed with Daniel. It's no big deal, we do this all the time. I'm just gonna get my duffle, shower in the locker room and get to work but I might have to take a rain check for tonight though," Adrienne hastily explained but Vala didn't buy it. She chased Adrienne down as she began to scurry off, grabbing her friend's wrist to halt her escape.

"Addy, in the same bed, you slept in the same bed? The same tiny crap issued bed?" she asked as Adrienne pulled away from her grasp, scowling at her.

"Yes Vala, the same bed, do you think I'd sleep on the floor?" Adrienne retorted, but Vala raced around her, blocking her advance, holding her hands in front of her.

"What?" Adrienne asked, exasperated, "why are you following me?" Having her friend's undivided attention, Vala crossed her arms across her chest, jealously creeping across her face.

"I thought it was just a joke," she said and Adrienne shook her head.

"Yes, Vala, it was. We're not together; we just like to mess with you. A lot. Now, I really need to get going," Adrienne replied, ducking around her friend, headed back for her original destination. Sighing Vala gave up, so Adrienne darted away without another word, running faster than she had when she had first come racing down the hall. The alien woman waited just a moment, processing the entire conversation when it suddenly hit her, what had happened and Adrienne's casual attitude toward it. She scoffed, shouting after her.

"That's not normal Addy! Not normal!" she screamed, her words a combination of confusion and jealously. What was going on with the two of them? This was more than just being close friends, this was crossing a line.

Were they too blind or just too stupid to see?

Adrienne didn't acknowledge the remark, didn't even so much as wave over her head or even give her the finger, powering onward to her quarters.

Daniel watched the clock. Adrienne had left his quarters over and hour and a half ago and he was doing just as she requested: waiting.

Why was he waiting?

He really wanted to get started on this and she wouldn't be so mad, would she?

Maybe he could just start and then make it up to her later, and honestly once she saw this she'd probably forgive and forget quickly.

Why did he care so much?

Why was he putting so much thought into this?

Maybe Jack was right...

"Back!" Adrienne shouted as she dashed into the lab. Saved from another second of self-analysis, Daniel stood at his desk, hurriedly tapping the keys to his computer, whirring the machine back to life. On the screen popped the same symbol he had seen the night before, a symbol that would send Adrienne into a full spiral of joy. Trying not to smile too much, he stepped back slightly, but not too far, forcing her to peer over his shoulder.

"The freakin' star of David!" Adrienne just about screamed in the lab shoving Daniel out of her way, leering into the screen, squealing and babbling in Cajun incoherently, her overall demeanor changing from happiness to unadulterated excitement. This was the best find of the database so far, and it explained a lot in the course of human history, giving the Hebrews in fact a reason to be considered the chosen people. Because they were. They were who the Asgard protected first from the Goa'uld, not the Vikings as they all had believed for so long, in fact, Daniel started to wonder if Thor knew Moses, wishing the kind alien was still around to ask just that. He was about to speak, ask her what she thought of it, but Adrienne was ahead of him, moving him out of her way by his shoulders again before rushing back over to her desk.

"My lineage! Where is my lineage!" she was shouting. While Daniel had studied Egypt and the cultures similar, Adrienne had done her studies on the Near East, in particular the areas of Greece, Rome, and Macedonia and one couldn't study those civilizations without an understanding of the Hebrew people, who lived quietly in all three.

Sort of quiet since it seemed that very few hundred years their presence would cause a stir.

Daniel laughed at the thought, hanging back quietly until you are ready to cause a stir; no wonder Adrienne loved these people. He turned to tease her about that very fact when he felt her jerk him around to face her, shoving the iPad into his face.

"Dear God Daniel, dear god," she said, making him smile again. She only called him Daniel when it was something serious, normally it was Indy this, Indy that. Yeah, he thought to himself, it was worth the wait and he got lost in her dark eyes for a moment, soft, thoughtful orbs shining in an expression of complete glee, before her continued babbling made him blink, adjusting his glasses on his face.

Damn Jack.

"I was wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong. Every time I got to this weird j-word I kept translating it Jord, for the Norse, but I was wrong! Its Jocod... it's Jacob! Holy shit! 'ow could I be sah gah damned coo yon!" she exclaimed and there goes the Cajun, Daniel thought, further evidence as to how perfect this all was. As the words poured out of her mouth he couldn't help but notice how cute she looked right now, inspired, excited, and ready to explore further.

It was too much, her enthusiasm was contagious, and suddenly he had an overwhelming urge to...

"Stop!" he said out loud and Adrienne froze mid babble, glancing over at him strangely, wondering what she had done wrong. Trying to quickly cover his tracks, Daniel shook his hands in front of himself and stepped closer to his desk and away from his assistant. He really needed to stop listening to Jack; he had him thinking all sorts of insane thoughts and that was not normal.

"You ok Indy?" Adrienne asked carefully. Back to Indy, good, he thought, Indy's always safer.

Safer than what?

Daniel, what is going on with you?

"Yeah, no, I was talking to myself. Continue," he answered quickly and stepped aside as his assistant barreled past him again, crawling into his desk chair, getting into some strange yoga like position, speaking rapidly as she did so.

"Ok, so according to this, the Exodus was led by Mose, out of Egypt which coincides perfectly with when traditional Egyptian religion returned to the empire, meaning that the Asgard must have struck a deal with the Goa'uld. Daniel!" Adrienne was nearly standing in the chair and shouting, "Do you know what this means!?" There she went with the Daniel again, and he couldn't help but smile; she looked like she was just going to burst with happiness. He really loved to see her like this, insane stomach flutterings or not. Leaning over to the screen again, Adrienne squinted, rereading, getting into her own geek zone, which is what she called it Daniel did the same thing when she leapt up again, shouting and fell over the chair. Reacting on instinct, Daniel caught her in his arms just before she hit the floor.

"Ad," Daniel fussed as he held her, assisting her back to her feet, but not letting go once she was upright, "calm down." Adrienne stood there a moment, his arms around her shaking her head vigorously.

"Daniel, you don't understand, there's a planet, there's a planet code right there! There was a real Exodus, there was -" Adrienne began to explain when they both heard a throat clearing behind them.

"Am I interrupting something?" Jack asked as he entered the lab, striding in confidently, out of uniform completely, wearing jeans and a t-shirt. After all, it was Saturday and suddenly, it hit Daniel; he remembered a conversation just the other day when he had to go through some things with Jack before a big meeting. He had agreed to go out with Jack and Teal'c for a baseball game and beers, like the old days and today was that day. Not that Daniel particularly liked either, but after Jack had been riding him hard about his friendship with Adrienne, he had agreed to keep the peace and to hopefully get Jack to shut up about this 'being in love with Adrienne' nonsense.

Of course, as Daniel's luck would have it, he'd forgotten, and was in the lab, holding Adrienne tightly in his arms.

It was just gonna be that kind of day.

Flustered, Daniel let go of his assistant quickly and looked back at their visitor.

"Jack, Adrienne and I have stumbled upon something pretty fantastic here so I think I'm going to have to bail on you guys," Daniel dove right into the explanation wanting to rip this off like a bandaid, let Jack get mad, yell, make a crude joke and move on. Smirking already, his old friend walked casually over to the computer and peered at the computer screen.

"Uh huh, what's so fantastic that you are getting out of spending time with the guys and are just forced to spend time with your sweetheart here," Jack answered and Daniel felt the embarrassment flood his face, not only at the statement, but at the fact that Jack apparently didn't seem to care who knew his opinion of he and Adrienne, including Adrienne. Flushing, Daniel avoided eye contact with both.

"A planet," Adrienne answered for him, not responding to Jack's accusation. Relieved, Daniel walked to stand beside the general, scanning the screen, looking for what Adrienne had found. He read over the lines he had read the night before and there it was, a dialing sequence. He just couldn't believe it. They hadn't come up a sequence this way, in this fashion, in forever. Unaware that he was now touching the screen, Jack smacking his hand away breaking his gaze as he looked over himself, his own brown eyes scanning the text. Jack might not be able to read Asgard, Ancient or anything else he deemed as gibberish but he knew dialing sequences and this was a dialing sequence.

"When can we leave?" Adrienne asked excitedly. Jack turned, looking over her like she was insane, which based on that remark Daniel was starting to question her sanity as well, scowling at her.

"Uh, after the MALP and a survey Dr. Perky; how long have you worked here?" Jack retorted, standing upright and crossing his arms, the scowl now making his way across his face. That was a face Daniel was familiar with, he had spent many of his first few years here on the receiving end of it, might as well let Adrienne experience it too. Unconvinced, Adrienne walked back over to the screen, pointing at the text there in front of the two men.

"General, with all due respect, the Asgard have laid out the entire history of this planet here, right after the planet code. If they were under Asgard protection, then they were under Asgard monitoring. It's not as if we're walking in blind," she argued, but Daniel could see Adrienne trying to read out of the corner of her eye just to make sure. Shaking his head, his annoyance appearing to begin to borderline anger, Jack stepped back from the desk, continuing to glare at the archaeological assistant as she stood, waiting for a reply.

"With all due respect Dr. Rowan, we have a procedure here, that we're going to follow because while you don't seem to care whether or not you get your head blasted off, I care if the rest of the team does. Let your boss here order up a MALP and send the code up to Walter and we can go from there. In the meantime, you two can resume whatever you two were doing," Jack replied and began to exit the lab, pausing at the doorway to glance back at Daniel.

"Don't think you're out of this my friend. It's my personal responsibility to make sure that you don't have your man card revoked. Trust me, cute stuff over there will appreciate it," Jack stated as he pointed to Adrienne, apparently she was 'cute stuff', glaring back at Daniel. Without a further word he left, leaving Daniel and Adrienne alone in the lab once more. Standing back from the desk Adrienne looked at Daniel, it finally sinking in what had been said.

"He just won't let up will he? Oh, and just to let you know Vala caught me leaving this morning, so let the rumors begin," she said and walked back over to the screen. Daniel let out a sigh and leaned over to read with her.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to work harder to get you to agree to go out with Dex," he joked, the words making him sick as they crossed his lips.

Damn you Jack.

"Shut up coo yon," she replied and leaned back against him.

Not normal, Daniel thought to himself, but didn't push her away.

Jack must have worked some magic, because it was shortly after noon when Daniel got a call that a MALP was being sent through to the coordinates on the database. Either magic, or Jack trying to rush the entire process to get his Saturday activities back on track but Adrienne didn't care one way or the other. Sam herself had called the lab informing Daniel that he could head down to the observation room if he wanted live visuals, but Adrienne was ahead of him, dashing out of the lab the instant the phone rang and by the time he arrived himself, she was already sitting in the chair beside Walter, taking notes feverishly onto one of her electronic devices.

"Ok, wait, wait, over there, head over to that ridge. Thanks, yeah, see that. It looks like an altar. Walter can you zoom in on that please," Adrienne requested, as politely as she could while retaining her composure, Sam, Daniel noticed, having joined her.

"Addy, that looks early Christian, maybe Hebrew," the general noted, Adrienne waving herself for a heat that wasn't there.

"It is, or, we think it is. Sam I'm so excited I want to drag out my thesis, dissertation presentation and turn the entire lab into a Biblical timeline, if this is, it's just huge," she couldn't hold back her excitement anymore by the end of her explanation, nearly standing on her chair for a second time.

Sam smiled; this had been exactly why she had hired her, the Adrienne sitting before her was acting just like Daniel used to, eager and ready to explore the unknown, the Daniel she missed seeing, a part of her knowing that the many years in the program had taken their toll on his joyous spirit, but this woman, this person sitting in the chair beside her, she just might be the key to bringing back the friend she longed to see again. At the thought of Daniel, Sam glanced up as she noticed Daniel entering the observation room, smiling as he walked over to her chair. As Sam moved away from behind Adrienne, Daniel slipped into her place and put his hands on the back of her chair, leaning over to bring his face beside hers. Sam heard him say something in French, probably in jest, she caught a few words here and there, and Adrienne laughed, pointing at the screen. Daniel just nodded and stood, looking back over at Sam.

"There're signs of civilization, and the MALP is giving clean air quality readings. I think they're just scared of a giant robot rolling around," he explained as Adrienne continued her chuckle, glancing up at him as she did.

"I think we should change all MALP greeting videos to Sam; I'd be scared too if your face was the first alien face I encountered," Adrienne teased, and Sam watched Daniel stand with that classic frown, placing his hand lightly over her face and push her playfully, like she was his little sister. Exactly what I hoped for, Sam thought, controlling a smile before she answered.

"If everything is clear and you guys are confident, we can send a team through. I'm assuming that you want SG-1?" she asked, knowing that of course they would want their own team to go, even if it meant begging everyone to join them on their day off. Nodding in agreement, Daniel looked down at his assistant, laughing once more.

"You go break it to Vala," he ordered and Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"Fine, you get everyone else. And if we camp, I call dibs with you. I not gonna listen to her insanity and whining the entire trip," Adrienne replied as she stood and headed out of the observation room, Sam watching her go, allowing a huge smile to creep across her face.

"What?" Daniel asked, catching her grin out of the corner of her eye as he checked over the MALP readings once more.

"Nothing," Sam replied as Daniel's faced dropped instantly.

"We're not sleeping together," Daniel answered the question he assumed that she had but Sam looked surprised.

"What?" she asked confused, "why would I think that?" Daniel relaxed slightly at her tone, peering up at her.

"Because Jack and Vala are convinced," he explained and Sam was laughing as the first name crossed his lips.

"Consider the sources; I'm just glad that you two have become such good friends, that's all," Sam responded as she turned to head for her office to begin the pre-mission tasks. Smiling again, Daniel followed her with his eyes to the door of her office and spoke before she left the room.

"I am too," he admitted, unsure if she heard, turning his attention back to the MALP information.

As Adrienne had expected, Vala had a lot to say about going on a mission, especially on a day that she had plans to go shopping and other silly things Adrienne honestly could not believe that she had agreed to do. What Adrienne hadn't expected, on the other hand, was Vala's change in tune about their little conversation this morning, fully expecting some all-out jealous rage to be directed at her. Instead she just looked over her shoulder as she packed, while Adrienne was sitting at her desk mixing fingernail polish colors in an effort to achieve the most disgusting brown possible.

"He's made you boring," Vala started, stuffing a spare pair of undergarments into her pack. Adrienne just rolled her eyes and poured some orange onto her pallet.

"He hasn't made me boring," she replied, moving onto some emerald green that Adrienne thought would look really nice on her friend, stirring the mixture carefully with a pen.

"He has," Vala insisted, reaching into another part of her closet, "you used to be wild and fun and crazy and now you just work all the time." Adrienne stopped stirring and looked up. She didn't just work all of the time, she did a lot of things for fun; she ran, she trained, she ...

She worked all the time.

"I go to the movies and stuff," Adrienne argued, now grabbing a yellow that smelled worse than the rest when she opened it. Standing from the closet and zipping the bag in her hands, Vala turned to face Adrienne, not bothering with shutting the door behind her.

'With him, you go to the movies with him. That's why I was excited about tonight. I thought you had forgotten the rest of us existed," she stated, moving onto her bed where Adrienne knew she stored her weapons underneath in a pretty pink suitcase. Her friend knelt to the ground, Adrienne still trying to formulate her protest.

"I haven't forgotten about anything, it's just that, I don't know, he just understands me like no one else has before. I've never had a friend like him," Adrienne continued, refraining from using the term best friend, which she knew Vala would jump on as a new reason for torment.

"Um hmm," was the response from under the bed. The suitcase made a loud scratching sound on the floor as it was dragged out onto the tiles, Vala sitting upright to dig around in it. She clicked it open and began to root through her items, Adrienne seeing an opportunity to change the topic of conversation.

"Why don't you keep your gun in lock-up like everyone else?" she asked, hoping the question would have the intended effect. The large gun popped up before its owner, a trophy of her ultimate conquest, being a part of something. Vala smiled at Adrienne, who was listlessly stirring away at the now drying pile of putrid brown nail polish.

"Because I don't trust anyone but me with my gun," she answered plainly, examining the weapon, carefully laying it beside Adrienne on her desk as she kept digging. Adrienne reached for the red polish and saw the gun, jumping up from her chair in surprise at the weapon's presence.

"Cooh Vala, wha da 'ell!" Adrienne shouted, knocking the table with her hip and spilling nail polish all over the floor. Vala turned around, a large knife in hand, making a face at her friend.

"Calm down Addy; I don't understand your issue with guns anyway," she responded, and stood, closing the suitcase with her foot and shoving it back underneath the bed.

Embarrassed and slightly annoyed, Adrienne walked over to the bathroom to get some toilet paper to clean up her mess, not answering her friend. Vala just picked up the bottles from the floor, screwed the caps on and set them back onto the desk, removing the P-90 from the surface and packing it away in her bag. Zipping up her pack and tossing it over her shoulder, the tall alien woman continued to the bathroom to help her friend clean up the make-up explosion but Adrienne rushed past her, dripping water all over the floor as she went and knelt under the table. Sighing, Vala hung back and let her take care of it.

"Addy, he's in love with you," she argued for the second time in their friendship, finding the words difficult to say and even harder to admit as Adrienne just groaned from the floor.

"Not this again," she whined, scrubbing away at the mess. Vala reached over to the wall to grab the small trash can and walked it calmly over to Adrienne, a part of her torn up over what she was about to admit.

"No Addy, I'm right about this. I said you guys were different and that you should bed him, if for no other reason because he needs it and I wanted details, but that was before. He loves you, you know that mushy shit that you people base all of your television shows on," Vala explained, hoping that in her jest Adrienne would understand.

Things had happened between she and Daniel, things she thought might be the beginnings of what Teal'c had told her in confidence had happened on the Odyssey, but they hadn't, it was as if in this reality, this correct reality, it wasn't meant to be. What was worse was that the look that she had always hoped she'd see on his face, that twinkle in his eye she imagined, she saw every day now, when he looked at Adrienne. In fact, part of the reason why she couldn't stand going down to the lab anymore, always asking Addy to meet her for lunch and no longer went to retrieve her, was that it tore her up inside to see someone she cared about so much completely in love with another woman.

Another kind woman.

Another great woman.

Another woman who was so perfect for him that she couldn't argue otherwise.

Another woman who was her friend.

Disregarding again Vala's accusations and wild ideas, Adrienne wiped the floor once more and tossed the tissue into the can, which her friend promptly returned to the wall. She stood and adjusted her uniform, looking back at Vala.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Will you at least entertain the notion that I may be right?" she asked, and that you're lucky and an idiot, she added silently in her head.

"Nope," Adrienne answered and opened the door, grabbing her own pack from beside it, heading for the gate room.

Adrienne felt a pull at her pack and breath at her ear, which didn't startle her since she had been expecting it for a while now. Stopping her stride through the vast field of brown grains, she let the rest of the team move ahead of them, save Daniel, towards the coordinates that MALP was sending at its stopping point, a faint blip on Cam's transmitter.

"Did you see any people Ad, on the videos?" Daniel whispered quietly, starting to wonder if he had jumped into her excitement a little too quickly. Yes, the MALP videos had shown signs of civilization, but no actual people, and Daniel had just trusted Adrienne like always. Usually, that was a perfectly acceptable course of action, although once in a while she let her excitement get the best of her, but it had been a long time since a mistake like that, a long time. Sighing, Adrienne turned to face him.

"I thought I did Indy, I mean I saw movement in the trees, too tall for an animal and there was a humanoid heat signature. I really didn't rush through this, I swear," she assured him, her face however telling a different story. Adrienne still felt bad about Cam getting shot a few months back and his lingering pain, pain he thought he hid from her, and it was a constant reminder of her errors. The last thing she wanted was to have a repeat of that, including disappointing Daniel. Gazing at him sorrowfully, a look on her face that he hated to see, he reached out and squeezed her arm, rubbing his hand up and down the limb in a comforting fashion.

"Alright Ad, I believe you. Then let's catch up," he decided not to push the issue further, indicating with his head that they needed to rejoin their friends.

Cam stopped the group nearly an hour later, pointing to a ridge on the horizon, glancing back at his team, tired and sunburnt, as this planet seemed to have a brighter and stronger sun than they had expected. When he had agreed to go on this mission he was under the impression by Daniel's description that this was a no-brainer, that the Asgard database had done all of the preliminary research for them, but now Cam was beginning to think that Daniel had agreed to this just because he had a thing for Adrienne. If that was the case, this was not a conversation he wanted to have with Sam. Their partnership was getting, for lack of a better word, a tad abnormal and Cameron was really starting to fear that it would effect how the team operated as a whole.

As each and every member of SG-1 came to a halt in front of their leader, Cam took a quick scan of the two ringleaders of the expedition to see if they could offer any counsel but Adrienne looked concerned, as did Daniel. Rather than bring that up in front of everyone, Cameron just spoke to the group as a whole.

"According to the MALP feed, it came to a rest about a half a mile in that direction," Cam said, indicating due west with his finger, "Considering the distance from the gate, I recommend that we make it to the MALP, set up camp and continue in the morning." At his mention of the word camp, Vala let out a groan.

"Thanks Addy," she hissed sarcastically.

Feeling bad, Adrienne didn't comment. Accepting silence, other than Vala, as his answer, Cameron continued on toward the source of the signal.

It didn't take the group very long to make it to the ridge, the machine resting right on the edge shining in the sunset. Adrienne was at least relieved that they found the MALP and therefore the altar in the distance, but was still disturbed by the fact there were no people to be seen anywhere. They had passed signs of human habitation, recent garbage and even a well, but no signs of any actual people. Desperate to not be wrong, and to find Hebrew people, Adrienne looked back at Daniel, pulling him aside.

"Let's walk on, let them make camp. An altar was at the high point, there should be a village below," she whispered quietly. Considering her request, Daniel glanced back up at the group, Cam already barking orders to get camp set and Vala beginning to complain on cue but he didn't answer her verbally, he just nodded, walking over to their team leader.

"Cam, we're gonna head on to where the village is most likely located," Daniel informed him. Cam looked back up at him surprised, primarily because Daniel and Adrienne were still insisting that this planet was inhabited when they hadn't seen a soul. He didn't want to argue with his friend, however, not here and not what he needed to say, so he gave him a silent ok and turned to help the team set up camp.

For Adrienne's sake Daniel hoped there was a village at the base of the other side of the ridge. She had a few lucky breaks since the incident a few months back in which she had sent him into enemy fire, but there was a chance that in her excitement and insistence that she had overlooked something and that this would all backfire and lead them right into danger. Adrienne must have been thinking the same as she was walking ahead of him without comment, tapping away at her iPad and gazing into the distance. Hoping she didn't see the worried expression on his face, Daniel continued behind her in silence.

After a while longer, with Adrienne having proceeded further ahead and out of his sight, Daniel was about to radio her to stop and come back so they could return to camp when he heard a shout in the distance, taking off in her direction without hesitation.

When Daniel arrived at the source of the screams he froze, looking around himself in shock.

They shouldn't have come through so quickly; they should have sent a second MALP.

In front of him, sitting on the ground cradling a small child, was Adrienne, tears in her eyes, and behind her a village, the sick wandering around aimlessly and the dead laying on the ground unattended.

"We did this," Adrienne accused, sucking back in tears. The boy in her arms looked up at her and then Daniel whispering something faintly in Hebrew, which Adrienne answered something to the effect of he is my friend before glancing back at Daniel.

"They've been so isolated, so hidden; why else would this happen?" Adrienne asked all the while Daniel shaking his head hoping that she wouldn't blame herself. The MALP had been sent only 20 hours before, nothing he knew, nothing could have come through on it considering the great sanitization measures that they took and nothing would have taken hold so quickly. That also meant they would have seen people on the earlier images, people that would have come in contact with the MALP and taken the illness to their village, but the video had shown not one soul who could have transported any virus.

"It's something else Ad, something entirely different. Trust me. But we need to take some precautions. Do you have any of that crazy health mess of yours in your pack?" he asked, hoping that in her haste this morning she had packed as normal. Adrienne sucked in tears and whispered to the little boy that she would be right back, lifting him from her lap, moving to set him in the grass but Daniel shook his head and crawled forward, taking the child from her. Her pack was a few feet away, looking as though it had been thrown in a rush to tend to their frail patent and Daniel let her rummage through, hoping that a task would calm her nerves, gazing down at the boy.

"Where's your mother?" he asked in broken Hebrew. The boy winced in pain as though it hurt to talk but tried to answer.

"Sick. Everyone is sick. We thought Gabriel was coming back when we saw the machine, we thought it was our end," the boy said. That made sense, which was consistent; the Asgard would not have been as free with their technology or the display thereof as the Goa'uld and most certainly would not have shown these people any kind of robot. If they were sick already and then saw something as intimidating as a MALP coming through the gate, it probably would have indicated that the end was near. He just hoped they didn't mistake his voice as the mouthpiece of Yahweh.

Maybe Adrienne was right; maybe Sam should be in those videos.

"What's your name?" Daniel asked the boy, trying to comfort him, moving a stray hair from the child's head as he coughed. With just that light touch Daniel could tell he was running a high fever despite his pallid complexion.

"Enoch," the boy choked out as Daniel felt hands on his shoulders, turning to face his assistant.

"I've got C, Zinc and B in shot form, which do you prefer?" Adrienne asked, kneeling down behind him.

"Do you have enough for everyone?" he answered with a question himself, hoping that the response was yes for the team at least and maybe enough for little Enoch.

"Yeah, but this isn't antibiotic or antiviral Indy, this is just a boost for what we've already got," Adrienne explained knowing full well that he didn't need the explanation, she was just placating herself and easing her own fears that were beginning to creep into her head.

She had been exposed.

They had been exposed.

And this was her idea.

Reading her mind, Daniel reached his arm out to her, unable to touch her arm but hoping she understood.

"Then all of the above. Start with the shot, roll up my sleeve," he ordered. Adrienne did as asked, pulling off the cap of the syringe with her mouth and cleaning his arm with an alcohol swab and stuck him, flinching more than he did, tossing the used needle into a small bag in her lap. She repeated the procedure on herself and the boy, before switching the box of vitamin B for two small containers of pills, shaking two of each into her hand and holding them up for Daniel, who just opened his mouth so she could toss them in.

"It's gonna make you pee like crazy, especially the C," she warned. Daniel swallowed and reached to pull the little boy into his lap higher, shrugging.

"I think I can live with some excess peeing. Now, go back and get Cameron, have him send someone to the gate to get a hold on one of the docs and figure out what this is," Daniel requested but Adrienne just stayed kneeling beside him popping pills into her mouth, downing them dry.

"Ad, go," he ordered. Adrienne made a face at him, one of concern but stood, pausing to scold.

"Don't you go doing anything heroic Indy; I've got too much invested in this friendship," she requested, trying to keep it light.

"I won't, now go!" Daniel repeated, watching her turn afazefazend sprint up the hill.

"Daniel!" he heard Vala shouting from the ridge, Daniel turning from where he was examining a young teenaged girl seated close to a well, his eyes quickly darting to the boy. Enoch had been asleep for a while on Daniel's pack, which he had managed to turn into a pillow to lay the boy down so he could investigate and remained asleep now.

The village seemed to be the furthest in a complex system, joined by Romanesque roads, this one serving as home to the head priests, the altar and a few families who lived in service of the church. Upon obtaining this knowledge from Enoch, Daniel had visited the priests' home, where a frail rabbi was by himself trying to tend to two young acolytes, one throwing up violently onto the dirt floor of the hut. The priest explained to him that the sickness had arrived two weeks ago, not yesterday, and had spread through like a pestilence. So far, there had been only three deaths, but at the rate of dehydration it looked as though that was going to start claiming even more victims and soon. The symptoms ranged from vomiting and fever, to strange rashes, too many to sort through and Daniel felt like he was in some TV medical drama and not in a village of sick people.

He needed Carolyn and the others to come back.

However, as glad as he was to see his friend hiking down the hill, he was also concerned that she was alone and Adrienne was nowhere in sight. He needed to talk to her; she needed to know that this wasn't her fault.

And he needed to know that she was alright.

"Vala, over here!" Daniel shouted, waving her to where he had set up a place to work, near where Enoch was sleeping, helping the girl stand so she could return to the arms of her waiting mother. Hearing him, she moved into a light jog in his direction, speaking as she ran.

"Sent Muscles back to call the doc, Cam says Cassie and Carolyn are on duty so someone should be able to gate right over," Vala informed him, rubbing her bicep.

"Addy poked the hell out of me in a goddam hurry to get back here to _you_," Vala explained, stressing you as sarcastically as she could but Daniel was puzzled.

"What do you mean hurry back here to me?" Daniel asked, assuming Adrienne had stayed behind with Cam and that's why Vala was here in her stead. Why she would have stayed back he didn't know, but she hadn't come here, he hadn't heard from her in at least an hour, if not longer, but he had lost track of time. Confused, Vala cut her eyes at him, shaking her head.

"She came, apologizing, babbling about screwing up, stuck us with needles, drugged us and went running back to you. Wouldn't even stick around to wait for Teal'c to get to the gate and radio back. She's not here?" Vala asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach, memories of a slavers ship and cages flooding her mind.

"No," Daniel said, the same panic starting to creep up inside of him, "she's not here," the final words trickled slowly, as he started to walk away from the village and the boy, looking out into the horizon.

"Ad! Addy! ADRIENNE!" Daniel was screaming full force in every direction, repeating her name, his eyes darting around under his glasses as he spun around frantically scanning their surroundings for his assistant. Vala stood back and watched at first, somewhat stunned by his reaction, but then joined in the screaming, adding obscenities and other stupid nicknames the girls used between themselves. After a full five minutes of shouting, the two looked at each other, confused.

"Daniel don't panic," Vala said gently, reading the look in his eyes. Adrienne had become the center of his universe, she knew, any doubt she had otherwise erased instantly as she thought she actually saw a tear glistening in his blue eyes, fearing that he would go into a complete meltdown.

He shook his head in response.

"I'm not panicking, I'm not panicking. We just need to find Adrienne," he said simply, swallowing hard and walking over to his pack to try his radio. He had sent Adrienne back in person rather than just have her radio to keep her safe, let her leave before she was exposed further but that was an idiotic idea, he knew now, and he hoped she had her radio on.

He squeezed the button and spoke.

"Ad, if you're in radio contact can you hear me?" he asked, looking back at Vala who had her radio in hand as well, cued to the same signal, awaiting a response.

Nothing.

Daniel glanced back over at her, that same panic in his eyes, visibly trying to hold it together.

"Look, you stay here with the boy, I'm gonna go look for her," he ordered, pointing back to the area he created.

"Daniel, you shouldn't go by yourself, listen to me, wait until they get here and then we can look together," Vala started but Daniel shot a glare in her direction, one that meant he was not to be questioned.

"Vala, I don't think I need to stress to you the importance of starting to look right now," Daniel hissed between his teeth but it didn't phase her.

"Fine, then I'm going with you," she stated strongly, Daniel shooting his finger over at the boy laying on his pack.

"We can't leave him and I won't leave her!" he shouted, worried already at how long Adrienne could have been gone.

What if that ship was ... what if they couldn't find her...what if she...

He pushed the thought aside as a voice came over the radio.

"Jackson, you there?" Cam's voice came in clear and Daniel squeezed the button, his face disappointed at the voice on the other end.

"Yeah, we're here," he replied, trying to feel out the situation before he alarmed the colonel.

"Just heard back from T, dialed home and called for reinforcements. It's gonna be a few hours still," their leader informed them. Good, Daniel thought to himself, gives me time to find Addy.

Now it's time to alarm Cam.

"Cam, Ad's missing," he said as emotionless as he could, his voice still cracking at the end. Missing, she's missing, the words echoed in his own head as there was silence on the end of the radio.

"Gone where?" Cam asked.

"I have no idea, but I'm gonna go find her," Daniel informed him.

The response back was fast, panic on his end of the radio as well.

"Alright, if she never made it back to you then I'll radio back to Teal'c, head your direction and we can meet in the middle. Hopefully we'll find her in between. Have Vala stay in the village to wait in case the docs beat us all back," Cam ordered, switching right back into leader mode. Hearing a huff behind him, Daniel turned to see Vala rolling her eyes in annoyance at her instructions. Unable to restrain himself, Daniel mumbled an 'I told you' face before clicking the button to answer Cam.

"Sounds good, I'll keep you posted," Daniel answered, calmer than before, a plan of action to distract him from the real problem; that Adrienne was gone. He was turning to instruct Vala to stay as Cam had ordered, pleased to see that she was already making her way back to the village.

"I'm going, I'm going, but you'd better find her. I'm not kidding. She balances this little boy party out," Vala demanded, in her own way showing concern for the loss of her friend.

Daniel simply nodded and made his way for camp.

There was no sign of her by the time he saw Cam popping up on the other side of a field. His hopes shot up for just a moment when he saw a shadow, indistinct, a runner's build, but it was the wrong runner, and he was alone, that feeling of fear and desperation rocketing his insides again. Solemn looks on their faces, the teammates approached each other, avoiding eye contact as they shook their heads at the ground.

"Anything?" Daniel asked first, knowing the answer but wanting to hear it himself.

"Nothing, you?" he replied. The archaeologist gestured in the negative noting that Cam didn't appeared panicked as he felt, replying on his military training and formulating their next plan.

"Ok, let's assume that she wouldn't have gone toward the ravine, so let's head west toward the desert," Cameron suggested, Daniel having nothing else to do other than agree. Trudging on toward the sand and scanning the ground, Daniel followed behind the team leader, looking for any sign of his assistant, all the while trying to hold himself together.

He couldn't imagine something having happened to Adrienne, he just didn't know what he would do. Trying to focus on the task at hand, forcing a thousand horrible scenarios out of his head, Daniel lifted his gaze to the horizon, looking for any sign of his friend, the best friend he had ever had, squinting into the sunshine.

When they made it to the edge of the desert, Cam looked back over at Daniel, an expression on his face that Daniel could easily read, an expression that confirmed his worst fears, that she had been taken, just like Vala. Feeling sick suddenly, Daniel fought the urge to lean over and throw up all over the sand, his left hand starting to shake, which he promptly calmed with his right.

"We should double back, radio Vala on the way. Teal'c has probably come back through and we can go ahead and call in a team to investigate," Cam said as Daniel scanned the ground one more time.

Picking his nails unknowingly, he was about to protest, to offer to stay back just in case she showed up, scan the area again when he looked down seeing something strange on the ground, something out of place lying on a small greenish desert plant. Kneeling quickly to the ground he saw it was just piece of fabric lying there, a piece of fabric that just looked out of place here at the edge of civilization, with no signs of nearby inhabitants. He picked it up, noting the strange linen like qualities to its texture, and brought it closer to his face to examine it, puzzled by its presence here on the brink of nothing.

His eyes widened.

"She was here," Daniel exclaimed, looking up at Cam, excitement in his voice, a stark contrast to the panic the colonel had noted earlier.

"Man, how in the hell do you know that?" he asked curious, kneeling beside him. His hands wild, like he was on the verge of a classic Daniel babble, the archaeologist handed the piece of linen over to Cameron, pointing at it as he took it.

"That's her lotion," he was finally able to spit out, indicating that Cameron smell the fabric. He did and noticed a scent, smelled like vanilla and something else he couldn't pin down, and he shrugged, handing it back to Daniel, a strange look on his face.

"Ok, so it smells a little girlie, but seriously, it could be from any woman. No matter the civilization, women like perfume," the colonel answered but Daniel was already shaking his head.

"No, it's hers, it's Cherry Vanilla. Trust me, she stinks up my room with it," Daniel answered and stood, changing direction, looking left and right for any sign of something else, another fragment of her absence. Remaining on the ground, Cam peered up at Daniel like he was insane, watching his friend scan the ground and nearby vegetation, going so far as to start smelling a medium sized bush a few feet away.

"Daniel, you realize how that sounds, right?" Cam asked, cautiously, unsure as to what else he could say.

A clue yes, but really?

Her lotion?

"I know, it's a stretch, but it's something. Let's walk this way," Daniel replied, oblivious, turning to walk the edge of the desert. Cam stood and followed him, still mystified at the remark.

Stinks his room up with it?

Knows that it's Cherry Vanilla?

Sad part was, Cam was thinking to himself, the man had no idea at all, no idea that he has fallen in love with his assistant. He decided not to push it and followed behind, hoping that oblivious or not, Dr. Jackson might be on to something.

Sure enough, a few steps further was another piece of fabric. Breadcrumbs? Cameron thought, but we would never be so lucky. Rushing ahead, Daniel grabbed the swatch, bringing it to his face again and looking over his shoulder at Cam.

"Cherry Vanilla," he stated and shoved the strip into his tack vest, walking on.

"I didn't doubt you Daniel," Cam answered and followed, "not for a second did I doubt you..."

But that was the last of the strips. Even Cameron had been hopeful Adrienne was leaving them a trail, but to no avail, there wasn't another sign of another person or anything a person might have left in sight. Apparently reading his mind, Daniel stopped and grabbed his radio.

"Vala?" he called back to where they had left their teammate in the hopes that Addy had made her way back to the village. Clicking the radio off, he awaited her response, slowly chewing his bottom lip but there was nothing, no static, nothing. Puzzled, Daniel looked over at Cameron, who was already steps ahead of him, calling Vala's name into the radio. His response was the same, peering over at Daniel who was shrugging, having no idea why the radio wouldn't work when there was a shout in the distance, from the small hills that were gently building in their path.

"Cam! Indy! It's about damn time!" Daniel's heart leapt in his chest as he looked up and saw his assistant, in one piece and completely unharmed running toward him. She wasn't wearing her pack or jacket, as she tore down the hill in t-shirt and tac vest, yelling as she ran.

"I've been radioing you guys for hours; what took so long?! I ran into a group of villagers that aren't infected and finally convinced their leader to come talk to Carolyn and let her run some blood work to compare to the infected people," Adrienne explained indicating with her finger behind her as a gentleman, maybe in his late fifties was walking behind her briskly. Daniel shook his head.

"Ad, we never got a call. Why did you walk off? Anything could have happened to you!" Daniel began to scold, but the relief in his voice was evident, the worry sliding off of his tongue with his words. However Adrienne didn't seem to notice, glancing back over her shoulder at the tall graying man in maroon robes rushing towards her.

"Because I radioed you and there was no static, no indication that you didn't get the message and when you didn't answer I figured you were dealing with Enoch and would come when you could. Which you did," Adrienne retorted. Oh yeah, Cam thought, he came, running, with bells on, but again decided to stay out of their argument as he watched Adrienne's face change from frustration to confusion.

"Wait, this is off the beaten trail. If you didn't get my coordinates, how did you guys find me?" she asked. Daniel opened his mouth to answer when Cam shot a glare at him daring him to speak. He wasn't about to sit here and watch Daniel fumble his way around 'I know what your lotion smells like' to see Adrienne stand in confusion as to what to say. Let them deal with this uncomfortable situation when they were not on a mission because frankly, he was getting tired of their 'not normal'.

"We found these little cloth pieces and were thinking breadcrumbs," he answered, pulling out the latest strip, hanging partially from Daniel's pocket. Adrienne nodded her head in recognition.

"Yeah, yeah, it's hot, they let me wipe down with those. Must've fallen out of my pack. That was lucky. Alright, can we head back to the village, or rather, their village. I want you guys to hear this one for yourselves," she requested, not bothering to ask for any more information. Her friends agreed non-verbally and followed her as she turned to follow the man excitedly moving on, leading them back to their village.

"It's all here, in Leviticus 11," Adrienne declared at they arrived at the encampment, producing her iPad from where she had left it on the table.

"Dietary restrictions," Daniel replied while Adrienne nodded.

"Exactly, but that's where I get stuck. For one, even the NSRV doesn't claim to get all of the names right and a lot of these Hebrew words are describing animals that we just can't understand in the modern world, animals that are probably extinct, or at least that variation of animal," she replied. Cameron stepped forward, pleased that they were both reading something in English for once and scanned the page.

"So, somebody ate the wrong damn critter is what you're saying," he clarified and Adrienne nodded.

"That's how AIDS started, chowing on monkey brains in Africa," she said and shook her head, continuing, "Their 'leader' here Aaron, which I find extremely ironic by the way Indy, has agreed to let blood for us to test when the med team gets here, but we still need..."

"To determine which animals to cross test, which means we are in for..." Daniel interrupted only to be interrupted by Adrienne once more.

"A ridiculous amount of Bible reading, yeah shug," she answered, all the while Cam shaking his head at the two of them.

They are so blind.

Ignoring their creepy sentence completing exchange, Cam began to plan the best course of action that would keep the illness contained to one area and his team safe.

"Alright, so, if this disease works like AIDS, I'm assuming that general contact is not going to make any of us sick," Cam asked, hoping one of the two of the history geeks would have some idea as to what they were really dealing with. Adrienne shrugged and looked over at Daniel.

"I wish I could answer that, but honestly, I think the only assumption we can make at this point is that there is an illness, caused by something in the environment here and not us and we might or might not contract it ourselves," he replied. Adrienne reached over for his arm.

"Always the positive thinker you are," she joked, Yoda like. Cam sighed, not in the mood for another Adrienne Star Wars reference, for once, scanning the encampment. It was small, much smaller than the village and seemed to only house a few dozen or so people.

According to Adrienne these people had left the main sect due to a dispute concerning the interpretation of the Torah, which apparently for them was not just a religious text, but a guidebook left by the Asgard to keep them safe. His friends had explained that the rules laid out in the five books, in particular Leviticus as it was called on Earth, set forth guidelines for everything from dress to food to weekly schedule. Adrienne had explained that many of these guidelines, or at least it was believed on Earth, were set out to insure the health and prosperity of the Hebrew people and prevent things like the outbreak of disease. With the demise of the Asgard civilization and lack of communication with the gods, the people of this planet had grown desperate after three failed harvest years and started to break the rules. The people that Adrienne had found had chosen not to participate and maintain kosher, leaving the main village to live on their own.

Now those that had chosen to break the rules were paying for it.

Daniel was looking at Adrienne, as if he hoped she would have a better plan, but she was just standing there, iPad in hand shaking it at him. Not seeming to have any choice, he took the contraption from her hand and the two of them sat side by side on the ground, beginning to read, as if Cameron wasn't standing right there waiting for some kind of information.

"I guess I'll go get a radio signal and call the others," Cam stated. Neither of them responded, so Cam turned to trek back to their own camp in order to meet Teal'c and the medical team, leaving behind the two co-workers, friends, whatever the hell you could call the abnormal little camaraderie they had going on, to babble about in a foreign language trying to determine what exactly was going on and, Cam guessed, which animals could have caused such a problem.

Two hours later, Cam had yet to return, and Daniel and Adrienne were still sitting on the

ground, flipping through Adrienne's virtual version of Leviticus. His eyes aching from staring at that tiny screen for so long, Daniel reached underneath of his glasses to rub his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"So, we're down to rock badgers, hares and bats," he said confirming their list. Adrienne nodded slowly and leaned back on the rock behind them, Daniel joining her, equally exhausted.

"Yuck, yuck and yuck," she replied, laughing at herself, "we eat strange shit in the bayou, but dems bebettes we'd never eat, well 'cept for the rabbit. That's not so bad actually," Adrienne finished and leaned her head over onto his shoulder and he rested his right on top of hers, instantly, without thinking, tossing his arm onto her leg.

"Sorry shug, I did it again," Adrienne apologized, happy that he hadn't yelled at her for being so foolish and rushing into this. She felt him shake his head on hers but not move it away.

"Actually, you didn't do bad at all. We walked into a situation where people needed help and that's what I'm used to doing, more so than what we have been doing lately," he answered, grabbing her hand, squeezing it gently. Forcing a smile he lifted his head with a sigh, standing up again and reaching behind himself to pull Adrienne to her feet as well, returning her gadget to open palms.

"Well Ad, let's go see if we can get some freshly killed bebettes," he informed her, hoping she would pick up on his word choice and she did smiling.

"You suck at cajun shug; I shall need to amend this," Adrienne replied, walking ahead to find Aaron, the village leader.

Vala walked back with Cam, Teal'c and Carolyn, along with an assortment of medical staff and equipment. Quick blood work done on Cam at the SG encampment had determined that Adrienne was correct in the disease acting through the consumption of exposed food and was not airborne, so now it was just a matter of getting back to the villagers that had chosen to separate themselves and running some more blood tests on not only the villagers but what they could have possibly eaten. Cameron had explained to the group about Aaron agreeing to tests, Carolyn pleased not to have to beg someone to see reason. Still a good distance away, Vala pulled Cam from the group, interested in how in the world they were able to find Adrienne.

"You didn't say how you found her; thank the gods it wasn't those slavers," Vala whispered out of hearing distance. Cam had neglected to mention to anyone that Adrienne had wandered off and Vala didn't want to get her friend into any trouble and he was shaking his head the moment Vala began her inquiry.

"You don't even want to know, it just adds fuel to the fire," he answered, knowing she would ask, rolling his eyes, looking to the sky.

"I'm not following you," she replied. Cam looked around to make sure no one else was listening and moved his head closer to hers.

"We found some Hebrew hankies or something on the ground, been dropped. Daniel picked it up and said it that is smelled like Adrienne, her lotion or something," he replied. and Vala shook her head, a look of both shock and satisfaction on her face.

"I knew they were sleeping together!" she explained and Cam quickly clamped his hand over her mouth.

"They're not sleeping together, in fact, he seemed totally damn lost as to why I thought it was strange that he knew that," he hissed under his breath, Vala shaking her head underneath his hand. She pushed him away and looked to see they were being left, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

"They did last night, the night before, whatever time it is at this point, she was leaving his room," Vala accused.

"Leaving his room, so what? She's crashed in my room before too when she, Dex, T and I have thrown back a few too many," he answered, pulling his arm away to walk on. Adrienne wasn't that kind of girl, which was one of the reasons why Cam respected her so much; he knew Adrienne would need to be in a real relationship and wouldn't just hop into the sack with someone.

Especially Daniel.

No matter was anyone else might believe, Cam knew in his heart that his friend loved the archaeologist and she wouldn't want to do anything to make him think less of her for a second.

"In your bed?" Vala continued, Cam making a face.

"Yeah and I'm on the floor," he answered like that was a stupid question. Vala just smirked at his response.

"Daniel isn't..." she left her argument at that and dashed to catch up. Stunned for a moment, Cameron stopped, dumbfounded and at a loss for words.

That's just not normal, he thought.

Hearing his name shouted by Teal'c, he broke his trance and jogged ahead to join the group.

Adrienne and Daniel were standing side by side at a large butcher's table when the team arrived. Carolyn made a face of disgust, similar to the one Adrienne had made herself just hours before, at the display in front of her. It was a large table that bore a strong resemblance to a cutting board, made of some sort of tree akin to cyprus. Spread out onto it were three freshly killed and partially butchered animals, a hare, rock badger and a bat. The smell was putrid as the raw bleeding meat sat in the heat of the desert climate awaiting its examination. The doctor looked up at her colleagues questioning as she began to pop on gloves to examine the mess in front of her.

"I see you've narrowed down my specimens," she said, rhetorically, reaching back for her bag and gear.

"These seem to be the only things they ate that appear in Leviticus," Daniel answered.

"And are nasty enough to carry disease," Carolyn countered as she began to set some small strips of paper coupled with various pieces of alien technology in order to test the blood pouring out of the innards of the various animals. While she worked, barking orders at her staff members to complete various auxiliary tasks, the two archaeologists stepped back to Cam, Vala and Teal'c.

"So, what do we do once she figures out what animal?" Vala asked, leaning across Teal'c to talk to the pair. Daniel looked back at the small medical spread in front of them, seeing one of the nurses now taking a blood sample from Aaron.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. We might be able to determine what creature, but unless it's a virus that we're familiar with, we might not be able to find a cure," he answered her honestly and turned to look at Adrienne, standing to his left at the edge of the group.

"Ad, please tell me that you didn't eat anything here or elsewhere," he asked quietly, in an effort to not embarrass her or panic the group.

"Uh, no, gross shit is not part of the runner's diet," she answered smiling. Instantly, Daniel felt better and turned his attention to the table, watching with the rest of the group.

It was maddening waiting. While Daniel was relieved Adrienne had not eaten anything to test her theory herself, the thought almost driving him into another panic, until the doctor could give him a better idea of what exactly was going on, he wasn't going to feel any better. He toyed with the notion of sending Adrienne to fill Sam in with what was going on, but decided not to, for fear of giving Jack something else to throw up in his face.

Dammit, what is wrong with me?

He glanced to his side, his assistant chewing away on that tongue ring of hers instead of her nails like normal, making that awful clicking noise that drove him batty but he didn't stop her, just reached his arm behind her, rubbing her back quickly until she looked up at him. He didn't need to ask her if she was alright, she seemed better already with their contact. He pulled his hand away quickly.

This is what Jack is talking about...

"Bats, it's the bats," Carolyn announced interrupting his train of thought. Daniel snapped back to reality and felt hopeful, the tone in the doctor's voice not her usual, as Adrienne liked to refer to it, grumpiness. She nodded, peeling her gloves off and stepping away from the table, looking quite thankful to be rid of the gutted vermin in front of her.

"Bats, and it looks like Hendra virus," she declared, motioning for her assistants to begin cleaning up themselves. Cam gestured confusion with his hands.

"And that is..." he led, hating when the science geeks talk science and expected them to know it. Next time we have to fix some engine I'm going to speak engineer and see how they like it, he vowed internally, approaching the table.

"Nasty damn virus, no vaccine for it yet, but we can treat it with fluids, vitamin boosters, antibiotics for related infections and give the body time to fight it itself. I need to go back for more supplies and we'll probably need to leave a team here for at least a week to run a clinic to get everyone back on their feet," she explained. Cam nodded, not happy that there was no quick cure but at least happy to be able to help. He looked back at his team and then the doctor.

"Alright, so we'll head back to inform Sam and get things going in that end. That is if you want to stay," he asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'd like to work with the virus more, but I need some supplies back on Earth. And Cassie, I want Cassie. This will be good for her," Carolyn concluded, putting her bag back together. As Vala and Teal'c started out for the encampment, every intention of tearing it down, Adrienne stepped forward, hoping that she could make a request.

"Dr. Lam, can I stay? I mean, if it's not communicable, it's safe right. I'd like to help and research more if possible," Adrienne asked sweetly, running the past few weeks through her head in an effort to remember if the doc had yelled at her recently for behaving badly or recklessly. She thought she was in the clear, especially since Ronon had taken care of when she had busted her hip bone good last week when they were fighting.

Emotionlessly, Carolyn Lam just shrugged.

"I don't see why not, as long as people from your part of the world don't like bats I think you're safe," she answered. Ok, small knock on us swamp folk, but Adrienne decided to leave it. She was about to turn and ask Daniel if it was alright with him when she felt a tap on her arm and looked back at the doctor.

"Plus I'm going to need a translator since I don't speak this language and we can start by telling them to stop eating the damn bats and anything else on the list that "God" told them not to eat," she requested, making air quotes as she said God. Adrienne smiled and shouted over to Aaron, who had been sitting anxiously waiting for some information. As he approached, Adrienne took her opportunity to ask Daniel for permission.

"Indy, can I stay?" she asked quickly, walking backwards away from him to meet the village leader. Daniel had been standing with the rest of the team, most likely talking about striking camp and heading back, so he looked up at Adrienne surprised at her request.

"You want to stay?" he clarified, excusing himself from the group and walking to talk with her. She stopped, held out a finger for Aaron asking him to wait just one moment longer, assuring him everything was going to be alright and turned to face her friend.

"Yea, if that's ok with you," she replied, Daniel glancing around himself carefully. It seemed that Dr. Lam had contained the disease, or at least knew how to contain it, and Teal'c had marked off the point where radio contact ended. It was safe enough, he guessed, to stay and explore, but he wasn't about to leave her alone.

"Fine, we'll stay," he answered and turned to inform Cam of his decision. Adrienne smiled instantly at fine, but looked at him strangely when she realized he had said we. She was shocked, but in a very pleasant way, nerves and happiness colliding inside of her.

What's wrong with me?

"We?" she asked in clarification, making sure that she as hearing him correctly but Daniel already nodded emphatically.

"Yes Ad, we. This was my find. You were in bed, remember?" he asked.

Yeah, your bed, she wanted to tease instantly but was suddenly embarrassed by that realization. Christ, that looks bad, she thought; Vala's right, this isn't normal.

"Ok, ok, we'll stay," she smiled, happily emphasizing the word we, and turned to explain to Aaron the situation.

"She's asking him to stay," Vala whispered back to her teammates.

"What else ValaMalDoran?" Teal'c questioned but Vala elbowed him.

"Wait a damn second, it's lip reading not mind reading. Wait, he said yes WE'LL stay. Ha! See Cam, they're banging," Vala informed their trio.

"No, they're not but it's still so obvious to everyone but them," Cam answered. Seeing something in the distance, Vala shushed the group again.

"Look at her face; she wasn't expecting that. And... she agrees, of fuckin course," Vala read Adrienne's response and grabbed Teal'c's arm pulling him away and signaling for Cam to join them. Teal'c glanced down at her strangely, confused as to why she was dragging him away while part of the group was still working.

"ValaMalDoran, where are you taking me?" Teal'c asked, pulled his arm away but continuing to follow.

"We're gonna strike camp," she answered, heading over the ridge.

"They're staying Vala, we can't strike camp," Cam corrected as he caught up to them. Vala was laughing evilly.

"They don't need all of that. I'm going to leave up what they need," she replied.

"How do you know what they need?" Cam asked, hoping to avoid a repeat of the LCD light incident; Adrienne would go crazy if Vala broke any more of her gear, but Vala just kept laughing.

"One tent Mitchell. They only need one tent," she said and ran ahead, leaving the boys behind.


	22. Chapter 21 - Surprise Package

"Sure Sam, I think I can handle a dinner, it's not as if I haven't had to schmooze before," Adrienne heard Daniel saying as she entered the lab, knowing he must have been on the phone since Sam had been out of town for days now, doing some schmoozing of her own.

It was only about midmorning on Tuesday but for some reason Adrienne was dragging, so she had run to get some coffee from the commissary because for some strange reason her personal coffee maker in the lab had disappeared, yet again, although she was fairly certain the responsible party. The man drank coffee as if his life depended on it so chances were he had either broken the machine or smuggled it to his room, but either way she was too tired to investigate; she would deal with him later. Figuring that once he smelled hers, well knowing that once he smelled hers, he would come over and steal it anyway, Adrienne made sure to grab Daniel a cup as well, one cream, two sugars, fighting to urge to use skim milk and Splenda.

Turning the corner, she discovered that she was correct; he was sitting at his desk, white phone tucked under his neck as he typed into his keyboard, clearly not paying total attention to whatever Sam was saying. She walked over to him, setting the cup just out of reach to insure that he didn't knock it everywhere by accident, his hands alternating between flailing at an absent Sam and typing. He mouthed a quick thanks and kept talking.

"Really, that formal? You would think as much as they complain about finances that they would keep things a bit more low key. No, I won't say anything smart, come on, you know me better than that," he said and was smiling.

No Adrienne thought, she knows you ridiculously well, that's why she is covering her bases.

Walking over to her own desk, she cued up the mess that she had been trying to organize this morning, strolling over to the file cabinet to switch files for their next mission. One eye on the planet codes and the other on her boss, she grabbed what she needed and returned, sitting down, continuing to eavesdrop.

"No, no way. Don't even kid like that; that's not even remotely funny," he paused, "Of course she'll go, but she's going to make some comment about sexism and the federal government I'm warning you," he was laughing now, having stopping typing to peer over at her, shaking his head as she made a rude face at him and his feminism jokes.

Add that to the coffee maker Indy, she thought, you're just rackin' 'em up today.

"Fine. Yes, Friday, I know. Aren't you missing something important worrying about this? Sam, trust me, alright. I'll give you a call later this week. Take care. You too. Bye," Daniel hung up the receiver to the old phone he kept at his desk, Adrienne staring at him quizzically.

"So what am I gonna think is sexist?" she inquired. Chuckling at her, he knew she was listening in, Daniel held a finger up to sip the coffee she had brought him and put the cup down quickly, looking over at her.

"Do you have plans for Friday?" he asked, hoping her answer was no. She didn't usually, usually they did something "nerdy", as the others liked to call it, together, but he did want to check to see if she had anything on her mind before springing this on her. That and she might also want to go shopping or something else she would rather do with Vala, Daniel noting her recent complaints about season change and cooler weather in DC.

"I've got a hot date with Dex," she answered flatly, trying to deadpan, but she was a terrible actress, erupting into laughter already, though Daniel didn't seem to find the humor. She could very well have had plans with Ronon, he'd heard the lunch conversations, he knew it was coming, in fact, he was just waiting for it to happen, but in the meantime, he tried not to think about, the very thought making him nauseous and slightly dizzy. Regaining her composure, hopefully not noting his lack of a similar response, Adrienne shook her head, flopping down into her seat.

"Gah no, I don't have any plans. Hmmm... let's see, last Friday you and I were off world, the one before that I was sick in the infirmary and before that, well, you know how that ended. My life is so exciting. No, I'm free, why? Are we resuming bad epic night?" she loved torturing him, he believed her so easily and it was quite entertaining to mess with him, but she kinda hoped they were resuming back epic night. Lately, it seemed that, for as much as she loved her job, it was consuming her life and she hadn't just enjoyed a good book or movie in a long time. Granted, she worked with him every day, but it wasn't the same as just hanging out, in fact, she missed it, which just made her that much more confused inside.

Giving her his 'I need you to be serious now' look, he pushed his glasses up his face and pointed to the phone.

"Some Pentagon officials are having an event on Friday. Formal, black tie. Sam needs me to go to represent the program while she is dealing with the IOA at Area 51," Daniel explained.

"Is this going where I think it is going?" she asked, knowing full well what was coming out of his mouth next. Play this up for fun, she prompted herself internally, you can have so much fun with this, but despite her burning desire to tease the hell out of him, Adrienne was also suddenly plagued by a rush of butterflies in her stomach, worsening as he continued.

"Yes, I have to go and it's expected that I bring a date. Instead, I'll just bring you," he added the last part teasingly, waiting for her reaction, but she was prepared for his smart mouth, giving her the fuel to push her nerves away to formulate a witty reply.

"Oh whatever will your girlfriend say?" Adrienne countered in her best southern belle impression, knowing that would set him off.

"Please don't call her that, you'll only get her hopes up," he replied, not giving Adrienne the reaction she wanted, quickly switching gears, "Do you have an evening gown?"

"No, I prefer to wear potato sacks. That's how we do it in the Big Easy. Is today stupid question day for you?" Adrienne answered, her jitters vanished, quickly forgotten as her desire to torment Daniel over took her.

"I want you to ask Indy," she requested, winking at him, spinning her desk chair so she was facing him, her legs crossed delicately, feminine, but in such a way that she was just kidding around, trying to get a rise out of him.

"Ask what?" he shook his head at her and went back to drinking his coffee, trying to turn the tables, make her beg to be asked, for once to not be the butt of a joke but turn it around onto her instead. That anxiety, however, was back and he could feel flushing in his cheeks.

"Ask me to this formal dinner Indy," Adrienne smiled, relishing in his discomfort.

So easy, she thought to herself, he's just too easy of a target.

He rolled his eyes and stood from his desk, shoving the thoughts away, Jack's voice in his head telling him he was an idiot, an image of Vala joking about taking an evening gown off of his assistant, intent on embarrassing her as much as she always embarrassed him.

"Dr. Rowan, would you please grant me the honor of accompanying me to an insanely boring dinner with people much less intelligent than you and I as my date!" he shouted loud enough where Adrienne was sure someone in the hall heard him, making sure the words "as my date" were the loudest. Roaring, Adrienne leaned over onto her knees, not embarrassed in the least, instead looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"Do I get off a day this week to go shopping?" she countered with a smile.

"Nope," he answered quickly and sat back down, cutting his eyes in her direction waiting for a response.

"Worth a try," was all she gave him opening the file folder she had acquired earlier.

He tried not to be too disappointed at her lack of a reaction, after all, he had all week to come up with something new. Maybe he could tell her they needed to match or something and drive her into complete planning hysterics. That's a great idea, he thought and returned back to what he was reading, brought in from another team earlier in the week, his mind not really able to focus on the task at hand.

In truth, he was relieved that she didn't have any plans; it was so much easier to take her on things like this than it was to take anyone else. Not only was he assured that she would do nothing inappropriate or embarrassing, but she was intelligent, articulate and quick to fill in anywhere he needed.

Together, they made the SGC as a whole look pretty good.

Plus, if there was anything too stupid, they could mock it together, in another language no less.

Despite how awful these events tended to be he was somewhat excited about Friday. It had been a few weeks since the two of them had been able to hang out together, and he needed just to laugh with her, be himself and have a good time. He'd missed spending casual time her, a lot, a lot more than he would have ever expected.

There were those nerves again.

Damn Jack.

The week seemed to drag by, with Sam calling every day to fill in Daniel on more things to expect on Friday. Funding was always the big concern; was the program costing more than they were gaining, but on top of that there was talk of reducing the number of teams and a desire to renegotiate some of their trade agreements, even with worlds where the relationship was tenuous at best. Daniel took notes and had Adrienne pull the files of any planet in question, the pile on the center table growing larger and grander as the days passed.

By Thursday he was even debating taking a quick trip to a few places just to touch base, but decided against it, knowing he would get wrapped up in something unexpected and never make it back for this dinner that Sam was really counting on him to attend, so he had Adrienne make radio contact with as many as possible, trying to schedule a few drop-in visits while he tried to lay out some sort of plan as to how he would tackle each of the issues he knew awaited him. It was exhausting, mentally and physically, and around two that afternoon, Adrienne was tapping him on his shoulder bringing him out of his trance as he stared blankly at the computer screen.

"Hey, Indy, shug, ya in dere?" she asked. Frowning, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, tired and red from lack of sleep and stress, stress that Adrienne had watched build all week. It was that very stress that had him sleeping on base all week, last night in her room, actually watching another zombie movie after she had fallen asleep, passing out beside her somewhere around 3:30 in the morning by her best guess.

"I thought we were gonna have fun on Friday and put a good face on the SGC. Instead, you're giving yourself a migraine," she stated. Knowing she was exactly right, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out some Advil, popping a few into his mouth and swallowing them dry. Rolling her eyes, Adrienne shook her head as she walked over to her desk bringing him her vitamin water which he took and drank without hesitation.

"Just a lot on my mind, that's all. Seems like this affair is going to be more than even Sam anticipated," he said as he handed her back the water bottle, leaning back in his chair. Adrienne joined him, leaning against his desk gazing down at him, worried that he was going to stress himself into a total meltdown, which she had seen and it wasn't pretty.

"What?" he asked, not liking the feeling of being watched, "Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Yeah, but it's not important. What do I need to do to help?" Adrienne brought herself upright again, slapping her palms to her thighs and looking at his computer screen over his shoulder ready to work and help, like she always was. What did I ever do before her, he thought, so grateful for the offer even if there was nothing else he needed her to do.

"Make sure I don't have a mental breakdown," he answered, half joking and half serious, peeking up to give her a small smile.

"I meant something I don't normally do," she replied, raising her eyebrows and biting her lower lip.

"No, nothing. Now seriously, what did you need?" he inquired again, "I'm going to obsess over this one way or the other, so give me something else to focus on."

Adrienne smiled but felt guilty; her request seemed so silly considering what he was having to deal with right now and the last thing she wanted to do was let him down, ever. Then again, this was a need now and not a want and if he wanted everything to go as planned she was just going to have to spit it out.

"Remember the potato sack conversation?" she asked and he peered back up at her over his glasses, that smart assed look already on his face.

"Not totally a joke?" he clarified, wanting to mock and tease further, so bad, but he didn't, his mind wandering elsewhere, realizing that she would need to go to the mall and hoping that Vala was around so he didn't get dragged on this little adventure.

"Not totally. I mean, I have a dress, but let's just say that if you want me to represent the SGC in a more dignified manner, I need to go shopping," she explained and leaned back on his desk. He shrugged his shoulders, relieved at not being asked to join her.

"Go then, there's nothing else we can do here," he responded.

"Ok, you're sure?" she asked, getting a nod in reply, so Adrienne stood again, heading over to her locker to grab a few things. Secure with what she needed, she strolled to the door, glancing back over her shoulder at him.

"Try not to work too hard," she said, a tone of caring floating sweetly through her voice.

"I can't promise you that," he replied with a grin that she didn't returning, scowling at him and rolling her eyes.

"If I find you face planted on a keyboard tomorrow, I'll be inclined to do something evil shug, you'd best be warned," she warned, hoping he would take her joke as advice, that she wanted him to go home, relax, go to bed like a normal person. Waving goodbye to her, Daniel looked back at his screen, returning to his obsessing.

In a direct contrast with the entire rest of the week, Friday flew by. Adrienne was actually on time for once, well, by her standards, and Daniel hadn't fallen asleep at the keyboard, instead had dragged himself to his on base quarters, which in Adrienne's opinion was peace with honor. He slept fairly well considering everything and when she came in at 9:17, coffee in hand and a grin on her face, he had to laugh.

When she was first hired, getting coffee was below her but now that they were friends, getting him coffee was more like a good will offering for always being late.

She made up for her lateness though, as always, prepping various forms and things to distribute tonight if need be and brushing up on planets and agreements that she had not been privy to experiencing yet. She worked quietly for the most part, although at certain points Daniel could hear the loud rap music coming through her headphones, smiling when he heard the lyrics to a particularly awful song. Awful music had become part of his work life now, and a small part of him had started to worry that he wouldn't be hearing it for much longer as he reread Sam's latest email. It had come a little over an hour earlier, a short list of names to be cut, positions that would be disappearing, and while her name was not on the list, there was a special note concerning his, well their department. Deciding not to mention it to her, he took the coffee from her hand and sipped just a small amount, before setting it aside, unable to finish it.

At four, Adrienne stood and looked over at him. She knew that the dinner started at seven so they needed to knock off early and not only did she want to be prepared professionally, but she wanted to get ready. The night before she had stood in the same store, her favorite store for hours, alone, trying on dress after dress until she had found it; the perfect dress. The saleslady whisked it to the counter, and it wasn't until Adrienne went to pay for it that she realized she wasn't buying it for the dinner; she was buying it for him, she was buying it to impress Daniel. Now, with it hanging lightly in her closet, all she could think of was getting home to get ready, not really able to pinpoint why in the hell she cared so damn much what he thought of her evening wear.

Maybe it was because he was her boss and of all of the things they had attended so far this one seemed to be more important than the others and that look of approval would make her feel that much better going into this.

Maybe it was something else.

Trying not to overanalyze the situation, Adrienne reached into her desk, grabbing her Nerf gun and cocking the hammer, firing off a shot at his head.

"So, what time are you picking me up for our hot date tonight?" she smiled, setting the gun back on her desk.

"I shall have Jeeves bring the car around 6:30 if that is acceptable," Daniel played right back the best he could, his nerves cringing at the words 'hot date.'

Why did that bother him so much!?

"Alright, then if you want me to be on time I need to leave to get ready," Adrienne responded, walking over to her locker to get the keys to her bug and the rest of her things.

"Fine, go, but you've got to be ready at 6:30 Ad, seriously, we can't run on your Cajun time," Daniel stressed, trying to make eye contact so that she understood the importance of every part of tonight being exactly right.

"Bye Indy," was her reply as she left, stopping at her desk to shoot him once more for good measure before laughing her way out of the lab.

At 6:15, Daniel was rolling into a spot a few spaces down from the bug. She had better be ready, he thought to himself, shutting of the car and walking up to the front door.

"It's open!" he heard her yell mere seconds after his knock and thought to himself that he really needed to have a conversation with her about locking her doors in D.C., black belt or not, but put that aside for now, turning knob to enter her apartment.

"I'm ready, just need to put vital things, like a driver's license, into my clutch," she shouted from down the hall. Assuming that clutch meant purse, something he had never seen her carry, he stood and waited, thinking that she actually might be ready to go on time for once.

Wonders never ceased.

He adjusted the tie at his neck and straightened his coat even though he knew it would just get messy again once they got into the jeep, but he wanted to look nice when she came out, in fact, that had been the exact reason for picking out this entire outfit. He'd put on his best three piece suit, minus the vest, which he had decided to skip because it was a bit over the top. It was all black, except for the shirt of course, a light blue rather than white because she had always told him that it made his eyes stand out more. He wore fancy black dress shoes to match and red tie, in the hopes that Adrienne's little psychoanalysis of his favorite color was correct. He had almost opted for putting on his contact lenses as well, but decided against it because after all, he was just taking Adrienne.

Just Adrienne, right?

For some reason, tonight, just Adrienne just didn't seem to be registering.

And then, 'just' Adrienne came around the corner.

She was wearing a shimmering black evening gown that went to the floor but didn't quite drag with black peep-toe shoes, her toenails freshly painted a dark purple, the color of Roman royalty. The top was gathered a bit at the bodice, but went into thick straps that appeared to criss cross across her back, her beautiful back, and he was certain that her snake tattoo would be visible, but in a way that would just make it that much more special. The middle of the dress was slightly fitted, not so much that it was tight, but tight enough to accent her figure, her small thin waist moving gracefully to her full curvy Cajun hips that she always complained about, that she hated, but he never really saw what was wrong with them. She was wearing make-up, not her usual barely there, but deep purple accents over her eyes, matching her toes and her normally shoddy nails, her lips a warm pink.

Stunning was the word that came to mind, she was absolutely stunning, but he couldn't muster up the courage to tell her; he couldn't even breathe.

"Jaw up Indy," she said as she walked by, opening her coat closet to get a wrap, covering her shoulders and facing Daniel, who still had yet to speak. He didn't know what to say; now that he could breathe again he was at a loss for words.

What could he say?

You look fantastic?

You're gorgeous?

Dear God Ad?

What do you tell your best friend when she walks out looking like that? Jack could think of a few things, he was certain of that, but all Daniel could think right now was that the most beautiful woman in the entire galaxy was standing right here in front of him, hands on her hips, waiting for an intelligent reply that he wasn't going to be able to give.

"You look pretty damn good yourself," she replied for him, patting him on the back and pointing to the door. Relieved that she seemed to be taking the lead, he stepped ahead, opening the door for her as they made their way out to his car.

The drive to the hotel downtown was only fifteen minutes long and Daniel didn't say much for those fifteen minutes; he didn't know what to say. He had planned on going over various talking points that might come up over the course of the evening, or at least joke around with her, making fun in advance of Woolsey and the others, but he couldn't say a word, he couldn't even glance at her. She just looked too amazing, even acknowledging her presence by cutting his eyes over at her while he navigated the dark D.C. roads was enough to make his heart race inside his chest.

She didn't push him either, didn't say a word, but sat in silent worry that maybe she shouldn't have bought the dress, that maybe it was too much, maybe it showed too much skin, maybe he didn't approve. Staring out through the windshield of the jeep, Adrienne watched the city pass on by, going over in her head the information in the folders sitting at her feet that she hadn't even bothered to open, reality sinking in as the car came to a halt in the valet loop. She glanced over at him as they stopped, but he was still looking ahead, and no longer able to contain her nerves, she reached out to him, touching his shoulder gently.

"Daniel, are you ok?" she asked, sweetly, calling him Daniel and not Indy. He could smell her perfume, it was foreign and musky, not what he'd expect, as she moved closer to him, her fingers digging lightly into his shoulder. Urging himself to keep it together, he gazed ahead, thankful that the young man in the black and white uniform was signaling him to move forward.

"Fine, I'm fine, just hoping we don't get anything thrown at us that I didn't expect," he lied. The only thing he had been worried about before was some government official trying to trick Adrienne into talking about something that she didn't have any knowledge of and Adrienne, not wanting to disappoint him trying to cover for said lack of knowledge. Now, his biggest concern was not paying attention to anything other than Adrienne, the way she looked, the way she smelled, the way the street lights were making her dark eyes sparkle in a way that made it seem as if she was casting on spell on him.

"We've got this, no worries," she said, relieved, as the valet approached the door, feeling silly that he would be doing anything other than worrying about Woolsey and company like he had all week. Opening the car door, she breathed out where he couldn't see, but he lingered just one second to see her whisk herself out of the seat, rushing around the back of the car to join her at the entrance to the hotel holding out his arm. She smiled and took it, feeling normal again, and they walked into the building confidently to face their fate.

"Dr. Jackson!" Robert Woolsey was shouting enthusiastically as they entered the ballroom like he was happy to see them, Adrienne squeezing Daniel's arm tightly. He knew what that meant, she hated that man, and was bracing herself for the bureaucratic nightmare they were about to confront. As Daniel had expected, thanks to Sam, it looked like he was the IOA liaison for the night with the various subcommittee members who were standing with him toward the left hand side of the ballroom, sipping champagne and chatting.

Trying to give her hand a gentle squeeze with his arm, Daniel led his assistant over to where the gentlemen were standing, eyeing Adrienne carefully as her expression went from disgust to show face, smiling politely as Woolsey took her hand, leading her from Daniel and to the table where the their other dinner companions appeared to be waiting. There they were greeted by four men in suits that cost way more than someone should pay for a suit, a sign of the arrogance behind their wearers.

"Drs., I would like to introduce to you Senators McCrery of Massachusetts, Witt of Maryland, Castro of Arizona and Senator Bennett of California," Woolsey said as he swept his hand at each of the men slowly, pausing at each and on cue, they reached out to shake Daniel and Adrienne's hands one at time while Woolsey continued.

"You all are familiar with Dr. Jackson and his work, but this is his assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan, one of our newer additions to the program," Woolsey introduced with a tone Daniel felt Adrienne did not deserve, one that he had to admit was one he would have used almost a year ago himself, but no longer. Woolsey hadn't been keen on hiring him an assistant from day one, thinking that database information was not very important and now that Sam had promoted her to an active member of the team, he seemed even less impressed.

"Dr. Rowan?" Senator Castro said, looking surprised, "I wasn't aware we hired women so beautiful for our Stargate program."

Daniel got to urge to make sure Adrienne didn't erupt into a full blown lecture about the role of women in science or begin some other speech concerning objectification, but she just smiled, her cheeks flushing slightly. Not Vala, he had to remind himself, I'm not here with Vala. He glanced over at her again, watching her athletic figure glide gracefully into the chair that was being pulled out for her by the clearly dazzled Senator Castro, her manner and elegance making it clear who he was dealing with, why Sam had hired her, why she had become such an important part of his life.

_Dear God I am not here with Vala. _

He sat down himself, right beside her, glancing over one more time at his assistant in utter awe, the entire evening just a confusion of nerves, worries and emotion that he just couldn't explain. Did I ever notice how attractive she was before, he thought, and he had, little things, but other than noticing that she was pretty he had never thought of her like this before.

He couldn't think about that now, he needed to focus, so the best he could he turned away from Adrienne to enjoy the company of Robert Woolsey.

The beginning of the meal was all small talk. They asked about Adrienne's upbringing, if she had ever attended Mardi Gras and other things that people found interesting about New Orleans. Adrienne handled it all with a smile on her face but without acting like a silly girl. She was dignified and well spoken, in a way Daniel had never seen her act before, it was the professor's performance that he knew she had in her but she had never needed very much just sitting with him in the lab. Up until this point he had tried to handle most of the meetings of this importance alone or with Sam, leaving his very competent assistant and best friend to take care of things he deemed more important, like real research, but tonight, she was spectacular, in every way possible.

Things, in fact, seemed to be going quite well, much better than he expected, and he had turned to even join the conversation himself, his fears and worries unjustified. There was nothing to be nervous about, it was just Adrienne and Adrienne was just doing what he had invited her to do: be amazing.

As the entrees were brought out, however, the conversation took a turn for the worse, a worse that Daniel should have seen coming, but not until Senator Bennett looked up at him and cleared his throat did he understand that all of the schmoozing in the world wasn't going to change what Daniel already knew.

"Doctor, as you may know we are facing some tough economic times," he began, sipping his glass of wine waiting to judge Daniel's reaction. Daniel had heard all of this before, there was always something with money involved that they would have to discuss and prepared for this, he answered casually.

"Yes sir, and General O'Neill is striving to make our facility more efficient and streamline various projects. In fact, Dr. Rowan has been working on a variety of computer programs to help ease data entry and decrease man hours needed post missions. In fact, our lab has been able to cut expenses by ten percent in the last year," the archaeologist answered proudly. Adrienne had been working diligently to do just that, and her Goa'uld translation program had already cut down on the needs for a translator on many of the smaller missions. Despite having to pay her a salary, she had cut expenses to a point that more than made up for her pay.

"We understand Dr. Jackson, however, we are most concerned that certain departments are not having the output we need to justify the expenditure. In fact, we have been most disappointed in your department," the senator continued.

"Why is that exactly?" Daniel questioned. He and Adrienne had been rolling on the Asgard database as well, so he knew that Sam was sending out a lot of information to her superiors. In fact, the find just a few weeks back connecting the Asgard to the Ancient Hebrews was not only a huge find historically speaking, but had proved to be a source for valuable information on a virus that was getting very little attention here on Earth. Dr. Carolyn Lam and Cassie Frasier had been very active with getting those results analyzed and sent up to Jack, and that was just one example; the database proved every day to be the most valuable gift they had received to date. Yet that didn't seem to matter, Daniel could tell as the senator glanced over at the others and back to Daniel. He seemed, for the moment, to be ignoring Adrienne completely.

"Dr. Jackson, we had hoped to get more out of the Asgard database, that is why we agreed to let General O'Neill hire you an assistant, but we cannot defend ourselves with pages of Asgard royal lineage or real life Bible stories," he turned his head a bit, trying to emphasis his point. The senate didn't care about the history of a people more ancient then could be imaged who were now gone forever and they didn't care about the amazing history of human civilization that he and Adrienne uncovered on what seemed to be a daily basis. They wanted guns, bombs or cell phone technology; they wanted either ways to blow things up or ways to make money, not something that could never even be displayed in a museum, never be revealed to the general public. That wasn't the kind of work that he and Adrienne did.

"Sir, I'm sorry that we've not been able to produce something as of yet to your liking, but the database is much larger than you could have imagined. I'm sure that we both could agree to maybe adding some extra time to our schedule to get through more, but it's important that we go in order to insure that we don't miss anything vital," he hated to volunteer Adrienne for more work, but he would just have to owe it to her. She would understand, in fact, maybe they could turn it into some fun night together, once a week, like Fridays used to be before they started getting dragged across the galaxy again. He glanced over at her and could see that she was looking at him as well and it appeared as if they were on the same page, thankfully.

"Well, Doctor, we've been discussing this at some length and we think that there are adjustments needing to be made in your department as well as geology and paleontology. I'll be making a visit to the base on Monday on behalf of the committee in order to begin to note what items and personnel that we recommend being cut," he said as he glared over at Mr. Woolsey, who was adjusting his tie nervously.

Daniel was shocked.

He knew that this would be the typical defense of the program and yes they would probably come for a visit, but usually, he or Sam were successful in dissuading them from actually following through with anything, however, it seemed as if they had already deemed that cuts were going to be made, that this was just a nice way of saying prepare to lose your funding, we've already decided. His face must have given something away because he felt a tickle on the top of his thigh and almost jumped before realizing that it was Adrienne, lightly spelling C-A-L-M with her index finger. Clearing his throat and drawing from her clear confidence, Daniel tried to put on his best face.

"Of course, we welcome your suggestions. I'm happy to meet with you first thing Monday," he looked over at Adrienne hoping she would catch on.

"I'll need to check your schedule Doctor, but I'm happy to clear anything that's not as essential," she answered. Take that, Daniel thought to himself, see how vital she is to me.

In more ways than one, he added a second later, those nerves invading his system once more, Jack's words floating through his head.

_You're in love with that woman..._

"Excellent, well, in the meantime, let's enjoy dinner. We can talk shop more on Monday," Bennett declared, his tone and manner changing as he lifted his fork and knife cutting into the filet in front of him. Taking his lead, Daniel glanced over at Adrienne, trying to read her face or get any sense of her reaction at all, but she didn't seem worried and that calmed him, slightly.

They ate their dinner and the senators excused themselves periodically to talk to others in the room, the event including some people Daniel had seen around the Pentagon, other departments in HomeWorld security that seemed to be getting cut as well, making Daniel wish he had some way to call Jack and figure out what exactly was going on. His friend's absence at the event was troubling, but he knew he must have his reasons and decided to check in with him once he was home. Together Daniel and Adrienne just sat, with Woolsey trying to speak to them throughout, assuring them that he was on top of this and that nothing would happen; it would probably just be a few downgrades and maybe a pay freeze.

Daniel didn't care about a pay freeze, his mind was somewhere else entirely.

He ordered another glass of wine.

He spent the end of the meal in relative silence until Woolsey finally left he and Adrienne alone at the table to schmooze himself but after he ordered a third glass of wine, his dear friend, his ravishingly beautiful dear friend, gently removed it from the place in front of him, sliding it just out of reach. He didn't argue; he knew she was just looking out for him and he let her lead as she folded the napkin carefully into her lap. She stood and he followed, wobbling a bit but Adrienne was right there to catch him, her arm gingerly slipping around his waist, discreetly bringing him upright.

"Indy; I've got you," she whispered in his ear, knowing that he was clearly upset and probably should have eaten more, most of the food was still on his plate, and drank a touch less.

_She's always got me..._

Nodding his head, Daniel reached into his pocket and passed the valet ticket over without hesitation and she took it, threading his arm through hers so it looked like he was escorting her out and strode forward proudly as though the two of them didn't have a care in the world. None of the senators came over to wish them goodbye , something that if Adrienne noticed she didn't care, letting him hold onto her as if he really was her date tonight, standing in the chill of the DC evening as the valet brought the Jeep around. Alert enough to lead her to the driver's side, he did, before scurrying back to the passenger seat, climbing into the other side as she started the ignition.

"You can't spend your weekend obsessing over this," she declared as the door shut.

"What's there to obsess over? What's done is done," he answered quickly making him the recipient of a confused glance.

"Daniel, look, I've only known you for about a year, but I've never seen you give up on anything. Ever. Why start now?" she asked and didn't bother hiding the concern in her voice, but Daniel didn't answer, just gazed out into the starlit sky.

The truth was, he wasn't giving up. Over the years they had this happen more times than they could count and in the end he retained his job and office, he did, but others weren't as lucky. He just couldn't get the thought out of his head; if they tried to get rid of Adrienne, he didn't know what he would do...

"Hello? Indy? Back to Earth shug. You only had two glasses of wine," she said as she turned onto her street, knowing that with Daniel two glasses was a bit much, but hoping he would catch her jest, yet he continued to stare ahead.

He couldn't look at her.

Other than the fact that she was smart and everyone liked her, come Monday he had no justification as to why he needed an assistant; the only thing that had changed was he was no longer sleeping in the lab and that didn't matter to the bottom line. He and Adrienne just worked on what he had worked on before alone. With nothing to offer to the conversation, he kept silent.

When they arrived at her apartment, Adrienne parked the car, retaining the keys as she peered over at him, concerned.

"Come in," she said softly as she reached for her purse, her clutch as she had called it, "you look catatonic."

"I'm fine. Just have a lot of my mind," Daniel answered.

"You left a duffle here a few weeks ago. Let's go inside, watch a movie and I can open some more wine if you want," she reached her hand over to clasp his, refusing to take no as an answer and he didn't pull away, just sat there, holding her hand in the silent darkness of his jeep. She could read him better than anyone else ever had, there was no hiding this, at least not how he was feeling, he could probably avoid telling her about her possible dismissal, but above all else, he didn't want to leave, didn't want to leave her.

"Yeah, alright. That sounds good," he said, pulling his hand away and opening the door.

When they got inside Adrienne whisked herself down the hall to get his bag. She is so very beautiful Daniel thought as she left the living room, the shimmer of black accenting her graceful exit.

_Why can't I stop looking at her? _

He continued his thoughts, thinking back on the evening, how he had noticed the little details in her dress and in her face, details like the fine liner of glitter painted on her eyelids; how she had actually changed out her jewelry, her nose ring, her lip, her eyebrow, that collection of metal in her ears, all of which had perfectly matched and should have looked out of place, should have looked unprofessional but was equally as magnificent as the rest of her attire. The thoughts should have stopped, he was convinced that they would, the stress combined with the alcohol making him think like this, think like Jack, but when she came back minutes later, wearing her usual Adrienne attire, yoga pants and a t-shirt, wordlessly throwing the duffel into his lap. She still looked different; she still looked simply amazing.

_Daniel you drank too much. _

Adrienne poured them some wine and cued up a move while Daniel changed into more appropriate attire, all in relative silence, as if she was waiting for him to open up first. He still didn't say too much and she didn't push him but when he came back and sat down she just handed him a glass, crawling up beside him, hitting play. That should have made him feel better, this was like them, Adrienne sitting nearly on top of him, yoga style, her knee resting against his leg, there was nothing to it, she was his best friend, but the anxiety returned like a freight train, his heart pounding in his chest. Willing the feeling away, he chugged down the glass of wine and tried to play like everything was normal, resting his arm on her invading leg.

Two more glasses of wine later, Daniel didn't even know what they were watching, nor did he care but Adrienne was laughing hysterically, so she must have endured a comedy for his benefit. Not that he liked them per se, but he figured that she was trying to cheer him up so he laughed along the best he could but he just kept thinking over and over that he couldn't lose her.

They couldn't cut her; not Adrienne, what would he do without her and why in the hell did he care so much.

Remembering her words, not to obsess, he just kept drinking his wine.

Daniel hadn't said much during the movie, sniggering a few times, but that was all, so when the movie was over, Adrienne wasn't really surprised to see that he had fallen asleep, lulled by the wine, the empty glass dangling lightly from his left hand. He was nearly laying on her, his right hand holding tightly to her ankle. Carefully, she pried him away, adjusting him gently on the sofa, before shutting off the TV. She raced down the hall for her spare blanket and pillow, returning to the sofa and setting them on the coffee table. As slowly as she could, not wanting to wake him, she held fast to his shoulders and laid him down gently on the coach, reaching to his feet to tuck them on as well. She covered him carefully and removed his glasses, setting them softly on the coffee table.

"Goodnight Daniel, sleep well," she whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek softly, before taking herself to bed.

Adrienne awoke and plodded her way to the kitchen to make coffee, rubbing her eyes and regretting the wine as even her drops were not taking care of the dryness. She had slept well, heavy even, and Daniel hadn't made a sound, so she assumed that he was still asleep, the wine doing even better than she could to relax him. Figuring that once she started the grinder he would crawl himself off of the sofa, she didn't even peek over in his direction, just made straight for the fridge, opening the freezer door to remove her coffee beans, noticing a small piece of legal paper tucked under a magnet on the door as she let it close.

_Thanks for putting up with that. See you Monday. _

_Daniel_

Adrienne sighed. She knew that something else was wrong, but she didn't want to push him; she had learned how to read him and this note said just leave me alone, despite how much doing just that would tear her up inside. Forcing herself to forget, she made coffee and proceeded to go about business as usual hoping that the closest friend that she ever had wasn't worrying himself into trouble.

On Monday, Daniel sat at his desk having worked through weekend, dragging himself to his room for a few hours each night before returning back to his task, his impossible task. Fueled by caffeine, he scoured through each and every one of Adrienne's files, trying to find something he could give her credit for, anything, but everything there, while perfect and done quicker than he would have accomplished alone, was something he would have gotten around to eventually. The oversight committee didn't care about speed of return if the return was always the same. His heading throbbing, he peeked at the clock.

8:57.

Please, he said to himself, don't be late today.

At 9, she still hadn't arrived and Daniel felt his heart sink. Of all of the days to be late, she had to be late today. She was late everyday but didn't she know? She was sitting right there in the same meeting; didn't she hear what was being said?

9:05, no Adrienne, no coffee, no cajun excuses, nothing. The phone rang on his desk, sickness ravaging his gut and he answered it, knowing what was to come.

"Jackson."

"Good morning Daniel. Our visitors have arrived," it was Sam, who had arrived late Saturday eager to learn the details of the dinner, details that he remembered, just the wrong details. By her tone she didn't seemed pleased; they must have come to speak with her first, starting their cost cutting measures with gate operations.

'Be right there," he answered and hung up, grabbing a legal pad and starting for the door, slowly, deliberately, hoping Adrienne would burst in at any moment.

9:07 a.m.

She didn't; not a soul was to be seen as he peered left and right into the hallway, the second hand of the clock clicking behind him, a tapping reminder of each moment that passed when she wasn't there.

"Dammit Ad," he swore, instantly angry with her, her irresponsibility, arrogance and her thoughtlessness.

Did she just think they were going to keep her around because she was pleasant?

Smart?

Cute?

And what about him?

Did she just think he would be fine without her?

Raging, he stormed down the hall to face the committee, alone.

The meeting went just as he thought, terrible; they really had their list made in advance. Beginning with some smaller departments, the senators emotionlessly shut down offices, cut supplies and even some minor personnel. Minor personnel they may have been, but Daniel felt awful each time a name was read. He really didn't know any of those people at all and felt like he not only should he know each and every one of them but should be fighting for their jobs, but nothing seemed to matter, nothing but what he knew they were going to say. He sat in silence, nodding when asked a question, his heart pounding in his chest, the anger at her gone, replaced with a deep sadness.

"Now," Senator Bennett continued, "we come to your department Dr. Jackson."

Taking a breath, Daniel braced himself, nerves replaced by a sick feeling in his stomach as if someone had hit him there, which is what he felt like they were getting ready to do. This didn't mean he would never see Adrienne again, he told himself, they were friends, best friends, she just wouldn't work here. He would help her find another job, he could call his contacts at the Smithsonian, she had wanted to work there in the first place, sure she would lose her apartment provided by the SGC, that would be an issue, but hell, she could even stay with him while she looked and while she got herself situated at her new job, he'd find storage for that crazy greek temple montage that she called decor.

He would do anything, anything to help her.

Because he was in love with her.

At that moment the world seemed to stop, Daniel forgetting where he was, forgetting everything except for the past year, the whirlwind that had been his life here at the Pentagon. That strange woman on that laptop screen, how Sam had hired her without so much as asking his opinion on the matter. He remembered how she'd worked so hard to be part of the team, to do well in his lab, how proud she had been when she earned a spot on SG1, how proud he had been. It hit him how of anyone he had met in his life that she was smart enough to have real conversations with, fun to be with, there when he needed her. She was everything that he always wanted but he never really realized until right now.

_Dear God. I'm in love with her. Jack was right; I'm in love with Adrienne. _

_I can't lose her, I just can't; I love her... _

"Dr. Jackson, is everything alright?" the senator asked, his expression confused as he glanced at Sam for an answer.

"Daniel?" Sam asked, looking equally as bewildered. He must have had a look on his face, shock, panic, he wasn't sure, but he needed to get out of here and find her; he needed to save her job and save it now, because he couldn't live without her.

_I love her._

"Yeah, yeah, everything is just fine. Could you both excuse me for just a moment?" Daniel stood, not allowing them to answer, leaving Sam and the senators staring at one another in stunned silence.

_I'm in love with Adrienne. _

He had to find her, he had to drag her in here and prove to them that she was the best thing to ever happen to the SGC, the best thing to ever happen to him, the most amazing person he had ever met. Pulling his phone from his pocket and dialed, saying a silent prayer that she would answer.

_Please answer Adrienne, please, I can't lose you..._

"Morning Indy!" she answered joyfully.

"Adrienne," he hissed into the phone, "where are you?" He didn't want to scold her, he wanted to say, Ad, please just come down here and defend your job.

_I can't live without you. _

_I love you. _

"In the lab, I must have just missed you, why?" asking as though she didn't remember the meeting.

"I'm in THE meeting. The one where I'm going to try to save your job," he answered, racing for the lab.

_The one where I realized that I'm in love with you._

"I told you not to obsess over it shug, in fact it came to me Saturday night. I did find something useful I had just shoved it to the back burner because the info is merde but it's enough to keep them at bay for a while," she answered and he heard clicking on the other end of the line.

"What are you talking about? I was here all weekend trying to figure out a way to keep you around! You never came in!" Daniel was confused and not shouting at her in anger but rather in panic. Reaching the door of the lab, he hung up the phone, peering around the corner at Adrienne standing at her desk, tapping away on that iPad of hers. Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled, looking different this morning, brighter, breathtaking, and that made him panic more.

_You are so beautiful..._

"I worked remotely, from home. I set that up weeks ago; I tried to show you and you looked at me funny," Adrienne winked at him and kept tapping.

"Ad, we don't have time for this. I need to get back up there. That senator from California is getting ready to ax you!" Daniel pleaded, unable to understand why Adrienne wasn't more upset.

Maybe she didn't care as much as he did; maybe he was just a friend to her.

_Dear God, why didn't I see this? _

_Why was Jack always right about things like this? _

_How do you not notice completely and totally falling in love with someone?_

"I'm ready when you are," she replied, grabbing his arm to lead him into the hall, shutting off the light and leaving the lab, heading down to the briefing room. Daniel pulled away, not wanting her to feel him trembling in fear at the prospect of losing her and followed briskly, his heart hopeful that she did have a solution. The door still open as he had left it, she entered the room in that Adrienne fashion of hers, bright and flamboyant but dignified and to be respected.

"Senator," Adrienne addressed him and walked over to shake his hand, "I apologize for my lateness, but Dr. Jackson requested that not only do I finish this before I joined you, but he wanted me to keep it quiet until we knew for sure." Daniel gave her the 'I did what' face but she just kept talking.

"Nice to see you Dr. Rowan and what find might this be," the senator asking, taking his seat again to let her speak as if she was going to give him an option.

_She won't, trust me, but it will be worth it, she's worth it. _

"In going through the Asgard lineage I noticed a pattern of assassinations in one particular branch of the ruling family. These assassinations continued, and control fluctuated until one family in particular, Thor's, took control," Adrienne winked at Daniel.

"And.." the senator asked.

"And..." she took her iPad over to the screen and did her little wireless thing she liked to do to make Daniel feel like a technological dinosaur. Trusting her, her enthusiasm contagious, he leaned back against the wall letting her work her magic.

_I love her so much._

"It seems that suddenly, once Thor's people took control, assassination attempts continued, they recorded every one, but not a one was successful. Originally, I had just assumed it was holograms, body doubles, etc. that they were using, but I was wrong. It was this," Adrienne hit a button and an image popped up on the screen of a small amulet, Daniel stepping forward to get a better look, trying not to look like this was the first time he had seen it.

"What is that?" the senator asked as Sam looked equally mesmerized.

"That," Adrienne smiled, " is a personal shield."

_And it's because of things that like Ad, just like that..._

"Wait," Sam turned her head and looked at Adrienne.

"Yes. Now that I know what it's called Rodney and his staff can go through their part of the database and find it. It seems to function a tad easier than the Ancient version, gives the wearer more control. I thought that it might be, useful." Adrienne crossed her arms proud of herself while Daniel was at a loss for words, stunned, impressed, completely enchanted.

"Well, Dr. Rowan," the senator spoke, "we were just going over your department and we have many concerns, especially in the area of budget. You say you have been working on this for a while."

"That is correct," she replied, "and not only are Dr. Jackson and I on just the very cusp of this breakthrough, it really has taken the both of us you would not believe the intricacies and details in the database, but just by making a few technological updates I have been able to cut total laboratory expenditures by nearly ten percent."

"Ten percent?" he clarified, scanning the papers that were thrust in his hand before peering back to the screen to glance at the object, "and you say this shield is incomplete."

"Yes sir," she answered, "I really have only been able to scratch the surface. I shared it with Dr. Jackson as soon as I was certain that I could be onto something, but he insisted that I continue to work on this project myself so he could keep moving, in the hope of course a shield is just a gateway to more defensive technology. We've made remarkable strides in the database, and working together like we have, this is just the beginning."

For a moment no one spoke, Daniel eying the room as Sam repressed a smirk, clearly seeing through her friend's deception, neither of them cared one moment about defensive technology, while the senators looked at each other a mixture of shrugs and nods, silently coming to a consensus.

_This 9.5% covers more than her salary and she's found something. I get to keep her. Leave._

"Well," the senator began, "in light of this information I think I have no further recommendations to make. Dr. Rowan, I look forward to seeing this shield in action," he added, closing his briefcase and standing to leave, the other senators following suit. Daniel bid him farewell as Sam left to see them out, Daniel watching carefully to make sure that they were gone before glaring over at Adrienne.

"How did you know?" he asked, no longer needing to hide the worry, she would be able to read it, to see it all over his face.

"That I was gonna get canned? Indy, I worked in public education; I know all of the government malarkey and I know how to shut them up. Money and shit that could make them money," she smiled, patting him on the shoulder and starting to leave but he grabbed her arm, his own eyes locking on her mesmerizing brown gaze in its complete perfection.

_I almost lost you..._

"What shug? Oh no, are you mad? I should have told you, but you had that leave me alone attitude going on Friday night, so I just took care of the problem myself; I didn't want to stress you out more," Adrienne apologized, hoping he wasn't angry with her as he continued to hold her arm looking into her eyes. He had a sudden and overwhelming urge to kiss her then and there, to press his lips so softly to hers, to tell her that he loved her and wasn't angry with her, that he just didn't want to lose her, that he was so afraid of losing her and never wanted to live another moment of life without her...

But he just stood frozen in time, unable to speak.

"Daniel, what's going on with you?" Adrienne asked him, truly confused, pulling her arm away. Not wanting to upset her, not wanting to hurt her, he did the only thing he could think to do, the only thing his over-analytical head would allow him to do, stepping forward and pulling her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She didn't react at first, making his heart stop, until he felt limbs wrapped around his waist, holding him just as close.

"Awww. Mr. Can Do Everything Alone was gonna miss me!" she teased from his embrace, not pulling away. Tell her, his heart screamed, do you feel that?

_She loves you too, why in the world would someone hold you back like that, she has to, just kiss her..._

But he couldn't, the reasons why he couldn't starting to rush his head. She's your subordinate. She's a team member. She's younger than you, much, much younger. She deserves better...

"I've just gotten used to having you around, that's all. Don't let it go to your head," Daniel replied quickly before he could say anything else. letting go and starting to walk to the lab, away from her, for fear he might say something to embarrass himself or scare her away.

Or ruin this.

All of this.

Because she deserved better.

Better than him.

She deserved a Ronon Dex, someone who could take care of her, fight for her, fight with her, be a man for her.

She deserved to be in love with someone that could love her back, not hide, not keep quiet.

Jack had warned him that this could never be.

"Fine," she was still picking with him, her expression playful as if none of this ever happened, "walk away. I need coffee anyway. I LOVE YOU INDY!" she said in a mocking tone, walking backwards making kissy kissy faces at him before she turned and walked in the direction of the elevators headed for the commissary.

"I love you too Adrienne," he whispered to himself, quietly, his throat tightening, turning to head for the lab before she could look back and see his face.

Because he had fallen in love with his assistant, the one person he had never expected.

And Jack was right.

No one could know.

He pulled the door behind him as he entered, taking a silent seat at his desk, resting his head in his hands.


	23. Chapter 22 - Expectations

_I just couldn't put this in the side stories even though it lacks the action of the others. It is the companion story to #24._

_Just remember, there is a reason for everything and the devil is in the details :) _

_And Daniel & Adrienne are their own worst enemies... (which provides for great comedy and action soon) _

_Enjoy! _

Daniel heard the laughing as soon as he turned the corner from the gateroom on the way back from yet another meeting with Rodney about the personal shield. It was Adrienne, lead discoverer of said shield and that particular laugh meant that she had a visitor, a specific visitor, the only visitor that made her laugh like that...

"No way, you can't be serious!?" Adrienne giggled, "What did Sheppard say?"

"Nothing, what could he say? He just stepped over the wraith and got back into the puddle jumper," Daniel could hear him reply as he slowed his pace, trying not to eavesdrop but unable to help himself.

It tore him up inside, hearing her like that, so happy, but it's exactly what he had been hoping for for weeks, exactly what he was hoping would happen. He'd tried to keep his distance lately, as much as possible without her assuming something was wrong, making a conscious effort to slowly push his assistant in that direction, toward the strong and capable alien man and away from him. Feelings aside, it wasn't healthy, their relationship, a man and a woman shouldn't behave the way that they do and walk around claiming that they were just friends.

Advancing his step, Daniel turned around the door frame to see Adrienne sitting at her desk, her palm against Ronon's bare bicep as he was wearing his Sateaden gear rather than his SG uniform. Of course he was, Daniel thought with disgust, trying to regulate his jealously as he started to list to himself the reasons that this was what needed to happen, that he was too old, that he was her boss, that she was too perfect, that he just couldn't do this again. Silent, and trying to not cut his eyes, he walked right by them, taking a seat at his own desk, sliding the meeting folder into a pile on the side and firing up his machine.

"Alright, so six o'clock, that's good?" Ronon confirmed.

"Yea, it sounds great. And I don't need to bring anything special..." Adrienne doubled checked, eyeing her suitor suspiciously.

"Not a thing," Ronon replied, leaning over to hug her goodbye, which of course she returned, kissing his cheek lightly before he pulled away, a shy smile on his face as he backed out of the door. Her eyes followed him until he was gone, finally looking over at Daniel at her guests complete exit.

"Hey Indy, no bad 3D greek epic on Friday. I'll have to owe ya," she said, leaning back in her chair smiling brightly.

"Oh?" he asked, but he knew why. He knew what had just happened; he had been trying to make it happen for a while now and she must have finally given in.

_It's what needs to happen; you need to get yourself under control and be happy for her. _

"Yes..." Adrienne leaned back in her chair, grinning from ear to ear, her gorgeous eyes lighting the dark room with excitement, "I have a date."

_Look how happy she is; be happy for her, let her relish in this. She deserves this. _

_Adrienne should be happy._

"Well, I hope you have fun. I was thinking about catching up on some personal paperwork myself," Daniel answered, trying to not make her feel bad about canceling their typical 'single with no life' Friday plans, trying to be supportive of his best friend, because that was exactly what she was going to stay, his best friend.

No matter what his heart wanted otherwise.

'"Oh," this time Adrienne answered, a tinge of disappointment in her voice, like she was looking for a different reaction.

Daniel was completely confused.

"Is that a bad thing?" he looked at her and asked, peering over his glasses.

_What does she want me to say? _

_Don't go? _

_Ask me instead? _

_I'll take you wherever you want to go..._

Stop listening to Jack, Daniel ordered himself, he's not the expert on relationships by a long shot. He hadn't told Jack, he hadn't told anyone about his realization from a few weeks ago, his realization that everyone was right, that he had unwittingly fallen in love with his assistant.

Which apparently was ok as long as he didn't really do anything about it.

_And such is my life story..._

"No, it's just, well, we can hang out on Saturday, ok?" she said quickly. That was it, he was reading too much into this; she just didn't want to hurt his feelings. Fridays had really become their night so to speak, where they picked something nerdy, geeky, something the rest of the group would never agree to do and she had scheduled her date for then. He had allowed that little tradition to continue these past few weeks, however he had been making excuses to have to go back to his own apartment when whatever film or dinner was over, feeling that spending the night at hers was no longer appropriate. It was sweet that she thought of him, that was touching. She did really care about him, they were like siblings in some respects, and it was considerate of her to worry about him.

"Sure Saturday is fine," he agreed.

_Unless you and Dex have too much fun..._

_Great Daniel, now you're thinking like Vala; let's just let the insanity completely take over your brain. _

Turning back to his desk, he grabbed the mission file for next week, trying not to think about Adrienne's big night a moment longer. He looked back at his rather lengthy to do list and sighed, being that it was only Wednesday, starting back at his tasks.

The week passed uneventfully, no off world mission scheduled until the following Tuesday. He and Adrienne spent the majority of their time preparing for the briefing and making sure that the mission files were all in order. Pretty boring, even boring for Daniel, so much so that he let her start dance breaks every few hours or so just to make sure that they were getting up. He didn't join her at first, but after finishing three pots of coffee on Thursday before 11 a.m. he decided to try her method, just making sure he shut the lab door before he did.

He just didn't dance.

Or stand near her.

Or let her dance up to him.

Maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

Friday at 10 a.m., Adrienne stood from her desk, walking over to the speaker, standing on her tiptoes to turn on the iPod and an awful song came on; one that Daniel remembered from his college years was sung by two little boys who wore their clothes backwards. He shook his head, but stood from his desk, walking over to close the door.

"See," Adrienne said as she grabbed his hands, pulling him over to her, "isn't this much more fun!" Yesterday he hadn't danced per se, he couldn't dance at all really, much to her amusement, but he had gotten up and let her dance around, while he stood and stretched his legs, but now, now she tried to pull him closer, very close, so he pulled away, nerves building up inside.

"Not so close; I wouldn't want Dex to come down here and beat me to a pulp," Daniel tried to tease as Adrienne backed away slowly, looking hurt.

¨Why must you insist on harassing me? You got your way, didn't you? I'm dating like a normal person," Adrienne said as she let go of his hands, dancing around back to her desk as Daniel forced a laugh and shut off the music.

"I didn't say I wanted you to date; I said I wanted you to be happy," he clarified, covering, trying not to be obvious as Adrienne just sat down at her desk giving him a funny look.

_Bad word choice genius._

He tried not to notice, tried not to overanalyze as she stared at him in silence, something obviously on her mind.

_She knows, she sees right through you..._

"Can I call you? Afterwards, to tell you how it went?" she finally asked, hesitation in her voice.

"Call me?" Daniel asked puzzled, "why?" Honestly, the last thing he wanted to hear was how great Ronon Dex was and how much she was looking forward to their next date. Just because he wanted to push her in that direction didn't mean he actually wanted to know what had happened.

"You know why, we're not 12, I don't think I need to repeat it," she responded smartly, Daniel sighing, because apparently part of the best friend deal was calling him after a date. He hesitated to agree; shouldn't she call Vala with all of the gory details? Then again, this was Adrienne, so he was sure that any details to be had would be rather mild and definitely not interesting like Vala would want. For as wild as she was, she had admitted to him more or less that she really didn't have that much experience in the romance department, not that they had had a lot of those kinds of conversations, but he could read between the lines and infer.

"Sure, if you want. You know I'll probably be up," he answered, internal debate over.

_I'll be supportive; if I want this to work I have to be there for her. _

Adrienne smiled and nodded in appreciation.

At five, she didn't have much to say. Ronon was picking her up at six, which meant that Adrienne must be meeting him on base since her apartment was about fifty minutes away and with her track record of getting to places on time it appeared she hadn't even bothered considering going home. Daniel didn't ask, as she was already rushing around to lab, trying to shut down her own personal things and leave, like a wild frantic rabbit trying to make a desperate escape. When she dropped her plastic coffee mug on the floor of the lab, a few remaining cold mocha droplets splashing around her feet, he couldn't contain himself and he laughed, her cold penetrating glare darting in his direction.

"If he knows you like I do he knows that you won't be on time," Daniel kidded, standing to try to help her make her exit a bit faster. She tried not to laugh, but she knew he was right and bent down to clean up her coffee mess, Daniel shooing her away quickly to take care of it himself. Smiling at the gesture, Adrienne stood, shutting the lid to her computer and popping in into the bag on her shoulder, as he stood himself, disregarding the spill for a moment to start to push her out of the door by her shoulders.

"Go, go get ready. At least one of us should have a social life," he insisted. Adrienne stalled only enough to adjust her backpack her eyes locking on his for a split second, looking as if she wanted to say something.

_Say it, say it and I can come up with a work excuse; say you don't want to go..._

"Wish me luck," she requested instead, a nervous grin in place of her normally enchanting smile. Daniel squeezed her hand in reassurance, forcing another smile as Adrienne took a breath and slipped out of the lab.

"This'll be for the best, you'll see," he coached himself verbally before returning to his desk.

It was quiet at his apartment but he welcomed the silence, not even turning on the radio for background noise, relishing in the complete lack of sound encompassing him.

He was totally alone.

True, Cameron had offered for him to come over to his place and watch some boxing match on pay-per-view, but Daniel wasn't in the mood to feign an interest in sports, so, he told the truth, that he was going to use tonight to go through some things in his apartment he had been putting off for a while. Cam had even offered to come help, keep him company, but Daniel refused, needing to spend the time alone just in case his thoughts got the best of him, or if Adrienne needed him. There was always a chance that the date itself could go horribly wrong and she would call him first, he knew she would, so it was best he remain sober, alert and in one place.

So there he was, sober, alert and in once place staring at the Teal'c sized pile of paper boxes lined up on his table. He'd waited too long to go through these old files, missions kept popping up, a crisis that needed attention, but here they were, in front of him, with nothing to stop him now. The prospect of spending his evening doing this was not exactly his idea of Friday night fun, even he found some tasks boring, but these were things that needed to be done. That and it had the added bonus that it would take his mind off the of fact that right now, at seven o'clock in the evening, Adrienne was probably sitting in some nice restaurant, sipping Italian table wine while Ronon regaled her with stories of fighting the wraith, saving small children, rescuing damsels in distress, robbing the rich to feed the poor...

"You have got to pull yourself together, this is ridiculous," he breathed out, annoyed, exasperated by his behavior. Shaking his head, he glanced back at the files, his distraction for the evening, his salvation for the evening. He scanned the boxes, noting the dates on the sides, realizing that some of the files were so old they were notes he had made on Abydoys and had brought back with him. Those he had avoided for a reason. Another pain welling up inside of him, he set that box on the floor, trying not to think about that either.

He had a turmoil limit for tonight, and he was nearly at that limit.

He had successfully worked though one entire box, mostly of old receipts and other things he couldn't figure out why he had saved, when there was a knock at his door. Peeking over at the clock, Daniel saw that it was 10 p.m.

Who in the world would be coming over at 10 p.m?

Vala, of course, was his first thought, determined to have her way with him, but she couldn't drive legally so he quickly eliminated her. Jack was working, Teal'c off world, so it could be Sam, but he had no way of knowing, so he just shrugged his shoulders, putting down the stack of papers and walking over to the door, looking through the peephole.

There was Adrienne, wearing jeans and one of those stupid hole filled sweaters she liked to wear, not at all what he had imagined her to be wearing for her big night with Mr. Perfect, waiting patiently for him to answer. Her body language though was different, her arms were crossed, hugging herself, a worried look on her face.

_Shouldn't she be on a date?_

But he didn't hesitate, opening the door to see what was wrong.

"Hey Daniel," she said quietly, "can I come in?"

No Indy, he thought to himself, that wasn't a good sign.

"Sure Adrienne, is everything alright?" he answered, choosing to avoid her nickname himself, stepping back from the door to let her in. She entered without another word, walking right past him heading straight into the kitchen. Closing the door, and locking it behind him, Daniel went to follow her, concerned that she was not acting like herself, at all. He heard the fridge opening but wasn't surprised or annoyed, they were together enough where 'Can I get you something?' had turned into 'I'm getting myself something.' Peeking his head around the corner, he saw that she had found a bottle of chardonnay chilling in the back, and pulled it out, turning back to face him.

"Can I open this?" she asked, shaking the bottle.

"Be my guest," he replied and headed back to the table, letting her serve herself, wondering what she was doing here, but he could tell by her determination to pour an alcoholic beverage that she would talk when she was good and ready. There was a small tinge of anger building up inside of him, not at Adrienne, but at Ronon, who he hoped hadn't tried anything or done anything to hurt her.

He'd better not have hurt her.

Grabbing the stack of papers that he had set down, Daniel sorted through a small pile and started to grab another when he saw a wine glass being handed to him. Gazing up, he took it and turned to face her, waiting for whatever she finally had to say.

"Don't ever let me do that again," Adrienne requested and sipped her wine as she reached down to grab a chair from the table, pulling it out, and sitting down, sipping again as soon as she was seated. She didn't look like herself, her bright, glowing self; she looked exasperated and stressed.

"Go out on a date or go out on a date with Ronon?" Daniel asked, pulling out the other chair and sitting himself. He moved the boxes back a bit so they would have somewhere to set their glasses and could see Adrienne shaking her head, sipping once more, laughing softly.

"Either," she answered, as she set down her glass, sliding off her boots. Daniel took a breath; she was getting settled, this was going to be either really good or really bad, and he honestly didn't know if he was capable of handling either.

"Ok, I'm assuming this is taking the place of the phone call. I'm listening," Daniel offered, drinking his wine, a feeling that he was going to need it as Adrienne lightly ran her finger around the rim of the glass slowly, deliberately, toying with it in a nervous fashion.

"Well, he told me not to do anything special or wear anything special, which was a huge relief since I just wasn't in the mood for anything formal. So I wore this," Adrienne began. Daniel, who knew nothing of fashion and was sure Adrienne knew how he felt about some of her attire, just nodded.

"So, we went to Ruth Chris, a steakhouse right, nice, but casual and he borrowed Sheppard's car, so he drove, we just left from base," Adrienne continued and Daniel threw up his hands in a so what gesture. Adrienne, not amused, made a face.

"We get there, he opens the door, well the doors, for me, sweet, all very nice, and we're seated quickly because he had actually made reservations, which was again well thought out. And then it got, interesting..." she said, trailing, her finger lapping the rim a tad faster.

"Interesting how?" Daniel asked, sipping his wine, his heart rate increasing ever so slightly. What had happened, she wasn't crying, she was just so unlike herself, no cajun slip-ups or something. He pointed to her glass, indicating that if this was that interesting she needed to take another drink. Halting her wandering digit, she reached again gently for the stem, bringing the glass to her mouth and sipping carefully.

"Well, for starters he ordered for me. Everything. My drink, my meal, how my steak was cooked, everything," she said, making a sour face.

"That's called nice," Daniel responded, "and he's trying to show you that he knows you. That he pays attention to detail. Did he get it right?"

"Yea," Adrienne admitted, frowning at him.

"Ok, keep going," Daniel goaded, his brain finally kicking over to where he needed it to be, to friend mode, to his helpful persona, the one who was always there for others. See, you've got this, he praised himself, taking another taste of the wine.

"Alright, so while we wait of course we're talking. Now, we usually talk about stupid stuff, fighting, war stories, crazy things, I dunno superficial things. I guess I didn't think in advance that he would want to talk about something more serious," Adrienne stopped for a moment and finished her glass of wine in one long gulp, standing to get some more. He heard her pouring herself a glass in the kitchen, but brought the bottle back out, filling Daniel's glass as well, which was also empty, much to his surprise. Lifting the glass gratefully as soon as she set the bottle down beside him, he took another long drink as she sat, ignoring the wine and picking at her fingernails. He remained silent as she did this, wondering at what point this date was going to go bad, so far, it sounded pretty perfect and that alone was making his stomach do somersaults. Setting the glass down, he brought his right hand into his lap, scraping his thumbnail with his index finger.

"So, we get to talking, about more serious things. First, he wanted to know more about what you and I did, which is fine and kinda sweet because no one asks that really since we are considered the two boring ones," Daniel smiled a bit at that as she continued, "I told him and then he started to ask me if I'd ever find another job. Odd question I'm thinking but ok, let's entertain this. I tell him no, at least not right now. I like what I do and I'm happy. He lets that go for a while when our food arrives," Adrienne said and sipped again, Daniel already shaking his head.

"Again, this is normal date conversation; have you ever been on a normal date?" Daniel asked her, trying not to mock her too badly, the look on his face though giving him away. If this was what she called a bad date he was actually curious as to what it would take to be qualified as a good one.

"Of course I have jackass; I'm not finished," Adrienne fussed, chugging, emptying, refilling and finishing the bottle.

"Carry on," he swept the air with his palm, taking another sip himself.

"We do dinner, he pays for the check, gets the chair, the door, the car door, etc. All of which were awkward," she complained.

"No, all of which were normal Adrienne; not everything nice a man does for you should be considered an attack on your independence," Daniel stated plainly, having no idea whatsoever what was wrong with her, even more mystified as Adrienne stood and walked to the kitchen.

"Are you leaving? Seriously? Ad, you need to calm down, I was just joking with you" Daniel stood to follow her, amazed that being honest with her, which was normally what she wanted, would make her leave.

"Wow, I thought you knew me better Indy. I'm not leaving; I'm getting something to eat," she explained, rolling her eyes at his assumption as she opened the freezer door.

Daniel leaned back against the counter relieved; as much as he didn't want to hear about how Ronon Dex was the perfect gentleman, whether Adrienne really realized it or not, he also didn't want her to leave.

He never wanted her to leave.

He never wanted her out of his sight.

Hearing rustling from the appliance, he peeked up to see Adrienne rummaging around, finally producing a small container of ice cream with a smile. Shutting the door and scooting past him, she secured herself a spoon from the cutlery drawer, jumping up to sit on the counter. She popped off the lid, tossing it over into the sink and took a few bites, stuffing the spoon down into the frozen treat and passing it over to Daniel, who took it without hesitation.

"So," he continued as he dug for some ice cream himself, "I'm still waiting for the catch," he added as put the spoon in his mouth. Sighing, Adrienne reached back for the ice cream, so Daniel dropped the spoon back in and relinquished the carton.

"Then he took me out to the mall, the museum one not the shopping one," Daniel nodded thinking this was Adrienne, he didn't need clarification, "and the talk starting getting serious again. He starts asking me what I want out of life. And of course I have no idea, all I really wanted was..." Adrienne started to choke up a bit. Daniel took a step towards her but she held out her hand, not wanting him to start with her right now as she breathed in deeply, squeezing the cow patterned container in her palms.

"All I wanted, for so long, was for dad to be ok. Then he was gone and my life was so empty and then Sam called. Sam called and changed my life. So, no, I have no idea what I want next. Because all I had wanted was to be happy. And I am, just the way things are right now."

Adrienne sucked back some tears but Daniel stayed put, not sure what to do, his thoughts finally on her well-being and not himself, not his selfish desire and idiotic fantasies. He wanted to walk across the small space between the counters and take her into his arms, just to comfort her, but he refrained as she started to eat the ice cream again.

"I take it he has a more clear direction for his life?" Daniel took a stab, cautiously, hoping to not upset her more. Swallowing the Adrienne stuffed the spoon back into the carton and then handed the ice cream over again.

"Yes, very clear. Very very very clear. With contingency plans for either returning to Pegasus or staying here. Clear plans that I got the distinct feeling were supposed to include me..." Adrienne put her head in her hands and this time, unable to hold out any longer, Daniel walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. It was something he hadn't done in weeks but he just felt that he needed to do right now. Sucking back a few more sniffles, she reached her arms around him as well, resting her head onto his shoulder.

"He scared you," Daniel finished and Adrienne didn't move, letting herself lean forward into him from her position on the counter.

"A little," she replied.

"Do you think you'll go out with him again?" Daniel asked, the part of him that he had been trying to quiet all night hoping her answer was no.

"I dunno," Adrienne admitted, still from his shoulder, "I guess I just wanted more adventure, more fun. I was thinking paintball and Chili's or a good 3D movie and then a comedy club. Indy, I think Dex is looking for a wife and not a date."

"Leave it to you to want adventure," Daniel teased, loosening his grip slightly, and leaving the other comment alone. Acknowledging it would have certainly led to Adrienne growing more upset, possibly even lecturing him on the role of women in society and the absurdity of the institution of marriage. Feeling him start to pull away, Adrienne picked up her head and released her arms, gazing up at him slowly. Her eyes, her deep dark eyes entrapped him for a moment, and he almost reached for her face to bring it to his own and kiss her, the urge so great he had to step away. Remembering his earlier task, he turned, Daniel peering back at her as he left the kitchen, a sure fire plan forming in his head to get her mind off of the entire fiasco.

"Where are you going?" she shouted to him, confused by his sudden exit.

"I'm gonna finish sorting. It's not very adrenaline pumping, but you're welcome to join me," he answered, walking over to the box he had been working at, focusing on the documents neatly stacked in a state of false organization. Adrienne shook her head, hopping down and walking back over to Daniel, because of course, he would have more work to do.

"You better have more wine," she demanded.

"No worries; I've learned I need to be well stocked as long as we are friends. Cabinet by the fridge," he pointed and Adrienne turned around, very silly and dramatically heading for the cabinet. Grabbing some red, too impatient to chill another white, she headed back to assist in the task, her mind already leaving behind Ronon's pseudo-proposal.

"You literally keep everything," she told him as she balled up another gas receipt tossing it away. They had been at this for a while now, and on another bottle of wine now, more so on Adrienne's part than Daniel's, and she felt a lot better just being here with him, like she always did.

"I know, that's why I needed to do this. It was getting a bit out of control," he admitted, setting the last empty box back onto the table to be dismantled and taken to the recycling bin in the morning. Muttering something under her breath about 'out of control' and 'only you Indy,' Adrienne gathered up the large trash bag at her feet and poured herself another glass of wine.

"But, it has allowed me to discover more fuel for the fire," Adrienne quickly added as she set the garbage beside the recycling pile to go out in the morning, pointing playfully to a stack of pictures sitting on the table. Remembering their contents, Daniel reached for them, but Adrienne snatched them quickly, still laughing.

"Come on, I know I was a dork, am a dork. Some of us can't be the cool mysterious academic," Daniel defending, reaching for the photos again. Adrienne just giggled and stood showing a few old SG pics from years ago; Daniel skinny and geeky, with zinc on his nose and a cheesy hat. The pictures clearly embarrassed him and Adrienne was enjoying seeing him flush but when he frowned at her, she handed them over and he yanked them away, walking them over to a photo box and stuffing them inside.

"No worries Indy, your secret's safe with me. Besides, I didn't think they looked that bad, you seem more worried by them than I do. I think you looked kinda cute," she said, walking over to kiss his cheek before returning her wine glass to the kitchen.

That was fun, she thought to herself, leave it to Daniel to turn boring into fun. She turned back around to suggest a movie when she saw a box on the kitchen floor, tucked underneath the table as though it had been missed. Kneeling down, she picked it up and set is carefully on their workstation.

"We forgot one," she said, removing the lid and starting to pull items out but Daniel dashed over to it, moving Adrienne's hands away and taking the box.

"Not that one," he said quickly, grabbing the handles of the box, starting to walk it away, toward the office in his apartment, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Knowing the source of the hand, he stopped; she wasn't going to let him escape.

"If you hadn't intended on trying to tackle that one you wouldn't have brought it out in the first place. More embarrassing photos?" Adrienne tried to play, but she wasn't stupid; she knew what was in that box, she'd been here enough and been friends with him long enough to know that he had kept things and that they were hidden here.

"No," he said quietly, shaking his head, slipping away from her light grasp. Adrienne didn't chase him down, just starting picking at her nails, trying to figure out what to say.

"Well, if you need to do it and just need someone for support, I'm here," she offered, returning to the table, grabbing his glass to continue cleaning up, not another word, not a single argument.

Pausing, Daniel looked down at the box in his hands.

_I need to do this; I need to face this and I can do it with her. _

_I can do anything with her._

He started to choke up for a moment, a hurricane of emotions raving his soul, all that was left of the first woman he truly loved right here in his hands while the one he loved and could never have stood right behind him, waiting, offering, being everything he needed her to be, when suddenly he had a thought. He could do this, here and now with Adrienne's support and she could see, she would understand that he was broken, a non-possibility, would never be an option. Ronon wouldn't even be necessary, this exercise alone could keep her away, keep out of his reach. Decision made, he walked back out the dining nook, setting the box onto the table and starting to pull out items. He heard footsteps and felt a hand resting on his shoulder, knowing that it was Adrienne, right there, ready to assist. Tossing the lid aside, he peered in to see that at the top of the box were journals, four of them. Daniel opened them one by one, scanning their front covers as he addressed his assistant.

"This one," he handed over to Adrienne, "and these two have some words that are really specific to the dialect that Kasuf's people spoke. I haven't encountered it since, but I think they should be kept with my other language journals." Adrienne took them without a word and walked them over to Daniel's messenger bag, which was sitting on the sofa, tucking them inside. When she got back she saw him standing there holding one in his hands, staring wordlessly at the volume. Reaching over slowly she put her hand over his on the journal, interlacing their fingers the best she could with the book in their way.

"I know; that one's personal," she said, gazing up at him with a soft smile, "I'll put it in your room." Daniel held it tight for just a second, looking up at Adrienne, the words 'I love you' trapped on his lips unable to escape as he willed them in place. Relinquishing the journal, she took it gently from his grasp, leaning over, kissing his cheek softly, whispering, "I've got this Daniel," into his ear. He let go and Adrienne rushed to the bedroom as he let out a deep breath and sat back down in his seat from earlier.

Adrienne didn't read the journal; she knew what it was and it just made her hurt for him. He was such a wonderful man, she cared so much about him and she wished she could take his pain away. For what felt like an eternity, she stood in his bedroom trying to figure out where to put the volume. She thought his nightstand might do, but then he would pull it out and obsess over it; she knew how he was. She didn't want to hide it from him, but she did want it to be out of sight enough not to drive him mad.

Suddenly, she had a thought.

Opening the bottom drawer of his dresser, the one he barely kept anything in, save for a few shirts he never wore, she slid it inside and over to the far corner, covering it lightly with a cream colored sweater. When she returned to the dining nook, Daniel was sitting in front of the box, his head in his hands so Adrienne walked over to him, pulling up the chair close beside him. Glancing at her, a deep sadness in his eyes, she reached out to squeeze his knee, cocking her head at the box so he would continue. Taking her direction, he looked back over to the box and began to pull out the rest of the items.

Adrienne helped him go through each one, sorting what needed to be kept and what needed to go. As the time passed, she tried to make jokes and Daniel actually began telling stories of crazy things the men in the village would trick him into doing. They laughed, went through the box and drank more wine, Adrienne deciding that he needed it now more than she had earlier, having a much better time of it. Daniel was just finishing a story of how Skaara had gotten him to ride a large bison like animal, without a saddle, resulting in his repeated face plants into the desert, when he reached into the box and pulled out a bracelet, dropping to silence as he held the large leather cuff in his hands.

"It's nice," Adrienne said, pulling her legs up and crossing them in the chair like she did when she was uncomfortable, her hands already picking away at her nails.

"She gave it to me," Daniel admitted aloud what Adrienne already knew but she let him talk, "She said that women weren't supposed to normally give men gifts in the village, but that we weren't a normal couple," he smiled a bit and Adrienne just nodded.

"I wore it every day, until they took her. Then I just couldn't bear it anymore," Daniel sunk his head into his hands again, trying not to cry. Noticing his reaction along with the deep swallow, the chewing on his bottom lip, his tells, Adrienne uncrossed her legs and reached for him, pulling him into her arms.

"It's ok to be sad. You loved her and it seems that she really loved you. She sounds like a pretty cool chic," Adrienne said from his shoulder as she hugged him tightly and he didn't pull away, just let her comfort him, let her hold him. I love you so much, he said to no one at all, nodding his head to her statement in agreement.

"You would have gotten along well with her," Daniel answered, controlling himself, clearing his throat. Adrienne felt him start to pull away and she let go, watching his blue eyes in the dim light of the living room gaze over at the bracelet, those beautiful eyes of his so full of hurt. For all of the fun they had, all of the good times in the lab, there was a part of him that was just always so sad and she wished she could take it all away, more so than she had ever wanted to help anyone else before.

_Daniel I want to make it all better for you..._

Confused by her thoughts, Adrienne shook her head, reaching over and taking the bracelet from him, sliding it gently onto his wrist, interlocking their fingers as she gazed into his eyes.

_His beguiling eyes... _

_Please don't cry Daniel; I'm here and I swear it will never happen again. _

She had the urge to lean forward, to hug him again, to kiss his full lips, but shook her head quickly, letting go before the wine took over her senses.

"Indy it's 2 a.m. and we've been tearing through your wine supply, so I'm going to crash here, ok? Where are the extra pillows?" Adrienne stood declaring, wanting to escape, but not really escape...

_I'll fix it Daniel..._

Rubbing his eyes under his glasses, as though he had been in some sort of trance himself, Daniel stood, leaving the bracelet on his wrist and grabbing the now empty box.

"Thanks Ad," he said and walked the box over to the pile, the moment gone, Adrienne scolding herself already for her foolishness.

"Hey, you listened to me whine about Ronon's secret plot to secure himself a spouse, so I think we're even," Adrienne smiled and began to clean up the wine glasses for the second time tonight as Daniel slipped away to his room and by the time Adrienne was drying the glasses to put them away there he was standing at the kitchen entrance a t-shirt and pajama pants in hand.

"You can't sleep in that fishing net," he said, running his finger up and down at her attire. Laughing, Adrienne took his offering, starting to head for the sofa when he grabbed her arm.

"You still owe me something stupid in 3D tomorrow, well, today now," Daniel told her, "which won't happen if you sleep on the sofa. You won't sleep, I know you." Adrienne looked confused, but Daniel had started to assume that her fear of sleeping by doors must have to do with a fear of someone bursting in and his living room housed the front door. He pointed to the bedroom.

"You there, I'll take the couch. And, I'll pick the movie. Deal?" he asked.

"Sounds good, night sha," she smiled, heading for his room. He could have slept there with her, he did that a lot, well, he used to do that a lot, but in the past few weeks they hadn't done that, which was strange, in fact Adrienne had begun to think something was wrong. Smiling, things feeling back to normal, or somewhat, Adrienne redirected herself to his bedroom, slipping inside and pulling the door closed behind her.

Covering herself up with the blanket, Adrienne leaned across to his nightstand to shut out the light, cuddling down on his pillow. She looked back out to the living room and again she felt bad that Daniel was sleeping on his own sofa, his six foot frame stuffed on the much smaller piece of furniture, all just to make her happy, to ease her fears. She didn't understand why he didn't just come in here, but she thought it probably had to do with Jack's harassment lately and if that was the case she understood, after all, Vala had kicked it up a notch herself and was already accusing her of only going out with Ronon as a cover.

Flipping onto her side, reaching for the extra pillow to bring it into her arms, she thought about the events of the evening. At least their night had made up for the date, but in reality, the date wasn't that awful. Ronon was so sweet and he was very open and honest with her and looking back she appreciated that a lot.

Then why was she so upset?

Why did it all feel so wrong to her?

She rolled over onto her stomach, when she felt something hard push into her side, reaching under herself to pull out a canvas bound journal, pen tucked inside. Daniel, you even sleep with a journal, she thought, chuckling, stretching to set it on the nightstand.

And then it hit her.

She hadn't had a bad date at all; she had a perfectly good date.

She had perfectly good dream date, discussing things that she never really thought she would want to talk about, but with the wrong man.

Because the right man was asleep on his couch in the other room.

Adrienne gazed up at the door, her heart in complete turmoil.

"Oh my god," she whispered to herself running the thought through her head. Not even two years ago she sat at her father's bedside making promises that she only hoped she could keep, that she'd never give up, that she'd never forget what he had taught her, that she'd let herself be happy. She was, she was finally happy; she was happy with Daniel.

_I'm in love with Daniel. _

_He's my boss. _

_How did this happen? _

Adrienne Rowan, the queen of sleep, tossed and turned in Daniel's bed, awake and wondering.

Daniel heard the sounds overhead and rolled his eyes at the racket. Of course a group of college students had to move in upstairs and of course they were having a party right now. They had had parties before, but the way the apartments were laid out, it was never that loud in his bedroom, but this, here in the living room, was unbearable. Trying to shut out the noise, his heart in a battle between wanting to go into the bedroom and wrap his arms around, hold her in his arms so tightly, kiss her and staying out here, away from her, where a friend is supposed to be, he lay there recalling everything that had happened. He remembered how he had felt so alone tonight, thinking that before he had found it so pleasantly peaceful but now, laying here, he realized how lonely he had been. She'd come here after the date, here, to be with him and even though she needed a friend tonight had shoved everything aside for him, to help him when he needed her. She was always like that, others first, just another reason why he loved her so much; another reason why she deserved better than him, better than someone who needed much more than he could give. It had been the reverse for him for so long, he had always been so selfless and it wasn't as if he was selfish now, but with her he just found it so easy to talk, to open up, to let it all out. He loved her, with a passion that he didn't even know he had inside, but more than that he needed her, he needed her friendship, and if he continued acting so strangely, avoiding her, pushing her to Ronon, he was going to lose that as well. Sighing, he stood, grabbing the pillow and heading for the bedroom.

Pushing the partially shut door slowly, Daniel tiptoed in and over to the bed. He peered through the darkness, hoping Adrienne had not sprawled herself out, knowing that she would be asleep already and not wanting to have to wake her up to explain and then make her scoot over. It never ceased to amaze him her ability to sleep any where at any time.

By the dim light of the moon shining through his blinds he saw her laying on her side, curled up tightly and protectively like she usually slept, her warm brown hair splayed across her cheek. Moving as silently as possible, Daniel pulled back the covers to crawl in beside her.

"I told you that sleeping by doors was creepy; glad to know you finally agree," Adrienne responded from her side. Evidently, she wasn't asleep.

"No," he answered quickly, "college party above." Adrienne just giggled and reached her hand behind herself, squeezing his arm as he got in slowly and cautiously.

"You could have just stayed in here in the first place. I thought we'd determined long ago that I'm not Vala. And, apparently, I'm involuntarily engaged to another man, so we're fine," she joked. Daniel slid his hand down her arm and squeezed her palm, quickly, forcing himself not to linger, pulling away to get comfortable and to move himself enough of a distance away where he would not succumb to temptation and roll over, slipping his arm around her waist.

"As long as Ronon isn't going to come kill me in my sleep," he joked, playing normal, forcing normal, being normal, "And you still owe me a movie. Good night Ad," he whispered.

I love you more than you will ever know, he added in his head, breathing deeply, wondering how he was ever going to be able to do this.

"Night Indy," she answered out loud. I love you, she answered in her head, trying to will herself to sleep, her heart aching.

_**Next one is a side story, pining mess. If you're into that kind of thing, enjoy. If not, hang tight, this next adventure chapter (Haunted) is HUGE **_


	24. Chapter 23 - Haunted

_Some answers and some sap..._

_What could be better?_

The sirens woke Adrienne violently, so much so that she knocked her stack of books onto the floor, the crash jolting her into reality for the second time. She'd heard base wide sirens before, however, these were sirens she had yet experience, but she knew the sound, Daniel had explained the difference. They were intruder sirens; someone must have infiltrated the base. Leaping from her bed as the recognition set in, Adrienne grabbed her staff weapon, Eric, racing out into the hallway.

"AdrienneRowan," Teal'c shouted for her as she exited her room, the voice loud and booming behind her. Halting, Adrienne glanced behind herself to see that he was running from his quarters as well, a few doors down, and was shirtless, wearing loose yoga type pants and barefoot. He must have been deep into a mediation, since although he told her he slept post-symbiote, it was only meditation that continued to fuel him, physically required or not.

"Are you well?" he inquired, his expression appearing as confused as Adrienne felt, scanning the hall as doors began to open all around them, personnel stepping out, looking around while the sirens raged on.

"Yeah shug, ca va bien, wha in da hell is goin' on?" Adrienne asked, her accent thick and uncovered at this hour.

It was then they heard the screams coming from the furthest end of the hall and saw Vala stumble from her room, rubbing her eyes in confusion, feathered face mask pushed up her head, the shrieks intensifying. With a sharp pang of fear, Adrienne realized where the noise was coming from, sheer horror racketing through her body. She wasn't a sprinter, but she ran faster than she ever had before in her life in the direction of her best friend's room, in the direction of the love of her life, moving personnel out of her way with Eric as she powered her way through the forming crowd.

"Addy!" she heard someone shouting behind her, "You don't know who's in there!"

But she didn't care, letting her weapon drop casually behind her stride as she pushed the button to activate the head, intent on blasting away whoever this could be. Stopping short at the door, she discovered it was locked, no forced entry, and coded herself in frantically, DAJ1965, slamming the portal open and rushing into the darkness as the screams grew even louder.

"No, leave me alone, NOOOOO!" and she could make out his outline, and his alone on the bed in the corner, as he was pushing himself backwards against the wall. Her eyes into overdrive, she searched the room for the intruder, ready to make them Jaffa BBQ, but there was no one there, just Daniel, screaming, lashing out into the air, his face panicked and terrified. She raced over to him, as Teal'c and Vala burst into the room behind her, guns pointing around them in search of the intruder, the others who had been awakened by the alarm staying at the door.

"Clear," she heard Vala declare behind her, a fact she already ascertained herself but remained silent, concentrating only on Daniel. Reaching out her hands, she approached him, slowly, unsure whether or not he had a weapon on or near him, or what he would do if he did.

"Indy," she stepped closer, "it's me. Der's no one 'ear."

"Leave me alone, go away!" he shouted, taking a swing at her, his right fist flying toward her face. There was a crash of metal on tile, as Eric bounced on the floor, seconds before Adrienne's left arm flew through the air, catching his advancing attack, pinning him against the wall, her right elbow to his throat, gently but forcefully before she brought her face close to his.

"Daniel, it's me, it's Adrienne. Der's NO ONE 'ere," she pleaded a second time, but he kept thrashing wildly, trying to scream, his eyes tightly shut. Pushing her arm more intensely to his throat to subdue him the howling subsided, leaving him desperately gasping for breath, the lack of oxygen slowing his movements. She was afraid to hurt him as she watched the life escape from his body but held on, equally as afraid of him hurting himself or someone else.

"DANIEL - CUT IT OUT!" she shouted directly in his face and suddenly he relaxed, no longer fighting, his arms falling to his side. Assured that he was calming down, she let herself back up a bit but her boss didn't did say a word, didn't move back at her, he just melted forward into her shaking violently, his head buried deep into his hands. There was a flash of brightness as Teal'c clicked on the light, the world of the nightmare dissipating around them.

Her heart still pounding violently inside her chest, Adrienne scanned the room as Teal'c and Vala continued to investigate, holding tightly to a trembling Daniel. His gray t-shirt was soaked with sweat and he had kicked all of the blankets and his pillow onto the floor but she couldn't see his face, his hands having moved from his cheeks to her thighs, grasping tensely at her yoga pants, his face buried between her knees.

"DanielJackson, there is no intruder in your quarters," Teal'c said as he approached the bed.

"Daniel," Vala continued, "it's all clear. What in the hell is wrong with you?"

"Leave," he ordered them from Adrienne's lap, his voice shaking as he continued to tremble. Running her hand down his back softly, Adrienne tried to calm him as she could hear him mumbling and swearing, demanding that they leave, leave him alone, and go the hell away.

There was commotion at the door, orders being shouted, so she glanced up but didn't move her hand, instead leaning forward, holding onto him like she was afraid to let go. The gawkers moved aside at the strong feminine voice as Dr. Lam that entered the room, cautiously approaching the bed.

"Daniel, it's Carolyn Lam. It looks like one of your episodes, don't be afraid, we can get through this. Let me give you a sedative..." she started in, reasoning with him, talking about some kind of episodes much to Adrienne's confusion.

What episodes, Daniel had never mentioned episodes, never mentioned anything like this.

There was motion in her lap and she was finally able to see his face, bloodshot eyes hovering above deep dark circles, sweat glistening down his brow accenting the anger in his face.

"LEAVE ME ALONE AND GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" he raged, so loud it hurt Adrienne to be that close to the noise but she couldn't escape him; she was too afraid to move. His face now as red as his eyes, the large blood vessel in his neck bulging Daniel was practically convulsing in her arms as he glared viciously at the doctor. Noting the entrance of two large orderlies, Adrienne began to stand and back away, hoping the they would come hold him so the doc could sedate him, but he held onto her tightly, his hands crawling up her leg to grab hers, squeezing her fingers tightly.

"Daniel, it's going to be alright, just let go of Adrienne and relax," Dr. Lam requested, remaining calm and professional, like always. She wasn't afraid for herself, but appeared to be quite worried about what he might do to Adrienne, shooting looks of concern at the cajun woman that normally would have made Adrienne feel like maybe she didn't hate her so much were it not for the fact that Daniel was completely falling to pieces right in front of her.

"NO! You can't fix this with GODDAM DRUGS! JUST LEAVE!" he answered, his voice cracking slightly at the end before collapsing back into his assistant's arms, grasping her hips, holding onto her for dear life. Taking a breath as she scanned the room, at least a dozen people bearing witness to this disaster in the middle of the night, Adrienne reached down this time and began to smooth his hair, not caring what anyone thought of that particular gesture, bringing her lips to his ear.

"Shug, ya scaring everyone, can ya least calm down fa me?" she whispered quietly, leaving her lips there as she awaited his reply.

"Make them leave," he told her through gritted teeth, his head shaking on her legs.

"Ok, ok," Adrienne replied, glancing back at their growing audience, a good twenty or so people now, all staring at them with wide eyes and gaping mouths, "Shoo, all ya, it's ok, I gaht 'em."

"Adrienne, I know you two are close, but you weren't here when these, incidents, began. I need to examine him or at least give him a sedative until the morning." Dr. Lam now looked more like herself, giving Adrienne the grumpy look, the concern from earlier vanished.

"Put it ova dare," she indicated to the desk across the room, "I can give it to 'em when I git 'em calm."

"It's best if I give it, just to make sure." Dr. Lam was beginning to argue, but Adrienne could sense that she had already won, the handsome stoic woman faltering in her words and her approach. Clearing her throat, trying to control her words and accent a bit better so that her position was clear, Adrienne smiled softly, caressing his back gently as she peered back up at the physician.

"Where do I stick it? In his arm, like a vitamin shot? I think I can handle that." Adrienne assured her, knowing since Carolyn signed off on her prescriptions for the B-vitamin shots anyway, she couldn't argue that Adrienne didn't know what to do.

"Yes, like a vitamin shot," the doctor answered slowly. I've won, Adrienne thought, as Carolyn walked over to her handing her a radio and letting out a sigh, "Here, I'll be on call for the rest of the night, then Carson takes over at eight. But Adrienne, if he gets violent again..."

"I'll call, I promise. Just go. Everyone go," the cajun ordered, using her head to point the way out since she still didn't have use of her right hand, Daniel clasping that one tightly, while her left was still rubbing his back.

"AdrienneRowan?" Teal'c asked, worried about leaving her alone with Daniel in this state. She might get hurt, not because she couldn't handle herself, but because she wouldn't want to hurt him in order to defend herself.

"I promise Teal'c, go back to bed," she answered. Accepting her assurance, he nodded, turning to leave. With the tall warrior leading the way, everyone filed out slowly, whispering and peeking back over their shoulders. Adrienne could just imagine the nonsense and gossip that would be around the base come morning: Dr. Jackson's gone crazy, Dr. Jackson killed his assistant, Dr. Jackson's assistant was rubbing all over him to calm him down, but at the moment she pushed the thought aside. Let them think what they would; she wasn't going to leave him like this and it sure as hell seemed that he wasn't going to let her.

Not surprisingly, Vala was the last to leave, looking back at Adrienne with concern before she closed the door, unsure if she was leaving her friend in a safe situation. Adrienne nodded yes and shaking her head, Vala shut the door behind her.

"They're gone Daniel. What happened?" Adrienne leaned over again to his ear, still speaking in a whisper.

"There was someone in here," he answered as he began to sit up, not letting go of her arms.

"No, there wasn't. Vala and Teal'c gave it the all clear, I looked around myself. Dr. Lam says this is one of your episodes," Adrienne said, her last statement more of a question than anything.

"I DON'T HAVE EPISODES!" he let go of her arms, screaming at her, causing her to slap him across the face out of reflex.

"Get a grip, or I'm outta 'ere," she threatened, her accent slipping as he held his face in shock. He didn't answer, just crumpled forward again, resting his head into his hands. Slipping away from him, the realization that they were alone in his room as he lay in her arms finally setting in, Adrienne sat back toward the foot of the bed, giving him some space and herself time to calm down.

"Who was here?" she asked, giving him the benefit of the doubt.

"I don't know who they are, but they keep coming back whenever I'm alone," he admitted and his statement scared Adrienne; it sounded as if he was having schizophrenic visions. The worry trickling back in, she glanced over to the desk where Dr. Lam had left the sedative, trying to judge how long it would take her to get there should he flip out a third time.

"I'm not insane," he said to her, apparently catching her peek and he sat up in the bed, inching himself back against the wall, "I don't know who they are. But they wait until I'm alone." Shaking her head and trying not to think about the injection only a few feet away, Adrienne moved over to beside him, joining him in leaning against the cool concrete wall to let him explain.

"Do they want to hurt you?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I get the feeling that they want something," he answered, turning his head to look deep into her comforting eyes, "Ad, I haven't slept in three days, but I couldn't go any longer, so I tried to tonight."

"Three days?!" she exclaimed, shaking her head in disbelief. She had noticed this week that he seemed very tired, so much so that she had brought her personal coffee maker to the lab, the one she had purchased after her last had disappeared. Her first thought has been that he was coming down with a virus or something, she kept waiting for a sniffle or a cough, not that he was choosing not to sleep.

"Yeah, about, but I decided tonight that I'd give it a try, that maybe I had been imagining things. And then they came," Daniel replied, his voice dropping as he looked back down to his hands resting on his knees. He had also considered going to Adrienne's room, since she was staying on base this week as well, but he just couldn't. Besides that fact that he was walking that fine line between being her best friend and being madly in love with her, if this threat was real, he wanted her to have no part of it; he didn't want her to be in any danger. Now however, he was just too terrified for her to go.

"What do they say?" Adrienne inquired, curious.

"They don't say anything. But I feel them, they want me to come with them, but I don't know where. When they communicate with me, it's like they're inside of me," he explained, continuing to stare downward. That sounded terrifying, but Adrienne was still skeptical; it seemed such a strange dream to have, and out of nowhere. They hadn't been on any kind of mission with any real excitement in weeks and she was certain that nothing they had encountered in the lab would have caused this.

Rising from the bed, Adrienne stood, bending down to pick up her staff weapon, and he looked at her in terror that she was going to leave, but she held up her hand and silently pointed at the light. She switched it off, setting "Eric" against the wall, counting her steps back over to the bed, crawling in with him carefully.

"I take it they won't come if I'm here?" she asked, hesitantly. She hadn't let them share a bed since she realized how she felt about him, at least not voluntarily, she wouldn't have turned him away were he to show up, but it just didn't seem right anymore. None of that mattered though, he needed her right now, and he needed her to not be thinking about him in that way, he needed the friend he had come to count on. She wasn't really, she was scared for him, but her stomach was fluttering with nerves as she slipped herself in beside him.

"No, they won't." he answered, "I've been napping in the library on and off and they don't come around even if the librarian is the only other person in the room."

"Vala will be so jealous," she joked, trying to ease the tension and her innards. She heard him laugh lightly and felt him begin to scoot toward her much to her surprise. Her heart raced, he was so close, this man that she loved, that she had been trying to avoid, his body pressed against hers. Hoping he didn't hear her deep breath in, Adrienne reached down, grabbing the pillow from the floor and arranging the rest of the bed as best she could in the dark. She pulled up a blanket over the two of them and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly and protectively, all the while dying inside.

"Better?" she asked, hearing the shaking in her own voice.

"I hope so," he answered quietly. She laid there awake until she was sure he was asleep, hoping he didn't notice her tears, finally letting herself follow.

When she awoke the next morning it took a moment to remember the events of the nights before. Daniel hadn't moved and was still sound asleep lying close to her. Slowly she pulled her arms from around him, inching away, when she realized that she had slept by the door, Daniel huddled to the safety of the inside.

I felt safe; I didn't even pay attention to the door...

Forcing herself to focus, to stop thinking about her confusing relationship with the handsome man that had been lying asleep beside her, she decided that she needed to go find Dr. Lam, Sam or someone to see what in the hell was really going on. She managed to escape and cover him back up gently, pausing for a moment to gently kiss his head stopping herself before she whispered "I love you," into his ear. Remembering the radio on the nightstand Adrienne tiptoed over to his desk, feeling around for a piece of paper, scribbling onto a scrap by the dim light of his alarm clock.

_Don't freak. I can be back in moments. Just do an all call. _

_ - Ad_

She tucked the note under the clip of the radio, hoping it would be enough of a comfort to him should he awaken alone, leaning over and sliding it into his hand. Squeezing his shoulder one more time, she scurried out of the room in search of answers.

The first place she went was the infirmary. Lucky for her, Dr. Lam was still there, a quick glance at the clock indicating that it was only a few moments after eight.

"Hey Doc, here," Adrienne greeted, handing her the needle from just a few hours before. Carolyn took the instrument and looked it over, peering back at Adrienne with scolding in her eyes.

"I thought you were going to give it to him?" she asked.

"I was, but once I let him talk he seemed to calm down," Adrienne crossed her arms in front of her, planning to get down to business, "Now would you like to tell me what's going on since apparently he hasn't slept, intentionally, for three days and seems to think someone is after him."

She tried to be as polite as possible while expressing her extreme frustration. One of the bravest and most wonderful men she had ever known had slept in her arms last night like a frightened animal for no visible reason with the SGC medical staff claiming something like this had happened before, something Adrienne have never been informed of.

And considering everything, having to sleep with Daniel Jackson, that close, that intimately, feeling about him the way she did was not something she cared to repeat, for her own emotional state.

She wanted answers and she wanted them now.

"Shhh," Dr. Lam put a finger to her lips, motioning to the office, where Adrienne could see Carson making himself a cup of coffee. Confused, the entire base must have already heard the saga of Daniel and Adrienne and the screaming nightmare, Adrienne followed behind.

"Good morning ladies!" Dr. Carson Beckett greeted merrily as they entered the room, Carolyn excusing herself behind Adrienne to shut the door, "Coffee?"

"No thanks," Dr. Lam answered as the knob clicked into place, "Carson, Daniel flipped out again last night." Understanding what Adrienne apparently was not, Dr. Beckett made a sad face, shaking his head.

"I thought we had it licked. It's been almost a year..." he replied, the happiness from his earlier greeting now gone.

"Over," Dr. Lam countered, "In fact, once the Ori were gone for good the spells seemed to stop. But you should have seen him last night."

"How bad?" Carson asked, setting down his cup as he walked over to the file cabinet, presumably to pull out Daniel's rather extensive medical record.

"Bad enough where Adrienne had him in a choke hold to calm him down. Bad enough where somehow he set off the intruder alarm," Dr. Lam explained.

"You alright lass?" Carson paused at the drawers, directing his attention to Adrienne.

"I'm fine; I can lick him when he's not spazzing out. But what are these episodes? Vala's told me about nightmares, but episodes? It was more like a psychotic night terror," Adrienne said, instantly regretting her word choice. Psychotic as he may have seemed or not, he was calm enough later, and she didn't want to doctor to think otherwise.

"That's essentially what they are. To be perfectly honest, we have no idea what really triggered it or what shut it off the last time," Dr. Lam answered honestly.

"Well, he seems to think someone is after him or that someone is trying to take him away," Adrienne added, Carson nodding immediately in understanding.

'I know, the Ori or the other Priors, or that scary Adria woman," he responded, but Adrienne was already shaking her head.

"No, he didn't say anything about the Ori. He says he doesn't know who or what these things are," Adrienne corrected. The doubt apparent in her face, Dr. Lam shook her head, disregarding Adrienne's presence in the room completely as she looked at Carson.

"We have to call Sam. This is beyond the night terrors now; he wasn't just screaming, he was fighting, he was physical. He could have hurt someone. Carson, this was far worse than last time, far worse and it's just started. Where is it going to go from here? I'm afraid he is having a total psychological break," Carolyn stated, Carson nodding in agreement. Granted, she had only been here a little over a year, but this was crazy. Who in the world would just assume that someone was having a nervous breakdown from one incident in the middle of the night?

What had happened to Daniel before?

"What are you talking about!?" Adrienne exclaimed, no longer as concerned about being polite, "He seemed fine to me until just a few days ago."

"I'm sorry Adrienne, I am, but it's a good thing you were hired. He can't continue like this; he needs to be pulled from active duty before this gets any worse," Dr. Lam stated plainly. There something she wasn't telling Adrienne, something she refused to just accept at their word.

"No, no way. No way are you going to suspend him! And where exactly would he go? He has no one, he has nothing but this job!" Adrienne panicked, fearful of not only losing her partner in the lab but at the idea of him alone in that small, impersonal apartment.

He didn't even keep Jonas' fish there.

This place, this job, was his entire life and honestly she couldn't continue on in this without him. Before Dr. Lam could answer, open her mouth to maybe explain, the phone in the office began to ring and Adrienne could tell by the look on her face as she listened to her caller that this situation was just beginning to get bad. Sighing, Carolyn hung up the phone, peering back over at Adrienne and Dr. Beckett.

"Sam's on the way. Adrienne, you might as well stay; she's gonna want to know everything that happened after we left," the doctor stated. Accepting that she wasn't going to get any answers for now, Adrienne nodded in agreement and turned to take Carson up on his earlier offer for coffee.

When Sam arrived she didn't seem angry at all, but listened carefully and quietly to Dr. Lam, asking Adrienne what happened after the room was cleared out. Sam's face was pensive as she explained, including every detail of what had happened, right down to leaving him the note this morning, trying to stress that Daniel had calmed down easily in her presence. The one detail she did leave out having to sleep with him in her arms, not wanting to embarrass him or even think about it herself, the memory still tearing her up inside. She wanted to hold him, so badly, but not like this, not with him on the brink. Peering up, she tried to read Sam's face, and it was obvious that this situation was a bad, the expression one of concern and sadness.

"So, what you're telling me Carolyn is that this time is far worse than the last, and since we know from experience that they grow progressively worse, we're not looking at a good outcome?" Sam asked, for clarification. Worse? Adrienne thought, how could he get worse? Last time she checked, trying to punch your best friend was pretty damn bad.

"We still need to get him in here and run some tests, but General, I'm just not sure what we can do. We really didn't do anything last time; they just went away on their own," Dr. Lam responded, Sam's body language showing her agreement.

"No, you're right, but I can't send him home like this; he has no one and he can't stay in his quarters setting off the sirens every night. Do you know how many calls I got this morning alone? There's even a rumor in the mess that he broke Adrienne's neck and has escaped the base like some mad man," Sam said as she crossed her arms across her chest, bringing her hand to her chin. Adrienne felt sorry for Sam; being the head of the SGC was a job she would never want, and here she had to decide the fate of one of her dearest friends, a decision that seemed to have no plausible solution.

"General, I can't keep him here either. We have restraints, but if this is going to progress we're talking restraints, sedation, and to be honest I think it might exacerbate the problem to keep him here. Plus, after what I saw last night, he's a threat to the other patients in that state; we don't have the man power to have someone watching him in case he attacks someone here," Dr. Lam looked to Dr. Beckett for support and he nodded. For a moment everyone stood in silence, making little eye contact, no one sure what they should do.

"What happened last time?" Adrienne asked quietly, fearing the answer.

"He put a cadet in a coma thinking it was an Ori soldier," Sam replied, quickly, her eyes stressing to Adrienne the direness of the situation.

"But he calmed right down, once he knew it was me. I didn't have to sedate him or anything," the archaeological assistant countered just as fast.

"Honesty General, it's the hysterics that I'm afraid of. We don't have the room here we had at Cheyenne and I don't have the luxury of keeping him in isolation. Maybe Atlantis would be a better option, just until we can insure that this was just an isolated incident and not a repeat of before," Carolyn added, scanning his file, reminding herself of the progression of the last incident.

"I'll take him," Adrienne spoke up without hesitation, "he can come home with me or I can go home with him." Surprised, Sam looked over at Adrienne, her face not one of approval.

"Addy, he was violent. We went through this before, after he recovered from, well, being a Prior, and it was bad then. It started just like this; I was able to calm him down before, and he didn't even try to attack me, he was just, well frightened." Adrienne stood for a moment, taking in her words, remembering his fear last night, wishing she could get her hands on that folder detailing the last of these episodes.

"Sam," she started, back to pleasantries, trying to use her caring nature to her advantage, "He was scared, so very scared. Once he recognized it was me, and he knew it was me, he was calm, and lucid, not like anything you are telling me here. Give me the file, let me see what happened last time so I know what to do and Dr. Lam I promise I will give him whatever medication you say that he needs. We can go to his place, I'll report back to ya'll while you run tests and see what else we can do. Please, let me so this."

"Adrienne, I know you care about him, but I can't expect you to be his babysitter. And we need you here; we can't just shut down the entire archaeology department indefinitely," Sam added the last part, not really wanting to send Adrienne home with Daniel while he was violent, hoping her friend would buy the work excuse since if anything the young woman was as dedicated to her job as Daniel was.

It didn't seem to have the intended effect, however, as Adrienne crossed her arms staring back at Sam with confidence.

"I'm not asking to be his sitter. There's something going on, and I would like the opportunity to help figure it out, be that extra hand the doc needs while they look for a solution. You have an entire linguistic staff to fill in for us and I'm his assistant not the SGC's. And I'm a team member and a member of my team needs me. Right now, he needs me, just not in the lab," Adrienne laid out her argument trying to be as respectful as possible.

And I love him, she added to herself, more than I have ever loved anyone else in my life and I am willing to risk anything to insure his safety.

Before Sam could answer, the sirens went off again, Sam pulling out her iPhone to see that the alarm was sounded from Daniel's room just like the night before.

The general didn't need to speak, Adrienne was already gone, tearing off in that direction.

This time, once Adrienne got through the SF's trying to subdue him, it didn't take her long to get him calmer, falling to her knees as he smashed himself into the corner screaming, but she didn't have to fight him.

Like a switch, he stopped screaming the moment she wrapped her arms around him.

Trembling, his face buried into her neck as he held onto her, terrified to let go, he insisted everyone leave again, but Sam refused, instead turning to order everyone out as she remained herself.

"Daniel," Sam started but he cut her off.

"I know, I know. There's a danger, something's going on and I can't be setting off alarms, I know. This isn't like last time, trust me, but I'll pack up my things and stay at my apartment until Dr. Lam can figure out what's going on," he told her from the floor, Adrienne feeling awkward and beginning to ease herself from his grasp, but he wouldn't let go, so she just sat there as he clung to her.

"I hate to do this to you, but I'll be sending either Carolyn, Carson, Cassie or Jennifer to check on you periodically and I need you to stop by the infirmary before you leave so they can take some samples and run some tests," Sam ordered, but gently.

Finally releasing his assistant, Daniel stood and walked over to his closet, pulling out the black duffle bag and began to pack some things from the dresser that he would want at home, his lips pursed in concentration as if he was trying to solve the problem himself. Approaching him cautiously, Sam started to talk to him again, most likely reminding him of what had happened before and what precautions needed to be taken this time, so Adrienne took the opportunity to slip away and pack her own things. She knew that if she gave him an option or a chance to think about it, he would refuse her help, so it would just be easier if she appeared ready to leave.

Planning her argument in her head, both to him and Sam again if needed, Adrienne raced to the elevators, heading to her quarters.

As expected, she found him an hour later in the infirmary, where Carson was filling one final tube with blood, Daniel sitting on the edge of a hospital bed, frown firmly in place.

"That's that last one. I'll run these first, see if there is anything I can find before you leave and if not, we will call you with the other results as soon as we have them" Carson explained with a forced smile, arranging the vast array of vials on the table.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry to put you all through all of this trouble, if I knew what to do to stop it I would," Daniel apologized. Smiling, Carson just patted his arm and set the tube into the sample tray, carrying it carefully over to his workstation.

As Dr. Beckett stepped away, Adrienne could see that Daniel had showered and changed into jeans and a black t-shirt and was momentarily jealous, deciding a shower was her first order of business when they got to his place.

"Ya ready to go?" she asked, running her speech through her head again.

"Yeah, I was just heading... wait... why do you have a bag?" he questioned, turning his head as he looked at the duffle in her hand, obviously packed for travel.

"Because we're going to have an adult slumber party." she answered jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Nuh uh, Sam ordered you to babysit me!?" he questioned, sounding angry, so Adrienne threw up her free hand, shaking it in front of her face.

"No, she actually ordered, well, preferred I stay here, but, I informed her that I'm coming home with you," Adrienne replied.

"Ad, I -" but he didn't finish his sentence: she didn't give him the chance.

"You what? Don't need me? Think you're gonna hurt me? I beg to differ Indy; we both know better than that," she reached over and grabbed his bag from the floor, effectively ending the argument, "Come on, we can rent some bad movies and I'll cook ya Mexican."

He laughed, "You and Mexican food."

"See," she told him, "ya betta already." Relenting, since he knew he wouldn't win an argument with her, especially when she was worried about someone else's well-being, he got up from the bed and followed her out, trying not to think about the fact that she was coming home with him, indefinitely...

They left his jeep at base and took her 1965 Beetle to his apartment, Daniel regretting allowing her to drive the moment he had to stuff his long legs into that tiny cab. As promised, Adrienne stopped at the grocery store to pick up the proper ingredients and some movies, leaving him to wait, albeit nervously, but she rushed along, returning to the bug faster than he expected. It was near lunch when they arrived at his apartment and Adrienne wasted no time starting the films and popping out the ice cream, her vast Mexican spread to wait until dinner.

"Diet?" he asked, and she smacked him lightly, making a playful frown.

"Helping friends burns calories," she stated, fast forwarding through the previews, the two of them sitting side by side with bowls of Chunky Monkey and Diet Cokes. As she had expected, Daniel was asleep thirty minutes into the film, the empty bowl of ice cream sitting on his legs, his body slouching onto the arm of the sofa. Thankful he hadn't fallen asleep on her, he wasn't light by any means, Adrienne shifted him over so he wouldn't kill his neck, stuffing a pillow under him and kept watching, straightening up as she did.

They went on and off the entire day like this, watching movies and talking, while he fought sleep and napped. Adrienne assured him that it was ok if he slept; that he was making up for a good twenty to twenty-four hours of missed sleep, but he would apologize every time he woke up, especially at dinner when he was too tired to eat her homemade empanadas, that smelled fantastic.

He made sure he had at least told her that much.

At about eight p.m. she could tell he wasn't going to last much longer, the look on his face going from needing a nap to total exhaustion, and she stood, gazing down at him, insisting that he go to bed. Not responding, he remained frozen on the sofa, terrified, locked in place and unwilling to try to move.

"Come on," she insisted, offering her hand, hoping that he would understand that she was here and everything was going to be all right.

"I feel ridiculous, I'm too old to act like this," he replied, yet stayed where he sat, his hands in his lap, picking at his fingernails.

"Look," she reached down and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet, "let's give the doctors time to look at your blood and see what they say tomorrow. There's no reason for you NOT to get a good night's sleep while we wait."

Knowing she was right, he nodded, taking a breath before following her into the bedroom. He grabbed some pajamas from his dresser and began to change there, pausing once he realized that she was still in the room as he undid his jeans. I can't, he thought, it's not appropriate to change in front of her anymore, but she didn't seem to be paying attention to him in the least, having dashed away, a sink running in the distance. Pushing the thought aside, he shucked his pants to the floor.

Satisfied he was going to sleep, Adrienne went to put on her own pajamas and brush her teeth, having to escape the room the minute she realized that he was changing in front of her.

See Addy, she scolded her irrational emotions, the man wouldn't be acting like you're his little buddy as he has been all day if you stood a chance in hell at being anything else. Trying to concentrate on the task at hand, figuring out what was wrong with her best friend, she was just spitting out mouthwash in the bathroom of his office when she heard footsteps behind her.

"You go to sleep," she ordered him. "I'm gonna grab a blanket and watch movies until I pass out. Sofa ok?"

"I need you to sleep with me," he declared, an embarrassed look on his face as he said it, "They won't come if you are here."

"Oh," Adrienne said, expecting that last night was an isolated incident and that just her presence in the apartment would be enough, it had been all day long, but apparently, now, it wasn't. The nerves popped up inside of her again, this time a sick combination of nerves and excitement.

Of course she wanted to crawl into bed with him, to wrap her arms around him and make it all go away.

Letting out a sigh, she nodded her head, not for herself but to ease the sheer terror she could read in his perfect eyes.

"Ok, I'm coming," she agreed and followed him to his bedroom, remembering the last time she had slept here, after her date with Ronan, when she realized that she loved him. A shiver rocketed down her spine at the memory, intensifying as Daniel got into the bed and moved to the right looking back at her to see if she was coming. Drawing up every ounce of courage, Adrienne climbed in beside him and moved herself close, slipping her arm around his waist. He smelled so good, she had never noticed it before in all the times they had done this, had shared a sleeping space, as innocently as they were doing now. It was tearing her up inside as she held him so very close, fighting the urge to kiss his neck softly, to run her cheek against his stubbly face. Acting as if she had a cough, she cleared her throat and readjusted, concentrating on his comfort and his alone.

That night, like the one before, in the same throws of agony, Adrienne slept holding Daniel.

The next morning, it was Dr. Cassie Frasier that came for the first scheduled check-in as Sam had promised. Her smiling face on the other side of the peephole was a relief to Adrienne, as she had always felt comfortable around Janet's adoptive daughter, the young woman had a kind and caring way about her that was soothing; much like her mother according to Daniel.

"Hey Cassie," Adrienne greeted, as she opened the door, referring to the doctor by her first name, since Cassie hated being call Dr. Frasier. She said it reminded it too much of her mom, another wonderful person that Adrienne was sad to have never met.

"Morning Addy. Any change?" she asked, stepping into the apartment, looking for Daniel.

"He's in the shower right now and no change per se, but there was no incident last night," Adrienne answered.

"That's great!" she exclaimed, walking over to the small table near the kitchen to open his rather large medical file to take notes, "What did you do? Did you have to sedate him? How much did you give him? I'm also going to need a list of what he ate and drank and about how many hours you think he might have slept. About what time did you give him the sedative?"

Adrienne flushed, trying to select the right words to get her point across, as she knew Cassie was just trying to lay out a plan, figure out what was going on. Finally, she decided that the plain truth would have to do, no matter how hard it was to admit.

"I didn't give him anything, other than ice cream. I just held him. All night. While he slept," Adrienne admitted quietly.

"Oh," Cassie pulled the pen back, unsure as to what she should write.

"Apparently, they won't come if I'm right there. I couldn't even get away with sleeping in the next room," Adrienne continued, trying to explain without having it look like she was taking advantage of him, like they were using this as an excuse to hop into the sack together. Fortunately, as she was hunting for more excuses, she heard the shower shut off, giving her a reason to leave the conversation.

"Be right back," she told Cassie without thinking of how this was going to look to the young doctor either. She'd busted into his shower dozens of times, but no one knew that. God, no wonder everyone thinks we're together, Adrienne fussed at herself, coming to a stop outside of the door.

"Shug," she called out as she knocked on the bathroom door.

"I'm decent, not that that's stopped you before," he joked from the other side. Rolling her eyes at his smart remark, she opened the door just as he was pulling a t-shirt over his head, his perfect bare back the only thing she could concentrate on. He turned to face her, and she shook her head quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed her stare, gazing at her pitifully despite sleeping last night.

He stood there, wearing only a white t-shirt, gray sweatpants and no socks yet he was still the most gorgeous human being that she had ever laid eyes on.

"You look awful," she told him, unable to resist the urge to approach him and place her hand on his arm. She rubbed it gently and looked up into his eyes.

"I feel sick for some reason," he answered. Adrienne took her hand away and reached up to feel his head with the back of her palm, not trusting herself this morning to rest her cheek against his. He was cool, so she made a face and shook her head, confused.

"Well, you need to tell Cassie that, she's right outside," Adrienne suggested, pointing to the living room. Not appearing particularly enthused, Daniel rolled his eyes, as if he had been through all of this before, trudging from the bathroom to see the doctor.

"Ok, Daniel," she had never called him Dr. Jackson, Adrienne noticed, probably because she had known him since she was 10, "we haven't found anything unusual so far, but Carson wants to take the samples over to Atlantis base, to run a few more advanced scans. Jennifer thinks the equipment there might be a bit better," Cassie apologized and explained, wrapping up her examination.

"They aren't going to find anything," he told her, removing the blood pressure cuff from his arm.

"Yes, but I do find it interesting that with Dr. Rowan, uh, here, you didn't have an episode," she added, uncomfortably, Adrienne noting as well that Cassie referred to her as Dr. Rowan.

"I told everyone already, because they only come visit me if they think I'm alone," he answered but Cassie gave him the same look Dr. Lam had; the one of disbelief.

Everyone thought he was going crazy.

Not knowing what else to say, his vitals perfectly normal, Cassie began to pack up her things, preparing to leave.

"Ok, well, I'm headed back if you two are alright. Remember Daniel, you need to eat something other than ice cream or that sick feeling is just going to linger. Someone will check in later," she started for the door, motioning for Adrienne to follow. Not one to miss any details, Daniel shot his assistant a look, but she placed her hand on his arm gently, assuring him with her eyes that she believed him, that she wasn't going to let anyone convince her otherwise.

"Are you sure you're ok with him? He's really not himself right now," Cassie asked as soon as the women were out of earshot, looking over at a much different looking Daniel, a sullen quiet Daniel who was again showing the signs of nausea that he had been complaining about earlier.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just wish I could figure out what is going on with him," Adrienne sighed, gazing back as well, worried more than words could express.

"We all do and we're on it. It's a good sign that it was just yesterday; if it's an isolated incident he'll be back in no time. The sooner the better, Rodney's already trying to lay claim to the space," she said as she made a face and left, Adrienne carefully closing the door behind her.

Day two Daniel managed to stay awake most of the time. He tried to get some work done on his laptop, but it seemed just to make him nervous and antsy to return to a place that for now he was not welcome so Adrienne made him shut off the computer, whisking it away to hide it in the closet.

Instead she made him watch horror movies.

Worried sick about him since he wouldn't eat anything or drink very much for that matter, she tried to entice his appetite, ordering pizza with some chocolate dessert that made her sick to her stomach to even smell, but he did little more than pick at the crust, still blaming his appetite on the nausea.

After a few hours, she got him to eat some soup.

To quell his boredom, and to get him to stop making fun of her film selection, she pulled out a deck of cards, playing a few games and making him listen to her stories, pages and pages of a Lord of the Rings type journey taken by two small children. He knew she had been working on it for a while, since well before they were friends, but had never really gotten a chance to hear it. There was a lot of detail and sometimes he had to stop her to ask for clarification, but overall he thought it was pretty good, and told her so.

Adrienne couldn't have been more pleased.

It was about eleven when Adrienne started to feel tired, mostly from the emotional exhaustion of dealing with him. She hadn't had the reaction she feared after seeing him in the bathroom, they had spent the day like they used to, having fun, like friends, not one romantic thought creeping into her brain. It was the intense worry about him however, this person she cared so very much about who really seemed to be falling to pieces that was tearing her apart. What was wrong with him? Was it an isolated incident? Had everything she ever read in files or heard from Vala, things that his teammates brushed aside as something 'Daniel can deal with' come to fruition? That was what frustrated her the most, the general attitude on base that he was there to take care of everyone else and everything.

Who was there for him?

Me, she thought, I am.

This time, she didn't even try to avoid what she knew was coming, she just shut down the apartment and declared it time for bed. He followed and like the past two nights, crawled so very close to her, Adrienne slipping her arms around his waist, wrapping them around his broad chest, holding him, protecting him from an unknown threat. It killed her, but she consoled herself with the thought that however awkward that this may be, at least she got to be this close to him for now, even if it wasn't in the way her heart ached for.

Adrienne was just about asleep herself when she heard the voices. They were distant, foreign, almost ghost-like, but they were calling her name.

"Adrienne... Adrienne Rowan..."

She sat straight up and saw she was alone in the bed.

"Daniel?" she asked into the darkness, cautiously, but there was no answer. Ripping the covers back, she ran over to the light on the corner table, clicking the switch. Momentarily blinded by the brightness, she rubbed her eyes to help them adjust and saw him, sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, his head to his knees.

"No, I'm not going back, no," he was repeating, shaking. She walked over to him, but still being half asleep did not block his swinging arm in time; taking the back of his hand upside her head. That seemed to wake him from his trance, since she could see him crawling onto his knees as she fell back onto the floor.

"Oh God, Adrienne, are you alright?" he rushed over to her.

"Yeah, ow, finally get to feel how hard you can hit," she tried to joke. Concerned, he pulled up her face into his hands to see if he had split her lip again, running his thumb gently across it, when the world went black.

"Daniel... Daniel..." he heard a familiar voice calling him.

"No, Oma let me come back. I'm not going back, I can't..." Daniel began to argue, fearful, searching around himself in the darkness for Adrienne, panicked wondering where she had gone.

"Goodson, I do not wish to bring you back, I wish to warn you. Why do you fight me so?" the voice asked. Daniel squeezed his eyes, no glasses covering them, squinting and focusing, and saw that he was in a dark tunnel, or some other place void of everything, the only glimmer in the darkness the image his father in law facing him.

"Goodfather, it was you? Why have you come to me? I thought the ascended were forbidden to communicate with us?" Daniel was confused, he remembered the rules himself, although he had found ways to break them.

"Oma sent me, she could not come herself. She knew you would trust me and believe what I say..." he voice was getting distant and Daniel felt like he didn't have much time, although he couldn't explain why.

"Tell me what Goodfather? What has happened?" Daniel asked, fear rising in his voice.

Oma couldn't come?

What had happened?

She was supposed to be...

"I need to tell you to beware. Anubis has escaped Oma. We know not where he goes." Kasuf answered and at the mention of the name Daniel felt sickness in his stomach.

If Oma couldn't subdue Anubis, then who could?

And where was he going?

"For now, he has fled Goodson, but he will not stay silent for long and we are not certain if we will be allowed to warn you again..." even more distant was the voice this time, the final words floating through the air.

"What does Oma suggest we do?" Daniel was frantic now, as the vision of his father in law began to fade into the distance and he understood that this wasn't a place; that Kasuf was in his head, trying to give him this message as quickly as he could.

He understood who his visitors were and why, his family, and they had come at the direction of one who could not to warn him.

"See what is in front of you," Kasuf answered and then was gone leaving Daniel alone in the cold darkness.

Adrienne frantically pushed down on his chest, slamming her fists into him.

"God dammit Daniel WAKE UP!" she screamed, leaning over to breathe once more in his mouth, forcing air into it. No response, Adrienne sat up onto her knees, tears streaming from her eyes, pushing onto his chest again.

"You can't leave me, please Daniel, you can't leave me," she cried out, leaning down to listen for a breath, a breath that wasn't there, her tears dripping onto his face. He'd been out for at least two minutes, maybe longer, his heart stopped and not one wisp of air entering or exiting his lungs.

He was dead and for the first time in her life, Adrienne had no strength to carry on.

"Daniel, no, you can't, please, you can't leave me too. I need you, I, Daniel, I love you," she cried, all rational thought out of the window, as she pleaded with him, with his body, her meager efforts of CPR failing. Sobbing uncontrollably Adrienne tried again, breathing and pushing, using everything she had ever learned in those life guarding classes in high school, in those free classes at the clinic taking care of her father, begging him, pleading, screaming at him to wake up.

"Daniel, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry dat I dinna tell you. I love you, I love you so much, I'm so sorry," she choked out, leaning over him, but this time she didn't even try to push the air of life into his lungs. She didn't care, if he was lost to her she wanted to say goodbye. There was soft contact as she pressed her lips softly to his, kissing him gently, lingering longer than she should before pulling back to sit on her heels crying heavily.

And then he blinked.

"Oh my god," she was crying, taking deep breaths in and out, gasping for air, "Daniel, Daniel, oh my god, I dought I lost you."

Rubbing his face, he sat up slowly, reaching his arms around her, pulling her close to him, still shaking a bit himself from the experience. Adrienne was hysterical, sobbing, convulsing, and obviously he had appeared dead to her, so he concentrated his energy on trying to calm her down. She didn't pull away, just lay there in his arms, rambling on about being sorry and she shouldn't have done it, and he was confused, but held her regardless, whispering into her ear.

"It's alright Ad, I'm fine, really, it's ok, calm down, I'm right here," he started and stopped, thinking how arrogant that sounded, assuming that she was crying over him rather than the shock of someone just being unconscious, dead, in front of her. Pulling back, he peered into her face, changing the subject, "I know what's going on with me. We need to get back to base, now. "

He put his hand on her face to make sure she was alright, wiping her tears away with his thumb and tenderly tucking her hair behind her ear.

_I love you, I'm so sorry to have scared you..._

...he thought, but nothing came out.

Nodding she stood, not wanting to worry him more, trying to put out of her mind what just happened, what she had just done, reaching down to help him to his feet. Without any conversation, they got dressed quickly and left the apartment, the beetle jetting furiously into the night.

The mood was somber as they sat in the briefing room. Daniel had explained everything to them and for once Adrienne didn't feel alone, since Cam and Vala also were unfamiliar with Anubis, asking almost as many questions as she did throughout the briefing.

"We must call O'Neill," Teal'c said finally, once all questions had been answered and all information shared.

Sam nodded, "What a phone call... honey, remember the guy that tried to kill us back in the day... well..."

Daniel spoke up, "Kasuf didn't give me any indication that he was coming for us, just warning us that he was free."

"And he gave you no clue as to how to defeat him or at least protect ourselves should he decide to come this way. And Adrienne heard her name too; they said nothing to her?" Sam pushed.

"No," Daniel shook his head, "he said something about seeing what was in front of me, but I have no idea what that means." Looking equally as puzzled, Sam glanced over at his assistant, looking for confirmation.

"No, he's right," Adrienne confirmed, "after that initial time, I heard nothing, just saw Daniel..." she started to breath heavy and Cam reached over to grab her arm, taking her hand in his and squeezing it tightly. It's rather disconcerting to see a friend drop dead in front of you, he had first-hand experience with that, and it's even more disconcerting to see someone you love drop dead in front of you and Cameron was fairly certain that whether or not the two of them chose to admit it, that was exactly what was going on.

"Well, I think we just need to keep our eyes open," Sam concluded, having nothing else to say, here anyway. The first thing she wanted to do was get home to Jack and talk to him, but she needed to do so in a manner that would not cause panic in the already alarmed team.

Kasuf had been allowed to break rules that Daniel himself had been punished for to warn them. Oma DeSala was a rule breaker but even this was unusual for her, to risk Kasuf's ascended soul.

She allowed Daniel to remain on base, feeling as though these were not spells, but rather his body reacting to the Ascended trying to communicate with him.

Daniel looked relieved and so was Adrienne, but there was a small part of her that was sad, a part of her that had hoped maybe this would have been the point, that maybe he did feel the same way about her, and tonight as she lay there holding him, he would roll over and tell her that he loved her, that she was all he ever wanted.

Sitting at the briefing table, the normally feisty cajun started to debate sitting Daniel down and talking to him, telling him everything, but as he stood from the table, smiling and happy to be back to normal, she decided against it.

Daniel walked into the lab, clicking on the light to make sure everything was as he left it. He checked his desk and his computer, pleased to find that Sam had kept her word and locked everyone out, especially Rodney. This week had been a nightmare, in every aspect of the word and he was glad it was over.

Partially.

It had been nice to be that close to Adrienne, sleeping in her arms. He knew it was more than just her presence that kept Kasuf and the others at bay, at least for the first few nights, he knew it was his love for her made him less vulnerable to their intrusion. He couldn't explain it with any science or anything that made sense, but it was as if she was somehow protecting him.

It was as if she loved him too.

There was a small part of him that wanted to just go down to her quarters tonight and crawl into bed with her and this time hold her in his arms, protect her from any nightmares that she may have after all of this, but he couldn't.

He might love her, but that was a line he just couldn't cross.

_But Daniel, if it does, when it does, you can't tell a soul, no one._

Pinching his nose, he continued straightening up, shoving both Jack and Adrienne out of his thoughts.

Satisfied everything was back to normal, or at least for the most part, he decided to shut off the lights once more and pick up his work in the morning.

Sleep, he had learned, was a precious commodity.

On the way to his on base quarters, he decided to swing by Adrienne's room and thank her one more time for everything, to see her one more time. She believed him when no one else did, and didn't leave his side. He would never admit it to her, but he had grown quite used to relying on her, in a way much different than he had the rest of the group.

Was THAT what Good Father meant?

Was Adrienne what was right in front of him?

He pondered this all the way down to her door, knocking and shouting her name when he arrived.

"Ad, hey it's me, let me in!" he yelled but got no answer.

She might be in the shower, he thought, standing there for a moment longer and knocking again.

Still no answer.

Was she alright?

He started to panic when he heard her shouting from down the hall and turned to see her jogging toward him, red in the face and caked in sweat. She was wearing her running clothes and he instantly felt stupid that he hadn't assume she would immediately go for a run, after all exercise was her number one source of stress relief and dealing with him and watching him die was certainly stressful.

"Hey, everything ok? Please tell me Rodney didn't get his itchy little fingers all over our stuff," she said as she lightly moved him over, coding herself into the room, entering and motioning behind herself for him to follow.

"No, just like we left it thankfully," he answered as he entered. Breathing a sigh of relief, she took off her iPod armband and tossed it onto her dresser, sitting on the bed to remove her shoes.

"Good to hear. You ok?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No more visitors," he smiled.

"Ok..." Adrienne trailed off, as if she wanted to ask, so why are you here bothering me after I have had to spend three days of my life as your nanny?, but she said nothing more and he felt bad, down here, bothering her more.

"I wanted to thank you, for being there," he said, nervously running his hands through his hair.

"It's ok. That's what friends do," she stood and walked over to him and then paused, screwing up her face, "I'd hug you shug, but I smell like the gym." Agreeing, although the smell wasn't nearly as bad as she probably thought it was, he laughed, nodding his head. She raised her eyebrows playfully and walked over to her dresser, to pull out clean clothes, giving him a non-verbal cue that she wanted a shower.

"That's all. I just wanted to thank you again," he said, turning to make his way back through the door they had left open.

"You're welcome. Is there anything else? You look like you need to tell me something," Adrienne said, her arms full of clothes.

Tell me, she thought, or better yet, stay.

_I just want to hold you in my arms again. _

"No, that's it," he answered quickly.

"Ok, close the door behind you please. I'll see you in the morning Indy, but if you need me, please call. I'm gonna stay here tonight, just in case," she added, turning to head for the shower.

Without another word he stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Advancing forward toward his own quarters, he paused, glancing back at the key pad. He almost coded himself back in, just to be there when she got out, to talk to her, to hold her, to tell her everything...

Instead, Daniel shook his head, took a breath and headed for his own quarters.

_But Daniel, if it does, when it does, you can't tell a soul, no one._


	25. Chapter 24 - My Secret

_Ok, so it's a little pining, little side-ish jaunt, but there are a few things said that are needed for the story. If you don't want sap and are here for the adventure, wait for next episode, but if not enjoy. _

Adrienne heard the key in her front door and glanced up at the clock in the utility room puzzled. It was 11:35, quite strange that he was coming over so late. She had given Daniel a key a few weeks ago, after the incident with Kasuf and he wasn't afraid to use it, but usually he would call or at least come over at a reasonable time, in fact, he couldn't have been more polite about it, but this was out of character.

Worried, she made a face and stuffed the next batch of laundry into the washer.

She heard him come in the door, the sound of his movements one she recognized, looked forward everyday to hearing. He didn't say anything, so she just finished what she was doing before heading out to investigate.

"Hey shug," she greeted cheerily, trying not to start right in with the worry. Knowing that he didn't remember her mistake, her slip, her moment of weakness had made the entire incident more bearable, but she had caught herself hovering a little more than usual.

Someone had to take care of him after all.

As she walked back into her small kitchen, glancing in his direction she noticed he looked beat, wearing torn jeans, a gray t-shirt and his leather jacket, his hair a bit of a mess, a gorgeous mess.

Dear God Daniel, she thought, why do you do this to me?

"Hey, hope I'm not interrupting anything." he said. Smiling, she showed him the basket in her arms.

"Just laundry night," she replied, "because you and I are oh so interesting in our free time."

Laughing, he set his computer bag on the kitchen counter, walking over to the fridge, opening the door and rummaging around in its contents. Grabbing the clean dish towels from the top of the basket, Adrienne shoved them into the drawer by the sink, slipping back out of the kitchen to keep cleaning. She poured out the laundry onto the sofa and looked back over her shoulder to shout into the kitchen.

"Are you looking for anything in particular because I'm fairly certain that I have nothing you would eat? It's only a weekend off, I just bought my food," she yelled, thinking to herself that she almost bought a few bags of chips and a box of Oreos, just in case he showed up, in the hopes that he would show up.

Next time Addy, she thought, make sure to buy them next time.

"So, I take it I should keep a stash of junk here," he said from the other side of the door, making her heart race at the thought.

_Yep Indy, stash of food, clothes, some shampoo; there's really no reason that you ever need to leave at all..._

"More or less," she replied as she began to fold her laundry, "So, to what do I owe this late night visit?" she asked, trying to keep it natural. She had to admit that things had gotten a lot less awkward lately, less awkward than one would imagine after sleeping with one's boss in their arms for a few days, having him pretty much die in front of you, kiss him on the lips when you think he's dead and then have him sit right up talking to you like nothing happened.

All perfectly normal.

"Boredom," he answered standing from the fridge a flavored water in one hand and a bag of carrots in the other, walking them out to the small table. Adrienne looked up to see what he had taken and smiled.

"Those aren't Cheetos," she joked.

"I plan on pretending," he replied smartly. Setting down his snack, Daniel walked over to grab his computer bag, opening it, and rummaging through as he popped a carrot into his mouth.

"You do realize that it's Friday, nearly midnight, and you're going to sit at my table, eat my carrots and work. Couldn't you do that in your own apartment?" she teased, but she was happy he was here; she was always happy when he was around, whether or not they were together.

"I could, but then I'd miss all of our witty banter," he countered, swallowing the carrot with a silly grin on his face, "Besides, you're working."

"Housework doesn't count as work," she said as she rapidly made progress on her pile of laundry. Daniel looked over her, smiling as he watched her fold.

He'd miss her too if he stayed at home, not just the banter.

_I just like being around you. _

"Actually, I wasn't working, I was going to read something," he pulled out a book, waving it at her, "despite popular belief I can relax." She made a face and squinted, trying to read the title of the book and couldn't make it out completely, but knew it was definitely non-fiction and looked work related.

"Does it have vampires?" she asked.

"Nope," he replied.

"Zombies?" she continued.

"No," he responded.

"Dragons? Spaceships? Lightsabers? Magic?" Adrienne listed every last element that she deemed necessary for enjoyable literature, giggling as she did since she already knew his answer.

"Negative to all of the above," he said quickly, eating another carrot to hide his smile.

"Are you learning something?" she changed her tactic.

"Yes," he smirked, knowing what was to come.

"Then that's not relaxing," she stated.

"So, based on that logic, it's not relaxing when you translate those Roman inscriptions you smuggle in from dig sites, or when you sit at the Art Museum translating mirrors," he argued.

"That is QUITE relaxing. It's ancient world soaps. Days of our Togas," she played.

"Nerd," he retorted.

"You have no room to talk," she replied and began to run the laundry to her room, chuckling to herself as she left.

_God I love you Daniel._

When she returned, she noted that he had taken over the sofa and was happily reading his boring book so she plopped down beside him, throwing her feet across his lap and clicking on the television, feeling him adjust by laying his arms across her legs and pulling them closer to him. As she flipped through the channels, trying to find something to watch, she glanced over at him out of the corner of her eye, reflecting on how strange this all was now.

When she had started this job over a year ago, she was pretty certain that he hated her and to be fair, she wanted him to shut up and pretend she wasn't there nearly 90% of time.

Now, here they were, sitting on her sofa together, like they were supposed to be right here, doing just that.

Her heart told her they were; she loved him more than she had ever loved anyone else in her life, the only sad part was that she couldn't say a word, to anyone, ever, even if he felt the same which she was sure he didn't. Based on their conversations alone Daniel had long given up on any type of personal life, living and breathing his work at the SGC.

So why was he here?

With her?

Every single night he was free?

"What?" he asked looking up from his book, feeling her eyes on him, Adrienne quickly shaking her head to dispel the hope working its way through her.

"Nothing," she answered and continued to flip through the channels, settling on some program on the history channel about World War Two. Grabbing a sofa pillow, she fluffed it quickly, shoving it underneath her back, leaning back the rest of the way onto the sofa, feeling that she was being watching.

Shaking his head, his finger tucked lightly in the book, he watched her little ritual with a smirk on his face.

"I catch heat for reading non-fiction and the first thing you switch it onto is the History Channel," he stated.

"It's good background for me to fall asleep," she defended herself, lying through her teeth, trying not to laugh.

Back to normal, she thought, god I missed this...

"Sure..." he answered, unbeknownst to her, feeling exactly the same.

I can do this, he thought, I can still love her and be her friend.

_This IS doable. _

Apparently though, this night, she wasn't kidding about using the very long program on Hitler as white noise, as she was out cold in less than an hour. Daniel, however, was so enthralled in his book that he only noticed when he heard the remote hit the floor.

"Ad?" he asked, looking over at her, but she just rolled over to her side, tucking her arms and body to the back of the couch. Laughing, he shook her leg gently, again calling her name.

"I'm not asleep," she mumbled.

"Go to bed. You're sleeping on my sofa," he ordered, pushing her legs from his lap and onto the floor.

"My sofa. You just squat here," she replied, setting her feet onto the floor, stumbling slightly as she did. Daniel tried to contain his laughter, although he was sure she'd heard him.

"Do you need help?" he asked, looking up at her.

"I'm a big girl, I think I can handle it," she scowled, regaining her composure before handing him the remote and leaning over to hug him goodnight. Groggily she dragged herself to her room, grabbing a blanket and pillow from the bed and walking it back out to him. An evil grin on her face, she threw it over his head, covering Daniel, book and all.

"You know you're ridiculous right?" she said to him as he pulled the blanket off of himself and stood to make his sleeping area.

"Why do you say that?" he asked right back as he fluffed the pillow.

"Because we've slept in the same close quarters, hell the same bed, more times than I can count, yet you still insist on cramming yourself onto that thing every time you come over," she explained, wondering.

They hadn't discussed very much since the incident, as she was now calling it; he hadn't said one word about lying so close to her, in her arms. Figuring that he was still embarrassed by it all, she had let it go, but that small part of her that just wanted to know, wanting to see if there was just a tiny chance, made her ask.

_Just come lay with me Daniel..._

"I know, but you know how base rumors are, I think we're pushing our luck as it is, and besides it just doesn't seem appropriate, you know, with you being engaged to Ronon and all," he said as he crawled under the blanket, just in time to block a second pillow being launched at his head. Knowing she was out of ammo, he peeked out again, making himself comfortable and reaching again for the book.

It's not appropriate anymore Ad, he said inside, because I'm in love with you, and I want to crawl into that bed and kiss you and make you mine...

_Just laugh at my bad joke and let it drop. _

"What about the air mattress?" Adrienne offered, pointing to the hallway where it was stashed at the bottom of the linen closet. She had bought it months ago just for him and he had used it for all of a week. Daniel put the book down, glancing back up at her.

"Too lazy to inflate it," he admitted, grinned, and covered his face back with the book.

"Your choice," she said and trudged back to bed, smiling to herself at his endless chivalry.

It made it that much easier to hide her feelings.

Secure in the knowledge that he was here, again, like old times and that everything was alright, she crawled into her own bed and shut off the light, falling asleep in mere moments.

When she awoke the next morning, she tossed off the covers and made her way down the hall to the kitchen, shouting over toward the sofa.

"Hey, you want hot or iced coffee?" she asked, yawning and willing herself awake. Adrienne hated mornings, in fact, Daniel needed to start getting up and making the coffee if he was going to be over here so much; he'd done it before.

He wasn't a morning person per se, but was awake enough to make coffee and a full course meal for breakfast and she hated him for it.

Well, sorta, it was kinda nice when she did wake up to breakfast.

_Stop being in love with your boss Addy. _

Surprisingly, there was no answer, and she stopped dead in her tracks, peering into her living room.

"Daniel, it's 10 a.m., there is no way you're still asleep," she said as she walked over to the sofa, a part of her hoping that he was still asleep so she could do something evil, but he wasn't there, everything was neatly folded on the sofa with a note on top.

_ Jack texted this morning so I had to dash. NOT work related, so don't even start. Very funny, will fill you in later. If you ever wake up. I'm not hopeful. _

_ Daniel _

Adrienne made a face, disappointed he was gone. She hated when he did that, dashing off only leaving a note; it made her worry like crazy, and even more so now. Sighing, she trudged back over to the coffee maker. It was only 10 a.m., insanely early for a Saturday and she didn't need to be at Sam's till seven, so she sat down at the counter and made a list of errands she had been putting off, since it appeared she was going to be alone today.

"What's happened to you Adrienne?" she muttered, chugging her cup of cold coffee.

The best part about mandatory weekends off was that Sam had scheduled them in such a way, when she could, where they could all get together and hang out in peace.

This weekend, Sam declared a girl's night and had ordered Jack out of the house, in fact, Adrienne arrived just as he was leaving.

"You just watch Sam, I'll get us in there!" Jack yelled over his shoulder from the coat closet, the front door sitting wide open. Adrienne sheepishly walked through unsure of what she was walking into as Jack shut the door glaring down at Adrienne.

"Hey Dr. Perky, come on in, I was just being kicked out of my own house," he waved her over, his tone more playful than she had originally interpreted, so she walked into the living room as directed.

"Oh I'm sure you guys'll get in, but don't you think it will look just a bit strange..." Sam voice was shouting from the kitchen and Adrienne was completely confused.

Where in the world were they going or trying to get in to?

"We've got that covered. We're taking Torren," Jack replied smartly. A door shut, the fridge it sounded like, and Sam walked into the living room as Jack was putting his coat on laughing.

"And you still don't see how odd the whole thing will look? Four grown men, four, taking one three year old!?" Sam put her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

"Six grown men. Sheppard and Ronon are going too," Jack responded, not even bothering to suppress his laughter as he grabbed his wallet from the table, strutting over to his wife, whose eyes were rolling like mad, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lightly on the lips.

"At least you know we'll behave if the kid is around. Trust me," he said, giving her that evil look of his. Starting for the door, Jack seemed to be dancing, or at least making some poor attempt as Adrienne heard a wine bottle being opened from the other room. The front door shut behind the departing member of the O'Neill family and Adrienne spun back around to see Vala waltzing out of the kitchen, her red yoga pants and tank top complimented perfectly by the bottle of pinot and a fistful of glasses.

"I got three," she said, "who else is coming?"

"I think Jenn said she would try to swing by. Teyla's taking advantage of my husband's insanity to go get a massage and I can't say that I blame her," Sam replied, grabbing a glass from Vala's hand, seemingly not as amused as said husband, reaching to pass the second to Adrienne.

"Do I even want to know what insanity they're all up to?" Adrienne asked.

"Daniel didn't tell you?" Sam asked, giving her a funny look.

"No, why would he?" she answered quickly and defensively.

Not you too Sam, she thought, her heart racing in her chest, I'm a shitty liar but not transparent.

"Oh, no reason," she continued, "Jack's taking Teal'c out for his birthday. It's 112 or something like that." Adrienne laughed, not only at the idea of celebrating a 112th birthday, but now understanding Daniel's note from earlier.

"Yeah, I have no idea why Jack counts, Teal'c can't even remember. Anyway, he's taking him, and the rest of the boys to Chuck E Cheese." Adrienne erupted into laughter, glad that Vala had not begun to pour just yet. An image of Teal'c, no, even better, an image of Daniel in a ball pit, Jack and Teal'c having thrown him in amongst the screaming chaos of children, popped into her head in an instant. Unable to contain herself she put the glass onto the coffee table and sunk to the floor, tears in her eyes.

"See," Sam said, "you probably have the mental picture that I had when he told me and so they don't look like sickos, they're taking Torren. To top it off, I'm fairly certain that Jack is going to have a large plush mouse come out and sing to Teal'c."

Adrienne roared even louder, not thinking about Jack or Teal'c at all, now the scenario floating through her head one in which Daniel was throwing a tantrum at a target shooting game, screaming and shouting about trigger inaccuracies.

She really should take him to Chuck E. Cheese herself.

_Stop it Ad, stop having fantasies about Daniel..._

"I hope they at least win the little booger a good prize," Vala added, grinning, as she sat down and poured herself a glass, passing the bottle to Adrienne. Finally getting up from the floor, Adrienne crawled to her knees, wiping her eyes and pulling herself to the sofa, still trying to compose herself before pouring. Laughing herself, Sam looked like she had something to say, but was interrupted by the ringing of the phone, sipping a touch of wine quickly before standing to answer.

"To be a fly on the wall," Adrienne said to Vala, who had herself taken a seat on the love seat.

"I know and you should have gotten here when I did; Jack was so proud of himself for thinking of this little scheme. Poor Teal'c," she said.

"He loves it, I'm sure." Adrienne answered, Vala chuckling.

_Daniel would look pretty damn funny with the mouse singing to him..._

_CUT IT OUT..._

"Ok ladies, that was Jennifer. Carolyn needed her to stay and run some tests, so it's just us three for the evening," Sam informed them as she exited the kitchen, making a bee line for her glass.

"More booze for us," Vala declared joyously.

"Well, I was inspired by Jack's childishness and instead of our usual movie night, I thought we would play a game," Sam announced, much to her guest's surprise, still standing sipping her wine.

"A game, like what?" Vala inquired. Before anyone could say anything further, Sam winked, racing down the hall and returning with a large selection of games, setting them down on the sofa beside Adrienne and kneeling on the floor in front of them.

Mischief in her manner, she started with the top of the stack, flashing each box at her friends.

"Monopoly?" she asked the group.

"I don't like to add and drink," Vala replied, "Next."

"Life?" she moved on.

"Sexist. You have to get married first, have kids, whatever," Adrienne chimed in.

Sam rolled her eyes at her two friends, "Battleship?"

"Two player," Vala answered, "And too much like work."

"You guys are IMPOSSIBLE," Sam sighed, "Scattergories?"

"I only play that with Daniel," Adrienne stated, forgetting herself for a moment. Oh that sounds great Ad, she scolded, we're possessive over a board game.

"Why is that?" Sam asked her, smirking, of course.

"Because we don't play in English, or any single language for that matter. It gets confusing," Adrienne responded quickly.

"Why am I NOT surprised?" Sam said with a tone, setting that one aside too. That only left one box in her hands, small and colorful, garnered a face of displeasure with the general, one that Vala's picked up on right away, smiling.

"What's that?" Vala asked, "I've never heard of that."

"It's called Zobmondo. It's some dumb game that Jack bought. It's just a series of questions of would you rather do stupid choice A or stupid choice B. The group decides on the best option and that's how you score points," Sam explained, her eyes rolling.

"Screw points, are the questions funny?" Vala continued, glancing over at Adrienne for support, but the cajun just sipped her wine, waiting to see how this would play out.

"I guess so, I mean there's a food category that's just gross, but some of them are funny," Sam replied.

"Let's play that," Vala said quickly.

"Adrienne?" Sam asked.

"Oh I don't care; anything's better than laundry," she responded, slightly disappointed they wouldn't be playing for points.

Adrienne liked to win.

Especially against Daniel.

She wondered what he was doing right now.

_Get a grip Ad. _

Setting the other games aside, Sam pulled the lid off the box in order to remove a deck of cards and a multicolored die, sitting crossed legged at the coffee table right on the floor. Vala did the same on the other end.

"Ok, even if we're not doing points, there are 6 questions on each card. One of us needs to roll this die and that will determine which question," Sam explained.

"For a dumb game, you sure know the rules pretty well," Adrienne commented.

"When you love someone you learn to deal with their little quirks. Even if some of those quirks are playing dumb childish board games," she smiled. Flushing, Adrienne went to answer without thinking, talking about Daniel's proclivity for breaking coffee machines but paused, realizing her mistake.

_He's not your boyfriend Ad, no matter what you may want. _

Not paying her friend any mind, Vala grabbed the die and rolled as Adrienne began to sip her wine quickly, hoping Sam too had ignored her near slip. Might as well enjoy, she thought, and try not to think about him tonight.

_Like that's gonna happen..._

"Red," Vala declared and Sam pulled a card, making a funny face as she read it silently in advance.

"Would you rather wake up nude and unharmed in a public park and have no idea how you got there OR expecting a costume party, dress as a giant banana for a black tie affair and have to stay the whole night?"

"Naked," Vala spoke up, Adrienne immediately choking on her wine.

"No," she argued, "half of the fun would be solving the mystery of how I got there."

"X-rated Scooby Doo," Adrienne joked trying to speak between gasps.

"And what would you do Miss Perfect? The banana one?" Vala fought back.

"Of course. Could just imagine how much fun you could have in a banana costume?" Adrienne answered, "How about you Sam?"

"I have to go banana, I'm not a fan of public nudity," the general answered, returning the card while Adrienne started laughing again.

This is going to be fun, she thought, clearing her throat to explain.

"I just got the best mental image of Sam addressing the IOA in a banana costume..." she said. Sam chuckled, she had a point, those damn stuffed shirts, handing Adrienne the cards and procuring the die from Vala, rolling it herself.

"Blue," Sam called. Taking a quick sip of wine, Adrienne peered at the card and read.

"Would you rather not be able to tell time OR not know left from right?"

There was a sputter, Vala throwing her hand in front of her face to catch the burgundy spray before she started choking, laughing uncontrollably.

"Addy can't do either," she said, wiping her mouth and putting her head in her hands.

"Imma pass a slap atcha Vala," Adrienne answered swiftly, cutting her eyes at her friend, Sam already waving her hand in front of her face, forcing her throat to swallow.

"She's right. You've never been on time for a meeting, or anything, ever and whenever you have to pass something left or right, you go back and forth until Daniel corrects you," Sam teased, wiping the corners of her eyes as she took another side. Not amused, Adrienne shot glares at both of her friends, her dark eyes giving their warning.

"I'm going to read another one," Adrienne said, she sipped her wine again and pulled a second card.

"Would you rather marry someone you've never met before, then remain married and faithful for five years OR never marry at all?"

"Never," Sam spoke up.

"This coming from the married woman," Vala tilted her head.

"No, this coming from the one who could have and didn't until I could have what I wanted," Sam answered simply. It was so sweet and honest it gave Adrienne a little pang in her heart, both of appreciation and jealously.

Maybe she would just have to be patient herself, maybe there was hope for them.

Don't think about Daniel, for one damn night, she fussed internally, turning to Vala for an answer.

"It's only 5 years. I can do that and then I'd divorce him and collect, what's it called?" Vala asked, shrugging.

"Alimony?" Adrienne suggested.

"Yeah that," she said, "you Addy?"

"Never," she answered and her response was so quick and so curt that her friends moved on. Adrienne was glad for it, her thoughts still lingering on certain people she had vowed not to think about tonight.

_Because Indy, you're the exception..._

_STOP IT..._

For the next round, Adrienne rolled yellow, Vala happily drawing a card.

"Would you rather go for a week without food OR without sleep?" she read.

"Sleep," Adrienne shouted immediately, "I work for Daniel, I'm pre-conditioned," she joked, sipping some more wine. Ok, so thinking about him to pick on him is acceptable, and Sam was agreeing, laughing and nodding.

"Sleep," Sam answered, "because I have no idea what that is anymore."

"With you ladies," Vala answered, "Sleep, but that's only because I like food too much. This planet knows how to eat," Vala agreed and stood, noticing empty wine glasses, and dashing to the kitchen to grab another bottle and refill.

The game continued like this for a while, each of them ganging up on one another and Vala refilling the wine glasses as if there was an endless supply of libations. Adrienne had no idea how much she drank, but at one point when they got the question as to whether they would want to look like an idiot or talk like one she got the mental image of Woolsey and starting laughing uncontrollably, nearly tipping her glass onto the floor.

"Some people are stuck with both," she tried to explain but was still laughing too hard to make the right words come out to explain her hysteria.

About an hour and a half later, still playing and drinking, Daniel's sidekick was pretty tipsy with Sam close behind. Adrienne had no idea how Vala could hold her liquor so well, but she was, happily pouring and drinking as if she were enjoying a diet soda rather than a glass of wine.

Leaning forward, stumbling forward really, Sam grabbed the die from the coffee table, pushing herself up carefully to toss it back, the small plastic cube landing on blue. Finishing her current glass, Adrienne pawed forward for the tie dyed box, pulling the next card to read.

"Would you rather be really smart and really boring OR really dumb, but funny and entertaining?"

Vala began to laugh, "You mean, be Daniel or be dumb and funny?" Adrienne was shocked by Vala's interpretation of the question, dropping the card as she shot an evil glare in the direction of her friend.

"Take dat back," Adrienne spat angrily.

"Addy, it was a joke, I'm kidding." Vala insisted but was laughing harder at Adrienne's protest, as her friend's face got redder and the vein in her forehead actually began to rise slightly.

"He'sa nah borin, ya take dat back!" Adrienne shouted, her accent no longer covered as began to sit forward more on the sofa, staring Vala down.

"Wow Adrienne calm down, how much have you had to drink?" Sam asked, placing her hand onto Adrienne's shoulder, looking over at her but laughing a little herself.

"Arrete toi," Adrienne ordered as she spun her head to glare at Sam, "dat's an awful thing ta say. Why wud ya even kid like dat. Ee's nah borin, y'all don know 'em like aye do. Ee's... wonderful," Adrienne spat out drunkenly, quite drunkenly Sam noted, reaching out her hand as a sign of good will.

"Adrienne, it's a game, we're just playing; why are you getting so upset?" she asked, unable to understand why Adrienne was reacting so viciously to something that was clearly a joke.

Unless...

Watching her friend's face carefully, Sam saw Adrienne sniff in slightly, allergies maybe, maybe not and reach to refill her glass, spilling a little onto her hand. Vala reached over to help her wipe off the excess, but Adrienne shooed her away, jerking back, those dark eyes of her still fixed on Vala. Her interest peaked, Sam didn't say another word to her or answer the question, just rolled blue on the die, deciding to read the next question herself.

"Would you rather have a one night stand with a stranger OR your best friend?"

Of course this HAD to be the question, Sam thought, regretting that she read out loud before scanning it in advance.

Vala answered first, not to Sam's surprise in the least, answering as she expected, "Stranger, that is WAY more fun!"

"I married mine," Sam stated carefully, "that's easy," reaching for the die as Vala glanced over Adrienne at an answer, but the cajun didn't move.

She didn't blink.

She didn't say a word.

"Just say it," Vala goaded, "we know what your answer is."

"Then let's pick another card," Adrienne replied, scooting forward to reach for the box, giving Sam the silent signal to roll the die. Picking up the small cube, Sam started to roll, to take the pressure off of Adrienne, but squeezed the plastic around her palm, her curious nature starting to take over.

"Adrienne, it's just us, would you?" she asked, sugaring her voice so slightly, just wanting to hear what she was starting to suspect was true.

"Fine, best friend, nex cahd," Adrienne answered quickly, looking down at her hands.

Ok, she knew that was going to be the answer, but there was something else...

"Wait," Vala pulled the box from her hands, setting it down lightly, one eye peeking over at Sam, "What about best friend versus, hmmm..., Ronan? You know him well enough and he's the best looking man on base. Hell, you went to dinner with him and never told me one damn detail."

"Dat's nah on dah cahds," Adrienne replied, her heart beginning to race.

"I know, answer," Vala countered. It's mutual, she thought, Addy's fallen for him too...

"Best friend," Adrienne said quickly, trying to reach again.

"Best friend versus Skargard?" Vala asked a third variation, testing girl talk giggles, pushing limits.

"Vala, enough," Sam started to defend Adrienne a bit, sensing her apprehension, sensing her answer.

It would be Daniel, no matter how Vala phrased it, the answer would be Daniel.

All these months she thought Jack had been kidding, thought that Vala was just jealous, but...

"I want to hear her answer," Vala challenged, glancing over at Sam, but she just grabbed the box, pulling out another card.

"Ok, let's get another blue question, that's what we were at right?" Sam asked rhetorically, not allowing anyone time to process the question, much less answer.

"Would you rather find out on your wedding night that your spouse is 10 years older than you OR an ex-con?"

Safe question, the general thought, in fact she was fairly certain Vala had to have a story about some former flame and their criminal history.

"Fifteen," Vala responded, her answer taking Sam off guard.

"What?" Sam asked, a look of confusion on her face.

"It's fifteen years," Vala clarified.

"The card says ten," Sam reread the card, confused but Adrienne looked panicked and Sam felt like a fool, wondering what in the world Vala could be referring to that was making Adrienne so nervous. The normally feisty archaeological assistant began to bite her lip, her hand started to shake, so much so that she had to set the wine glass down on the table.

"Adrienne and Daniel are fifteen years apart, not ten," Vala smirked as Adrienne lost all of the color in her face.

"Dammit Vala, leave her alone," Sam fussed as she peeked at Adrienne, again, the confirmation of her theory coming to life in front of her. Remaining silent, Adrienne sipped her wine, her glass still trembling.

Oh my lord, Sam thought to herself, Vala and Jack have been right, this entire time...

"It's fifteen. I want to know if that bothers Addy at all, if that's why she hasn't told him, because I'm fairly certain that it doesn't bother Daniel in the least," Vala explained, looked over at Adrienne and then the bottle of wine, reaching to pour herself another glass.

Adrienne paused, her deep foreboding eyes, slightly bloodshot it seemed, darted back and forth between her friends, trying to formulate her answer, but the wine had dulled her senses to the point of no return. Instead, she just began to cry, gathering her knees up to her chest, and sobbing loudly.

"Adrienne!" Sam leapt up from where she was sitting, having never seen her friend break down like this before, "Vala didn't mean it..." she shot a glance at Vala, hoping she had some semblance of sympathy or at least regret for making Adrienne cry.

"Addy, come on, I'm just toying with you..." Vala added and came over as well, wrapping her arms around her friend's shoulders, "I know you're hot after him; I'm just waiting for you two to hook-up."

But that wasn't what was going through Addy's head, Vala knew, Sam knew, and this was just proof, Vala's words only making Adrienne sob harder.

"Vala, just shut up, you're not helping" Sam scolded, scooting closer to Adrienne, rubbing her back and trying to lean over to her face so she could hear.

"Adrienne, it's ok. He's a very attractive man; we would all understand," Sam tried to calm Adrienne down, not wanting to force her to admit anything. The sobs subsided slightly, Sam pulling away as the woman she was comforting did as well. Finally, Adrienne got control of herself, deep, hurt brown eyes gazing up at her.

"It's nah dat, I donna just, I donna wanna," Adrienne sniffed in deeply, wiping her eyes, "it's, I, I love 'em."

"I knew it; I knew you two were sleeping together," Vala backed up, "Addy really did bed Daniel; you've got to be kidding me." Shaking her head in warning at Vala, Sam took a deep breath and leaned in closer.

"Adrienne, you've had a lot of wine tonight and we're all just babbling, we know what you really mean," Sam assured her and continued to rub her back lightly to get her to calm down.

Don't Addy, possibly sleeping together here and there is one thing, but being in love, falling in love with him, you can't, you just can't.

This is just the kind of thing the IOA is looking for, more fraternizing, more reasons to have officials nosing around here to make sure this hasn't become a romantic free for all.

She and Jack had been warned.

"Nah, stop patronizin may. I donna just wanna to hop into bed wit 'em. I love 'em. I'm IN LOVE wit 'em. I love 'em more dan I 'ave eva loved anyone in my entire life. 'Ee's everything I've eva dreamed of ahn I'da -" Adrienne interrupted her own speech, leaning into her knees again sobbing.

Sam couldn't believe what she was hearing.

This wasn't an act, this wasn't the wine, Adrienne meant this; she was in love with Daniel, madly by the looks of it. It made Sam wonder about some of what Jack had said about Daniel being so overprotective of Adrienne on missions, about how much time the two of them spent together, many times overnight, the way Daniel had acted in that meeting where they had tried to dissolve Adrienne's job.

And then it hit her; it was him too, they were in love, both of them.

Oh no, she thought, this wasn't what she had intended. Friends, yes, best friends even, but this? Quickly sobering at the disaster that was unfolding in front of her, she pulled Adrienne into her arms, directing Vala with her head and some careful mouthing to go get a glass of water.

"And what Adrienne?" Sam asked, trying to get the entire story, "What happened? Are you two together? Have you guys...?" she asked, not wanting Adrienne in her drunken state to describe any kind of sexual encounter with Daniel, but feeling that she needed to know exactly what was going on between the two archaeologists.

"No, we're nah, 'ee doesn't -" Adrienne sobbed now even harder.

That explained it, Sam thought, she doesn't know that he loves her. Maybe Sam was wrong; Daniel was so hard to read and had mourned Shar'e for so long Sam really had no idea as to whether or not he could actually love someone like that again and if anyone would know, it would have to be Adrienne.

Unless it was her that he was in love with...

How had she missed this?

"Are you serious Addy, you think he doesn't love you? Let me prove it to you," Vala said, standing with the requested glass of water in hand, placing it gently on the table.

"Vala don't," Sam warned still hugging Adrienne tightly, fearing what Vala had in mind.

"I'm not going to do or say anything; I'm just going to prove a point," Vala stated simply, walking over to the wall by the bar window, picking up the phone and dialing.

"Hey, no it's not Sam. Yes, it's me. What?! Why do you always assume, never mind. You need to come get Adrienne. No, she's fine, but, well, she shouldn't drive home. I swear she's alright. I didn't do anything to her, dammit Daniel!" Vala shouted angrily as she glared at the phone, "He hung up on me!"

Annoyed and walking the phone back over to the kitchen, Vala glanced over at Sam and Adrienne to tell them what he had said, but Sam was just holding her finger to her mouth.

"She's calm now; I think she might have passed out," Sam whispered, laying Adrienne down gently onto the love seat.

"Well, he's coming, and I have a feeling it won't take long," Vala said as she poured herself another glass of wine, taking a seat on the soda.

"He does, doesn't he?" Sam asked.

"I think so. You should've seen him on the last mission. When she disappeared, he completely fell to pieces," Vala replied.

"And when he brought her back from rescuing SG-14. He was holding onto her like his life depended on it," Sam shook her head and continued, "I wonder if either of them have any idea that the other is just a lost as they are?"

"She's more like him than she cares to admit. My bet is they're both clueless or scared. We know how he is, but there's something about Addy, something she won't discuss when it comes to men and I don't know why," Vala answered softly, peering over at the sleeping cajun woman propped up against the furniture.

Torn between her job and her love for her friend, Sam gazed down at Adrienne once more, thinking to herself that as pleased as she was that Daniel might have a chance at happiness, she wasn't quite sure how this could ever really work. Standing to clean up their mess, the party effectively over, she wasn't surprised to hear a knock on the door less than ten minutes later.

"Point proven," Vala declared as she went to answer the door, Daniel pushing past her gruffly the moment the panel swung open.

"Vala, I swear to God -" he started to yell as he scanned, but found what he was looking for, beginning to walk over to Adrienne briskly when Sam intervened.

"Daniel, calm down, she had too much to drink, it's nothing. Just leave her car here and she can come get it tomorrow. It's late anyway. Are you alright taking her home?" Sam asked, trying to get him to stop panicking, stop behaving like this.

Vala was right; Daniel was ready to rip off heads if anything had been done to Adrienne, and those heads of target were those of his friends.

He does, she thought, dear god what have I done...

"Of course," he looked at Sam as if she just asked him the most ridiculous question ever spoken.

"How was the party?" the general asked, changing the subject. Daniel was too riled up and she wanted him calm before he took her friend out of here, in love with her or not. There was a breath, it worked, Daniel composing himself as he sat carefully at Adrienne's leg, gently placing a hand onto her shoulder.

"It was hysterical, I'm sure Jack will fill you in. Teyla came to get Torren about an hour ago but they just kept playing. Jack must have spent hundreds on tokens, I couldn't stop him. When I left, Teal'c was wearing an inflatable crown on his head, complete with a matching staff," Daniel answered, calmer, but not taking his eyes away from Adrienne.

"Ad, can you wake up a bit?" he nudged her gently.

"I'm not asleep," she answered.

"Where have I heard that before? Can you get up?" he asked sweetly. Adrienne tried to stand and made it almost all the way up when she stumbled forward, Daniel deftly catching her in his arms, holding her close and protectively to his chest.

"Ok, ok, I see why we only drink at your apartment now," Daniel commented, more to himself than anyone, picking her up into his arms, heading for the door, Adrienne muttering about being able to walk herself, for him to put her down at once. Sam heard him whisper something in French, cajun French it sounded like, Adrienne replying with what she could have sworn was "ya can be my pilla Indy, ya comfy."

Grabbing Adrienne's backpack, Sam followed him, opening the front door and then the door to his Jeep. Struggling, Adrienne wasn't a small woman, her strong athletic build most likely making her heavier than she looked, Daniel refused her help other than the open door.

It was killing Sam, he did love her, it was so obvious, and there was nothing she could do to help, nothing.

Daniel, why did you have to fall in love with Adrienne?

"Thanks for taking her home," Sam said as he closed the door, peering in to make sure that Adrienne was safely in her seat, "Sorry we called you away from the party."

"It's alright, I think they were considering bar hopping or something next, so this got me out of that," he smiled at her.

"Make sure she drinks a lot of water," Sam said and reached out to hug him. Accepting her offer, she hugged him tightly, trying to hide her concern, squeezing his upper arm as he backed away.

"I know, and let's keep our fingers crossed that she doesn't puke on the way back," he joked, walking around the other side of the jeep. Biting her lip, Sam returned back to the door where Vala was waiting and they waved goodbye, watching him back carefully out of the driveway.

Jeep out of sight, Vala turned, handing Sam back her wine glass, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Completely in love," Vala declared, waltzing back into the house.

God Daniel, if she's right, please be careful. I'm not sure how long I can cover for you, Sam thought, sadly, as she closed the door behind her.


	26. Chapter 25 - Ecce

_Another early story, you will probably be able to tell by the details and some of the style. _

Adrienne coughed loudly, throwing her hand in front of her face. She knew, however, that it was a failed effort he instant Daniel shot a glare over in her direction.

"I told you to stay on base," he scolded, a punishing look in his eyes. Sniffing in strongly and trying to ignore him, Adrienne jogged to catch up with Teal'c, leaving her closest friend to walk obliviously, file folder in hand without her. Reaching the strong dark man, she tapped him gingerly on the back noting his peek over his own shoulder before handing her a cough drop.

"Thanks shug," she whispered, unwrapping the tablet low enough where Daniel wouldn't see before popping it into her mouth.

"AdrienneRowan, I do not understand why you have me hiding your medication. Does DanielJackson know that you are ill?" he asked, a half a smile on his face with raised eyebrows. She might have thought she was fooling Daniel, but Teal'c knew better and regardless of what she might think he wasn't just worried about the mission.

DanielJackson was worried about her and the Jaffa found it very touching.

"Shh.." she hissed at him, "DanielJackson does not know I am sick, because if DanielJackson knew I was really sick, DanielJackson would kick my cajun ass!"

The archaeologist hadn't always been that picky on missions, in fact Daniel was one of the first to complain, loudly at times, about required medical examinations, but he had put his foot down after a mission just a few weeks ago to a planet coded P9Y - 430, a recently acquired ally. Vala, stomach bug and all had decided that she was ok to go and despite falling asleep during the briefing had begged her way into the mission. She seemed to be hanging in there, Adrienne slipping her a constant supply of vitamin water, throughout the talks and most of the day, that was, until dinner.

Right when Daniel was about to close on negotiations concerning mineral mining, Vala stood, unable to flee the table and threw up in the Prime Minister's salad-like dish. Needless to say, the SGC wasn't setting up a new Naquada mine there and Daniel had made a new rule, that Cam had no qualms enforcing.

Teal'c made a face, shaking his head as Adrienne sucked strongly on the drop, continuing their hike forward toward Lucentum, the metropolis at the center of this vast empire. The Stargate was located on the outskirts, in the ruins of the old city, so as usual they were in for a bit of a walk.

Colonel Cameron Mitchell and Vala Mal Doran took the lead, laughing about some insane reality TV show they had been watching. Recently, Vala had developed a frightening obsession with New Jersey and Adrienne could only imagine why, having found an entire population of people as loud as she was. In fact, Vala had become so enamored with the concept that she'd been calling herself a "guidette" for weeks, much to the team's dismay.

Close behind were Dr. Adrienne Rowan and Teal'c, walking together in silence, mostly quiet so Adrienne could keep her hacking under control and have easy access to her cough drops. It seemed a bit over the top to hide her medicine, but Adrienne knew Daniel and she knew that her dear sweet friend would ultimately forget something and just go rooting for her things to find an alternate.

Where he would find the cough drops.

And kick her cajun ass.

Dr. Daniel Jackson brought up the rear, reading through a file folder containing the preliminary information sent back from the MALP. Adrienne had loaded all of this onto the iPad for him, but he had slipped that back into her pack preferring old fashioned paper. No matter how hard she tried to bring him into the 21st century he refused, his excuse being that as long as she was around to do it for him, he had no interest in learning.

She didn't mind being needed, in the least.

The first building of the city appeared on the horizon and Cam shouted back to the rest of them, announcing the obvious to their merry band as Adrienne elbowed Teal'c pointing enthusiastically ahead.

"Sick or not, how could I miss that?" she stressed, the excitement in her captivating brown eyes like an explosion of light, magnified by the sun sinking into the distance. This was better than a Hebrew village to Adrienne, better than the Tower of Babel, this was the pinnacle of excitement for the young archaeologist, a young archaeologist whose own apartment looked like a classical temple, a fact Daniel would never let her live down.

As they reached the summit of the hill, the sight only grew grander, sending Adrienne into a near coughing spasm as a giant Roman-style coliseum appeared in front of them, which unlike the one on earth, was in pristine condition and according to the MALP information still in daily use. Adrienne took one look and ran ahead like a child, pulling her camera from her vest pocket.

Dr. Rowan's speciality was classical studies in general, from the early Minoans to the fall of the Roman empire, but her love of ancient athletics was not a secret. A runner herself, Adrienne's ultimate goal was to run a marathon, preferably dressed as an ancient Greek, but she had confessed to Daniel before on one of their movie nights, a few glasses of wine in that, she secretly would have wanted to be a gladiator. Glancing over at his assistant he could see the excitement on her face, mere moments before she dashed off, laughing to himself at her behavior. She had been on many missions with the team before, but this was different, this city was still inhabited and she could see up close the interactions that Earth Romans might have had with one another. She would have hidden anything from Daniel for this chance.

As they reached the outer wall of the city, Adrienne could see the senators that had been sent to greet them, three gray haired men in white togas and tunics with purple trim. Adrienne made a mental note to herself that the senators were wearing the royal color purple meaning that they were either emissaries of the Emperor or King, whatever title this Caecalius man had assumed. Neither she nor Daniel could figure out which when they had watched the MALP video, carefully translating the Latin greeting in the lab. It was either that or that the senate had assumed the power of the royal family, in which case Caecalius would be more like a president.

However, the color choice was clear and deliberate, and it sent a message that these were powerful men.

Shutting the folder and moving Adrienne aside gently by the shoulders, Daniel stepped past her, making his way to the head of the group to greet the senators.

"Salve senatores. Caecalum quaereo ," he spoke in Latin, bad Latin, Latin so bad that it made Adrienne cringe; he had been translating Asgard so long his pronunciation was atrocious. Dammit Indy, she thought to herself, it sounds like ancient shug, how do you mess that up?

"Good day. Dr. Jackson I assume,'' the senator replied, in English, something Adrienne had just come to expect even though Daniel never seemed to, "and please speak to us in the common tongue of the slaves so that we may better understand one another." Nodding in respect, Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose, turning to introduce the rest of the team, who were waiting patiently behind him.

"Of course Senator, as our message stated, I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson. This is our team leader, Colonel Cameron Mitchell, team members Vala Mal Doran and Teal'c and my assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan," he introduced, stopping at each team member with a wave of his hand.

"Delighted, my name is Dominus Hortus and these are Magna Vocce and Clemens Fortis," the man answered, his voice strong and low. It didn't matter how regal he sounded, Adrienne giggled, Vala looking over at her confused. As Daniel continued to talk, Adrienne took the opportunity to slip over behind her friend, casually bringing their heads together.

"Vala, may I present to you Master Gardner, Big Mouth and Strong Clem." Adrienne whispered.

Vala cut her eyes, "Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Adrienne answered, that blasted cough clawing its way out of her chest, sending her into convulsions. Without a word, Teal'c handed over a cough drop.

"It appears that your assistant is feeling ill," Dominus spoke, folding his hands in front of him as he directed his attention to Adrienne. Whipping his head around, Daniel shot his assistant an evil look, his face reminding her clearly of his sickness rule as well as the general rule about not exposing new cultures to any more germs than their presences did already.

And he was gonna kick her cajun ass.

Embarrassed, she sucked the cough drop harder, her eyes peering meekly at the ground.

"Not at all, the walk was long. She tires easily," Daniel answered smartly and Adrienne didn't like his tone; if there was anyone out of shape on this team it was Mister sits at my desk and whines about fitness tests Jackson.

"Well, then right this way, we have set up a guest house for you on the Gran Via so you have easy access to both the forum and the senate. We are very excited to meet the brave defeaters of the Gods and hope to make a great alliance with your people," Dominus gestured for them under the small archway, his companions crossing the arched stone threshold before him.

After scanning his surroundings quickly, Daniel looked behind him at the rest of the group and nodded, indicating it was safe, Cam complying by slipping his gun in his holster, leading the group through the passageway.

The city was spectacular, there was just no other way to put it.

iPhone to her lips, Adrienne blabbered away taking verbal notes on the sights around her, speaking so quickly that were it not for the fact the voice was female one might have sworn that they were listening to Daniel. She noted that just like in the Roman empire of Earth, the roads were narrow and the shops were built right into the houses on the tiny sidewalk. Vendors screamed from their booths in Latin and English, walking the streets with baskets of their wares, waving their goods overhead. Most of the citizens, a flurry of multicolored togas and tunics, either saluted their group as they walked by or pointed and whispered, most likely at the presence of not one but two armed women, one of which was armed like a soldier of the Gods. Adrienne knew that this was a possibility, however she was hoping that this civilization was more like Ancient Rome on Earth in that women had considerably more rights than in other ancient cultures.

That and she hoped they didn't think she was a Jaffa.

Hi, my name is Addy and I'm not a reformed killer I'm just armed like one, was something she tired of explaining.

They walked for about 40 minutes, weaving in and out of the city streets toward their temporary home, the streets growing even more crowed the closer they came to the towering athletic arena in the city center.

Starving, Cam stopped and bought some figs and passed them around the group. Adrienne and Teal'c took one eagerly, but Vala spit hers out with a look of disgust the moment she bit down.

"Isn't this what's in those cookies?" she asked Cameron.

"Fig Newtons? Yeah, in theory." he answered.

"Well, that's not what this tastes like," she retorted.

"You do know that cookies have extra sugar in them. A lot of extra sugar. That's what makes it a cookie," he responded.

"Everything should have extra sugar in it," she answered tossing the fig onto the ground to join the other bits of fruit and waste scattered at their feet.

Adrienne was getting worried, having lost sight of Daniel, caught up in her own notes and observations, but as Cam led them around a corner she saw that Daniel and the senators were in front of a small doorway, flanked by two tiny windows rather than shop booths. This must be the place, Adrienne thought, not that impressive for their honored guests.

"Here is where you will be staying. Should you choose, there is clothing more appropriate for you inside. The senate will meet at dusk and then we invite you all to a banquet to welcome you to our home. It will be held in the senate house shortly after our meeting," Dominus spoke, the other two senator's silent bodyguards, flanking him mere steps behind.

"I only wear a toga in a frat house," Cameron whispered to Adrienne, who immediately started to laugh, the light chuckle rudely interrupted by a fit of coughing.

For the second time that day, Daniel shot her a look over his shoulder.

"At what hour should we arrive at the senate meeting?" Daniel inquired of their hosts, his eyes peering over his glasses at the sky, trying to judge the hour himself manually.

"That will not be necessary Dr. Jackson," Dominus replied, curtly and without any explanation, pulled up his toga and swept off in the direction of the forum, the other two senators following him without a word.

Confused, Daniel made a puzzled look, hanging back to watch the men walk away as the team proceeded inside.

"Typical Roman set-up," Adrienne shouted behind her as she dashed into the fauces, "Looks like we have a small home, two bedroom floor plan, girls can take one side and boys the other." Giving her a thumbs up, Cam walked to the left, pulling back the ragged linen curtain covering the passageway to what Adrienne was claiming was their room.

"That's it?" he asked, sweeping his hand aside to indicate two simple and small beds, a table and a bowl, Teal'c following the gesture with his eyes as he peered inside. Adrienne scurried over, setting her hands on his shoulders to peek over them.

"Yeah, I mean, it seems a little more simple than normal," she said, glancing at Daniel as he finally walked through the front door, "maybe we're not as honored as we think." Daniel shrugged, offering no solution, halting behind them to adjust his bag and reopen the folder.

"We didn't get a lot of information from the MALP, just the greeting from Caecalius and the invite, pretty standard," Daniel replied, his face still furrowed as he began to thumb through the folder. Reading his face, she was good at that now, Adrienne pulled away from Cam, standing on tiptoes to see if she could make out what he was reading.

"Indy, shug, what did our video say? Was it your standard message or the new one?" she inquired wondering. Since their mission to the Hebrew settlement, on Adrienne's suggestion, she, Daniel and Sam had been working on some more videos, explaining more clearly who they were and why they wanted to visit. The new version, featuring Daniel despite his protest, included an longer explanation, saying that they were peaceful explorers and a brief explanation of who he was and what he did.

"New one, no worries, not trying to be mistaken for the archangel again," he answered without looking up, walking on past them into the main foyer of the domicile.

"Look, we can drag one of our beds over here to you guys, Vala and I can share one," Adrienne offered, motioning blindly with her hand as she watched Daniel walk away, stopping a second time to read something in his hands. As if she heard her name, Vala came running to the entrance hallway, breaking Adrienne's own trance of worry.

"We have a pool!" Vala shouted excitedly, pointing toward the garden area directly through the atrium.

"Not exactly," Adrienne replied, refocusing on her role on this mission, she was essentially Daniel on this one while he was going to play negotiator and worried about him or not, she had a job to do, "since there seems to be no impluvium in the atrium here," she pointed to the bare floor in the main room, "this one outside is the source of all of the water in the house. If we need to bath, we will either need to use the bowls in our rooms or find the public baths. That water will also be for drinking."

"Public baths?" Vala inquired, her eyes darting left and right from Cam, to Teal'c and back to Cam again.

"Yeah, they're separated by gender, but you bathe in a big tub together," Adrienne explained.

"Gross," Vala replied with a face of disgust.

Adrienne shrugged, her gaze directing itself back onto Daniel, still not saying a word, resuming his walk across the atrium area as Teal'c was dragging the second bed from the girl's room across the small hall. Concerned he was angry with her, Adrienne tossed her pack into where Vala was trying to figure out how to best make the bed and followed behind him.

"Indy," Adrienne shouted, "looking for the tablinum?"

"Yeah," he replied indifferent, readjusting his bag and tucking the folder under his arm. Breathing out in frustration, she jogged a sec to catch up as he crossed the large room, turning to walk backwards as she poked her face into his.

"Hey, stop, shug are you pissed at me?" she asked.

"Why would I be?" he said as, pushed past her, continuing to walk. Spinning on her heels to face forward, she jogged a few more steps, putting her hand to her mouth making a coughing gesture, but he quickly shook his head, not slowing his stride.

"Honestly, I've given up on trying to get you to do anything I ask. You want to go from a slight cold to pneumonia, be my guest," he answered shortly and out of character.

"Ok, that was harsh..." she bit her tongue before she said anything else to set him off, pausing, hurt, when Daniel stopped in front of the curtain, reaching out for the torn fabric, sighing before peering back at her.

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not angry with you Ad. If you're feeling alright enough to be here I trust your judgement above that of others. That's not what's bothering me," he answered, that frown washing over his face, pulling back the curtain to the Roman study and making his way over to the table. She followed him, pulling the curtain closed behind them as if the tattered thin textile would afford them any privacy at all. There was a bench in the corner, so Adrienne snuck around Daniel, taking a seat as he set up at the center table.

"Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" she asked, figuring that asking him in French what was the matter would at least make their conversation somewhat less public.

"Something's just not sitting right. The senators, this place and the meeting before the banquet. The one they obviously didn't want us to attend. And I'm supposed to be meeting with Caecalius, who is the one is charge, not this Dominus character," he replied, in English, pushing the things aside and sitting down beside her, looking over in her direction, his blue eyes shimmering in the dim light peering through the holes in their pathetic excuse for a door.

She couldn't help it, self-control or not, even if he didn't feel the same, she loved him and something was wrong. Reaching her hand out to his, fulfilling the vow she made to herself the night she watched him die right in front of her, she carefully intertwined their fingers squeezing his hand in her own.

"Yea," she agreed, "that's strange, but we're both working under the assumption that these people are like our Romans. Without Etruscan influences or the wealth of the conquest, maybe they're just different. Maybe this is their defensive protocol, keep us at a distance and work us in slowly," she suggested squeezing again as she tried to peek around to catch his glance.

"I suppose," he answered, standing and pausing to meet her gaze, and for a fleeting moment she thought she saw something different in his eyes, something she wanted so badly to see, but then the moment was over, his hand was gone and he was looking back toward the atrium. "We should find that clothing before dinner. You know how to put those things on right?"

"Of course, I was just hoping we weren't playing dress-up this time," she smiled up at him.

"Hey, you had to wear that so you wouldn't be stoned as a whore," he grinned back at her, glad she could now make light of a situation that had almost cost her her life, a situation that he still remembered, with chills, carrying her to the gate in his arms, hoping she would be alright.

He hadn't realized it then, but it was his love for her that gave him the strength to fight that man, a man she had pointed out later was much larger and stronger than even her, and had given him the strength to carry her, her big curvy cajun hips and all, as he ran back to the Stargate.

_I love you Adrienne, please don't think I'm angry with you..._

"Shug, It's not me we need to worry about getting stoned, just try to remember that," she chided him, cocking her head in the direction of the doorway, Vala's feet visible as she dashed around the house exploring every room.

"True," he responded, chuckling, and walked over to the desk, opening his pack.

It took most of the afternoon for the team to get settled and for Adrienne to figure out how to get everyone properly togaed. Vala was easy, she stood still and even seemed to like the outfit, despite how much of her it covered. Not surprisingly, Teal'c was able to do most if his himself, the bottom most layers much like a Jaffa ceremonial robe and Daniel took a little help, but it was Cameron that gave her the most trouble.

"How in the hell do they walk in this, this fabric must weigh fifty pounds!" Cam complained, loudly, lifting his arms to examine the folds and folds of white fabric Daniel's assistant was wrapping around him.

"About ten actually," Adrienne countered, "And it makes you look dignified."

"Where do you suggest I put my gun?" he asked.

"I don't really think guns are necessary," Daniel answered him, adjusting fabric over his own shoulder.

"Look Jackson, I know this is you and Addy's little area of expertise, but I read Julius Caesar in high school. I'm taking my gun," he stated as he walked away from Adrienne, disregarding completely whether or not she was finished, pulling up the toga to find a place to strap his holster onto his leg.

Shaking his head, Daniel gave up trying to argue, burying his face into the folder as he waited for their leader to be ready.

Dressed, finally, Adrienne glad for once the lateness could not be blamed on her, the team made their way out onto the street, torches being lit all around them as the sun began to sink into the horizon. Since the layout was so similar to Rome, Adrienne happily explained to them that they only needed to follow the main road toward the city and it would lead them straight to the city center which would take them right past the coliseum, positioned close to the forum.

She couldn't take her eyes off of it the entire walk, only half listening to Daniel ramble on about things she had read in the file herself, things her eidetic memory had already recorded, until he just walked ahead, letting her gaze around in wonder.

And then they were there, standing at the entrance of the magnificent stone structure and Adrienne paused, staring upward in awe.

"What's that?" Vala asked, coming to a halt beside her friend, looking up as well.

"That's the coliseum. It's like a big tournament house slash entertainment center. There are fights and performances, it's the cultural center of a Roman city. I went to the one on Earth in graduate school and I just..." she paused... "I never thought I would really experience one like this. One that is a part of someone's present and not their past."

"We should see if we can go inside," Vala suggested as the boys walked on, noting the excitement in Adrienne's eyes, an excitement she could understand. For every new discovery on Earth, lotions, foods, music that amazed Vala, there was always some rock that just got Adrienne all in a dither.

Just like Daniel.

That killed her still, especially now that she knew the truth, that Adrienne was in love with him, real love, pure love and she knew in her heart he felt the same. Amending her previous beliefs, this was the hardest thing she had ever done, not only stepping back but giving Adrienne her full support, giving her friend a chance at happiness she wasn't sure she'd ever find for herself.

Daniel deserved someone like Adrienne and the better Vala got to know the cajun woman, she could say beyond a doubt that Adrienne deserved the same.

"Maybe, if I get time," Adrienne replied softly, as she looked in his direction, trekking on ahead to the steps of the senate house.

"Oh, just bat your eyes at him, you know he'll say yes," Vala winked at her, teasing, watching her friend's expression. It was tearing her up inside, she knew, but she understood why Adrienne's was keeping it to herself, in fact, Adrienne wouldn't even discuss what happened last weekend at Sam's other than she drank too much and Daniel took her home, even holding her hair as she puked the next day.

Yeah, he had stayed the night and taken care of her the next day.

He loved her.

"Sure..." Adrienne shook her head and they continued on after the group. Led by Daniel, taking his role in this quite seriously, they were making their way up a large, white marble staircase to the senate house, an eerily accurate miniature of about a hundred different buildings in DC. In a strange way, it almost seemed like home, even more so now that Adrienne considered Washington D.C. to be her home.

Reaching the top of the grand staircase, Adrienne noted the open structure of the building, trailing behind her friends between giant marble columns into the foyer. There was no separate room for the meeting area, walking past a second smaller set of columns, Daniel led them straight into a debate, men in different states of dress and position, some sitting on stone benches, others standing and shouting and a few leaning against inner columns shouting themselves. Not all were wearing white togas in purple trim, in fact some were not wearing white togas at all and Adrienne assumed that these men must be representatives from the farming class.

It looked as if the senators were wrapping up their meeting and Adrienne could make out a few of them still arguing about shipping taxes on freight in and out of the city, and considering the request for the common tongue, she was almost caught off guard by the boisterous shouting in Latin. Both Cam and Vala glanced over at her, Daniel being completely wrapped up in his own thoughts, worrying Adrienne further, but before Adrienne could open her mouth to translate anything, the meeting was adjourned, the man at the podium wearing a deep purple toga slamming the gavel down and ending the unfinished debate on taxation. Placing her hand gently onto Vala's shoulder, Adrienne excused herself silently to join Daniel's side as Dominus came to greet them, seeming to appear out of thin air.

Daniel was right about one thing at least, the man was just plain creepy, that feeling of unease from earlier settling in her stomach.

"Dr. Jackson, we are pleased that your group found your accommodations and attire acceptable," he said, indicating with his hand that they were all wearing togas, Cameron shifting uncomfortably at the reminder.

"Yes, thank you again. Now, I know that we have the banquet to attend, but we are anxious to meet Caecalius- " Daniel started to speak but was interrupted by Dominus,

"Yes, yes, in due time. First, we have a feast. Come," he placed his hand on Daniel's back and indicated for the rest of the group to follow.

They entered the room adjacent to the senate meeting place, a much smaller space, similar to a church fellowship hall and saw that the feast had already begun without them. Trying to shoot a glance at Daniel, to no avail as he was speaking to Dominus most likely in an attempt to locate their leader, Adrienne added this to the list of strangeness forming in her head.

However, party started or not, the layout itself was as she expected, the room scattered with small white marble tables and deep red sofas centered around large amphora vases filled with wine and water. It was just as she had imagined and had shown students on countless slides in her lectures. She was just about to allow herself to get swept up in it all once more when she felt fingers lightly grasping her own, peeking over her shoulder to see that Dominus was gone, Daniel standing at her left holding her hand lightly, his thumb rubbing the inside of her palm.

"Where do you sit?" Cam asked, and Daniel realizing what he had done, released his grip on his assistant, turning quickly to face him.

"You don't," Daniel responded, "you recline."

"Where?" Cam indicated that there was no table of honor as they were accustomed to, earning a smile from Adrienne this time.

"Everywhere," she explained, slipping happily in her comfort zone of teaching, trying not to think about what Daniel had just done, the feel of his fingers on hers in such a different way, "You don't stay in one place. You mingle, lounge, pick food from some tables and grab other food off of serving dishes," she wanted to continue, the excitement of having an audience taking over, but she could see across the room already, that mysterious senator was waving Daniel over in his direction, interrupting her train of thought.

"Alright, let's try to be smart. Attempt to stay together, keep everything to small talk and try not to offend anyone," Daniel instructed, glaring at Vala with his last statement.

"Ok, ok," she answered, running her arm under Teal'c's, "Come on Muscles, show me a good time." Smiling, the Jaffa complied, leading her off toward a table of fruits.

"Keep an eye out," Daniel whispered to Adrienne lightly, and she felt fingers again, his fingers intertwined with hers.

What was going on with him? she couldn't help but think, however rather than returning the gentle gesture she gripped his palm tightly, pulling him close to her face.

"Indy, together does not mean you go off alone while the rest of the team stays in pairs," she fussed, worried, more about what he might do if he was in one of his moods, but he pulled away, shaking his head, peeping up to check on Caecalius.

"Ad, I need your eyes elsewhere; I need them on this crowd. Feel out what's going on, please?" She nodded, grabbing his bicep one final time, giving him one final squeeze, before watching him turn and head for the direction of the senator.

"Well, Colonel, looks like you're my date," Adrienne quipped at her remaining teammate.

"With pleasure Doctor," Cam responded offering her his arm, leading her in the opposite direction of their friends.

As Adrienne and Cam made their way from lectus to lectus, the cajun grew more and more disappointed at how little information she was able to glean. Everyone they spoke too, all members of the Lucentum upper class, were more interested in their battle stories than talking about their cities or way of life. Cameron was happy to oblige, regaling them with tales of the final battle with the Goa'uld, the execution of Ba'al, the defeat of the Ori and a long list of stories of events occurring long before Adrienne's involvement with the SGC.

Adrienne simply sat in silence, not only because she hadn't been around for those events but in the hopes that if Cameron would keep quiet for just a second she could ask one of the questions burning inside of her, questions about their lifestyle, government structure, or most importantly, their coliseum. She never got the change however, giving up and just sitting back, letting the colonel talk.

After about the fourth group, Adrienne noticed Daniel sitting with one of the quiet senators, Magnus she thought his name was, and decided to make her way over to him. Neither man was talking, which for Daniel was quite strange, she noticed as she came up behind him, placing her hand on his shoulder. His hand reached hers before his eyes peeked back to meet her gaze, watching the togaed man in front of him for a moment longer before glancing up at her.

"Ad, where's Cam?" Daniel asked, scanning the room for trouble. Worried, like always, but other than the fact the people here seemed completely enamored by the team, the party wasn't going that strangely, so Adrienne just smiled, climbing onto the lectus with him. She wrapped her arm around his waist to hold herself up, thinking nothing of the gesture until it was done, but dismissing her worry quickly when he didn't flinch at the touch. It felt good to be close to him, here, in her academic paradise; it was like a dream.

"I never thought it possible, but I've finally found someone that can out talk you," she teased, pointing her head over from where she had come. In her short absence a crowd had formed around Cameron and he didn't seem to even notice she left, still talking away, dramatic hand gestures and all. Daniel laughed lightly, looking back at Adrienne as she rolled her eyes. At that moment, as if he had just noticed Adrienne's presence, Magnus stood and left suddenly, without acknowledging the two of them.

"Do you still have that feeling?" Daniel asked Adrienne once the man was out of range.

"A little, maybe, and I haven't been able to get in a word edgewise. All they want to hear are war stories," Adrienne answered.

"I know, the whole damn situation is odd. I've spent my entire night talking about Jack and Teal'c," Daniel said a smirk of annoyance on his face. It wasn't that he minded talking about his friends, but after spending all week in the lab, pouring over various ancient texts, Asgard mentions of the planet and anything they could get their hands on, a classic Jack O'Neill shoot out wasn't exactly how he'd planned to spend the mission.

"Well, in early Rome, the warriors of the legions became the first leaders and senators. Maybe they haven't evolved past that yet?" Adrienne suggested and Daniel shrugged, instinctively reaching behind himself to hold her closer to him on the small couch.

"Maybe so, but what gets me the most is that I still haven't met Caecalius," he whispered quietly, not wanting to arouse suspicions.

"Really?" That struck Adrienne as odd, odder more so than the fact he was quite literally holding her as they sat here. Focus, Addy, focus, she ordered herself, wondering exactly where Dominus had led him off to earlier, after all, the video the MALP had recorded had been from a well-dressed man named Caecalius who claimed to be some sort of leader in the senate.

He was the man they were sent to meet.

Adrienne reached across Daniel, grabbed a cluster of grapes, returning to a position of leaning on him since the lectus was so small and he was right to pull her closer, she hadn't even noticed that she was slipping off.

There you go Ad, jumping to conclusions when the man just doesn't want you to fall on your ass.

Shaking her head she popped a grape into her mouth, the flavor exploding on her tongue, easily the best tasting piece of fruit she had eaten in her life. Lying there, clad in Roman garb, cuddled against the love of her life, Adrienne could have been content forever, until the fantasy was shattered as Dominus interrupted their meal.

"Are you not enjoying the party? Your comrades are regaling us with their tales of heroism and boldness," Dominus asked, reclining himself on the empty couch in front of them.

"No, we are, Adrienne and I were just talking about how similar your culture is to one from our home world. In fact, Adrienne is a bit of an expert in the field, in particular she had a great interest in gladiators if this is a custom our worlds share, and would love to ask you some questions about your city here and your way of life" Daniel answered.

"Interesting doctor, very interesting," Dominus blew off the request as easy as he would blow off an eyelash. However, he did zero in on one piece of information, his expression clearly changing from one of boredom to one of excitement at the mention of the word gladiators, "Dr. Jackson, what does Dr. Rowan know of the munera exactly? "

Adrienne squeezed Daniel's leg so that Dominus couldn't see, hoping that he would catch how odd a question that was, why was he so interested in her opinion of gladiators, in such a way that his mood would change, and why wasn't he talking to her when she was sitting right there?

"Senator, we both are historians of our world. We study the nature of people and the past so that we may learn from our mistakes and best understand other cultures. We are not warriors nor are we fighters, we're academics," Daniel answered, hoping to bring the focus of this mission back to knowledge, which was what he had been promised in the first contact message. This had turned into something entirely different it seemed, the focus quickly becoming violence, Daniel's least favorite topic.

"Sad, very sad. Here in Lucentum, we value academia as much as valor, and do not separate the two. Caecalius will be interested in knowing this," Dominus countered, that excitement from just mere moments ago gone in an instant, carefully sipping his wine before leaning back onto his elbow. At the mention of the name, it was Daniel's face that perked up, sitting forward and pulling away from Adrienne.

"So, are we to meet him now?" he tried not to convey emotion in his voice, but was relieved that this game was finally over and he could get down to business. Dominus smiled and reached for a chunk of bread.

"Yes, that is why I have come to get you and your lovely assistant here. Caecalius has invited you and Dr. Rowan to spend the night in his home tonight, which I can assure you is quite an honor," Dominus stood as he spoke, stuffing the bread into his mouth, Adrienne trying not to grimace at the sounds he made as he chewed and talked.

"Senator, we'll need to confer with our friends; our team likes to stay together when we work, I'm sure you understand," Adrienne offered, reaching to grab Daniel's hand in fear. As before, he carefully intertwined their fingers, squeezing her palm in an attempt to comfort her.

"Of course," Dominus continued, "but they have already been informed," he motioned in the direction of Cam who looked up at the two of them, waved and gave a thumbs up. Puzzled, Daniel glanced over at Adrienne and back at Dominus.

"Alright, I'm still not sure if we will stay the night, but I'm looking forward to finally meeting Caecalius," Daniel answered, sitting up but holding Adrienne lightly, protectively, giving her shivers as he gently squeezed her side.

"As is he Dr. Jackson. As is he."

Vala quickly grew bored with the party. At first, everyone wanted to hear the stories of her adventures with the team and since Teal'c wasn't exactly the most talkative person, Vala had the privilege of playing storyteller much to her delight. However, after repeating the same stories countless times, even she grew tired of talking and began to make excuses or avoid the more crowded tables.

She spotted Cameron across the room, a throng of people gathered around him; apparently he wasn't sick of talking just yet, however, she did note that Cameron was alone.

Adrienne was nowhere to be seen.

Neither was Daniel and her first thought made her smile evilly. Maybe Adrienne had finally listened to her, after all, everyone knows that alcohol is the serum of truth and Adrienne was certainly doing a lot of talking during girl's night last week. So much so that Sam had cut her off, but not before Adrienne had let the cat out of the bag. Vala had been hounding her ever since, certain that Daniel felt the same and hoping, that in this drab boring atmosphere that Adrienne seemed to find so enticing, she had finally gotten the courage to pull him aside and at least talk to him, or, even better, see what he was wearing under that toga.

Adrienne needed to get on that, pronto.

Yet, despite her excitement for her friend, she did decide to use the archaeological assistant's absence as an excuse for her and Teal'c to break from the formation of lecti on which they were resting and make their way over to Cameron.

"And see, the bastard thought he was really clever and he had made so many clones of himself that we had no idea which one was real - hey guys, I was just telling them about our old buddy Ba'al and all of his craziness," Cam said as he waved them over. Vala rolled her eyes and let Cameron finish, leading right up to the big execution and the crowd erupted on cue, applauding and cheering loudly.

Barf, she thought, don't give him any more encouragement.

The noise subsided, changed rather, the praise quickly turning into begging him for another tale when Vala reached forward, having heard enough, grabbing his arm and pulling him aside.

"Let's get out of here. I'm sick of being the center of attention," she whispered to him.

"You? No way, those are words I never thought I'd hear come from you." Cameron laughed, taking his arm back and shaking his head.

"CameronMitchell," Teal'c spoke up, "these people glorify war and do not understand the permanence of death. They disturb me."

"Alright T, alright. We can go," Cameron relented, adjusting his toga, secretly thankful to be able to leave and take the damn thing off, heading for the exit as requested.

"Cam!? What about Daniel and Addy? We can't leave them." Vala implored, looking around the room for the rest of the group. Unless they're fucking, she thought, in which case, they needed to be left alone.

It might take those two a while to figure out how everything works.

"Them? Lucky stiffs, that senator, Fortis or something, he came by and apparently since they're considered the big wigs of the group and we're just the lowly grunts they get to go to a swankier party," Cam rolled his eyes, the movement matching the movement in his stomach, since other than the fruit and a few pieces of bread he really hadn't eaten that much. Fish eyes were just something he didn't find appetizing.

"So, are they going to meet us back at the guest house?" Vala clarified, wanting to make sure that she wasn't going to leave two of her best friends behind, literally light years from the place they all called home.

"Yeah, that's what Fortis said, so let's get out of here," Cameron pushed this time, his hasty hands already unraveling Adrienne's handwork as he stepped out into the torch lit night. Sighing, Vala followed, hoping that if there were any dirty details that Adrienne was up to sharing them when she got back.

If you can't live it yourself, you might as well live vicariously, right?

At first Vala was happy to have the room to herself, especially since the last time she and Adrienne had to share a bed Adrienne kept elbowing her insisting that she snored. She didn't snore; she was fairly certain she would know if she snored. However as the night dragged on and Vala saw the moons pass across her window, green and eerie, she grew even more concerned. They should have returned by now, hopeful hot sex or not, not even Daniel could be that good...or could he?

Worried, and trying not to think about what the two of them might be doing to one another, Vala threw back the blanket and made her way across the entrance way, quietly pulling back the curtain and peering into the opposite room. It really was small with the three of them cramped in there, were all three of them actually there.

Cam was lying silently, sleeping on the bed closest to the doorway, Teal'c's closer to the wall but the bed in the middle, Daniel's, was empty. She had a slight hope she would find both Daniel and Adrienne tucked in there together, but that wasn't the case, the two geeks were nowhere to be seen. Anxiety flooding over her, Vala crept quietly over to Cameron, reaching out for his shoulder.

"Cam, Cam, wake up," she shook him lightly and he stirred but before she knew it there was a Zat gun shoved swiftly into her face.

"Dammit Vala, don't do that!" Cam returned the gun to his side, "You scared the hell out of me. What are you doing in here?"

"They're not here yet," Vala stated and pointed at Daniel's bed, "See. Empty."

Cam rolled over, ignoring her, "Well good for Jackson; he needs to get laid," he answered, laughing.

"Cameron, this is SERIOUS. Addy's not back either," Vala insisted.

"My point exactly," Cam didn't turn back over.

"I think we should go look for them," Vala said, a bit louder this time so Teal'c could hear, standing and crossing her arms. Cameron rolled back over, cutting his eyes at her unamused.

"Look, Vala, maybe this party was so posh that it had its own apartments. Togas or not, we all have radios and mine has been silent. Go back to bed and we'll head down there in the morning. I'm sure we'll find them both tomorrow with massive hangovers and embarrassed looks on their faces, " Cam ended the discussion with one final glare, rolling back over onto his side. He had no intention of getting up, that was obvious enough to her.

"Fine..." Vala answered, unhappy but not desiring to go traipsing around Rome herself, in the dark, storming across the hall and throwing herself back onto the bed. She tried willing herself to sleep but just tossed and turned before standing from bed again, throwing the blanket aside in frustration.

Scared and worried, she walked over to the boy's room and crawled into Daniel's empty bed.

She awoke not only to the sun the next morning, but to Teal'c looking down at her.

"Is something the matter Vala Mal Doran?" he inquired, "You are not in your bed."

"No, Teal'c," sitting up quickly when she remembered, "Did they come back?"

"Nope," Cam answered for him, arrogantly, as he came strolling into the room. "But they stayed at the palace thingy just like I said they did."

Vala stood from the bed, adjusting her clothes, looking to their leader for answers.

"And how do you know that?" she inquired confused.

"Because," Cam continued as he stuffed something into his mouth, "the guys that brought breakfast told me." He showed her a loaf of bread, making her stomach react before he mouth could, and making Teal'c leave the room immediately in search of food.

"And..." Cameron continued, "apparently our little whiz kids did so well that they've called for a games to be held today. Delivery boy sounded like it was pretty darn impressive too, since it usually takes a lot longer to throw something together at the Coliseum."

Vala paused for a moment, remembering the conversation she had with Adrienne the night before. Since their visit was only supposed to be for three days, it was entirely possible that Adrienne had charmed them into a special event to get her in the coliseum. She was good at things like this, she played the sweet card like Vala played the sex one, which honestly Vala found quite impressive.

"Ok, that sounds like something Addy could pull off," Vala relented, reaching out to take the bread from Cameron, " Any coffee?"

"Honey, this is ancient Rome. There's a flask of goat milk in the big room," Cam answered, pointing behind himself. Making a face, and a mental note to root through Addy's bag for those chocolate coffee beans her and Daniel were always munching, Vala headed out to the atrium in search of a beverage.

The games were to start when the sun was at its highest point, which Vala had learned was twelve noon Earth time. No one brought them any lunch since the boy this morning had told Cameron there would be food at the games. Luckily, Daniel had left his pack behind and Vala knew he always had a stash of powerbars so she ate one quickly and stuffed another into her pocket. Without Adrienne, there was no way she was getting that toga on again, so she switched out of the shorts she had slept in for her BDU pants, stepping out of her room and noting that both Teal'c and Cameron had chosen the same, each wearing their standard SGC uniform. Feeling a bit more normal, minus the absence of the two archaeologists, the three of them headed down Gran Via and to the Coliseum.

The closer they got to the massive stadium, the larger the crowds grew. People were pushing and shoving in the streets, or stopping to listen to small boys in tunics shout out into the crowd in Latin and English.

Ecce!

Look!

The Emperor Caecalius has declared a special games!

We offer Lions!

Gladiators!

A recreation of how our honored guests defeated the Gods!

"A re-creation of us? Sweet!" Cam declared.

"That must be why we were asked to recount the stories of our victories numerous times," Teal'c admitted.

"See, I knew I liked those people!" Cam slapped Teal'c on the back, continuing to push his way through the crowd.

They passed another young barker repeating the same message, this time however, with a different ending.

And that is NOT EVEN the MAIN EVENT!

Intrigued, Vala stopped and shouted up to him.

"Then what's the main event?"

He looked at her clothes, his eyes widening in recognition, knowing her as one of the 'honored guests'.

"It will be an event in your honor, in honor of all of you, and to demonstrate Lucentum's power to the people of Earth."

Before Vala could ask for any more details, the boy looked away, back out into the throng of people, his speech starting once more from the beginning. She started to reach for his thin leg, to tap it, get his attention, but she saw that Teal'c and Cameron hadn't stopped when she had, Teal'c's large figure towering over the crowd.

Swearing under her breath, she ran ahead, not wanting to be left behind in this strange place.

Finally, after being shoved, having her foot stepped on and her butt grabbed, she reached the large archways that served as the entrances to the arena. Waiting there for her were Cameron, Teal'c and that odd man Dominus who seemed to appear from nowhere.

A lot.

He was just a bit creepy.

"Vala, over here!" Cam signalled to her. Waving back in acknowledgment, she pushed past a few more people and was there in front of him, out of breath with a sore left foot.

"Get this!" he said excitedly, "Not only did Addy convince them to hold the games but we get to sit in the Emperor's box. That girl's got moves!"

"Where is Adrienne?" Vala asked, "Or Daniel for that matter?"

"They are the emperor's special guests; they will join us soon enough," Dominus answered and set forward to lead the way. The crowed seem to part for him, as though he was Moses parting the Red Sea of bodies.

This was a lot easier than getting here, Vala thought to herself, as she continued to lag behind the group.

SG-1, or at least part of it, made their way through the archway entrance and to a large flight of grey stone stairs. Despite it's antique structure the Coliseum seemed to be set up very similar to FedEX Field, where Jack had dragged them all last fall to watch some stupid football game that Vala still didn't understand. Cam had tried to explain it to her, but she had just shooed him away, grabbing some food from the table and reading one of those delightful vampires books Adrienne had bought her. In fact, when they reached the Emperor's box itself, Vala noted the similarities between the boxes as well, minus the throne of course.

She should tell Sam to get Jack a throne for Christmas, he'd like that.

His face friendly and ever so cordial, Dominus showed them to a series of seats situated on opposite sides of the throne, main chair, whatever it was called, Adrienne would have had some fancy name for it were she here. As they sat Vala noticed that there were no chairs for her absent friends, something else she found to be quite odd. Before she could turn to find Dominus and ask when they would be rejoining the group, he was gone again, replaced by a young serving boy with a bowl of olives. Frustrated, but starving, Vala grabbed a few and sat back quietly in her chair.

A loud, blaring, fanfare blasted Vala out of her daydream, one in which that lovely Mississippi werewolf was about to teach her all sorts a naughty things, and a legion of warriors was marched out onto the field. There again was Dominus, leading the pack, proclaiming the games in honor of the people of Earth and to serve as a demonstration of the might of the Lucentems. Cam and Teal'c applauded as everyone in the audience looked at them seeking their approval, Vala joining in as well as Cam elbowed her into participation.

For the first round, two chariots dashed out into the sandy arena, their drivers holding on for dear life with one hand while engaging the crowd with the other. The barker in the announcement box was shouting something about a battle between the Lucentems and the Barcinos, and not only did Vala not know who the Barcinos were, but was unable to hear the rest, if it was even in English, which it didn't seem to be.

If Adrienne were here, she would have just asked her, and that small worried feeling crept up inside of her again.

Where was Adrienne; she would never want to miss this.

Vala started to stand, intent on slipping away to find her crazy cajun friend when she heard a shout and out of the corner of her eye saw Cam rise to his feet, shouting and cheering. The two men below were engaged in some pretty rough battle, rough enough where even Teal'c was on the edge of his seat, Cam now standing at the side of the box, his hands resting on the stone knee wall.

No one seemed very excited any longer.

Eventually, and eventually was the best word for it, as the violent stabbing match seemed to drag on forever, one of the men was able to knock the other off of his chariot and he approached him, pointing a spear at his jaw. He paused and looked at the audience giving an exaggerated thumbs up and then a thumbs down as the crowd whooped and hollered, thumbs thrust into the air all over the arena.

"Damn! " Cameron yelled out, "This is JUST like the movie!" Teal'c nodded in agreement but Vala didn't care, she barely remembered those stupid movies the boys picked anyway, she was still scanning the crowd for her missing friends.

However, what started as a joyous scene of friendly competition started to change quickly, as the people began to chant, all thumbs now facing downward. Riled by the roar of the crowd, the victor pulled back to deliver the killing blow when a voice shouted from the barker's box and in an instant of climbing and scurrying, the young boy was on the podium again.

"The Emperor Caecalius has agreed to spare this man's life for his continuing honor and courage," he shouted loudly, in English, glancing back over his shoulder as if he were clarifying what he was to be announcing one last time. The audience booed and threw things, figs, bread and something that looked like human excrement flung out into the main competition area, while the winner helped the loser rise to his feet and collect his chariot.

"You think they would have killed him?" Vala asked, wishing for once that she had watched some of Addy's stupid boring movies so she would have a better understanding of what was going on.

"Maybe," Cameron admitted, "we don't know these people."

Her question was answered shortly as the second act began, one that was significantly more gruesome. This time, three armed gladiators, that is what Adrienne had called them as Vala was starting to vaguely remember a movie with a hot guy named Maximus or something like that, entered the area, marching straight for the center, standing in a semi-circular formation, all facing what appeared to be a large piece of wood laying on the ground. His head shaking furiously, Cam looked over at her, trying to explain, but no words came from his mouth and his waving hands just weren't doing anything to help.

"No freakin' way!" Cam finally spat out, dashing to the knee wall for a second time just as a huge lion came charging through the wood, shattering it to pieces, revealing a hidden hole in the arena floor. The animal paused for just a moment, roaring viciously, a desperate hungry roar that chilled Vala to the core despite the vast distance between them. It shook its head and charged, lunging for the man closet to him, ripping his throat out.

"Dear God!" Vala shouted and leapt up, Teal'c standing as well. Instantly, the other two men were on the beast, stabbing and cutting the poor starving animal to pieces and Vala turned her head away so she wouldn't vomit, the gore was too much, much more than she could handle. Teal'c wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the massacre below, himself sorry for the poor suffering creature dying in agony on the earth.

There was a massive cheer, the people in the stands around the box screaming in excitement, so she turned back carefully to face the crowd, still holding onto Teal'c as she peered over her shoulder. She could have watched, intently, every gory movie Adrienne could possibly own but nothing would have prepared her for the sheer carnage presented here for the crowd's amusement. One man was left standing, just one, the second man, the one who had retained his throat, had apparently lost an arm and the poor lion had finally met his end through decapitation. It was too much and Vala started to heave again; this wasn't violence like she was used to, violence in battle, this was violence for sport, violence meant to be as horrible as possible. Then, as quickly as it started, men came rushing out to clear up the mess, the audience settling as if nothing had happened.

The third act was supposed to be a recreation of their defeat of the Gould, she got that much from the barker's announcement. Since they could not bring in snow, ice or spaceships for that matter, chariots rode around with arrows used in place of Zat guns and water funneled onto the field to make the entire area a slick as glass. Unlike the first round no one was pardoned death, but it was significantly less gruesome than the second demonstration and only after an acceptable, to whom Vala was not sure as the young man kept glancing over his shoulder into a darkened box, number of men dead the barker declared "Earth" the winners. Eerily, as if on cue, the entire assembly directed their gaze at their booth for approval, Cam leaping to his feet and cheering loudly, encouraging her and Teal'c to do the same.

"What are you doing?" Vala hissed at him, "At least 5 people DIED down there!?"

"Look," Cameron pointed out through a thin forced grin, "If they're killing people for fun what in the hell do you think they will do to us if we piss them off?" Quickly, Vala stood and cheered, her concern for Daniel and Adrienne growing.

The barker took the podium once more and announced the final act of the games, his manner different and he held a scrolled parchment in his hands, removing a purple ribbon from around it and unrolling it carefully. Shaking, the poor boy looked terrified, Vala could only imagine why, and cleared his throat to begin to read but before he could utter one syllable a hush fell over the crowd.

A tall figure in a dark purple toga entered the field, accompanied by an entourage to equal the Queen of England. Walking to the dead center, his robe dragging through blood covered sand, he came to a halt and held up a hand, sending the crowd into hysterics. Shaking uncontrollably, his eyes darting around himself as if he had done something wrong, the barker spoke again, his gaze in the direction of the man.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you, the illustrious emperor of Lucentum, Caecalius Eratus, " the boy announced proudly and the crowd went absolutely berserk. Turning to face the box, face them, Vala saw that he was a thin man, with wispy white hair and a sharp jaw, accented by deep dark eyes. He took a slow, deliberate breath, before opening his mouth and in a low booming voice, Emperor Caecalius turned to address his people.

"Citizens of Lucentum. We have had many blessings on our people during my reign. We have finally defeated the Barcinos..."

More screaming...

"The Florentia"

The crowd lit up again...

"And the Argenti."

The crowd began to stomp their feet.

"And we did all of this with the blessing of the GODS!"

The noise at this proclamation was unbearable, people screaming, stomping and thumping. It was a sound vacuum trapping Vala, encasing her, making her head throb.

The emperor raised his hand and as suddenly as it started, the crowd dropped to silence and Vala felt a hand on her arm and breath at her ear.

"I don't like where this is going..." the colonel whispered to his teammate and she cut her eyes over in silent agreement.

"But then, we learned that the Gods were weak."

Silence be gone, the people started shouting obscenities, in Latin, in English, things Vala knew because Adrienne had taught her so many foul words in so many languages...dammit where are you Addy? her thoughts raced through her head, where are you and Daniel, why aren't you here?

"And were able to be defeated by the brave warriors of Earth and Chulak," he announced and swept his hand to the box, the crowd now cheering SG-1.

Cameron sheepishly waved, not knowing what else to do.

"Who have come here seeking friendship and an alliance. We welcome this alliance," the emperor continued and the crowd went nuts yet again, to Vala's relief.

Maybe not exactly the kind of friends we want, but better than being lion food...

"However, not all of the people of Earth are as brave and as strong as the Lucentum. They do not teach their people to fight, their people have to choose to fight. This does not make a people strong. It makes them weak," Caecalius began to lecture and pace around the arena, the crowd murmuring their agreement.

"So, before we are to enter into such an alliance with the people of Earth, we need to demonstrate to them what power is. What bravery is. Who their leaders and heroes should be," he declared, motioning behind himself and two large gladiators, the ones from the first act came out, dragging a man between them, tossing him to the ground. It took them backing up and leaving the arena for Vala to realize who had been thrown at the emperor's feet.

"Daniel!" Vala began to scream hysterically, leaning over the edge of the box, staring down at her friend in a torn tunic, the outer toga gone, and what was left stained with dirt and blood. He was conscious, crawling to his knees slowly and she wanted to scream again when Cam grabbed her forcefully, clamping his hand over her mouth as guards entered the box behind them, lining up and blocking the exit.

"This," the emperor continued, "this is the leader they sent. A weak man. A man of letters and not the sword. THIS is the leadership we cannot accept."

Vala bit down on Cam's hand and he let go asking her the question that was on his mind now, "Where's Addy?"

"What is worse," the emperor was continuing, "is that the woman that assists him, the woman who would be second in command, SHE is a warrior. On this planet, where one must CHOOSE to fight, the women are choosing to fight while the men read."

The crowd erupted into laughter at the statement and the man let them roar and rage before raising his hand to silence them again.

"To prove this to you all and to demonstrate to the people of Earth the errors of your value system, our final contest today will be a fight to the death," he shouted into the air.

The crowd roared and Vala made a dash for the guards intending break free, to get down there when Teal'c grabbed her by the arm, jerking her towards him. While Vala was screaming and thrashing, Teal'c holding her in place, Cam scanned the soldiers, looking for an exit, any way out. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Dominus stepped between the guards.

"We will let you go, after this contest is decided. You will take what you have learned of Lucentum back to your people and send back a more suitable liaison," he explained, gazing out into the tournament area.

A horn sounded and everyone cleared the arena, except for Daniel, who Vala could tell was not only beaten but appeared to be drugged as well. Her heart was racing as she looked all around her, desperate to find some way to save him.

And where was Addy?

She choked back tears thinking what they might have already done to Adrienne, her friend, her teammate. A second horn sounded and a door on the side of the arena opened, a figure appearing in the darkness. The figure waited for a moment, as if waiting for a command before finally stepping out into the light.

"Addy!" Cam shouted and Vala could see that the figure was Adrienne, clad in full Gladiator armor, armed with a spear and a broadsword. Vala could feel her stomach turn again.

What in the hell had they done to her?

Like some bad Roman epic film, Adrienne pranced around the center ring, soliciting cheers from the crowd, pushing her spear clad fist into the air.

"Why is she doing that?" Vala asked in disbelief, looking over at Cam and Teal'c.

"It appears that AdrienneRowan has been brainwashed to think she is a Roman gladiator," Teal'c answered.

"Christ," Cam lamented, "she can kick Jackson's ass when he's actually trying to defend himself..."

Hearing the noise of the crowd, Vala looked away from Cameron, seeing Daniel come to his feet, slowly, groggily, reaching for a support that was not there. The crowd must have shouted something in Latin to Adrienne, because she turned to face him and charged like a wild animal, sword and spear in the air ready to attack. Fortunately, he had a sword himself, it must have been tossed onto the ground beside him and he got it up just in time. They heard the clang from the box, as loud as if it were right there not well over fifty yards away, but the blow was too strong for Daniel in this condition, and he fell to his knees again, dropping his weapon.

Smiling, shouting, Adrienne walked around him, looking back at the crowd for approval and got the response she was looking for; her audience raged like animals, cheering her, screaming strange things that Vala couldn't translate. Her heart raced as she watched the cajun approach Daniel, grabbing him by the tunic he was wearing and dragging him to his feet.

"He won't fight her," Vala said, "he won't do anything to hurt her."

"No," Cam agreed, "and if he thinks that we'll get to leave safely as long as one of them dies, he'll let her kill him." Vala went to speak, to agree, she knew Daniel would die for Adrienne without question, safety of the team at sake or not, but she was interrupted by the raging of the crowd once more. There stood Daniel holding his arm in his hand, blood seeping from the sides while Adrienne danced behind him, speaking to her fans. She'd cut him, his bicep bleeding fiercely as he gazed at her pitifully, the woman Vala knew he loved intent on killing him.

"We can't just sit here and watch him die," Vala protested, Teal'c quietly surveying the area around him as Cameron was shaking his head.

"Look, we've got to get to them, and get out of here. I can make it to the gate and get help if you guys can cause a distraction," Cam muttered, his eyes checking to make sure the guards didn't hear, and for once, Vala was secretly happy that he ran so much. The audience roared again and Vala looked up, noting that Adrienne had tossed her sword aside literally punching at Daniel like they did during training.

He seemed to be able to block most of her attacks, the two did train together often now, but about every third or fourth punch she would land a good one, on his chin, at his stomach. Taking a heavy blow to the temple, he hit the ground again, his face smacking the sand, bloody dust billowing around his cheeks.

"Occide... Occide...Occide..." the Lucentums began to chant, a single word this time, organized, frenzied.

"What does that mean?" Vala asked as Adrienne danced around the arena basking in their cheers.

"ValaMalDoran, this language they speak seems similar to ancient. In ancient it means 'kill," Teal'c informed her.

"No!" Vala screamed out.

She couldn't stand here and let this happen.

Not only could she not lose Daniel, but Adrienne, she couldn't let Adrienne...

Without thinking, Vala leapt over the knee wall of the box and landed hard on the stone seats in front of it. Picking herself up as fast as she could, she ran down the seats, level by level screaming like a banshee in an attempt to be heard over the chants of the audience, still wildly screaming kill in that awkward ancient language. She tripped and fell on some loose stones of a broken step, but jumped up again quickly, seeing the wall to the arena in her sights. Guards were coming toward her, but she was too fast, making it to the last wall moments before the large men reached her, bracing herself with her right hand, launching her body into the arena. Landing painfully on her ankle, so much so she felt the pain soar up her calf, she crawled herself to a standing position, dashing over to Daniel and throwing herself on top of him.

The crowed must have alerted Adrienne, because she turned to face Vala and Daniel, grabbing a spear and walking purposely over to them.

"Vala?" she heard Daniel moan under her in a way she had never wanted.

At least he was still somewhat conscious.

Wrapping her arms protectively around him, she looked up to Adrienne, shaking her head frantically.

"Addy, listen to me. You have to listen to me. They've done something to you." she pleaded.

"Agite" Adrienne spat.

"Addy, you don't know what you are doing, please," Vala begged.

"Agite" Adrienne repeated and moved closer, kicking Vala's hurt leg. She winced in pain, that shooting sensation moving up her leg once more.

"Adrienne please, listen to me. This is NOT real. You are NOT a gladiator. This is DANIEL here, DANIEL. They want you to kill Daniel!" Vala was crying by the last sentence, trying to think of anything that could get through to her friend, to snap her out of it, make her stop.

"Agite!" Adrienne shouted, ripping Vala off of Daniel and throwing her violently aside, forcing Vala to land awkwardly on top of her ankle. The crowd was in a frenzy, chanting 'Occide, Occide' as Vala grabbed her leg, the pain so intense she could barely stand it.

She was sure it was broken now.

Dragging herself back over to Adrienne, she caught sight of the sword laying unattended on the ground and grabbed it quickly, slamming her friend in the back of the knee with the side of the blade. Adrienne fell down onto all fours in the sand turning to face Vala in a rage, spear in the air when Vala saw Daniel grab the spear from her hand and pull her toward the ground on top of him. Redirecting her attention to Daniel, Adrienne punched him in the face, knocking him semi-conscious, blood spraying from the corner of his mouth. The cheers grew louder as Adrienne reached to her side, producing a knife, which she held over her head, waving it to her audience, eliciting roars of approval from all around.

"No Addy..." Vala wailed, "You can't kill Daniel. Please don't," she begged, racking her brain, the pain in her leg so great, it was paralyzing, what could she do, what could she say?

"Adrienne you LOVE him," Vala shouted the only thing she could think of, the thing that destroyed her the most inside, the words she had not allowed to cross her lips since she had heard them cross Adrienne's.

The knife stopped in mid-air.

Vala's breath quickened, did she really stop?

Did she stop because of her words?

Because she loved him?

Taking the opportunity, Vala just kept talking, hoping her hunch was correct.

"Adrienne, listen to me, do you remember, last weekend at Sam's. Do you remember what you said? What you told us?" Vala asked frantically and Adrienne didn't move but she didn't put down the knife either so Vala continued, rambling as she crawled closer.

"Addy, you said you loved him. That you loved Daniel more than you had ever loved anyone else before in your entire life. You cried over him for crying out loud, and I didn't even know you knew how to cry. You LOVE him Addy, and he loves you, I know he does. You can't kill him..." Vala explained, finally letting her own tears flow freely.

Head falling back, Adrienne dropped the knife to the ground, Vala scrambling on all fours to retrieve it, just in time to look up and meet her gaze.

"Vala?" Adrienne asked, looking like she had just awoken from a dream.

"Yeah Addy it's me," she answered, stabbing the knife into the ground, out of the woman's reach.

Before Adrienne could grasp what was going on, a beam of light shone down into the arena.

Adrienne awoke cold, to a light, not one of sunshine and warmth but Dr. Carson Becket shining a light in her face.

"Well there's my girl, back from the great unknown," he greeted her in his warm scottish accent.

"Dr. Beckett, what is going on?" she asked, rubbing her face, trying to sit up and wincing in pain.

"Lass, you've taken a beating. They drugged you pretty good and you didn't do your body any favors with that crazy fight of yours," he answered. At his words, flashes of memory started to come back to Adrienne, a dinner, a smaller party, that sweet wine...but the last thing she remembered was...

"Daniel?" she pleaded, "Where's Daniel?"

"He's fine, little banged up, but he'll be ok. He's in ship's quarters resting; I let him out yesterday," Carson answered, smiling. He knew Adrienne's first question would be about Daniel's well-being; those two were thick as thieves and she seemed relieved by the response, for a moment, until her expression changed and she cocked her head.

"Yesterday? How long have I been out?" she questioned, wondering even more what they had done to her.

What had been in that wine?

He smiled, "A few days give or take. We're just making a slow orbit around Earth because Dr. Lam didn't want to move you guys around too much until everything was ok. Now, rest up, I'll check on you later," he answered and stepped away from her bedside, pausing and turning again, holding up his finger.

"He did come by though, checking on you, well, he's pretty much been right here since he was released, but I made him leave and get some sleep. He left you a note on the table over there, but you relax for a while, before you call him, alright?" he added, pointing to a piece of paper on the bedside table. Glancing to her side she saw the note, folded and tucked under a cup of water. She reached for it, grimacing as she did, unfolding in gently in her hands.

_See what I mean about not drinking outside of your apartment. Call me if you ever wake up. I'll sneak in coffee. _

Not exactly what she had hoped for, but at least he'd stayed. Deciding to listen to Carson, as least for a little while, Adrienne lay her head sideways on the pillow, her head and body aching.

"You broke my ankle bitch," a voice said behind her and Adrienne turned to see Vala coming around the corner on crutches.

"Sorry, I wasn't myself," Adrienne apologized sadly.

"That was obvious," she quipped, "you actually let Daniel get a few hits in."

Adrienne chuckled, the throb in her cheek confirming that she had taken at least one good blow to the head.

She'd have to give him a hard time about that later.

"Thanks Vala, for everything. You saved all of us," Adrienne said, smiling at her equally broken comrade. Shaking her head, Vala crutched her way over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"No, I just prevented you from killing Daniel. Your boyfriend saved us. Apparently, he was able to get back to the MALP during the Emperor's private party and send the distress signal. It gave the Odyssey plenty of time to arrive," she explained.

Adrienne vaguely remembered Daniel asking a beautiful woman to show him around the city because it had made her sick with jealously, made her drink more wine and eat those divine sweets, making her poison herself further. She felt stupid now, thinking he was trying to woo Lucentem women when it was all a ploy; he knew something was wrong.

"That man's too smart for his own good," Adrienne joked, now doubly relieved.

"Thank goodness," Vala agreed, standing from the bed and adjusting her crutches. "Well, I was just coming down to see if you were dead, so since you're not, I'm outta here. You get some sleep; they said that was some serious shit they gave you," she ordered and started to make her way to the door.

"Vala?" Adrienne called out, making her friend pause, peering over her shoulder.

"Rest Addy, I know that is something you don't normally do..." but Adrienne interrupted her, shaking her throbbing head.

"Did he hear?" she asked, her voice growing quiet.

"Hear what?" Vala responded.

"What you said?" Adrienne looked at Vala with fear in her eyes. She didn't remember past the wine, the sweets, the cheeses, she didn't remember anything other than holding a knife over her head, pointed at Daniel, Vala screaming behind her the words. The words she had only admitted to herself a few short weeks ago, the words she had said to Sam and Vala in a drunk confession, the words she could never say to the one person to whom they were intended. Vala shook her head kindly, a small smile on her face.

"I don't think so. He was pretty out of it for a while there," she replied.

"Ok," Adrienne answered softly, not knowing what else to say.

"No worries, your secret is safe with me," Vala smiled at her gently, her heart dying. It was so unfair, all of it, why couldn't they just tell one another, why wasn't he here, why did two people that she cared so much about have to be caught in an impossible situation? The woman looking at her was so very much in love, and the man she had checked on earlier in his quarters was much the same. It wasn't fair, not only would they never be able to tell one another how they really felt, some stupid shit that Sam explained to her after Adrienne had left, but that Vala was certain she would never have that. I guess we can just be miserable together, she thought, as Adrienne smiled back. Trying not to think about it further, Vala turned and left the infirmary, headed to get something to eat.

Adrienne rolled her head over again to sleep, opening and reading the note one more time.

"I kinda wished he had," she cried softly, to no one but herself, clutching the paper in her hands.


	27. Chapter 26 - Weakness

"Why are you wearing that?" Daniel inquired curiously as Adrienne entered the lab, late, but that wasn't even really what he was noticing. From his desk, peering at her over his glasses, he tried to figure out why in the world she was traipsing in here this morning wearing yoga pants instead of BDU's, a small orange tank top and her black belt, of all things, tied around her waist.

"Don't start with me this morning Indy; I'm not in the mood," his assistant spat, setting her coffee and backpack onto her desktop before sliding ever so slowly in the chair. Moving as if she were in pain, Daniel noted that she was holding onto her back, she lowered herself downward in a careful and deliberate slow motion.

"I'm not starting anything. I was just wondering why you felt the need to wear proof that you can kick my ass," Daniel retorted, pointing to her most prized possession, well second to her car, getting a scowl in return.

"It's holding the ice pack in place and don't even start that with me either, don't, I'm not going to go and hear it from Dr. Lam. I'm not in the mood for one of her lectures either," Adrienne sneered as she opened her laptop. Considering it has been quite some time since Adrienne had snapped at him, Daniel changed his tone from playful to concerned, still wondering what was going on with her this morning.

"Am I allowed to ask what happened?" he continued carefully.

"No," she answered, cheeks flushing, not with anger but embarrassment.

So it was that kind of mood, she had done something stupid.

_Ok Daniel, proceed with caution._

"Fine, I'm sorry that I care," he smiled, sardonically, knowing she couldn't keep anything from him and would spill what happened any second.

In fact, he could almost count it down...

_Three...two...one..._

"Teal'c, ok, he got a good one in on me last night when we were fighting. I should have seen it coming, he's trained me better than that, hell I know better than that," she answered, displeasure all over her face as she focused on the screen in front of her keying in her password. Daniel laughed before he could stop himself, looking up at her just in time to see a pencil flying in his direction, ducking before it made contact. When he sat back up she was smiling at him, the reaction he had hoped for in the first place.

True, he was worried, of course he would be worried, but she had noticed, noticed his hovering. He didn't mean to, but with everything that had happened lately he just felt bad that she seemed to be receiving the brunt of the madness. Everyone had a limit, even the seemingly unstoppable Adrienne, and he was afraid, more than anything else that he would push her to that limit and she would disappear from his life forever.

"You're a bad friend. Aren't you supposed to be over here, trying to comfort me or something?" she joked, part of her wanting him to do just that, the other part knowing if he did he wouldn't be the man she loved.

She kind of liked how he gave it right back to her.

"If I had to comfort you every time you managed to do something stupid to yourself trying to be 'fit'," he made the finger quotes on the word fit, "then we would never get anything accomplished around here." Her eyes widened, good response she thought, her hand heading for the desk drawer, a drawer Daniel knew well. He threw up his arm instinctively to block the arrow, but before she could respond with neon foam retaliation, Ronon Dex came strolling around the corner of the lab, walking right up to Adrienne, a smile plastered across his face.

Oddly enough, they seemed to be getting along well enough since Adrienne had decided not to go out on a second date with him, which, of course, Daniel was glad for. Regardless, he still felt a pang of jealously every time the large Sateadan man entered the lab.

"Hey, did you see Teal'c this morning?" he asked, that grin spreading as he winked at her, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

"Not yet...why?" Adrienne responded, her hand still in her desk drawer as if she were waiting for a reason to draw her weapon and fire.

"Both eyes girl, you blackened them both," he praised, nodding his head in approval.

"Score!" she shouted, jumping up, forgetting herself and grabbed her back, wincing. Daniel shook his head and kept his mouth shut. He should have grown used to her competitive nature by now, but even after a year, he still learned something new about her every day.

This month's revelation, she wasn't just a black belt in American Karate; she used to fight in tournaments, big tournaments, for prizes, medals and trophies. He knew she was a better fighter during group training and she had talked about her training to him on numerous occasions, but for some reason she had left that little detail out. Why, he wasn't entirely sure, since she was all about the two of them being best friends and all, but since her, Vala, Teal'c, Ronon, Teyla and Sheppard had taken it to a whole new level.

"So, wait, does that rule the match a draw?" she sat back down asking Ronon, who was reaching out to help her.

"I dunno, Mitchell makes the rules. If it does, you fight Teyla next. If not, you're out this round," he replied and Adrienne nodded her head.

Glad she understands, Daniel thought, because I'm totally lost right now.

While he and Adrienne spent a considerable amount of time together, the one thing they did not do together was work out. She ran more than he did, swam more than he did, fought better than he did and he had no desire to give her any more reasons to harass him, so other than required group training, a gym was a place they would never be in at the same time.

"Anyway, I thought you were pretty kick ass in there. Just don't think I'm gonna go down that easy," Ronon continued, now punching her on the arm lightly. Ok, so maybe he hasn't given up entirely, Daniel thought, remembering Adrienne's rant about marriage and commitment from a few weeks ago. From what she had told him, she had no interest whatsoever in pursuing a relationship with the Atlantis team member but there she was smiling brightly.

_Add that to your list Daniel, just add that to the list as to why romantic involvement with your assistant is a bad idea._

"You just wait Dex, your time is coming," Adrienne giggled, flirtatiously. A smile from ear to ear, Ronon backed up through the door jam, tapping it with his hand, turning to jog back down the hall. Because normal guys just jog away like that, Daniel's inner monologue added.

"You all have a sick interpretation of what 'fun' is," Daniel said once Ronon was gone, unable to keep his opinion to himself.

"It's just friendly sport. No one really gets hurt," Adrienne answered as Daniel pointed at his own back, lifting his eyebrows.

"Shut up Indy," she said, rolling her eyes and glanced back at her screen, shutting her drawer without drawing her toy weapon.

"Unauthorized off world activation." - The sirens went off and Walter's voice came over the intercom. Surprised, they both looked up at each other, Daniel rising from his chair, heading for the door, stopping at the desk by the door to help Adrienne.

"Come on gimpy, let's see what is going on," he reached down to offer his assistance, but she smacked his hand away and stood up quickly, wincing again. Frowning in pain, Adrienne gritted her teeth as she tried to fully straighten her back, to no avail, finally relenting and reaching for his arm. Permission granted, he slid it around her waist, pulling her the rest of the way to her feet.

"Don't worry," he told her as she stood upright, "I won't tell anyone about this momentary demonstration of weakness." Continuing her scowl, the best she could, he knew she was trying not to smile, Adrienne shook her head as he led her carefully to the gateroom.

They arrived at the observation room slower than normal, the sounds of the metal clanging and adjusting as the iris opened echoing through the room for a few seconds before the familiar woosh of a vacuum drowned out all other noise as the wormhole formed in front of them.

Apparently, someone had determined the visitor was friendly.

Adrienne looked out the window, curious as to who would come through like this, unannounced and unscheduled, peering over at Daniel, who was still holding her upright for any clues. Garnering not a one from his face, her question was soon answered as Jonas Quinn walked through the shimmering waters, unarmed, pack strapped to his back. Finally acknowledging their arrival, Sam turned from where she was standing beside Walter and looked back at Daniel, Adrienne and Teal'c, the three members that come running with the siren.

"I guess we should probably go see what's going on," Sam declared, making her way out of the side door after gesturing they follow.

"Hi there!" he waved from the ramp, seeing his friends approaching him, Sam's concerned face adding to his own apprehension. This was an unscheduled visit, one he didn't want to make and when he heard the wormhole collapse behind him, he saw the question in her eyes that he had anticipated. As his feet hit the floor he pulled a backpack from his shoulders, displaying it in front of him with a raise of his eyebrows and slight shrug.

"Yeah, it's just me, I thought it best we keep it quiet, can we go to the briefing room?" he offered no other greetings or information, continuing his stride forward.

"Sure Jonas," Sam replied, giving him an odd look, turning herself as quickly as she had before in the direction of the staircase to her office. Not even making eye contact, which Daniel found to be very strange, Jonas fell in right behind her, trekking up the metal stairs without so much as a "How are you doing?" to his former team members. Baffled, Daniel started to follow as well, when he felt his wrist being grabbed and realized he had left an injured Adrienne behind.

"Your back?" he asked, concerned and moved to help her walk, wrapping his arm protectively around her waist, but she shook her head, shrugging him away slightly.

"No, but thanks. I've only met him once, but isn't he usually more.. talkative?" she asked.

"Generally, but let's not jump to conclusions," Daniel answered, Adrienne allowing his arm to remain at her middle to support her painful climb up the staircase.

"Thanks Daniel," she whispered, leaning into him slightly, making it difficult for him to walk, but he didn't say a word, just continued to help her.

At the top of the stairs, they were greeted by Cam and Vala, the former more than happy to take over for Daniel, the look on his face telling the archaeologist that he too knew about last night's activities.

"What's with the belt? Did he really hit you that hard?" he asked, looking as concerned as Daniel had, but Adrienne didn't seem to want to accept any assistance from him, shooing Cam away as she started to slowly walk forward one step at a time.

_She let me help her. _

_Dammit Daniel, grow up. _

"I'll live, but I'm glad you said something, I need to take this damn thing off. It was as if Daniel had pick on me radar this morning," she told him, cutting her eyes at her boss who must have finally decided she was capable of walking on her own, making his way to the front of the room where Jonas and Sam were chatting.

"Uh huh," Cam replied, smiling at her but backing off as her body language suggested. Annoyed by Cam's hovering now as well, she made a face and went to sit beside Daniel at the table.

"Like I was saying," Jonas started the moment Adrienne, the last one standing, painfully took her seat, "I wanted to keep this quiet unless I knew it was a threat..." he addressed the group as he unzipped his backpack. The team was curious, looking one another over for answered that none of them could provide.

Reaching inside, the Langaran dug around for a moment before pulling out a head, cradling it gently between his palms.

"What the fuck?!" Vala shouted out as Adrienne turned her head covering her nose and mouth with her palm, Daniel slipping his hand under the table to squeeze her leg in assurance. Cameron was speechless as were Sam and Teal'c, staring in utter confusion at Jonas' package.

"Jonas, that is a HEAD!" Daniel shouted once he was certain that Adrienne wasn't going to lose her coffee all over the briefing room floor.

"It's preserved, I assure you, I ran it through the process myself before I brought it. You guys know me better than that," Jonas explained, "but THIS is why I even took the trouble." The normally joyful Jonas look that had crept up for just a moment in his words of explanation was now gone as he angled the organ, aiming the forehead down to face them.

"Christ Jackson, your damn nightmares were no joke!" Cam shouted out as gold caught the light of the overheads, a sick sparkle in the room.

It was the head of a Jaffa, a head with a tattoo on it; the symbol of Anubis.

"JonasQuinn, it could just be a Jaffa that was once in the service of Anubis but is no longer. How did this man die?" Teal'c asked giving Adrienne the first opportunity to take a good look at his face. Ronon was right, two black eyes and she didn't know whether to laud herself on her personal accomplishment or feel terrible that she did that to a friend.

"We killed him," Jonas answered, before her thoughts could wander further, "we caught him trying to break into the Stargate facility. He attacked us when we were trying to take him prisoner, we wanted to question him as well, but he took out 3 guards before the commander felt he had to order a shoot to kill. I noticed this when I was called down to investigate the body," he explained. Sensing the disgust of some of the members, he put the head back into the bag and zipped it up, handing it over to Sam. She took the bag, setting it aside, her general's face on, glancing back at Jonas.

"So, if you didn't get to question him, how do you know he wasn't just working alone? We've seen all sorts of rogue Ori soldiers and even Jaffa do strange things out of desperation. What makes him any different?" she asked, assuring Adrienne with her voice.

That is why this woman is in charge, the cajun thought, just her manner makes everyone feel better.

"Nothing really, it just seems odd for one guy to be sneaking around without someone else on the other side waiting to hear from him; it didn't seem like he was trying to save his own skin, he looked like he was looking for something," Jonas offered, peeking over at Cam for a moment before looking back at Sam, "What's Colonel Mitchell talking about, with nightmares?"

"Daniel's daddy haunted him for a bit to tell him all hell was going to break loose," Vala answered.

Daniel rolled his eyes and spoke, "We, I rather, got a message from my father in law, Kasuf, who is ascended. It seems that Anubis is no longer detained by Oma and the others."

"Well that's not good," Jonas responded, "do you know what he's up to?"

"I have no idea," Daniel continued, "we just got the message to more or less be prepared. I guess he meant for this."

"Come on, ya'll are jumping to conclusions," Adrienne spoke, trying to convince herself more than the others, "I mean, isn't this Anubis pretty aggressive in his approach? Wouldn't we have gotten a message loud and clear by now if he were coming?"

"Unfortunately," Sam answered, "that's not always the case. Especially with Anubis."

Adrienne saw Daniel shift uncomfortably in his chair, pinching his nose under his glasses, before swallowing. Add Anubis to the list of things she needed to talk to him about, alone. Trying to cut her eyes over at him, give him some sort of silent code that everything was going to be alright, Adrienne just about had his attention, her hand quietly slipping under the table headed toward his leg, before Jonas spoke again, Daniel turning his head to listen.

"Well, he's the only one, so far. We don't need anyone to come and jump to our rescue, but those of us who are allowed to make decisions decided that it would be in our best interest to inform you all as soon as possible," Jonas stated, a forced grin on his face.

He must have been that decision maker, and it was very fortunate for them that he had moved as high up as he had in their government. Understanding, Sam walked over toward him, placing her hand carefully on his shoulder.

"Thank you Jonas. I'll take this and have it analyzed for anything that else our scanners can pick up. Was he carrying anything with him?" It was obvious by Sam's tone that despite the fact that Jonas had brought them a head, she was also disappointed that he had not brought an entire body, leaving that part of the evidence back on Langara.

"Not a thing," Jonas answered, "Not a staff weapon, nothing."

"That's strange," Daniel spoke up.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, looking at Daniel and Sam, his teammates with the most experience with Jaffa.

"Sounds more like an escape than sabotage," Adrienne offered, thinking that even though she wasn't a Jaffa herself, it was a weapon she had come to reply on and would never choose to leave it behind, unless she was forced to. Sam, hand to her chin, nodded.

"Jonas, if possible, we would like to see the body, even if I have to send Carolyn or Jenn over to you," she stated, unable to contain herself any longer. She needed the entire body if Jonas really wanted answers, even if it meant sending the doctors into a very uncomfortable situation.

"Ok, give me a few days and I'll see what I can do. Despite the vote to let me bring this to you, there were almost as many votes for no. Apparently, after the incident with Dr. McKay, there are still some people that have their doubts about our alliance with you," Jonas explained, that forced smile back on his face.

Poor guy, Adrienne thought, he really is caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Fair," Sam replied, "Will you be staying with us long?"

"Not this time, they wanted me back as soon as I dropped this off," he answered and began to head for the door, again no goodbye, no joke with old friends, just quiet and reserved. Nodding, Sam followed him out, leaving the team behind with a head, in a bag, on a table, confident that no one, not even a curious Daniel, would dare open the bag in her absence.

Pulling the door closed behind her, she walked in silence with her friend down the stairs.

As they approached the gate, Jonas looked back at Sam, his normal smile present, heading cocking back at the stairs.

"I see you kept her?" he asked.

"Who?" Sam replied, confused, looking around the gate room to see who might have joined them.

"Adrienne. Funny, Daniel doesn't seem to be the want or need an assistant type," he added smiling, remembering the time he had been somewhat of an assistant himself, when Daniel had returned, the awkwardness and how he always felt he was stepping on the man's toes.

"Actually, it's worked out pretty well," she replied, too well, she added silently to herself, way too well.

"She's a pretty tough lady, honestly that was what made me listen to her at all while the guards hunted around for the transmitter," he smiled.

"You have no idea," Sam laughed, an image of Adrienne punching a Langaran guard right in the nose coming to mind, as she reached to hug him goodbye.

The suck and then the silence filled the room, the wormhole forming and Jonas stepped through, returning home as quickly as he had come.

Watching Sam leave with Jonas, the rest of the team sat at the table looking at Daniel, who simply shrugged and shook his head.

"Don't look to me for answers. I didn't have much luck with Anubis. Oma stepped in for us, I just got blasted back down to Earth," he told the group.

"Well, this isn't good, it's like a goddam Easter Egg hunt. How long before we stumble on the big golden egg?" Cameron declared.

"I still think we all just need to calm down until we know something. I think we can be alert without driving ourselves insane," Adrienne spoke, looking over at Daniel out of the corner of her eye.

Yes, I'm talking to YOU Indiana Jackson, Adrienne added with her eyes.

"All right, no bad guy, just the head of a dead one? I'm going to go work out," Vala stated and stood, leaving the room, acting like the head didn't bother her.

Liar, Adrienne thought, making plans to hit the nearest Halloween store as soon as possible, her next Vala prank already in progress.

Not having anything else to offer himself, Cam shrugged and followed as did Teal'c, looking back at Daniel and Adrienne.

_See Daniel, the big guy's worried too, I'm not the only one that knows you. _

"Something you need to tell me?" Daniel asked, wondering why Adrienne was still seated.

"No, I just needed you to help me stand," she looked up sheepishly, a half-truth, since she was also trying to read his face.

"And yet I'm the one that can't live without you?" he asked, reaching over to help her up, noticing that she had taken off her black belt and obviously warmer ice pack, holding it in her hands.

"I really can't convince you to go see Dr. Lam," he asked, pleading, visibly worried, his concerns about Anubis no longer apparent, at least for now.

"Not a chance," she answered quickly, using his hand to stand and straighten herself slowly.

"Fine," he replied, leaning over picking her up into his arms, trying not to hurt her, or himself for that matter.

"Put me down!" she yelled, pushing away from his careful grasp the minute she was up in his arms.

"Only if you go to the doctor," he replied, continuing to walk through the door.

"Dammit, ok Daniel, ok, ok, just put me down," she shouted, wriggling. Laughing, he heeded her request, as she straightened her shirt, scowling at him, her body still pointed in the direction of the lab.

"Now Ad, or I carry you and you're heavy," he told her, eyes added to the scowl this time.

"You're just jealous because I can bench more than you," she spat, not very effectively, as she grabbed her back again in pain.

"Go!" he repeated, more sternly this time.

"I hate you Daniel Anthony," she replied, turning to do as he asked, her middle finger in the air at him as she walked away.

"Don't think that OR my middle name is gonna bother me!" he yelled back at her, shaking his head chuckling as he returned to the lab.

_I love her..._

"What did she say?" he asked as she entered the lab about an hour later, still limping and certainly not looking very happy to be there.

"Ice, heat, rest, don't try to fight giant alien men, the usual," Adrienne replied, trudging over to his desk and shoving past him to open the bottom drawer.

"She's right you know, you could really get hurt," Daniel offered, backing up so she could get to the large bottle of ibuprofen she for some reason insisted on keep in his desk and not her own.

Bracing herself on the desktop, Adrienne looked over at him shaking her head.

"I hate when you're sweet," she grumbled.

"No you don't," he replied, smiling, reaching for the medication to open it as Sam walked into the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Daniel, this isn't good. We're not in a position to defend ourselves right now if Anubis comes and on top of that I have this sick feeling that he's just toying with us," she walked over to a chair at the center table and sat down, considerably less confident than she was in the meeting an hour earlier.

Adrienne didn't want to interrupt, she always felt awkward when Sam came in like this to talk to Daniel. The former teammates were close, close like siblings and Adrienne's presence just seemed to be an intrusion even though neither had ever asked her to leave.

Bracing herself on Daniel's shoulder to stand and taking the three tablets from his palm, Adrienne popped the meds into her mouth and limped over to her desk, taking the opportunity to look up Anubis in the database.

"Sam, we can't obsess over this until we find some evidence. Send the head down to Carson and see what he can come up with. To be perfectly honest, I can't sit down here and dwell on this. Jonas'll get us access to the body, I'm sure, but until then we just need to go about our business like usual," Daniel answered, sounding a lot like Adrienne had earlier. She was just glad that he listened to her.

"Nice words, bad liar. I hate to do this to you, but you need to start racking your brain for anything you remember. Whether you want to or not," she ordered, but more as a concerned former teammate than a boss. Daniel simply nodded, knowing it was coming, he really had no choice in the matter; if anyone knew Anubis, it was him. Taking in a deep exaggerated breath, Sam stood again and left, shutting the door behind her, again not a word to Adrienne.

Adrienne waited until she was sure Sam was gone and stood, wincing as she did so and locked the door.

"What did you do that for?" Daniel asked from his desk, wondering what was wrong. Silent, Adrienne walked over toward him, tottering slowly and carefully, pulling out the chair Sam was sitting in earlier, dragging it over to him. Forcing a smile, she reached out and put her hand on his knee.

"I think you need to bring me up to speed; totally up to speed," Adrienne requested as gently as she could. The SGC database had very little information on Anubis, very little, but with a request like that Sam must know that Daniel knew more. Much more, and Adrienne had learned over the course of their friendship that there was much more to Dr. Daniel Jackson than was listed on those files.

Letting out a sigh, Daniel took her hand into his, squeezing it gently.

"Ok, but not here. Let's go to my place, being here and reliving it all just gives me the creeps. And bring one of those composition books of yours. Sam wants info, so we're going to need it," he stood and reached out to help her. Reading his face, a seriousness that she wasn't quite familiar or comfortable with, Adrienne quietly did as he requested and they left base together, headed for his apartment.

Adrienne sat quietly beside him on the sofa as he recounted everything, starting with Osiris taking over Sarah's body all the way to Oma subduing Anubis and sacrificing herself to battle him for eternity. Adrienne didn't speak through any of it, just took notes feverishly and occasionally leaned over to comfort him as he spoke of some of the harder parts of the story. When he was finished, Adrienne simply closed the book and set it on the floor, moving over to him on the sofa and taking him into her arms.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, "I had no idea." Normally he would have pulled back quickly, he tended to do that when his feelings were involved rather than someone else's, in fact, Adrienne was half expecting that very reaction, but he didn't, instead wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on her shoulder.

"No one does, well no one now but you. It actually sounds so foreign coming out, but that's everything. I don't remember much from being ascended, but what little I do tells me that even they couldn't stop him," he said quietly, Adrienne pulling him closer. She should have controlled herself better, but he just seemed so emotional, so distraught. Reaching her hand to wander up the back of his neck, Adrienne brought her lips to his head, kissing his temple softly and resting her cheek on the same place, running her fingers lightly through his hair.

"But why you Daniel, why you? I mean, it seems to me that everything he wanted and possibly wants now is information, how to get to the next place to take over. Why does he want you so bad?" she asked, hoping it wasn't too much, but trying to understand.

She couldn't help herself anymore, the urge to protect him, to keep him from harm had become so powerful inside of her, more instinct now than desire. No one else may seem to worry about what happened to Daniel, but she did, and she wasn't going to let some washed up system lord do anything to him if she could help it. She'd never loved someone like this before, and even if she could never work up the courage to tell him, she was going to do her best to make sure that she was there for him. Pulling away from her embrace, reluctantly it felt, he sat up, his ocean blue eyes locking on hers with a look of desperation on his face.

"Honestly? I think it's because I lived. I challenged him, and while I didn't win per se, I did live, and descended and went on to continue to fight against him. I have all of the information he needs with the added bonus of being a target of revenge," Daniel replied, not fearful but resigned, as if he had a predestined fate that he could not control.

What can I say back to that, Adrienne thought, torn, the idea of losing him anyway, even if he really could never be hers was too much to bear. Putting on a brave face, she leaned forward, squeezing him tightly one last time and then let go, looking at the clock to discover that they had talked clear through lunch and almost dinner. Daniel didn't necessarily look upset right now as he backed away slowly, but he didn't look that terrific either so she stood and walked over to her computer bag at the counter, opening it up and taking out her laptop.

Flipping up the lid, she couldn't help but smile at the beautiful vampire there to greet her, dark and brooding sitting on his throne in Fangtasia. She still loved Eric, she would always love her vampire fantasy, but for some reason she just wasn't that excited by him half-naked on her screen anymore. Satisfied with Chinese delivery, the place nearest Daniel's bookmarked in her web browser, she glanced up to tell him it would be about thirty minutes but he was gone.

Worried, she wandered through the apartment looking for him, hearing the shower start as soon as she arrived at the bedroom door. Adrienne sighed, hoping that he was alright; he tried to put on a tough front at the base, but the longer she knew him the more she realized that everything he went through had chipped away at him one little piece at a time.

He wasn't broken, far from, but there was a pain inside that she wished she could wash away.

_I want to take it all away..._

Dinner arrived shortly after he had finished showering and neither of them mentioned their hours long conversation; it was as if he had his say and that was the end of it. They ate dinner with very little additional conversation and afterwards, Adrienne excused herself to drive home to her apartment.

She said goodbye, a light hug and peck on the cheek, heading for her car. When she got to the end of the hall, she punched the button, the elevators doors opening and she paused, letting them close without entering.

She wasn't going to leave him like this; he wouldn't have left her.

Breathing out slowly, she spun around, trudging back to his apartment, using the key he had given her to let herself back in. The lights were off, he must have decided to go to bed for the night, so she tossed her bag onto the couch, kicking off her tennis shoes and heading for the bedroom.

Better to let her heart suffer than his.

She slipped into bed, turning her back to him, reaching behind to clasp his fingers.

The next morning, Sam was waiting for them when they arrived, together, not even questioning the hour or the fact that a simple scan of the parking lot would have told her they arrived in the same car.

"Word from Jonas, the body'll be here momentarily. They still aren't too keen on us coming with a large investigative force to the facility itself, but he's still hopeful. Daniel, I would like for you to head down there and look the body over for any tattoos or other identifying marks, anything that could help us out," she said. Daniel simply nodded, coding himself into the lab, proceeding to gather up his camera and a legal pad from his desk. Waiting until Sam left, Adrienne walked up behind him resting her hand on his shoulder.

"You up to this Indy?" she asked sweetly, squeezing, still worried about the mumbling she had heard in the middle of the night, when she had gone to the bathroom. Lying on the bed, curled slightly, she heard Daniel arguing in his sleep with an unknown foe, a foe she suspected was Anubis. She had hurried back to bed, crawling over him, whispering in his ear until he had awoken, assuring her that everything was fine, still grabbing her hand before he fell back asleep.

"Ad, I've been doing this for years. Why do you look so concerned?" he responded, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Time for the show, she thought, time to act like nothing is wrong, that nothing is ever wrong.

"It's just that yesterday, well, you were," she hoped he would fill in the blank, the blank that should read upset, withdrawn and held my hand all night while you slept.

"Yesterday I had to recall how I died, went to heaven and came crashing back down. You try doing that and see what your reaction is?" he sniped at her.

She wasn't going to fight with him; she knew this was his code for 'let me deal with this in my own way' so she just nodded, threw her bag on her desk and headed for the gym.

Let him look at dead bodies; she was going to run.

When she got back to the lab, he was gone and she decided not to track him down, getting to work on what she was doing before Jonas had arrived with a head in a backpack. She was typing away at the 10th Asgard Dynasty when a message popped up on her screen.

_Adrienne? _

It was her instant messenger, so she clicked off the screen she was working on and onto the message to see who it was and much to her surprise, at the top of the box it read: Daniel. Adrienne was impressed he even knew how to use the message box, not that the technology was hard for him, it was quite simply that he didn't care to learn, especially not with her around to use it for him. Even though she was still a little miffed he had lashed out at her she decided not to say anything and let the whole incident go, quickly typing her reply.

_Hey, how's it going? _

_Ok I guess. Not a fan of touching dead people. _

_:-)_

_How'd you do that? Nevermind, if I email you a picture, _

_can you take a look at it and let me know what you think? _

_You type colon, hyphen and closed parenthesis and yes, I'd be happy to, _

_but would you rather me come down? _

_It's not very pleasant. It's preserved, but nonetheless _

_it's still a dead body._

Adrienne giggled. Only Daniel would use 'nonetheless' in a text chat. She had the urge to type LOL or something of the sort as soon as she could, just to mess with him since he would have no idea what that meant at all, but decided against it. Later, maybe, but now was not the time. Instead, she just replied.

_If you need me I'm happy to come. All you have to do is ask. _

_If you are up to it, it would be helpful if you head down here. _

_No problem :-) Give me a few minutes to get to a stopping point and I'll be right there. _

Glancing away from her screen, she reached for her backpack and iPod, starting to pack up a few supplies to take down when she heard the bing again at her side.

_Ad? You still there? _

_Yeah Indy, what's up? Did ya need me to bring something?_

_I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier. _

Adrienne smiled, she could actually hear him saying it in her head. She really didn't hate it when he was sweet; she loved him too much for that, she just needed to remember that he had a certain way of dealing with things and she'd have to be patient with him.

She typed back.

_Already forgotten. _

_Ok, see you soon. _

Working as fast as she could, she wrapped up her work and headed for the morgue.

When she arrived a flurry of people surrounded the table, talking, debating, examining, Daniel, Rodney, Dr.'s Lam, Keller, Beckett and Sam all engaged in some rather tense conversation. At a loss as to exactly what she should do, Adrienne walked up behind Daniel, placing her hand lightly on his back.

"Hey, thanks again for coming down," he said as he stepped back to let her approach the body, allowing her her first glimpse of the headless man in Jaffa armor. Despite the lack of a smell at all she began to retch, a dead body again being something she had only seen on TV, stumbling as she turned away quickly from the body. Daniel caught her, reading her face as she now read his, holding her upright but not too hard as to exacerbate her back injury.

"See why I offered to send a picture?" he said, holding his arm protectively around her.

"Just give me a sec and let me breathe," she responded, taking a deep breath away from the body. Willing herself the courage to carry on, she pulled away from Daniel's grasp, peering back at the corpse.

"Ok, show me," she requested, breathing deeply a second time.

Nodding, Daniel moved the chest plate of the armor away from the skin and stepped back to reveal to her

It was faded and faint, like someone tried to remove it, and Adrienne assumed that simple laser treatments had been used since the shape was still there. A casual observer might have even thought that it was simply dirt, but to Daniel and now Adrienne who had been taught to look for such things, it was not an accident.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"If that's your reaction, yep, I just wanted a second voice in here before I set the group into chaos," he looked at her over his glasses.

"Thanks shug, good to know when I'm being used," she joked, trying to lighten the obviously dark mood. He squeezed her arm, raising his eyebrows and making a face before addressing their still arguing colleagues.

"Guys, I've got something," he announced, each of them pausing and turning their gazes in his direction.

"Take a look at this," he said as he pulled the armor back for the group revealing the symbol, stepping back as the gathered around the table like they were before, peering at the image.

"We saw that," Dr. Keller spoke up, "it looks faded, like someone tried to remove a tattoo."

"I think that's exactly what they did, however, if you look closely, you can still make out what it is," he pointed and Sam moved closer, ahead of the others.

"No..." she breathed out.

"What?" Carson and Jennifer both asked, but Dr. Carolyn Lam was already backing away, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

"It's the symbol for the Ori...I think we know where the other homeless soldiers are going..." Sam explained.

"Then," Daniel continued, "Not to jump to conclusions," he looked at Adrienne, "but if you send one man to go to an allied planet, and dial from there, we open the gate thinking it is someone like Jonas and there you have your infiltrator, one that we just let walk right on in."

"Then, I guess it's time to share something else with you all," Dr. Lam stepped forward opening a folder she had retrieved from a table behind her, "The Langarans did NOT kill this man, or at least not with gunfire," she showed Sam a chart, pointing to some information in the file while she explained, "Cause of death is poisoning."

"Self-induced or forced?" Sam asked. Nodding her head, as if she knew the question was coming, Dr. Lam walked over to the back table where Adrienne noticed Jonas' black backpack lying in wait. Acting like a head in a rucksack was just a normal occurrence, Carolyn brought the initial piece of evidence to join the rest of the body. Without flinching, which Adrienne found to be quite impressive, she reached inside, producing the head, holding it carefully in her gloved hands.

"I wanted to make sure I wasn't imagining things, but," Carolyn continued, holding the head under the bright light, reaching to open the mouth, with one hand. Seeing her struggle, Dr. Beckett stepped forward, pinching the cheeks of the soldier to loosen the jaw, angling the opening better to the light. Adrienne wanted to heave, was starting to actually, when she felt fingers at hers, a hand intertwining with her own. Relaxing at his comfort, at his touch, she stepped back closer to where Daniel was standing, watching the doctor reaching into the mouth of the deceased, pulling out a tiny piece of plastic which she held up for all to see.

"Based on what Dr. Jackson just said and the poisoning, I think that this is most likely part of a capsule, I still need to run some tests to be sure. If so, I think we can conclude suicide," she stated.

"Why is that?" Sam asked.

"Because, I found this fragment between the 1st and 2nd Mandibular Molars, meaning he most likely bit down to release the poison. If they had done this to him, the force needed to make it look like suicide would have probably broken his jaw, but it is completely intact. It is an unnatural motion to be made outside of the body, and there would be much more damage had there been," Carolyn explained.

"He was dead before he hit the ground? " Daniel asked, still holding on to Adrienne's hand.

"Essentially. These bullet holes in his body are ante mortem, but they're not fatal," she replied, handing Sam the folder and reaching behind herself to the small medical table, slipping the piece of plastic into a baggie.

"Ok, and no one found anything else on the body?" Sam addressed the group and got nods to the negative all around.

"Alright, I'm going to contact Jonas. We need to get over there, soon," Sam declared and left the room, walking briskly toward her office. The doctors moved to clean up the mess, so, assuming they were finished, Adrienne pulled from Daniel's grasp, rushing to the sink, quickly scrubbing herself up to the elbows. She was just turning on the water to rinse when she glanced up to see Daniel had joined her to do the same.

"I've a new found respect for both Dana Scully and Dr. Grumpypants," she whispered to him and he chuckled lightly as he turned on the water.

"Should we be worried?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure you don't want to go back to teaching?" he answered.

"Not a chance," she replied, smiling.

"Well, I'm fairly certain that they're going to send one or both of us over there to investigate. It could get a bit... hairy..." he admitted as he ran soap up his arms, scrubbing strongly.

"Indy, at this point I've been shot at multiple times, threatened by Ori soldiers, beaten for speaking and having boobs, had my mind invaded by your father in law and brainwashed to think I was Russell Crowe. I think I'm good with hairy," she responded, drying off her arms and hands with a paper towel. He smiled back and shut off the water.

Leaving the doctors to the corpse, the two set back out for their own workspace, each silently relieved to be escaping the company of the dead.

The emergency sirens were blaring the moment they stepped out of the elevator along with the sound of bullets firing. Tapping his legs to look for something, anything with which to defend themselves, Daniel quickly realized that the two of them had nothing, not even so much as a pocket knife or artifact brush. Turning in a frantic circle, Daniel scanned their surroundings, seeing a doorway, an escape, pulling Adrienne into a supply closet.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him, "We have to help!"

"With what weapons?" he asked her, tapping his legs a second time for effect, loudly enough so she could hear, " We were working today, remember?" She made a face he couldn't see, knowing he was right, that they were effectively helpless.

"I can run, get my staff weapon, and hand to hand I'll be fine," she continued to argue, but shaking his head, and then remembering that she couldn't see, Daniel reached out for her arm, squeezing it gently.

"Ad, karate moves don't stop bullets. Let's just hang tight here for a moment. It'll at least give us some time to think of something," he countered, letting go to rub his hand up and down her arm, hoping she wouldn't fight him further.

"Alright," she agreed, pulling away and beginning to feel her way around the closet.

There were metal shelves lining the sides and as she worked her hands around the wall she found the switch, gingerly reaching for it to turn the light on, instinctively, not thinking, when she felt his hand over hers.

"No, they'll see us," he whispered, running his hand down her back so she could feel that he was going to walk and investigate in the other direction.

"Right, sorry, just a little claustrophobic," she apologized, feeling her stomach knot.

"You have claustrophobia?" he asked, thinking to himself yet another tidbit of info on his best friend that might have been useful to know before shoving her into a closet.

But wait?

She's shoved him into a closet before, what made this so different?

"Something like that," she answered, barely a whisper.

"All I have on my side is boxes of paper, you?" he changed the subject, annoyed that his search of the other side of the closet had yielded nothing.

"Computer mess on mine. We can grab some cords to choke someone with, but other than that I've got nothing," she whispered back, hoping he couldn't hear the tension in her voice.

"Ok, I vote we get those at least," he crossed the short expanse, putting his hand on her shoulder so she could lead the way. They collected the cords, Daniel wrapping his tightly around his right fist when Adrienne began to tremble.

"Alright grab a few of those for now and let's find a place to wait," Daniel whispered, shoving a second cord into his pocket, reaching out to grab Adrienne. If he felt her tremble, he said nothing, just guided her with him to the far corner, in between two shelves, pushing her into the small space.

Intent on defending her, Daniel turned, reaching to wrap the cord around his other hand in case their presence was detected.

"Where are you going?" she asked into the dark.

"Over here. If we can lure someone, you can distract them and I'll choke them. We'll take their gun and go help," he whispered back.

"You mean, invite someone with a gun in here? This close to us? " she asked, terrified.

"Adrienne, we have to help, this is all I can think of, do you have a better idea?" Daniel countered.

"No," she answered, but she heard her voice crack as she said it.

"Ad, are you ok?" he asked, his tune changing, "Are you scared?"

"No, I'm fine, let's just d-d-d-o this," she stuttered, her entire body shaking, the prospect of a gun so close, so very close to her more than she could bear. Closing her eyes tightly, she prepared herself to scream, to shout, to do whatever Daniel asked her to do to draw them into this room when she heard footsteps toward her, the shift of fabric, and sensed him kneeling in front of her.

"Adrienne, you fight Teal'c, Ronon, Vala with NO armor. You told off an entire battalion of armed soldiers. This is just one brainwashed man, not that many could have gotten through. We can do this," he reached out to touch her but she trembling all over, uncontrollably, like he had never witnesses before. Tossing the computer cord onto the ground, Daniel took her into his arms, holding her tightly.

"Tell me," he whispered into her ear, knowing this had something to do with her fears, the one secret about herself she had never shared, but she shook her head no. More shots fired in the hall and he felt a teardrop hit his bare arm so he pulled her closer to him, smoothing her hair, in an attempt to stop her shaking.

What is wrong with her? he thought, but he wasn't about to let go.

"Ad, we're not going to lure anyone in here, ok? We're going to stay right here and wait for help," Daniel assured her, running his hand down her hair once more.

Please no one come, he thought, wondering if someone did indeed burst into the supply closet would he be able to fight them off while Adrienne was falling to pieces.

Footsteps raced across the door through the crack at the bottom, Adrienne's head still buried into his neck, her tears trickling down his collarbone. Daniel held her tighter hoping a passersby wouldn't hear her sobs, but she began to shake violently, gasping for air, try to crawl backwards, pulling Daniel with her into the corner of the room. Before he could stop her and try to calm her again, the door was kicked open, a man with a gun entering, pointing it right at them. Forcing herself into the corner, Adrienne began to whimper and babble, "No, no, no."

"Who's in here!?" he shouted, "Show yourselves!"

Daniel didn't take the time to figure out friend or foe, he pushed Adrienne as far as he could into the corner and ran full force into the man, shoving his elbow into his stomach. The man was knocked backwards, the gun skidding across the floor, slamming into the far side wall with a loud crunching. Elbow to throat, Daniel pinned the man to the ground, intending on breaking his windpipe if he had to, something he would have never considered before, but considered now, anything to protect Adrienne.

"Daniel, hey, it's me, it's Sheppard," John tried to squeak out in an attempt to not lose consciousness. Recognizing the voice, Daniel backed up a bit and saw that he was indeed pinning Colonel John Sheppard to the ground. He pulled away, heart racing, sitting back on his knees.

"Sorry, I thought you were one of the intruders," he apologized as John sat up, reaching for his neck and rubbing it. Sheepishly, Daniel reached to his left, grabbing his gun and passing it over.

"Three this time, we think, since you two don't make four and five. They came in from another friendly planet, one not as well guarded as Langara, dressed like our guys. One had a call signal that had been lost, that's how they made it onto the base, but we got them, we think. This was my last sweep. You guys alright?" he asked after his brief explanation. Before answering, Daniel looked over at Adrienne, who was still shoved into the corner, shaking and trying to hide her tear streaked face.

"Yeah, we were caught off guard and unarmed and were trying to figure a way to help," he said as showed the computer cords and grasped them indicating their intention to choke.

"Not bad," Sheppard complimented, standing and reaching down to help his attacker. Upright, Daniel looked back at Adrienne and then to Sheppard who seemed very concerned to see his assistant acting like a frightened animal. The colonel went to open his mouth, to ask the question that Daniel knew he had, but he shook his head slightly.

"I've got this," he mumbled, quietly, Sheppard understanding and slipping back out the door, pulling it slightly closed behind him. Sighing, and still completely confused, Daniel walked over to where Adrienne was still cowering in the corner, trembling violently.

"It's over. No one's gonna hurt you, come on," he pulled her up by the hand, slowly and carefully, not flinching as she clung to him, leading her from the closet and to his quarters.

"Alright, I think we need to focus on the positive of the situation. Knowing some of what Anubis is up to and how he's forming his new army is valuable information," Sam said to a full briefing room.

"And they are not Jaffa," Teal'c made clear to the group.

"No, these are Ori soldiers, dressed as Jaffa. However, since we can't seem to get our hands on a live one just yet we still have no idea if they have been altered in a way that our medical tests cannot reveal," Sam continued.

"You mean that out of FOUR attempted infiltrations, we have been unable to get ONE living intruder," Robert Woolsey spoke up from the table.

"No sir," Sam answered, "Both the one from Langara and the one who we believe was the leader of this mission ingested some type of poison upon discovery. The other two we shot to defend our people," she emphasized the last three words.

"Then, I think we need to send those bodies to Area 51 for a more thorough examination," Woolsey continued as Dr. Lam made a face showing her disgust.

"If that's what the IOA is recommending..." Sam agreed without agreeing.

"It is," Woolsey stood his ground.

"Then, I must inform each of you that we are changing the codes for our allies and making sure that they are only given to those in charge, no underlings," Sam continued, retaking control of the meeting.

"What about the Tok'ra?" Daniel asked and by the hurt look on Sam's face he could tell that he shouldn't have. They hadn't been in contact with the Tok'ra in years, and the only code they would have would be one of the now outdated ones, ones that were going to be considered compromised.

"We will not be opening the iris for anyone without the proper code. Even the Tok'ra," she answered stoically. Daniel nodded his head; it would be hardest for her, between Martuff, her father...

"I'll be meeting with Dr. Beckett as soon as he looks over the bodies and I go through some more information and I will notify each of you then of our next steps. Dismissed," Sam said, shutting off the SmartBoard, crossing her arms, more self comforting than authoritatively but Daniel would have to check on her later.

Shooting her a friendly glance, hoping she saw it and knew she could come down if she needed him, he left the room, heading back to his quarters, in search of the first person he needed to check on, the first person to come to mind. When he had left Adrienne, she still was refusing to talk and had been sitting on his bed picking at her fingernails, her tell, but it was the not talking that upset him the most. Not knowing what else to do, he had handed her the remote to his seldom used TV and reluctantly went to the meeting.

That was three long hours ago.

When he arrived back at his room he coded himself in quickly, stepping through the door and going into a panic as she was no longer sitting on his bunk. He ran over to the bed, seeing the television was off, and there was no note, nothing, not one indication as to where she had gone. This wasn't like her, she hated when he left with only a note, and he rushed to the phone calling her on-base room, but there was no answer. Knowing she wouldn't have gone home, she'd have never driven that blasted car of hers upset, it was like her child, he grabbed his communicator and tried to reach her that way.

Nothing again.

Running out of options, he picked up the phone, dialing the main office.

"Walter?" he asked, hoping, praying that the most trusted member of the support staff was on duty.

"Yes Dr. Jackson," he responded, much to Daniel's relief.

"Can you please check to see if Dr. Rowan is in the gym?" he requested, hoping Walter wouldn't sense the panic in his voice. There was a pause on the other end and silence, Daniel assuming that Walter was doing just that.

"Sir?" Walter asked.

"Yes," Daniel answered, panicked.

"The locator in her communicator shows she's in your quarters. Whoever answered the phone in the gym says she's not there..." Walter answered, carefully, his voice expressing concern himself.

"Ok, thanks Walter," he hung up, not caring to air his assistant's dirty laundry and began to search. If she ditched her communicator and not for her headphones, something must be wrong. He called it again, yelling her name into it.

"ADRIENNE ANSWER! WHERE ARE YOU!"

And heard an echo, from the bathroom. Fearing the worst, he rushed in there, hoping she hadn't done anything rash.

Instead, Daniel opened the door to screaming.

"What in the hell are you doing Indy?" she was yelling as bubbles flew, the shower curtain closing quickly, so much so it was almost torn from its rings.

"What are you doing?" he asked, turning around quickly once he realized that she was lying naked in his bathtub.

"I am trying to relax," she stated, "what you told me to do!"

"In MY bathtub!?" he retorted as she pulled the curtain away just enough to show her face, scowling at him.

"Do you see the reaction that you are having? Right now. THAT is why I stayed here, to try to avoid this reaction!" she fussed, jerking the curtain closed again.

"Where did you find bubbles?" he now inquired, confused, his mind racing, knowing that she was alright, she was just sitting here, taking a bath, in his bathroom.

"Why were you looking?" she shouted back from the other side.

"How can I miss them? They're all over my floor!" he shouted in response. Opening the curtain once more, she stuck her head out scanning the tiles and sure enough, the floor was covered in soap suds.

"Oops, my bad. You had them under the sink. Spare me the explanation, I don't want to know," she replied, shutting the curtain again. Suddenly Daniel remembered where they came from, or who they came from rather, the bottle unopened.

They had never been used, ever.

Trying to push away the part of his over analytical brain that felt the need to explain to Adrienne that nothing of that sort had ever happened between he and Vala, in this timeline anyway, he simply shook his head, walking over to sit on the toilet.

"What are you still doing here?" she asked, this time from the other side of the curtain.

"I wanted to make sure that you were alright," he replied, almost slipping and blurting out, because I love you and couldn't live if you had done something to yourself.

"I am," she said quietly.

"You weren't a few hours ago," he ventured.

"I am, trust me, just, it's ok," she answered him, a little more confidence in her voice. He knew her well enough to know that she wanted him to leave despite his urge to sit there all night if he had to, so he stood, breathing out just staring at the navy blue curtain.

"Alright, well, I'll be out here if you need to talk, I'm not going anywhere," he assured her, waiting a moment for an answer. She didn't make a sound from the tub, so he left the bathroom, closing the door softly behind him.

About 20 minutes later she came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt. Apparently she had no intention of thinking about work for the rest of the day and he wasn't about to make her; he had never seen her react like that, so he knew something was very wrong. The look on her face, one of sadness and despair, replaced her usual happy demeanor. Still silent, she walked over to his bed and sat down, so he closed the journal he had been writing in as he was waiting, looking over at her from his small personal desk.

"Ok, so when you get a PhD, at 24, as a woman, in the South, no one really takes you seriously. My first job after grad school was in a high school library, a job I had for about three years," she began.

"Really?"

Daniel was surprised, that wasn't on her resume. He had gone back and read the thing, the entire file, at least seven times the very day that they arrived back from San Francisco. It seemed that he discovered more and more information about her every day, but he didn't ask anything further, waiting for her answer.

"Yea, I left that out, not intentionally, it just didn't seem to bolster my credentials for a Smithsonian job. Kinda where I get the obsessive organization from. Anyway, I'm not sure if you have any idea how much a school librarian makes, but it's not a lot. Dad couldn't work anymore and with the cost of his care, we ended up losing the house," she continued, her voice strong and clear, a different Adrienne than before.

"So, we lived in a motel. Dad, and well, me, we were too proud to take charity from Aunt Barbara. The rent was cheap, and we were just making it between food and dad's medical bills, no one was the wiser, even the rest of the family thought everything was alright," she said, that confidence short lived, as she started to tremble. Standing from his chair, Daniel went to sit beside her, reaching over and putting his arm around her.

"One night, it was February or something like that, it was late and I must have only been asleep for a few hours. The room had two beds, one by the bathroom and one by the door. I gave dad the one by the bathroom so it would be easier for him; he was already pretty weak at that point," she explained. Daniel had no idea where she was going with this, but she was shaking all over, so he just pulled her into his arms and she came, burying her face against his chest for a moment before turning her head so she could speak again, her cheek still pressed above his heart.

"They busted in, two of them, they literally kicked in the door. The motel wasn't in the best part of town, but I sat up in bed just shocked no one heard. I mean, they kicked in a door, how could no one hear that? One of them rushed over and started going through our things, asking where we kept dad's painkillers, shouting out names of street meds, while the other grabbed me and shoved the gun into my face. Right into my face, screaming at me, shoving me back, off the bed, into the corner. He started to pull my..." Adrienne trailed off, sobbing. Not knowing what to say, Daniel held her tighter, cradling her head in his hand and letting her cry for just a moment.

"I wanted to scream, but I couldn't, but I couldn't fight back either because da udder one 'ad dad, ahn he was so weak, and dey 'ad a gun to his head too. Dey said 'ee was gonna kill dad if I dinna let 'em, that if we dinna 'ave oxycontin, we dinna 'ave they won leavin empty 'anded, dey were gonna get sumtin out ah it," she cried harder, trying to take in some breaths, her voice switching from garbled speech to a sad slow southern drawl that he could barely understand but understood enough.

Daniel was heartbroken, he wanted to go back in time, to fix this, to defend her, to protect her, to make this all not happen. Her tears were soaking through his shirt but he held her impossibly tighter, instinctively kissing her head as he smoothed her hair.

"Did they?" Daniel was scared to finish the question but for some reason felt he needed to know. Not that he would love her less, but he just needed to know, he needed this secret to be shared, but he regretted the question as soon as it crossed his lips as she began convulsing in his arms.

She didn't need to answer him, he knew.

He had been there and he knew; in that instant he knew, knew why she was afraid of sleeping near doorways, knew why guns scared her so badly when much deadlier things didn't, knew why she had cowered in that closet, in her mind her worst nightmare repeating itself. Holding her protectively in his arms, forcing back emotions of his own, he kissed her head, clutching it to his chest as he pressed his cheek against her forehead, unable to be any closer but wanting her to know with their contact that he was there and he wasn't going anywhere.

_Oh god Adrienne, I'm so sorry..._

Kissing her head again, he didn't even care about holding back anymore, he let go for just a moment, reaching down to unlace his boots and kick them off of his feet, turning back to face her. He didn't ask permission, didn't explain, just sat back on the bed, pulling her into his arms and laying down, with her, so close, holding her tighter than he ever had before. Sniffing, she buried herself into his chest, still weeping, Daniel kissing her hair once more.

"I hope you know you can tell me anything," he said, hoping that she would, that she could understand without him saying it, that maybe, just for a moment she could know how much she meant to him.

_I love you Adrienne, please let me take the pain away. _

Adrienne just nodded, not giving him hope one way or the other.

"I do; I just needed to wait until I could," she whimpered into him, crying more, convulsing in his embrace. He reached his hand around, brushing the hair off of her damp face, kissing her cheek as he did.

_I love you and I'd take it all away if I could. _

"I don't know what I'd do without you Daniel," she whispered. Me neither, he thought, reaching down to squeeze her hand, choosing to keep his words to himself.

Lying there in silence, he waited for her to fall asleep, and it didn't take long; she was spent from the injury, the excitement and the tears. Soon she was lying there, in his arms, breathing lightly and slowly and he couldn't hold it in any longer, he had to say it, if not for any other reason than to ease the pain deep inside.

"I love you Adrienne," he whispered into her ear, "and I'm never going to let anyone ever hurt you again."

Not moving, not worrying about anything else, not even concerned that he was lying here, holding her this close, he let himself fall to sleep, hoping he had made her a promise that he could keep.


	28. Chapter 27 - The Northern Dune Sea

_Please bear with me. There is some more pining here, but there are also some SUPER important details and information for the main story arc. This story is more about the arc than them, but I threw in some more background you needed. _

_Pay CLOSE attention. _

"Christ, just let him take Dr. Perky. It's the Unas for crying out loud; we don't need to send an entire damn brigade," Jack rolled his eyes at the last order of business from the meeting agenda. He had been in here for three hours discussing stupid things that the IOA should really be letting Sam deal with and had finally gotten down to the most pointless item on the list, checking in on P3X-888.

As if Chaka would ever start harboring ex-Ori fake Jaffa weirdoes with a death wish.

The big lizard liked them more than that.

The Unas had agreed to mine on both their home world and P3X-403 in exchange for protection and supplies from Earth and Chaka was the liaison between all three worlds. Jack thought he was doing a pretty bang-up job, however, in true IOA fashion, they wanted to send SG personnel all over the damn galaxy to check in on things that did not need checking. Their rationale, that Anubis would start contacting their allies to make some of his own, now that his first plans of infiltration were foiled, but Jack knew better, he knew that his old pal 'Nuby would be the last person, ancient, ex Gou'ald asshole Chaka and his folks would ever be paling around with.

Hoping to avoid a complete and total disaster, Jack had suggested sending Daniel since he had a good relationship with the Unas and wouldn't stick his nose into anything. He would go, spend the recommended three days or so, come back, and make Dr. Perky write up one of those pretty little reports like she did complete with those glittery tacky graphics. She was really good at that, to be honest, she was good at a lot of things and he was starting to see why Daniel liked her so much because for as different and wild she was, she got the job done and shut those assholes up.

That he could appreciate.

Kinda cute too, shame Daniel was into alien chicks.

She was certainly annoying like one though.

Maybe that was the attraction.

"That would be two archaeological staff members on one mission with no military back-up and we would have to shut down the lab for those three days as well," Robert Woolsey replied, condescendingly. Jack threw up his hand, the little punk rocker went with Daniel all of the time now and no one ever thought twice of it, but today, of course, when they would rather send one of their own lackeys, there would be an issue.

"BDP, that stands for Before Doctor Perky, Daniel danced his geeky little feet all over the galaxy, sometimes alone. The lab survived and so did he," Jack paused thinking that wasn't an entirely accurate statement but continued, "Just send them and it'll be real cut and dry, I promise." Looking over at some of the other officials, foreign men with funny names Jack didn't care to remember, Woolsey silently sought their approval. Weasel, Jack thought to himself, you don't even need their approval you just want them to think they matter.

Stupid government bullshit.

"Fine General, I suppose there's no harm just sending the two of them for such a short mission, perhaps with Dr. Jackson's expertise he can expedite the process. I will prepare the necessary materials and see that they are sent to Dr. Rowan's inbox," Woolsey relented. See, Jack thought as he remained seated, the IOA officials, leaving, still complaining in various languages about things that were of no real importance, this is why nothing gets done. Room cleared, Jack stood, happy to at least have gotten his way on one agenda item.

Daniel couldn't say he didn't look out for him.

"Pack up Danny boy, you and your girlfriend ship out at 1300 hours!" Jack announced as he entered the lab. Daniel was leaning against the center table staring at some images being projected on the whiteboard while Adrienne was over at the file cabinet, headphones over her ears, dancing as she filed. Rolling his eyes at the greeting, Daniel held one finger up behind his head, marking his place in the photos before turning to look at Jack.

"Where and she's not my girlfriend," he answered curtly, writing something down as he spoke. Shaking his head, Jack walked over to Adrienne yanking the headphones off of her ears. She jumped a bit, pulling back to punch him but the moment she saw who it was, she retracted her hand, blushing.

"Sorry General, you caught me off guard," she apologized, only having cocked back due to the forceful nature in which her music had been interrupted.

"No worries Rowan, I'd prefer that be your reaction when startled than screaming like a little girl," Jack replied, glad that Dr. Perky hadn't taken a swing at him, glancing back over to Daniel.

"P3X-888," he said and Daniel made a face.

"Why? Is there something wrong?" he asked, putting down the folder and looking concerned. Jack figured he must be worried about Chaka, as Daniel was practically part of the tribe, so he quickly shook his head no, hoping his look of sheer disgust would convey that same.

"No, just IOA bullshit. They need the camp to be observed, make sure that the Unas haven't sold their souls to your good old ascended buddy, and get some stupid reports filled out. I wanted to avoid drama and idiocy, so I volunteered you and Dr. Perky here. Consider it a romantic getaway," Jack joked. He passed over the folder to Daniel and looked behind him where he could see Adrienne pulling her headphones off and going to tuck her iPod into her backpack. Without comment, Daniel opened the file and read through, making a groaning noise as he did peering up at Jack over his glasses.

"Really? Output reports? Working conditions? Analysis of environmental impact? Jack you want to send me?! And Adrienne?!" Jack couldn't tell if Daniel was annoyed or concerned about getting the task set in front of him, it was a pretty damn long list not even counting the snoop around in case Anubis is hanging out part of the report. Jack put his hand on his shoulder quickly, shaking it playfully before turning to leave.

Daniel wasn't going to get out of this one; last thing Jack needed was for Woolsey to turn a good thing with the Unas into a goddamn three ringed circus.

"Look Daniel, I only trust a few people with BS. You're one of those people. They wanted you to take a second person and I know that Dr. Perky is your BS person, so there you go," he shouted behind him as he waltzed through the door. Glaring at Jack as he left, waving his hand in the air over his head, Daniel walked the folder over to Adrienne, presenting to her their latest prize.

"You're not going to get to run today," he apologized and Adrienne just shrugged. Giving up her daily run for Daniel was getting to be a frequent occurrence, so she didn't think much about it.

Leaning over, Daniel tried to read her face to see if he needed to stall any further than the departure time of 1300 Jack had so deftly posted on the top of the folder. Adrienne had been so distant lately, less herself and more withdrawn and while he understood why he also knew that he needed to make sure that she was taking care of herself and running was doing just that.

"I'll take shoes and improvise; this is gonna be a no brainer, right?" Adrienne replied, not one hint of disappointment in her voice. Relieved, Daniel nodded.

"Yeah and you finally get to meet the Unas. They're fascinating people," Daniel continued, rushing back over to his desk to pack, since he would rather go, get this finished and get back to the task at hand, going through a set of MALP photos with some very familiar technology. Following his lead, Adrienne quietly skipped over to her desk, feigning excitement over meeting her boss's dear friends, and packed up her own things, promising Daniel as he left the lab to swing by Jack's office she would be at the gate room no later than 1255.

At 1250 Daniel was knocking on Adrienne's door.

"Just a second!" she shouted from the other side, a 'just a second' that Daniel knew meant she had no intention of walking through that door at a reasonable hour.

"No Ad, we're leaving on time..." Daniel shouted back, coding himself into her room. He opened the door to Adrienne standing in front of a mirror putting on make-up.

Why in the hell was she putting on make-up?

True she wore it, but not a lot, barely any to justify the expense of purchasing it.

What was going on with her?

"One more sec Indy," she said curtly. Daniel wasn't sure whether to laugh, tease or scold, but he sure as hell was going to get her moving.

"Adrienne, what are you doing?" he asked, carefully, out of confusion more than anything.

"I'm making a good first impression, this is your tribe, isn't it? Aren't you one of them?" she replied, the best excuse she could come up with twenty minutes ago when she realized that she was going to be early to the gate room for once and needed a distraction. He'd been so sweet lately, so wonderful and perfect, but she'd told him enough; she just wasn't ready to tell him the rest.

Daniel, however, didn't seem to care about first impressions, yanking the black plastic casing from her hand.

"Come on, you look fine. You do realize that you're being ridiculous, right?" he said, screwing the make-up tube back together and handing it over. Rolling her eyes, she slammed the cylinder onto her dresser peeking over at him.

"You forget I'm now lumped in with Sam and Vala as the ladies of the SGC. The gods gave me big cajun hips so I need to make up for it in other areas," she countered, as playfully as she could, playing normal. Daniel just shook his head at her latest ridiculousness, trying not to stare at those very cajun hips.

He had caught himself doing that lately, noticing her features, her figure, her beauty, the things you only really noticed about a person that you loved. Standing here, her long eyelashes carefully painted, it was the effort of her actions that make her even more breathtaking to him right now and he fought the urge to shut the door and just press himself against her, kissing her with abandon.

Sometimes, it was harder to refrain than others.

Now was one of those times.

_Kiss her..._

Feigning a cough, he stepped away quickly.

"Well, can we get those cajun hips moving in the direction of the gate please," he requested, turning to grab her back pack and staff weapon to leave without her. Pausing at the door jam, she watched him walk away, her insides in pieces, before forcing one foot in front of the other.

_Just give me time..._

The gate room was bustling, a steady stream of teams coming and going, so Adrienne and Daniel just sat back and waited their turn, Daniel using the time to flip through the notes that Adrienne had printed out for him before they left. Adrienne didn't mind just sitting there relaxing, a tiny part of her slightly nervous about meeting Daniel's friends, but more than that, because he knew.

She had told him, told him what had happened to her, told him what no one else in the world knew, except for her father, who had been there, but he was gone, and nothing of that night remained but her fear.

The police had come, her father insisted on that much, but she showered, and came out claiming she was merely pistol whipped and needed the cold water to ease her swelling. The younger cop bought the excuse, but the look in the touching gray eyes of his older partner told another story. He knew, and more than anything that shamed her, but other than a gentle touch on her shoulder, one that took every ounce of strength she had left in her not to shrug away from, he didn't push the issue and left, a police report in hand for breaking and entering with simple assault.

They hadn't even had anything good to steal.

And they never heard from the police again.

Things had been different since she had told him. That night she cried in his arms, soaking his shirt she knew, cried so hard that she fell asleep with the tackiness of saline covering her cheeks. When she awoke, it having not been that late in the evening when he came to check on her, it was only sometime in the middle of the night. There he was, still laying there, holding her so tightly and so close. It had taken quite the contortionist act to escape from his grasp without waking him, and she sat on the bed for a long time staring at him, his sharp jawlines and cheeks, his full lips, slightly pouted as he breathed softly through his mouth, most likely a result of having allergies all of his life. Fighting the urge to wake him, to reach out and touch him, to tell him that she had heard the words she thought she had wanted to hear, she choked back more tears and stood, gazing down at him.

"I love you too," she whispered, slipping from the room needing time to think.

He loved her.

There was no question.

And there was no other option.

He deserved better than someone as damaged as her.

"Earth to Adrienne," Daniel stood glaring right at her, waving in front of her, a semi-sarcastic look on his face, "Are you coming, or are you still afraid of the Gamorrean guard?"

"The what?" she asked, confused, turning her head, grimacing.

"Ad, are you ok? Gamorrean guard? Star Wars? Jabba's Palace? Since when don't you get a Star Wars reference?" he asked, concerned and a little disappointed since he had spent the last twenty minutes before going to fetch her looking up something from Star Wars that he could make a joke about.

"No Indy, I'm good, I just didn't sleep well," she replied, honestly, because she hadn't. It wasn't that she wasn't touched, she knew he said things like that just for her, but she just needed time to think this through. So much had happened in the past few weeks so much she could have never expected or understood. She knew it was technically wrong to be with Daniel, he was her direct boss, anyone who knew government jobs knew that, but on the other hand Sam & Jack didn't seem to care. Standing to adjust her pack, pushing her over analysis aside to head for their shimmering exit, she was two steps away when she felt a gentle grasp at her bicep, making her turn her head slowly and gaze over her shoulder.

"Ad, I can tell Sam something came up, or you can stay here and I'll get someone else to go with me, just tell me..." Daniel started, but stopped himself as he gazed into her eyes, her warning eyes. They said stop; they said let go, so he did just that.

"I'm good, let's go," she muttered softly, pulling away and stepping into the event horizon.

Much to her surprise, P3X-888 looked just like a forest Earth, or Endor since Daniel was all about the Star Wars jokes today, the wormhole depositing them in a field that looked like it had been cleared for the gate itself. In the slight distance there were large evergreen trees as far as the eye could see, except for the clearing peering between the emerald peaks, a clearing most likely leading to Chaka's village and the mining colony.

The gate was positioned in the center of the field and Adrienne could still see remnants where Daniel had excavated years before to her left, the twine and stakes gone but the careful checkerboard pattern of his dig sites tattooed into the earth.

"Is that where you found those matriarchal fossils?" Adrienne asked, tapping his shoulder to point over to the area that matched some of the thousands of photos Adrienne had looked at during her time at the SGC.

"Yea, this is where Rothman began to name samples after Elizabeth Taylor roles," he replied, trying to kid lightly, but Adrienne just smiled.

"All of Aunt Barbara's barn cats are named after the Olympians because of me. Rothman sounds like my kind of guy," she answered, trying to play it natural. It must have worked because he grinned at her comment, placing his hand onto her back gently to lead her down the ramp.

The village was about a two mile hike from the gate, not very far in comparison to other missions, but long enough for Adrienne to wish she had more things to go over with him, more reasons to talk about work.

Because she wasn't ready yet.

Maybe avoid was the wrong word; she hadn't been avoiding him, in fact, she continued to spend time with him outside of the lab, but just shortened their encounters, making for a very strange two weeks. The first Friday after the attack, invasion, after she decided to tell him what she thought he had the right to know, he had shown up at her apartment all smiles, a container of Chunky Monkey and a bottle of French Red in one hand, some slasher film in the other. It was so sweet, his eyes sparkling with excitement at his plan, even babbling on as soon as she opened the door about the plot line of the movie. She wanted to cry the moment she saw him at her door, wanted to send him away and tell him that they needed to stop, that this would never work as hard as he was trying because it wasn't Daniel that was broken.

It was her.

And he deserved better than having to pick up the pieces.

"Look, they've spotted us," Daniel said, breaking her trance for the second time today, stepping forward and yelling something Adrienne didn't understand. He was correct, some guards on the outskirts saw them coming and obviously recognized Daniel, saluting him, one of the younger guards, whose job must have been to serve as a runner, dashing back into the village center. She had seen the Unas in pictures, but were it not for the fact that Daniel had assured her they were friendly, she would have been completely terrified.

Gamorrean guard they were not, lacking the adorable pudginess of Jabba's gatekeepers.

They were slightly larger than a human male, the guards standing at least 5 inches taller than Daniel, who Adrienne knew was six feet tall himself. Their green, spiked skin was intimidating and they seemed to glare at her strangely as if they were sizing her up. She tried to retain her composure, resisting the urge to reach for Daniel's fingers, to reach for him at all, instead she directing to attention to the village, examining the strange structures. Daniel had told her that the Unas typically, lived in caves, but this village had been constructed right around the mining operation. He explained that the Unas were very adaptable people, much more so than human beings and Adrienne hadn't believed it until she saw it; that cave dwellers in less than a generation had changed their entire way of life to live above the ground.

The village was arranged like an Eastern Iroquois settlement, long houses made of grass mats, presumably woven from the grasses Adrienne could see out in the distance, arranged in a circular pattern, much like in the eastern United States. It seemed their water source was situated behind the settlement, as the forest gave way to large meadow bordered by a massive lake, making Adrienne wonder if they had somehow, without ever having made contact with an Iroquois village, managed to master their fishing skills as well. In fact, the only thing that didn't resemble a Powhatan village was the lack of a fence around the barrier, but Adrienne chalked it up to the Unas being the superior inhabitants of the area.

"Ad, hey, hello," Daniel was waving his hand in her face, "you went into your zone again." Adrienne shook her head. Third time today, she thought, reminding herself that she needed to be more careful about this, hoping he would just blame it on her curiosity. Daniel claimed that every time she went to a new place, whether it be a new world or just new surroundings that she went into some sort of observation zone and he acted like she tuned out completely or something. Adrienne tried to explain to him that it was just her eidetic memory creating a picture in her mind, but he still picked on her about it. She just hoped he would think that was what was going on now.

Stop it, she cursed herself, you can't continue to work like this.

_I'm fine sha..._

"...I wasn't in a zone," she replied scrunching her face at him, smiling slightly, ignoring the term of endearment her mind had nearly made her utter. Not that he would know what that meant, it wasn't like he studied cajun extensively now.

Or did he?

"Uh, huh, come on, Chaka will be dashing out here once he realizes I've arrived," Daniel said, hunkering on.

He was exactly right, Adrienne discovered not five minutes later, when she saw the crowd part in front of her and a larger male Unas approach, waving his hand in greeting as if he were human.

"Daniel!" the large humanoid shouted. Smiling brightly, Daniel approached the giant green beast, reaching out his hand.

"Chaka!" he shouted back and the two clasped arms as they reached one another, Daniel saying a few things in the Unas language, signaling for Chaka to turn and face Adrienne.

"Mate!" he shouted warmly and stepped forward toward her, one of the most terrifying things she had ever experienced, visions of b-rate horror movie characters flooding her brain, but she didn't flinch as the large creature embraced her warmly.

Mate, she thought as Chaka returned her to the ground, is there anyone that doesn't think we are together?

_Because you are stupid, it's just you two idiots that seem to be acting otherwise. _

"Helper," Daniel tried to clarify, but Chaka simply turned back to face him, patting him strongly on the back.

_Liar._

"Pretty helper mate," Chaka responded as Daniel was shaking his head, Adrienne laughing lightly at his insistence. At least he thinks I'm pretty, she admitted, enjoying watching Daniel squirm for a moment.

"Not mate Chaka, HEL-PER," Daniel tried one more time as Chaka nodded, leading them excitedly through the forming crowd toward the village.

_No Daniel, I think Chaka's pretty much nailed it, except for the lack of actual mating per se. _

"I didn't tell him that," Daniel assured her, his cheeks flushed and his lips pursed. She couldn't resist, considering everything she should be upset and angry but the childlike exuberance of the Unas just made the entire situation more comical than awkward, and she chuckled, following Daniel and his friend to the village.

"Have home for Daniel and mate," Chaka explained pointing ahead toward a cluster of smaller huts situated toward the center inside ring of the fast approaching village, Daniel had given up on arguing with him, signaling for Adrienne to follow and she did so slowly, forgetting this part of the mission.

It was overnight, with Daniel, alone.

_I can't do this; I can't be here with him like this..._

She'd have to figure out something, she hadn't so much as slept under the same roof as him, not counting the SGC of course, and despite her recognition that this was an impossible dream, that she could never be what he needed, she couldn't help but want to sleep in his arms, so close...

Remaining silent, she trudged on as Chaka led them into the village and to a smaller more circular hut near the largest long house. Adrienne assumed that was yet another adaptation to their environment since as they ducked inside and entered the hut it seemed to be a guest house of sorts. There was a center fire, Adrienne screaming inside her head at the images of the two of them wrapped in one another's arms by the warm flame, and over to the far corner a large bed made of grass mats on an elevated surface. There were a few other mats scattered around so Adrienne assumed that when other SG teams visited the team leaders took the large mat and the other members slept on the side mats, so, trying to ignore the large bed even more so than the fire, she walked over to the smallest mat furthest from the door.

"Take the big bed," she heard a whisper in her ear, his voice, his breath, sending chills down her spine.

Why, she thought, why does this wonderful, caring man love me; why does he worry about me?

Appreciating the gesture, and wanting to let him know she did, Adrienne clasped his arm and reached down for her bag, grabbing it once more and walking over to the larger mat created sleeping area, sitting down to unpack her supplies. Daniel tossed his on the one she had claimed before and turned to face Chaka saying a few more things that Adrienne did not understand. Chaka did a strange bow/nodding thing and left the hut, leaving the two of them alone in their sleeping quarters.

She was bent over, trying to adjust her sleeping area, when Daniel walked and sat beside Adrienne, reaching across her and removing her iPad from her backpack.

"Alright, let's see what lovely things Jack is going to have us do," Daniel started to tap around and Adrienne smiled. He might have said it but he wasn't trying anything, he wasn't pushing anything, it was as if he could read her mind. She needed to remember that his whispered proclamation was meant for a sleeping Adrienne, not one that was still somewhat awake, and the truth of the matter was that he most likely knew what she was just now coming to terms with the futility of their situation.

"I'm so proud of you learning how to use this thing," she said, teasing, deciding to act as normal as possible. Grinning, Daniel looked over at her, tapping the gadget in his hand.

"What do you say all of the time?" he asked, "When in Rome..." He clicked around on the machine and pulled up the electronic version of the files Jack had brought down, disregarding the pile of print-outs sitting on his mat. Sitting quietly, she watched him fumble around the icons, not totally sure as to what he was doing, reaching over here and there to guide his finger.

"We're too educated to be doing this shit," he said to her after he finally had the list opened and enlarged to an appropriate size. Nerves she had experienced all morning subsiding, Adrienne was about to die laughing at his words, unsure if she had ever heard the word "shit" cross his lips.

"You swore," she joked as Daniel smiled, realizing his words.

"You would too if you saw this list," he responded and handed it over to her to read. She was laughing and raising her eyebrows as she scanned the screen, reading it carefully which she had yet to do, her entire focus this morning on the prospect of being alone with him in a place where she could not easily escape. Agreeing with his assessment of the situation, she passed the gadget back.

"What's the plan my oh fearless leader?" she asked, reaching her hand over to his thigh, forgetting herself. She had tried to be less tactile with him too, but was failing again, last week throwing her legs across him during the movie, and yesterday laying her head on his back in a silent whine over some report Woolsey was making her redo. They were just too close, it was too impossible not to, and he made her feel safe.

He knew and she still felt safe with him.

Noticing, apparently, he glanced over at her and smiled, saying nothing and stood, reaching to help her up. She took his hand gratefully, adjusting her uniform, vowing to act normal.

"Knock out as much as possible today and get home, I'd rather be back at the lab going over those MALP images. Grab your radio. I want you to start with the quantitative data and I will take care of the qualitative and do Jack's blessed poking around for Anubis. I'll radio you once I have gotten to my part on the list and you can work on it and answer me back. Start with the area of village surrounding the mine and we can go from there. Don't worry about exacts, just walk it off with your feet and calculate in your head. We can do the math back at home," Daniel ordered, rattling off the instructions like he did, taking off his jacket but reattaching his tac vest to his black t-shirt. Gah, she whined internally, why is he so beautiful, but did the same and walked over to her backpack, producing a measuring tape and calculator, holding them up.

"No, I'll walk it off, but I can give you exact measurements. I figured we'd need these," she replied. Smiling again, he gave her a thumbs up and headed out of the hut, intent on tackling the task at hand.

It didn't take Adrienne very long to walk the village off, or measure the average home structure size, the distance between the huts, as well as the various other things that the IOA seemed to care about for reasons she could not understand. Things like this were more her and Daniel's territory, not the IOA's, but it was good to be off world working again, it took her mind off of the past two weeks. Absorbing herself in her assignment, she even mentioned to Daniel a few times the similarities with Eastern Woodland tribes but he told her that they should keep that between them; better the IOA only get the very basics so they would continue to leave Chaka and his people alone. She agreed, but made a note in the personal file of her iPad, hoping to create an excuse to come back and explore later.

Daniel was sitting on a large rock watching the loading process when Chaka approached him, squatting beside him looking him in the eye, glancing over to the line of alien miners and back at Daniel.

"What you do Daniel?" Chaka asked curious as Daniel scribbled a note onto his legal pad without looking up.

"We're making sure everything is good here. For my leaders," Daniel answered trying to explain to Chaka in the simplest English possible that everything was ok, that there was nothing to worry about. Thankfully, Chaka nodded.

"Is good here," he replied, adjusting his squat to gaze in the same manner as Daniel. Looked down to his list to see the parts of the form he had already filled out, working conditions, impact on the community, Daniel quickly discovered that Chaka was right, it was good here.

And not one sign of Anubis anywhere.

"Chaka has done well," he responded, looking down at his friend but Chaka shook his head.

"No, Unas done well," he smiled in response. Sign of a good leader, Daniel thought to himself, gives the credit to his people. He made a note of that on the screen.

"Daniel?" Chaka spoke again.

"Yes Chaka," he answered not looking up, moving down the checklist to the next question.

"Daniel mate very good," Chaka said. Daniel shook his head laughing, realizing that his explanation of assistant when they arrived might not have been sufficient.

"She's not my mate Chaka," he quickly corrected, "she's my helper." Chaka looked up at him confused.

"Daniel tribe have female helper?" Chaka inquired. He had seen Sam and for years assumed Sam was Jack's mate. In the end, that's what happened and he had only seen Vala in passing when he came to the SGC, indeed, Daniel for the first time realized the picture of Earth he might have given these people was not the most accurate of portrayals.

"Yes, we have many female helpers yes," he clarified, nodding his head and making eye contact so his friend would understand, but Chaka turned his head curious.

"Female not strong," Chaka retorted and Daniel laughed at that one, unable to contain his amusement.

"Don't let Adrienne hear you say that," he joked. Chaka turned his head, the English too fast for him, and Daniel remembered that he never did tell Chaka Adrienne's name.

"Helper is Adrienne. She is very strong," Daniel corrected him, stressing the word very, his muscle memory reminding exactly how strong she was.

"Ahdwain strong?" Chaka tried, failing to say her name correctly. Daniel laughed and tried again, opting for her preferred moniker.

"Call her Addy then. Yes, she is very strong. She can beat me," he admitted to Chaka what he would never tell Adrienne. ever, a verbal confirmation of what they both knew to be true, the ultimate source for harassment. Chaka, however, was still somewhat confused.

"Strong Addy," Chaka declared, a slight question in his voice, so Daniel just kept writing.

"Just call her Addy. She doesn't need any more encouragement," Daniel replied and kept working. Somewhat understanding the joke, Chaka sat down completely, crossing his legs, watching what Daniel was watching in silence. Finishing the last sentence he intended to write concerning the mining, he reached for his shoulder, squeezing the button on his radio.

"How's it going my young Padawan?" he asked into the radio, hoping she would appreciate his joke. He heard a click and then laughter, making him chuckle lightly himself.

"You keep saying things like that Indy and I'll be forced to marry you," she joked back, pausing at her tactless comment, trying to cover quickly, "Unless there's something else I think I'm about finished. Just wrote down the last couple of things instead of radioing you; I hope that's alright?"

"Just fine," he responded, secretly delighted to have finally hit the correct Star Wars button, "meet me back at the hut. I think we can look through everything and double check. If it looks alright we can dial home in the morning and see if Jack thinks we can head back."

"Sounds like a plan. Meet you back there Obi-Wan," she said playfully and he took the bait.

"Does that make you Luke or Anakin?" he quickly shot back, hoping to further impress her.

_I don't even understand why you love those silly movies Ad but I've been on the blessed internet for you..._

"Anakin. There's a dark side to me shug that you haven't yet met," she hissed into the radio, ending the communication.

"Chaka," he called out to his friend, "we're finished." Chaka stood, looking pleased.

"We must eat!" he declared but Daniel laughed and shook his head no.

"No Chaka. Addy and I must work," he said, trying to take a tone of apology with his voice and Chaka nodded in understanding.

"Chaka bring food," he declared and headed off for the village center, presumably to bring them a meal. Daniel smiled and made his way to their quarters, hoping that Adrienne would meet him there.

"Alright, last item, kilos per hour," Daniel read from the list, pinching his nose as he did. Adrienne was lying on her stomach beside him and scanned down her legal pad as she reached over to the plate Chaka has brought for them to eat. She had been thrilled to see that it was an entire plate of fruit, but Daniel was content to chew on a chocolate power bar.

"I sat there about an hour, but just a general guess without running it through the calculation program it looks like 25 an hour. Pretty damn good I'd say," Adrienne added. Daniel agreed and entered in the information into the tablet, not noticing her smile at his improved usage of her favorite tool as she popped a small yellow berry into her mouth. Daniel tapped a few more things and then passed the iPad back over to her, beaming.

"Finished!" he declared and Adrienne rolled over, shoving the iPad back into her bag.

"Woo hoo!" she said flatly, sitting up, "so what now?" Shrugging, Daniel looked at his watch, mouthing to himself and then back up at her.

"If you don't mind walking in the dark we could try to head back to the gate and dial home," Daniel offered, noting a change in her demeanor.

"Well, you know how I feel about ghosts..." she said quietly, trying to act terrified, failing miserably as Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Kidding, Indy, no, I'm good to go. I would really love to sleep in my own bed if at all possible," and not with you if at all possible, she added internally, because I am not sure what I am libel to do...

Settled, Daniel stood and grabbed his bag.

"Alright, pack up, I'll go find Chaka and we can head out," he ordered and left the hut. Adrienne started to pack their things when she heard a low rumble in the distance and lifted her head, curious, trying to listen, but it was quiet, not a sound to be made. Thinking that she was hearing things she continued to pack, when the sound boomed again and there was a flash immediately after.

Annoyed, Adrienne stopped packing.

"Dammit! Of course there's a storm, hello uncomfortable sleeping situation," she grumbled, crawling over to the large bed, reaching into her bag to grab her latest vampire novel when Daniel came dashing into the hut.

"Up Adrienne, up up!" he was shouting and Adrienne looked over at him confused, the book falling gently to her side.

"Daniel, if you think I'm running two miles in a storm you've really lost your marbles. It's ok we can just camp here," she answered, thinking to herself that it was not okay, but she was going to have to deal with it, but Daniel was shaking his head, grabbing his bag and rushing over to Adrienne dragging her upward by her wrist.

"No Ad, it's thunder hail. I'd forgotten, it's why the Unas lived underground. They're a seasonal storm and cause damaging hail. We need to head for the caves, now, the storms are early," he urged, pulling her harder. She stood, grabbing her things, looking over at him, confused.

"But what about the huts? What do they do about the huts?" she asked.

"Chaka says they leave them, they leave everything, the settlement, they are still figuring that part out but we have to run, we have to go now, come on," he pulled her more frantically and she stopped arguing, following him as he dashed out of the tent.

The hail began to fall when they were only fifty feet from their shelter, a large piece slamming into Adrienne's shoulder, causing her eyes to water at the sudden sting. Daniel must have seen because he reached his arm over to try to protect her but she shoved him away since his concern was only slowing their retreat. Just as he pulled away a second piece slammed right in front of him, nearly missing his face and Daniel stumbled back, Adrienne catching him the best that she could. Instead of remaining upright however, they both fell back onto the ground, Daniel almost completely on top of Adrienne and they scrambled to stand, helping one another to their feet when Adrienne was belted in the hip by yet another piece of ice.

She grabbed her side this time her face giving away the pain and Daniel reached to pull her up, trying to pick her up in the now muddy slippery mess but she shoved him away again and pointed to the Unas that were making their way to the caves, insisting that they soldier on. Staggering onward just feet ahead of Daniel, Adrienne saw a small Unas stumble, and peeked over her shoulder to shout to her friend, but noted that he had seen as well, dashing up to meet her and together they each grabbed an arm, lifting the creature to it's feet and pulling it along between them. They heard screaming and looked up to see that Chaka was standing at the mouth of the caves, waving his arms wildly.

"Daniel, Addy!" he was shouting and Daniel and Adrienne helped the Unas between them to their feet entirely, the three making at mad dash to the opening before them, collapsing, out of breath at the mouth of the grotto.

"Old Unas village inside," Chaka said pointing in the direction that Unas they had grabbed was already headed. His face fully of worry, Daniel looked up at him and put up his hand.

"Addy's hurt," he said, without thinking, reaching for the clasp of Adrienne's pants but she smacked his hand away.

"For the love of god Ad let me see your hip. I heard that piece hit you," Daniel said emphasizing the word heard, reaching for her buckle once more. Adrienne winced, obviously in pain moving his hands away, reaching to uncover her hip herself. Her heart racing still from their harried escape, she unclasped the buckle and unzipped her pants pulling them down to expose her right pelvic bone. Reaching into his vest, Daniel grabbed a small flashlight, clicking it on to shine the light at the exposed skin. There was a large black knot forming right by where Adrienne was resting her thumb and what looked like blood oozing from an unidentified wound. The cajun was gritting her teeth in pain and noting that she needed to relax, Daniel reached behind himself for his pack, handing it over to her.

"Lay back," he ordered but Adrienne shook her head.

"Indy, it's not that bad, let's get inside," Adrienne argued wincing as she tried to sit up.

"We're fine right here, but your hip is not," Daniel replied as he made a face at her. Pushing him away, she tried to sit once more, wincing again, falling back onto her elbows. Defeated, the throbbing in her side more painful as the seconds passed, she relented and laid back on his pack, uncovering her injured hip once more. Daniel pulled out some first aid supplies from his vest and crawled over to her, pulling the side flap of her pants down a little further trying to locate the source of the bleed. She winced again and he saw a small eruption of the skin where the hail must have hit so hard it busted her open, so he grabbed a sterile bit of gauze and a few iodine packets, ripping them open and beginning to dab lightly. Adrienne gritted her teeth harder between the pain of the open wound Daniel was cleaning and the pressure of him pushing down on the forming bruise, her head spinning. He worked as fast as he could, trying not to cause her further pain and when he was satisfied he had done his best, he carefully bandaged it, covering her back up carefully.

"At least it wasn't on the side with the tattoo," Daniel smiled as he packed his things away.

"I knew that I'd regret showing you that someday," she answered playfully, not sure whether to be touched or slightly creeped out that he remembered.

"Can you walk?" he asked, reaching into another pocket to grab some ibuprofen worried about swelling. Nodding in the affirmative, she stood, taking the pills from his hand and swallowing them down dry. She knelt down and went to reach for her pack but Daniel beat her to it, tossing hers over his shoulder with his own. Adrienne just smiled and took another step, stumbling slightly as she moved forward.

"I take that step as a no," Daniel stated and placed her arm onto his shoulder, wrapping his own around her waist.

"I'm fine," she argued verbally but relented physically.

"Sure you are," he replied, hoisting her up the best he could, leading her through the tunnel where the dim lights of the Unas' fires were visible ahead. Ducking through the tight passages that served as the entrance to the hall, they were able to stand again after a short way and saw the group gathered in a large common area around a fire, Chaka having saved them a place close to his own to warm themselves.

"Addy good?" Chaka asked as Daniel carefully helped his assistant sit on the mat closest to where they stood.

"Addy good, small wound," she assured him, smiling, and satisfied by her response, Chaka looked back at the fire, scanning his people.

"Chaka?" Daniel leaned over Adrienne to get his attention, "How long does the storm usually last?"

"Few suns, many suns, stop now," Chaka replied, shrugging, a mannerism he must have picked up from Daniel.

"In other words you don't know," Daniel clarified, and Adrienne let out a sigh as Daniel glanced over at her.

"I guess we can just rest here. If we haven't checked in as scheduled, Jack will dial in and come find us, weather or not. There's got to be plenty of food and water since some members of the tribe still come here from time to time," Daniel explained and too distracted to think otherwise, Adrienne just leaned over onto his shoulder and looked at her watch.

10:00 p.m. Earth time.

Evidently not paying that much attention either, Daniel wrapped his arm around her.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" he offered, "I don't want you moving around with that hip much anyway, at least until we can get Carolyn to look at it."

"Not like I have a whole hell of a lot else to do," she said, sitting up again and grabbing her pack. She scooted her body closer to Daniel and turned to her side, laying her head onto the backpack. She felt bad for a moment, sleeping surrounded by displaced Unas, but as she let her eyes scan the room she saw that many of the Unas were doing the same and they looked like maybe they knew the storm would not be as long as Chaka said it would be. Hoping that was the case, Adrienne shivered a bit and felt a hand on her leg. Smiling, she reached up to grab his hand for the comfort of his touch and let herself fall asleep.

"Addy helper good?" Chaka asked once Adrienne was asleep. Daniel slowly pulled his fingers away from her grasp, rubbing his hand across her leg lightly, leaning over to made sure she was comfortable before responding to Chaka.

"Yes, just hurt and tired," Daniel replied but Chaka turned his head from side to side and smiled.

"Daniel love Addy helper," he said and laughed, grinning the best his horned face could.

"Chaka, Addy is my friend, like Sam, remember?" he clarified. Chaka just laughed some more and looked toward the fire.

He wasn't winning with the Unas either, that was obvious, and he wasn't about to argue with Chaka when he was exactly right.

Daniel could still hear the hail beating on the walls of the caves and he gave up just sitting there and staring at the fire, moving his own pack to make it a pillow and leaning back to rest his head onto it. Peeking over at Adrienne, asleep on her side and breathing lightly, he scooted his body closer to hers, wrapping his arm protectively around her.

Daniel awoke to loud, violent, crashing sounds all around him and he sat up quickly, whipping his head around frantically, fearing the worst. Chaka and many of the other leading Unas were no where to be seen but glancing beside himself he saw Adrienne was still asleep and leaning into him. Still holding her close, Daniel bent to whisper in her ear.

"Ad, wake-up, something's going on," he said in a panicked tone hoping not to startle her too badly. She rolled over and rubbed her eyes, still half asleep and not pulling away from his arm.

"Did the storm stop?" she asked quietly and Daniel shook his head.

"I'm not sure, but there was a loud crash and I'm going to check it out. I want you to stay here alright?" he insisted, pulling away slightly, realizing that he was holding her in his arms, so close, too close, and his heart was racing now for two reasons instead of one.

"Sure, but don't do anything heroic, please," she pleaded, sitting up and pulling away herself, reluctant to leave his embrace.

"I promise," he answered, remembering another promise he made to her, pushing himself to analyze the situation and get back to her as soon as possible.

Daniel knew there was something very wrong when he could barely make it through the corridor for all of the Unas men blocking the way. Some moved for him kindly, others made a face as he passed, but eventually he was able to make his way to Chaka, who was standing at the mouth of the cave right where Daniel had tended to Adrienne hours before. However, this time there was no mouth to the cave entrance; in its place a large tree had fallen. Distressed, Chaka peered back at Daniel, all of the Unas stopping to stare at the one human.

"Too small for Unas. Daniel try?" he asked and Daniel nodded, approaching the tree and looking for a space to squeeze through. Scanning the fallen timber, he found a small hole underneath the tree and got down on his hands and knees, trying to push his hands through first and fit his body in after. Pushed harder, Daniel tried to squeeze himself further, but couldn't get past his shoulders and discouraged, he stood, brushing himself off, turning to face Chaka.

"Too small for Daniel," he explained and Chaka pointing back in the direction of the tunnel.

"Too small for Addy?" he asked. Daniel thought for a moment. Adrienne was smaller than him, but she was right about one thing this morning, her big cajun hips.

She wouldn't make it through either.

"Too small for Addy," Daniel declared instantly. Even if she could squeeze through, he didn't want her very injured hip to be pressed in that fashion anyway. There had to be another way out. Tapping Chaka's shoulder as he was scanning the crowd looking for someone small enough to fit, Daniel tried to indicate with his hands and his eyes what he was looking for, to no avail.

"Chaka, Jack will come soon if Daniel and Addy do not go home, if we do not open the gate to call home," Daniel glanced over, explaining. Since the tribe used to live in the caves while this might be an inconvenience it was certainly not an emergency, or so Daniel thought, however, the look on Chaka's face said something different.

"Daniel little food and water in caves. Unas village with mines now. No food here. No water here," Chaka explained. Daniel let out a sigh; he hadn't thought about that when Chaka was explaining how they were still adjusting to village life. Not only that but the Unas preferred fresh food and living in an environment where the temperature was always temperate and season changes were really only rainy and dry, they had no need for food storage. Even in such storms, the males would brave the weather to bring water back to the group or would have stock piled food and water anticipating the season change, but most of the males were working the mines, and working the mines meant not taking care of problems like this, like trees that could trap them inside, well in advance of a situation like this.

Chaka was right, there would be nothing here, and the output that he was so happily recording into the iPad was part of that. To make matters worse, Daniel had no way of knowing whether or not Jack would come right at the twelve hour mark past check-in, or just chalk it up to Daniel enjoying his visit with the tribe.

He needed a better idea and for that he excused himself to go back to his 'BS person' as Jack had so eloquently put it, to try and brainstorm.

Adrienne was relieved to see him coming back toward her, worried sick sitting here alone with the women and children.

"Well?" she asked.

"Trapped, huge tree blocking the entrance," he replied, sitting down beside her.

"Looks like we are camping for a few days. You get to force me to eat Powerbars. Yay!" she teased but Daniel gave her a serious look.

"The storm's early and they've been spending their time mining, for us. They haven't prepared for the season change, they've got nothing down here, no food, no water," he began but Adrienne shook her head.

"Indy, there's plenty of water. I was looking around when you were gone and there's a giant body of water about three chambers back," she assured him.

"But there isn't way to clean that water, it's impossible to boil the amount we need. The Unas won't even drink it unclean, can't drink it unclean. Or go near it. We need to find a way out. Can you walk?" he asked and Adrienne nodded, standing, showing him that she was indeed capable of walking as she said she had been doing before. There was a slight limp so he approached her, but she shooed him away.

"I'm good, let's try to find a way out of here," Adrienne lead the way through the caves she had been exploring.

As she explained to Daniel while they walked she could see nothing but dead ends and small family homes built into the walls; each and every nook and passage was the same until they finally reached the pool Adrienne had described earlier.

"This is the last one I could find. I mean you've been down here before, did we miss anything?" Adrienne asked.

"No," Daniel said, "It's been years but I don't remember any other way out." Adrienne just continued staring at the water.

"Where does this come from?" she asked and Daniel looked around the walls of the cave and back at the pool.

"It must be feeding from the other side of the wall of something; I don't see any indication of a water source in here," Daniel replied. Screwing her face into that curious gaze that she got, Adrienne knelt at the water's edge, her eyes darting back and forth along the water's surface.

"Then, it's got to be coming from the other side, right?" she continued, Daniel kneeling beside her, catching on quickly.

"Yeah, Ad, I know where you are going with this, and the answer is no," Daniel got ready to prep his argument, but she had anticipated his words.

"Alright, I know the Unas are afraid of water and I'm assuming that they don't drink it for what, the same reasons we don't drink the water in Mexico. Not dirty enough to kill you but just yucky enough to maybe give you a bug," she surmised and Daniel let out a sigh.

"Yes, we tested it extensively before setting up camp here; it won't kill you but it can give you a nasty stomach virus," he confirmed and Adrienne stood, pulling her shirt off and removing her pants.

"No Adrienne, absolutely not! You are not diving in there to figure out what is on the other side!" Daniel shouted but completely ignoring him, Adrienne knelt to unlace her boots.

"Do you have a better idea? You said it yourself, Chaka's very concerned and doesn't think we can wait for Jack. If there's water here there has to be another side. At the very least I can see if there is another way out and I'm healthy enough. Worst case scenario Carolyn and I get to have some real good bonding time together," she pulled off her combat boots and slipped her pants to her ankles, kicking them off and then ripping off her socks and stood, in her sports bra and underwear. Remembering her injury, Daniel stepped forward, reaching for her hip and saw that it was black, the same color as her underwear, and that the bruise had spread down her thigh. Shaking his head, he reached to pull off his shirt.

"You're right, but let me go, you're injured," he said but she grabbed his arm.

"Indy, I swim way better than you and you know it," she argued. Daniel pulled his arm away but she was right, he was in great shape, but health was Adrienne's area of expertise.

She could out swim, out run and out fight him.

Damn her.

"Go and look, but come back first, tell me what you find," he gave in, hoping that the frown of his face conveyed his concern. Nodding, she placed her hand onto his shoulder and turned, diving into the water and he watched her disappear from his sight when he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Chaka entering the small room.

"Addy go?" Chaka asked and Daniel pointed to the water.

"Yes, Addy is looking for a way out," he answered and Chaka peered over the water cautiously.

"Helper brave," Chaka declared, impressed at her lack of fear of the water.

"Among other things," Daniel said, more to himself and looked back at the water, and waited.

After what seemed like an eternity Adrienne appeared in the pool once more, Daniel breathing out a sigh of relief and rushing over to her.

"Anything?" he asked. Adrienne was breathing heavily but nodded.

"Yeah, I think I could have made it if I didn't have to come back here. Light ahead, looks like sunrise. I can get back, go for the gate and get some supplies to cut this mess down," she said but Daniel shook his head.

"You think you could have made it? Ad, think and can are two different things completely," he replied. Glaring at him, Adrienne put up her hand.

"Daniel, I can make it. Really, I can. The faster you let me go the faster I can get back," she retorted.

"Brave Addy go," Chaka interjected from behind them, earning him a glare from his old friend.

"See, even Chaka thinks I should go," Adrienne pointed at the Unas. Knowing there was no other alternative he relented; if anyone could make it to the other side and get help, it would be Adrienne. Accepting this course of action, Daniel knelt down closer to the edge of the water.

"Please be careful, I don't know what I would do -" he began but Adrienne put her hand over his mouth to shush him.

"No, not like this. Stop talking like I'm gonna die. I've had to rush for help before, remember," she said, pointing to his side, winking and turned, diving back into the water.

_Wait? What do you mean not like this? _

_She heard me..._

_Does that mean she?_

Waiting for the splash to subside, Chaka knelt beside Daniel, peering over at him.

"Daniel love Addy helper," he said again. Daniel looked over at him. There was no point in denying it, he was pretty sure his face gave him away completely; he did love Adrienne, a love stronger than he had ever felt before.

"Yes Chaka, I do love her. I love her very much," he replied in earnest and Chaka put a hand on his shoulder.

"Addy mate. Chaka right," he said and made his strange laughing sound as Daniel just looked out into the water.

_Yeah Chaka, apparently you are..._

By the time Adrienne got to the other side she felt as if her lungs were going to burst. Popping up out of the water, she searched around for a familiar sight and thought she saw some grasses in the distance, quickly remembering the field visible from the village. Hopeful, Adrienne hoisted herself out of the water and made her way hurriedly toward the open meadow.

"Sir, you might want to come down here," Walter's voice came over the intercom in Jack's office, interrupting his reading of the sports section.

"Dammit Walter, I just sat down not two seconds ago. Where's Sam?" he asked, hoping his wife would step in and deal with whatever this was.

"She's still in the Area 51 planning meeting; I can't get a hold of her," Walter responded.

"Give me one good reason Walter, and it better be good," Jack groaned, slamming the paper onto his desk, dreading what was going to come out of Walter's mouth.

"Dr. Rowan is standing in the gate room in her underwear," Walter replied.

"For the love of God!" Jack said as he stood from his desk.

By the time Jack arrived in the gate room Daniel's little lackey was at least properly covered and being tended to by Cassie Frasier. Jack walked over to her and put his hands on his hips, wondering what in the hell kind of trouble she and Daniel had managed to get themselves into this time.

"What now Dr. Perky?" he asked and Adrienne made a face.

"Seasonal hailstorm sir, a bad one. Daniel and the Unas are trapped in the cave system without food and water," she replied. Disgusted, Jack threw up his hands.

"And why are you naked?" he asked.

"Not totally naked sir; I had to swim out to get help. There's a pretty big tree at the entrance and we need to hurry. The storm was early and the Unas hadn't been able to prepare properly," she responded.

"Of course you had to swim. And your hip?" he continued as he leaned behind him to signal the team on standby to approach, watching Cassie patch up a large cut that seemed to be the top of a painfully long bruise.

"Large piece of hail," Adrienne responded. Jack nodded as Cassie spoke up.

"It's fine Addy, looks like hell but Daniel did a good job of fixing it up," she smiled at Adrienne.

"Of course he did," Jack said out loud into a conversation that he was not a part of, "Ok people, you're on large tree removal and can somebody please go get my WIFE because only Daniel could screw up something so simple!"

Adrienne raised her hand.

"In our defense General..." Adrienne started but Jack but cut her off.

"No, no Adrienne, don't even try," Jack began as the gate was dialing, "I thought God broke the mold when he made Daniel. No, apparently he just waited 15 years and slapped some boobs on it. You two are a magnet for trouble and one of you, now, is even a literal magnet," Jack ranted, tapping Adrienne on the spine and watching the wormhole form. Adrienne turned back to Cassie, looking for some support, to see Sam coming through the gate room.

"Jack!" she shouted, "What is going on!"

"Daniel waits until you're occupied to cause trouble and I'm gonna go fetch him, as usual. You might want to talk to Dr. Naked over there to see what else is going on!" he shouted as he stepped through the worm hole.

Daniel heard the familiar sound of a saw as he lay at the mouth of the cave and stood quickly, running over to the tree.

"Adrienne!" he shouted.

"Yes honey!" a man's voice imitating a woman shouted back. It was Jack and Daniel smiled.

"Jack!" he shouted, "Is Adrienne alright?"

"You're welcome for coming to your rescue old buddy and yes do you think I'd be here with the SG lumberjacks if she wasn't?" Jack responded.

He had a point.

Daniel turned to Chaka, who had jumped up, so Daniel quickly ordered him and the other Unas to back up. Chaka began to shout at his people, and seeming to have the situation under control, Daniel went back down to the main area to retrieve their packs.

"Ok, now, here's a real simple trip Daniel. Do you think you and Dr. Perky can handle it without getting into too much trouble?" Jack announced as he strode into the lab, file folder in hand. This was getting to be a familiar site, Daniel hunched over some nonsense, Adrienne putting things together wearing those headphones and the funny part was that he was getting kind of used to this too.

Daniel did have a point; he and Dr. Perky did seem to get a lot accomplished. He needed to call Daniel, later, tell him that he took back what he said.

His friend needed this crazy dancing woman in his life, she was good for him.

Jack could handle Woolsey.

"Hey sir, did you need something?" the cajun asked, pulling down her headphones, breaking Jack's train of thought. He decided to ignore that Daniel was ignoring him and walked the file to Adrienne, handing it over to the smiling woman, letting her peruse it for a little bit.

"I have another field trip for my favorite little errand people. Care to go?" he asked. Adrienne reached over onto her desk and grabbed a Nerf gun Jack was just now noticing, pointed it, shooting Daniel right in the head.

That got him to look up.

She said something to him in French and Jack just decided this time to refrain from comment, as Daniel laughed, peering up and over at Jack.

"When do we leave?" he asked.

"1500," Jack replied, "I'll see you two love birds then!" The general didn't stick around for a response, just slipped out of the lab to let the two of them get packed.

I wonder if they even know they're together, he thought as he marched down the hall.

"So much for Star Wars," Daniel shrugged, looking up at Adrienne, clearly disappointed. It wasn't that he wanted to watch Star Wars per se, but he'd considered maybe stopping at the store, getting something to cook, making her a nice dinner...

"It's ok Indy, it's not like we won't have other opportunities," she responded, disappointed. Forget Star Wars; she'd hoped to tell him the rest, tell him that she'd heard and that she loved him too but he needed to know what he was getting in to, even if they could, which she still wasn't sure was possible.

"As soon as we get back I promise," he answered, excusing himself with a wave of his hand, darting out of the lab.

"Dad of all of the times to leave me, here I am, stuck and I don't even have you to talk to. Just remember, if there's such as thing as an afterlife, you and I are gonna have words for making me have to deal with all of this alone," Adrienne muttered under her breath, starting to pack her things again.


	29. Chapter 28 - Fantasies

_Ok, there is no real story arc stuff and no they're not publicly together (but really we know what's happening) but honestly, this one is just too fun and silly to cut or put into the side stories. _

"Am I being punished for something?" Adrienne asked as she packed her bag with all of her essentials: iPad, compositions books, vitamin water. She was going as slow as possible and Daniel knew why; she'd been complaining about it for over an hour.

"No Ad, I'm not punishing you for anything. Sam's got me bogged down with this stuff from Area 51 and to be honest this stupid thing is just a pet project of Rodney's. I can't spare the time," Daniel tried to explain to Adrienne sincerely, hoping she really didn't think that he was pawning this off on her voluntarily.

He hated sending her off world to deal with Rodney, but the truth of the matter was that they had to work through items in order of importance, and right now even the translations from Area 51 were taking precedence over everything else, with the threat of Anubis lingering in everyone's minds. Add to that the fact that Daniel was fairly certain Rodney would most likely unleash some undeserved verbal abuse at Adrienne; abuse that she would counter with wit but would probably hurt her just the same. She wasn't as tough as she tried to play off, Daniel knew that very well now, knew that better than anyone else which just made this that much harder, however, sometimes the job came before their friendship and before his feelings for her.

Rodney had found the machine on P4S- 301 a few months ago. He did some rough translations himself and brought back photos for Daniel to confirm, both of which agreed that roughly translated, it was called "The Dream Machine." At the time of discovery, Sam decided that it was something that shouldn't be messed with since dreams were not really what the IOA was looking for. Nor was it an area that Sam felt was necessarily safe to explore, so she didn't dispatch a team to go solve the mystery of its function or purpose, yet Rodney couldn't get it out of his mind and embarked on a campaign to convince her otherwise. He finally got Sam to agree to let him pursue it in his spare time, which had him gating off world almost every other day claiming he had "spare time" but now he was stuck and had called Daniel for back-up.

Being too busy, and wondering where exactly Rodney had gotten all of this mysterious free time, he decided to send Adrienne in his place, knowing she could do just as good a job as he, and that she needed the distraction. She'd been different since their conversation that night, as if she was embarrassed by what had happened to her, but until she felt like talking again, he had done his best to keep her as busy as possible.

Much like himself, work always made her feel better.

"Indy, shug, he has called every last member of the Atlantis crew over there and now he wants us. You know as well as I do that he's got something up his sleeve and I don't want to be the one to find out what it is," Adrienne tried one last time to plead with him, walking over to his desk and throwing her arms on his shoulders and resting her face by his. It was her best whiney Vala impression and it was things like this that made him feel like everything was going to be alright with her, that given time she would be ok again.

"I'll be your best friend," she teased, mimicking a child, but Daniel just frowned at her.

"You already are, I thought, I didn't realize that title had so many strings attached. Go, read the damn thing and get back. After this week I am thinking a bottle of Godiva and an insane British film," he grinned, cocking his head toward the door.

_I love you, please don't get pissed at me. I'm as big a fan of Rodney as you are..._

Smiling, she stood, shoving his arm, heading over to her desk, shaking her head along the way.

_Damn stupid sweet man..._

"Fine, but for this, we get my wine choice and a gory Spanish thriller. Comprende?" she smiled back, gazing over at his eyes to gauge his reaction.

"Claro," he smiled back, returning to the mess Sam had dumped on him but not before taking a quick moment to glance over at the clock. He had hoped to get finished in time to go over to her place tonight, because now, more than ever, he looked forward to their Fridays, which had begun so many years ago as group movie nights and fizzled as everyone's outside lives became busier.

It had become just he and Adrienne, one strange independent film after the next, and the anticipation of this evening had his heart racing. He couldn't tell her just yet, he was still trying to find a loophole in the 'dating one's subordinate' rules, but movie night was the next best thing. She'd lay there on the sofa beside him, throwing her legs across him and every now and then he would slide his hand carefully across them, slightly holding her while they watched.

She didn't seem to mind.

Maybe tonight he'd just pull her into his arms and hold her. He was fairly certain she felt the same, but like him, she hadn't said a word and he wasn't going to push her.

Right now, they had a good thing going, and he wasn't about to mess that up.

"Dr. Rowan, I've read that already! Can't you focus here!?" Rodney shouted from the far end of the large stone structure, which looked more like some mailbox in a gated community than anything else, while Adrienne, leaning over on the other side, toward a curved end made of reddish stone, simply rolled her eyes. She had translated exactly what he asked her to translate, which was not that complicated, as Daniel had suspected, but apparently he had already completed that part himself and forgotten.

Or not.

Either way she didn't care; she'd had it with him and was ready to go back home.

Peeking back over at Cam, who shot her a sympathetic glance as he took another playing card from Teal'c, Adrienne groaned, knowing there was no way that she could win. At this point, between trying to read the machine and test it out Rodney had managed to request John Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon Dex, and now Cameron, Teal'c and Adrienne. Adrienne knew the only reason he was getting away with this was because Sam and Jack had been running back and forth between Area 51 and the SGC, frantically working with Radek Zalenka and his team on a way to defend the Earth from Anubis. Somehow Daniel got his lucky little paws into that and gotten to stay home.

Bastard.

Composing herself, and putting on her most professional face, Adrienne took a breath and looked up at Rodney.

"Dr. McKay, I think that's part of the problem. The machine says the same thing over and over, just worded a bit differently: 'Touch here and make your dreams come true; live the perfect dream to completion; Place your hands on the guides and finish in your mind what your heart has started. It says it here," Adrienne pointed, "another variation here," she pointed to a different place, "and over here- " Rodney cut her off.

"Dr. Rowan, I can obviously see that you're unable to handle this. I have no idea why Jackson keeps you around," Rodney spat viciously, storming over to dial the gate. Adrienne sighed, quietly so Rodney didn't hear, and made her way over to Cameron and Teal'c, still playing cards and ignoring the insanity all around them.

For four hours Adrienne had been here, reading the same lines over and over and over but Rodney obviously wasn't going to listen to her, so she resigned herself to joining Cam, Teal'c, and now Sheppard, who had brought alternate amusement.

"Deal me in," she requested as Cameron shuffled the deck.

Rodney got his wish when about 45 minutes later the gate opened and through it came Daniel, Vala in tow. Ignoring both Rodney and the machine, Vala waltzed over to Adrienne, plopping down beside her.

"I brought snacks," Vala declared, removing her backpack and handing out some fruit, "I figured you were dying and I got tired of watching Jersey Shore reruns," she explained, answering the question on Adrienne's mind, because normally Vala would never volunteer to go on something she deemed as boring and translating, well anything related to Adrienne's job at all, was boring.

"You're my hero," Adrienne thanked her, taking a banana and starting to open it as she gazed over at Daniel, who was standing where she had been standing herself only an hour earlier, his hands bracing himself against the lower flat edge of the slant, reading word for word what she had been reading before.

"Is everyone here incompetent?" Rodney was shouting at Daniel, who Adrienne could tell by the look on his face was not happy to be here. Glaring at him fiercely before beginning to yell himself, Daniel reminded Rodney that languages were not Rodney's area of expertise and maybe people should stop trying to tell other people how to do their jobs. Pulling down the last bit of peel from the fruit, Adrienne just glanced back at Vala, shaking her head.

"Welcome to my past five hours," she said as Vala stared ahead, rolling an apple around in her hand watching Rodney as he raged right back, something along the lines of why would a machine this complex be used for something as stupid as sleeping.

"It's not for sleeping McKay, will you just come look right here, it clearly states," Daniel threw up his hands, walking around the back side of the small structure, to approach Rodney.

"I'm telling you Dr. Jackson, this here, this part clearly states that it helps to achieve your dreams, achieve, and there is clearly a power source connected to this lower panel! It's not any of that mushy shit your little lackey over there was trying to sell me earlier and you're trying to sell me now!" he raged back, Daniel's reaction not one that Adrienne would want to be on the receiving end of.

"What is that thing?" Vala asked, finally taking a bite of the apple.

"It's a dream machine," Adrienne explained, "Or so we think," she added quickly, but Vala shrugged as she swallowed with a so what expression on her face. Swallowing a bite of his own apple, Cam wiped his face, leaning into the conversation.

"Basically, Vala, you remember that movie Total Recall? The one where Arnold puts on that fat lady suit that goes nuts?" Cam explained, trying to use a movie night reference, and it worked, Vala nodding quickly in understanding.

"Ok," he continued, "if the crap Addy's been reading for hours is correct, it works like that virtual reality place that people go to to get those fantasy vacations zapped in their head. Am I right girl?" Adrienne nodded her head in agreement, banana in mouth and unable to speak. She sat for a moment, considering Cam's words, directing her attention again to Daniel and Rodney, still arguing over how the machine worked and what the inscription said.

"Listen to me. It's right here, this is nothing but pure entertainment Rodney, so unless you are looking for a new way to amuse yourself..." Daniel stepped back from the machine, crossing his arms across his chest.

"You're just upset you didn't find it! What if this isn't for amusement? What if this thing can be used to stimulate the human mind, unlocking parts that we have yet figured out how to use? What if the solution to all of our problems is just inside our own minds, waiting for something like this to help it come out!?" Rodney argued back, his voice less angry and more desperate. Sighing out, Daniel uncrossed his arms and shook his head, pushing up his glasses as he knelt down to read again.

He knew where this was going, and this wasn't about Anubis or glory, this was about getting home.

For as nasty as he acted, Rodney McKay had made a place for himself on Atlantis, both the base and their second planet, and he just didn't feel like he belonged here.

"Ok, I'll read it again," Daniel agreed, starting over yet again, reading aloud the inscriptions once more.

"Fantasies become truth and you can finally reach for the stars," Daniel read, trying, but failing, at least in Adrienne's point of view, to be optimistic, however, at his words Vala's eyes widened and she jumped upright, staring back down at Cam and Adrienne.

"Wait, so I can touch that thing and live any fantasy I would like?" Vala clarified.

"I think so," Adrienne answered, her stomach turning at what fantasy Vala may be wishing for. Please, Adrienne thought, please don't let it be anything about Daniel, as Vala smiled, dashing over to the machine, in search of a way to activate it. Seeing her black pants leg race past him, Daniel stopped, reading, peering around the edge of the machine to scold in advance.

"Vala, we don't know how it works, just don't touch it ok?" Daniel said, watching her squat and scramble and scan the machine.

"Daniel you dolt, I've seen something like this before, there used to be some Calgarthian traders that had something similar. There's a button right here, look, it works like this," she exclaimed, remembering seeing a similar machine at a palace once, a palace she had broken into, pressing the button and placing her hands into two rectangular slots.

Lights began to flash all around the machine like antique camera bulbs, the red rock slab suddenly coming to life in front of them.

"No, Vala, don't!" Adrienne ran screaming toward her friend, tackling her and shoving Vala to the ground. From her spot on the ground, Adrienne looked backed up at the beams emanating from the machine and blazing around her and in a moment of temporary insanity, slipped her own hands in the rectangles.

"Vala, dammit, I told you not to touch that. Do you remember the last time you touched something?" Daniel screamed at her, his eyes still closed, a pounding headache forming in between his temples. Pinching his nose, he opened them to bright sunlight, sitting up slowly and was poked by something cold and hard jabbing into his side. Confused, he looked down to discover that strapped to his side was a large broad sword. Jolting upright he looked at himself in a panic, searching for his uniform jacket and BDU's, instead, found that he was wearing brown leather traveling breeches and a blue linen tunic with a matching leather vest. Glancing over in search of his friends, he saw Vala sprawled out on the grass in front of him in a red leather catsuit. Groggily she turned to face him, running her hands along the clothes confused, squinting her eyes to adjust to the blazing sunshine. Daniel scanned Vala's strange get up as well, noting that she was unarmed save for a small nightstick type thing at her side but no other weapons. Noticing it herself, Vala held it up, puzzled.

"Why do you have a sword when you can barely shoot a gun? And what in the hell is this?" Vala reached out the stick to Daniel, curious as he leaned over to examine it closer himself, surprised his glasses were gone but he could see just fine. His fingers only millimeters away from the red leather wrapped object when he heard screaming from the hill above.

"NOOO! Daniel don't touch that thing!"

It was Adrienne, but she too was not dressed in SG BDU's. Like an angel she came gliding down the hill, clad in a pure white dress with slit sleeves, the satin-like fabric flowing out around her. The bodice was laced up the front, low and opening much more than Adrienne would have normally shown, and there were slits cut into the dress at her legs, allowing her to run.

She was gorgeous; it was like a dream and the sight of her took his breath away.

"Don't touch what Ad? And why are we dressed like this?" Daniel asked puzzled, forgetting the weapon in question, Vala, their surroundings, forgetting everything but the woman rushing toward him.

"The agiel!" she shouted once more as the hill began to flatten out and she was running at a level toward him. Finally coming back to reality, his brain trying to discern what she was talking about, he noticed that behind her was Teal'c, wearing brick red wizard's robes, full length, dragging the ground and running as well. Daniel looked at the both of them strangely, his mind now focused on the fact that they were all dressed strangely and he had no idea where they were.

"What's an agiel?" Daniel asked, glancing at Vala who was still holding the little stick, mystified, as Adrienne reached him, out of breath, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"Where's Cam? Or the Atlantis team?" she asked, gasping for air. Adrienne wasn't a sprinter and Daniel couldn't imagine she was too happy either having to run in that outfit, that amazing, amazing outfit.

_Focus Daniel, focus. _

"I haven't seen them, we just woke up, here, like this. Ad, do you know where we are? What is that thing, because apparently it's not just a video projector!?" Daniel stood, with the help of Adrienne's offered hand, adjusting the very heavy sword at his side. She was nodding emphatically in the affirmative, the severity of their situation starting to take shape in her head.

"That thing was what I have been translating for hours that you made me do for him; it's like a virtual reality machine, not a projector, he'd figured out that much before I arrived, just not one hundred percent correctly. But this, well, Vala didn't do this, well, not totally," Adrienne tried to explain, furrowing her face, biting her lip, trying to rack her brain to remember if she had translated anything else, anything at all that could help. Sensing her frustration, Teal'c walked up and placed his hand on her back so Adrienne just breathed in and continued.

"Vala activated the machine, but I was gah damn scared of what in da 'ell would be in her virtual reality, I mean, no offense, so I shoved her out of da way and put my hands in her place. Sorry mon ami," Adrienne apologized, directing to attention to Vala, now standing, looking down at her very tight red leather outfit. Vala shook her head, shrugging her shoulders, rolling the agiel in her open palm.

"Quite alright. I don't think that any of us would want to live out what goes on in my head. Except for maybe Daniel," Vala looked over at him smiling seductively and raising her eyebrows, but Daniel rolled his eyes and turned again to Adrienne.

"Ad, slowly, where are we and what do we do?" he asked, noting the nerves in her voice as she babbled out what had happened, blaming herself first and foremost before looking for a solution.

"Ok, like I said, Rodney said it was like a brain scanner, it examines your subconscious, pulls from there to make your dreams a reality, but I don't think he's right. I think it's more like a fancy virtual reality video game, just operates based on your own personal dreams, desires, wishes. If I'm right, which everything written on the machine says that I am, you basically just live out a fantasy to fruition, which should be easy..." Adrienne's eyes widened, her voice trailing off as she realized exactly where she was and who was standing before her.

"That doesn't sound very confident Ad," Daniel countered.

"Well, it kinda depends on a few things," Adrienne began, nervously, when she heard yelling behind her.

"Dammit Vala, Rodney says you did this, where in the hell are we!?" Cameron was storming out of the woods followed by the missing contingent of their friends wearing a blood red vest with gold trim and pants to match. Her fear confirmed by his attire, Adrienne also choked on her own tongue, swallowing and running over to Daniel, shoving her hands into his pockets, reaching, feeling and searching. Shocked, he flinched back, unsure as to what she was doing.

"Ad, what in the hell?" he asked as she smiled, pulling a small brass object out of the pocket of his pants.

His pants, she thought, of course it had to be in his pants pocket.

She put her head down, trying not to notice the way he looked in the linen tunic, open at his perfect chest, killing her, living out her fantasy, Daniel as the hero, as Richard Rahl, turning quickly to scan the Atlantis crew.

Teyla was dressed in red robes examining a strange martial arts looking boomerang while Ronon stood beside her, and he, like John and Rodney were dressed to look like high ranking soldiers wearing the same colors as Cameron. Letting her eyes run across their collective once more, Adrienne began to nod her head, a plan starting to take shape.

"Ok, good news is that I know where we are and it seems that it's letting me take some creative liberties. Bad news is that we have about two hours until the world ends," Adrienne started and on cue the ground beneath their feet began to shake, a huge crack forming in front of them, separating the group. On one side were Daniel and Vala and everyone else on the other, sending Adrienne into a tailspin of panic.

"Oh no!" Adrienne yelled, "that can't happen," and without thinking she took a running leap just making it to the other side, slipping and crashing to her knees. Daniel rushed over to help her up, concerned, pulling her into his arms. Pausing for a moment, nervous tingles rocketing through her body, at his closeness, at his touch, at the way the sunlight was accenting his mesmerizing eyes, she looked up at him, shaking it off and glanced back over her shoulder at the rest of the group.

"Jump guys, well, everyone except Teyla. You have to stay over there," Adrienne ordered, bringing herself back to focus. It's part of the machine Addy, she told herself, everything, it's how the machine messes with you; it makes you want the fantasy.

_Because I want to disappear away with him right now..._

"Then I stay with her," John declared, refusing to leave a member of his team behind and alone in this strange place. Cam would have done the same for any of them, so Adrienne nodded her head in agreement.

"Fine," she answered, "but Teyla can't be anywhere near me, got it?" the Athosian woman appeared puzzled but agreed, as the earth shook and the crack grew. Sensing that they were short on time, Teal'c and Cam took a running leap themselves, their longer legs allowing them to make it over easier than Adrienne had before him. The Atlantis crew looked at one another and before he could argue, Ronon grabbed Rodney, throwing him across the ravine before jumping over himself.

"You guys stay put." Adrienne shouted back at John and Teyla, "If this works, we should all be back on P4S- 301 soon enough."

Grabbing Vala by the hand, the one without the power weapon, Adrienne dashed off to an open field, leaving the others behind.

"So, what's going on Addy?" Vala asked as they ran toward a temple in the horizon.

"Do you have a stone in your pocket?" Adrienne asked. Confused, but complying with her request, Vala reached into the one pocket of the very tight jumpsuit, producing a light blue rock in the shape of a tear. Adrienne snatched it away and continued running, powering ahead as she racked her brain, trying to remember what needed to happen.

"Addy, what is that?" Vala asked but Adrienne didn't answer, just kept running until she made it to the base of the temple, turning back to Vala, hoping her sprint had bought her enough time to talk to her alone. A look of sheer terror on her face, she grabbed her friend and pulled her aside, taking one final peek over her shoulder before explaining.

"Look, Vala, this is one of my shows alright, one of my stupid geek shows that you love to make fun of. Just go with whatever I have to do and don't open your mouth. Are you following me?" Adrienne stressed the last words, cutting her eyes over her shoulder at Daniel, who was leading the group and fast approaching. Still confused, Vala nodded, just agreeing with her friend for now, hoping she knew what she was doing.

"Is this one of your damn TV shows Ad? Or a book? A movie? Care to share which?" Daniel asked as he arrived at her side, the remainder of their contingent coming to a halt behind him.

"It's Legend of the Seeker, ok Indy? You're Richard, I'm Kahlan, Vala is Cara, Teal'c Zed, Cameron is Darken Rahl, and well Teyla is the bad guy sorta, kinda complicated, but regardless we have to get to the top of that," Adrienne tried to summarize the best she could, pointing at the temple on the hill. Daniel shook his head; at this point in his career not questioning anything this insane, even more so when it came from Adrienne. He followed her up the rocks, the rest of the group fast on his heels, only to be stopped by Adrienne who was standing in front of him, holding up her hands.

"Sorry guys, but if this thing works like Rodney says it's gotta be me, Indy, Teal'c and Vala," Adrienne declared, looking over at Rodney for confirmation, hoping he wouldn't try to argue with her on this since clearly, based on this development, she was correct in her earlier assumption and translation.

"If that is what happens in the story, she's right. If it is not done just so, then we will be reset into another fantasy," Rodney agreed, finally, explaining to the others as if he had been right all along. Holding back the urge to slap him across his arrogant face, Adrienne didn't take the time to add anything further, just turned and followed her quickly advancing friends in the climb.

"So what do we do when we get up top?" Vala asked, lagging behind the others, knowing her cajun cohort well enough to know there was something more that she wasn't telling her and sure enough, her suspicion was confirmed as Adrienne let out a sigh.

"Well, Daniel has to put the stone into a base, that should be obvious and the positioning of everyone has to be correct. It's a spell of sorts we're gonna be casting. He's to the right of the base and I'm to the left. Zed, I mean Teal'c, is behind me making sure nothing happens to me and you are guarding Daniel. And then..." Adrienne stalled a bit, reaching past Vala to grab a rock to steady her increasingly difficult climb.

"Then what?" Vala pushed, grabbing the white fabric flowing in front of her face to stop the very nervous woman in front of her.

"Then I have to kiss him," Adrienne admitted quickly, climbing away even quicker as Vala erupted into laughter, stopping her climb entirely.

"You have to kiss him? Seriously? And there's no way out of it?" she choked out, Adrienne glaring up at Daniel, hoping he hadn't heard her outburst and didn't see Vala halted in her climb.

"No, there's no way out of it. Just shut ya trap and play along," Adrienne hissed, reaching to pull her arm upward, urging her to climb, her eyes darting back in the direction of her Richard, who was just popping over the edge.

"You haven't told him yet, have you? You haven't laid one hand on him! Oh this is too good..." Vala was laughing loudly and uncontrollably, clasping a rock to pull herself forward again.

Trying to ignore the hysterics and teasing behind her, Adrienne continued her ascent, pulling herself over the ledge and rushing over toward Daniel and Teal'c. Looking for her guidance, Daniel was already standing at the pedestal looking over at Adrienne.

"I have a pretty good feeling that we need to do something with this," he said as a loud crack echoed all around them, screams rising from the ground below.

"Yes, and fast," Adrienne replied, handing Daniel the stone and indicating with one finger that he needed to wait, just for a moment while she positioned the rest of the group. Rushing around the large stone platform in the ruins of the temple, she moved each person into place the best she could remember from the show, standing back to make sure before rushing to her side of the pillar.

"Ok, we have to kneel, you need to put that stone in that little slit there and then look up at me," she said and he nodded, lowering himself to his knees carefully, pushing the hilt of the sword aside awkwardly before looking up at her.

Time slowed, in an almost surreal fashion, as Adrienne watched his careful hands clasp the stone, knowing what was to come next, her mind a million miles away, in his quarters, him unconscious lying before her, the tears streaming from her eyes, the feeling of his lips against hers, so soft and full, when suddenly the stone was in place and he was looking up at her. Taking a deep breath and cursing the machine, cursing her weak heart, she grabbed his vest and pulled him toward her, kissing him slowly and passionately, not able to resist the desire inside.

He kissed her back, as she knew he would, reaching his hand behind her head, pulling her closer, not caring about anyone else there apparently, when there was a burst of light.

_**FLASH **_

"What in the hell is that Addy?" Cam was screaming behind her and she turned to see her team leader clad in a white jersey type t-shirt, jeans and a red baseball cap, "Did your little plan atop the hill not work?"

A low moan was emitted behind her, Adrienne whipping her head around, noting at least two zombies headed in their direction, staggering slowly across an abandoned pasture littered with the corpses of cattle in every direction. She looked around her and saw an off white RV, the old late 80's Winnebago style, the small side door opening quickly, slamming against the side. Out of the small portal came Rodney, in a white fishing hat and cargo pants, Vala, scar on her face and gun in hand, Teyla exiting the trailer in a dirty tank top and John equally as filthy and armed with a crossbow. There was gun fire, the creatures collapsing in front of her, and she saw approaching out of the corner of her eye, Teal'c armed with a gun and Daniel in a sheriff's uniform, a cowboy hat on his head. Ever her hero, as this machine was determined to rub into her face, he reached down under Adrienne's arm, pulling her to her feet and standing in front of her protectively.

"Ok, I know this one, it's your damn comic book, where do we go now?" Daniel asked, confirming what Adrienne was just figuring out, they were in the television version of one of her favorite pieces of reading material.

"Where's Ronon?" Adrienne questioned, taking a silent head count of the group. She heard another shot to her left, and Ronon came walking from behind the RV, in a more tattered police uniform, armed with a semi-automatic striding over toward her.

"Because of course he's Shane," she muttered, bringing her hand to her face and pinched her nose.

"What?" Daniel asked, confused and for once, Adrienne was thankful that he had never actually read the books.

_No worries Daniel, you just play my over-protective and heartbroken husband while Ronon takes the role of my lover; nothing awkward there in the least..._

"Nothing," she replied, "We have to leave, now. There's a farm, wait, with no kids, shit how are we going to pull this off?" but just as Adrienne was saying that she saw two small children exit the RV, the very same children from the show. More creative liberties, she thought to herself and started giving orders to everyone, trying to summarize the Walking Dead TV series as well as the comics, wondering which mixture of the two her brain would possibly concoct, as the boy ran up to Daniel hugging his legs.

"Dad, you saved Mom!" he said, gazing up at Adrienne with sweet brown eyes that only a child could have.

"Carl, get back in that RV, right now and take Sophia with you, do you understand me?" Adrienne commanded, pointing to the large vehicle. The boy stomped in frustration, but returned to the RV as asked, stopping at the door to glance back at Daniel looking for support he didn't get.

"Mom and Dad?" Daniel questioned as the child shut the door behind him, but Adrienne just shook her head.

_First the kiss and now this, nope, not gonna get a chance to say, yes Daniel, I love you too, and we really really really need to talk..._

"Let's just focus here Indy," she said, "let's focus on the fact that in the story the boy gets shot, both comic and show and that's how they find the farm. We need to find the farm without getting him shot."

"Uh, excuse me?" Rodney stepped in between them before Adrienne could answer, "We have to stick to the script here or else this game just resets. Apparently something was not done correctly in the last round, now was it?" Adrienne quickly shook her head, swallowing to hide the panic building up in her throat.

"No, it was, down to the letter, there must be some other factor we didn't take into account," she lied, knowing exactly what had gone wrong, pushing the thought away to look to Daniel to lead the group.

"You heard what she said, load up. We're looking for a farm!" he shouted, pausing to watch everyone head to the positions that Adrienne had ordered, lagging behind to take her hand, gently, pulling her behind him.

"I have to ride with Carl, you just stay safe," she replied, pulling her hand slowing from his tender grasp and breaking eye contact, stepping away to follow a swearing Rodney back to the RV.

"What went wrong?" Vala asked in her eye as Adrienne watched Daniel jog up the hill to the car.

"Richard tells Kahlan he loves her and then they kiss; it's their kiss, their love that heals the world," Adrienne whispered so that no one else would hear.

"Addy you idiot, why didn't you say something?" Vala scolded her, keeping a watchful eye over her shoulder looking for any more dead visitors.

"Because Vala, I had hoped the kiss would work by itself," Adrienne lied, holding back the tears that were building up in her eyes.

_Because he does and I do too but we can't, we just can't.._.

Vala just shook her head, frowning at her friend, her face serious.

"Like I just said, why didn't you say something?" she hissed, grabbing Adrienne's arm and dragging her into the RV.

They rode until Adrienne heard Rodney swearing again as he stopped the RV, coming to such an abrupt halt that Adrienne had to hold on to keep her place seated at the vehicles small table. She was thankful, however, for the interruption and a chance to escape. All of the times on the show that the characters complained about the smell were not an exaggeration; it was enough to make even Teyla gag, and she had a strong stomach. Adrienne and Vala stood to go look through the windshield to see exactly what was halting their progress, gazing out toward a sea of cars In front of them.

If it was the RV that was going to be their mode of transportation, there was no way that they were getting through.

"Ok Dr. Rowan, what happens now in your little program?" Rodney spat, glaring back at her with a disgusted look on his face. Wow, she thought to herself, he really looks like Dale right now but before she could answer him there was a knock at the RV door.

"John! Cam! I think we need to have a powwow!" she called for the team leaders over her shoulder, knowing who was at the door and hoping that they could offer any resolution. Handing Teyla his crossbow, John stood, motioning for Cam to follow from where they were seated in the back of the vehicle, looking back at Adrienne.

"Addy, we've done nothing today but get yelled at," he said, looking over at Rodney and back at her, "so I'm sort of relying on you and Daniel to fix this, and fast."

Adrienne shook her head, shrugging her shoulders as she reached for the knob.

"I've got nothing," she answering honestly and apologetically, flinging open the door to the RV and relishing in the fresh air that came sweeping in. The relief was short lived, as the stench of unwashed bodies was hastily replaced with the smell of death creeping from the cars, in greater waves than before when they awoke surrounded by zombies and cattle. This was the smell of people, rotting, something she had never experienced before but her mind recognized immediately. Rushing down the three steps, she leaned over to vomit, and felt a hand on her back as the heaving began.

"Do you see why I don't understand how you enjoy this stuff as pleasure reading," Daniel commented, keeping his hand on her back while she puked. It was comforting, soothing and she wanted to rush into his arms and beg him to take her away in a manner that she had never experienced before, the feeling so intense and driving. Forcing herself to regain focus, more certain now than before that this was the effect of the machine, trying to please her, to fulfill her fantasy in the most distorted way possible, she raised her hand behind her and waved that she was ok. She wiped her face and stood, making quick eye contact with the three men assembled here, all of whom were looking to her for advice that she didn't have to give.

"Alright," she began, "what happens now is that Rick, their leader, decides that they need supplies so everyone goes rummaging through cars, looking for food, water, weapons, medication..."

"I'm assuming I'm Rick given the uniform?" Daniel interrupted, remembering the image of a disheveled police officer featured prominently on the cover of many of her comics. Swallowing again strongly, Adrienne nodded.

"Exactly, and in the search, we get ambushed and Sophia, the little girl, she runs off. After we try to find her, Rick, Shane or Dex and Carl go looking and Carl gets shot. It's then we're all lead to the farm," Adrienne explained, the nausea hitting her in confusing waves like she never felt before. Shocked at her words, Daniel and John looked at one another, Daniel already shaking his head.

"At the risk of being attacked for saying this, this is just a figment of Addy's imagination, right? I mean, we're laying on some planet somewhere with Sam flipping out trying to wake us up. This isn't real. So, let's just let the kid get shot and move on," Cam suggested, fearing he was treading on taboo territory when Adrienne leaned over, vomiting again violently.

"Or not," Cameron added. Adrienne stood again breathing in lightly but nodding in the affirmative, despite her second sick spell. Puzzled, Daniel glanced over at his very ill assistant, reaching his arm around her, having it abruptly shaken away.

"Yeah, we need to play this out I think," Adrienne agreed weakly, "Rodney's right; I must have forgotten something last time." Adrienne leaned over a third time, trying not to puke despite the strong overwhelming urge building inside of her and there was Daniel, on cue, his hand at her back, rubbing gently, providing the only comfort he could. Yeah, we gotta get this kid gunned down and fast, Adrienne thought, I can't survive this.

"Ad," John spoke, still looking concerned, "I can't say that I'm a huge fan of children getting shot or being around the dead." He didn't appear convinced, still looking for Daniel to interject, but the archaeologist was paying more attention to his assistant rather than the conversation.

"Man, I agree with you, I do. But this is just one big dream. We don't have a lot of choice if we want to get the hell out of it," Cam argued, looking as sick as Adrienne felt.

Sensing both he and John's distress, Adrienne went to speak to defend the decision when she began to heave once more, the bile no longer content to sit in her stomach, burning a path up her throat and blazing through her mouth on its way to the ground. She was on the ground, huddled into a ball on her knees, Daniel right there beside her, holding her to him. Save me Indy, take me away from here, her mind screamed out, adding to the throbbing in her head already caused by the vomiting.

"We don't have to do this. If we mess up doesn't it just reset anyway? Take us into another episode of the Wondrous World of Adrienne Rowan," he asked quietly, trying to be funny and Adrienne laughed a bit, appreciating the attempt.

"It should, it's just pretend, well I'm hoping it's just pretend. I have an alternate to keep Sophia safe anyway. I'm not throwing up over the kids," Adrienne whispered in explanation, that sensation building once more.

"Is something wrong then?" he asked, reaching his arm around her shoulder tighter and pulling her closer into him. He had that worried look on his face he always got when she was in trouble and she wanted to kiss him again, right there at the side of the road and let him whisk her away from all of this but thankfully, the taste of vomit kept her impulses at bay. She shook her head and answered him.

"No, it's just the storyline. Lori's pregnant, but with Shane's baby," Adrienne replied, her face reddening, and fortunately Daniel started to chuckle, the tinkle in his laughter, while equally as mesmerizing as his voice, was enough to help her break the spell of the fantasy.

"I guess that date with Dex back when was a bit more fruitful then I was led to believe," Daniel smiled at her and she shoved him away, laughing herself in spite of it all.

"Go to hell Daniel," Adrienne replied, as he helped her stand and went into the RV to collect the boy.

"Ad, it smells in here something awful and there's nothing to eat," Vala complained, the inability to do anything to help bothering her even more than the smell or lack of snacks. "How much longer do we have to wait?"

Adrienne looked around at everyone else feeling bad that they had to sit and share in her fantasies which, all of a sudden, weren't as cool as they were when she imagined them, especially this one.

She made a mental to stop joking about an imminent zombie apocalypse the very second that they were out of this mess.

"Look, Daniel and Ronon have to take the boy into the woods and..." but she paused, not saying the words 'let him get shot' for fear of upsetting the girl, the imaginary girl that was sitting right here, clinging to Teyla as though she really were her mother. That was too weird, but Teyla sat there, holding and comforting the child as though she were her own. Suddenly, as if the entire chain of events was cued to Vala's words they heard a gunshot and there was an explosion of light.

_**FLASH**_

Adrienne sat up quickly to find herself in a tent and felt the presence of a body beside her on the make-shift bed, turning to see Ronon laying on his back with her, his face clenched and in obvious pain. There was a smell coming from him as well, a smell of rot and death, not unlike before, but different, everything was different.

"Addy, I feel like shit," he whispered, holding his chest. From the waist down Ronon was armed as a leather clad barbarian and a quick examination of herself found that she was wearing matching attire, just designed for a woman. Instantly, she knew where she was and that their last attempt hadn't worked. Laying her hand on his head gently, she kissed his cheek softly, promising him that she would return.

Barefoot and in a panic, Adrienne ran out of the tent.

"DANIEL!" she was screaming, knowing that since this was her fantasy she was certain that he would be here and more importantly, she knew who he would be. Stopping, scanning the encampment frantically, she couldn't find him, so she grabbed a passing man in leather clothes, pulling him toward her.

"JORAH! Where is Jorah?" Adrienne demanded shaking him. The man looked at her strangely and Adrienne remembered she couldn't speak Dothraki, not even the basic kind Daenerys spoke at the beginning of the series.

"Khaleesi?" he asked, puzzled.

Of all of the times for me NOT to memorize something nerdy, she lamented, waving her hands in front of her face.

"Ser Jorah," she repeated as slow as possible, no question, that was who Daniel would be. That must have done the trick, because the man nodded respectfully, pointing toward the back of the encampment where a few men were gathered, appearing to have a meeting. Nodding for a lack of the ability to say thank you, Adrienne let go of the man's arm and began to walk briskly toward where he had indicated, covering her midsection self-consciously where the leather did not reach as she finally realized how little she was wearing.

Vala would love this, she thought, which made her wonder where Vala and the rest of the group was and who exactly in this world they would portray.

As she made her way through the wild people, all of whom were looking at her in confusion, she saw Daniel approaching her wearing light gray armor, soft brown stubble coming in on his face. He looked the part of an exiled knight, an insanely handsome exiled knight, but he didn't look happy.

"Sorry," he said, "this time is my fault. I couldn't let the boy get shot, figment of your imagination or not. I pushed him out of the way and then flash, here we are. Where ever here is," Daniel rambled, pausing only for her fill in the blank he had left.

"Have you seen the others?" Adrienne asked before answering his question but Daniel shook his head.

"Well, we're gonna have to rush this one, because I'm not gonna let this play out either. I just hope the next story is something we can actually solve," she grabbed his hand, pulling him toward the tent without explanation.

"Why? What's wrong with this story?" Daniel asked as he followed, fearing the worst. Adrienne stopped and let go of his arm, looking at him in desperation.

"To get it to work, work enough where the machine might let us out of this mess, we have to let Ronon die. Daniel, Rodney and I didn't get very far before we called you, he didn't even ask me to look at the inside of the damn thing, and then Vala activated this thing and I have no idea if one of us dying in here translates to one of us dying out there," Adrienne admitted, babbling now herself. Understanding, Daniel nodded his head choosing not to disagree, it was better to be safe than sorry, and began to make his way to the large ornate tent.

"So, who am I?" he asked, barging ahead, taking note of the barbarians staring at both he and Adrienne in utter confusion. Before he could ask why, Adrienne ran ahead quickly.

"Wait, Daniel, I have to walk in front. Technically I'm their queen and you're my advisor, just stay back," Adrienne jogged ahead, her leather skirt flowing from around the tight leather pants, if you could them that, that she wore with an open back leather halter. Daniel noticed that in the strange leather outfit, he could see most of her tattoos, each and every sharp black line, filled in with vibrant colors. He just couldn't stop staring at them, so much so that he only caught bits and pieces of her explanation: Ronon was her husband, he was her advisor to retake the throne, and a few others things that didn't seem to matter as she rambled on, waving her hands in the air as she let her speech just roll into cajun french. He almost ran into her when she halted so suddenly, turning to face him, pointing to a clearing near a cliff's edge.

"Start a fire," she ordered. Daniel threw his hands up, requesting a silent explanation.

"Indy, there's a chance we can salvage this, maybe, and in that case I've got dragons to hatch," Adrienne replied curtly, pushing her way into the tent and leaving him behind.

This, she thought to herself, is the reality of it all, Daniel as my confused older comrade.

Trying to rationalize this particular assignment of roles in her head, she hurried to Ronon's side, who was now laying on the bed silent, his large hands no longer reaching to clench his chest in pain.

"Ronon," she whispered, panicked, gently placing her hand on his face to be met by the flush of fever, "Dex shug, hang on ok? Just hang in there with us, please," fighting back tears, Adrienne shouted out in frustration, fearing that she was too late, as the tent flap opened and Teyla entered, dressed in a fashion very similar to Adrienne, albeit with less adornments.

"It seems that you are the queen and that Vala and I are your handmaidens," Teyla spoke as Adrienne could see Vala ducking in behind her.

"Thank God," Adrienne said, breathing a sigh of relief before standing and running over to a small wooden table near the entrance to the tent. Sitting atop it was an ornate box, brown in color, and as she hoped when she opened the box carefully, inside lay three large crystalline eggs, black, gray and green. Taking a deep breath, Adrienne knew what she had to do, or at least try if she hoped to get herself and her friends out of this disaster.

"Teyla, keep Ronon cool. For the love of God, don't let him die. Technically I'm not pregnant for some reason, so he should be dead already," Adrienne pleaded, both Vala and Teyla looking at her completely lost by her explanation, but Teyla did as requested, dashing quickly to the water bucket to attend to Ronon. Annoyed, Vala walked over to her, dressed a little savagely herself and evidently not happy about still being trapped here.

"And me? In this fucked up world of yours what in the hell am I supposed to do?" Vala spat, so Adrienne handed her over two of the eggs.

"Welcome to the Seven Kingdoms Vala, and if I planning on winning the Game of Thrones, I'm gonna need some help. Just carry these and follow me," Adrienne answered and looked back at Teyla, hoping that Ronon could just hang on long enough for this to work.

Pushing through the flap of the tent and looking for smoke in the sky, Adrienne saw the blaze, and at its base stood Daniel, waiting, fire raging behind him as she requested with Dothraki men hurrying to tend the flames. It wasn't exactly the set-up she needed, technically she was supposed to be burning Ronon in the center and then joining him, but at this point she either needed to move this fantasy along or cause a switchover, and fast.

She glanced over at Daniel, who had removed the outermost layer of armor and was standing there in the woolen under-suit. He looked hot, sweat pouring down his face and Adrienne couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate how amazingly handsome he was, how even in conditions such as these, he was still the most perfect man she had even known, and he was still here, weeks after her confession, weeks after discovering that she was tainted and ruined, still here following her lead without question. Wiping the sweat from his brow with his forearm, Daniel pointed at the blaze behind him, awaiting her further instructions.

"There's your fire. I assume we need to get this show rolling so we can move on to the next bit of insanity your brain has in store for us," Daniel said, his face tired. She hated putting him, putting all of them really through this and she swallowed hard, mentally preparing herself for what was to come.

"Right, what's next..." Adrienne was terrified at the thought. What other crazy part of her active imagination could possibly come next? Turning to Vala, she grabbed the two eggs she was carrying, awkwardly positioning them in her arms and looked ahead at the fire taking a deep breath before peering back at Daniel and Vala.

"Wish me luck," she said and stepped into the flames. She could hear Daniel screaming her name when there was a firestorm of light.

_**FLASH**_

Cam panicked as the ship started flying downward so Vala reached over and steadied his hand, more on instinct than anything else. Scanning his surroundings, the colonel discovered that he was piloting easily the filthiest ship he had ever had the pleasure, or displeasure, to sit in.

"Where in the hell are we now? The last thing I remember I was sitting in some damn castle with some blond woman yelling at me to shut up and stop trying to be with her," Cameron asked, hoping Vala would have an answer but she shook her head.

"I don't know, but I've decided the girl watches too much TV. Just keep this thing straight and I'll go find Addy," Vala turned to leave the cramped and dusty cockpit and found herself caught on the doorway. Gazing down to see what was holding her back, she noticed that she was wearing a long leather trench coat with tall black leather boots and armed to the teeth, a full leather belt packed with guns and knives. Leather, leather and more leather.

"I like this stopover," Vala said out loud and kept moving, ducking down to pass through the entry door. She was barely down the hall when she heard Daniel and Adrienne arguing on a metal walkway just a short distance away, overlooking a cargo hold.

"Daniel, I'm telling you, we just need to hit reset, because this isn't gonna work either," Adrienne was insisting and Vala noticed that she was wearing a beautiful black gown with a deep blood red shawl wrapped around her waist, something Adrienne would never wear. Daniel had on a trench coat, very similar to hers, only more reddish and velvet looking, his arms crossed across his chest, tapping his feet in his own pair of shin high brown boots.

This entire scene looked vaguely familiar, and Vala stood there, racking her brain through a vast number of girl's night in, trying to figure out which bit of Adrienne's fantasy world that they had zapped into now.

"Ok, Ad, ok, fine, this is your head we're in, not mine. But all I am asking is WHY do you think it's not gonna work? I don't see anyone on their deathbed, maybe we can figure this one out and in order to do that you have to tell me what in the hell is going on," Daniel countered.

It seemed that Adrienne wanted to explain, but there was panic in her face. Vala concentrated harder, trying to remember which stupid TV show this was, one of the many Adrienne tried to insist to her were better than watching those lovely young people from New Jersey when it came to her and she erupted into laughter. They both turned to look at her, but she just kept giggling and walked over to Daniel, putting her hand against his arm.

"What in the world are you laughing at?" he shouted, his voice indicating that he was rapidly reaching his limit of toleration with their current situation.

"She's right, SIR, she's right. No fixing this one. I think I can handle the reset," Vala said, stressing the word sir, still chuckling as she did so.

"Is there something I need to know?" he asked, glaring at both women utterly confused, but Adrienne just turned to walk back toward the pod from which she came, choosing not to answer and he thought he could see her cheeks flushing as she fled.

"As long as you choose to deny it and act like there's nothing going on, no, just go fly the ship with Cam and Addy and I'll figure out how to reset this mess," Vala stated as she turned to follow Adrienne, who had now deviated her path and was heading down a flight of stairs to a cargo hold.

There, Vala could see Teyla clad in a purple dress and combat boots talking to Ronon who was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt and armed to the hilt and looked back over her shoulder to see Daniel staring at her still confused.

Clueless idiot, she thought, she really needed to have a stern talking with him when this was all over.

Ignoring Daniel, as he reached out for her, beginning to protest again, Vala caught up to Adrienne who was smiling now, thankfully, and she knew that she must have a plan.

"Ok, Ronon shug, I apologize for this in advance, but Teyla's gotta shoot you. With your gun," Adrienne explained.

"No way Addy, not happening," Ronon protested, shaking his head. Adrienne took a breath to explain again as Vala could see Teal'c approaching, dressed like a priest and considering his mediation habits, and overall demeanor, she had to admit that he made a great Shepard Book.

"Look, Ronon, this is another series finale, it's Firefly, not like you have any idea what I'm talking about, but it ends with everyone deciding that River, or Teyla here, is important to the crew. But that's is after she flips out in the beginning of the episode and steals Jayne's, rather your gun and almost shoots Malcolm, I mean Daniel. So, if she shoots you then that erases the positive events that have happened and lets us trigger a reset," Adrienne explained.

"Then let her shoot Jackson," Ronon replied, "or can't we just let everyone make up or whatever. Won't that get us back home?"

"That's about as likely as Addy letting the rest of this little story play out. May I?" Vala laughed, stepping forward toward Ronon, pulling a gun from her belt and shooting him in the leg. A light blinked...

_**FLASH**_

and Adrienne woke up to Ronon standing over her.

"She shot me," he exclaimed, but it was clear that his leg was now fine, not even bullet hole or mark in his black leather jacket nor his black jeans which stood out in stark contrast to the blood red walls behind him.

Good to know...

"I had to, Addy wasn't going to do what needed to be done. It still worked didn't it?" Vala

retorted from somewhere across the room. It was then that Adrienne realized that she was laying on a table in a night club, the lights of the disco ball flashing in her face. She sat up quickly, looking over at Vala who was wearing a pink jumpsuit, pink lipstick and pinks nails, a complete pink nightmare. Vala, however, just pointed at the monitor.

"Really Addy, Eric?" Vala walked over to the counter at the bar, "In your little world of imaginary romance Daniel is Eric Northman? I shouldn't be surprised, but yet I am..." Vala teased as Adrienne peered into the monitor and gasped, the reality of the situation clicking.

Without acknowledging Vala's smart remark, Adrienne quickly dashed outside.

"You're just damn lucky this is season 3!" Vala was screaming behind her.

Cam and Daniel were outside, chained together and smoldering, both men screaming in pain. Coming to a halt at their heads, Adrienne looked down at her hand and back at the chain, hoping she could do this, otherwise... well, she didn't want to think of the otherwise. She glared down at Cam and Daniel and pointed her palm.

"Roll apart boys," she ordered, both men trying to comply with her instructions as soon as they heard the order to roll. It was only a small distance apart, but it was enough, so gathering up her strength, Adrienne pointed her hand at the metal links, but nothing happened.

"Shit!" she swore and Cam looked up at her weakly.

"Girlie please tell me you can get us out of this shit, come on!" Cameron, his face blackening before her while Daniel seemed to have now fallen unconscious, which made Adrienne panic even more.

_Please don't let him die, you can do this, please, it's Daniel._

Empowered by her desperation to save him, she pointed her hand and felt heat surging through her body. A beam of light burst from her hand, sending her staggering back, but severing the chain, the click on metal on pavement confirmed what she hoped she hadn't imagined. Adrienne breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed the black leather jacket Daniel was wearing, which she was just now noticing looked like the one he wore to work, dragging him quickly into the bar. Vala was opening the door waiting for her, her own hand singeing a bit in the light as Adrienne pulled him in, looking to her friends for help.

"Pull him in the rest of the way. I gotta go get Cameron," Adrienne ordered and ducked back out into the parking lot.

"This some damn vampire show?" Cam asked, now figuring there was a reason he was burning in the sun.

"Yeah, it's True Blood, I'm sorry shug," Adrienne answered, dragging him across the parking lot and through the open door as well where Ronon was waiting to help. He reached into the light slightly and pulled Cam through the rest of the way, not even flinching as the sun made contact with his strangely pale skin, while Adrienne quickly ran over to where Vala was trying to help Daniel sit up, propping his unconscious body against the wall.

Huffing, Adrienne stormed over to her boss, jerking him completely up right, resting his back to the dancing platform, but he was still out, his head rolling over to the side.

"I saw this one at your apartment darling, you know what we've got to do," Vala said and smiled, fangs popping from her mouth. Adrienne grimaced, again thinking to herself that this was no where near as romantic as she had imagined it but she reached out her arm to let Vala bite into her wrist.

"OW!" Adrienne shouted, trying to pull back but feeling Vala's teeth dig into her deeper, "That is not sexy!"

Vala looked up, appearing equally as disgusted, blood dripping from her extended incisors.

"It tastes like shit too," she said as she wiped her mouth and retracted the teeth back in. Glancing back at Daniel, her wrist bleeding profusely, Adrienne took a breath and started to squeeze the blood into his mouth trying not to look at him as she did so. The moment the first drop made contact, his penetrating blue eyes shot open and just like in the show he grabbed her wrist, pulling it into his mouth and sucking hard. Adrienne tried to pull away but couldn't; it seemed that in this particular fantasy, reality, whatever, that for once he was stronger than her.

"Uh, do I get some of that?" Cam asked pitifully, looking rather crispy as he was sitting on the floor beside Ronon. Trying to remain calm, Adrienne peered over at him painfully as Daniel continued to drink, sucking harder, making her arm begin to tingle with numbness.

"Not if we hope to get home you don't," she said, wincing in pain, unable to take it any longer, "Vala can you get him off of me?" Adrienne pleaded, trying to pull away from Daniel's grasp, tears starting to form in her eyes. Leaning over, Vala hit him in the forehead strongly with her palm and he let go, his own fangs exposed, hissing at her attack.

"Dammit Vala, that hurt," he swore at her, sounding more like himself rather than the creature Adrienne had just witnessed devouring her arm, holding his head as the wounds on his face began to heal right in front of them.

"Well, next time don't try to kill your girlfriend," Vala spat, turning to check on said bite victim who was holding her wrist, blood still streaming around her fingers and onto the floor.

"You're so gonna owe me," she said and grabbed Adrienne's wrist, licking it causing the wound to close almost instantly. Vala wiped her face in disgust and ran to the bar, leaning over it and spraying seltzer water in her mouth as Adrienne glanced at Daniel, who was almost back to normal, much to her relief.

"I didn't think it was that bad," he said to Adrienne, wiping his face as well.

"Please don't ever say that ever again Indy, ever," she request, now as disgusted as Vala, standing and reaching to help him to his feet as well.

One problem solved, Adrienne walked to join Vala at the bar, who was going through True Blood season three. It was the Cliff's Notes version and as she should have expected Cam was shaking his charred skeletal head.

"So, Vala's informed me that you two have to bury me alive in cement, are we serious?" Cameron asked, crossing his arms. Adrienne couldn't help but laugh; he just looked so ridiculous, this entire situation was ridiculous, but it was solvable, doable, and that alone was making her focus and pay less attention to the stream of blood that had been left to drip down Daniel's chiseled neck.

"Yeah, but we need some help," Adrienne said and once again began searching through Daniel's pockets, starting with the jacket, trying not to notice how perfectly sculpted his body was despite his complete aversion to all things healthy, Vala standing there, laughing and shaking her head.

"Gotta love Addy's fantasy, she gets to kiss Daniel, feel all over him, I can't wait to see what's next," Vala joked enjoying the entire display. Adrienne tried to ignore her, and hoped that Daniel was doing the same, although she was fairly certain that she had run her fingers across his stomach, more slowly than she should have. Her aversion to the blood drinking earlier quickly turning to slight arousal as she could once again feel the machine's influence. She found the cell phone in the inside right pocket of his leather jacket, pulling it down and pulling away as she found herself lingering her hands so close to waist, so close to...

"You could've asked me where the cell phone was," he teased, smiling.

"Sorry, I was in a hurry," Adrienne apologized, insincerely, praying that this would be the last fantasy because she just couldn't take it anymore, the feelings inside of her too strong, too magnified, as she caught herself wishing that she had to reach into his jeans pocket. Forcing herself to think of anything other than what his lips would feel like going down her neck, tracing her collarbone, Adrienne scrolled down the numbers, found the name she was looking for and hit talk.

_He would be different Addy..._

"I hope that Eric means it's one of you guys because Teyla, Rodney, Teal'c and I are pretty damn lost right now," John Sheppard answered the phone, annoyed. Adrienne nodded her head emphatically at Vala, the only other person who knew this storyline, indicating that her thought was correct, the rest of the team was playing out the other part of the story. The end of this nightmare, as it was most certainly no longer a dream, Adrienne quickly started to explain, placing John on speaker phone so all could be involved in the conversation.

When John arrived, thanks to GPS and Adrienne's knowledge of Louisiana highways, the four of them loaded into the white construction van, with large script letters reading _Herveaux Construction_, heading to the construction site that was listed on a piece of paper in a folder found sitting on the front seat. Adrienne was relieved, everything was in place, down to the meticulousness of Sookie's werewolf friend's records, and barring anything unforeseen this was finally a solvable story. Armed with information, Rodney began to rage at Adrienne as he had earlier in the day, screaming at her to sit back and stay out of his way until he needed her. Rather than argue, she crawled her way to the back of the van, leaning against the side wall beside a bucket of nails and gazing up at the starlight through the back windows.

"You ok?" a voice asked, but she didn't need to look, knowing it wouldn't take Daniel long until he was insisting on poking around in her business. She noticed that she was already picking her nails and quickly tucked her hands underneath of her, hoping he wouldn't read into it too much.

"Yeah, I'm fine. The place is about forty five minutes or so away, so we just need to wait it out," she answered, wishing now, more than ever for a Stargate. Daniel crawled onto his knees, moving the bucket of nails aside, earning a glare from Cam as the thick plastic bottom slammed into his back, reminding Daniel that they were not alone. Grimacing in apology, Daniel squeezed himself between the container and his assistant, slipping his arm around her shoulders.

"For the record, you now owe me. French, table, southern provence and a documentary," he joked, squeezing her innocently and playfully under his arm. She laughed, shaking her head and sitting forward to relinquish herself from his grasp, the silent gesture making him pull away. He sat quietly for a moment as Adrienne leaned forward onto her knees, gazing back out into the night sky.

"I'm sorry," Daniel whispered in the darkness behind her and she turned, a look of confusion on her face.

"For what?" she asked, unsure as to what he was talking about. Picking his nails this time, he leaned forward so no one could hear, grabbing her arm to pull her closer.

"You just haven't said much to me since, well, since, and if I've done anything, if I shouldn't have, well, laid, like, I mean, if I need to..." Daniel stammered his apology, not sure what he was really apologizing for, but just wanting her, needing her in his life, but he felt fingers at his lips, touching them softly, halting their motion and silencing his words.

"You haven't done anything wrong Indy, trust me," she answered quietly, removing her fingers from his lips. He sighed out the minute his mouth was released, leaning forward to continue.

"I just didn't want to ask but I feel like there's something else you need to tell me," he answered, the look on his face tearing her up inside.

_Because I had to tell the only man that I have ever truly loved that I'm ashamed, that I'm not sure if I can ever be intimate with a man ever again, that I'm not sure if I can ever really be someone's wife, someone's mother, everything he deserves. I can't be who you deserve Daniel..._

Her heart finally admitted the truth, and she began to cry quietly right there, sitting in the back of a construction van, trapped in what she thought was her secret fantasy. Daniel didn't say another word, he understood she just wasn't ready yet, but reached out his hand, interlocking their fingers. Taking a breath as she felt his touch, she leaned back, not caring if Cam saw, curling against him in the dark.

"I understand, but I'm here when you can," he whispered softly, hugging her close.

At the construction site John led the way, just as Alcide would, worried that this would not go right and they would be tossed into yet another fantasy of Adrienne's. Cam reluctantly climbed into the pit and they began to pour the concrete, carefully around a straw he was using to breath which Adrienne and Vala had insisted wasn't necessary given he was technically a vampire.

Task complete, everyone looked back at Adrienne, even Rodney, surprisingly after his near thirty minute performance in the van.

"Alright, so Ronon, you need to shove Daniel in," Adrienne said, Daniel shooting her a glare, but she reached out and squeezed his hand tightly.

"Sorry Indy, but this is almost over I swear," Adrienne assured him and backed away as Ronon approached, shoving the man she loved most in the universe into the wet pile of rocks and mud, turning the spillway to cover him entirely. She knew he'd be alright, but it still pained her inside to watch the concrete pour over him and her stomach sank at the insane notion that she might never see him again. Taking a satisfied breath, Adrienne glanced over at Vala, checking the time on her phone as she did.

"Give him a few minutes, get him out and bring him to Sookie's. Here is the address," Adrienne said and handed over a piece of paper upon which she had scrawled an address and some rough directions, signaling to Ronon that they needed to be on their way.

Three hours later, Ronon and Adrienne were sitting on the porch of an old Louisiana farmhouse. They had been talking for a few hours, thankfully not about their futures, when Adrienne saw Daniel coming up the walkway, running rather, fast like a vampire.

"So I have to admit, it's kinda cool that I can run in this little world like I did before just without the Atanik armbands," he joked and Adrienne just smiled, taking a moment to let the power of a machine wash over her, taking in the sight of him standing there, his handsome face covered in wet concrete, his hair a mess. Standing, she almost ran into his arms, but refrained, placing her hands on her hips as she addressed the two vampires.

"Alright boys, I think this is gonna work," Adrienne declared, turning and opening the front door, standing in the doorway, directing her attention at Ronon first.

"Bill Compton, I can't believe you used me blah blah blah. You're not welcome in my home!" Adrienne shouted, doing her best, well considering her acting skills, worst Sookie Stackhouse, and with the power of her words, Ronon flew off of the porch and landed in the yard on his hip.

"Ow," she heard him groan.

"Sorry Dex, but you're a vampire, that'll be short lived. Now you run off to the house across the woods there," Adrienne explained. Grumbling as he stood, about dying, being shot and now this, Ronon brushed himself off and dashed away, leaving Adrienne feeling a little guilty about the pain he had endured over the course of the day.

And then it hit her, as she stood here, in the middle of nowhere, with Daniel, quite literally fulfilling her fantasy.

"Last dose of misery," she smiled, her heart aching again.

"I take it I should brace myself," he stated, looking back where Ronon had been flung moments before. Adrienne nodded and Daniel let out a sigh but opened his mouth to speak.

"Well, since I know this is your Sookie mess and this isn't the books, can I at least know why I'm being throw out into your yard?" Daniel asked, hoping to satisfy his curiosity since the rest of this was playing out like some sad romantic tragedy, a chilling mirror of their own lives.

And it seemed an innocent enough request.

"In the show, not the books, Eric finds out Bill let horrible things happen to Sookie so she would fall in love with him and he could get close to her to spy on her, find out if she was a fairy or not. Eric decides to destroy Bill's life by telling Sookie, which it does since Bill really did fall in love with her," Adrienne explained, thinking this explanation would be easiest, deciding not to mention that Eric really did it, all of it, because he himself was in love with Sookie.

Like Daniel was in love with her.

"Oh," Daniel replied, disappointed, "I guess that makes sense." Adrienne shook a bit with nerves, hearing the sadness in his voice and wanting to tell him, but she just couldn't.

Not here, not yet.

Not like this.

"You ok Ad? Did we forget something?" Daniel asked again, watching her face for an indication of something going wrong.

"No, I think we're good, I'm fine. Just want this over with," she answered, "You ready?"

He nodded his head. "Let's just go with yes regardless of the truth value of that statement." Adrienne took a breath this time, gazing at him one last time as if acting out this ridiculous scene was somehow going to bring closure to all of her feelings, to all of this uncertainty.

"Eric Northman, I never want to see you, ever again. You are no longer welcome in my home either!" Adrienne shouted and watched Daniel flung into her yard. As Ronon had moments earlier, he got up quickly and ran back from where he came.

"Almost over Addy, we're almost there," she coached herself, dashing for the woods, hoping to see the lights in the graveyard. There, just as expected was a faint yellow glow and a beautiful woman offering her hand. Powering ahead, Adrienne reached out, taking her hand and stepping into the shimmer.

It was dark when Adrienne opened her eyes.

"Hey, Sam! Got movement over here with Dr. Perky!" Adrienne heard a voice call, a familiar voice and suddenly there was a bright light shining in her face.

"Adrienne, can you hear me?"

This voice she knew right away as well.

It yelled at her, a lot.

"Dr. Lam?" Adrienne asked and felt arms pulling her upright.

"Can you see? Hear alright? Are there any parts of your body you can't feel?" she was asking as Adrienne felt herself being examined. She felt a shirt being lifted, a cold head of a stethoscope, and heard shuffling around her hoping it was everyone else waking up from the dream.

"I fell asleep in your damn banana!" Vala complained from beside her. Her vision coming back into focus, Adrienne looked ahead at the doctor and saw that Sam too was now leaning over her, geared up in SG gear rather than her standard uniform; she must have demanded to go through herself.

"Adrienne how did you guys manage to get out? I tried to turn off the machine but it wouldn't stop," Sam inquired.

"We just did what it said. We finished the story. Is everyone alright?" Adrienne answered, her voice cracked and her throat dry.

"Seems like everyone else is waking up alright, but we are going to have the doctor's do a full workup on each of you, just in case," Sam replied.

Of course, Adrienne thought, because we can't seem to do anything with having to end up in the infirmary.

She went to stand as Dr. Lam seemed to be moving on to other members of the team, shouting over her shoulder that she expected Adrienne to report to the infirmary as well for a real exam. Before she could move she felt a hand on her shoulder and a presence behind her.

"Nice job," Daniel whispered in her ear and she turned to see him squatting behind her, offering her his hand, which she took, letting him help her up.

"Are you being sarcastic?" she asked as she tried to stretch her legs once upright with his help, as she was wobbling slightly. Daniel himself seemed alright, but it must have taken more out of her since she was the user, and she noted that, in case Rodney decided to not give up this quest.

"Not at all. Vala activated the machine and while we all did have to endure your insanity, you got us all out, alive and unharmed," Daniel explained honestly. Appreciating the sentiment, she reached back down and grabbed her bag throwing it over her shoulder, noting that he was in tow.

They walked to the gate, stepping over their friends who all were looking at Adrienne like she was some kind of freak show. Embarrassed, she hurried faster to the gate, which someone thankfully had already dialed to go home, peering back at Daniel once they got to the ramp.

"Off to the doctor," she smiled.

"Tomorrow, we'll go tomorrow," Daniel replied, stepping up behind her on the platform.

"We can do that?" Adrienne asked confused.

"We're going to do that. Because after all of your madness, I need a glass of wine. Two glasses of wine, from your cabinet," Daniel responded and Adrienne laughed.

A year ago he would have never said that.

A year ago it wouldn't have made this entire disaster worth it.

A year ago she wasn't in love with him.

Pausing for a moment, lingering feelings from the machine filling her soul, Adrienne gazed into his eyes through the lenses of his glasses, which he was now wearing once again, wondering what she should say when it hit her.

The decision was made and in that instant Adrienne knew the purpose of that machine.

"Sounds good, just can you do me one favor?" she inquired and Daniel nodded looking at her curiously.

"Anything," he said after a second of consideration.

"No TV, no movies. No anything with a screen," she requested, " just a nice game of Scrabble, just you and me."

Laughing, Daniel put his arm around her and she didn't shrug him away, because this was her reality.

Fantasy was all good and true, but in the real world nothing was perfect, not even her, and not even him.

"I think that's a very fair request," he replied and led them both through the gate, Adrienne promising herself that she would try.

After all, if there was one thing this job had taught her, _anything_ was possible.


	30. Chapter 29 - A Trial Run

"Girl, why so glum? It's a solo mission! I'd think you would be prancing around and rubbing it in Jackson's face that they have finally started to replace him with a younger and more attractive model," Cam goaded her as they walked down the gate platform.

"Come on Cam," Adrienne argued, "You've seen Star Trek right? This isn't about me being the better choice. I'm the Red Shirt Archaeologist."

Laughing loudly at the reference, Cam pulled out his locater, running calculations to see how far ahead they needed to go.

"Well, if we have to spend the day taking photos I would rather be here with you having fun than with him and his incoherent, trailing babble," Cam replied, teasing over his shoulder from the base of the ramp. Thinking to herself that her comrade here did have a point, Daniel did have a tendency to go into his own language which sometimes didn't even make sense to her.

_Still love him, even though he does drive me crazy. _

She walked on behind him smiling, following the signal of the MALP.

Fortunately, the ruins were only a slight distance away, ruins that she and Cam had been sent to explore, alone. Daniel had decided that this planet needed to be visited, at least by one small advance team, since the MALP images of the ruins seemed so similar to the time machine on P4X-639, just minus the crazy mad scientist trying to alter time. Since the last machine had been destroyed, Daniel had been waiting for an opportunity like this. Even though it wasn't deemed high priority by the SGC, Sam owed Daniel for sending him on one of Rodney's insane missions; one which resulted in the entire team plus the guys from Atlantis being zapping into his assistant's fantasy land.

Considering everything, letting him send Adrienne with back-up to take some photos really wasn't asking much. If the images Adrienne brought back were what he was hoping they were, Daniel was planning to take the entire team there for a mission to study the machine closer. He was hoping that was the case, as it would finally give him a chance go over the things that they missed last time while Jack and Teal'c were stuck in a time loop.

Regardless, Adrienne was the lucky photographer.

Well, at least it's warm here, she thought, happily wiping the sweat from her brow, gazing into the jungle ahead.

The ruins were only a quarter mile from the gate, a distance easily covered, so much so the two runners jogged the entire way. They arrived in minutes, Adrienne firing up her camera and iPad, while Cam surveyed the area for visitors in the dense rainforest surrounding them. Adrienne couldn't help but notice the stark difference in setting for this machine, were it indeed a time machine, in that P4X-639 was more desert in appearance. Making a note onto her iPad, Adrienne walked ahead to the large reddish stone table situated quite oddly in a clearing of large palm trees.

Adrienne knew, Sam had told her on many occasions that she had been hired as Dr. Jackson's assistant partially because her knowledge on computers and programming in addition to her expertise in ancient cultures. Once of the first things both Daniel and Sam had asked her to work on was an application which allowed her to scan an object and decipher it into a basic ancient translation so that they could survey areas more quickly before mounting an expedition. It had saved them countless hours and made her more invaluable since Daniel had no idea how to use it. She intended to keep it that way; the economy was too bad for her to invent herself out of a job and it gave her the added bonus of him needing her, and, well, now more than ever she liked him needing her around.

Running the iPad carefully over the first column, Adrienne quickly discovered the basic story of this planet at least. There had been no apocalypse here, but it did seem that the previous inhabitants were aware of the last planet's fate which she found to be quite interesting. She made a note on the touch screen to mark that for Daniel, he liked when they found connections like that and it gave them an excuse to work on fun things and spend less time worrying about what Anubis might be up to.

She'd been trying to get him to do that less lately too...

"Hey Cam!" she shouted over to where her comrade was standing beside a tree, peering into the more dense part of the forest.

"Yeah," he answered, not looking at her, his voice echoing against the wetness of the ground and vegetation.

"Once I finish these scans I need you to come see if we can unhook this thing and find the power source," Adrienne requested, her dark brown eyes moving on to a second column surrounding the table, lifting the scanner to read once more.

"Sure thing. If he likes this, he really wants to bring the damn thing back?" the uncertainty in his voice clear and Adrienne started laughing thinking the same thing.

"Yep, and if he thinks for a moment I'm gonna volunteer for that one then I think it's safe to say that the man has lost his mind," Adrienne joked, knowing that of course Daniel would want her there, he was practically attached to her hip. Because he was in love with her, and he had told her. Granted, he didn't think she was awake at the time, but nevertheless she knew and she had finally decided that maybe it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. After all, she had kind of fallen in love with him too.

"Whatever, enjoy your little toy over there, I'm gonna take a look around," Cam announced, heading into the edge of the woods.

"Don't get eaten by a tiger babe!" Adrienne yelled after him.

"Can't, then who would you have to carry you off into the sunset?" Cam joked back.

Flirt, she thought. She knew he was just kidding, they had been nothing but friends from the start but the very suggestion made her nervous.

_Daniel, that's who'd carry me off if I could have my wish..._

Taking a deep breath to refocus, Adrienne reached upward on the second column, continuing her scan.

"Not a damn soul," Cam announced as he came back.

"Which is just odd," Adrienne answered, "I mean, there is no indication of any kind of disaster here. The planet's 100% habitable and the MALP registered life signs, so you should have at least seen a rat. There's got to be something we're missing."

"Maybe darlin'," Cam said as he came and sat on a half of a column, the third column in fact, broken in two and lying on its side, "they just decided it was too hot for them."

"Midwestern baby," she teased, "It feels great here."

It was her common response, often joking with her teammates that they wouldn't last five minutes in the Bayou. In fact, she had to buy a completely new wardrobe when she had moved to D.C. over a year ago because to her, fifty degrees might as well be ten below. Whenever she could she kept the heat in the lab at seventy five degrees, much to Daniel's disliking, but he didn't change it back anymore, giving her yet another reason, a reason that this might work. Sure, he seemed to be willing to die for her, but he was good at that, the whole dying thing, but sitting in a hot lab for her comfort?

That was true love.

Adrienne was just about to move on to another column, the third and remove Cam from his seat, when they heard a loud rustling behind them. Leaping up, the colonel turned quickly, pointing his P90 into the jungle, but as quickly as it began, the sound stopped.

"You forgot about the monkeys," Adrienne pointed out, remembering the life signs that were on the MALP videos were monkeys, small primates that had been crawling all over the machine. Daniel thought it was disgusting, but Adrienne thought they were kind of cute.

"I hate monkeys," Cam answered, putting his gun down, at his feet, "They're like little furry smelly toddlers."

Adrienne laughed again, and moved onto the next column, kneeling onto the ground to try to hold the iPad sideways and take the scan. She had just about gotten the right angle on the tablet when a loud crash echoed in the forest behind them.

"I think I'm gonna go check that out," Cam said, gun pointed once more into the brush as he approached slowly.

"I think you're paranoid. It's an old jungle shug, probably just a dead tree," Adrienne assured him, more concerned with exactly how she was going to scan this mess of a third column, growing more annoyed by this errand by the minute.

"Girl, I have three years on you doing this, three. I think I've earned the right to be paranoid," he defended and made his way over to the woods, slowly and stealthy like the well trained soldier he was. Adrienne just shrugged and continued her scans, lying down on the ground determined to let the machine do the work for her and not have to do this one by hand.

Minutes passed and although she had plenty to scan, Adrienne grew secretly worried about how long Cameron was taking investigating one dead fallen tree. Suddenly she heard running in the woods and looked up expecting Cameron to come dashing out in an attempt to scare her, which she was not about to let happen. Tossing the iPad to the ground, Adrienne jumped to her feet, taking a deep fighting stance, planning to throw him over her shoulder, and teach him a lesson about messing with her. The sound came closer, faster and the trees right in front of her shuffled, stopping abruptly before she could make out his face.

"Bring it on Mitchell, I'll take your ass down," Adrienne challenged, fists up and ready to fly. As soon as she spoke there was shaking, the small cluster of trees positioned directly in front of her shaking violent, coming once again to a sudden halt. He was trying to scare her, she knew it, and she was going to make him feel it either now or later, depending on his next move.

"Babe, you're not going to trick me that easily. Daniel tries to fake me out every time we train and I can still kick his ass. You boys are just gonna have to accept that Vala and I can tear you both apart," Adrienne shouted into the jungle, but now there was no sound, no motion.

He would have laughed by now, she knew him better.

"Cam?" she asked, peering forward, worry creeping up into her stomach. Uninhabited, Daniel had assured her, he said it was uninhabited.

The trees shook again, violently, and out from the jungle lumbered a very large ape-like creature, moving slowing, turning its head in curiosity. It looked at her, as if there was more going on upstairs than the kinds of apes she was used to, the animal's menacing red eyes appearing to be riddled with thought and question. She had no idea what this creature was standing in front of her but it was large and orange like an orangutan, with the physical build of a gorilla. Frowning, the beast glared at her, lifting a large limb and pointing in the direction of the Stargate.

"Uh," it spoke, if you could call it speaking, and it didn't take a degree in linguistics to figure out what the ape was trying to tell her.

"We're not here to hurt you," she spoke in English, slowly, very deliberately, internally laughing to herself knowing the ape most likely didn't understand her, no matter how slow she spoke, "We are explorers."

"Uh," it said more insistently, again pointing at the gate. Stomping its foot powerfully to the ground, Adrienne quickly realized that advanced martial arts training or not, this beast could snap her in half and would snap her in half, in a heartbeat.

"Ok, go, yes, but I want my friend first. FRIEND," she said as he tried to demonstrate on her body what Cam looked like and that he was dressed like her, a small part of her once again thinking how hopeless this communication was.

But if Daniel had figured out the Unas, maybe she could reason with an ape.

Maybe.

"UH!" it stomped again. Adrienne was terrified, but she refused to leave Cameron behind.

Slowly walking backwards towards her pack, which she had set beside the main control table, Adrienne didn't break eye contact from her new friend as she grabbed the staff quickly, slipping her pack onto her shoulder. The creature grunted, stomping again and started to approach her, so Adrienne backed up ever so cautiously, reaching for her staff weapon. The creature must have seen her reach, and understood the implication of her movement because it shouted, charging for her. Adrienne grasped the staff, pointing it at the beast and fired, but that didn't stop its charge she realized, as it plowed into her full force and slammed her body on the table, a loud crack emanating from her spine.

The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before her, and she laid there, watching the beast bring it's hand to her throat as the world went black.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

It took her a second, in her haze she saw a giant ape charging her, grabbing her throat, lifting her into the air...

"Motherfucker!" she screamed and dropped the coffee mug into the floor shattering it into a million pieces and covering Daniel in hot caffeinated beverage.

"What the- Ad, have you lost your mind?!" Daniel shouted, staring at his BDU's in disbelief.

Adrienne shook her head, bringing herself back to reality and staring at Daniel, coffee dripping from his pants.

"Where did you find me?" she asked, reaching for some tissues to clean him off extending her hand to remove the mess from his leg.

"Excuse me?" Daniel asking, looking completely confused, as he took the tissue from her, shooing her away, wiping the liquid from his pants. Frowning, her head shaking, Adrienne sat back in her chair, equally as lost.

"I mean, I guess I shot it before it, well, never mind, wait, why am I not in the infirmary? I know I felt something..." Adrienne trailing, the memory of the snap in her back, the pain, chilling her body. Ignoring the coffee Daniel noticed had also spilled all over her shirt and pants, Adrienne leapt up from her seat and started to feel around her midsection and back, a look of sheer horror in her face.

"Ad, what are you talking about?" Daniel asked, leaning to her face and grabbing her chin, pulling her face to meet his gaze, trying to get her to focus as she babbled to herself, searching for wounds.

"The ape. It attacked me, it threw me onto the table, my back, I felt, Indy, I felt and Cam he was... Oh my God where is Cam!?" she exclaimed and turned to leave the lab running down the hall, coffee dripping from her pants onto the floor.

"Cam?! Cameron?! Colonel Mitchell?!" she screamed, running full force to the infirmary. Daniel took off after her, trying to catch up to his obviously panicked assistant, worried at her strange behavior.

"Ad, slow down, Cam's not in the infirmary, I'm assuming he's still at breakfast, where we just came from," Daniel shouted from behind.

"Wait," Adrienne stopped in her tracks, "Breakfast? How long have we been back?" she asked, turning to face him, cutting her eyes and furrowing her brow.

"Back from where?" Daniel stopped beside her, catching her as she staggered slightly, getting even more coffee dripped onto him.

"P4X-697" she answered, her voice going up at the end as if she was questioning that herself. Daniel made a face at her, cocking his head and trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"You haven't left yet. You leave tonight, they're 12 hours ahead remember?" Daniel corrected. Confused, Adrienne fumbled in her pockets, looking for something, anything with the time.

"Here, are you looking for this, you left it in the commissary," Daniel said, handing her her iPhone, which he had tucked into his pocket.

"Thanks," she said, remembering that she had done the same thing this morning after she had shown Vala how to play Angry Birds. She had left her iPhone, gone ahead to the lab so she could stop by the snack machine to get some mints before getting to work. Daniel, in full torment Adrienne mode, had pranced into the lab shortly after, shaking it in front of her face demanding a reward, which he had taken in the form of chocolate covered coffee beans.

That was only minutes AFTER he had passed her coffee as he instructed her on the images they wanted.

Like he was doing right now.

Taking it from his hand without so much as a thank you she glanced at the screen to confirm her thought and her jaw dropped, eyes widening in shock.

"What's going on Ad?" Daniel asked, leaning over to see what she was looking at.

"I need to talk to Teal'c, or Jack, now," she replied, turning around to head in the direction of the gym.

If this were this morning all over again, she knew that Teal'c was training SG-12, and if anyone could confirm what she was worried had happened, it would be him.

"Well, Teal'c's training SG-12 this morning in the gym and not in his quarters, wait, you're heading to the gym, Ad, how did you know that? He told us after you left about the new recruits," Daniel started stammering now, as he resumed his pursuit.

"I saw him when I went to run before supper. He was still working with Lt. Garrison, the man cannot do a foot sweep to save his life," Adrienne answered plainly, still power walking to the gym. Starting to catch on, Daniel stopped, grabbing her arm and pulling her to him.

"Ad, have you lived this day before?" he inquired, finally putting the pieces together in his brain.

"Point for Indy," she answered smartly.

"Adrienne, I told you not to try and activate that machine!" Daniel raised his voice, regretting it instantly, not really meaning to yell at her, but only to express his concern. There was no way that this was happening again and of all people, it had to happen to her.

"I didn't try and activate anything. A very angry scary gorilla thing slammed me onto the table which apparently is how one turns the damn thing on," she clarified frustrated.

"A gorilla?" he asked.

"Yes, didn't you hear me earlier? Broken back, missing Cam? Apparently the reason no people live there is because it's inhabited by violent primates!" she shouted back and Daniel let out a sigh.

"Right, ok, the gorilla, fine, let's go," he picked up his pace and together they started running toward the gym.

"Christ girl," Adrienne heard as she saw Cam turn the corner running in her direction, "I don't know how you turned that thing on, but I was about yay close from getting my head bashed in by a purple monkey." Adrienne ran ahead of Daniel and threw her arms around Cameron, kissing his cheek.

"Thank god you're ok." she said, relaxing her arms and stepping back, relieved.

"Yeah, see, I wasn't paranoid."

He squeezed her arms, shaking his head as he looked at Daniel for support as he approached. Adrienne was a great team member, a great one, but sometimes Cam wondered how many of her actions were governed by things she had seen on TV.

"No worries, I'll never call you paranoid again," Adrienne promised meekly.

"You too?" Daniel asked, glancing back and forth between his two friends.

"Apparently, so I was coming to find you guys and see how in the hell we shut this thing off without getting my head bashed in," the colonel replied but Daniel threw up his hands, his own look of frustration spreading across his face.

"Well, last time I "figured it out" it was with Teal'c's help and the man who caused all of the trouble. I think the best course of action is for you two go and explain it to Teal'c and try to track down Jack while I go try to find the file," Daniel suggested, not allowing for anymore conversation, dashing back to the lab, moving personnel out of his way by their shoulders as he raced on by. Adrienne didn't need to be told twice, she'd read that file ages ago, bolting herself in the direction of their Jaffa comrade.

"Why does Jackson look like he pissed himself, literally?" Cam asked as soon as Daniel was out of earshot.

"I spilt my coffee everywhere and used some choice words," she replied, pointing to her own uniform.

"That's my girl, not too professional to use a good expletive," Cam slapped her on the back, not slowing his advance or hers.

"SamanthaONeill," Teal'c interjected, glumly, into the conversation that had been going on only about fifteen minutes before the Jaffa had to agree. He knew what was going on and this had happened before, "I believe that AdrienneRowan and ColonelMitchell are trapped in a repeating pattern just as O'Neill and I were." Sam, on the other hand, didn't seem so convinced.

"It appears that way Teal'c, but the last time the machine was activated in this fashion by a geomagnetic disturbance. Malaki was trying to go back in time before his wife died and the repeating day was just a side effect," Sam countered, Daniel's file in hand, studying the pieces of information that her husband was able to give her, including the scientific explanation in his own words: "Some rock magnet messed with the gate"

"Yes, and this occurred when the table was probably activated. What if the same problem caused by the electrical interference was duplicated when the primate forced AdrienneRowan onto the table," Teal'c responded, "and how else would AdrienneRowan know the events of today before they happened?"

"She's all sorts of other fucked up now, why not add psychic?" Vala offered, chuckling as she did.

"ValaMalDoran, I believe the same thing would have happened had the animal thrown ColonelMitchell onto the mechanism," the warrior corrected, Vala already shaking her head.

"It was a joke Muscles, a joke, so if Addy's turned the damn thing on how do we turn it off?" she asked, looking back to Sam for answers as the general carefully scanned the worn file folder in front of her, reading her now husband's messy script.

_Daniel's translations on the machine prior to the mission seem to be pretty dead on, but there's no way of checking to see whether or not the thing works now. Recommend that he continue to work on the translation just in case we meet with any other wackadoodle again. _

Wackadoodle? She shook her head, unsure as to how Hammond let the man write mission reports.

"Honestly Sam, didn't Jack say something about you trying to stop the incoming wormhole, interrupting the magnetic charge? He said that didn't work. Maybe the key to the repeat is on the machine itself. After all, it was morning then too. I remember Jack saying something about wanting to stuff a waffle in my face," Daniel stated, reaching his hand out carefully to silently request the folder from Sam. Nodding she passed it over and he opened it quickly, scanning his decade old notes.

"I'm sensing a pattern here," Vala spoke up, "this machine seems to like Daniel shoving something into his mouth." Frowning, Daniel, looked up from the file, shooting a glare over at Vala, who seemed quite amused by the statement, as did his assistant.

"She's got a point Indy," Adrienne added, holding back laughter, " you always do seem to be eating or drinking something." Clearing his throat, Daniel directed his eyes to his hands, hoping she would follow, where he was tapping his legal pad lightly with his middle finger, a snicker on his face. Figuring out what he was saying, Adrienne's eyes widened.

"Oh shug, what have I done to you," she whispered playfully, knowing she shouldn't be joking at a time like this, hastily averting her gaze back at the general.

"So, like last time, we've determined that this is only going back a few hours," Sam started, Cam lifting his hand.

"Eight, eight hours and twelve minutes," he clarified, finger in the air, "trust me, I know the exact second that Donkey Kong tried to bust me open like a coconut."

"Eight hours, not even a half of day. That doesn't give us a lot of time, Daniel, do you think you can shut it off?" Sam asked, watching as Daniel continued to pour over the folder.

"Maybe, I think there's a good chance, given what information I have, I mean, the machine didn't work right in the first place if you will remember, the people were still wiped out, so maybe looping is all they can do. Maybe this is the machine they based their design on?" he stated, shutting the folder and passing it back to Sam, who was shaking her head, pushing it away.

"We don't have a lot of time people. Daniel, I need you and Adrienne to learn everything in that folder and Cam, you and Teal'c be prepared to defend against any possible hostiles. This is not going to happen again, not when we have other threats to deal with,"

Sam said as she stood, the frustration in her face evident to them all. Definitely not the time to harass Daniel about crude gestures, Adrienne thought, waiting for him to stand before she did herself, following him quickly back to their workspace.

It was about 3 hours away from when Adrienne had/would accidentally activate the machine, as they were stepping up to the platform, but she still felt the need to warn them all of what she knew was coming.

"Be on the lookout. The one that got me was big and orange with red eyes and the one that got Cam was more violet in color. The big orange one came right out of the forest and they're strong. Cam's P90 didn't stop them and neither did my staff weapon," she cautioned, although she wasn't entirely sure about the last statement, seeing as how she was slammed into the table before she could see if the powerful beam of light from her favorite defensive tool worked or not.

Better to be safe than sorry though, she thought.

Nodding, Vala held up the gun in her hand, "You don't need to tell me twice, I borrowed this from Ronon just in case," she declared proudly, shaking Ronon's pulse pistol.

Adrienne tried to smile, hoping that might work, following her friends through the gate.

The walk to the ruins was quick and lacking in conversation, Daniel powering ahead reading as he walked while Adrienne kept her hands on the iPad, tapping away at the images, enhancing, refocusing, looking for the connections that Daniel had pointed out in the lab. Although they were safely flanked by their three heavily armed teammates, she couldn't help but feel nervous, every sound around her reminding her of the footsteps of the giant ape. As the group approached the ruins, the jungle surrounding it beginning to thin, Adrienne froze and Cam slowed his pace. Swallowing, she instinctively put her hand to her back, imaginary pain rocketing down her spinal column.

"It's ok," Daniel said as he came behind her, wrapping his arm tenderly around her shoulder, "we're all here this time and Vala's itching to shoot something." Adrienne nodded her head, appreciating the sentiment, reaching over to squeeze his hand. Giving her a quick clasp in return, he pulled away, walking straight to the table, ignoring the columns he had been so adamant that she photograph earlier. He stood there for a while, his head moving left and right as he scanned the table before starting to read over some things from the file.

"It's a little different," he explained over his shoulder, "but this should work. Watch out everyone, it generates some pretty powerful electrical waves." He started to tap on the machine, Cam backing up the group at Daniel's instructions. Sighing, Adrienne felt useless, Daniel had insisted that she translate but stay back, reiterating his position with a look in his eyes that she now understood. Not wanting to worry him or force him to say anything that he wasn't ready to say, not that she really was either, Adrienne stood back standing and waiting with the rest.

Time passed and Adrienne looked down at her iPad, her nerves overtaking her good sense.

It was 7:45 p.m. Earth time and in about 15 minutes King Kong was going to break her spine in half.

"Uh, Indy?" she called out to him.

"Yeah, almost done," he responded, reading her mind.

"15 minutes left before reset," she informed him, her heart racing, his eyes darting around looking for a large orange visitor. With a nod, Daniel hit the last button and turned back around to the group.

"Done," he said, satisfied, a comforting smile across his face. No one in the group needed to be told twice as Adrienne and Cam directed them back to the gate, Adrienne lagging back to try to convince Daniel that they needed to forget this place ever existed.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

Eyes wide, she promptly handed it back and left the lab, walking briskly toward the gym.

"Ad?" Daniel questioned as he followed her into the hallway.

"CAM!" Adrienne shouted down the hall, ignoring Daniel and there was Cameron sprinting down the hall in her direction.

"Now how many times have you told me, oh 'Daniel is the smartest man I've ever known'! Then why the hell is it breakfast again?" Cam exclaimed, Adrienne stopping dead in her tracks, shoving her hands on her hips.

"Seriously, did you expect it to work on the first try? When are we ever that lucky?" she retorted, having hoped herself that Daniel would have fixed everything but trying not to show her disappointment.

Annoyed, Cam rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'll remember this the next time you're drooling all over his brilliance." Cam responded as Daniel caught up to them, looking back and forth between them.

"Excuse me?" he asked, catching the tail end of the conversation. Adrienne "drools over my brilliance", he thought, flattered and began to smile.

"Shut up," they said to him simultaneously before he could add anything further, Adrienne feeling bad the moment the word crossed her lips.

"Look, you take Mr. Wonderful here to go get that file again and I'll get Teal'c and Sam. Meet you in the lab in twenty," Cam ordered, going into leader mode, turning to go back in the direction of the gym.

"Ad, are you going to let me know exactly what's going on?" Daniel asked, giving her the look. It had been a while since she got 'the look', so long in fact she almost laughed; it was quite literally the opposite of him sort of giving her the finger this morning, yesterday morning, whatever.

"Yeah," she grabbed his arm, pulling him back to the lab, "I'll explain shug, but we've some digging to do."

30 minutes later, everyone was situated in Daniel's lab, listening to Adrienne and Cameron recount what had happened, again. When they finished, Sam simply looked over at Daniel.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well," he answered, "without knowing the exact sequence it'll be hard to reconfigure since our first try apparently didn't work. And, there's no Malikai this time to help us figure it out."

"We could go back and have Muscles slam Addy on the table at the same angle and see where she lands," Vala offered.

"Seriously Vala?" Adrienne said, shooting her a dirty look as Vala shrugged.

"I meant gently," she smiled.

"No," Daniel answered, "that really wouldn't work either. The odds of her landing in the same spot twice are astronomical."

"Thanks Indy, love you too," Adrienne said rolling her eyes and resting her head onto her hands.

_Bad choice of phrasing ya cooyon..._

"Ad, I'm not suggesting that anyone slam you onto a table, even if I thought it would work. What I am saying is that chances of determining what you hit are pretty slim. We need to figure out another way," Daniel replied, hoping that Adrienne understood that he would never let anything happen to her, that he would never let anyone or anything hurt her if he could; he'd made her that promise, a promise that he intended to keep.

And she'd said 'I love you too' even if she was just playing.

_Baby steps Daniel, she's taking baby steps. _

Understanding that this time Daniel didn't have a solution, everyone was silent for a while, trying think of something, anything to get them out of this.

Finally, it was Cameron that spoke.

"It's just a machine, right?" he asked.

"Yes, it's a time machine. Similar to a fancy clock so to speak," Daniel answered and Cam nodded, waving his hands for Daniel to hurry up and finish his response.

"Let's take it apart," he suggested, "Hell Daniel wanted me to find the power source so he could tote it home. Let me have at the rest of it."

"What?" Daniel looked at him incredulously, "take it apart?"

"Yeah, take it apart; I know what I'm doing in an engine. Do you think the Air Force lets any idiot be a test pilot?" Cam looked over at Sam and smiled hoping she was following him and was pleased to discover that she was.

"Colonel Mitchell here has a master's degree in mechanical engineering," she smiled, informing the team of what at least one, if not two of them, didn't know.

"So, see," he looked over at Adrienne, "I'm not just the dumb jock!"

"I never said that you were," Adrienne started but Daniel cut her off.

"Look, engineering degree or no, you can't just take it apart. That thing is powered by naquada in a way we don't know and if you take it apart - " this time Sam cut him off.

"Then you will never get to study it, got it. But Daniel, I can't let this happen all over again either. Last time we all lost three months..." Sam insisted, trailing her words and

Adrienne saw the two of them look at each other and then over at Teal'c. Adrienne knew Daniel would give in to that argument, after all, of the entire team he was the one that had aged the least. Between losing time, and two ascensions among other things, he had lost years off of his life. It might make him look physically younger and be biologically younger than the rest, but mentally it had taken its toll as there were parts of him and of his life that were essentially missing. He never really talked about it openly, but every now and then, when it was just he and Adrienne he would make a comment or refer to one of his demises. Silently agreeing, Daniel simply nodded his head, making Adrienne regret instantly that she had chosen to sit by Cam.

"Then it's agreed. Cam, Teal'c, Vala and SG-3 will go to the planet and start taking the machine apart. You all will need to send me images since I can't leave the base, not now, not with everything else going on. Daniel, Adrienne, you two will go through whatever we have left of the translations from the first table. Maybe there is something we've all overlooked and if you find anything report to me immediately. People, we have just eight hours before we have to go through this all again. Let's move," Sam laid out the plan, her speech sounding vaguely familiar to Adrienne. On the clock, the team members stood, quickly moving onto their tasks.

Seven hours later, Adrienne slammed her head onto the table.

"What?" she heard him ask from across the room. Frustrated and mentally exhausted, Adrienne lifted her head turning it in his direction, closing the folder and setting it back on the stack. They had gone through everything, the original file from P4X-639, files of other planets with similar machines, files of planets that had ape-like creatures, everything.

"Nothing." she answered, "Quite literally NOTHING! I feel so helpless!"

"I know, I know. I'm turning up blank here myself," Daniel responded from his desk, removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. His head ached and he couldn't think straight any longer, and he knew they were running out of time.

"I hope Cam can pull this off," Adrienne said, hopefully. Daniel returned his glasses to his face and nodded his head.

"He did graduate pretty high in his class; he's a smart guy," he responded, Adrienne giggling lightly at his defense of his friend.

"I never said he wasn't," she retorted.

"You just said I was smarter," Daniel teased, remembering he never got to pick on her about that earlier.

"Shut up," Adrienne answered, balling up a nearby piece of paper and throwing it at him.

"Did you mean it?" Daniel asked now, his tone less playful, his beautiful eyes sincere. He seemed to be searching, not for a compliment per se, but for assurance that she thought so highly of him. Why not? she thought to herself, why not be truthful? After all, if things did blow up in her face she would have only have to sit here for an hour before everything would just revert to this morning once again. And it was one step closer to telling him that she loved him, when he was awake, because for reasons that she couldn't put into words she just couldn't say it just yet.

"Yeah, I meant it," she replied, redness forming in her cheeks. Daniel smiled, the same flush seemingly forming in his own and he nodded, quickly cutting his gaze to his computer.

_Do it Addy, just say it. _

"In fact, I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met," she admitted softly, her heart racing in her chest. She stared at him, awaiting his response, but he was just frozen, facing the computer not moving.

"Me too," he answered quietly, not looking up from the screen. She wanted to tease him, ask him if by that he meant that he thought he was the most amazing person in the world as well, but she just couldn't, as she watching him sitting there, so uncomfortable, gazing out into nothing.

It made her feel horrible; if she was afraid of not being the person that he needed, afraid that because of her past she could never be fully committed to a relationship, physically at least, he was afraid of something more. She was about to suggest they go check in with Sam, take their mind off of this awkward conversation, when the incoming traveler siren went off and an announcement came over the loud speaker.

"Incoming travelers. SG-1. Requesting Medical Back-up."

Without further discussion, Daniel and Adrienne ran to the gate room.

They heard the sound of the fabric of space time being torn in two as they ducked around the corner, a wave of water like energy blasting a column into the concrete room, slamming back quickly into the confines of the gate. There was a pause for a brief moment before Cam came tearing through, holding his arm in pain, SG-3 following close behind.

"Where are Teal'c and Vala?" Daniel asked.

"Coming," Cam panted out, "We were ambushed by that damn orange monkey that went after Addy. Vala's in pretty bad shape."

How bad is bad, Adrienne wondered, looking up toward the portal.

Seconds later Teal'c came crashing through the gate, carrying a limp Vala in his arms. There was blood everywhere and before Daniel and Adrienne could see if she was alright, Dr. Lam was running full force into the room with a stretcher and her team.

"She doesn't have a pulse," she shouted as she jumped onto the stretcher Teal'c had laid her on beginning to do CPR. No one tried to leave, everyone just stood in shocked silence as Dr. Lam tried to bring Vala back, except for Adrienne, who could feel the tears starting to form as she watched one of her closest friends die right in front of her.

"God dammit somebody bring me some paddles now!" Dr. Lam screamed, pumping frantically at her chest, and Adrienne heard the crack of a rib, turning away to bury her face into Daniel's body, but not before her eyes caught Vala's. They were distant, dead, gone and she thought her friend was opening her mouth to speak but when her lips parted all that came out was a rush of blood.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they are drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"Thank god for a reset," Adrienne sighed and handed Daniel the coffee back, reaching out and squeezing his arm for just a second and then letting go. Holding up her finger to indicate to him that she would be just one second, she stood and walked out of the door.

"Cam!" Adrienne shouted as she headed down the hall, but Cameron was already coming for her.

"That damn orange monkey. Do you now see why I hate monkeys?" he shouted and Adrienne nodded quickly, seeing that by the look in Cam's eyes Daniel had done just what she expected, followed. Hoping to keep this brief and avoid the Daniel typical list of a bazillion question, she whipped around to face him as soon as she felt his presence at her shoulder.

"Remember P4X-639. Round two, Addy and Cam. This is reset," she looked at Cam to confirm, "three. You can't decipher it, so Cam's taking it apart."

"Taking it apart," he asked, mouth gaping.

"Already had this argument, you lose. Cam, did you get it apart?" Adrienne spat out and redirected her attention to Cameron who was nodding.

"Barely, but I know how to get it apart now, so this time it'll be faster. But, I'm not liking Vala's dying and everything to get this accomplished," he noted. Adrienne didn't like that either, a wave of nausea hitting her at the memory.

She didn't want to go through that any more than she wanted her friend to die.

"Vala dying!?" Daniel asked, "What do you mean Vala dying? What are you talking about? Is Anubis on that planet? Are we going to be attacked?"

"Shut up," they both said to him again, Cam not wanting to explain and Adrienne unable.

"I'm going to get Sam and head back," Cam said, turning and heading to her office. Shaking her head, Adrienne gently grabbed his arm, pulling him back to her.

"Let me come with you," she insisted.

"No, I can't. They forget and reset and I'm a combat veteran. It's too much for you Addy. Trust me," he explained, care and concern in his voice, peeling her hand from his arm, squeezing her palm in his own and let go of her hand. Adrienne nodded her head, understanding; he was right, despite everything she had seen in her time here, nothing could have prepared her for the mess that Teal'c had brought back in his arms.

Alone, Cam ran to the elevators.

"Can I talk now?" Daniel asked, startling Adrienne who for a moment had forgotten he was there.

"Yeah, sorry Indy, we're kinda on the clock," Adrienne apologized, shrugging.

"I understand, what do we need to do?" he said sweetly, in that way he did when he was fully trusting in her.

One of the many ways he tore her up inside.

"Nothing," she responded, "We just have to wait." She turned and started walking for the lab, racking her brain for anything else that they might have missed, that might need to be done when she paused, turning back to face him.

"Adrienne, I don't want to just sit around..." he started, but she was shaking her head.

"You ever seen 'Lord of the Rings'?" she asked, curious, an idea forming in her head.

"No..." he answered carefully.

"Come on, that should take at least eight hours," Adrienne replied, smiling, "there is nothing we can do but try not to stress ourselves into a heart attack."

She grabbed him by the arm and led him to her quarters.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She put the coffee on the table and grabbed Daniel's arm, starting to explain briefly, not letting go, relishing in the contact, part of her still trapped in the last cycle, the last wonderful cycle.

Cameron, however, was around the corner in moments.

"How bad?" she asked, acknowledging him as soon as he entered the room.

"I knew where the bastard was coming from this time. Set Ronon's gun to kill and BOOM, down he goes," Cam answered.

"And the table?" Adrienne continued, hoping her fearless leader had more luck than the last time and since she hadn't heard another emergency siren calling Dr Lam's squad down to revive anyone she at least knew that everyone was ok.

Daniel had spent the past eight hours trying to learn the Elven language, something Adrienne probably should have anticipated and didn't, while Adrienne had spent them with her hand clamped over his mouth.

At least until the end...

"Got it open fast, and inside. But I'm gonna need Sam and Rodney both this time though, it's got more bits than I expected. You have any success here?" Cam asked, hoping Adrienne had maybe discovered something in the massive array of folder's and records in she and Daniel's lab.

"I got Daniel to sit and watch the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy," she answered, instantly feeling awful at her complete inability to do anything to help.

"You did?" Daniel asked, confused.

"Yeah, and now we're gonna watch Star Wars unless Cameron needs me," she said, despite how much she loved Star Wars, a huge part of her was hoping that Cam would need her.

She didn't know if she could take Daniel trying to relate the saga to the fall of the Roman Empire and modern day politics.

She knew the references, but considering everything that was going on she really didn't want to spend the time thinking, about the last reset.

_Because this time I think I can..._

"No, I think you'd better stick with your little movie plan. Just cuz I got the orange fucker once doesn't mean I'll be successful twice," Cam answered. No help there, Adrienne nodded her head and reached up to hug him for luck and he backed away smiling.

"Round two," he said, trying to appear hopeful, taking off down the hallway.

"I feel useless," Daniel said.

"Me too, that's why I've been suggesting ridiculously long movie sagas; takes my mind off of it," she smiled, sympathizing. Granted, it gets me thinking about something else, but let's just forget about that for now, after all, things did seem to go really well last reset, so well in fact that Adrienne was considering telling him everything.

"We already tried?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we can scrap this round and try again," she suggested, another light going off in her head. If Daniel wanted to try again then Adrienne could spend the next eight hours in a lab and not in his arms, like she had on the last reset, but did she really want to do that.

The last time, they had gone back to her quarters as suggested, Adrienne happily cueing up the film and climbing onto the bed with him when she got an insane idea.

"Scoot over," she'd ordered, pointing to the center of the bed. Turning his head, Daniel looked at her strangely over his glasses.

"Then where are you going to sit?" he asked, however, rather than answering, Adrienne had just climbed onto the foot of the bed, grabbing his ankles and spreading his legs, crawling in between them. At first he looked panicked at her, his eyes widening, the same terror she had seen in the lab creeping into his face.

"I'm not, well, I mean, not yet, I can't, I just wanna, I just, well, last reset was awful and I just wanted to..." Adrienne had stumbled over her words, feeling foolish, realizing that it was a terrible idea but Daniel had just smiled.

"You can just say that you need me; I don't mind," he said sweetly, that twinkle in his eyes and that beam on his face. Returning the grin, Adrienne crawled forward and turned around, leaning back against his chest, relishing the feeling of being in his arms as they were wrapped so tightly around her.

They had sat like that for most of the film, except when Adrienne had to shut him up as he argued with her possible origins of the Elvish language, cuddling, snuggling together on her bed. Time clicked by, faster than Adrienne had expected until her phone buzzed, a quick glance telling her that only ten minutes remained. Reaching over to the nightstand, Adrienne shut the alarm off, pausing the movie.

"Wait, do they die? Ad, why did you stop the movie?" Daniel sat forward, leaning around her shoulder.

"It's gonna reset, but now that I know you like it we can watch it again," she offered, standing as though the reset was something she needed to prepare for. Daniel made a pouting face, again, playful, acting in a way she hadn't seen him behave in a while, since she'd been focusing way too much energy on what was really going on between them.

_This might work, we might work. _

_This is heaven. _

Peeking quickly at the clock she saw now that eight minutes remained and in a burst of insanity rushed back into his arms, bringing her lips to his...

"Ad, you in there? If there's a chance someone comes back on this reset dead, I really don't want to be here watching Darth Vader," he replied, adding quickly, "Don't you agree?"

"Yeah, that's fair," she answered, and made her way to the lab, heading straight for the file cabinets remembering exactly what to pull. Trying not to think of her last moments in that final reality, Daniel kissing her back, his fingers running through her hair, the way his soft lips moved against her own, so gentle and caring, Adrienne opened the drawer.

Several hours later, Daniel looked up from the pages and pages of pictures and sighed.

"Ad?" he called out, this time from the center table himself.

"Yeah shug," she answered, pinching the bridge of her nose, fighting off an intense migraine.

"Ninety minutes to reset." he said.

"I know..." she sighed, adding a yawn to the mix.

"Do me a favor?" he requested.

"What kinda of favor Indy?" she asked, but was fairly certain she knew what.

"Remind me on the next round that this is pointless and that we just need to watch Star Wars," he insisted, laying his head on the table, the ugh he uttered giving Adrienne the indication that he was feeling her pain.

"No problem," she smiled, "one good saga paralleling the ills of the Vietnam War with a sprinkling of the fall of the Roman empire it is."

Daniel laughed at her response.

"You know Ad," he started again, lifting his head from the table.

"What?" she looked over at him wondering if she looked as tired as he did.

"When this happened to Jack and Teal'c, I did remind them that as long as they knew everything would reset the very next day that they should have fun with it. I mean, what else do you have to do?" he ventured, smiling evilly.

Turning her head curiously, Adrienne cut her eyes at him, wondering and let her thoughts wander for a second.

She would love to do a lot of crazy things, besides throwing herself into his arms again, things that were harmless and could never result in her heart breaking. There was a list of people on base that were so annoying and arrogant that she wanted to give them a piece of her mind, Woolsey and Satterfield at the top of that list.

She had always wanted to fly a puddle jumper.

There was that whole cornstarch guts experiment that she wanted to set up in Rodney's lab, on a joking dare from Daniel.

She could hijack the loudspeaker system and blast the entire base with 1990's R&B.

The possibilities were endless and Adrienne knew the look on her face was probably not the safest one to be giving her best friend.

"Maybe I shouldn't have pointed that out," he shook his head at her, "I probably don't even want to know what you are thinking."

"Relax Indy," she said, "despite your beliefs I'm actually pretty tame."

"Sure," he teased, "it's always the quiet ones. Don't forget, I know you better than anyone." She smiled, because it was true, he did, and if he knew her so well then he should know what was on her mind.

Leaning back in her desk chair, Adrienne wondered if Cam would actually figure it out on this round or if in just a short time she would be handing Daniel back his cup of coffee. She tapped her pen on his desk, glancing over at Daniel, betting on the coffee.

"How much time do we have?" she asked and Daniel tapped the computer trackpad to cue up the clock.

"An hour now," he answered. Adrienne made a face. What crazy things could she accomplish in an hour? A sudden thought popped into her head and she stood from her desk, reaching for her phone.

"Did you find something?" he asked, his mind still on the task at hand.

"No, I didn't," she said as she walked over to him.

"What's wrong then?" he sat up in his chair peering over at her puzzled. Beaming, she leaned over into his face, looking him dead in the eye.

"You think it's gonna reset?" she asked.

"At this point, yeah, we would have heard already if they figured out how to shut it off." he answered.

"Just checking," she answered gleefully, pulling him to his feet.

"Adrienne, what are you doing?" he asked, but stood, again trusting her. She winked and held his shoulders in place before dashing over to the tall supply cabinets, popping her phone onto the speaker stand, and grabbing the remote from beside it before returning to her standing friend.

"Then, for my first order of business, I'm gonna teach you how to dance," she smiled and cued up the music.

"Even though I won't remember?" he asked, reached out his hands clumsily, switching them up and down repeating the motion a few confused times before Adrienne laughed grabbing them in her own.

"At the very least, I'll know if there is hope for the future," she played, placing one of his hands on her hip and the other at her shoulder.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"Damn reset," Adrienne said, the memories of trying to get Daniel to move his hips in a fashion that somewhat resembled dancing fresh in her head, a faded image of how much fun they were having, as if everything was ok, was normal, was perfect.

It was like they were together.

Especially when they were kissing again, Daniel leaning her lightly against his desk, not going too far, being so kind and caring...

Lifting her eyebrows, she smiled at him, standing and handed the coffee back to him, "You stay here, I'll explain in a sec, just don't go anywhere."

As Adrienne was walking out of the lab she heard Cameron running down the hallway.

"Anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, a lot. Believe it or not, for as obnoxious as Rodney is, he's a pretty smart guy. How was Star Wars?" he asked.

"We didn't watch it, Daniel wanted to try to help again," Adrienne answered, butterflies going insane in her stomach.

"And?" Cam implored.

"Nada, big fat nada. We're back on Star Wars this round," she said, remembering her promise to him the last reset.

_That is if we watch Star Wars..._

"Well, at least you tried. But I think that it's gonna take a couple more sets to make this work, but it's gonna work," he assured her, "Rodney has isolated the power source and it looks like it has gears similar to a clock, that is can be set back and then the power cut."

"Take your time." she said, part of her still stuck in the last rotation. Part of her longing for more time with Daniel, time that could be erased if she slipped up, if they pushed it too far, if she had to tell him at that limit that she just couldn't...

"Ok..." Cam responded.

"No, I mean, do what you've got to do. I'll occupy myself," Adrienne tried to backpedal a bit, hoping Cam wasn't getting the wrong idea, if anything, Adrienne just wanted Daniel to hold her, forever, and never let go.

"Addy, what madness are you up to?" Cam asked her directly.

"Nothing, just get to work Mitchell," she said, heading back for the lab, playing it cool.

"You care to explain?" Daniel asked as she rounded the corner. Tiring of having this conversation, the one thing about the repeats she was regretting, she gave him the five minute version.

"Are you sure there is nothing we can do?" he asked the moment she finished her explanation, getting an eye roll is response.

"Positive. In fact, you told me to remind you that it was pointless to try and we should watch to Star Wars this round," Adrienne insisted, although Daniel really couldn't believe he had given up so easily.

"Star Wars?" he inquired, suspicious.

"Yeah, we did Lord of the Rings a few rounds ago." she replied.

" I see..." he muttered.

"You liked it," she offered, "when you stopping talking and watched it."

"So basically we just sit around and hope that Cameron and Rodney save the day?" he asked, once more for clarification.

"Unfortunately. Wanna go watch?" she started to reach for his arm but he stopped her mid grab, looking deep into her in the eyes.

"Ad, I really just can't sit here and do nothing while they could be killed," he plead, the Daniel she knew, always worrying about others. Shaking her head, she walked up to him, resting a hand on each arm.

"Listen, Daniel, I understand, I do. This is my umpteenth rotation and I know that there's nothing we can do. NOTHING. Except watch Star Wars and..." she spoke too soon, he didn't seem to be in as playful of a mood as he was earlier when he had mentioned the whole 'do what you want' scenario.

_Probably not a good time to mention the kissing..._

"And what?" he asked.

"Well... remember what Jack and Teal'c did..." she lead and suddenly Daniel looked nervous.

_Oh no, what's he thinking?_

"Wait, what did we do?" he asked, fear creeping up into his voice.

"It's me shug, just me. We did crazy for us, I mean, last round I just taught you to dance, but I want to do something crazier," she explained and his look of confusion changed to the look of curiosity from earlier.

"Crazy how?" he inquired, peering at her over his glasses and she could see the smile inching across his lips, so she just grabbed his hand, pulling him to the door.

"Let's go swipe a puddle jumper and find out," she challenged, raising her eyebrows. Daniel hesitated for only a second before squeezing her hand and letting go, heading behind her in the direction of the elevators.

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they are drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee. She took the coffee without a word.

"Ad? Are you listening to me? Are you ok?" Daniel asked, waving his hand in her face, seeing that she had gone into the Addy-zone as he was now calling it.

"Reset..." she trailed off and sat in her chair. In her last memory of the set before she had leapt out of the puddle jumper, free-falling toward the Atlantic Ocean. It had been a rush like she had never felt before and time had slowed to a crawl just as she pulled the shoot. She and Daniel had flown across the ocean, surprisingly fast, to the cliffs of England, somewhere she had never been before, and sat at the base of Stonehenge, leaning against the ancient rocks and talking. It would have been a dream first date, had it been a date. She had almost told him, at the cliffs, at Stonehenge, before she had leapt from the jumper, but she just couldn't.

But she'd kissed him again; that was getting much easier to do now...

"What's a reset?" Daniel asked as he sat in front of her, breaking her trance. Adrienne glanced up to explain just as Cameron came tearing into the room.

"Just wanted to check in. I've just about got the thing switched off, but we're gonna need Danny boy here in probably one more reset two at the latest," he ordered. Adrienne gave him the thumbs up.

"Gotcha," she answered and Cameron turned to leave.

"Cam?" Adrienne called back to him.

"Yeah girl," he stopped at the doorway.

"Can you shut the door?" she asked sheepishly. Giving her a funny look, Cam shut that lab door slowly.

"What was that all about?" Daniel asked puzzled the moment the door clicked into place. Holding up her hands, Adrienne walked over to the center table, pulling up two chairs, pointing at them indicating that he sit.

"Daniel, we need to talk..."

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

"Never thought I'd be so happy for a reset," she shouted out loud and put the coffee on the table.

Her talk hadn't gone so well.

She started off awkwardly, skirting around the issue, which led to Daniel becoming frustrated and jumping to conclusions. He accused of her being afraid of nothing, thinking that she was trying to quit her job again, which lead to a huge fight about what she had no idea. She had stormed out of the lab heading to the gym to run, needing to burn off steam. Still shouting, as if the months of friendship had never happened, as if falling in love was something she just imagined, Daniel followed, accusing her of having her priorities out of order and allowing things that she couldn't control to dictate her life. She'd slapped him across the face, told him to go to hell and headed to the elevators, spending the rest of her day crying in her beetle in the parking lot of the SGC.

It wasn't exactly the 'I love you' she had planned and she knew needed to try another approach.

"Wha-" but before he could finish his sentence she had thrown her arms around his neck and was kissing him in the middle of the lab. He didn't pull away, just kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her back, sliding his hand up her neck, pulling her closer as he kissed her deeper.

"Alright girl, we need the language nerds now - what in the hell are you two doing?" Cam shouted out, "Is this how you have been passing your time?!"

She pulled back from Daniel quickly, realizing what had happened, realizing that the door was open, adjusting her shirt as he pushed his glasses up his face.

_Bad idea Ad, bad idea. _

She hoped Cam wouldn't think the worst.

"Passing time?" Daniel asked shoving his hands in his pockets, peering down at her nervously.

"Um... I'll explain on the way... Cam let's go," she answered quickly, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him out of the lab, leaving her confused friend and boss behind.

Once on the planet, Cam and company had no problem dismantling the machine. A surprisingly small door pried from the side of the machine, Cam crawled inside of it shouting out things to Sam and Rodney, angles, measurements, configurations of gears. They worked quickly and Adrienne was impressed how much Cam had remembered to direct him, it seemed based on his orders that he had completely memorized the entire internal mechanism of the machine.

"Ok, Sam and I've figured out how to disconnect the main power source. There seems to be a series of switches and we want to make sure we know what they say before we try this," Cam said as he was crawling out. Without question, taking that as his cue to work his translating magic, Daniel wriggled his way into the contraption, where Adrienne could hear his muttering to himself inside, a series of words in ancient, pattern words that sounded like they reset the wheels to a default mode.

"Ok, once you guys throw the switch, it should reset one more time. We'll all be back at 8:00 a.m. with Cam and Adrienne the only ones aware that they are going to repeat the day once more," Daniel explained as he reappeared on the outside, climbing to his feet, and dusting off his pants. Sam nodded her head, relief washing over her face.

"I need you both to come straight to my office as soon as this reset takes to be briefed and Cam you will need to make diagrams of this machine and what we did in case, god forbid, this ever happens again. I also want to send you back here with SG-3 to disconnect it from the power source, permanently, because this is not something we want Anubis to get a hold of," she ordered. She was right, they all knew, and as bad as Daniel wanted an opportunity to study the machine, they needed to make sure that technology this powerful didn't fall into the wrong hands.

Knowing now they had nothing to do but wait, Daniel walked over to Adrienne and Cam as Sam re-entered the base of the machine, Rodney McKay in tow.

"So about this passing of time?" he asked, smiling down at her, his expression different, one Adrienne couldn't quite pin.

"Nothing, it was nothing," she responded.

"Does it have anything to do with this morning?" he pushed, hoping her answer would be yes.

Then he would know for sure, know that she heard and felt the same.

Then, maybe he could tell her, talk to Sam, maybe he could try to make this work...

"No, that was, stupid, sorry. Impulsive. We've been goofing off, like, well, like we haven't in a while and I realized that I missed that. I missed you, we've been so busy, I've been a little distant since, and I just..." Adrienne tried to answer, skirting the truth and Daniel smiled slightly.

"Well, I know I won't remember this, but I want you to know, me too. I've missed our fun too and if I've done anything wrong, anything to offend you, I'm sorry. You mean a lot to me Ad, and I'm not quite sure how I managed so long without you," he admitted and reached over, squeezing her fingers gently.

She pulled back from him, just enough to slide her fingers through his and held his hand, in front of everyone, no longer caring.

Popping and whirring, the machine came to life, Sam and Rodney exiting its belly both giving the thumbs up. Cam glanced down at his watch, mouthing silently to himself, finally shouting out to the group, "Hang on everyone, we're a go in three, two..." when Adrienne felt Daniel pulling her hand and she glanced over at him, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Ad, it's more than that. It's not worth hiding, I don't care. I have to tell you that I lo-"

"Adrienne, it's really important that you get images of all four columns, since it looks like they're drastically different from those on P4X-639," Daniel instructed her as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She looked up at him and smiled.

He'd said it, or at least tried to say it, to her, not when she was asleep, but in front of everyone.

He knew she'd remember, he was too smart otherwise, and if he knew that she would remember, that could only mean one thing. That he wasn't afraid, wasn't concerned about the fact that he was her boss, the fact that he was older, the fact that while alike they were so different in so many ways, the fact that she was tainted.

So, if he wasn't afraid, then why was she so afraid?

"Ad? Did you hear me?" Daniel asked, waving his hand in her face, seeing she had gone into the Addy-zone, yet again, her default mode as of late.

"Yeah, I did, but I need to go talk to Sam, like now. We won't be going on the mission today." she told him as she took the coffee, grabbing some things from her desk.

"Ok... Adrienne, why are you acting so odd?" he asked.

"I'll explain later," she said and walked over to him, leaning over to wrap her arms around his shoulders tightly, pulling him into a strong hug, kissing him softly on the cheek.

"What was that for?" he stared at her quizzically as she pulled back, gazing up into his eyes like there was something else he needed to tell her.

"Just because," she smiled, walking through the doorway, but when she got into the hallway, she paused turning back to face him.

"Indy?" she asked, pulling up her courage from the bottom of her stomach.

"Yeah?" he answered from his desk.

"Since I know the mission is gonna be scrapped, I was planning on watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in my quarters, ice cream and wine, I'll explain when I get back, I've had a stressful couple of days. You wanna come?" she held her breath as soon as she asked, knowing he would say yes, but terrified at the prospect.

"Sure, I've got some things around here to do but yeah. Can you believe I've never seen it before?" he said.

Adrienne felt like her heart was going to leap from her chest, what would she do, what would she say?

Would she be able to crawl into his arms again, let him hold her?

She took a quick breath, containing herself.

"Yeah, I can." she answered, laughing lightly, heading for Sam's office, hoping to get through her explanation quickly so she could enjoy her day with Daniel.

Alone.

And she fully planned on crawling into his arms.


	31. Chapter 30 - Uninvited Guest

"Oh Indy! I've got a surprise for you!" Adrienne shouted at the open doorway hoping he would hear her because in her hands was something he had been complaining about for a while, something he had been whining about just last week.

He would love her forever.

Damn Daniel, Adrienne thought to herself, momentarily annoyed by how much of her thoughts Daniel took up now. He was her first thought when she woke up and her last thought before bed, effectively making her the kind of woman that she swore she would never be. She had become one of those women, pining, hoping, planning, but at least she had admitted to herself that being with him was something they might be able to handle.

She'd asked him just the other night as they were watching TV together to please be patient, offering no further explanation, and he hadn't balked in the least.

Now she just needed to figure out how to handle it and until then, cute coffee favors would have to do. Ducking around the corner to the lab, Adrienne discovered quickly that she needed to set down the tray in her hands before her little gift spilled itself all over the floor.

"So apparently, if you want a pumpkin latte after Thanksgiving, all you have to do is ask! I just threw it out there and the lady had no problem making this for you. Now, you must bow down low to worship that greatness that is Adrienne!" she declared, setting the items on the desk in front of her and grabbing Daniel's drink.

She turned around smiling and paused.

"This must be Dr. Rowan," an accented voice spoke. A tall, thin, blond woman, with long wavy hair was looking right at her as she stood beside Daniel, stood very very close to Daniel and Adrienne's stomach sank to the floor. This was someone Adrienne hoped she'd never have to meet.

Ever. Ever. Ever.

Daniel nodded his head at their visitor and smiled, stepping forward and sweeping his hand in her direction.

"Adrienne, I would like you to meet Dr. Sarah Gardner. We did some work together at the tail end of my graduate studies," Daniel explained as if Adrienne didn't already know who she was. She knew everything, she was his best friend, she knew work together was code for ex-girlfriend. Adrienne tried to contain her emotions, her brain creating a thousand different romantic scenarios between the two people standing before her, a small voice in her head screaming wildly.

_Go away, he's mine now, mine! We're trying so hard to make this work, why are you here!?_

Forcing herself to be professional, she walked the drink over to Daniel, reaching out her hand to offer a greeting.

"Nice to meet you," Adrienne kept it short and sweet, pulling her hand back as she passed the latte over to her boss. Gratefully, Daniel took it, cutting his eyes at Adrienne, before taking a sip and swallowing. There was a pause, as he teased her with a delayed reaction and then he smiled.

"You are to be worshipped my faithful assistant," Daniel joked, walking back over to his desk. Adrienne started to kid right back when she heard Sarah laughing from beside her.

"Since when do you drink lattes?" she asked, flirtation in her voice, causing bile to rise up in the cajun's stomach. Smiling Daniel cocked his head back over at Adrienne, taking another quick sip before answering.

"Since Adrienne introduced me to the wondrous things one can do to flavor their caffeine," he responded, still smiling at her. Ha, Adrienne thought to herself, take that lady, see how close we are and she giggled, allowing immature thoughts to take over, winking before continuing their exchange.

"Hey, only after you got me hooked on those chocolate covered coffee beans Indy," she played back, intentionally using his nickname. Their guest looked puzzled, glancing back and forth between the two of them before going to sit on the corner of his desk. Ignoring Adrienne, who was across the room trying not to explode, she peered back down at Daniel.

"Indy? Wow, a lot has changed over the years hasn't it?" she asked smoothly so Adrienne just walked over to her own desk, reminding herself that he did love her, that she was insane and needed to stop acting like a child, while Daniel, forever oblivious to everything in life, smiled once more, glancing over at Adrienne.

"Sarah was just coming by at Sam's request, considering the Anubis fiasco and all, and volunteered to help us go through some things that SG-13 had picked up with Vala last week. I thought it would save us some time," he offered but Adrienne wanted to stand and slap him then and there.

What in the hell was wrong with him?

They didn't need any help, she and Daniel got along down here just fine, _alone._

However, instead of objecting, she nodded, telling herself that in his complete cluelessness he was only trying to help.

"Sure, the stack on the center table needs to be started," Adrienne replied, indicated a pile of papers with her finger, however, rather than move to attack said items, Sarah looked over to her and smiled.

"Actually, I'm helping Daniel with what he was working on, but I'm more than happy to go through those things afterward," she responded coolly. Adrienne was going to explode, but she tried to contain herself, just nodding again in reply.

"Great, thanks," Adrienne said and watched the two old friends, the two exes, begin to work away. Desperate for escape, Adrienne opened her computer and pulled up her chat box, disregarding real work and messaging the only person she could think of.

_HELP! PLEASE BE THERE!_

_What in the hell is wrong with you so early in the damn morning? _

God bless Vala, Adrienne thought, her go to person to whine about Daniel, which was weird enough, but it worked. Relieved, Adrienne began to type feverishly.

_I need you to come up with a classic Vala excuse to get me out of the lab, like five minutes ago._

_Why? _

Adrienne went to type and stopped. DAMMIT! Vala would never let her hear the end of this, ever, escaping a jealous rage would be moved to the top of the harass Adrienne till the end of time list. Changing her mind, starting to type back that she just had a stomach ache and needed a soda, Adrienne heard Sarah giggle again and peeked over just in time to see her put her hand on Daniel's shoulder.

Oh no, Adrienne thought, better Vala any day than this.

_Daniel's former paramour is here. I need to leave before I go insane. _

There was a pause, a pause long enough to make Adrienne start to panic again as she forced herself to not eavesdrop into their conversation. Binging, her headphones alerted her to her friend's delayed response.

_Sorry, I needed to look up how to say this: ROTFL_

Adrienne made a face at the reply when she heard Sarah's tinkling laughter again. She was now doubly annoyed; translation is not that funny...

_Can you just be a good friend for once!? Help me!_

Adrienne waited for an answer, watching the little indicator bubbles on the screen light up as she knew Vala was typing back.

_There's a simple solution to this..._

Thank God, Adrienne thought to herself, Vala always had an out. True, the woman might not be an academic, but her gift for weaseling was Nobel worthy. Now it was Daniel speaking as they were going through the file, Sarah whispering like she was trying to keep it between the two of them. Vala better come up with something good, Adrienne thought, as she typed her reply.

_What? Simple is good. _

_You simply say "Daniel, I'm in love with you. Let's screw." _

A loud sighed escaped her lips and Daniel looked up, confused.

"Everything ok over there Ad?" he asked, Sarah joining him in his stare. Dammit Vala, she thought, as she shook her head in response.

"Oh nothing, just the circle of death on my screen, trying to work around it," she answered, playing it off and covering her face to hide the flush of her cheeks. Flustered, she typed back to Vala.

_I can't do that!_

_Why the hell not? That man is head over heels in love with you! Just continue to not believe me and we'll see what happens. Stay miserable Addy, that seems to be your thing lately._

Adrienne made a face that Vala couldn't see. Vala was right, dead on, he'd told her now twice, well, one and a half times technically, hell they'd kissed now more times than she could count, in alternate scenarios of course that he technically didn't know about but besides the fact that she just wasn't ready to be with anyone just yet, her mind riddled with fears that she knew were irrational but still there.

It would screw up everything they had.

She could lose her job, her new family, their friendship...

And she just couldn't let herself be with him just yet.

_Please help me Vala. _

Normally Adrienne wouldn't beg, but she needed to get out of here, in the least conspicuous way possible, and she needed to do so without crying. She stayed glued to the screen, hoping Vala would respond but there was no answer. It was the ringing of her dear friend's desk phone that broke her trance.

"Hello?" Daniel answered, Adrienne peeking over at him curious as she watched Daniel's eyes widen and him leap from his seat.

"You did what!?" he was starting to shout, "Why?! No, Vala, I don't even want to know. Oh no, Adrienne's not doing anything, she just sits around waiting for you to screw up expensive electronics. Fine, she'll be right there," Daniel finished, slamming the phone into its cradle.

Adrienne tried to act surprised as Daniel looked over at her disgusted.

"You just had to wire everything in her room didn't you?" he asked, acting annoyed with her now. Not exactly the reaction she wanted, especially considering the present company, but Adrienne would just have to go with it.

"It was either that or keep finding remotes and fixing multiple broken electronics as opposed to just one thing. What did she do?" Adrienne replied, hoping the smartness in her tone would serve as a warning.

"She says she spilled soda all over the router box and now nothing will communicate," Daniel explained, Adrienne instantly making a face.

She hoped Vala was just making the entire thing up and hadn't really poured a coke into the router Adrienne had just installed.

She stood from her desk and walked over to her messenger bag, packing up her geek tools as Daniel like to call them, pausing at the door to peek over her shoulder.

"You do realize that I've become her babysitter?" Adrienne teased. He smiled back, the annoyance from earlier gone.

Good, she thought to herself, that's my Indy.

"Better you than me; you think it'll take long?" he asked and with those words Adrienne's entire mood changed.

Let him want me, she ordered herself, missing me is good for him.

"This is Vala we're talking about Indy..." she replied, tossing the bag over her shoulder, not making any promises about how long it would take. It will take as long as I need to not act like an insane twelve year old, Adrienne thought. She was trying to leave again when Sarah, who had remained silent during this exchange, glanced at Daniel and then back at Adrienne.

"Take your time, we've got this under control, right Daniel?" she interjecting and Daniel, the most oblivious human being in the galaxy, nodded his head.

"I keep forgetting we have a third set of eyes. Yeah Ad, get her taken care of so you can be ready to go off world uninterrupted," he added. Holding the growl she wanted to make inside of her throat, Adrienne just gave him a thumbs up, walking backwards out of the lab.

She made it to the stairwell before she couldn't wait any longer, pulling her phone from her pocket and typing furiously.

_Please tell me that you didn't pour a beverage into your router!_

The response was instant.

_Did you tell him that you love him? _

_No. _

_Then I should have. _

Adrienne rolled her eyes and jogged up the four flights of stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevators.

When she got to the housing floor, she opened the door and made a quick dash down the hall to Vala's room, keying in her access code. It was 252433, or in numbers on the phone, Alcide, her favorite character on True Blood. Vala had suggested using her birthday, October 31, the one Adrienne had given her, but Adrienne insisted that it was too easy to figure out, especially since Adrienne had intentionally made her birthday on Halloween, a joke that only her friends from this world seemed to fully understand. The light flashed and Adrienne twisted the doorknob to let herself in, nearly walking into her friend.

"I can't keep getting you out of trouble with him you know?" Vala was waiting for her, hands on her hips and eyes rolling. Not responding, Adrienne made a face and walked over to her bed, dropping the bag onto the tile floor, flopping onto the comforter.

"Why can't I just hate him, it would make all of this so much easier. Or gay? Why can't I just be gay?" Adrienne whined, rubbing her face with her hands. Shutting the door behind her, her face drawn into a scowl, Vala waltzed over and laid down beside her, staring up at the ceiling.

"Why can't you just tell him? You said last week that you were going to tell him. I fail to see why any of this is such a crisis," Vala responded, refusing to acknowledge Adrienne's whining. Rolling to her side, Adrienne sighed out again, hugging her friend and resting her head on Vala's shoulder.

"I'm working my way up to it, but Vala, what if he says we can't be together? How do you think that is going to make the comfort level in the lab?" Adrienne replied, her voice annoying and nasal.

_Or, let's be honest here Ad, what if he says yes, we can be together, let me kiss you all over and then run for the hills the moment you have a flashback crying and screaming. _

_Yeah, THAT'S someone who Daniel wants to be with..._

"About the level it is now. For fuck's sake Addy, you two act like a damn married couple anyway," Vala replied, shoving her away. Allowing her growl from earlier to escape, Adrienne threw herself back onto her back, holding her hands in the air while she picked her nails.

"Ech! Donna say dat! The last gawd damn thing I need is a gawd damn husband. Aunt Barb'd have her damn dreams come true. NO HUSBANDS," Adrienne replied, having told Vala her only other reason for keeping Daniel at a distance; because Aunt Barbara had been right.

Well, not exactly, her exact words were something along the lines of "Addy wun dey ya gunna fine ah gud man whose gunna put up wit ya and ya nonsense," but the message was clear.

She'd found him.

He put up with her and what scared Adrienne more than anything was that she could see herself walking down the aisle with him, in some big damn dumb church wedding, with her redneck family just smiling away.

"I liked you better when you hated him. And when you weren't whiney and kicked ass. What happened to her?" Vala teased, not really disliking this side of Adrienne, if anything, it gave her more fuel for the fire.

"Thank you for listening to me whine, especially, you know, given ya'll's history," Adrienne continued and felt a hand grabbing hers, peering down to see Vala clenching her palms and squeezing it tightly.

"I like to think of that as a very sad and depressing time in my life where I thought that being with a boring old stick up the ass man was what I needed. I have since learned that I need a big, dark skinned man, with muscles. Lots and lots of muscles. Men you seem to throw away like it's nothing," Vala answered and Adrienne just laughed. Vala had really set her sights lately and not on Daniel, but on Ronon.

That was Adrienne's next order of business; play matchmaker between her dear friend and the handsome Sateadan.

"You're a bad friend," Adrienne accused, not meaning a word.

"Are you still in the lab with that snotty bitch?" Vala asked.

"No," Adrienne replied.

"Then I'm a perfect friend. Now, we need a plan," Vala concluded. Puzzled, Adrienne rolled back to face her.

"Vala, I'm... I'm not ready," Adrienne whined again but Vala screwed up her face at her.

_Then it isn't probably a good time to mention that I spent the night in his room. Again. Asleep with his arm around my waist. _

_Yeah, let's not..._

_Really don't want to get into "not ready" specifics with you right now..,_

"No, we need a plan to get rid of that woman. She would make him boring again. I like you much better," Vala replied and Adrienne laid back on the bed, grumbling and staring at the ceiling.

"I still kick ass you know. His ass to be precise," Adrienne added, hoping Vala really didn't think she had become one of "those" women.

"I know and I find it to be hysterical every single time we train," she replied, standing from the bed to go grab the TV remote.

About an hour later, her phone was buzzing in her pocket. Vala had moved over to her desk, better known as her makeup station, to concoct a plan of sorts while Adrienne just sat on her friend's bed playing with her computer ignoring the movie Vala had put on because she said the lead actor was hot, some dumb flick about some damn dumb giant snake. The hot guy didn't even do a Southern Accent correctly, so she just popped in her head phones and watched some preview clips from her zombie show. Distracted by the sudden movement of the gadget, she reached in her pocket and pulled out her phone, looking down at the name. It was Daniel of course, the word Indy and a manipulated picture of her best friend's face over a fleeing Indiana Jones body plastered across the screen. She slid the bar over to answer it, a tiny bit of glee racing through her system.

"Yes..." Adrienne answered, playfully, drawing out the word dramatically.

"Are you almost finished? We've got something," Daniel replied on the other line. Adrienne was pleased, he had missed her; her exit had had its intended effect.

"Yeah, she didn't do too much damage," Adrienne lied and heard some talking on the other end, accented talking.

_Nosey bitch... _

"Good, well hurry back," he replied and ended the call. Standing and packing up her things Adrienne glanced over to meet the eyes she felt watching her.

"Daniel, I love you," Vala said, trying to do so in a mock southern accent, "and since we are together already anyway, get in my bed and make me scream."

"Keep your phone on," Adrienne ordered, not acknowledging her comment. Rolling her eyes, Vala turned back to her desk, resuming her sorting of eye shadows as Adrienne scurried back down to the basement.

When she arrived at the lab, Daniel and Sarah were leaning over the center table, excitedly like they would normally do and Adrienne instantly wanted to turn back to go whine to Vala. Instead, she took a breath in, tossing her bag onto her chair and casually shoved her hands into the pocket of her uniform pants, strolling over to the center table.

"Ok, what's the good news?" Adrienne asked, raising her eyebrows and shrugging cheerfully. Daniel went to speak but Sarah placed her hand lightly on his arm, looking at Adrienne smiling.

"It appears that your friend Vala has stumbled upon a Goa'uld weapons cache," she replied. Adrienne nodded, wanting to add that her friend Vala probably didn't stumble onto anything, she probably knew exactly what she was looking for, but refrained.

"Cool," Adrienne replied, walking over to stand behind Daniel since Sarah was clearly not going to move to let her see. Adrienne debated for just a moment and then leaned forward, onto Daniel's back, like she would normally do were this visitor not here. Daniel didn't even notice as she peered over his shoulder, her palms resting on his shoulder blades, but Sarah apparently did.

_I should kiss his back, just for good measure..._

"Here Dr. Rowan," she said, a look of disgust on her face as she moved over to let Adrienne in. Still oblivious, Daniel pointed to the photos while Adrienne scooted in beside him, to what looked like the foundation of a pyramid complex. Peering over to examine them carefully, the pictures not that great in quality, Adrienne saw a small segment covered by large stone slabs with hieroglyphs as Daniel leaned in close to her and pointed.

"Assez stupide pour marquer qu'il armes," Adrienne commented (Pretty stupid to label it weapons). Daniel laughed.

"Personne n'a dit qu'ils étaient intelligents, simplement signifier. Un peu comme vos Romains ..." he answered. (No one said they were smart, just mean. Kind of like your Romans) Chuckling, Adrienne bumped his hip with hers, shaking her head as she leaned in, grabbing his magnifying glass to peer closer, trying to read the glyphs.

"Les Grecs étaient intelligents, les Romains simplement roulé dans leur gloire. Quand partons-nous?," Adrienne replied. (The Greeks were smart, the Romans just rode in on their glory. When do we leave?) Anticipating her question, Daniel stood, tapping the photos with his finger before gathering them back into the folder.

"Dès que je montre Sam. Elle va probablement nous glisser entre certaines équipes sortantes pour obtenir emballés et appeler l'équipe, voir qui peut partir à court préavis," he answered. (As soon as I show Sam. She'll probably slip us in between some outgoing teams so get packed and call the team, see who can go on short notice).

It was then that Sarah cleared her throat, reminding Adrienne of the white elephant in the room.

"Pensez-vous qu'elle va me permettre de venir aussi?" Sarah asked. (Do you think she will allow me to come?).

Adrienne held back a groan.

Of course she speaks French, why would Adrienne have expected less?

So much for her and Daniel's secret language; she'd have to try Spanish next since there was no way that Miss Perfect spoke as many languages as she did, or so she hoped. Realizing their error, well his error since Adrienne didn't care, Daniel stood and looked at Sarah, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Ad and I do that a lot, without thinking. We'll stick to English; it gets on everyone else's nerves as well," he apologized, walking over to the phone at his desk. Sarah smiled and leaned back against the table once more.

"It's quite alright," she answered, nicely. Adrienne looked for a tone and got none; she actually seemed to be acting nice and have a genuine interest in their work.

I can't hate you if you're not a bitch, Adrienne cursed inside as she tried not to scowl.

His mind already through the Stargate, Daniel walked over to his phone and dialed Sam's office, knowing that a store of Goa'uld weapons would be something she could not pass up.

He was exactly right, Sam felt this was a find that couldn't wait and slipped their party in between an incoming and outgoing team later that afternoon. Vala came up with some excuse not to go, which Adrienne knew was intentional, and Teal'c was away with the Jaffa council so that meant Cam was the one available team member to accompany them.

With Sarah in tow, because Sam had of course thought that was a splendid idea as well, it was a team of four which the general saw as an acceptable number. She reasoned that Adrienne plus staff weapon was akin to a mini-Teal'c and while Adrienne was annoyed that with Sarah there, she had been downgraded to grunt, she refrained from raising a stink, deciding that she would just stick to Cam like glue and let Daniel and his little flame enjoy one another's company.

Their planet was dialed at 1400 hours, thankfully right on time, and the foursome went through, Sarah acting as if she had done this a million times before. Letting her walk ahead with her boss and rattle on about the find, Adrienne hung back with Cam, discussing their race last weekend and what other upcoming events they could find in the weeks to come.

Once through to the other side, the flowing sound of molecules and energy zapped away, like some kind of intergalactic zipper, Daniel pulled out the iPad himself, from his pack. Rather than asking for Adrienne's help, he started to muddle through and try to pull up the information. He was having some problems it seemed, but when Adrienne stood to assist him she was cut off by Sarah, who was more than happy to help.

Disappointed, Adrienne slunk back beside Cameron, unable to hide the expression on her face.

'What's wrong girl, 'fraid of losing your job?" Cam asked, as clueless as Daniel. Adrienne had been able, up until this point, to keep her secret between her, Sam and Vala and Adrienne wasn't even sure if Sam really bought her drunken reveal some months ago. Honestly, the general had probably just chalked the entire thing up to Adrienne drinking too much because she hadn't said a word since so that just left Vala to harass Adrienne.

Until the end of time.

Cameron on the other hand either didn't notice or wasn't mentioning the times she or Daniel had slipped, cuddling close to one another when they didn't think anyone was watching.

There was a light laugh ahead of them and Adrienne glanced up to see Sarah grab Daniel's arm, just like she did. It was enough to make Adrienne want to turn around and dial home but instead, she decided to take comfort in her friend, whine a little and garner some sympathy. Peering over at Cam, Adrienne decided to stretch the truth, just a touch.

"Just don't like women who act like that is all, the flirting. I might act like that with Daniel but he's my best friend. When we do it, we're just being stupid, and mocking people just like that," Adrienne lied through her teeth, but Cam smiled, buying the excuse, or so she hoped. Slipping his arm through hers, he pulled her close, walking along as her escort.

"Which is exactly why I love you Addy. Come on, let's play their game," Cam joked and pulled her on. Feeling better already, Adrienne laid her head onto his shoulder.

"Oh Colonel Mitchell, my true love," she joked and arm in arm, they followed behind the two archaeologists.

The group was only about twenty minutes into their walk when Daniel stopped, looking back at his assistant.

"Ad come take a look at this," he requested. Adrienne had been letting Daniel and Sarah do the work, lagging back to talk to Cam about anything but the weapons cache since Daniel hadn't seemed to need her. Secretly excited, she contained her reaction and excused herself from her running partner to jog over to him.

"What's up shug?" she asked. Frowning, a clear indicator to Adrienne that something wasn't quite right, Daniel opened the folder and pointed to a few aerial shots.

"We should be there, according to these calculations, but we aren't. Can you take a look at this?" he asked, and she nodded, scanning the penciled in notes on the side.

They were in Sarah's handwriting.

Adrienne was silently pleased.

Her brain kicking into gear, she ran the figures through her head, grabbing the folder and falling to her knees, setting it on the ground. It was simple trig triangulation, but Adrienne really only knew how to do it because of her dad, who in his attempt to push her away from archaeology and to his field, engineering, had made sure she learned early. Since he never really got to continue his career as an engineer after her mom died, he just annoyed Adrienne with endless math lessons.

More things that made her the proud nerd she was today.

Laying on her stomach, Adrienne crunched a few numbers, tapped some things into her phone and stood again, handing Daniel the folder, pointing west.

"That way," Adrienne stated, "probably another half mile or so, give or take."

Confused, Sarah glanced over at her.

"How can you be sure? I was certain my math was correct," Sarah argued. Smiling, Adrienne tried to keep her reply professional.

"Normal mistake, it wasn't a right triangle," Adrienne answered, as politely as she could, and started to walk, Daniel following. Hustling to catch up, Sarah took the folder from his hand, opening it to scan over her work once more. She was nodding as she walked.

"She's correct, what a foolish mistake. I hope I have not impeded our plan," she said sweetly and sensing her disappointment in herself, like he always did, Daniel stopped, reached out for her back, rubbing it lightly. Christ, where is Cam, Adrienne thought and kept walking in the direction of her calculations, trying to ignore the romantic reconnection going on behind her.

So much for being in love with me, she thought, when she heard footsteps behind her, coming quickly. Thank god Cam knows me so well, Adrienne added as she stopped and turned, half tempted to do something Vala like to their team leader, but there was Daniel, a look of concern on his face.

"Hey, what's the hurry? We have plenty of time to get there, MALP gave us the all clear," he asked, curiosity directed at his assistant who had been power-walking toward their new destination.

Adrienne just shrugged.

"Just collecting weapons and leaving, nothing else right? No reason to hang around," she answered dishonestly again because more than anything she wanted Sarah to leave before she burst with jealousy. Adrienne turned to walk again, looking ahead in the distance trying to see if she saw the ruins from the photos when she felt her arm grabbed, gently. She didn't even have to turn to see who it was.

"Dime lo que está pasando contigo," (Tell me what is going on with you) Daniel requested, quietly and in Spanish.

Sarah must not speak Spanish.

Good, Adrienne thought.

"Nada, segura. Solo que tenemos que regresar pronto," (Nothing, really. Only that we need to get back soon) Adrienne answered curtly, regretting her words as she hadn't meant to convey that attitude. She began to walk on quickly, Daniel trying to catch up again.

"Mentirosa," he accused and Adrienne tried not to laugh. He sounded like a child on a playground calling her a liar, but she wasn't about to start a fight with him here, off world, with these witnesses in particular.

"Indy, es todo. Segura," she answered.

"Tienes celos," he continued, annoyance creeping up in his voice. She was hiding something from him, he knew it, and he wasn't going to let her stand here and tell him that everything was alright.

"De qué!?" Adrienne stopped, whipping her head around.

How dare that asshole accuse her of being jealous!

Jealous of what!?

It was Adrienne that had the dream job, Adrienne who had...well no.

It was not Adrienne who had him, Sarah did, at least used to and the thought of that alone was more than she could take.

Daniel saw her reaction to his words; she was angry. She really is jealous, he thought, I've never seen her react like this. He decided to try, reaching out for her arm tenderly and changing his tone.

"De nuestra huepeda," he responded, cutting his eyes in Sarah's direction, and Adrienne froze. So, this was how it was going to go down, this was how he would find out everything, while she threw a jealous fit. No, she determined, she wasn't going to let this happen, she was going to tell him how she felt about everything under her own circumstances and when she was darn good and ready.

"Tengo un trabajo aquí. Recuerdas como te sentías cuando llegué. Que nadie tenía confianza en ti todavía. Es como siento ahora," Adrienne spat. (I have a job here. Remember how you felt when I arrived? That no one had any confidence in you anymore? That is how I am feeling right now) That should do it, she thought, letting him be slightly correct without doing any personal damage. It must have worked because Daniel let out a sigh, his expression changing.

"I'm sorry Ad. You're right; I was doing to you exactly what I complain happens to me. I'm sorry," he apologized, as Adrienne tried to avoid eye contact a moment longer, giving the tears building up in her eyes the opportunity to dry. As her head was turned, she saw Cam and Sarah still heading in their direction, pitifully behind. She really must have been walking fast. Eying Sarah cautiously, why she wasn't really sure, Adrienne walked back over to Daniel, reaching up to hug him.

"It's ok. I should have told you and not pouted like a spoiled brat. I'm sorry Indy," she kissed his cheek softly and backed away, looking forward to their destination.

Sarah and Cam stared ahead as they walked side by side, Cam having caught up with the temporary team member when Adrienne and Daniel slipped away. It seemed that the pair had finally stopped, the two of them embracing, before Adrienne pulled back, kissing Daniel's cheek lightly. Adjusting her pack awkwardly, the woman glanced over at Cam confused.

"They have an odd relationship," Sarah noted but Cam just nodded.

"Yeah, they're kinda like siblings, they bicker and feud but you better watch your ass if you mess with one of them," he responded, not thinking that this woman needed to hear the particulars of his friends' relationship. Cam was pretty sure that the two of them were sleeping together, but their sex life was none of her business, so he left it at that.

Likening them to siblings or not, Sarah still thought it was strange; she really didn't know any brother/sister pair that was quite that physical, but she kept quiet. He obviously wasn't with the woman, or was he? She walked on, her train of thought coming to an abrupt halt when she saw some structures on the horizon. Jogging to catch up to Daniel, Sarah went crashing to the ground as the world began to shake.

"Take cover!" Cam shouted, the two in front hitting the deck at his order. The shaking continued and Daniel, having gone to college in California, recognized immediately what was going on.

"Earthquake!" he shouted out, looking for Adrienne first but she was alright; she let him know by grasping his hand and holding it tightly. Whether she was scared or not he didn't care, he just wanted to touch her to know she was there. Holding her palm firmly, he looked back toward Cam and Sarah and saw Cam had grabbed Sarah's arm and was holding her to him when the shaking stopped.

"Stay down everyone," Daniel ordered and leapt to his feet, gazing out to the ruins that lay ahead. Remaining on the ground as he requested, Adrienne following his eyes, squinting into the blinding sunlight.

"Everything ok?" she asked, not daring to move until she was told it was ok. Frowning without answering, he reached to help her up, breaking his stare to look her over carefully as she stood.

"I'm fine Indy, it was just a quake right? Not like we haven't been in one before," Adrienne responded and the earth beneath them tremored slightly once more and there was a crack in the distance. Daniel gave Adrienne a strange look.

"Ad, can you pull up the geology on this planet," he requested. Nodding, making a frown of her own, Adrienne turned him around, grabbing the iPad from where he had slipped it into his bag and began to tap around.

"What's going on?" Sarah asked as she and Cam caught up, watching Adrienne make some motions on her device. Giving his assistant time to find the requested information, Daniel started to explain.

"That wasn't a normal quake, aftershocks aren't usually that soon after and the sound was not normal either," he answered, walking over to look over Adrienne's shoulder.

"Here, typical survey from the MALP, looks clear, is there something I'm supposed to be seeing?" Adrienne asked, passing the iPad over to him. His eyes scanning the images as well, Daniel signaled Cam over hoping he would see something.

"No, it's normal, not a damn thing out of place, why?" Cam spoke, as Daniel was already shaking his head.

"So, there's no reason for that to happen. No fault lines, nothing?" Daniel asked, Cam sighing, re-examining the gadget before looking up at him a second time.

"Not a single one," Cam answered, the world shaking around them once more, less intensely this time.

"Is it not safe to stay?" Sarah asked.

Stupid question, Adrienne thought, don't you think he is trying to figure that out now? She must want some physical reassurance, like a typical needy woman, the kind of woman Adrienne refused to be. Leaning to peer over Cam's shoulder, catching out of the corner of her eye that Daniel, of course, had placed his hand on Sarah's arm.

If we ever get together Indy, really get together, not this strange limbo that we're in, I'm going to seriously school you on being so clueless, she thought, reading the scan again.

"Something's wrong, but what we came for is right there," Daniel answered without answering, indicating the structure that Adrienne was just now noticing was close enough to read the glyphs on the nearest obelisk.

"Let's do this. You keep going, go get the guns and whatnot and I'll head back and get a puddle jumper, jet back out here just in case we need to make a fast getaway," Cam suggested, checking his watch to judge how long it would take him to jog back to the gate.

"I'll go with Cam, you two can go scope out the ruins," Adrienne said, seeing not only a chance for escape but a chance to think about something other than Daniel.

Who was she kidding?

She was going to think about Daniel the entire time, wondering if he and Sarah were rekindling things, wondering if he really loved her or if she was just the one that was here.

Not expecting that reaction, however, Daniel looked over at her surprised.

"Ad, I'd really like for you to stay behind with us, just in case we need a third set of eyes," Daniel stated and Adrienne wanted to run up and kiss him right there.

He wanted her to stay.

But then her worry set in; does he just want to make sure that he's not offending me professionally? Adrienne sighed, wanting to just run away to the gate, hop back on home and go whine in Vala's room like she had been before.

"Nah, stay with your fellow geeks girl," Cameron said, as if he wasn't a nerd himself, "I'll jog back and go get my toy." Daniel just nodded in agreement as Cam winked at Adrienne, taking off in the direction of the gate. Adding 'get revenge on Cameron for leaving me behind' to her to do list upon her return, Adrienne followed behind Daniel and Sarah, who had started to walk on without her.

As Adrienne had claimed, the ruins lay west, at just the exact distance Daniel had originally estimated. Adrienne wanted to make a comment about how good of a team she and Daniel were, but again, refrained, trying to play nice. Sarah really wasn't that bad or arrogant and she had been filling in Daniel about some of the other people they had worked together with in graduate school, most of which had made quite a name for themselves while Daniel had disappeared after becoming a laughing stock.

Adrienne felt bad for him, but he seemed to take it all in stride, genuinely inquiring about everyone's well-being. Sarah had adjusted as well too after her stint under Goa'uld control and Adrienne learned chatting with them that he had helped her secure a teaching position at UPENN. She was currently on sabbatical which is why she had been able to come and help and visit.

Not all of the conversation was as reassuring, however, Adrienne learning that Daniel had gone to post traumatic counseling with her too, which tore Adrienne up inside the minute she heard that. Not only did she have yet another reason to think he was the perfect man, but she had another reason as to why she was the outsider.

Adrienne was quiet for most of the rest of the walk after that revelation.

Finally, much to her relief, the ruins were no longer shadows in the horizon, but a reality of rocks at her feet.

"We're here, just as Dr. Rowan said," Sarah complimented. She was trying to be nice, Adrienne thought, maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

"It's Adrienne, please call me Adrienne," she corrected nicely, Sarah smiling at her words and Adrienne felt bad for hating her. She was a nice person and Daniel had told Adrienne what had happened, hell he told her everything. She hadn't done anything wrong in their relationship, it was Daniel being, well, Daniel that had messed things up. Adrienne needed to stop thinking about this before she drove herself crazy, needed to stop analyzing every little detail of Sarah's words and Daniel's body language but like clockwork, the source of all of her turmoil spoke.

"Let's split up, see if we can find this store house. North, south, east and meet west?" Daniel suggested. Relieved at his suggestion, Adrienne just smiled quietly and started to walk away, giving her mind a new task upon which to focus.

Only two steps away from her comrades, the earth shook again, sending Adrienne cascading to the ground, bruising her elbow as she caught herself on her forearms. She heard shouting behind her and looked to see Daniel up and pulling debris from Sarah, who wasn't hurt, thankfully. Seeing that she was alright, Daniel helped her stand, dashing over to Adrienne the moment Sarah was upright.

"Ad! Are you alright?" Daniel asked, falling to his knees. Wincing at the throbbing in her arm, Adrienne crawled up as the trembling began once more, Daniel grabbing her arm, holding her protectively to him. It passed quickly, but not before they heard a crash in the distance and together, they looked out to see some of the taller ruins come crumbling to the ground.

Reaching for his radio, Daniel sat up, letting Adrienne go.

"Cam, you headed our way?" he asked, taking a risk, hoping that the colonel had left some line of communication open. There was a pop and crackle and a voice came over the radio.

"Sir, Colonel Mitchell is in the loading bay, running through opening check. Estimated time of 2 hours to departure," Walter responded from Earth.

"Thanks," Daniel answered, not entirely happy with the timeline given the circumstances. Biting the inside of his mouth in concern, Daniel glanced back at the women, Sarah having walked to join Adrienne.

"I think we should stay together. Let's take a look at those photos one more time and see if we can determine where this place might be," he instructed. Adrienne didn't need to be told twice, opening her backpack and pulling out the original folder with the printed MALP photos passing them around.

"There!" Sarah shouted out, having only looked at the photos for a brief moment, starting to move in the direction of a large statue of Thoth laying on its side, the beak broken violently from the face. Adrienne followed, remembering feet to a statue beside the photos she had translated with Daniel, Daniel himself trailing behind her.

They climbed over the statue and there it was, the stone slab marked weapons, just as Adrienne had made fun of earlier. Daniel almost cheered, but Adrienne stood back, shaking her head.

"Help me get this off," he said, directing Adrienne to his side.

"I don't like this Indy," she answered, looking around herself cautiously, "this was too easy. Why was this so easy to find? Why is it labeled weapons? And why did the shaking stop? I don't like it." A glare on his face, Daniel cut his eyes over at her, essentially refusing his order.

"So, you're not going to help because we might actually have something here that we can use and obtain without getting shot at? Oh that makes sense? Let's completely disregard that most of these planets are uninhabited because of the Ori and start jumping to conclusions," he spat in return, angered by her stubbornness. No, he thought, you're just pissed that Sarah is here, but he didn't say that, hoping his assistant would come to her senses and take advantage of this break, present company or not.

"Daniel, shug, listen to me a sec. What if this is a trap?" the cajun woman tried to reason with him, but he didn't even acknowledge her second argument, signaling Sarah to join him in removed the stone cover. She rushed over, reaching underneath the slab and beginning to lift.

The stone was massive and heavy, but together they shifted it over, setting it carefully on the sand, while Adrienne watched, more upset than angry her warning was going unheeded.

"Nice work Vala," Daniel said out loud to their absent teammate, making Adrienne too curious not to look. Peering into the small concrete hole, she saw that it was exactly everything that they had expected, hand devices, rings, bracelets, items that looked like Egyptian jewelry but had another purpose, a more sinister purpose. Adrienne had never seen so many before and watched as Daniel and Sarah both stared on in amazement.

"Can you? Would you?" Daniel asked, peering slowly over at Sarah, her look of amazement quickly turning to one of concern. Adrienne was confused for a moment, just a moment, when she remembered why Sarah had been volunteered to help in the first place, and it wasn't to annoy her.

"I think I still have enough left in me," she replied and reached in, grabbing a hand device. Running her fingers cautiously through each tip, Sarah stretched her hand to make it fit, pointing her open palm to the statue that had fallen and closing her eyes.

A blast emanated from the center of her palm, scaring Adrienne to death, and she quickly forgot her worry from earlier. She had never seen anyone do that and out of the corner of her eye saw Daniel squinting his eyes, making Adrienne remember the only thing he had ever told her about those devices. She squeezed his arm supportively, getting his hand slid over her own in return while Sarah sat back on her heels, seemingly pleased with her ability.

"It works, so I assume that most of them will work as well," she stated, saying without directly saying it that she had no intention whatsoever of testing the remainder of the cache.

Breathing in deeply, she removed the device from her hand and set it beside her.

Adrienne couldn't say that she blamed her; Sarah had been invaded, violated as well, albeit in a different and maybe even more horrible way. Despite being spooked by the display in front of her, Adrienne grabbed the folded up protected canvas bag from her gear and opened it up, filling it carefully with the ancient items. Coming back to reality, that reality that they were not being attacked, Daniel leaned over to help her. Sarah stayed carefully back, her eyes gazing out into the horizon rather than examining their find. Guilt washing over her for the third time today, or was it the forth, Adrienne leaned over closer to Daniel, whispered softly in his ear.

"That bad?" she inquired.

"Yeah, Tok'ra is one thing, but system lord. It messed her up pretty bad for a while. She's not Vala, no where near as strong," Daniel mumbled back, under his breath. He was looking back at her, worried, that look Adrienne had come to know so well.

"Te necesita?" Adrienne asked. She didn't want to send Daniel running into her arms, but he needed to go and if he wanted to go, he needed to. She had to stop being selfish; if this man really loved her, loved her like her heart wanted him to love her so badly, then there was nothing she needed to worry about. His eyes heavy, those telltale blues no longer able to lie to her, Daniel peered down at her, reaching his hand over her own.

"Estás segura?" he asked, trying to ascertain if he should go over to Sarah, who had left the pit of tools she had been so anxious to acquire and was standing looking back in the direction of the gate. Adrienne nodded, hearing Vala's words in her head, hearing Vala tell her that she needed to tell him.

Vala was right, he needed to hear, it was only fair, he'd told her, but not here, not like this.

She rubbed his thigh quickly and he didn't say another word, just stood, walking over to Sarah and putting his arm around her. Adrienne continued to pack the bag, that feeling in her stomach rising once more, despite her personal assurances.

Gathered the items as quickly as possible, Adrienne was unsure if she could withstand anymore of Sarah's crying. She caught snippets of the conversation, Sarah apologizing for thinking she could handle it and for coming back while Daniel assured her it was alright and that he was glad to see her while Adrienne kept fiddling with her radio, hoping to hear Cam's voice coming over it, to take her away from this hell she was enduring.

Maybe Adrienne's original concerns had been correct, fate's way of staving her off; maybe someone like Sarah was who Daniel really needed, no matter how painful it was to admit the possibility.

Swallowing strongly, Adrienne reached down into the pit once more, the ground shaking lightly as it had done before, sending Adrienne tumbling forward into the hole, her hands instinctively thrusting themselves in front to catch her. She felt a stop, but rather than be rock or stone as she expected, it was soft.

Squishy.

Wet.

Confused, she pushed a small stack of zats aside, shrieking at what that action revealed.

His heart stopped in his chest at her scream, a shout of sheer terror that sent chills to his core. He tore away from Sarah, even though the ground was shaking, the fear of anything happening to Adrienne overtaking the rest of his senses. She was partially in the cache itself, her left shoulder leaning in, her hand unseen, her right holding onto the ledge, her knuckles white as she clamped her palm onto the stone.

"Jaffa, it's a Jaffa, Daniel, it's, right, trap, Jaffa, dead, I," she rambled, looking over at him, her face trembling as her ebony eyes met his, lifting her left hand slowly. It was covered in gore, humanoid flesh, decomposed, and she held it in front of her face, her expression on the brink of falling apart. Daniel didn't think, didn't hesitate, just ripped off his tac vest and jacket, using the material of the coat to wipe the blood and flesh from her hand the best he could as the ground started shaking again.

"Daniel!" Sarah was shouting behind him, and he glanced quickly over his shoulder to see that she was unharmed, having retained her balance and making her way toward them.

"Sarah, just stay put, don't come over here," he ordered, not wanting her to see this, this that he could now see himself with Adrienne back on her heels, holding her left arm as if it were contaminated, shaking as she stared into the hole. The woman froze, walking over to a broken side wall, sitting down to wait.

"It's one of his, he's killing his own. You were right Daniel, you were right," Adrienne's babbling started up again, and he peered into the cache to see what she was talking about. Unloading the remainder of Zats, he was able to reach the body, or what was left of it, the symbol of Anubis tattooed carefully on his forehead. Turning his head to breathe, the stench too much for him as well, Daniel caught an image, meticulously drawn onto a sheet of papyrus tucked underneath the late warriors arm.

"Sarah!" Daniel shouted out, knowing the glyph, the picture, the assertion; it was Petbe, the god of revenge, and Daniel could only imagine what that could possibly mean, for him or his friends. Shoving the canvas bag away, he reached for Adrienne, drawing her into his embrace, "HEAD FOR THE GATE NOW!"

"Daniel, he's killing them, there's an extra hand in there, that was a free Jaffa, he is wearing red robes, Daniel this is a message, he's trying to prove a point," Adrienne babbled into his chest, shaking violently, pointing back at what he now saw was a loose hand, the skin darker than that of the body in the whole and he knew that she was correct, this had all been too easy and Anubis knew they were hear. He stood, drawing Adrienne to her feet with him, when the tremors started again, taking every ounce of power that he had to hold her upright.

"Run Adrienne, run," he ordered her, wanting her away, the tremor unlike the last, unlike any earthquake had ever felt. He was coming, the moan in the air of ancient technology, coming at them, heading straight for them and she must have heard too, her eyes widening as she started to shake her head.

"No, you're not gonna stay here," she spat back, reaching for his hand, pulling him along. Checking over his shoulder quickly, he noted there was no visual for the sound yet and allowed her to take his hand. Standing behind her, he pushed her forward first and dashed after her, waving for Sarah to continue her sprint as well.

The earth beneath them trembled again and there was a loud boom, a large crack appearing in space behind them Daniel saw as he looked back, realizing that the moan had not been from an aerial attack like he had expected.

It was a booby trap; the entire cache had been a trap like Adrienne suggested and based on the sounds crashing around them, they were bombs buried beneath the surface.

"Don't you DARE stop Daniel!" Adrienne screamed, noticing his pause, her voice bringing him back to reality. Peeking at his watch, he saw they still had at least fifteen minutes before Cam would arrive, fifteen minutes to hope that Anubis didn't rig the entire planet to explode.

Daniel stood, powering on, keeping a close eye on the two women racing to safety in from of him.

It's an explosion, Adrienne thought, an explosion from under the ground. The entire thing had been a ruse, Anubis knew that Daniel and Sam couldn't resist and there wasn't a more perfect way to kill what members of SG-1 would be tempted by an unscathed collection of Goa'uld weaponry. Another crack, blast and she went cascading to the ground, slamming her face onto the compact sand, bruising her cheekbone painfully in the process.

"Ad, get up!" he ordered behind her, and she scrambled to her feet, glancing over her shoulder to give him a silent yes in return when there was another loud clap, a sound of rock breaking from rock and movement, behind Daniel, under Daniel and Adrienne watched as Daniel just slipped down, sinking in the abyss.

"NO!" she screamed, tripping and scrambling, falling down to her knees, crawling back to him, back to the edge where Daniel was hanging on.

"Indy, grab my hand," Adrienne ordered but Daniel shook his head.

"No Ad, you can't hold me and yourself," Daniel answered, digging his fingers into the sand and rock the best he was able. Looking back up at Adrienne he saw Sarah running over to join them, falling to her knees as well and reaching out for him.

"Daniel, dammit, listen to me you stubborn ass. I can lift you. Trust me. Sarah can help," Adrienne answered, looking back over her shoulder. Sarah didn't look too thrilled to be volunteered; she looked terrified at the prospect of having to lift a six foot tall man from a ravine. More booming, more thunder under the ground, and the motion of the earth rattled all three of them, Adrienne leaning further into the gap to reach for Daniel.

"No Adrienne. Cam should be back with the ship anytime now, don't risk it, back up," he hissed, her body too close to the edge, close enough where one more tremor would send them both over but Adrienne cut her eyes and placed her hand over his, reaching down for his wrist.

"Adrienne, I can hang on, it won't be long," he pleaded, the fingers on his right hand growing weaker.

"Don't you dare leave me Daniel," Adrienne hissed, laying down onto her stomach and grabbing his other wrist, digging in her fingertips before glaring back at Sarah.

"Brace me," she ordered and the other woman did as she was told, holding Adrienne down by her calves. There was a seriousness in her dark eyes as she brought them back to meet his own.

"I've got you, just hold on to me," she ordered gently and, again, Daniel shook his head.

"No Ad, I won't risk you. You or Sarah. Let go," he replied but Adrienne held his wrists tighter, tears now streaming down her face. Daniel felt his fingers slip again and he fell slightly, his right hand now being held up only by Adrienne. She was holding strong and started to try to get to her knees to pull him back over the edge as Sarah backed away, unsure as to what to do.

Dragging him backward with all of her might, Adrienne wasn't able to move him at all, despite how good of shape she was in, Daniel, dead weight hanging over the edge was just too heavy and she felt more tears start to well up in her eyes.

"Stop, Ad, Cam will be right here," Daniel assured her, as he was feeling his other hand begin to slip and Adrienne must have too, grabbing his wrist tighter, squeezing so hard he felt what little fingernail she had digging into his flesh. He was about to speak, lie to her once more about help that wasn't going to make it in time, help that he had to now hope would make it for her, when he lost his grip completely on the rock and fell further, pulling Adrienne toward him, toward the edge of the ravine. She was straining to hold on to him and he looked up into her eyes, the eyes of his best friend, the eyes of the love of his life.

He couldn't let her die.

"Let go Adrienne," he said. Adrienne was trying not to cry, trying instead for focus on pulling him up, holding onto him, her body slipping forward even more as she was shaking her head, sucking back tears.

"No, Daniel, stop, just hold onto me," she pleaded, slipping forward again. She felt hands at her ankles and saw that Sarah was trying to hold her up, but she was a small woman and Adrienne knew that it was in vain.

"Adrienne, listen to me. We're both going to die if you don't let go," he reasoned but Adrienne just continued to shake her head.

"I don't care," she answered, angering Daniel. He wasn't going to let her throw her life away for him, why would she want to do that, Adrienne was the one person, the only person he had ever known so full of life and an appreciation for it. Unless...

_She loves me._

The realization hit him harder than anything else had before in his life, and it was confirmed by the look in her eyes, a look he had seen so few times in his life. She loved him and was holding him on the edge of this cliff, willing to sacrifice her own life for the non-existent chance of saving his.

He knew she cared, he knew that she felt something, she hadn't been shying away from him since he had figured out that she knew, that she had heard him whisper I love you into the night. She'd slipped into his room a few nights even, like she was trying, but a part of him thought that she might just be giving him a chance but no.

_She loves me. _

"Adrienne Margaret, you listen to me. I'm not going to let you die. Let go of me now!" he screamed at her, rage, panic, every extreme emotion he could experience welling up inside of his soul, but she ignored him, squeezing tighter. Daniel felt them both move more, gravity pulling him downward, more so as the ground shook again, Adrienne's chest now leaning over the edge.

They would both go over soon.

Heartbroken, because now he knew, he knew she felt the same, the person he never thought existed, never thought could exist was right here at the end of it all. He loved her, more than anything, more than he had ever loved another person in his entire life and even if he could never hold her ever again, never kiss her, never be with her, he wasn't going to let her die.

"Jack always says I've got nine lives. I think I should have at least three left," Daniel said instead and let go.

Without his help, Adrienne couldn't hold on any longer, especially with the ground shaking again around them, and she felt herself being pulling back by her legs as he slipped from her grasp, his wrists, his hands, his fingers and fell, into the ravine and out of her sights.

"No!" she stood screaming, "No, no!" There was a clap of thunder, the sky falling to black and laughter, deep evil maniacal laughter. It was him, it was all a trap and she didn't see it, didn't catch it and he was gone, forever. She stepped forward, ready to throw herself off of the edge after him, choosing to die with him when she felt a hand at her wrist, and there was Sarah, tears in her eyes, understanding what Adrienne had intended to do.

Instead, Adrienne stepped forward and hugged the woman and they stood there, both crying, so much so that they didn't even notice the beam of light around them.

"Two now," Adrienne heard as the light dimmed and their surroundings changed. Adrienne turned and saw Daniel sitting on the floor of the puddle jumper, smiling slyly at her. She stood and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder.

"You stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid tchew," she swore at him, hugging his neck tightly. She pulled back, gazing into his eyes, trapped there for a moment in the realization that he wasn't dead, that he was right here, that he was going to be alright. Slipping her hand behind his neck she pulled him closer, turning her head to press her lips to his when she froze, feeling eyes on her.

Leaping back, Adrienne remembered where she was, Cam and Sarah both staring at the two of them in disbelief.

"I didn't know Ad, I just hoped. Now stop," he said, playing it all off deftly and peering over at Sarah who was crying as well, "both of you stop. I'm fine."

"And could somebody please waltz down to McKay's lab once we get back to inform him that adding beaming tech to the puddle jumpers was a good idea and that it was my idea," Cam added, standing with his arms across his chest, smiling brightly.

When they arrived back, Daniel insisted on going to the lab to go through the items they had found, the few they managed to beam aboard, before quitting for the night. Adrienne was about to volunteer to join him when Sarah stepped up and starting talking as though the two of them had already decided back on the ship that they would be the ones going through the find. Before, Adrienne might have been jealous, but she was actually relieved by the woman's presence, needing to take some time to think about what had almost happened, both on the edge of the ravine and in the puddle jumper.

_I'm ready. I'm going to tell him the whole truth and let him decide. _

Daniel glanced up from the file Sam had given him at the briefing to tell Adrienne that she might as well fire up that coffee maker of hers, that is was going to be a long night, when he saw that she was gone. That wasn't like her, just to disappear like that, she hated it when he did it, but she had just been through a lot, watching him fall, so maybe she just needed to decompress.

She did that sometimes; he called them her calm-attacks.

Understanding, resisting the desire to just leave this all in the lab, rush to find her, take her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be alright, he decided to give her some space and check in on her later. Refocusing on the weapons, Daniel indicated with his hand the direction of the lab and let Sarah lead the way.

Sarah pushed his back against the wall the moment they arrived back at the lab, tossing the bag of collected items over onto Adrienne's desk. He had never seen her so forceful before, in all of the time they had been together, and it startled him, making him freeze, at a loss for words. She brought her face closer to his, her scent familiar and bringing back a swarm of memories as he felt her press her lips to his.

"Stop, Sarah, no," he pushed her away instantly, stepping aside, his insides filled with shame although he had done nothing wrong.

Why hadn't he seen?

This was why Adrienne had been so jealous, women's intuition, something that made her see what he hadn't.

"Did I miss something?" she asked, taking a step back and Daniel sighed, pushing her further away by her shoulders, shaking his head.

"Sarah, I'm sorry. I just can't," he answered and began to head for Adrienne's desk to retrieve the artifacts as Sarah stood there mystified for just a moment when it all became clear.

The nicknames, the way they interacted with one another, the cliff...

"It's her. It's Adrienne. You're in love with Adrienne," she said to her old friend, to her former lover. Without a word, Daniel sat down at his desk.

She had him.

He was madly in love with Adrienne and at this point the only person that knew was Chaka, well, and Vala. He hadn't told Vala, but she had figured it out and liked to remind him of it often.

And Jack.

Not knowing what to say, Daniel put his head in his hands, in his opinion indication enough.

_Yeah, ok, so it's happened, it's all happened right in front of me and I'm trying to digest it all..._

He was sitting there in silence when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"For what it's worth, I think she does too. She seems pretty annoyed by my presence here," Sarah said, realizing what she had seen between her and Daniel had just been his general friendliness and caring and what she had seen between Daniel and his assistant was something she and Daniel never had: true love.

"You think we were complicated?" he started, admitting it without saying it, "If I say anything," he trailed off sighing, a look in his eyes she had never seen before. She understood; she couldn't imagine the position that he was in. A colleague was one thing, an assistant, a subordinate was another. Sarah squeezed his shoulder, offering him the only advice she had.

"But if you don't, can you live with that either?" she asked, honestly. What if he had died there and never told her how he felt about her? What if she never knew? His expression one of such sorrow, despair she had never seen in him before, Daniel rubbed his face, looking back at his desk, choosing not to reply. Straightening her jacket, Sarah walked back over to gather her things from the center table, quickly, wanting to leave in the hopes that he would stop working, something he had never done for her, and go find Adrienne, wherever she had gone.

Ready to go, she looked back at him one last time.

"Thank you. Again, for everything," she said. He stood and walked over, hugging her tightly and then stepped away.

"I hope you'll let yourself be happy Daniel," she offered one final piece of advice, walking out of his lab, and his life, forever.

Adrienne sat crying in the locker room shower stall, wrapped in a towel, having finished her shower ages ago. Despite Carolyn suggesting that Adrienne take it easy after everything that had happened, she had decided instead to go for a run.

A long run.

She had set out on the treadmill to just do five miles, but when the machine shut off at an hour, Adrienne just got angry and went up to the track. She lost track of the miles by then, she just ran until her sides hurt and she felt herself starting to cry.

That she didn't want anyone to see, Vala and Sam knew and that was bad enough, she wasn't about to announce to the entire base that she was falling to pieces over her boss.

She needed to get a hold of herself and face reality; Daniel Jackson was ruining her life.

Tears streamed down her face, burning past the marks her last set had already made. She had never felt this way about another person before, she had never allowed herself to be so vulnerable to her feelings. She loved him like she loved no one else in her life and hated him at the same time. He was reckless, careless, marked by the one entity in the galaxy that was hunting them down. Standing and raging, at both the fact that he wasn't here, but also at the fact that it seemed that even if he was he would just be ripped away from her, she grabbed her bottle of shampoo, launching it to the floor. The green plastic top popped open and a thick white liquid began to ooze out onto the ground.

"Fuck you!" Adrienne screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing herself onto the bench, sobbing into her hands.

"Adrienne, what's the matter?" she heard a voice, a man's voice. Of course, he has to come in here. She didn't look up, she couldn't look up. What would she say? Daniel, I'm crying over you, because I love you so much and you almost died, I didn't even get to tell you that I loved you and I'm too weak to tell you right now.

"I thought you learned to stay out of the girls' locker room?" Adrienne asked from her hands, trying to pinch her nose and wipes the tears away when she felt Daniel sit down on the bench beside her.

"Well, when Dex calls and says that my assistant is killing herself on the track for no good reason, I like to find out what's wrong," he replied.

And I'm worried as hell about you, he added in his mind.

Truth was since Sarah left Daniel had been thinking over and over about what she said, how he would regret it if he didn't tell Adrienne how he felt about her, really told her, none of this 'I know you heard me whisper to you in your sleep nonsense.' He started to reach his hand out slowly for her shoulders and then realized that she was just wearing a towel and pulled back quickly, hoping she didn't notice. Shaking her head, Adrienne stood, walking back through the empty shower stalls to the dressing area, not saying a word and Daniel followed, remaining silent. Adrienne stood at her locker, doing the combination and pulled out her neon orange gym bag, tossing it on the bench behind her. He sat down and began to open it, handing her the jeans and t-shirt inside.

"I've got that Indy," she said, pushing his hand aside and quickly grabbing her undergarments keeping them out of sight, a pointless gesture. This man loved her, he didn't just want to sleep with her, he loved her, and this was just care and concern. She walked the clothes over to the curtained dressing area, slipping inside to change.

"It was just a rough mission Daniel, no worries. You might be used to dying or being damn close, but I'm not. I just needed a run to clear my head," she answered from the stall, feeling herself choke up as she thought about how close she was to losing him, how very close, cursing herself again for her weakness.

Daniel sat on the bench, silent.

_I have to tell her, he urged himself, I have to. She didn't let go; I saw the look in her eyes. Vala' s right, she does love me, but even if she does love me there's some reason that she just won't say it back..._

"Sarah left," he chose instead, wanting to smack himself in the head right then and there. He heard Adrienne make a noise from the other side of the curtain that he could not tell was a laugh or a sound of disgust. The curtain opened and Adrienne came out, orange tank top and jeans, shaking out her wet hair as she passed by him heading to the dryers.

It didn't seem as if she was going to respond to that either.

"I haven't had a chance to tell you, with the excitement and all," Daniel began, his heart pushing him to do it while his head gave him at least a hundred reasons as to why not, "but thank you. If there is one person I know in this world that will never let me down, it's you Adrienne." Close enough, he placated himself but Adrienne just nodded. Smiling slightly, Daniel stood, leaving the locker room. Adrienne watched him walk away, her heart falling to pieces.

Dammit you idiot, she swore, he almost died, so if you can't say it yet, the least you can do is acknowledge you're glad he's still right here.

"Daniel?" she called out behind him and he stopped, turning quickly, a look on his face that Adrienne thought for just an instant was eagerness, and she thought that he might rush into her arms, sweep her off of her feet and tell her that he loved her, but he just stood there, as if he was waiting for her to do the same.

"You know me and, well, stress, I'm never going to get to sleep. Do you want to just hit up a movie here on base or something?" she asked, trying to make the request sound as normal as possible. We do this all of the time, she assured herself, and maybe in the confines of my quarters we can talk.

"I think that's a great idea, meet you in your room in a few?" he asked, completely disregarding the pile of artifacts stacked onto his desk. He would rather be with her, just her, always with her. Work could wait.

"Yeah, and I promise nothing horror," she joked, fighting back emotion when Daniel laughed, making it all less awkward.

"Don't worry about that Ad, you've officially desensitized me to all gore," he said and started walking for the door again. He pushed it opened and headed out into the hallway, hoping there was some wine in his own quarters that he could take down for them to enjoy.

The door slammed and Adrienne just sat back down on the bench, rivers flowing from her eyes. Never understanding what it was to have everything in front of you and not being able to get even close, she wept for a love that her heart wanted so badly that fate seemed to never want to be. Yet she would go, meeting him in her room, watch some terrible movie and fall asleep beside him.

"No," Adrienne declared out loud to no one but herself, "I'm finished. I'm gonna do this."

Determination in her step, Adrienne walked out of the locker room, heading for her quarters.

"Ad!" he shouted from the other side of the door, "there's no wine on this entire base that I can find, so I hope you have something!"

Heart racing in her chest Adrienne looked up from the bed, from the book that she hadn't been reading, to her door knowing there was no stopping it now. She'd rehearsed her speech, her counters to anything he would say in return, how she'd control her crying. She was just going to lay it all out, give him the truth about what happened after, everything that he needed to know before he wanted to say those beautiful words to her again...

On the other side of the door Daniel swallowed strongly.

Sarah was right, hell, everyone was right. He'd looked up the rules, found the regulations and they would have to keep it quiet, not really tell anyone that they were involved, but he just couldn't keep his feelings to himself any longer.

"Did you forget the code?" he heard her shout from the other side making him shift his feet nervously. Was she playing with him or was it her usual failsafe? His heart pounding violently in his chest, Daniel inched his finger to the keypad, typing carefully.

070865

The green light flashed.

His birthday had worked, not that vampire actor, and he couldn't help but smile.

"I passed the first test my dear Robin, so now I can't wait to see -" Daniel started but she was at him, on him, she was shutting the door, pushing him back against it, kissing him so softly, so slowly that Daniel was glad that he hadn't brought a bottle of wine because it surely would have ended up on the floor. He had brought some snacks, but he quickly tossed them aside, reaching his hands behind her, one behind her head, the other holding her tightly against him. They stood there, in the doorway of her room, kissing passionately for what seemed to be an eternity until she pulled from his embrace slightly, resting her hand on his cheek.

"Wasn't expecting that..." he uttered, barely, still in shock as he watched her blush, giggling lightly.

"I'm just kinda happy ya didn't run away screaming," she answered, the redness spreading.

"You had me pinned," he teased back, pulling her closer to him, not to kiss again, but to hold her, to let her know that this was alright.

"We need to talk," she whispered from his chest, not moving, not even trying to escape, letting herself melt into him.

"That's fine, but can we sit? It's been a long day," he replied, holding her head to him, kissing it lightly. Backing away she ran her hand down his arm, clasping his fingers, pulling him to the bed, directing him to sit. He did, watching as she crawled up beside him, crossing her legs and picking her nails.

"I've never told anyone but you, not the police, not anyone, not even Joshua," she started right in, her eyes darting downward in shame. He'd suspected that by her actions before, but let her talk, reaching over to hold her leg.

"Needless to say when I didn't let my boyfriend touch me anymore, that didn't go over so well," she added, finally peering up at him.

"Was that what ended it?" Daniel ventured, remembering she had mentioned how different they were but maybe this was a detail she had left out.

"Point for Indy," she tried to joke.

"I'm getting pretty good at these, do I ever get to cash them in?" he grinned in reply, taking her hand in his own. She smiled softly, squeezing him back before biting her lip and continuing.

"So, I'm not sure if I ever can, well, be intimate again," she finally said it aloud, starting to pull away but he held her fingers fast, not letting her escape.

"And?" he led.

"I mean, if, well, you, it's not fair..." she stammered some more, confused, scared, pulling away again and this time he let her, inching his way over beside her on the bed.

"Hang on," he said quickly, leaping up and removing his shoes before returning to her side, reaching out his arms for her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused, but letting him pull her to him.

"Holding you, if that's alright? Unless you want the horribly unhealthy food that I brought or you found some wine. If not, I figured that we could watch whatever you've decided to torture me with tonight," he answered as if she were insane, as if she had said nothing.

"Daniel, I don't think you're understanding me," Adrienne continued, turning to gaze into his eyes.

"Understanding what?" he shrugged.

"Understanding, I can't be what you want..."

"Is your name Adrienne Margaret Rowan? Are you an obnoxious cajun archaeologist with terrible taste in music? Do you have more holes in your head than one of your sweaters?"

She frowned at him.

"Ok, just checking. You never know around here. So, is it zombies, vampires, werewolves or something more sinister?" he added, sitting back against the headboard and pulling her to him.

He didn't care.

Not for a moment did he hesitate or say a word in argument; he just blew it off like it didn't matter. He wanted her, he loved her, just for who she was and nothing else.

_Daniel Jackson where did you come from? _

"I love you Daniel," she finally let the words cross her lips, peering back up at him.

"I love you too," he whispered, kissing her lightly, readjusting her in his arms to hold her close.

"No more dying if I'm investing myself in this," she joked from his embrace.

"No more pretending to be asleep when I'm pouring my heart out," he countered.

"No more telling me serious things like that while I'm asleep," she giggled.

"It would be a lot easier to tell you serious things if you ever stayed awake," he couldn't resist, thrusting his hands in front of his face in case she went to hit him, laughing from behind his palms.

"You're so awful to me," she laughed, pushing him down onto the bed, curling into his arms.

"You trained me well you know," he answered as he complied, moving so that they were laying down together, like they had so many times but without the hesitation now, just together and close.

"No movie?" he whispered, kissing her temple.

"Can we just lay here?" she requested quietly.

"Whatever you want."

Adrienne didn't answer with words, just nestled closer to him, wrapping her arms so tightly around him.

She told him.

He told her.

What in the hell were they going to do now?


	32. Chapter 31 -Limits

Limits

_It has been edited but this was the first story I ever wrote in my entire life. _

_After someone helped me change my stars. _

_This, my dear, is for you..._

Teal'c was awakened by a light tapping at the door, which startled him, since he was unsure of who could be on the other side at this hour and on this world. His warrior reflexes kicked in instantly and swiftly, he dashed from the bed, securing his zat gun from under his jacket and made his way to the entrance, cautiously to meet their threat. Moving silently as to not wake DanielJackson or CameronMitchell; although nothing seemed to wake DanielJackson lately with his late night work on the database, Teal'c tiptoed, moving his bare feet carefully on the stone floor. Listening again, his weapon drawn and ready to fire at whoever was on the other side, he turned the knob and peering through the small gap into the tiny passageway, whispering sternly, hoping his tone would be warning enough.

"Who is there?"

"It's me Tealc, open da dah!" The voice wasn't threatening, but was in haste, a quiet feminine whisper, accented slightly.

"I feel like ah cooyon already, just open da –"

She didn't need to finish her request; Teal'c opened the door a small crack to see Adrienne standing shivering in the drab gray hallway. She wasn't in uniform; in fact she stood wearing a t-shirt and her pajama pants, casual even by her normal standards. By her face he could tell that she was visibly upset, and by the look of her disheveled hair that she had just woken up, possibly not in a pleasant manner.

"Is something the matter AdrienneRowan?" Teal'c asked, concerned by her state.

"No, Teal'c, I'm fine. Just let me in befo I freeze ta death," she answered as she stood there, arms crossed across her chest, holding what little heat the drafty passageway had to offer close to her body.

The old Jaffa warrior had to admit that it was much colder here on PX4-592; much colder than the original Stargate command base, which was hard enough to believe since Stargate command had been built right into the side of the mountain. This world, however, seemed to be an entire planet of mountains, and an entire planet of cold.

It reminded him of those movies where the little fellow with the big feet had to tote that ring around but he was too tired to remember the name of the movie right then, just that the poor fellows trudged around in the snow for what seemed to be ages completely barefoot, as he was now.

He bowed his head slightly, stepping back from the doorframe and allowed her to pass.

"AdrienneRowan, where are SamanthaO'Neill and ValaMalDoran?" Teal'c asked, concerned as to why only one of the women was standing at their doorway and she laughed at the question, rolling her eyes as she stood there in tie-dyed slippers, gray faded pajama pants and a Thundercats t-shirt, looking a big kid because in many ways she really was. Inside, Teal'c smiled, thinking that Thundercats was a great cartoon and an excellent choice for a shirt.

"Dey fine Teal'c," she said, brushing her brown hair out of her face, "but 'ave ya eva slept in da same room as Vala? She snores anyway and wit how cold dis place, it's so loud that I was honestly shocked that I cud nah 'ear 'er coming down the 'all. Ya know it's got to be bad to wake me up."

"ValaMalDoran is snoring?" Tealc was skeptical. "Then, where is SamanthaO'Neill?"

"Amazingly enough, asleep. I swear, I wish I drank whatever she had at dinner because she hasn't moved for hours," AdrienneRowan responded, clearing her throat in a somewhat successful attempt to quell her accent, Teal'c thankful since he could barely understand her speech when it was like this.

The dark handsome man let out a loud laugh, and then quickly silenced himself before waking the others. AdrienneRowan began to laugh herself but he shushed her as he heard stirring coming from the bottom bunk.

"Teal'c?" DanielJackson said groggily. Apparently the suppression of the laughter hadn't been effective, "What is going on? Is someone here?"

"Daniel, shug, it's me. I can't sleep with Vala. She sounds like a freight train. And if you have a hope and a prayer of my being able to translate anything tomorrow, I suggest you scoot over and let me in," AdrienneRowan ordered and made her way over to his bed.

Teal'c was both surprised and relieved at her blunt request.

Upon arriving at the planet they were informed that they would be housed at the main government building's former barracks as opposed to one of nicer hotels in the center of the city. The two rooms, one for the men and one for the women, were across the hall from one another, but while the room given to the women had three twin beds, the room for the men had only a set of musty bunks. Their hosts, unaware that Teal'c no longer carried a symbiote and required at least a few hours of daily sleep, had searched for hours to find the small cot on which he had been resting. Despite both DanielJackson and CameronMitchell's insistence, Teal'c had taken the smaller bed since he required about half as much sleep and for a brief moment, he thought he has lost that bed too.

"What?" DanielJackson again questioned, still floating in the world between sleep and wake.

"Scoot over. I'm sleeping with you. Unless there's some snoring you would like to tell me about in which case I'll take my pillow into the hall," AdrienneRowan answered, but was already at his bedside, shoving him over. DanielJackson moved, lifting the blanket, Teal'c now remembering the last time he had seen them do this.

He again laughed inside at the convenient absurdity of the situation. While there had always been one alien woman or another who had expressed their interest in DanielJackson, never before had Teal'c seen him actually act as if a woman existed until AdrienneRowan. She was strong, but not pushy. Intelligent, yet not arrogant. And she liked languages as much as he did. After serving on SG-1 for well over a decade DanielJackson actually had someone who understood what he was saying.

Literally.

With only the hesitation caused by his groggy state, DanielJackson lifted the blanket and scooted over. AdrienneRowan kicked off her slippers and climbed in beside him. As to not draw attention to their current situation, she quickly turned her back to him but the Jaffa was fairly certain he saw DanielJackson's arm slip around her waist pulling her closer before the blanket fell. Hiding his grin, Teal'c had climbed back into his cot when she spoke.

"And, whoever introduced her to Bath and Body Works, you and I will need to have a SERIOUS conversation tomorrow morning! I've avoided taking her there at all costs! She's stinking up the entire room!"

From the top bunk Cam was laughing.

"I think you can thank Sam for that one. They came in the other day with armloads of shopping bags from the mall. God only knows what new and exciting things Sam has introduced her to!" he joked.

DanielJackson snickered from his bunk as did Tealc. While AdrienneRowan did not have any particular dislike for ValaMalDoran but she also had a short fuse for her more immature behaviors. AdrienneRowan would often comment that she had seen frat boys with more self-control than ValaMalDoran. They were good friends, like sisters, but careful friends, also like siblings, and AdrienneRowan wasn't afraid to set her straight.

Having a very eventful few minutes in the middle of the night, Tealc decided to try to sleep. After all, tomorrow was going to be a long day and it was best that he rested.

As the sun began to creep its way into the very small, very crowded room, Daniel reactively shivered. Reaching down to pull up the blanket he realized that there was no blanket there. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and remembered the 2 a.m. disturbance and saw Adrienne beside him, wrapped in the entire blanket.

"I froze for you Ad, that's love," he whispered in her ear and she didn't move, as he had expected.

He shook his head, she never woke up, and carefully inched over her and out of the bunk, turning to make sure that he didn't disturb her as he left. Peeking over his shoulder to make sure his comrades were still asleep he leaned over, kissing her forehead lightly, making sure that she would be warm in his absence.

He stood and grabbed his glasses from his pack on the floor hoping that this planet had something equivalent to coffee.

When they sent the MALP through weeks ago, he was pleasantly surprised to see a once undiscovered human settlement with similar technological advances to that of the Langarans. With both the Goa'uld and the Ori out of the picture, at least as long as Anubis was still hiding, Stargate Command had discovered more and more advanced civilizations of humans seeded by the ancients that were somehow shielded from the madness of the galaxy. Each civilization had led to more insight into the ancients, their achievements and their mistakes.

First contact with PX4-592, which was known by its inhabitants as Sklarana, had revealed they not only treated the Stargate as an undetermined armament, but that the Sklaranans had discovered an Ancient lab complete with volumes of information. These paper volumes were a very intriguing find, since most of the ancient writings that they encountered prior were either in a computer data base or carved on a wall.

Actual paper text in Ancient that covered a variety of disciplines was a grand find indeed.

The Sklaranan military had put their best minds on deciphering the text, hoping it would teach them how to use the Stargate. Now, with the help of SG-1, the Sklaranans would have their answer and Earth would have another piece of the Ancient mystery.

However, the sheer numbers of volumes meant that the whole team needed to be there. First and obviously Daniel would be needed to translate and if they wanted to finish within a reasonable amount of time Adrienne would have to come as well. He had grown quite used to having her around, very used to having her around.

More so than anyone else needed to know for now, other than her of course.

Once the text was deciphered, Sam would be needed in case the information yielded was of a scientific nature. Daniel knew that his old friend was hoping to discover more information on dialing the ninth chevron without blowing up a planet to do so, but Daniel was skeptical that a solution to bringing home the Destiny would come to them so easily. Regardless, she was using it as an excuse to leave her post for a while and let Jack fill in for her.

Truth be told, she missed going off world.

Cam and Teal'c were there as a general precautionary measure; they didn't know these people or what ulterior motives they might have. The planet's leader, Moreed, had also provided some interesting photographs of what looked like some bodies of Jaffa warriors on a planet that supposedly had not seen Goa'uld activity in many years. Teal'c had asked permission to tackle this side mission once the threat level, if any, was assessed.

And then there was Vala. She had become a part of the team when the information she provided was essential to not only dealing with the young and powerful Lucian Alliance, but helped the team immensely with their defeat of the Ori. Now, her quick thinking and not so conventional methods tended to get the team out of a variety of strange situations.

And into a few as well.

Daniel laughed to himself imaging her, wearing that silly pink eye mask with black feathers she would stagger into the Stargate command mess wearing from time to time, just snoring it up while Adrienne tossed and turned and covered her ears. He was actually surprised his assistant hadn't just slugged her with a pillow.

Better for him.

He'd kind of gotten used to sleeping with her in his arms and was slightly disappointed this mission wouldn't allow that.

Maybe he should thank Vala.

He turned the corner and entered a drab olive green hallway, a color equally as ugly as the drab gray hallway where they were being housed, and asked a passerby the direction of the cafeteria. Without comment, the tall thin Skalaraan pointed toward the direction in which he was already headed. He was dressed in a manner that reminded Daniel of the ghost of Christmas past, somewhat chilling given their Skalaran facial structure but Daniel tried not to think about it. He simply thanked him and continued on his way.

What they called a cafeteria was just a small unadorned room with a table set in the middle upon which a variety of native fruits and vegetables had been laid out for their consumption. The area was not much larger than a closet, but Daniel was thankful that they were being fed at all. He had been on enough missions where a Powerbar was a close as he got to food, much to Adrienne's chagrin. He filled the small dish with what looked like an approximate equivalent to strawberries and toast and poured himself some of the hot beverage that looked somewhat like tea.

"Dr. Jackson," a voice behind him spoke.

It was Moreed.

The Skalaran was a tall, pale man with hair so light in color it almost appeared silver. Daniel had noticed that all of the Skalaraans were rather pale and speculated that their paleness was due to the low level of UV light they were exposed to. He was wearing long purple robes that clasped down the center with small gold fasteners and his feet were clad in silk black slippers which Daniel could never imagine wearing around this bitter cold planet. Moreed had shown them a variety of maps of the planet when they arrived and it seemed that the only truly habitable part of the world got very little continual sunlight and that most of that was in a constant state of fall/winter. The food seemed to match this theory; even the strawberryish plants were more like the late summer/fall fruits back on earth.

"Moreed. It's a pleasure to see you. Would you care to join me for breakfast?" Daniel offered politely as their host slowly shook his head.

"Unfortunately, I have only a limited amount of time this morning. I just wanted to make sure that you were well rested and the accommodations were acceptable. I heard there was a disturbance last night," the tall man responded, Daniel trying not to make a face.

"No disturbance. Just a problem sleeping. We will take care of it tonight," Daniel thought it best not to get into detail.

"Excellent. Please let me know if I can be of assistance at all. I just wanted to check on your group and then I will be heading out for the day. My assistant Kyro will be taking you and Drs. Rowan and O'Neill down to the laboratory and the archives. Our head of security, Jahwna will be leading the remainder of your team down to the site where we have discovered the bodies," Moreed offered.

Daniel nodded his head respectfully. Moreed seemed to be a cross between a president and a high priest so he made sure to carefully remember his etiquette when dealing with both.

"Thank you for everything. We're hoping that this visit we may learn much more about our common ancestors and what we can do to mutually benefit our worlds," Daniel replied.

"I look forward to much the same," the slight man answered, turning to leave.

"Ah! Before I forget, I understand that your people are accustomed to much warmer weather. This drink we have created, we call it Oklug, we have found that it raises the body temperature just enough to make one more comfortable here on our world."

That explains it, Daniel thought. Adrienne had four cups of the potion last night. Someone must have told her, or she just felt the difference without putting the two together.

It would be Adrienne that would suffer the most here.

Last month she tried to convince General O'Neill to open a Stargate research office in Miami. She had come up with a good argument too, proximity to the equator generating more solar energy and a bunch of other things that Sam, who apparently bought into this Miami scheme, had come up with. Needless to say, Jack hadn't been convinced.

Another excuse for Adrienne to join him in the bunk tonight.

Oh darn...

"Thank you Moreed. For your kindness and assistance again," Daniel replied. Moreed smiled and nodded.

"You are quite welcome Dr. Jackson. I look forward to your findings," Moreed said and left the cafeteria just as Cam was heading in.

"Sir," Cam said as Moreed walked by, "Hey Jackson, anything good to eat?"

"Some bread and fruit over there, Adrienne will be thrilled but I haven't tried it yet. Oh, and the drink is supposed to help regulate body temperature. Make up for how cold it is," Daniel pointed in the direction of the tea pot.

"No thanks, that's what running is for. I just need to toss some grub down my throat, get Teal'c and Vala going and meet this commander," Cameron responded.

"Jahwna is his name. He's supposed to come and meet you guys in your quarters. Are Teal'c and Adrienne up yet?" Daniel continued, second guessing his word choice, his tone conveying that this was all perfectly normal to sleep with your assistant.

Well, it was now, it's just that no one needed to know that.

"Yeah. Teal'c is getting himself armed right now and I think Addy left shortly after you did," Cameron replied but before Daniel could answer, the girls strode into the cafeteria and despite last night's episode, the three of them seemed to be getting along just fine. Sam and Vala appeared well rested and Adrienne seemed alright as well, albeit with dark circles under her eyes.

"Good morning everyone!" Vala shouted, her typical cheerful self. She danced over to Daniel and sat in his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Adrienne and Sam simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"Vala, ugh, ladies breakfast is over there," he weaseled his way out of her grasp and pointed at the table, darting his eyes over at Adrienne, who rather than be upset or jealous was giggling.

Of course she was.

She was so awful to him.

"And Moreed said that the tea like drink will help maintain body temperature," he added, conveying to Adrienne with his eyes that he did not find it funny in the least.

"Figured that out last night Indy," Adrienne smiled, "Didn't you see me chugging them down?"

The toast was dry and the fruit was tart, but Cam would just have to make do. He had gotten up first this morning, slipped out and gauged his five mile daily run the best he could through the dreary alternating green and gray halls. He was going to ask Adrienne to join him, but when he crawled down from the bunk she and Jackson were laying there asleep, their arms wrapped around one another.

They couldn't deny it, even in their sleep, he had thought to himself.

So Cam set out alone hoping to head back to the room and hit the showers before this Jahwna was to meet them.

No one else was in the room when he arrived, so he assumed that they were all still at breakfast.

It paid to be an early riser.

More hot water for him, if this planet even had hot water.

Every time they visited a planet Cam was surprised at the conditions under which human beings would live. This was one of the coldest planets that he had visited thus far, but the run had helped warm him up a bit. He crossed the room over to their packs, grabbing some fatigues and a black t-shirt and hit the showers.

As he showered, which was warm thankfully, his mind wandered. He had not been looking forward to this mission at all; it just seemed entirely too boring. The expected allotment for the mission was one week and then a return to Stargate Command for regrouping and briefing. Cam loved his position on SG-1, but lately he seemed to be running security details for the nerdier members of the team and he felt like the captain of the football team in charge of guarding the math club. However, these Jaffa bodies were intriguing and it would allow him and Teal'c to escape excitement of the three PhD's. He didn't even mind that Vala would be joining them since she was good for at least a laugh or two. In fact, the image of Vala snoring suddenly popped into his head and he stored that into his memory for proper harassment later.

Cam stepped out of the shower, toweled himself off and dressed quickly while the steam was still warming the room, Teal'c entering the room as he was pulling on his shirt.

"Colonel Mitchell, our guide is here to take us to the site," his friend informed him.

"Great. Let me strap my boots on and I'll be ready to go. Can you come grab that equipment Jackson wanted us to take down?" Cameron requested, running his fingers frantically around the laces.

As Teal'c slipped by him to the corner of the room, Cam got a look at their guide standing in the doorway. Jahwna was almost as tall as Moreed and equally as pale. His hair was long but copper in color and he had very dark violet eyes that clashed with his maroon robe. Other than the variations in color, he looked almost identical to Moreed. Cam thought to ask if they were related, but decided not to, taking the bag from Teal'c and approaching their guide.

Jahwna led them through the corridors until they could finally see light ahead. Through the frosted windows the outside appeared chilly and Cam was glad that he had run that morning; the better his blood was flowing the more adept he was at dealing with the cold.

He zipped up his parka, put up the hood, preparing to enter the chill.

"Wait! Where are you guys going? You can't leave me with the nerd squad! As if Daniel is not boring enough female Daniel is just as bad!" Vala was yelling this at full volume as she ran down the hall.

Ah Vala…. Never a dull moment.

He almost couldn't wait for her running commentary as they set out to the site. As Vala approached them she slowed her advance, playing with the ties to her coats and making a cute face at Teal'c.

"Muscles, promise to carry me if I get tired?" she asked coyly.

"ValaMalDoran, our guide has secured transport so that we do not need to walk," Teal'c replied, looking down at her in annoyance.

"Oh, excellent. Then how 'bout a lift to that transport?"

She leapt up into his arms,Teal'c dropping the bag Daniel had asked him to bring and of course there was a loud cracking sound.

"Damn it Vala!" Cam shouted, "Do you have any idea how much that equipment costs?"

"Sometimes you are such a drag. Look, if it's broken I'm sure Sam can fix it. What does Daniel want with it? Since when do dead bodies matter to him?" she asked, hopping down from Teal'c's arms.

Rather than try to explain basic archaeology to Vala, most of which Cam had learned from Indiana Jones movies, he just shook his head, bending down to pick up the bag himself. The three of them and their guide headed out the double doors.

Some might say that Sklara was a beautiful planet. Cam might have been inclined to agree since it reminded him so much of Kansas winters, however, the mere fact that it stayed this way year round made him reconsider.

Off in the distance he could see acres and acres of fields between the mountain peaks that looked like a midwestern October. According to what Mordeen had told Jackson upon their arrival it was harvest time and that was why they had fresh fruit this morning.

If that was the bounty of harvest, Cam decided he would stick to Powerbars.

Sklara was about the developmental equivalent to late 1940's Earth, just without the clean-up of a world war. Apparently, the people on this planet practiced a strict religion of non-violence, which had resulted in a history of no war. When Cam had asked what happened to those who exhibited violent behavior, he was informed that they were exiled to an island where they would no longer be welcomed into the general population and this system had worked for them for over two hundred and fifty years.

Cam was not quite sure how he felt about an island penal colony; it seemed too much like something from a bad movie.

A large jeep like vehicle drove them about two hours from the government building. The colonel noted that the building in which they were housed was located on the outskirts of the city; but again, they didn't get to visit the center of the metropolis, which was just plain weird in his opinion.

"So how far away is this place?" Cam asked Jahwna as the truck bumped them along their way.

"Just another few moments sir," the man, if you could call him that, answered weakly.

Fair enough, Cam thought, he had suspected that a ravine with bodies would not be something that was near the general population. The photos they had been given were aerial shots too, so he has suspected this would be a bit of a hike.

"Is that acceptable sir?" the commander added, concerned by Cameron's lack of response.

"Yeah, and it's Cam," he replied, trying to ease the obviously nervous and uptight young man.

"Excuse me sir?" the alien asked.

"Call me Cam. Sir is what you call my father," Cameron corrected, with a smile.

"As you wish si… Cam," Jahwna stuttered, seemingly not noticing the gesture.

Teal'c raised his eye-brow and Vala barely moved from her position on the Jaffa's shoulder.

She had fallen asleep over an hour ago after complaining about every bump or sharp turn made as they navigated the Skalaraan "wilderness." At least she appeared asleep; she very well might have been faking. At first, it was funny but after her last round of whining Cam had, in a not so nice voice, ordered her to be quiet and she had, choosing to use their friend as a pillow.

Cam was about to nudge her, see if she would get up and stop laying all over Teal'c when, as promised, they arrived at what appeared to be a large ravine.

"Sir Cam," whatever, Cam thought, "We have arrived," Jahwna announced. Teal'c lifted Vala's head and she snapped awake immediately.

Cam knew she was faking, starting to be annoyed again, but stood, grabbing his pack.

Together they unloaded the small vehicle and made their way down to the crevasse.

The ravine itself was not deep, and they could see the reflection of the sun off of the Jaffa armor not too far in the distance. It was not a particularly bloody scene, the colonel noted, and there were no signs of shrapnel or other bombs and explosives, but it was the smell that was the worst. Not expecting anything that foul, Cam quickly covered his face to block the odor.

"What the hell is that stench?" Vala exclaimed.

"That ValaMalDoran is the stench of death," Tealc answered, unaffected by the smell.

"I know that Teal'c," Vala answered, "It was a rhetorical question."

"Enough guys, it's too cold to stand here and argue," Cameron intervened, the bitter cold wind not only beating on their exposed faces but wafting in the strong smell of rotting flesh and other signs of decay. Cautiously, Cam edged himself closer to the bodies.

It was obvious even from a quick glance that these men were not killed in battle. There were no blasts from staff weapons or other projectiles, they just lay there lifeless and still. For a Jaffa a death not in battle was the worst insult to their lives and with only a cursory examination it was obvious that these four young men had died without their honor.

Cam glanced back at Teal'c to judge his reaction seeing that he was clearly upset by the scene in front of them. He frowned and wrinkled his brow, slowing his approach as he unloaded Daniel's equipment gently onto the ground.

"These Jaffa must have been murdered," Teal'c stated plainly with confidence, a confidence Cam wished he could share. The Jaffa approached the first body carefully, seemingly oblivious to the penetrating odor. With Teal'c's recent involvement in the movement to free and organize the Jaffa, sights such as this troubled him as they should any good leader of a fledgling government.

"If you touch those and get that smell on you, you're not riding back with us," Vala spat, clearly disgusted and trying to play off the gagging Cam could see her doing in the corner.

Silently Teal'c knelt beside the fallen Jaffa. With his staff weapon, he gently pushed the nearest body aside and the corpse rolled over quickly, as if pushed by a great force, and there it was face up, mouth gaping, his throat slit from ear to ear.

Cam breathed in in shock, quickly regretting it.

The stench was overpowering and he ran back behind the transport, retching up his bland breakfast as his mind raced.

Jaffa were not so easily killed.

He had killed quite a few Goa'uld warriors in his time, as had the others, but usually with a blaster, staff weapon, or a Zat gun. Since many Jaffa were also very large men and women, it would take not only a foe talented enough to get that close to them but strong enough to wrestle him to the ground and then to slit his throat. Composing himself, Cam quickly wiped his mouth, turning, heading back to the deep ditch. Teal'c was examining the other body and Vala was reading Daniel's handwritten directions for taking samples for carbon dating.

She might complain about the nerds, but she chipped right in to fulfill their requests.

"Sir Cam?" the Sklarna captain asked, "Is there a problem?"

"No problem Jahwna. We just usually see Jaffa bodies after a fight. Their throat wounds indicate something different," Cameron explained.

"Interesting…. " his voice trailed off.

Cam hesitated, sensing something wrong in his voice but he chocked it up to nerves, since the Skalaraans were such peaceful people and this was truly a gruesome scene.

Not knowing what else to do, he patted the commander on his back and headed down to help his teammates.

Sam was used to working alone in a variety of conditions and to be honest, she was the kind of person that thrived on the silence of being alone when she worked.

However, this place was a little too eerie for her liking.

Mordeen's assistant Kyro had led her first to this lab before he had escorted Adrienne and Daniel down to the ancient site. It was a simple room, in the style that reminded her of a high school chemistry classroom minus the rambunctious teenagers. It lacked many of the Asgard and other advanced technologies of her own lab but she had learned with beakers and Bunsen burners and she wasn't afraid to use them again. However, regardless of the cold, she was happy to be off world once more.

Still, it was not the temperature nor the quaintness of the room that bothered her, the Tok'ra tunnels where she had worked side by side with her father had been both cold and small, but not like this.

It had never made her nervous before, like she was feeling now.

Silently she wished she could go down and join her comrades, but afraid to make herself look silly and unprofessional, she rubbed her arms, took a deep breath and kept working.

Yesterday when they had arrived, Daniel had stumbled upon a series of formulas in the archives adjacent to the laboratory. Many of these formulas so far seemed to be basic chemical compositions found also on Earth, household and commercial chemicals like ethyl alcohol, nitric acid, and sodium chloride. The names were different, but the Sklaraans had about the same level of knowledge as had been on Earth in the middle twentieth century so it wasn't that hard to figure out. Whether or not they realized it, this ancient research had been a precursor to their civilization's scientific advances and Sam was intrigued by the information enough to begin converting their names into a format to best match it to the Earth periodic table. With such a conversion chart elements could be easily identified and scientific theories and whatnot could better be shared.

Much to her disappoint, Sam hit a point of confusion right around fourth period metals when she noticed a foul taste in her mouth and she looked down to see that she had literally chewed her pencil down to the lead. Disgusted, she spit the wood chips onto the floor, looking back at the mess that had been her pencil and saw the hand holding it was trembling violently. Shocked, she stopped it with her other hand and leapt from the seat, looking at her watch.

It was already 2 p.m. Earth time.

She wasn't quite sure where the day had gone but she needed a stretch and she needed some hot tea. Mind made up she headed down the long drab hallway to the archives.

"Hey Sam!" she heard Adrienne calling from the archives before she hit the door.

Sam rounded the corner, peering into the doorway and there sat Adrienne cheery as ever with a large pile of scrolls stacked in front of her and Daniel with a similar pile at the next table. They looked to be akin to the ones Sam had back at the lab and she was hoping they were the next in the series of metals. It would be great to have most of the periodic table converted by bedtime. The records were terrific so far, written in clear Ancient, so this process was much easier than she had expected.

"Wow, how did you do that? How did you know it was me?" Sam asked her puzzled.

"You walk loud and other than Kyro this morning we haven't seen a single soul. Strange huh?" Adrienne laughed, "Discovering anything ground breaking?"

"Nothing new, just some elemental connections, I'm working on a periodic table. I think that the IOA will be pleased to know how they note their basic elements. The next step would be to see what resources they have in abundance and maybe we can discuss trade. How 'bout you guys?" Sam asked.

"Just pages and pages of lineage today," Daniel responded, "It is like reading the "Begats.""

"The "Begats?"," Sam was totally lost. Her world was equations and formulas, not historical terminology.

"Pages and pages of crazy boring lineage in the Old Testament, so the Jews could justify their connection to King David and Abraham. A nice stick it to the Babylonians," Adrienne answered with a smile.

"How amazingly P.C. Dr. Rowan," Daniel joked, peering up at her.

"I try," she added and then stopped quickly, making a face at her friend.

"Sam you look weird, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I think I was just in a zone. Got a little cold, a little anxious and figured it was time for a stretch break," the general replied.

"Amen!" Sam saw Adrienne look at Daniel to see if he picked up on her continuation of religious mockery and he smiled without looking up, "Let's go get some hot tea."

"Oklug," Daniel corrected, again without looking up, "It is called Oklug."

"Whatever," Adrienne responded, "There is no coffee on this planet and I drank through my supply of Diet Coke yesterday. "

"Your supply, in one day?" Sam inquired.

"Yeah, but considering that we were only allowed one personal backpack each, my supply was two twenty ounce bottles," Adrienne answered, heading for the door.

"Bring me one," Daniel yelled to them.

"What do I look like?" Adrienne asked, putting her hands on her hips but smiling the entire time.

"Like the greatest assistant in the world," he replied as Sam chuckled to herself. They were just so perfect for one another, even if they both insisted on acting like nothing was there. It reminded her of Jack, which made her nerves flutter, even though he was just on the other side of the gate probably whining about having to cook his own dinner. Taking a breath, Sam grabbed her now shaking arm and the women headed out into the corridor.

Despite the drab settings, the Sklaraans had gone out of their way to make sure the team had everything they needed. On the small central table were more fresh fruit, bread and a large pot of Oklug. Sam made a note that she needed to take some back to have it analyzed by the doctors at Stargate Command, the stuff worked so well, and it would be great to figure out how to use it on future missions where weather was questionable. Carolyn might even to convert it to a pill form for emergency rations.

The women sat in relative silence as they sipped their tea. Neither felt the need to talk; they had both been drowning in their work for hours, but just to sit in silence and relax was fantastic. After a few minutes enjoying the fruit (this stuff was slightly better than breakfast) and some tea it was Adrienne that broke the silence.

"Sam, I didn't notice it before but you smell great! What are you wearing?" she inquired.

Sam was baffled.

She tried to remember back to this morning after she showered if she had put on any perfume.

Did she even bring perfume?

"Uh, deodorant?" she finally answered.

"Well, you got your monies worth," Adrienne answered unfazed, "Remind me to get the name of that when we get back home."

Ok, that was weird. Maybe Adrienne had been trapped in the room so long with those musty old books that anything smelled better than moldy paper. Sam smiled politely, thinking her friend needed a break about as much as she did, and continued to eat.

"Sam, are you ok? Do you need to take a walk or something? You've got some crazy nervous energy going on," Adrienne spoke again, looking at her with concern.

Sam looked up again from her plate and then down at her own leg which was shaking violently, so much so it was rattling the table and the small metal cups and plates. She could feel her heart racing in her chest and it was a little hard to breathe, like the air was thick.

"Uh, yeah. You're right. I've been sitting way too long. I think I'll get a shower and or maybe go for a run first. Cam might have had the right idea this morning," the general replied.

Sam stood to leave so Adrienne went over to pour Daniel a cup of tea and bring him back a small plate of fruits and the general turned, heading down to their quarters, trying to remember if she had packed her running shoes.

A run and a hot shower was just what she needed.

She had been working way too hard and besides, there was no curfew, she could rest for a bit and head to the lab after dinner. Maybe then someone could come down with her just so she could bounce ideas off of them.

Pleased with her decision, she entered the room, feeling better already, heading over to her pack.

It wasn't that Vala necessarily minded the grunt work, or the smell for that matter, she had simply become accustomed to life on Earth and forgotten the cruelty that is death. With the threat of the Ori behind them, Vala had been moved from a more active role in SG-1 to SGC intelligence due to her wealth of information on the Lucian Alliance and other less reputable groups of humans wandering the galaxy. So, at first, she had been excited about a long term mission such as this.

Now, elbow deep in dead body and dirt, she wasn't so sure.

Squinting, she read Daniel's instructions carefully:

Take digital photo of entire area.

Map out area int grid using included red thread. It should look like a checkerboard.

"I know wha grid is Daniel," Vala hissed, rolling her eyes as she dug through the bag. It was filled to the top, the items stuffed in unnaturally, and she was sure she would be unable to shut it again. Inside, were some Asgard dating device, a level (she had no clue what that was for), multiple containers of test tubes, a tape measure, a variety of colored Sharpies, medical tape (Daniel preferred labeling his samples with medical tape, it was easier to write on), a small digital camera, a bag containing quite an assortment of small wooden stakes, and at the very bottom, red string. Of course, she thought to herself, as she unloaded the entire bag to get the thread.

Securing the string, she started marking off her one foot squares. It was mind-numbingly boring, but fairly simple, and much easier than looking at star charts and gate addresses trying to find spies. She supposed that made it a sort of vacation. As she knelt to make her fourth square, she shivered and felt someone standing behind her.

"Ma'am, might I ask what you are doing?" the voice said and Vala jerked upright out of instinct, taking a defensive stance, but it was Jawa, Jakna, whatever, the commander who had led them there. He stood looking at her quizzically, those dark maroon robes waving around him, trying to figure out what she was doing and whether or not she was going to hit him.

"Oh, sorry. It's nothing. It's for our scientists. Since they're too busy to do this themselves," she continued, in her usual Vala tone, "I get to make them a pretty picture so they can look all smart when they identify what I'VE found."

"I see… " he didn't get her sarcasm, "and what are you looking for?"

"Nothing really. Danie – er – Dr. Jackson just suggested that we find out how long these Jaffa have been here and take some core samples of the soil while we're here. I've got nothing else to do," Vala explained.

"And why would one want to know how long they have been there?" the man continued asking questions.

Vala thought that was a strange question, given that they Skalaraans had suggested they take a look at these bodies. Isn't that what they wanted to SG-1, to investigate these unexplained deaths on their peaceful planet?

"They'll give us an idea of when they died and maybe we can trace where they came from and even lead us to who might be responsible," she answered him.

"I see…"

The thin copper-haired man walked away without another word.

Freak, Vala thought, continuing with her task. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Teal'c, leaning over the bodies with one of the worst expressions she had seen the Jaffa make as Cam was coming back over the ridge, wiping his mouth. He must have run back to the transport to throw up; she would have to make fun of him later.

With only a "huh" to herself, she continued gridding and preparing samples.

As the day progressed on, she could feel it getting colder instead of warmer. Makes NO good sense, she thought; who in the hell could live in a place like this?

Just as she was starting to shiver, she felt that creepy presence behind her once again.

"Jahwna, listen, where I come from, people don't just come slinking up behind someone and watch. It's creepy and it can get you shot," Vala spat, peering over her shoulder at her visitor.

"Pardon me ma'am. We Skalaraans rarely speak first unless it is needed. I noticed your shiver and I have brought you some Oklug," the man leaned toward her, offering her a small cup.

Vala stood, slowly, noting the kindness in the gesture.

Well, he might be creepy, but that was nice

"Thank you. I was just thinking how cold I was," she said politely, taking a long drink, the tea warming her body. This planet was just too cold for normal people but she was grateful that they at least had this to get them through. With a grateful nod, she handed the Thermos-like container back to the commander and continued her work.

A short time later, she felt the approach of yet another person. Infuriated, she looked up and shouted.

"Now, when I don't get this finished, who do you think Daniel is going to blame?!" When she finished shouting she saw Cam looking right at her, his mouth open in surprise.

"Jeez, Vala, chill out. We've been over here for five hours. Apparently the days here are much shorter, the sun's going down and Teal'c's looking pretty messed up," Cam defended.

Frowning, Vala put her hand to her forehead, shaking her head.

Five hours!?

Had it been that long?

Why didn't someone tell her?

She had only gotten a few samples completed; why had she worked so slowly?

Growing more and more frustrated, Vala internally chastised herself for acting just as unreliable as everyone expected.

"Well, that's just great," she said, annoyed and exasperated, "Now, I get to go back, get yelled at, called stupid, whatever else he wants to say to me. You couldn't have budged from your vomiting sessions to tell me I was zoning off?! Too busy for that?!"

"Look Vala, I don't know who pissed in your Cheerios this morning, but I'm gonna start packing up. We can come back out here tomorrow, just leave the grid and give Jackson what you've taken already. I'm sure he's too bogged down himself to worry about it and Sam'll probably be the one to run the tests anyway."

He put his hand on her arm, "Calm down."

Vala took a deep breath, still annoyed but Cam was right, so she bent down to pick up the gear and packed up everything but the mostly complete red-thread grid.

At least she had one good box of samples to be tested.

She fought a nervous stomach as she hoisted the pack to her shoulder, managing to get everything back into the bag and headed up the steep incline to the transport.

When Adrienne got back from the lab, she gave Daniel his tea and fruit and went back to her work. He seemed a bit upset, like he was stuck on something and she knew better than to disturb him so she placed the cup and plate beside him, laying her hand gently on his back, rubbing his neck lightly with her fingers and went back to her work station.

On her table, right where she had left them, were pages and pages of lineage. She shuffled through them again, some of them in scroll form and others pages of text crammed into twine, wrapped bundles of yellowing paper, looking for a change in wording that might give some indication as to the end to the list.

There was none.

Sighed she bent over her work, continuing where she left off. After their successes yesterday with the chemistry notes she had hoped today to find more exciting information. Oh well, she thought, such is the life of an archeologist, excitement one day to make up for the stretches of boredom in between.

It was not too long after she had begun to translate once more when she heard a slight tapping, not very loud, but consistent. It seemed to be coming from above her head and sounded like someone had left on a bathroom faucet. She knew there were government offices above them, Kyro had said they were in the basement level, but she thought it was bizarre that she would hear a restroom from a whole floor above.

The sound continued: Tap, wait, tap, wait, tap, wait. She tried her best to ignore it, but the noise was overpowering.

"Sha, do you hear that?" she asked Daniel, unable to contain herself or refrain from using the cajun word for 'sweetheart' that she had been so careful to not say at work.

"Huh?" he answered, as usual, not looking up.

"Daniel, do you hear that tapping?" she asked, clarifying, somewhat glad that he hadn't heard her slip. He was paranoid about their relationship, such as it was, being public knowledge for fear of Adrienne losing her job.

That she understood.

"What tapping?" He asked, looking up at her, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He stared at her lost and still partially back in translation land.

"That tapping," she repeated, standing and looking around the gray chamber.

The room itself was painted gray, not unlike US military installations, with four metal tables scattered about, the contents of the ancient lab carefully placed into large wooden crates, lined neatly on the wall for their use.

The ancient lab itself had been damp and dusty, as had the old archives, and it had sent Daniel into allergic convulsions, so Moreed ordered the contents moved here. Since the laboratory itself had not been of value, the two of them had begun to work right here where the items were being stored, but Adrienne couldn't concentrate on those items with that infernal tapping sound.

"Don't you hear it?" she continued, "it sounds like it is coming from above us."

It was getting louder.

"What if it is a broken water main? If it were to burst through, we could lose ALL of this research?!"

Daniel was still looking at her confused.

"Ad, I'm not sure what you're hearing. There's no sound, no broken water main. Just piles and piles of useless information that's telling me nothing and getting us nowhere. Might as well be a monsoon so we can just go home."

Adrienne shook her head and squeezed her temples. The sound was still there, but fainter if she tried to focus elsewhere.

"You're right. I think my frustration is just making me imagine things. I'll get back to work. Sorry to bug you Indy," she apologized. He did look upset, frustrated over probably the same thing that she was.

She didn't need to bother him with such silliness.

Daniel shrugged, putting his glasses back on and continuing to work. Adrienne could hear him fidgeting with the papers, with his pencil and chewing his lip. He tended to do that a lot and she was forever running tissues over to him in their lab when he would bite his lip clear through. Thinking that might just happen right here, she looked around her for a box just in case. She found a small pack in her backpack, refocusing herself and pacing around the room a few more times before returning to her own workstation.

I'm just bored, she thought. This planet was very dull and drab, even the colors seemed to scowl at her, contrasting with her personal tastes. Why not a dash of pink, or god forbid some yellow. Just drab, drab, drab. Their shared office in Stargate Command at least was accented with various ancient artifacts or reproductions and made for a museum like look that was aesthetically pleasing.

This was just bleh.

However, that wasn't something she could fix so she forced herself to continue to translate what appeared to be the third dynasty of ancient colonial leaders.

The longer she sat, the harder she found it to focus at the task at hand. That tapping sound was back and Daniel was mumbling to himself in some ancient language she didn't know. Add to that, the pages in front of her began to smell something awful, a combination of old paper, mold and some other sweeter smell, the cold in the room now unbearable.

"Indy?" she asked meekly.

"Yes Adrienne… " he was coldly polite and not calling her Ad. He must really not be happy.

"I'm really not feeling very well, I think I'm gonna go lay down," she said, her stomach flipping a little bit.

"Ok fine," he said but he didn't look up. That's odd, she thought; it wasn't like him to as least tell her to feel better, especially since he was technically her boyfriend...

Adrienne stood, adjusting her uniform and pushing the stiff stool under the table. She carefully arranged the smelly papers into a pile, placing them back into the small crate on the wall nearest to her table. She looked back over her shoulder to see if Daniel had even noticed her, but he hadn't, so she quietly slipped out of the lab, heading down the hall to their rooms.

When she got there she paused, looking from the girl's room to the guy's room, deciding where to go.

In the end, she entered the guy's room, sliding into Daniel's bunk, wanting at least the comfort of his smell if she couldn't have the comfort of his arms.

Normally death would not affect him so, but to see those warriors killed in the manner in which they were killed was too much for him. Teal'c knew in his heart that these men had not been attacked or murdered; the cuts were too clean.

These Jaffa had committed mass suicide.

But why?

These warriors were of Atum, who had long since been defeated by Arkad and was of no consequence to SG-1. These Jaffa by now should have heard of their freedom, of the Jaffa council and of their chance at a new life. This was old news and these bodies could not have been more than six months old, by his best guess, but with this cold, he could not be certain.

He had been reluctant to leave the bodies of his brothers, but CameronMitchell assured them that they would return at first light tomorrow. He had not been able to ascertain very much, just their tattoo markings, the suicide and their approximate ages. They were young Jaffa, even less likely to commit such an act, and more likely to join his cause. He would need to dial the Stargate when he returned and consult with Bra'tac who may have more insight into what might have happened. Shaking his head in disbelief, Teal'c climbed forlornly into the vehicle.

What would cause such despair? He could not get the question off of his mind as the transport jolted and bounced back to their temporary residence. He sipped some hot tea, pondering what he was doing in the Jaffa leadership.

What if these young warriors had indeed come to a desolate planet to kill themselves?

Were they in such despair over the plight of the newly formed Jaffa nation that they could see no other solution than to end their own lives?

Were there factions in the newly founded Jaffa government that were mistreating their citizenry?

Was his failure at leadership on the council and his rejoining of SG-1 part of the problem?

Was he not fighting hard enough for his people?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he barely realized they had arrived back to the headquarters until he saw ValaMalDoran out of the corner of his eye leap from the Jeep, shouting something nasty to him about not helping her with the archaeological supplies.

He paid her little mind.

"Hey big guy, you feeling any better?" ColonelMitchell sincerely asked his friend.

"ColonelMitchell, I believe I need some time to think," Teal'c responded reflexively, his eyes already gazing down the hall.

"Sure T. That's gotta be rough, especially if they did it to themselves. Head on back to the room and I'll bring some chow down to you," the team leader offered, leaning forward to try to examine his comrade's face.

"Thank you ColonelMitchell" was all he replied and with that Teal'c headed through the double doors and down the long hallway.

In silence he passed by the cafeteria area, SamanthaONeill's lab and the room where DanielJackson and AdrienneRowan had been working without taking much notice. Soon, he was at the door to their room, the dull walls flashing by in an instant. He turned the knob, opening the door, making his way over to his cot and his pack where he had brought his supplies for meditation just in case he needed them. He was shuffling through the bag when a sleepy voice spoke to him.

"Teal'c? Is that you? What time is it?" It appeared that AdrienneRowan was yet again sleeping in their room, but he was not certain as to why.

"It is 1700 hours Earth time AdrienneRowan. Sorry to have disturbed you. I am needing to Kelnareen," he answered her.

"No, Teal'c. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here. I wasn't feeling very well and for some reason I'm just not comfortable in our room. I'll leave," Adrienne answered and started to sit from the bed.

"No that is not necessary. I must Kelnareen in a place where I will not disturb anyone or be disturbed for many hours. I will seek out quarters elsewhere."

Without giving her a chance to respond, he left her in the lower bunk and re-entered the hallway. He knew that straight ahead were the labs, the cafeteria, and the exit, but there were also corridors to the left and to the right. Looking slowly from side to side he turned left, heading into a part of the building he had to yet to visit, hoping to find a place to search out his answers.

This is useless, Daniel thought, as he finished the last page of his translation. It was so useless that even Adrienne had given up and she never gave up on anything, especially when they worked together, especially now that they were together.

If that wasn't a clear indicator of failure he wasn't sure what was.

Despondent and depressed, he decided to see what everyone else was doing.

Someone had to be having some success or this would be yet another planet Earth would be essentially supplying with everything and getting nothing in return.

He stopped at Sam's door and saw her rushing back and forth between her stacks of papers, a chalkboard and some machine she seemed to be constructing.

Well, at least she seemed to be having some success.

Not wanting to bother her, he moved on.

As he turned the corner, he heard the doors open and saw Cam and Vala enter along with their guide. He noted how dark it was already, yet his watch indicated it was a little past five p.m.

"Daniel! Wait up man, we've got some things to tell you!" Cam shouted down the corridor, appearing very excited and seemed to have a lot on his mind. Great, someone else had managed to discover something and he was stuck with a worthless pile of papers. Vala, however, didn't seem as happy. The two approached him quickly and Vala marched right up to his face, slamming the bag of research supplies into his chest.

"Look! I gridded the damn place and took some samples but the sun doesn't stay up on this blasted planet long enough to get anything done so don't even start lecturing me on my time management," she shouted at him.

"Jeez Vala," Cam spoke up, "Lighten up. We're going back out there tomorrow and you're not even giving the man a chance to speak."

Daniel took a deep breath and tried to be positive but he just didn't seem to have it in him to do so. On the other hand, maybe if Cam had brought him back some news of use it would improve his mood.

"Thank you Vala. Anything you can find will be better than what I've found. I feel like I've spent an eternity in this cold cell to discover nothing. I'll go over tonight what you found so far," Daniel assured her.

"Fine, great. So far. I hear your tone Daniel and I don't like it," she said and stormed away down the hall.

"Just ignore her," Cam responded immediately, "she's had a bug up her ass all day long and I'm not sure how to chill her out. And Teal'c, wow, today hit him pretty hard." It was then that Daniel noticed their fearless Jaffa was missing. Before he could ask, Cam continued.

"Got down to that site and there are bodies all right. Four of them. Atum's men, young and each one slit from," he paused his story to give a visual with his thumb, "ear to ear. Teal'c says the cuts have to be self-induced. That kinda messed him up a bit. Apparently Jaffa don't commit suicide."

"Wow," Daniel was intrigued, "How long do you guys judge they have been down there?"

"I think those samples that Vala took will give us our best estimate, but Teal'c and I reckon at least six months but no longer than a year. Strange too. If the Jaffa are free then why would they still be in Goa'uld uniform and come here to kill themselves," Cameron answered.

"That is odd. Well, I can run simple carbon dating myself, so I'll take these back to the lab. That will at least give us a better idea of what we're dealing with. After all, this is the warm season, those Jaffa could have been frozen for longer," Daniel added, Cameron nodding in agreement.

"I agree. Well, I'm gonna get some grub and then try to work out some. I promised Teal'c I'd bring him some dinner," he said, slapping Daniel on the back, starting toward the make-shift mess. Deciding he might as well, Daniel followed, the two men heading through the double doors, looking at the assortment of food laid out for them. It wasn't the feast they had been offered their first night on the planet, but there was a decent enough variety of bread, meat and cheeses.

As they ate, Cam gave him more details of the site: the placement of the bodies, the approximate ages and different things Teal'c had noticed about the armor. The armor had been pristinely clean as if these young men had never seen battle and they were also dumped into the ravine as if they had either stood on the edge of the ravine, slit their throats and fell into the pit or they were transported there. Again, as much to Daniel as it was to Teal'c, the suicide aspect was the most disturbing part of Cam's story. When Cam had finished, Daniel just shook his head and sipped some hot tea.

This was probably the worst news of all.

"I can see why Teal'c might be upset. The Jaffa are free and have been so for a while now. Why would they still be wearing uniforms, of a long dead overlord and then commit mass suicide. Teal'c has been concerned about corruption within the Jaffa council and this may just prove his suspicions. I can take him his dinner; try to help him through this. He's helped me through rough times before," Daniel offered, a million thoughts running through his head one of which was it would give him a chance to check on Adrienne, where ever she had gone.

"Sure, and tell him I'll be going for another run if he needs me. It's too damn cold to sit still here and I just don't feel like looking through pictures of those bodies just yet," Cameron agreed, wiping off his hands, stretching his legs in anticipation already.

The men stood, Cam waving back behind him and heading out in the direction of their room as Daniel walked over, picking up a small, clean metal plate to begin to fill it with food for Teal'c. He looked up, hearing a rustle and saw Moreed entering the room, this time wearing bright aquamarine robes.

"Dr. Jackson, how has your day fared?" the ambassador inquired, curious.

"Well, thank you for asking," considering the information that he just learned, Daniel felt it best to remain cryptic.

"I heard that your team is not doing as well. Apparently the bodies we discovered in the ravine are a great source for discomfort for your Jaffa and your Lucian woman," Moreed pried.

Odd, Daniel thought.

Of all of the things for that commander to report to Moreed, the mental state of his teammates seemed trivial compared to the fact that a group suicide had occurred within hours of the capital.

And he'd called Vala that Lucian woman…..

"I think we're just tired after a day's work. Research does take a lot of effort and our team is very meticulous in our methodology," Daniel defended.

"Of course," the man answered, "And I hope that accommodations are again to your liking."

"Yes sir," Daniel responded, thinking of Adrienne again, hoping she had returned to his bed, "I was actually taking Teal'c some supper down right now to compare notes with him."

"Excellent. Then, I will check with you in the morning."

And with that he glided out of the room.

That man certainly gave Daniel the creeps, and he seemed to doubt the team's ability.

Had they lost their edge?

True, many of them had been working on their own projects throughout Stargate command, some of them involving the Destiny, but they were still the elite team for analysis of Ancient knowledge. However, since their group had become more focused on scientific study rather than military operations, Daniel had been promoted to the status of co-team leader in the recent months as Cameron was spending a lot more time at the academy.

Some job I'm doing, he thought, my first large scale mission as team leader and it's turning out to be an utter disaster.

Once again, drifting into a slight depression, Daniel made for their quarters, wanting to check on Adrienne first.

When he arrived in the room he found he had just missed Cam, his boots now placed neatly where his sneakers had been, and Adrienne reading a novel in his bunk.

"Where's Teal'c? " he asked Adrienne, not bothering to ask why she had essentially moved in with him on a mission no less, knowing full well that the status of their relationship was to be kept as quiet as possible and Teal'c might be within earshot.

"He came by a while ago. Said something about not wanting to disturb anyone. That was about it…." she began to gag, " what's that smell?!"

"What smell?" First Vala, then Teal'c and now Adrienne was acting like a crazed pregnant woman, picking up on every little sound or smell.

"That disgusting spoiled smell. What's on that plate?" Adrienne pointed to the dish in his hands.

"Dinner," Daniel responded, "Ad, are you alright?"

"Yeah. I think so. I was just getting a little out of it down there. Felt like we were getting nowhere, especially after finding those element tables yesterday, I feel like the rest of the information so far is a big waste. I think the stress was getting to me," she answered but all Daniel heard was big waste. Not so much as an 'I love you' or a quick kiss, he turned without answering, heading out in search of Teal'c.

The rooms were at the top of a T shaped hall, so he could go left or right and the archaeologist paused, debating his options. Through the drab darkness and florescent lighting of the hall ways Daniel could see a soft glow from the left hand side of the hall. Guessing that his friend was using his standard candle setting, he turned left.

It was maybe a hundred feet down the hall when Daniel located the soft glow through a crack in the door. In a small room, although every room on this planet seemed to be a small one, Teal'c had positioned himself in the center of a circle of candles. He was deep into meditation, Daniel hesitant to disturb him.

There was a small table to the side of the door so Daniel set the plate there and sat down crossed legged in front of the Jaffa. He began to meditate as Teal'c had taught him, releasing the flood of emotion that had been building up inside of him all day.

Why was his life like this?

It seems that everything Daniel touched just turned into a disaster. Everything, right down to the discovery of the Stargate, which while wonderful in some aspects, had brought death and destruction to many worlds and many brave men and women of Earth. Even this simple assignment was quickly blowing up in his face.

He felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach.

Daniel meditated for a while, without a sound from Teal'c. Eventually, he realized that Teal'c wasn't going to move and feeling no better, he got up, leaving the plate on the table and headed back to his lab.

He'd try to get some more work done and then just crawl into bed with Adrienne.

The run made Cam feel better and warmer as he expected but he was going to have to be careful to walk the fine line between keeping warm and feeling good and overdoing it. He was thirsty, but since the Skalaraans only seemed to drink that disgusting smelling tea, he was going to have to get some water from the bathroom.

Not his first choice, but it would have to do.

He started back down the hall, toweling sweat off of his head and deciding he would shower yet again before turning in for the night. As he neared the rooms he could hear strange noises coming from the girls' room. Confused, he cautiously approached the door and knocked, trying to figure out what was going on.

No answer.

He knocked again, but still there was no answer. He tried the doorknob, the door swinging open easily to reveal Vala raging against a wall with anything she could put her fists on.

"Vala, what the hell is going on? What are you doing?" Cameron was shouting.

"Leave me alone Cam, I'm not in the mood," Vala hissed at him.

"Listen, you were pretty upset out there today and I just wanted to check in on you. Did I do something? Did anyone do anything?" Cameron asked, trying to ascertain what was going on with her but Vala threw the chair she had in her hands down on the ground, marching right up to him, standing nose to nose.

"You know what I'm tired of? I'm tired of being treated like an idiot. I was treated like an idiot the entire time I was on the team and now that I'm back on an active mission, what happens, but we're back to where we started. Vala, take this equipment with you because you are too stupid to work with us. Don't break it! Vala, mak grid, you know, like a checkerboard since you're too blasted stupid to understand dimensions!" she screamed. Cam did notice that Daniel did have a tendency to treat Vala like a child, maybe a bit more than he should, but she was generally a good natured person and he had never seemed to make her quite so angry before.

"Ok, girl. Let's take a deep breath. I think we all just need to grab some dinner, calm down and turn in early. Last night's craziness, today's excitement and the cold temperatures are really wigging out our systems. Come on," he took her arm, "let's go for a walk."

He could tell she was still angry, but she let him lead her from the room and toward the mess.

When they arrived they found Sam and Adrienne already sitting and eating. It seemed that Daniel had taken the food down to Teal'c but had chosen not to return. Deciding that his next task was to check on the two of them, Cam led Vala over to the table to sit down and chat with everyone, hoping that her friends would be able to calm her down and ascertain what was really wrong.

"Hey Cam, Hey Vala," Sam shouted, much more cheerful than usual.

Maybe not cheerful, but loud.

Her legs were tapping a mile a minute and she looked like she needed to relax, big time. Adrienne, on the other hand, just looked up and waved. She seemed the opposite of herself too, quiet and sullen, like she had a terrible migraine headache that she couldn't control.

"Listen ladies, Vala's not really feeling that terrific today and I need to check on Teal'c. Can ya'll keep any eye on her?" Cameron asked.

"Sure! – Sam answered enthusiastically, again, for the general it was way too chipper, "and afterwards she can come back to the lab and help with the chemical analysis of those compounds I've discovered…" Sam trailed over babbling in some kind of physics babbling as Adrienne nodded. Leaving her to his friends, Cam left in search of Teal'c.

As he has half expected, Teal'c wasn't in the room, so he set out exploring the hallways. Turning right out of the room, the colonel began searching the series of rooms along the hallways.

Sam was genuinely annoyed that neither Vala nor Adrienne had taken an interest in her near breakthrough. Granted, they didn't understand the basics of organic or even elemental chemistry enough to fully appreciate what she was trying to do, but they could at the very least feign interest.

However, after only about a half an hour at dinner, Adrienne had complained of nausea and headed to the dorms and Vala, still steaming about something had left shortly after. Sam couldn't see the sense in wasting perfectly good time on something as trivial as sleep. They only had seven, well six days taking packing, night and travel into consideration, here on this glorious planet and she only had four days left at this point as it was.

Who knew what the Skalaraans would allow her to take home?

It seemed that while she had found great success transcribing the periodic tables and she had also stumbled upon a few compounds that while similar to the ones known on earth, were just different enough to be viable. In particular, the extra electrons present in the lithium on this world might allow her to use existing nuclear theory to create a stronger yet better contained power device.

Definitely much more important than sleep.

Thankfully, she really didn't need to worry about sleep. That tea was great; not only did it keep her warm but it managed to keep her alert and awake. She had passed on it the first night, but after it managed to keep Adrienne warm and happy, and she never seemed warm, Sam thought it was worth a try. Since, she had experienced a jolt of energy, in fact much more energy than from her normal vitamin B supplements.

Finishing her cup, she glanced at her watch.

3 a.m. Earth time.

Plenty of time till Skalraan sunrise and until she could get down to the mess to get some more refreshments. In the meantime, she decided to do some jumping jacks to get her brain flowing and to take out some nervous energy. She felt like she was in college again pulling an all-nighter; it was a rush she had missed sitting in her command office all day.

She needed to go off-world more often.

Vala awoke the next morning to an empty room. Sam must have never left the lab and Adrienne most likely had crawled her way into Daniel's bed again.

Figures.

The two of them just needed to screw and get it over with.

Why pay any mind to Vala when everyone and everything else is much more interesting?

As she showered and dressed she wondered why she was bothering to head back out to the site again. No matter what, the smell would be bad, the time would be too short, or her samples would not be good enough for Daniel. Regardless, she threw on her uniform jacket and stormed out of the room, figuring that she had nothing else better to do.

When she entered the mess she saw only Cam and Adrienne, the latter looking like she could throw up at any second. Cam, however, seemed just fine, sitting across from her with a Powerbar and his canteen trying to lift her spirits.

"So are we the only ones bothering to work today?" Vala asked, attitude in her voice.

"Good morning to you too Vala," Cam answered, "It seems Sam pulled an all-nighter and Daniel is trying to get Teal'c back in the game. And even Addy here is pushing through on a sour stomach."

"Great," she answered, her voice getting louder with each word, "so are we heading down to the site on Teal'c's time or what?"

Once again, everyone else's problems and issues came before hers.

She had work to do.

This was crazy.

"Vala, please stop shouting," Adrienne answered her, "I can come down with you if you need. Daniel and I have hit a big zero and he seems to just think we are wasting our time at this point."

She hadn't actually expected anyone to volunteer. Feeling calmer, that was rather nice of Addy, she went over to the table and half way filled her plate with that disgusting fruit and stale bread, lastly pouring herself a mug of Oklug. She returned to the table where everyone continued to sit in silence, glancing down at her watch as she popped a berry into her mouth.

8:32 a.m. Earth time.

At this rate they were never going to get back to the site but fortunately, Cam was on the same page.

"Ok, guys, I think I'm gonna find Jahwna and steal Addy for the day. We can get the rest of the information we need if we work fast and work together," he declared.

Oddly, as if the commander had read their minds, Jahwna, accompanied by Moreed entered the room. Today, they were wearing matching amber robes and more than ever looked to be akin.

"Sir Cam," Jahwna spoke as Cam nodded in acknowledgement, "I have told Moreed of our findings yesterday and he is quite interested in the results of Dr. Jackson's analysis."

"Um, sir," Cam started, "I'm not sure how far he was able to get on those samples. Last I saw of him he was nose deep in translations and might not have gotten as far as he wanted to…."

"What findings?" Vala interjected, "You mean MY samples and MY findings!?" she stood, "Basically what we know is this: For some unknown reason those young Jaffa, who are free to settle on a nice NORMAL planet like Chulak instead of this godforsaken cold rock, came here to off themselves in a ditch. And since Daniel has been too damn busy comforting our big baby to run any of the tests and our REAL scientist is onto some amazing breakthrough or something, no one has had time to analyze anything. On our planet we do have to sleep once in a while."

Now standing himself, Cam carefully placed his hand on her shoulder as she flew off the handle for no reason at all but she shooed away his comfort, lashing out and slapping it off.

"Furthermore," she continuing, her eyes wild with fear and anger, " I'm not sure what you people EAT on this planet, but no one can survive on this shit. It's cold, I'm hungry and this tea DOES NOT warm you up."

With a cautious look to his superior, Jahwna approached her, reaching out his hand to calm her as well but all she could think was how dare he?

How dare he touch me?

Instinctively, she recoiled, punching him square in the face and the slight man toppled over, crashing to the floor.

In a flurry of action, no time to even say a word to Cam or anyone, to demand an explanation for their treatment, she could feel herself being forced to the ground.

"Colonel Mitchell, please inform Dr. Jackson that we are taking Miss MalDoran into custody. To strike another soul is one of the highest offenses in our culture and until he and I can meet to settle this she will be taken to a holding cell," Moreed addressed Cameron.

Vala fought and kicked with all of her might. The guard to the left had very long golden hair that might have been beautiful had he not been hauling her to a cell, hair that she grabbed the best she could. Her fighting and pulling was futile and just as she thought she could hear Cam trying to reason with Moreed, she felt a pin prick on the side of her neck and the world went black.

"Sir, look, something is really wrong with our team. I think we might be ill. Please, let me go and find Daniel because I'm sure that he can straighten it all out," Cameron pleaded with their host.

"Colonel Mitchelll, I certainly hope so. We have brought you into our home as honored guests in the hopes that our worlds will have many things to share. That, however, is no longer looking as likely."

With that, Moreed swept up his robes, motioning to Jahwna to accompany him in his exit. His own face wearing a mask of shock, Cam looked over at Adrienne who was sitting there clearly stunned.

"Ok, look," his training in command was once again kicking in forcing the panic away, "you need to go to the lab. I know Sam pulled an all-nighter, so I need you two egg heads to act like everything is alright and keep working. I'm going to go get Daniel, try to reason with Teal'c and clean up this situation. Understood?"

Adrienne simply nodded.

A plan in his head, Cam turned on his heels, racing down the hall. Jogging at near full speed he traced his way back through the corridors that he had explored last night since he had found both Teal'c and Daniel in a small room meditating just hours before. This was something he had seen them do a million times before, so he had left them to it and hit the sack. It did, however, bother him that neither of them made it back to bed last night.

When he arrived at that same room, Teal'c was still sitting in the center of small wax piles that had once been candles, their flames long since burned out. There was no sign of Daniel in the room and Adrienne hadn't mentioned seeing him at all, which Cam found most unusual of all. Focusing on one friend at a time, Cam knelt in front of his friend.

"Teal'c, buddy, hey man, can you wake up? We've got a bit of a situation here. Teal'c? Where's Daniel? I need to find Daniel. Damn it Teal'c, I need you to wake up!" he shouted, repeatedly, shaking his friend, but the Jaffa did not respond.

"Teal'c! Vala has been ARRESTED! They're LOCKING HER UP!" Cam was screaming in his face, a face that did not break, did not move.

This was bad; this was so bad.

What was going on? The entire team was falling apart. Vala had been arrested, Teal'c had completely shut down, Sam was on some manic research binge and Adrienne looked so ill he was sure she needed a hospital.

And where in the HELL was Daniel?! Why was everyone acting like this? And then he remembered…

There was only one thing Cam could do. He took out his zat gun and made his way to the Stargate.

Teal'c was vaguely aware of ColonelMitchell entering the room. His friend had been trying to tell him something about Vala, but that was not important.

The only thing important was his failure.

He understood, he understood it all.

Those young Jaffa had made a wise and honorable decision. He would need to follow their lead. He rose and began to search for the proper tools.

Daniel arrived back to an empty room. His watch was gone, to where he wasn't sure and he had no idea as to what time it was. He'd hoped it was early enough to find them but they were all gone.

He'd checked the girl's room first. They had all left him, even Adrienne, the love of his life, was nowhere to be found. Here he was fighting with desperation and despair and this proved it all to him.

_You said you loved me Ad._

The team didn't need him any longer. They had risen that morning, and continued with their work and research without him.

Some leader he was.

Even Teal'c wouldn't snap out of it for his old friend. He had at least hoped that Adrienne would have come looking for him, Adrienne who he cared so much about, who he loved more than any person in his life and who had said loved him the same.

Not even she could be bothered.

_You said you loved me..._

Daniel walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Adrienne had done as Cam asked and went straight to Sam's lab despite her burning desire to find Daniel but the colonel was right, Sam was not acting like normal and Daniel could take care of himself.

There, Sam was calmly transcribing more elements on the periodic table, so Adrienne decided that maybe she had over-reacted and that they should just return to work and let Daniel deal with the Vala situation. Daniel having to deal with a Vala fit; so what else was new?

Despite her continued nausea and headache, Adrienne headed back to their work room, resuming where she has left off yesterday.

She had been bent over the desk for hours, translating what were just more and more pages of family lineage. After she had closed the last of the small stack of books, she stood up, stretched, took a swig of Oklug and checked the time. Earth time, it was well past noon.

No sign of Cam.

No sign of Daniel.

Not having Daniel come to work was the strangest of all. He hadn't come to bed either, much to her dismay, she felt so sick and wanted more than anything the comfort of his embrace, but there was not even so much as a peep to check on her. Maybe he had stopped by the lab to see what Sam was working on and was heading her direction; he could have very easily worked through the night being that he had to carry on without her. Nothing else to translate in her stack, she decided find Daniel and Cam and see what was going on with the rest of the team.

The lab where the Sklarans had stationed Sam was just two doors down. The door was slightly ajar when she arrived, so she pushed it open the rest of the way to find Sam frantically working with a small electronic machine.

"Huh," she said aloud to herself, even more curious and with slight worry, "Daniel's not here either?"

Sam completely ignored her, "If I place this wire here it should act as a counterbalance to the Lithium 6…."

"Sam? Have you seen Daniel? Has Cam come by?" Adrienne asked but Sam continued to run back and forth across the room ignoring Adrienne's arrival. Adrienne grew frustrated and tried again, raising her voice, causing further pounding in her head.

"Sam, what are you doing?"

"Adrienne!" Sam finally looked up at her.

Her face was unnaturally frenzied and she had large dark circles under her eyes, her face pale and sickly making Adrienne instantly catch her breath.

"Adrienne! I think I may have found a way to write the basic component ideas for a Teller-Uman Hydrogen Bomb to create a non-explosive submodel which might generate enough power for use to dial the 9th chevron…"

She kept talking, frantically, directing her attention back to her work. As Sam continued to move parts and mumbling to herself, Adrienne could see a soft red glaze trickling down the wires, making the archaeologist squint and lean forward for a closer look. It took her a moment, Sam still dashing around the table, to realize that it was blood.

Sam was bleeding onto the machine.

It was no small cut either; her fingers were raw and torn and there was blood everywhere.

"If I could get a team here, maybe 5 or 6 scientists, we could use an Asgard conduit and poof! Welcome home Colonel Young!" Sam exclaimed, pointing to the end of the machine, blood flinging from her fingers, slapping sickly on the wall. It oozed down the wall like paint on canvas the brilliant scientist paying it no mind as her bloody fingers continued to work frantically at her task and mumbling about power sources and conduits.

Terrified, Adrienne decided that she needed to find the rest of the team. Maybe Cam was with Daniel already and they would be working to get the situation under control and would be able to figure out what was wrong with everyone. After Vala's violent outburst at breakfast and now this, Adrienne had gone from worry to full panic.

Daniel wasn't in the cafeteria either, leaving only their quarters to check. Her heart racing with worry, Adrienne approached the door to the room noting that no light seemed to be coming from the crack underneath. Daniel might be asleep, especially if he had worked through the night, so she knocked tentatively as to not jolt him awake.

No answer.

Growing more and more concerned by the moment, she tried the doorknob, finding that it was unlocked, opening the door slowly.

Hesitantly, Adrienne entered the dark room, feeling around for the switch. Remembering it was on the left hand side of the door, she found it with ease and flipped it upward but nothing happened.

"I cut the lights."

The voice was coming from the bottom bunk.

It was Daniel's voice.

"I needed to think. I wanted it dark. It's just not dark enough."

"Indy, are you ok?" Adrienne whispered, cautiously approaching the bunk, stepping carefully through the pitch blackness. She could hear his breathing, intense and deep.

It was so loud, beating through her heard like a drum.

"Daniel, sha, something really crazy is going on. Did Cam find you?"

He didn't answer, just continued to breathe in and out loudly and slowly, terror growing inside. Daniel should be comforting her, holding her, she was sick, he knew her well enough to hear it in her voice, he should be at her side, not sitting here like this in silence.

"Daniel, what's going on?"

"I'm finished. There's no need for me, you'll don't need me. I'm just tired of it all," he whispered in the dark.

"What are you talking about sha? Of course we need you? I need you. Why are you acting so strange?," she asked him, inching closer and closer to his side.

Suddenly,there was movement, an arm, a grab as he reached out, pulling her into the bunk, slamming her side into the concrete wall. She didn't have time to scream or to even gasp as her side began to throb in pain. He pushed himself on top of her, pinning her shoulders down with each of his hands and she could feel his breath, hot and moist, in her face.

"Daniel, get off of me! What are you doing?" she tried to fight back, shouting and struggling, but Daniel was larger and Adrienne felt so sick, so weak, she just didn't have any fight in her that she normally would.

Flashbacks entered her head, a motel room, a door kicked in, being helpless once more. Under his body she trembled and shook as he moved his hands from her shoulders and down her arms, pinning her waist down with his knees.

_No, no, no, no, no_

By the time his lips reached hers he was not only kissing her fiercely but mumbling "Never again", "I'm in control now" and "No one is going to take you away from me," among other things she didn't understand. Tears began streaming down her cheeks as she could feel his teeth, pressing so hard against her, cutting into her bottom lip, splitting it at the scar.

What was happening? This was not Daniel, her gentle, kind Daniel, the man she loved more than anyone else in the world.

Her chest was getting tighter, she realized, as she could not breathe, he was pushing down on her too hard, making her ache. Smothering her mouth with his Daniel had begun to rip her uniform shirt, grabbing it by the collar and tearing it painfully from her body. Resigning herself that this was going to happen, she let the tears fall freely, mentally preparing herself for what was about to come. With what little voice and strength she made one final plea to the man she loved and not the monster that had taken over him.

"You said you would never hurt me, please, I love you."

"Adrienne?"

As suddenly as it had begun, Daniel was off of her, shaking violently. She could hear his heart beating, so loud, so very loud and she could hear tears running down his face.

She could hear all of this, magnified like speakers were inside of her head.

It was all so loud, and so unnatural. Adjusting her semi-torn shirt Adrienne sat up beside him, trembling, internally debating whether she should stay or flee.

Where would she go?

If she tried to escape, he would easily catch her considering the state she was in right now, so she stayed where she was.

_He stopped Ad, he won't hurt you. Even like this he knows who you are; he loves you._

"Daniel, what's wrong," she was sobbing uncontrollably, "please, don't hurt me….." As if on cue, he cried out and fell onto her again, but this time his head in her lap, sobbing fiercely, apologizing to Gods she could only assume were Abydonian.

"I don't know what's wrong with me," he cried, "I can't take it anymore. The books, the work, I'm hollow, and I'm alone. I'm so alone."

He leapt from the bunk before she could reply, before she could assure him that he had her, that he would always have her, falling to his knees on the floor, screaming.

"I HATE THIS! I HATE MYSELF! I WANT THIS PAIN TO END!"

Adrienne had never seen him act like this, or anyone act like this for that matter. His screams were so loud, she could hear him panting, she could feel his self-hate and anger coming off of his body in waves.

It was as if she was in an energy cyclone, with the winds beating her body violently.

Not knowing what else to do but understanding that something was so very wrong, that something outside of himself had driven him to this despair, she got down onto the floor with him, wrapping her arms around him, holding him close to her. She herself was still shaking but he wouldn't have hurt her, she told herself, it would have never gotten that far, a mantra she repeated to herself as she ran his fingers through his hair, holding him, kissing his temple.

"Daniel, I'm right here, it's me, it's Adrienne. Everything's gonna be alright, please calm down," she whispered, wiping a drop of blood from her lip, fighting to contain her own tears. He was still babbling and completely falling apart in her lap, much worse than when the Ascended had invaded his dreams.

Where was Cam?

If he hadn't found Daniel then where did he go?

Sam needed a doctor soon, Adrienne just hoped that she hadn't injured herself worse, she had heard nothing of where they had taken Vala and she felt so sick and so contaminated, all the while holding her boyfriend in her arms as he completely fell apart. It was then she smelled something else on Daniel, a strange and familiar smell. A smell she had been close to for almost three days now.

The tea.

"Daniel, look at me," She pulled his face to hers, trying to find his eyes in the darkness, crying as she spoke, "Daniel, listen to me. Please don't do anything. Stay here. You're sick, ok, sick, I am too. We all are, except for Cam. I think he's trying to get help so I'm gonna go find him. Please stay here and be safe, don't do anything. Indy, look at me, let me know that you understand what I am saying to you." He lifted his tear stained face and nodded slowly.

"I love you and I need you, just keep thinking that."

She led him to the bunk to rest, laying him down gently and kissing him as she covered him up.

Moments later, after throwing up the corner, Adrienne was running through the hallways looking for the Colonel.

Cam was racing down the hall toward the Stargate as fast as he could so it was virtually impossible for him to stop when he saw Adrienne running straight for him, her hair in every direction and her shirt torn. They slammed into each other and he caught her, pushing her back. As he moved her away he could see her lip was busted and that she was crying, her face red and tear streaked.

"Adrienne, oh my god, what happened? Are you alright?" he asked.

"Daniel, he, there…." she choked through tears, her chest heaving with rapid breath. Cam stood back in shock and disbelief as he suddenly understood what had happened.

"Adrienne, did he ….?" uttering the question he was afraid to ask.

"No, no, he would never but something's wrong. It's the tea. We've all been drinking it. Everyone but you. And we're all so messed up," she continued, her body convulsing. Without asking her anything else, Cam reached out his arms, pulling her into an embrace.

"I know Addy, I know. I'm the only one who seems to be all right and I'm the only one that didn't drink the crap. Ok, Adrienne listen to me," he paused, not wanting to send her back to Daniel, God Daniel, he thought to himself, why did it have to be Daniel, "Where's Sam? Can you go to her?"

Adrienne was still sobbing, holding onto him tightly, tearing Cameron up to see his friend so scared, "She's all messed up. Babbling on about this machine, bleeding, she smells like metal. It's awful."

Cam took a moment to consider his options. Better a crazed Sam than a violent Daniel, especially now that he could smell a trace of vomit on Adrienne, a clear indicator of how sick she really was, and she wouldn't hurt him, even to defend herself.

"Go to her. I'm heading for the gate. Here," he gave her his zat gun, "Stay with her. Shoot anything that comes in that room including Jackson if you have to. I'm gonna get us some help."

Faster than he had run in a long time, Cam made a mad dash to the gate.

When he arrived there, Moreed was awaiting him.

"Colonel Mitchell. Why are we in such a hurry?" the man asked.

"Look Moreed; I'm not sure what's going on here, but my team is seriously ill and I need to contact our commander and get our doctor over here," Cameron explained.

"I am afraid that will not be possible," he replied. On cue, a group of identical Skalaraan guards came out from behind the gate to surround him.

It was a trap.

Realizing it much too late, Cam looked left and right pointing his zat gun in both directions trying to determine where to open fire first. As he had decided left, he saw the soldiers to the right crumble to the floor out of the corner of his eye, the colonel taking out the rest before pointing his weapon at Moreed, firing without hesitation.

"Colonel Mitchell," Teal'c called out to him, "I believe that we have been poisoned. I was coming to the Stargate to contact O'Neill and request reinforcements."

"That is the best thing you could say to me right now old buddy," Cam replied, dialing the sequence home and watching the crystalline waters materialize in front of him.

Slamming the button on his call sign, he tore through the wormhole for home.

Once Cam had called for reinforcements Sam's very concerned and very angry husband, who also just happened to be Homeworld Commander, sent three SG teams to rescue them and secure the Skalaraan facility. Once he awoke, Moreed was tended to and then interrogated as to their intentions concerning Earth and what they had done to SG-1, the IOA buzzing immediately with concerns of Anubis.

Upon investigation, it seemed that the Skalaraans were not as isolated as originally thought, but used Oklug as a way to drive their uninvited guests to madness and eventually suicide. The young Jaffa team had been sent about eight months earlier by the Jaffa council to make "first contact" and set up trade. Jahwna had reluctantly revealed that they were driven to madness after five days of drinking the tea and had committed suicide in their rooms. The Skalaraans dressed them in some old Jaffa armor, polished it up and tossed them into the ravine.

When it seemed that Stargate command was coming through, like it or not in their view, they used the Jaffa bodies to separate the team so they would not be able to tell that they were being poisoned. Meditating, Teal'c had finally realized that there was a lack of blood at the site and that the bodies must have been moved. Coupled with his own despair, he knew something had driven these Jaffa to kill themselves as it was driving him to desire the same. He knew he needed to call for a rescue team and had arrived just in time to assist Cam.

After reviewing the facts, Sam decided not to deem them hostile, it was apparent they simply wanted to be left alone, instead choosing to have their gate de-activated and the planet marked uninhabited with a star by the note.

That should keep most unwanted visitors out.

It had been three days since they arrived back at Stargate command, three long days spent in the infirmary flushing out their systems. Daniel, near suicide, was the worst, having consumed by far the most, and was released last from her care. He'd slept most of that, Adrienne refusing to leave his side even after she herself was released and Carolyn looked the other way just the night before when Adrienne crawled into the bed with him. He had been allowed to leave this morning, and wanting to finally address the group Sam had called a meeting in the briefing room to discuss what she had found. It was intriguing, the sample of Oklug that Moreed had generously given them, in exchange for his freedom and for immunity for his planet.

It was intriguing enough that she wanted to share with the group exactly what had happened to them.

As the team filed in silently, Daniel lagging behind, Sam couldn't help but notice that Adrienne didn't take her eyes off of him. Cameron had told her what happened, Daniel hadn't hurt her but tried, although Adrienne refused to give anyone specifics. The archaeologist took his seat, his assistant slipping in beside him, giving him a look that only someone in love could give. Trying not to stare Sam adjusted her notes, starting the presentation.

"It seems that the main ingredient in the Oklug is very similar to a class of stimulants that we know on Earth as Nootropics. In particular, they're very closely related to Isoflavones, which have been found to act as sort of a hormone in mammals. Rather than change our behavior, per se, it simply enhances feelings, usually ones that are more negative and self-destructive in nature. These feelings increased exponentially based on the amount of tea consumed and it affected us in the same order as she began to consume it. Adrienne was the first to feel the symptoms, being the first to drink the tea, and her symptoms started that very night when she claimed that Vala was snoring so loudly that she couldn't sleep."

"I don't snore," Vala glared over at Adrienne.

"No, Vala, you don't normally. That was key to Cam figuring out what was going on. He's been on dozens of missions with you and he remembered that you don't snore, especially not enough to wake Addy. That was the first moment that something was wrong, what Adrienne perceived as snoring was your breathing, enhanced due to the Oklug. Adrienne's the kind of person that picks up on small details, so the tea sent her senses into detail overload," Sam started to explain.

Adrienne shrugged sheepishly.

"That's true. I just notice things and pick up on sights and sounds that are out of place. I noticed how cold our room was and everything else was right away and then just started to pick the rest of the room apart bit by bit. And I had at least three cups of tea the first night," she conceded.

"Exactly! Then, when you went to room with the guys, you weren't as hyper vigilant. You work with Daniel every day, so there was nothing new to notice about him, it is just the same old Daniel," Sam paused and was pleased to see that Adrienne was looking at her but she couldn't help but think to herself that Adrienne had also crawled into bed with Daniel, smiling at the thought.

"Teal'c was next," Sam redirected her attention to her friend, "Again, Teal'c's episodes began after seeing the Jaffa bodies and how they had been mutilated. This lead him to an extreme desire to atone for their suffering or at least ponder what could be done. His rational mind, telling him that there were no Goa'uld to punish was completely overtaken by an urge to train and Kelnareen, mediating on a solution. That explains why he shut himself into the room for hours on end."

Teal'c had taken his actions to heart and he felt as if he abandoned the group; after what had happened to Vala, and almost happened to Adrienne, he was blaming himself for his inability to protect his team. He still wasn't looking at Sam. Trying to make it better, she continued to explain.

"Teal'c, without your symbiote, you are much more susceptible to the same things as we are. Tretonin keeps you alive, gives you strength, but this was essentially poison and no amount of strength or fortitude can fix that. But, you were strong enough to fight back and that led you and Cam to the gate," she added.

Without warning, Daniel got up and left the room.

Sam continued with her explanation to the rest of the group, cutting her eyes at Adrienne, urging her, hoping the cajun could read her mind.

It took only a few seconds before Adrienne was standing herself, slipping away from the meeting.

He had known.

He had known from the moment Adrienne had told him he was sick that it had been the tea, that he was essentially drugged.

That didn't matter.

What was bothering Daniel Jackson was that there was so much evil in him. Evil that made him forget his work, evil that made him want to harm himself, evil that made him almost harm another, someone that he loved so much. Knowing it was a mood enhancerconfirmed his fear; those feelings were not artificially implanted; he was broken and a danger to himself and others.

He knew they were released to go to their off base homes, those who had them anyway, but he went to his on base quarters to figure out what he needed to do and to avoid her. When he finally came to in the infirmary bed he discovered Adrienne lying next to him, her arm wrapped around his waist, an action that he couldn't understand. It was more than worrying about hiding their relationship from the powers that be, it was the mere fact that after he had hurt her so badly she still wanted to be with him.

He didn't understand.

Daniel entered the room and walked over to the bed, sitting down robotically, his head dropping down into his hands. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there when there was a tap at the door.

"Sha? Are you in there?" It was Adrienne, the last person he wanted to talk to and the last person he wanted to see.

How could she even talk to him after what had happened?

"Daniel, let me in. You changed your code, ok, I get that. But if you don't, Vala has already taught me how to pick a lock, so I'm just gonna come in anyway," she threatened gently. Knowing full well she would find a way in one way or the other, Daniel arose, walking over to the door and opening it, peering around the door jam.

"Can I come in? Please?" she asked, her face pressed into the small space he had created. Unable to say no to her, he stepped back, allowing her to pass. She turned and put her hand over his, shutting the door behind them, reaching back to slip her fingers into his belt loops, pulling him close.

"I don't think that's a good idea," he said flatly, pulling away.

"Now you're just being ridiculous," was her response, "Let's go back to my apartment. We can order in, watch a movie, play a game, do whatever you want."

Shaking his head, he made his way over to the bed, and sat down, keeping his gaze toward the ground. He could hear Adrienne pulling a chair from his desk, positioning it facing him, pulling his chin up so his eyes met hers, reaching to hold his face in her hands.

"Why are you here?" he told her, "what happened back there was part me. You heard Sam, it was enhancing our moods not creating them."

"Exactly Daniel! And it was our current mood. Me, Miss Picky just got even more picky, and you know how I get in new situations. That morphed into some kind of super senses and energy sensitivity. It's not like I walk around looking for problems….." Adrienne tried and failed to distract him with her own diagnosis, even opening herself up for some significant teasing.

He knew she was trailing off to gauge his reaction but he would give her none. He just didn't know what to say, he didn't want to lose her, the very thought of not having her was tearing him up inside, but he'd hurt her...

"Daniel, that very morning and the night before, you were just as frustrated as I was if not more. Hours and hours of work and nothing to show for it but supply lists and family lineage. Nothing to answer any questions, any of YOUR questions. You had to feel out of control. And, I haven't experienced a fraction of what you have on this team. You had to feel alone. Enhance that, times what two, three, FOUR cups of Oklug in less than a 24 hour period," Adrienne started to lay out what she remembered from Sam but he couldn't even look her in the eye.

He hadn't known that kind of savagery ever existed in him.

"Daniel Anthony," she said his name again, throwing in his middle name that he hated in for effect, "Are you hearing me? That was not you. You were desperate. Desperate for control in your life. I mean, think back, think about it. Of all of the things that you have to be frustrated about, you have got to feel a lack of control, a loss of power. Everything you said," she paused, "everything you did," he heard that word roll slowly off of her tongue," was a reaction to this feeling that you're not in control of your life."

Adrienne took a deep breath. "But you stopped. Even in that state, you snapped out of it and stopped. I think that says something about your character."

He had stopped. But why? He searched his cloudy memory of that night, trying to remember the exact moment that he had come back to himself somehow, the moment where he realized what he was doing to her. He had been angry, so very angry, needed to own something, control something, have power. He was ripping and pulling at the one person he loved the most, the sheer rage he felt at having to hide their relationship making him act like an animal.

And then he remembered her words.

He had promised to protect her...

A tear streaked down his cheek. In all of that, in everything, as he was about to make her worst nightmare become a reality, she told him she loved him as she begged for him to stop.

"Daniel, look at me, it's gonna be ok, I promise."

Reaching out for his chin, Adrienne brought it up a second time, meeting her gaze and it was then she saw something in him that she had never seen before, tears, real tears. His blue eyes glistened behind them, but he was clearly on the verge of crying and this wasn't like she had seen him before, doped and drugged into an emotional breakdown, he was just sitting here, with nothing unnatural to force this reaction.

"Sha, I told you, that wasn't you. You would never hurt me, I know you would never hurt me," she pleaded, leaning forward, reaching out for him, her fingers in his hair and her lips softly kissing his head.

"Ad, I, I can't let you, how can you, how could you, how can you be alright again, after, like you are, like you are now," he said as Adrienne watched a tear free itself from the corner of his eye and fall onto the floor. Terrified, she reached out again for him, crawling into the bed beside him. Sucking in, he curled into her arms, and she could feel more tears escape, dampening her shoulder.

"After what Daniel, that you can be alright after what?" Adrienne asked tenderly, bringing her hand behind his neck to comfort him, kissing his head softly.

After the tea? she thought, didn't he just hear Sam; they'd all been poisoned, of course everything was going to be alright after.

They were alright; that wasn't him, he wasn't a monster.

"I was raped," he admitted slowly from her chest as she held him.

The statement hit Adrienne like a train.

Raped?

By who?

When?

How?

She wanted to ask but just sat there, not moving, a million thoughts racing through her head.

That explained so much, so very much about the way he acted. Why he was so jumpy when it came to the topic of sex, why he was so concerned about Adrienne's own assault and helping her get over the trauma and fear, why he wouldn't watch certain shows or movies when they hung out, why he didn't seem to have a problem with the fact that Adrienne couldn't get past kissing when they were alone.

Why he would never forgive himself after this.

Daniel had been violated, violated just like her, but rather than harness some irrational fear of guns and doorways, he had been able to overcome everything and carry on until now, until this very moment as he was falling apart right here in front of her, until he had almost become the very monster he hated the most.

"It was Hathor," he continued, "she used her power on me and put me in this state where I did as she asked, almost in a robotic like trance, but I was trapped inside, watching everything happen and unable to stop it, screaming to get out but couldn't," he rambled, stammered like he did, trying not to cry. Her mouth gaping and eyes wide, Adrienne just sat back and let him talk, watching him struggle for breath as he wiped his face.

"She used me to impregnate her, to make more Goa'uld, and it worked. Jack and Teal'c had to kill the offspring, but it wasn't just that, she used me, she took her time, she enjoyed me, and I was just..." he started to tear up again and Adrienne reached out for him, pulling him into her arms, hugging him tightly once more, holding him as he held her, pulling his head to her chest, and wrapping her arms the best she could around his broad shoulders.

"I'm gonna sit on this bed and so are you. And you're gonna to sit here and cry if you need to and tell me whatever you feel that you can tell me or have to tell me and I'm gonna listen. I love you. I'm not gonna judge or think differently of you; I'm just going to be here if you need me, ok?" she said.

Daniel sat there for a long time, leaning against her shoulder and it felt to her as if he was doing as she had asked, sobbing lightly waiting to be able to speak. Breathing in, he started to lay down into her arms, like he had when he was sick, like he had when the night visitors came, letting it all come out emotionally for the first time. Adrienne backed up, not really expecting that reaction but she moved to let him lay down on the bed, curled slightly. He dropped to total silence, but Adrienne still didn't speak, she just laid down beside him and wrapped her arm around him, holding him close to her and kissing his head.

"Ad, we need to switch, you're by the door," he said over his shoulder, realizing where he was, lying with her in her position of fear.

"I'm safe with you," she responded without thinking.

"I'm glad you still feel that way," he answered quietly, trembling in her arms when she realized that he was back to beating himself up.

"I hope you know that you're safe right here," she added, squeezing him tighter, feeling him nod.

"I do," he whispered in response, those two words and nothing more.

"When did this happen?" Adrienne finally asked, hoping she didn't cross the line.

"A long time ago, a long long time ago. My first year with the program. I had forgotten it for a while, we were busy with other things, but lately, with things quiet, it's crept up again slowly," he explained.

Adrienne felt herself start to tear up, guilt washing over her.

"It's because of me," she stated, remembering how Vala and Carolyn talked about his nightmares stopping.

The only difference between then and now was Adrienne.

Adrienne, who just a few short months ago had told him of her own violation and who had gotten so intimately close to him.

Daniel paused, shaking his head and rolling over to face her.

"No, no it's not. This has been happening for a while, like the other nightmares. It comes and goes," he explained, taking a deep breath. He wanted to add that it was all so much better with Adrienne around, that since they had become so close, since they had gotten together, since he no longer slept alone. He knew now it was because he loved her, that his love for her was, at times it seemed, the only thing keeping him together.

"I'm broken. I'm so broken, I don't even know what I'm still doing here," he said, his voice cracking slightly.

"No you're not. Look how far you made it in spite of her, in spite of everything. But sometimes it's gonna catch up to you and when it does I'm here if you need me. Always," she whispered.

"Thanks," Daniel replied, clenching his face, and closing his eyes. He saw Hathor's face, close to his own, kissing down his neck and he felt his stomach churn. He tried to block out the memory, her words to him in Egyptian telling him what she planned on doing to him, what she had done to him, and he trembled. In his head he saw her reaching for his clothes when he felt an arm around his waist, almost making him jump, and he realized it was Adrienne, holding him like she did now, now that she was his, so tightly in her grasp.

"I'm glad she's dead. I'd have to go ape on that bitch for fucking with my man," he heard her whisper in the dark. He actually laughed lightly, reaching to wipe his face.

"She's gone Indy. It's just you and me. We've all learned a lot since, and that will never happen again. I promise. And I'm here to help you through this, whatever you need," she added, hugging him tighter.

"Ad," he choked out, trying to clear his throat of tears and sorrow.

"What sha?" she asked, pulling herself impossibly closer.

"I love you, so much," he whispered to her, starting to lose it again. He'd always been the one looking out for others but here she was, this perfect person for him, ready and willing to be there unconditionally.

"I love you too," she answered, her own tears no longer swells, escaping in long streaks down her cheek and he couldn't resist. Hoping she wouldn't shy away, he reached his palm to her cheek, drawing their lips together, pulling her into a tender kiss. She was sweet, like soda she'd been drinking at the briefing and she moved her mouth so slowly, so deliberately, so full of love. Lying there, in his bed, in his room, they kissed softly, before Adrienne pulled away, nuzzling him with her nose, pecking it lightly and gazing back into his eyes.

"No one blames you, I don't blame you and I don't want to lose you. Regardless of what you're thinking of yourself, in a complete state of despair, drugged with levels of poison beyond what any of the rest of us had in our systems, you were still able to do the right thing. That shows me who Daniel really is, who the man I fell in love with really is, " she whispered, wiping a tear from his face.

"I never meant to hurt you. Ever. Adrienne I love you more than I have ever loved someone before...if I'd hurt you..." Daniel started to ramble once more, but Adrienne leaned forward, shutting him up with another kiss, before reaching across him, clicking off the light. Curling her body around him, she reached back for his waist again, bringing their bodies close, drawing her lips to his. He let them kiss for a moment, longer than he should as he started to feel desire build up inside of him, something considering everything that he needed to control and he pulled away, sitting up from the bed.

"Let's go back to your place. We'll order in," he declared, taking a breath to compose himself.

"Sounds like a plan sha," Adrienne said with a smile, standing, walking to the door, pausing as she reached the knob.

"I'm gonna grab a few things, but I'll meet you there," she added, biting her lip for a spilt second, "Daniel?"

"Yeah," he answered, starting to pack his bag as well, planning to read once she fell asleep, which was inevitable.

"I meant it. I'm here, I was always here but now, well, anything, ever. Please don't be afraid to tell me."

He smiled, stopping what he was doing, tossing the bag aside, rushing to the door, pressing her against it, kissing her with abandon. She didn't even flinch or hesitate, wrapping her arms around his neck. He was laughing as he pulled away, happy.

_How did I get so lucky?_

"I'll be there in an hour or so," he said, pecking her nose lightly, stepping back to watch her leave.

Everyone has their limits, but what everyone doesn't have is someone standing at the edge to pull them back.

Daniel, however, finally did.


	33. Chapter 32 - Choices

_While this may seem like relationship sop there are some very important things that happen in this story for later on. _

_Enjoy! _

Cameron stuck his head into the lab, carefully holding onto the door jam just in case they were working on something important. Adrienne was in music mode, typing away at her machine, surrounded by her collection of composition books so Daniel, noticing their visitor, drew his weapon and fired.

He missed her head but she saw the dart fly by her nose.

Pulling her head phones down to her neck, Adrienne glared over at him, a scowl on her face.

"That's the last time I buy you a present," she declared, hunting around her desk for a Nerf dart she intended on keeping. Daniel had yet to upgrade to a clip, so unless he had figured out a way to pick the lock on her desk, he was going to run out of darts shortly. She found it, grabbing it quickly to add to her stash as the love of her life was laughing and shaking his head.

"You have a visitor Madonna," he said pointing to the doorway and Adrienne turned around to see Cam peeping over.

"Leaving at 7 correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, but Rodney said we needed to be there no later than 6:45 if we're choosing to use government resources for our own amusement," Adrienne shrugged, closing her desk drawer and securing the lock. She slid her left hand beside her carefully, giving Daniel the middle finger, hidden from Cam's view.

"I'll make it 6:30 then. Should I grab dinner at the mess?" Cameron continued, running through his head the list of things he needed to do before they left, including pack. He would rather not choke down greasy pizza from the cafeteria if he didn't need to, the

commissary's definition of "new healthy food" he had found was a very loose one.

Thankfully, Adrienne shook her head.

"I told Aunt Barb that we'll be there at 8 and our flight arrives at 7. Dinner starts at the precise moment we walk through the door," Adrienne started and shook her hand before Cameron could ask another question, "and be prepared. The later the meal, the greater the hot sauce," she smiled, reopening her desk drawer.

"I'll get some antacids from Carolyn," he joked, tapping the door and left. Adrienne turned to face Daniel, throwing the dart she had just retrieved from the drawer over, aiming for his head. Unfortunately, it just smacked his shoulder sideways and fell to the floor at his feet.

"Ya know, I'm a better person since I return your ammo," she said, "And thanks."

"For what?" Daniel replied confused, reaching down to collect his dart and return it to his shelf, noticing that there were only nine in his drawer. She must still have one.

He really needed to go to the toy store and get another package.

"You called me Madonna. The only thing that would have been better would have been to call me Shakira," she smiled, raising her eyebrows before returning to her original task.

"Like you need a bigger ego," Daniel responded, standing from his desk and walking over to file his work away. He glanced over at Adrienne curious about the exchange between her and their fellow teammate, not that their new relationship, meant that he needed to know everything about her and her activities outside of work.

"Dare I ask what you and Cam have planned that requires the use of government resources?" Daniel inquired, this being the first time he had heard of this little excursion, whatever it was. He shoved the file into the cabinet and closed it, turning to face her, leaning back against the closed drawer.

"Uh," Adrienne started, stammering over her words and looking nervous, "My cousin is getting married this weekend," she said quietly and Daniel made a face, confused.

"Your cousin Rae. This weekend?" he asked, hurt welling up inside.

He had volunteered to take her months ago.

Granted, it had been a gesture of good will then, but since he had just assumed that he would be her natural choice since, well, since they were together. He hadn't heard about the wedding from her in a while, and he had to admit that he was looking forward to being with her and meeting her family. Honestly, he was crushed, and apparently she could tell, letting out a sigh and standing, walking over to him.

"Indy, I'm sorry, I am. I just know how busy you are and Cam really wanted to see the Bayou," she started to explain, reaching her arms around his waist.

Adrienne felt horrible; she knew it would hurt his feelings, but she just couldn't let him...

She let out a sigh but Daniel was shaking his head, pulling away from her embrace.

"No, really, it's alright. I'm glad you're taking Cameron, he never seems to get to do anything like that; he's gotten to be as bad as I am about working," Daniel tried to cover what he was certain was an expression on his face that she could read.

She could read him better than anyone else had ever before.

Not wanting to upset her, he returned to his desk quickly as Adrienne let out another breath and glanced over, trying to judge him. He was emotionless, and she knew he was hurt but there was no way she could just show up with him in tow, because even if she tried to explain to Aunt Barbara what was going on, even if she told Daniel not to say a word, her Aunt was a smart woman and would see through the act.

And the wedding and children talk would begin...

Looking back at her screen, and trying to think of a way to make it up to him, Adrienne started to pull her headphones on when she felt a dart hit her face. She laughed, ripping them from her head, glaring over at Daniel.

"Bullseye," he said, smiling as Adrienne grabbed the dart from her desk. Playful was a good sign, if he was kidding around then he must understand. She opened her desk drawer again, dramatically holding up the arrow.

"I'm keeping this one. They fit my gun too you know," she joked, dropping the dart into the compartment, slamming it shut.

Daniel forced a smile, looking back at his screen, pleased his distraction had worked and trying not to think about the trip. She needs time, he told himself, you just have to give her some time.

Over the course of the rest of the day he watched Adrienne as she finished up her work for the week. He tried not to make it obvious that he was watching, but he was heartbroken. He knew the wedding was coming up, Adrienne had been pretty bummed about it for a while now, and he was hoping that it would be an excuse for them to go do something together without the rest of the group and not work related. Maybe it would even give them a chance to work on a few things, like how they were going to see one another without Adrienne losing her job, a chance to talk about the kinds of things that they had been avoiding. So, not only for her not to invite him, but to take Cameron, who didn't cease to comment incessantly about how attractive she was, was a double wound.

She was his girlfriend, wasn't she?

On the other hand, she didn't look too excited about the event in the least, so Daniel was secretly pleased, but then maybe she was taking Cam to make the trip better. He cleared his throat and pushed away the thought, forcing himself to think about work and not their relationship.

At five she shut her computer and stood up, beginning to stow everything away into her backpack. Daniel waited for her to say something to him, anything, but she just got herself ready, stuffing in her composition books, her headphones and doing so in complete silence. Diverting his eyes back to his own screen, he ignored her in return.

Adrienne felt horrible. She kept looking over at Daniel trying to gauge his reaction.

Was he upset?

She didn't want him to be upset, she just wanted...

What she wanted to do was throw up. She quickly packed her things and headed over to his desk where he was reading some book intently, tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey, I've gotta pack, so I'm heading out," she said and he glanced up at her, shrugging.

"Have fun. Bring me back something alligator," he requested, cheerfully, and Adrienne smiled, hoping that was a sign he wasn't torn up about it and leaned over, kissing his lips sweetly.

"I love you," she assured him, pulling away and nuzzling lightly at his ear, "Leave your phone on and I promise to send you a play by play of the insanity."

"I love you too," he answered, squeezing her hand quickly. She stalled for just a moment and pulled away from his grasp, returning to her desk to get her bag.

Letting out a quiet sigh, once she was safely out of sight, Daniel returned his attention to the book once again, trying to remember what he had been reading in the first place.

"Girl I was getting worried for a moment there," Cam said as Adrienne strode into the auxiliary bay, home to the Puddle Jumpers SG command had borrowed from Atlantis.

Glancing over at the ships, Adrienne thought it was a damn shame that it had been so long since she'd ridden in one, so long ago in fact it was before she and Daniel were friends, unless of course you counted the day that never ended. That was a nice puddle jumper memory, but they both seemed like an eternity ago, and her world now was such a different place since she was no longer just his assistant. She was his now, but in reality the only thing that had changed was that now she kissed him on the mouth instead of the cheek and told him that she loved him and vice versa. She hadn't told a soul what had happened, and life at the SGC just went on as normal, well, sort of normal.

She guessed kissing Daniel on a regular basis was probably not normal.

There was fussing ahead, familiar fussing, breaking her train of thought and a quick glance at her watch told her it was 6:47 p.m.

Rodney had already begun to rant.

"Dr. Rowan, I just don't understand how a simple thing like being on time is such a difficult concept for someone as intelligent as you're supposed to be," he scolded as she entered, large duffel over her shoulder.

"Sorry Rodney, sorry. It's not like I want to go to this thing anyway," Adrienne apologized, muttering a few things to herself, slowing down her stride to a crawl. Sensing the change in her mood, Cam walked over and put his arm around her.

"It'll be alright girl, trust me. We all have to survive our families," he whispered. Adrienne made a face at him, both of disbelief and warning, as they both stepped over to the area that Rodney had designated to be beamed to the ship, set up to look like a Star Trek transporter.

Of course he had, Adrienne thought to herself.

She gave Rodney the thumbs up and with a few clicks of his tablet, the two friends disappeared into space.

Daniel stood to lock up the lab; he hadn't really been honest with Adrienne; he had nothing to do this weekend. Looking over at the clock, he saw that it was 8 p.m. and thought to himself that Adrienne would be arriving at her aunt's house any moment now, with Cameron and her entire family to swoon all over her high ranking military date.

He understood that she had promised Cam, but he also thought that after everything he would be her default companion at things like this.

Fine, they weren't publicly together and he honestly wasn't sure if they could be without Adrienne losing her job; Woolsey was just too bitter of an individual for a transfer. He'd tried, his one conversation with Sam skirting the topic not going so well, but really, even being her best friend should have gotten him on that transport to Louisiana.

Shouldn't it?

Trying not to imagine the scenario, Cam bursting through the front door of the Verdin household all smiles, he walked over to the exit and shut off the lights, pulling the lab door behind him.

"No plans tonight?" he heard a voice behind him and turned to see Teyla, standing in the hallway dressed casually and alone. Daniel shook his head.

"No," he answered hoping she wouldn't hear the sadness in his voice but Teyla smiled gently as she did, that mothering look about her. There was no hiding anything from her; Sheppard had said as much himself for years.

"Where's Addy?" she asked and Daniel let out a breath.

Yeah, no hiding.

Off with Cameron, he thought to himself, parading him around the southern United States with pride.

Not with me.

Not where I want her to be.

Why didn't she take me?

He looked up to see Teyla had walked over to him, glancing up as if she was reading his mind and at that moment he was very glad that her understanding of people only went so far as to empathy.

"Hello, Daniel, where's Addy? Don't you two usually go to the movies on Fridays?" she asked, turning her head and waving in his face to get his attention. Daniel shook himself back to reality.

"She had to head to New Orleans, some things to take care of," he answered flatly and Teyla smiled again, accepting his answer.

"Well, John and Ronon have decided to start a ridiculous tournament in the gym. Would you care to join me?" she offered and extended her arm politely requesting escort. She was such a kind person and maybe watching John and Ronon act like idiots was exactly what he needed. Daniel breathed out a bit, but accepted her invitation, taking her arm and walking with her down the passageway.

"And then I pulled the son of a bitch up and boom, left him in the dust. Do not screw with a pilot from the US of A!" Cameron was finishing up his loud story of flying antics at the dinner table, a crowd formed around him.

Adrienne's uncle and some other more distant family members were laughing in approval as if they had any clue what it was to be a fighter pilot, but Cam didn't seem to care, just finished his hand motion, slamming his beer bottle onto the table. Given the cue, the younger of her cousins started right in asking questions about shooting down bad guys and horsepower. Rolling her eyes, Adrienne excused herself from the little party to go get herself a drink.

By the time she got to the fridge, she had decided to start right in with the moonshine, skipping the obligatory weaker beverages. Pulling a mason jar out of the fridge, the one stuffed with booze and peaches, she opened it up, giving it a sniff: strong and fruity.

It was just what she needed considering her evening thus far.

They had arrived a few minutes after seven, on time for once so Adrienne stalled. She insisted to Cam that in New Orleans it was rude to arrive anywhere on time, so they stopped at a 711 for some coffee. It was hot, even for nearly eight at night, so they stood outside, sipping cheap coffee with ice cubes and leaning against the rental car, allowing Adrienne time to properly prep her companion.

"Alright, there are a few things we need to go over first," she began and Cameron looked over at her funny.

"Shoot," he said, taking a sip cautiously as he frowned at both her and his beverage. He knew Addy pretty well and he didn't like the look on her face right now; he was even starting to wonder if there was going to be truth to these family horror stories.

"One, the food. Like I warned you, it'll be spicy and may contain parts of animals you wouldn't normally eat. Inform them you are a runner like me and that will get you out of most of the stranger food items," Adrienne began and Cam couldn't help but chuckle at both the warning and the dead serious look on her face.

Clearly, she was blowing this all out of proportion, especially if food spiciness was a genuine concern.

"I have a feeling there's more. Continue..." he declared, smiling brightly and even Adrienne laughed this time.

"Two, they talk funny. Really funny. Imagine every time I've ever cussed out Daniel and kick it up a few notches. If you don't get what they're saying just laugh because chances are it was meant to be funny anyway," she continued as requested.

Cameron shook his head; that was gonna be a hoot. He loved when Addy let loose on Daniel; it was like watching an episode of Swamp People Live.

'Three?" he asked, wondering what else she could possibly be concerned with and Adrienne nodded, sighing heavily as she looked down at her coffee, the humor leaving her face.

"Their number one goal in life is to marry me off. Sooner than later. They'll assume not only that are you my boyfriend but that our wedding is next," she answered honestly, and the words pained her for more reasons than he could know.

Daniel should be here, she cursed herself, why couldn't you just have been brave enough?

Noticing her change in demeanor, Cam stopped laughing and looked over at her with sincerity in his glance.

"And the best response to that one?" he asked and Adrienne shrugged.

"I got nothing; just don't make them think they're right," she answered, her insides aching for Daniel, longing for his embrace right now. Forcing herself to not think about him, just for one evening, Adrienne reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone to check the time, peeking back up at Cameron, before crunching the coffee cup in her hands.

"Time to go mon ami," she announced, tossing the cup into the nearby trashcan before opening the car door.

That was how her evening started, with her warnings.

That was exactly how it shaped up to be.

"I luv 'em Addy! Gar ici, if you don't marry dat man I am sho one of yo' cousins will!" Aunt Barbara declared as she entered the kitchen, an armful of dirty dishes in her hands, walking them over to the sink. Adrienne rushed over to help, but was shooed away, so she just returned to the fridge and closed the door.

Aunt Barbara had been gushing over Cameron since they arrived, just as Adrienne feared: he was tall, he was handsome, he was a pilot, he was a Colonel. And of course, in true Cameron fashion, he had about a thousand stories to tell and was happy to share them all.

The Rowan/Verdin family was in love.

Trying to ignore the fact that the word 'marry' had already come from her beloved aunt, Adrienne excused herself past the woman to reach over into the kitchen cabinet and grab herself a juice glass. Aunt Barbara thought that good 'God-fearin' women didn't keep shot glasses or liquor in the house.

Apparently, Uncle Buddy's shine didn't count as liquor and a juice glass was better than one made for only taking shots.

Thankful that the jar was nearly full, as she was going to need it, Adrienne opening the top, setting the lid aside on the counter.

"Addy, donna be hont," her aunt continued, "ee's a gud mahn." Adrienne just poured the strong clear liquor into her glass letting Barbara continue to gush.

"Aunt Barbara, he is NOT my boyfriend, he's just a good friend. I told you, I'm not seeing anyone, I don't have time for a relationship," she lied, putting the lid back on the jar.

_Oh except for that fact that I'm in love with my boss, and he's in love with me, so I do have a boyfriend, but let's not talk about that now. You'd love him; he's a complete dork just like me, no fancy fighter pilot stories but he looks hot with a gun. _

Daniel on her mind again, along with Aunt Barbara's two cents, Adrienne chose not to return the moonshine to the fridge as dear Aunt Barbara was shaking her head with concern.

"Addy, don't ya go makin a bahbin. I promised ya fadder that I wud look after ya. I know ya think ya so smart, so indeependent, but erebudy needs somewun," Barbara pleaded. but Adrienne just brought the glass to her lips and sipped, not answering.

This was all going exactly as she had predicted.

Shaking her head, knowing that Adrienne would never listen to her, Barbara sighed and left the kitchen, deciding not to bring up Adrienne's large glass of shine. Adrienne made sure she was gone and slammed the rest of the moonshine from her juice glass down her throat, turning to open the jar again. She heard someone opening the door, beginning to mentally prepare herself for another lecture from her aunt when she saw that it was Cam who had entered, thankfully.

Frowning, he pointed at the jar.

"I really don't think they're so bad as to turn to the corn liquor after only a few hours," he joked. Scoffing, Adrienne turned around to procure another juice glass, stacking hers into it, grabbing the moonshine jar and heading for the back door. She paused only to glance back over her shoulder.

"Come on, I want company in my bahbin," she said, her accent exaggerated and thickest at the last word. Cameron smiled at the invitation, but was a bit lost at the end.

"Bahbin?" he questioned, as he followed her out.

"Pouting," she clarified, pushing the screen door open and heading out the back.

When Teyla had said competition, Daniel was thinking sparring because for a while there, there had been an organized little match-up, one in which he remembered Adrienne bruising her back pretty bad.

Daniel had joked maybe it knocked the magnets out of her spine but Adrienne didn't find that very funny.

Instead of fighting, however, what his Atlantis based friends had in mind was a video game competition. John had set up a large screen in the area where they sparred and he, Ronon, Rodney and Carson were hollering at the screen, little black ops soldiers fighting off hordes of blood thirsty zombies. Except for the fact that video games bored her, Daniel's first thought was how much Adrienne would enjoy watching this and began to wonder what she was doing at that very instant.

What did her family do for fun?

A thought of her dancing close to Cam popped into his mind, causing his stomach to clench and worry to flood his thoughts.

"Stop it," he said aloud. Teyla, who was sitting beside him on the gym flooring, looking equally as bored, glanced over, that concerned look on her face yet again.

"Stop what?" she inquired, looking confused. Stop thinking about Adrienne, Daniel thought to himself, it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't mean that she loves you any less. Glancing over at Teyla, Daniel shook his hand in front of his face, clearing his thoughts and hers.

"Oh nothing, it just looked like John was going to get his person killed, but that just goes to show how little I know about video games," he covered quickly and, thankfully, Teyla smiled, at his comment rather than see the lie behind it.

"I understand. I have no idea what is going on either, but since Torrin is out playing tonight with some other children from the base, I am enjoying just sitting here being confused," she answered. So that's where the little guy was, Daniel noted silently, glad she had been able to find him some friends among the children of the other SG members.

"How's he doing?" he asked, pleased for a chance to change the subject and his train of thought. Teyla shrugged, a tinge of uncertainty in her gaze.

"Well. He is starting to ask questions about things, home, his father. I try the best I can," she replied. Daniel nodded his head, not in sympathy but empathy. It was not a position he would want to be in; he couldn't imagine being a parent, let alone one that would have to explain so much.

"That must be hard," he said, not knowing what else to offer. Advice on this matter was something he certainly didn't have.

"It is, at times, but he is a strong boy. He will survive," she answered, looking back at the game.

So much for a subject change, Daniel thought, seeing the end of the conversation.

Leaning back on his hands as he sat on the gym floor, he looked back at his entertainment for evening, trying not to let the crazy images on the screen remind him of the one person he wanted to be spending his Friday night with, the one person that wasn't there.

"Girl, don't you think you need to slow down. We do have a wedding to go to tomorrow," Cam warned Adrienne as he watched her pour yet another juice glass of peach moonshine, of what number he had lost count. She shook her head and slammed the glass to her lips, downing the shot and setting the tumbler beside her. Sitting back on the old wooden bench in Aunt Barbara's side yard, she wiped a stray bit of alcohol from her lips and gazed back out into the overgrown swamp woods of the Bayou.

"Cam, I've been drinkin' moonshine since I was fifteen ok? And the wedding is at 4. Plenty of recovery time. Wouldn't be so bad if I forgot it anyway," she replied, sitting up yet again, pouring more and throwing back the liquid. Cameron sighed and just refilled his glass, thankful at the very least that she wasn't filling her cup since it didn't look like she had any intention of slowing down. He closed the lid on the jar and looked over at Adrienne before drinking himself.

"Can I ask why they affect you like this?" he asked, unsure as to why she was drinking so much. Sure, they were a little country, but her family had been nothing but pleasant with him and they seemed to be a very loving and caring group.

Adrienne just shrugged.

"I love them, I do, but I don't fit in their little world. They have the best of intentions, the best, just not for me. The wedding will be fine and I'm happy that Rae's happy, but the reception. I just can't sit around and listen to them tell me my life clock is ticking away or something," Adrienne answered as she played with the glass in her hand. Cameron nodded his head in understanding, noting that they had seemed quite excited that she had brought a male companion and were very interested in the details of their personal relationship.

"That's just what they do here, but they are trying to show you that they love you, that's all. They worry about you because they love you," Cameron replied, reaching to put his arm around her but she shrugged away quickly, and he pulled back looking confused.

"Addy, I'm not trying anything; I was just trying to be nice," he said as he placed his arm back at his side, "Besides, maybe they'll think there is something going on between us enough to lay off of you for a bit." Eyes wide, Adrienne whipped around, glaring at him, a shocked expression on her face.

"Oh no, we can't do that!" she said quickly, too quickly, too insistent and Cameron laughed at her, wondering what brought on that reaction.

"Why not? I think it's a great idea, I mean, you don't talk to your family much anyway, so just enough to survive the weekend. You and Jackson do that shit all of the time to mess with Vala. So we can't for some reason, for a REAL reason?" Cameron added but Adrienne looked up at the sky and didn't answer, she didn't want to answer.

Of course she did that with Daniel, at first for fun, but now, well, now she guessed she wouldn't be playing anymore...

Puzzled by her silence, expecting a loud, inebriated foul-mouthed defense and not getting one, Cameron turned his head, looking at Adrienne's face, watching redness form in her cheeks. She was blushing; she was blushing over mentioning her and Daniel, together.

That couldn't mean...could it?

"No way... there's no way you two actually..." he said and sat back a bit looking at Adrienne, "Look, you guys are flirty I know, he has become a real flirt for such a dork, but you have got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed. Sure, it was very obvious that Daniel had a thing for Adrienne and she and he were very close, but nothing had come of any of that and they seemed to have cooled it down considerably, enough where Cameron wasn't so certain of his assertion to Jack about the two of them being in love. Still, Adrienne didn't answer, just reached between them and grabbed the jar of moonshine, unscrewing the top once more. Pouring herself another glass, she reached in, securing a peach and plopping it into her glass, maintaining her silence.

"You're not kidding are you?" Cameron asked as Adrienne began to sip more moonshine. Unable to believe what was happening, what she was admitting by her silence here on a worn wooden bench in the middle of Louisiana, Cam just shook his head. He knew Addy and he knew her well and that look on her face, the way she was so insistent that no one think they were together, the way she had been acting lately.

They did it, they really did it.

Daniel and Adrienne WERE Daniel AND Adrienne.

"No shit," Cameron said aloud, sitting back and drinking his peach nectar.

"I know right," was all the admission she was going to give him. She didn't quite know how to interpret Cam's reaction, Daniel did always say that Cam had a thing for her but she knew better, if anything he treated her like his kid sister, like someone he needed to look out for. Her biggest fear with Cam was if Daniel were to do something stupid that her running buddy might box his ears.

His face still in shock, Cameron reached over and opened the jar of liquor once more, pouring himself a second glass. He screwed the cap back on and leaned back, yet again, taking a long swig.

"When?" Cameron asked, his inquiry growing more personal, he could tell, as she looked down at the trodden grass, rolling her empty cup in her hands.

"When what?" she clarified, peering up at him.

"Did you two...?" he continued, leading her for an answer, the look on his face making it perfectly clear what he was asking. Choking, even more embarrassment rushing to her cheeks, Adrienne spit out a little of the moonshine she was drinking, shaking her head as she tried to swallow the rest.

"No, no. No. Not even once. No, well, not that, but we are, ugh," she said, stammering, not sure how to answer, trying to make it clear to Cam that she was not the kind of person that was just going to hop into bed with someone even if she could. He stared at her puzzled for moment and spoke again without thinking.

"Why not?" he just kept up his inquiry, baffled that nothing had happened between them, hell, they might as well move in together for the amount that they were actually apart.

Furious, Adrienne stood, staring him down.

"What is this? The Spanish inquisition? I need a reason or something not to be sleeping with Daniel? Ok, let's give you about fifteen. One, he's my boss. Two, he's a fellow team member. Three, I like my job. Four, the redneck brigade inside. Five, I will NOT become somebodies little woman. Six, he's WAY older than me. Seven, he's got WAY more baggage than a man should have. - "Adrienne began to list when Cameron held up his hand, shaking it and laughing at her.

"Wait, wait, wait, THOSE are your reasons? Those? So what he's older. The baggage, christ girl we all have baggage; I'm beginning to think it is a pre-req for the job. And becoming "the little woman?" Addy, you're starting to sound like your family. Ok, I get the work thing, I get it, but Sam and Jack make it work and maybe they'd look the other way...," Cam offered, taking another drink, his tone not supporting his words. Plopping back down on the bench beside him, Adrienne dropped her head into her hands, letting out a long and mournful sigh.

"And that's the kicker. Everything else aside, you don't date your teammates. You don't date your boss," Adrienne admitted, the other reason that rather than taking the physical part slow that she was afraid of. So what if they could finally be intimate, so what if Daniel was the one man who could fix her and take away all of her pain? The minute Woolsey or any other of those IOA desk jockeys got wind that Daniel Jackson was bedding his assistant, her job would be history, as would her friends, her home, and her life. That was part of the distance, she knew, but there wasn't anything she could do about it, so for now, loving him and being able to kiss him lightly while they watched a movie was going to have to be enough. Lifting her head from her hands, Adrienne reached over for her glass, but Cam saw and anticipated her next move, stealing away the jar of moonshine.

"No more; I don't do puking," Cameron joked and that seemed to lighten her up just the tiniest bit.

"I don't puke," Adrienne retorted, a smile creeping across her face.

"That's what everyone says," he responded and continued, feeling the need to figure out what was going on with his friend, a person he had grown to think of as family.

"So what are you guys then?"

Adrienne threw up her hands, that smile gone as quickly as it appeared.

"Together, only when no one else is around, dammit, I have no fuckin' idea," she replied, "it's complicated. I do but I don't and I can't and...UGH..."

"Are you listening to yourself Addy? You've completely flipped, over Daniel! I honestly can't believe that we're having this conversation. Alright fine, you guys are in nerd love limbo, that's great, but why aren't you two trying to figure this out? Trying to analyze it like you do everything else? Wait, don't answer that, because I'm actually kinda scared that you already have, more so than the bullshit excuses that you just gave me. Ok, than explain to me this one, why am I here?" Cameron demanded, his tone harsh, feeling used.

Was she doing this as some little love ploy?

To make him jealous?

"I needed a date to the wedding," she replied simply.

"Uh huh, and if Jackson's the love of your god damn life why not just bring him? Sit in the back and do that little code speak you two do?" Cameron retorted and Adrienne looked away, angry herself.

"Don't answer, you don't need to. I can think of at least two reasons right away. First, you're afraid of what he'll think. Afraid of his opinion of you changing if this is your family. Second, they would see right through you. You knew your aunt's was gonna play matchmaker, and that terrifies you. Dammit girl I don't know what's worse, the fact that you think or that he might think less of you comin' from country folk or the fact that you are so damn scared of being happy that you'd go through this entire fiasco with me. And if he really loves you, which I am pretty damn sure he does, think about how this is making him feel right now," Cam spat, his words coming out harsher than he intended. He didn't mean to hurt her, he just meant to talk some sense in to her, but as Adrienne looked back, the look in her eyes indicating that hurt was exactly what he did.

"You finished?" she asked, that smile from before having changed into a menacing scowl. Cam couldn't tell if she was pissed off or on the verge of tears and Adrienne wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing which. Reaching out again for his friend, he placed his hand gently over hers.

"Addy, he loves you, he truly loves you. I wouldn't kid about something like that. Daniel will never hurt you, at least intentionally. And I won't say a word," Cameron explained. Adrienne pulled her hand away and stood once more, grabbing the jar of moonshine and sealing it tight, her eyes still viciously cutting back down at Cam.

"I'm heading to bed. See you at breakfast," she responded cooly, heading back to the house. Deciding that he had said enough, Cam remained silent and watched her walk away.

"That damn lucky bastard," Cameron said and looked back out into the jungle. He just hoped Jackson realized how lucky he was.

John was jumping from his chair, pointing his finger into Rodney's face and bragging, loudly, about some level up and new weapon he had acquired when Daniel decided it was time to leave. Between the constant visual reminder of Adrienne on the screen and the incessant whining coming from Rodney, who apparently was terrible at video games, Daniel had had just about enough excitement. What surprised him, though, was that Teyla got up when he did.

"Teyla, where are you going?" John asked, noticing her stand as well out of the corner of his eye as Rodney sat back down in the chair, still demanding a redo.

"To bed. I have no child tonight and I do not desire to sit and watch older children any longer," she stated simply, smiling as she did. John looked at Daniel, who had already started to speak, making his own excuses.

"I am too. Quiet night, I might as well take advantage of it," Daniel said, hoping that would be enough of an excuse.

"Suit yourselves, but you are missing the most epic ass whipping of Rodney in the history of video games," John replied.

Shaking her head, Teyla laughed and waved goodbye, exiting the gym behind Daniel, who couldn't get out of their fast enough, even though he knew he was just going to go back to his room and obsess.

Maybe this was all a bad idea, maybe this is what Adrienne was worried about; he could barely function for thinking about her so much.

Hands in pockets, Daniel trudged toward the elevator, hearing light footsteps coming from behind him. Pausing he turned to see Teyla trying to catch up to him, still shaking her head as she ran.

"There are many things about this planet I like, but that is something I just do not understand," she said and Daniel laughed, nodding his head in agreement.

"Me neither; I just humor them and make them think I know what they're talking about. But I'm pretty sure they see right through me," he answered, a smile finally creeping across his face. Teyla was so kind, and insane video games or not, this was a pleasant distraction. Holding out his hand in front, indicating that she should proceed, they continued to walk down the hall and toward the elevators.

"So is everything alright in New Orleans?" Teyla asked the question he had been hoping he wouldn't get. Daniel breathed out a bit, trying not to show what he was really feeling. Watching his friends from Atlantis act like idiots for a few hours had almost taken his mind of Adrienne completely, almost.

It had worked when he wasn't thinking about zombies, which led to those stupid comics, which led to Adrienne.

Damn distracting Adrienne.

"Yeah, it's fine. Her cousin's getting married, that's all," Daniel replied, shoving his hands again into his pockets as he strode forward. Surprised, Teyla pulled her head back and frowned.

"She didn't ask you to go with her? I thought here it was customary to bring a guest with you to such ceremonies?" she questioned. Not slowing down for a moment, Daniel shook his head, dreading the answer that he was going to have to give.

"It is; Cam went with her," he answered plainly. Letting her shoulders slump, her face matching her body's reaction, Teyla looked at him, concern in her eyes.

"How does that make you feel?" she asked, stopping in the hallway and grabbing his arm. Forced to a halt, Daniel peered down his glasses at her, unsure as what exactly he should say. Like shit, was what he was thinking, but he hadn't told a soul about what had happened in her room a few weeks ago, what had been happening since, and he was certain that Adrienne hadn't.

"It's just a wedding and they'll be back Sunday. She probably took Cameron because he is the closest thing to a redneck friend she has, and she's always telling us how redneck her family is," Daniel repeated out loud the reason he had been giving himself in his head, and Teyla squeezed his arm, as if she knew, as if she understood...

"Daniel, I am sure she had a good reason for not taking you. A good reason. Don't let that change how you feel about her," Teyla advised and stepped away, approaching the elevators, lightly pushing the button to go up.

He froze, not knowing at first what to say. Sure, it was a base rumor that they were sleeping together, and yes, Vala had pretty much seen through both of them, but the Athosian woman standing in front of him knew; she understood. He knew what he should do, ignore her statement and not risk anything, his job, this fledgling relationship with Adrienne, but his curious nature wouldn't let him.

"How did you know?" he asked in amazement before he could stop himself, but she was already grinning at the word how.

"That you love her or that she loves you? Or that you are together now, or at least trying? Daniel, you have the same look in your eyes when you look upon Adrienne that I used to see in Kanaan. That you were together, your distress would be uncertainty were you not," she answered simply.

Daniel didn't say a word as the elevator doors opened, just followed behind trying not to let his mind linger on her words or the distress that she spoke of weighing down his heart. Picking his index fingernail with his thumb, his hands still stuffed inside his pockets, he waited for the elevators doors to close before he looked over at her.

"I'm a little disappointed," he said quietly and again, Teyla smiled softly, one of comfort and caring.

"Don't be. I'm sure she had her reasons. I have noticed that this world is not as family oriented as I am used to. She probably didn't feel the need to introduce you to her family just yet. Perhaps things need to be, what is the word you use, serious before she introduces you to her clan," Teyla replied but Daniel shook his head, missing the last comment completely.

"That's really an American thing, lots of other cultures keep their families much closer. Adrienne was close to her father but she just feels like the rest of her family is..." he trailed off a bit, a light bulb going off in his head.

Adrienne didn't want him to see her family.

She must not have cared what Cameron saw, of any of the other team members she and Cam seemed to share the most when it came to upbringing, but she did care about what he saw; she cared, and she was embarrassed. She must have thought that meeting her family would change his opinion of her and in that instant of realization he felt like a complete idiot.

She was trying to not scare him away.

And with what she had said of her aunt, the woman would have planned a wedding ceremony for the two of them before dinner and Adrienne of all people...

_I'm an ass..._

"Are you alright Daniel?" Teyla asked, noticing her friend staring off into space. Breaking the trance, that sickness in his stomach that he had all night lifting, he nodded his head emphatically.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Really," he answered, smiling a bit. Teyla looked pleased at his change in demeanor and said no more, glancing up, watching the floors change.

Cam heard a knock at the door.

"Almost ready!" he shouted yet he saw the knob turn and the door open and there was Adrienne, wearing blue jeans and a peach colored blouse with sandals, scanning him from head to toe. Cam looked at her strangely, trying to figure out why she wasn't dressed yet when she started to giggle, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Cam, shug, I forgot to mention," she said as she laughed a bit more, "this is a Bayou wedding. Outside, no church, jazz band and preacher. You should wear jeans."

Glaring at her in frustration, Cameron was standing in front of her in a very nice light gray suit with a greenish shirt, a look of disappointment in his face. He'd carefully picked this out before they left not only because he wanted to look nice for his friend's family, but because he really never got a chance to dress up and not in Air Force dress.

"Really? Jeans? Even in the midwest we wore a suit," Cameron said, but had started to reluctantly remove his jacket. A playful look of her face, Adrienne walked pass, squeezing his arm apologetically, sat on the bed where his suitcase was sitting opening, the clothes neatly folded inside.

"This is New Orleans mon ami. Our funerals are parties," Adrienne added, reaching into Cam's suitcase and grabbing some jeans.

"Hey," she shouted and he turned, just in time to catch the blue jeans, "leave the shirt on just switch to these jeans. That color looks nice on you." Cameron turned his back to her and began to switch, pleased that at least she had appreciated his effort.

"Anything else you need to warn me about?" he asked over his shoulder, beginning to make the change. Adrienne lay back on the bed, trying to allow him some privacy and gazed at the ceiling, thinking, when suddenly she sat up, snapping her fingers.

"Aunt Edna might speak in tongues. Don't be alarmed. If she does, everyone will gather like she is foretelling prophecy or something," Adrienne said from the bed. Not quite sure if she was kidding or not, but thinking she was, Cam erupted into laughter as he zipped up his jeans, reaching onto the floor to pick up the suit pants. He turned around to secure tennis shoes, slightly worried as she remained silent lying on his bed.

"And you're not laughing, so that must be true..." he said.

"Yep, but they don't do snakes. No worries about that," she answered flatly.

"You do realize Daniel would run for the hills," he teased her, knowing that he wouldn't, but that his old friend might be tempted to visit these "swamp people" for further study which would embarrass Adrienne more than just not liking them.

"Which is why you are here my darling," she said and stood seeing that he was dressed, sliding her arm through his, "Let's go watch some rednecks get hitched."

Together, and much more at ease than last night, they made their way to the ceremony.

Sam walked into her office to see Daniel sitting at her desk, drawing something onto a legal pad. She made a face as she walked behind him, curious, peering over his shoulder to discover that he was drawing a cartouche of some sort down the center of the yellow paper.

"What are you doing Daniel?" Sam asked, puzzled as to why he was sitting in her office doodling at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning and why he was drawing cartouches but he just held up his finger to shush her and kept drawing.

Thoroughly confused, Sam sat down on the corner of her desk beside where he was intently working, his glasses falling down his nose and his face held close to the paper. Carefully filling in the bottom of the final ring, Daniel sat back in her chair looking up and smiling, holding the legal pad up into the air.

"It says O'Neill," he said as he handed it over to her.

"Okay," she started, "Why are we drawing my surname in hieroglyphics on a legal pad?"

And why are you acting so weird? she wanted to ask but refrained.

"Oh no reason, I was just waiting for you to get back that's all," Daniel answered and stood from the chair directing her to sit. She waved her hand at him that everything was alright and she was fine leaning against the desk and he sat down on the desk beside her but didn't say a word.

"Did you need something?" she asked. Daniel shook his head.

"Not really, I just needed to go over something with Adrienne before I kept working in the database and SG-8 is not due back for at least twelve hours with those photos I wanted so I'm just trying to occupy myself till then," he answered, "so I was hoping you needed something done because I am at a bit of an impasse..."

Sam laughed. She had expected as much and was honestly quiet shocked that Adrienne didn't take Daniel to the wedding. She knew that her friend was still trying to hide everything from him and Sam was just dumbfounded as to how Daniel had been completely unable to figure it out, unless, of course, he loved her too, in which case he would be playing his own game.

How she just wanted to ask him outright...

"When does Addy get back?" Sam asked instead, receiving the face from her friend she had expected and even a slight eye roll. She just chuckled again at the reaction.

"Don't play me; you miss your little partner in crime. Typically, one of the two of you would be waking up at the other's apartment right about now and be planning some more craziness," Sam joked and Daniel rolled his eyes completely this time.

'We're not that bad," he defended but Sam stood, grinning like a Cheshire cat as she walked over to the cabinets on the side, opening the top drawer carefully and glancing back at him.

_It's ok if I push it a little, isn't it?_

"Yes you are," she said, "but it's cute. You guys are cute together." Daniel stood again.

"We are not together," he said, "Why does everyone think that?"

Because you're a dumbass, he thought, you have been for a while it just took the two of us forever to say anything. Are we really that transparent? But wait, Sam wasn't really keen on it before, why does she seem to be alright with it now?

"Because it's quite obvious Daniel, come on, you're sitting in my office on a Saturday morning when I know that you could very easily find something do to if you wanted to, but you must not be able to focus and the one reason that you're not able to focus is because Adrienne is in New Orleans with Cameron and not you," Sam stated, as she dug into the file cabinet.

Although she had not said a word to anyone since that night at her house, not even to Jack, who had his own ideas about what was going on between the two of them, she had kept her eyes open. She had noticed things, on both of their parts and his attitude right now was just confirming what she suspected.

Adrienne was more obvious, mostly because Sam knew, Sam had heard her say it, but she had started to notice Daniel too, how he and Adrienne had grown closer and closer. Then there was his visit last week, where he had made a casual comment about Rodney and Jennifer and how well they were working out much to his surprise. As much as she hated to do it, she had reminded him that they worked in separate departments, on separate floors, and that they had concealed the extent of their relationship when Atlantis was still in the Pegasus galaxy. Needless to say, Daniel hadn't taken that well, but as much as she wanted him to be happy, she couldn't lie to him.

If he and Adrienne were together they would have to keep it quiet for as long as possible because Sam really didn't know how much power she would have to stop Woolsey and the others from stepping in.

Yet her personal curiosity was killing her, she wanted him to just tell her, one way or the other, so she stood there, awaiting a response.

"She took Cameron because she thinks for some reason I can't handle her family. Forget I've traveled the entire damn galaxy and half of the Pegasus and seen all sorts of people but for some reason I can't handle some folks from New Orleans," he explained without admitting anything about their relationship, irritation in his voice. At least I'm hoping that's the truth, he thought, because it's about the only thing keeping me from going insane right about now but Sam started to laugh the moment he finished.

"So, we're not bored or missing her, we're offended," she stated, trying to cover her face and contain her laughter.

Not amused, Daniel picked up the legal pad, glaring, and walked it over to her.

"This took me twenty minutes so I hope you appreciate it," he spat, handing it to her and unable to hold it back, Sam erupted into riotous laughter as her friend stormed out of her office.

"That man is carrying a gun," Cam whispered to Adrienne as quietly as he could as if he was afraid the man might use it. Seriousness in her face, she nodded.

"Yeah, he's the best man," she replied, "they usually have a gun and shoot it after the 'I do'." She squeezed his leg before he could comment, "That's Rowan family tradition, well Verdin family tradition, not a Bayou thing, more of a 'I came from redneck hell' thing."

"I really wish I could see Jackson's reaction to all of this," he teased her and she pinched his leg, but he wasn't totally kidding; it would be interesting to see Daniel's reaction to all of this.

The ceremony itself wasn't that eventful, for a Bayou wedding. Cameron noted that the groom was wearing what looked like some odd combination of hunting gear and cowboy attire, clean and new, but definitely not a suit. As he had pointed out, the best man held a rather large shotgun and himself was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt. Cam scanned the other guests of the wedding it seemed that he and Adrienne were overdressed even in jeans and dress shirts, all except for Aunt Barbara, who was wearing a lovely yellow sundress.

The music began, a nice light jazz and Rae processed in wearing a simple white sleeveless dress. A thought popping into his head, Cam leaned over to Adrienne again as Rae came down the aisle.

"Where's Aunt Edna?" he asked and Adrienne giggled, pointing over a few rows ahead to a small old woman.

Cameron nodded, making sure to watch her for any outbursts fueled by the Lord.

Peeking up he could see Rae had made it to the altar, the preacher beginning the service, a rather robust holy man with an accent that made Adrienne angry sound like perfect English. He called everyone to order, at least that is what Cam thought he was saying, and asked the crowd to stand to sing a hymn so Adrienne dragged Cam up to his feet and he mouthed along like he knew the words while Adrienne sang in that beautiful voice of hers. He wasn't interested in Addy in that way anymore, like he had been a little bit in the beginning, he thought of her like the sister he never had, but listening to her sing he felt his heart heavy, hoping that Daniel wouldn't screw this up.

She deserved so much more than him jerking her around.

He was mid thought when there was tugging at his wrist, Adrienne pulling him down, the song over and the preacher starting the sermon.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It is not boastful and it does not..." he started, the typical Corinthians wedding sermon, just delivered in that thick Bayou speak. Cameron had started to lean back to Adrienne to make a comment about that very accent when he saw it, a tear streaking down her cheek that she was reaching quickly to wipe away.

"Girl, you alright?" he asked and Adrienne just nodded, sniffing in a bit. It wasn't like Adrienne to cry, but Cam knew what this was about. Reaching over, he took her hand into his own, squeezing it tightly.

"See Addy, being happy's not so bad," he whispered, and held fast to her hand, turning back to watch the ceremony.

Daniel tried to take a nap but couldn't. He tossed and turned in the bed, trying to get comfortable, trying to stop thinking about her, until he finally sat up and opened his nightstand drawer. Inside was the journal Adrienne had placed in his dresser, he had found it a while ago and moved it here, the one from Abydoys.

He opened it and started thumbing through the pages slowly, before slamming the book shut, letting his head fall into his hands.

"Adrienne I can't do this," he said out loud and looked up again reaching for his phone.

There was not one text and she'd promised a text but had sent nothing.

Feeling alone and forgotten, Daniel laid back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling.

Once they were pronounced man and wife, Aunt Barbara stepped up to announce the reception would be at the Elk's Lodge in a few hours and for everyone to get changed for the party and come on over. Leaping up, Adrienne grabbed Cameron's hand, pulling him to his feet and ahead of the crowd.

"We've got some time to run to town; I completely forgot!" she exclaimed, reaching into the pocket of her jeans, beginning to type frantically.

Daniel had finally fallen asleep when he felt buzzing in his hand. He opened his eyes slowly and saw that he had fallen asleep holding his phone, which was currently glowing with a message.

A text message.

_Sadly, no speaking in tongues and no brawlin'. It was boring, we would have had no fun :(_

_What kinda gator? _

He sat up fast, recognizing the number. It was from Adrienne and his heart racing like he was fifteen years old. Overjoyed, he quickly typed back his response.

_So sad; I was expecting something good. _

_Surprise me..._

Adrienne smiled at the message; he wasn't angry, she had been afraid that he would be upset that she hadn't messaged him, but she had to admit, her family had been pretty tame this time, so there really had been nothing to say.

Then there was the having to explain to Cameron the nature of she and Daniel's little relationship, but she didn't feel she needed to get into that with him now, especially via text.

Turning the rental car onto the main road, she remembered a very tacky tourist spot close by that would let her avoid the traffic of New Orleans proper and it was only ten minutes away.

The phone buzzed again in his hand about thirty minutes later.

_I want to send you a picture of this so bad..._

_But you'll have to wait. _

Adrienne thanked the nice man behind the counter and tucked the gift into the bag, smiling back at Cameron.

"You sure you don't want something. I think I owe you for putting up with all of this," she said, pointing to a pair of alligator boots but Cameron shook his head.

"You can make it up to me by dancing with me all night at this party," he said, putting his arm around his friend, hoping that while he wasn't Daniel, they could at least have a good time together tonight.

Daniel was asleep when he heard a sound from his living room and sat up in the bed quickly, looking over at the clock.

_4:15 a.m. _

He heard footsteps heading to his room and turned to see a figure walking up and standing by his bed. Still half asleep, he tensed reactively.

"Indy, wake-up, get your ass up!" the figure said. Wait, that figure just said Indy. Shaking his head, he rubbed his eyes, peering at her in the darkness.

"Ad?" Daniel asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't want to enjoy another moment of southern love. We dropped off the rental early and beamed back. I was gonna to call you tomorrow, but I couldn't wait, I, well, I missed you," she said, the last part quietly, plopping a bag down beside him and reaching across him to click on the light.

He squinted at the sudden brightness, opening his eyes slowly to see that sitting on his bed was a large yellow plastic bag with a huge alligator picture on the front. Making a face of sheer disbelief that such things even existed, he looked up to see Adrienne was taking off clothes, pulling her jeans from her legs and tossing them over to his hamper. He reached for the bag, his curiosity burning inside of him, but she jumped back onto the bed, smacking his hand out of the way.

"Patience Indy," she ordered, pulling the bag to her knees. It was then that he noticed she was sitting there, in front of him, wearing just a small t-shirt and underwear and his heart beat a little faster in his chest.

"First is this," she said, breaking his gaze as he looked back to the bag, from where she produced and handed him a jar. Daniel put it up to his face trying to read the label without his glasses only to find that there was no label and the jar smelled of alcohol.

"Let me guess. Moonshine?" he ventured and Adrienne smiled.

"Yep. We're gonna save dat till tamarra. We're going to take da top off da Jeep and jump over the doors wit da shine en da back, jus so I can call ya Bo Duke," she teased, letting her accent slip.

He just laughed, it seemed she was determine to turn his Jeep into some television fantasy, but before he could comment, she crinkled the bag in her hands as if she was trying to quickly wrap a present.

"Now dis," she said, handing it over. Opening it up slowly, Daniel reached his hand inside pulling out a hat.

An alligator hat.

A fedora alligator hat.

She was smiling at him waiting for him to catch on and he did, they had been friends long enough, she had been such an important part of his life long enough, the only person he had ever let give him a nickname that he actually answered to and wasn't annoyed by.

Because only Adrienne could give him an alligator skin Indiana Jones style hat.

"They didn't have a whip. I'm still working on that," she said, leaning over him to click off the light. The hat was still in his hand, but as she leaned across his body he had the overwhelming urge to toss it aside, take her into his arms and kiss her, tell her how much he'd missed her too, but he didn't and then she was gone, back over to the other side in the darkness.

"I plan on wearing this at the very next briefing," he informed her as he felt rustling beside himself, his heart warming as she got into bed with him, scooting over closer to his body.

"Ya'd betta not. I'd be axed ta leave. We'd be axed ta leave," she replied, hunkering down on the pillow. She'd missed him and had no intention of leaving, Cameron's words haunting her thoughts.

_It is ok to be happy, really happy. _

_Maybe I should call Aunt Barbara..._

"I assume you're staying?" he asked, interrupting her thoughts. There was more movement beside him and then he felt a hand on his stomach, Adrienne's body curling close to his own.

'Yea, an if ya even tink ah movin' me befo 11 I'll nah be sharing dat shine. An trust me, it's GUD shine..." she said, pulling her head to his chest. He smiled; he really did love that silly way she talked late at night or when she just wasn't trying.

"I love you Ad and I'm glad to have you back," he whispered, feeling her rubbing him lightly in return.

"I wanted to take you," she said quietly, running her fingers around his chest, gently, the fabric of his t-shirt tickling his skin.

"I understand why you didn't," he answered, kissing her head. He expected her to go to sleep, but instead felt a pushing against his chest and looked down to see her palms pressed against him, holding herself upright against his body.

"You do?" she asked, the tone of her voice drastically different than before.

"Yea..." he answered confused for only a moment when he felt a leg thrown across his body, peeking up to see her straddling his waist. She didn't say anything else, just leaned forward, bringing her lips to his slowly, carefully, running her fingers along his cheek. Tensing at first, unsure as to what she was doing, he moved very slowly, bringing his hands to her hips only and leaving them there, but she was kissing him more passionately, more frantically, and he couldn't control everything, feeling hardness forming in his pants. Adrienne adjusted her body, moving her lips from his, kissing his cheek lightly and then his neck, lingering there so slowly, before sliding herself backward when she paused and he knew she had noticed.

The kissing stopped and she laid forward onto his chest, tucking her arms underneath of herself protectively.

"I can't go any further shug, I'm sorry," she apologized. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around her kissing her head.

"It's ok. I like this too," he whispered in response, pulling her back over to his side and taking her into his arms, content just to hold her while they slept.

"Cam knows," she muttered from his side, cuddling closer as though she feared his reaction.

"How?" he asked nervously, making sure to not pull away as it was clear she needed him.

"I'm a shitty actress and I got mopey," she admitted, rubbing her fingers again at his chest.

"Mopey?"

"Yes, ya coo yon. I missed ya and when Aunt Barb started talkin' 'bout boyfriends, I got ta bahbin..." she added, her voice so ashamed at being emotional Daniel could nearly hear her rolling her eyes.

"Awww, you got all sentimental? Over me?" he teased unable to hold back.

"I hate you."

"No you don't, hence the moping," he answered laughing, "So what did he have to say?"

"He said he'd kick your ass if you hurt me," she threatened as she moved closer to him, wrapped her arm back around his waist.

"Glad to know where his loyalties lie," Daniel joked, thinking to himself that Cameron really was his friend first.

"No worries Indy; I reminded him that I can beat your ass easily. Therefore the only thing you need to worry about, sha, is me," she giggled and kissed his chest, Daniel sitting up.

"Oh really? You know it has been a while since we sparred and I'm a fast learner. Who's to say I haven't picked up some of those Bruce Lee moves watching you and Teal'c," he pushed her aside and rolled over, climbing on top of her and pinning her arms. His heart stopped, thinking it was a bad idea, all things considering but she didn't flinch.

"Is that a challenge Dr. Jackson?" she asked, looking up at him, her face deadly serious.

"Yes it is Dr. Rowan," he replied, but instead of doing anything rough, leaned down to kiss her. Before he could get his lips to hers, she pulled him down forcefully, kicking up her leg, hooking it around his waist and throwing him to the floor.

"Admit it. You think it's hot your girlfriend can beat you up," she joked from the edge of the bed, awaiting his reaction.

He sat on the floor a moment and smiled. She's called herself his girlfriend and he wasn't stupid, he knew what Aunt Barbara had brought up that made Adrienne pout, had made her mopey and it wasn't just boyfriends.

Adrienne should remember that she talked to him more than that.

She'd gotten mopey and sentimental over what Aunt Barbara thought a boyfriend would lead to...

Over him.

Jumping from the floor he dashed back over to the bed, kissing and tickling and wrestling with her in the middle of the night.

They'd figure this out, not just at work, but all of it.

He had faith in them.


	34. Chapter 33 - With you I can

"Look, Sam said the Tok'ra are gonna be here; we need to wait," Cam repeated, for at least the fourth time, over his shoulder at Vala as she threw herself onto the ground like a spoiled child. Bewilderment in her eyes, Teyla leaned back, carefully to Adrienne, tilting her head to whisper in her ear.

"Is she always like this?" she asked, this only being the second or third mission she had been on with Vala, that is, even if one could call this a mission.

Three days ago, out of the blue, a strange signal came in from P3X-888, one that had Daniel in a near panic for Chaka and his friends. Opening the Iris, equally as concerned, Sam raced to the gate only to receive a message, in code, code she and Daniel barely understood. It was short, indicating only that the Tok'ra were aware of Anubis' escape and to meet at these coordinates in seventy two hours, coordinates they had been waiting at for at least six.

"More or less," Adrienne grinned, having grown used to Vala's behavior. It was like having a little sister that was really older, taller and crazier, one that provided her with endless sources of personal amusement.

"And to think I make fun of Sheppard when he whines," she joked in return, returning to her watchful stance.

Adrienne just smiled and looked back at the caves down the hill from whence she came, sent to see if the Tok'ra had arrived. There was no time clock for their arrival beyond the three days; the message pretty much said they would be here today and that was all, so here they were, playing the waiting game.

Teyla, a bit antsy for a lack of things to do around the SGC, had volunteered to come, leaving her son Torrin in John Sheppard's care. Adrienne felt bad, there was really nothing to do here either but sit and wait and listen to Vala whine and Cam fuss, but she was assuming that Teyla was just enjoying not having to answer to someone under the age of 18. She guessed Teyla could come with she and Daniel, but to be honest, that wasn't all that exciting either and Adrienne was somewhat enjoying their quiet time together.

Shrugging, she turned again to face Teyla, sympathy on her face.

"Well, I was just coming to check if you guys had heard anything, but if not it's back to listen to my own big whiner," she quipped, eager to return back to Daniel but also not wanting to show it outwardly. She'd been enjoying this little excursion, the two of them, alone in the caves; there was something about it that was just nice even if they were working.

Teyla laughed lightly, relaxing finally, tucking the gun under her arm instead of using it to guide her scan of the horizon. As the one mom in the group, she took no chances with her life or the lives of her friends, so despite the planet's friendly appearance, she had refused to relinquish her P90 for a moment.

"What's he doing anyway?" she asked, having noted Daniel's absence from the group for hours and Adrienne rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her boss's endless geekiness.

"Apparently, they've been here before, I guess that's why the Tok'ra chose it. When they last explored this planet they found writing in the caves, some dialect that he's picked up. It's not anything I know, so I'm not quite sure why he dragged me along," she answered, even though she knew why and it was nice to be wanted, even if he was just enjoying her company.

"With those IOA folks it seems to be all about numbers, and five seems to be the magic number lately..." Teyla smiled, one that Adrienne didn't quite trust, a look like she knew something and she just shrugged, jogging back in the direction of her boss, her best friend, the one person she loved more than anyone else in the universe, her boyfriend.

That had taken her an entire week of saying it in her head to get the courage to say it to his face, but she had and he didn't say anything unkind or smart, just held her and kissed her and told her he loved her.

I am so happy, she thought as she ran, breathing in the fresh air around her, regretting that once they met up with the Tok'ra that they would have to go home to a cold and wet early winter in Washington D.C.

Here, the grass was so green that it seemed to shimmer in the light of the two suns which shone ahead like two parents lovingly overlooking their children. The entire planet was either some wonderful dream or a movie set in New Zealand, even the cave had a romantic quality to it, the thought making her smile to herself as she stuck her head in and clicked on her flashlight, heading back for Daniel.

For her Daniel.

"Hey Indy, find anything cool?" she shouted.

"Short Round, you're back," he looked over his shoulder and smiled, his eyes sparkling in the beam of her flashlight. Shaking her head, she laughed, truly touched when he did things like that.

"Excellent my young padawan, taught you well I have," she joked and knelt behind him putting her chin on his shoulder and bringing her cheek right beside his, stealing a kiss. Turning his head he pecked her lips gently, cutting his eyes back, hoping that no one saw, that no one else was here and reached his fingers forward again, letting them trace the characters on the wall.

"No, not really. Just a few lines about how they grew crops and some notes on hunting expeditions but nothing really valuable. Glad to know I obsessed over this for three years for nothing," he shrugged, rubbing her back lightly. Lifting her eyebrows in a sort of silent apology, Adrienne sat back onto to cold cave floor and sighed.

He had been so excited this morning and the days leading up to the mission that she felt bad he had found nothing so she remained silent, at a loss as to what else she could say.

"No Tok'ra yet, huh?" Daniel asked her, breaking the awkward silence.

"Not yet, and Vala's throwing a tantrum," Adrienne answered, glad to change the subject.

"So what else is new?" Daniel replied.

Laughing, Adrienne reached into her pack, since there were no notes to take, pulling out a novel and crawled closer to the light Daniel had set up, the replacement light she had purchased after Vala had broken her fancy LED light.

Accidentally, Vala had broken the light accidentally, she reminded herself, but she was still a little annoyed by the entire thing.

"Zombies?" Daniel asked, looking at her curiously, glancing over his glasses to see what she was reading. Turning to face the cover to him, Adrienne shook her head.

"No, back to vampires, still waiting on the next zombie issue to come out," she answered, recalling the last page she was on and turning to it.

"Any good?" he kept questioning while he jotted things into his journal.

"Well, Sookie dumped that stupid weretiger, so I'm not quitting the series just yet," she answered, not looking up as she scanned the page.

"Has she figured out she loves Eric?" he asked like it was the most normal conversation in the world, Adrienne looking at him strangely.

"What?" he looked back at her, noticing her pause.

"I never thought you listened to me about my stupid books," she said.

"Well, I do. Mostly because it fascinates me how a woman so intelligent can read that type of ... literature," he raised his eyebrows, "and because I try to impress you with my knowledge of pop culture."

"No, she's still lying to herself, trying to rationalize his actions," Adrienne answered, blushing, flattered again by his sweetness.

How could she ever think this man would hurt her?

"Sounds like someone else I know," he joked, hoping she wouldn't throw that back at him and continuing, "Well, I guess I'll know when they finally do hook up," he stated and Adrienne cocked her head, puzzled.

"And how is that?" Adrienne was intrigued.

"Because it'll be the one moment that I'm trying to do something, like this, that you can't help with, and I'll be concentrating on the key word in the passage when you'll start screaming like a fool," he looked back at her, laughing.

"You don't love me," she teased, sticking her tongue out at him, kicking him with her extended leg, laughing and returning to her book.

A short time later, neither of them sure how long as Adrienne had been trapped in the world of vampire politics and Daniel in his rock wall reading, Vala came running into the cave, out of breath but seemingly delighted.

"THEY'RE HERE! FINALLY! LET"S GO, I'M SO BORED..." she shouted as if Daniel and Adrienne were across a football field instead of sitting right in front of her. They both glanced up at her and saw Teyla sticking her head in behind Vala.

"Our allies have arrived," Teyla said, "Cameron is briefing them now and we will be leaving soon." Adrienne sat up and began to pack her things while Daniel still stared away at the wall, his body language indicating that he had no intention of leaving at the present moment.

"Who came?" Daniel not making eye contact, wondering if it was anyone he knew.

"Another one of your women," she stated, annoyed, flopping herself on the floor beside Adrienne, "Did Sookie dump that hot guy for stupid Eric?"

"Anise?" he followed up, jotting something else down in his book. Adrienne had been about to answer Vala's question since she knew Vala was a few volumes behind her, but she couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy at Vala's comment coupled with Daniel's answer, a tinge that Vala saw.

"Yes," Vala answered, "she's a bitch. No worries Addy, I can tell by the look on her face that he must have tossed her aside too. Glasses is all yours," Adrienne flushed at her response as Vala busted out laughing.

"You two are pathetic. I'm going to wait outside, it's too damn cold in here," Vala said, standing, pushing past a waiting Teyla, whom Adrienne had forgotten was still standing at the entrance to the inner chamber.

"It is both Anise and Sina. They are both speaking with Cameron now, but there does not appear to be a rush. I will be at the top of the hill waiting. Take your time," she smiled and left.

"I like her," Adrienne told Daniel as she continued to put away their gear, "I think I'll be sad once Rodney figures out how to recharge the ZPM's. Other than him, the rest of them have kind of grown on me," Adrienne lamented.

She meant it, and even though things were a bit awkward after the date she and Ronon had a few months back, she would miss him too, but Daniel didn't look up.

"So when did you tell Vala?" he asked instead, as he continued to write.

"Tell Vala what?" Adrienne countered, confused, thinking more about what information the Tok'ra could have that was going to turn their entire world upside down and exactly how pretty was this other alien woman.

"About us," he answered, tucking the pen into the journal to finally peer back at her.

"I didn't, she just obnoxious and possibly psychic," Adrienne replied laughing but Daniel was already making a face at her.

"Ok, I mean, it's not that I don't, Ad, it's just that," Daniel tried to explain, feeling already like he was going to hurt her feelings, this was all so fragile anyway, but Adrienne was crawling forward, turning him to face her, running her palm down his cheek.

"It's that she has the biggest mouth on the planet, possibly in the galaxy and you don't want me shipped to a basement of some research facility in the Arctic," Adrienne ventured, turning her head.

"That's about right," he argued, tossing his journal aside as Adrienne brought him into a deep long kiss, wrapping his arms around her, running his hands down her back.

She'd been a bit more tactile lately, more intimate, and no longer shrugged away when she had gotten him to a point of excitement like she had before. Granted, they still hadn't taken it much beyond very heavy kissing and some touching, but it wasn't the physical that made him so happy, it was that she finally trusted him enough to open herself up in ways she hadn't in a very long time. He let them kiss softly for a few moments, pulling her into his lap and sliding his hand into her uniform shirt to rub her waist, wanting to feel her flesh and broke away reluctantly, letting his lips brush hers one more time before lightly guiding her from his legs, returning to his task.

Curious as to what he was doing and still desiring his touch, Adrienne pushed the gear bag aside and reached for his shoulders, a smile from their contact still lingering in her face.

"I thought you said it was nothing important," she asked, peering to see what he was looking at.

"It isn't, but I feel like I owe it to myself to keep going until we absolutely have to leave," he replied.

"Ok, well, it looks like we're all packed up except for what you are working on right now, so if it's ok I would love to enjoy the sunshine before I lose it..." she asked, not wanting to leave him alone but starting to feel withered in the cold, wet cave. If she could lay there in his arms, maybe she would want to stay, but he had work to do and they'd pushed their luck for the day as it was, after all, she could just kiss him tonight.

"Go ahead, I'll yell if I need you," he answered, resuming his translation. Permission granted, Adrienne threw her bag over her shoulder, leaning over to kiss his ear softly, and headed out into the inviting sunlight, relishing in the brilliant rays the moment she emerged from the mouth of the cave.

Tossing her pack onto the grass, laying down and leaning against it, she was able to get a few more chapters in when she heard Cam over the radio, now working since she wasn't in the cave.

"Ok, everyone let's regroup. Addy, are you hearing me? Please respond so I don't have to send our big baby to fetch you guys..." Cam's voice said into her shoulder. She laughed, almost wanting to not answer just to make Vala have to walk back down to the caves again, but she decided to play nice.

"Yeah, I can hear you. I'll go fetch him and we'll be up in a moment," Adrienne answered, clicking off her radio and leaning back to yell into the cave.

"Indy, we're being summoned!" she shouted.

"Ok, I'll be right there!" he yelled back.

"Well, you'd better hurry. I think Cam has hit his Vala toleration quota for the day," Adrienne warned and thought she heard laughing from inside.

Moments later he appeared from the cave, quickly shielding his eyes from the sun as the beams lit up his face.

"I was in there WAY too long," he said as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness.

"I should start calling you Eric," she teased.

"So does that make you Pam?" he asked, waiting to see if she'd catch on.

"Only because Sookie is a big wuss," she responded, pulling on his jacket to kiss him again, probably more passionately then she should have risked. He returned the gesture, chills racing down his spine as he resisted the urge to drag her back out into that cave and kiss her some more, shoving her away quickly, laughing.

"You want us to get caught," he accused, as Adrienne started walking slowly up the hill, leaving him behind as she laughed.

Cam was dialing home when they arrived at the top of the hill, the team waiting patiently for their way home to take shape.

"Boy, you aren't gonna believe the shit they told us," Cam said, mostly to Daniel, as the pair of archaeologists reached the precipice of the slope. Frowning in concern, Daniel reached into his messenger bag to slide a journal into it, one he had read the entire way up the hill, almost walking into Adrienne at least five times, glancing back up at the colonel.

"Go ahead, because what I've got is about ten years' worth of hunting yields," Daniel replied, adjusting his pack. Cam was leaning on the DHD where he had started to dial and stopped, intending to explain to Daniel first.

"No,no,no,no" Vala leapt up from where she had been lying on the ground, whining, grabbing Cam's hand to return it the machine, "talk and dial Mitchell, talk and dial." Frowning he shooed her away, returning his attention to Daniel.

"So apparently we were correct, our good buddy has been traipsing all over the damn galaxy collecting whatever rag tags he can. He started with any homeless Ori soldiers he could find, whoever chose to not go with Tomin..."

"My husband," Vala interrupted, making Adrienne roll her eyes. She only acknowledged the man as her husband when it was convenient, which bothered Adrienne on a wide variety of levels.

"Whatever, anyway, he collected those that he could, plus a few marauders and traders that the Lucians have no use for, and, get this, some Jaffa, ones that are rebelling against the council," the colonel explained, Daniel expression growing more grim.

"He's essentially collecting everyone in the galaxy that could hold a grudge against us and uniting them. But why? For what cause?" Daniel asked, more to himself than anyone else.

"Great, can we talk about this at home?" Vala pushed her way between the two men proceeding to dial Earth once more. Letting out a breath of annoyance, Daniel moved her aside beginning to dial when he stop, remembering something.

"Ad, did you see the red journal? The new one?" Daniel asked, digging around in his bag again, looking up at her and in back into the bag.

"Are you kidding me, you lost something?!" Vala demanded, trudging over to rip Daniel's bag from his shoulder, spilling the contents onto the ground at the base of the stone ramp.

"What's wrong shug?" Adrienne stepped forward asking as Daniel glared at Vala, daring her to touch the mess now at his feet.

"I left a journal. The one with my language notes on - " he started, but Adrienne interrupted, shaking her hand in front of her face.

"I'll run back," Adrienne volunteered.

"No, it's alright, you're not my servant, I'll go," Daniel argued.

"I'm not your servant, but in a few minutes I'll be back in DC, cold and wet and in a briefing about Mr. Scary Jackal Head. I really don't mind running in the sunshine for a bit longer," she assured him, missing the rays of heat against her face already, making her miss the Bayou against her better judgement.

"Yes, let Addy go, Daniel is slow," Vala moaned and Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Fine, go Addy but hurry up, please, Sam's expecting us back pronto, and she's gonna wanna hear this," Cameron pleaded, directing his eyes over to Vala.

Adrienne knew his insistence had nothing to do with Sam and everything to do with not taping Vala's mouth shut, which, given a roll of duct tape, Cam just might do. Trying not to laugh, the cajun darted down the green hill once more, racing back to the caves.

"Wait up!" Teyla shouted, startling Adrienne at first as she came to a dead stop and ducked thinking something was wrong, that she missed some surprise attack from their apparently growing list of enemies. She relaxed, breathing out once she realized that it was just Teyla trying to catch up.

"I'm not gonna get shot between here and there Teyla, but I appreciate the gesture," Adrienne assured, her self-appointed guardian now approaching her.

"I know, it is safe here but I cannot listen to that woman a moment longer," Teyla answered and this time, Adrienne laughed, signaling that her Atlantian friend join her in her dash down the soft grassy hill.

When they arrived, Adrienne quickly crossed the threshold of the cave and clicked on her flashlight, making her way over to where Daniel had been working. She got onto her hands and knees and searched, running the beam along the crevasse where the rock wall and floor met, knocking a few damp rocks out of her way with her hands, but found nothing.

"Find it?" Teyla asked, standing behind the archaeologist, scanning the ground herself.

"No, gah damn saleau, I have no idea what he did with it. He's a spreader; I'm never sure how he finds anything," Adrienne replied, annoyed with herself as well that she chose to sunbathe and read instead of help him stay organized.

She might be taking this girlfriend thing a little too far and forgetting the assistant part.

She made a mental note not to do that again in the future.

There was a click behind her, a second beam joining her own and Teyla got down herself, intending to help as well. Pointing to Teyla to re-examine the area in front of her, Adrienne turned, crawling even deeper into the cave, thinking that maybe he had accidentally kicked it aside when she heard what sounded like a large explosion from behind them.

And then the world shook.

Daniel and Cameron were sitting on the steps leading to the gate waiting, chatting about the small electronic device that contained information from the Tok'ra spies, Vala now slumped over the DHD still complaining. Daniel just ignored her, more interested in the little bit of verbal information Cam had to offer since they would need Sam to activate the memory stick, but the colonel had had just about enough of her nonsense.

"Jesus Vala," Cameron said, "You're bored on-world, you're bored off-world, is there a time when you are not bored." Sticking out her tongue, she leaned up and smiled, raising her eyebrows at Daniel, who scowled at the non-verbal suggestion.

"Forget I asked," Cam replied, Daniel thinking to himself that if that was going to happen with anyone, it was going to be with Adrienne, feeling guilty immediately for the thought.

Don't push her Daniel, even mentally, he scolded.

"Back home there's TV. Here there's just grass, grass and more grass," she answered, sweeping the beautiful landscape with her hand, the landscape Adrienne had been in awe of when they arrived.

"You could bring a book. Adrienne always has something to read just in case," Daniel offered, remembering that at some point Vala was reading those silly vampire novels of Adrienne's, wondering why she didn't have one with her now.

"Adrienne always has something to read just in case," Vala mimicked his voice, adding an unnecessary whiney nasal, when they heard an explosion, rising to their feet, looking around them for an attacker. The skies were clear, the gate was still standing there, dormant, when another explosion went off and the ground began to shake under their feet.

"Take cover," Cam yelled, and they braced themselves on the nearest structure, Daniel and Cam holding onto the stone platform leading to the gate while Vala clung to the DHD. The shaking went on for a good thirty seconds before stopping as suddenly as it started, as if nothing had happened.

"Everyone ok?" Cam asked.

"Good," Vala responded.

"Fine," Daniel answered and reached for his shoulder, "Ad, you almost back? Are you ok?" he said into the radio, hoping that she wasn't sprawled out in the grass, taken off guard by the tremor and lying helpless with a sprained ankle.

"Adrienne? Come in," Daniel repeated, fear rising in his voice. Why wasn't she answering? She should have been back already, or at the very least half way there.

"Just chill Jackson, there isn't signal in the caves," Cameron said, knowing where this was going; he had seen Daniel like this before, seen him panic over losing sight and contact with his assistant.

Shooting a glance back at Cam, Daniel didn't respond, throwing his bag to the ground, running full speed back down the hill.

"Adrienne, are you alright?" Teyla called out into the darkness as Daniel's fearless assistant was dusting herself off trying to reach the flashlight from the crevice into which it had fallen.

"Yeah, just trying...to... got it!" she exclaimed, "and..." she looked at Teyla shining the flashlight in her face like she was going to tell a campfire ghost story, "I found the journal."

"Of course," Teyla replied, Adrienne muttering cajun swears under her breathe, the words Daniel and cooyon being the ones Teyla recognized.

"What do you believe was the cause of that?" the Athosian continued, shining the light all around the small stone room, searching for a cause of the shaking.

"I have no idea, but the last time the earth moved under my feet, it was because of Anubis and not my heart beatin' cuz viking vampires were calling my name," Adrienne answered, now humming the song under her breath.

"I'm sorry,?" Teyla questioned, noting Adrienne was not looking around any longer for a cause, simply pointing the flashlight back from the direction they came.

"Nothing, bad attempt at a joke, let's go on the off chance that someone that we don't want to find us has," Adrienne replied.

The women headed back around the corner in search of the mouth of the cave, stepping carefully through the pitch black using the guiding beam of Adrienne's small flashlight. They had gone only a short distance when Adrienne felt a gentle grab at her wrist and a tug from behind.

"Adrienne?" Teyla stopped their advance, asking curiously, "How far were you all working in the cave?"

"Not too far," Adrienne answered, "Why?"

"Did we get turned around?" she continued.

"No, why?" the archaeologist asked herself, turning her flashlight to her friend to see if she had missing something. There was a light click in the darkness and a flash, Teyla bringing her own lamp to life, shining it at Adrienne's feet and scanning upward slowly, revealing a wall of stone.

"Because if not, I think we are trapped," she stated as Adrienne brought her hand to her face.

"Why would I ever think anything we do is easy," Adrienne sighed, and started to scan the wall for an opening.

When Daniel saw the cave his fears were confirmed; the entire entrance had collapsed leaving in its place a large pile of rubble.

"Adrienne!" Daniel screamed and began to pull at the rocks in the entrance, rock by rock, screaming her name looking for any sign that she was alive. She had to be alive, she just had to be alright, he thought, I can't lose her now that I have her.

There were footsteps, running foot steps behind him, Cameron and Vala racing to join him and hearing them, Daniel looked behind himself panic stricken.

"Come help me, they're trapped in there!" he shouted, pulling at rocks. No questions asked or needed, his teammates rushed over to help, pulling rocks one by one tossing them aside on the ground behind them, but just as they cleared one area entirely, more rocks just kept crashing down to replace the ones that they had removed.

"Adrienne, answer me!" Daniel screamed into the stone, hoping to get a response, his face distressed and his breath shallow.

Frantic, Daniel dropped to his knees, searching for an opening at the bottom as Vala reached to the top to do the same, pulling a large rock positioned right over Cameron's head, a rock larger than she expected. She was unable to hold onto it and it came down on top of him, hitting him square in the temple.

"Shit, Vala, be careful!" he yelled, grabbing his head, the group stopping their attack on the rubble to make sure he was alright.

"Cam, you're bleeding," Vala noted, reaching into her vest for some first aid supplies, stepping back to dig around in her pockets.

"I AM WELL AWARE OF THAT VALA!" Cam screamed at her and she apologized, nastily Daniel noted, thinking a lot more must have gone on back at the DHD than he knew about since Cam seemed much angrier than he normally would have been.

Grunting, Vala grabbed him by his arm, pulling him aside, sitting him down on the ground to mend the wound.

Daniel probably should have helped, he was the trained medic, but he couldn't focus, he could only focus on one thing, that the love of his life was on the other side of the debris, trapped and it was his fault.

"You stay put," he heard Vala order from behind him, seeing her joining him in pulling the rocks again, Daniel having moved back to the upper layer where Vala had been working before. She reached for another large rock, wedged next to the space formerly housing Cam's stone attacker, when her hand slipped from the sides, the large piece almost dropping on her. Assuming her hands were sweaty, and hoping the Cam hadn't noticed to start swearing at her again for being careless, Vala wiped the moisture from her palms and onto her BDU's before reaching up to get a better grasp, slipping again, staggering backward. Catching herself, Vala looked down at her hands, knowing that she wasn't sweating that bad, thinking maybe there was mud on them, perhaps some of the rocks were wet, the result of inner cave rocks coming cascading down on top of them, but they weren't.

Her hands were stained with a dark, thick red ooze: blood.

Her hands were stained with blood.

Shaking her head, Vala glanced back between herself and Cam quickly, distinctly remembering washing her hands off after tending to Cameron. She had no idea where the blood was coming from, her hands were clean, Cam's wound fixed, there were no cuts on her palms or between her fingers, when it hit her. Realizing what was going on Vala looked over at Daniel as he tossed another rocked behind him, grabbing his hands in her own before he could take down another.

His palms were covered in blood, the top layer of skin stripped, his hands raw.

"Stop," she whispered gently, but he jerked his hands from hers, glaring at her angrily, and kept pulling rocks out one at a time, wincing at each pull in pain, a wincing that she had not noticed before. She stood there, not saying a word, watching him pull a few more, each and every one slipping from his hand and to the ground, covered in brown and red streaks.

Wiping his hands onto his pants quickly, he reached up again to grab another.

"Daniel, stop," she now ordered, placing her hand on his shoulder, pulling him away. Heeding her request, he turned around to face her with a look of sadness on his face and what appeared to be tears in his eyes, muttering something that sounded like 'Ad, we're, she, I.'

She reached out for him, but he just stood there, looking lost and desperate.

"I know honey, I know," she squeezed his bicep, rubbing his arm, "I'm sure she's fine, but we need to get some help," Vala whispered softly, not wanting to embarrass Daniel.

She knew what was going on.

She had been right, she had been right all along and this just confirmed it.

Daniel was in love with Adrienne and apparently from his mutterings they were together.

Gripping his arm one final time, Vala turned to Cam to try and figure out a plan.

"Daniel! Daniel!" Adrienne shouted at the pile of stones yet again, stopping only to clear her sore throat and start shouting once more

"I think if they could hear us we would know," Teyla interjected as Adrienne was resting her throat for a third time.

"I know, this just makes me feel better, especially since I left my damn staff weapon back at the lab. You know like in the movies when they keep moving the rocks and the light peers through, and they shout comforting thoughts through to one another while they await rescue, that, if I keep screaming, maybe Daniel with answer," Adrienne babbled, sitting down on the ground leaning back onto the rubble.

"You watch a lot of movies," Teyla remarked, taking a seat beside her and clicking off the light, plunging both women into darkness.

"Watched. Past tense. Used to have a lot more free time on my hands," Adrienne replied, Teyla laughing in reply.

"It's strange, I spent my whole life never knowing what television or movies were and now Torrin will never know a life without it," she said.

"But what if you guys can make it back?" Adrienne asked, wishing she had used a word other than if but Teyla didn't seem to notice.

"I am certain that this time John will bring much video entertainment," she responded, making Adrienne laugh. She was fairly certain that Teyla was correct, if John Sheppard had anything to do with it, there would be an entire video facility built to accommodate John, Ronon and Rodney's video game and film hobby.

"I was telling Daniel today that I will miss ya'll when you go. Kinda like Torrin and TV, I've never known a life at the SGC without you," Adrienne admitted.

"That is kind of you Adrienne. We have grown quite fond of you as well," Teyla answered, making her friend smile in the dark.

"Do you miss it?" she asked, unable to imagine what it was like to be stranded so far from home. The Bayou was far, not that she missed much about it, but when she did, she could just pick up the phone and listen to Rae talk about her horses or the new goat babies.

Teyla, on the other hand, didn't have that option.

"Some. The base, yes, it became home. The planet, no, it was not my first home. That I miss and I miss Kanaan," the last words were the quietest and broke Adrienne's heart. That she couldn't imagine either, being separated from someone as special as Kanaan was to Teyla, someone as special as Daniel was to her now. Choking up at the realization, that not only did she love him, but that he had become such an important part of her life, she reached over into the darkness for Teyla, grabbing her knee and squeezed.

"Did you leave someone behind?" Teyla asked, sensing her sadness, "To come work for the SGC?"

"Yes and no. My father died a few months before I was contacted by Sam and I have an interesting relationship with the rest of my family," Adrienne answered honestly, silently breathing in to compose herself.

"No one else?" Teyla pried and Adrienne realized that she was trying to have 'girl talk.' It was sweet; Teyla was such a kind woman.

Vala had proven to be a good friend in so many ways, but sitting here, talking to Teyla, Adrienne felt as if she could say anything and there would be no judgments and no insane suggestions. The Athosian wasn't much older than Adrienne she guessed, maybe six or seven years at best, but there was something about Teyla that just made her seem so much wiser.

"No one. There was a boyfriend for a few years, but he just didn't understand me. Wanted a more proper woman, so that didn't work out," Adrienne explained.

"I find it interesting what Earth defines as a proper woman. On Athos a women needed to be able to do everything a man could do and the reverse. Here, even for as advanced as you are, it seems that a woman still is expected to remain a lesser being," Teyla observed.

"I agree, completely, or at the very least give up every dream that they ever had the moment they're in a committed relationship," Adrienne continued, feeling sad once more that someday Teyla would leave the base, sooner than later if Rodney had his way.

Adrienne could really relate to Teyla, in a way she wished she could with Sam, if Sam was ever able to have a true free moment.

"I do not think all men are like that. I think that once one finds their other that things can be different," Teyla added.

Maybe, Adrienne thought, Daniel didn't seem to want for one moment that Adrienne stop anything, in fact, the whole reason they hadn't told anyone about their relationship was for fear of Adrienne losing her position at the SGC.

She smiled, realizing that maybe Daniel was her one, the only one, something she hadn't really thought about before.

_Daniel __**is**__ my one..._

"You seem calmer now," Teyla said, interrupting her thoughts and revealing her original intention.

"I am, thanks. We just need to hang in there," Adrienne said, keeping the other lingering ponderings to herself.

"They will not leave us. It is not their way. Daniel will not leave you," Teyla added the last part carefully.

"No, he won't," Adrienne replied, not much more than a whisper, knowing in her heart that Teyla was right.

"I'm not going," Daniel argued with Cameron and Vala.

"Jackson, listen, it's getting dark and this place might seem safe but with Anubis snooping around and the damn Lucians, you have no idea what could come out at you. We're just hoping that this was an earthquake and not a surprise from your old friend," Cameron tried to reason with him.

"I don't care. What if they are working from the other side? What if just a few more stones and we can hear them and at least have a better idea if someone is hurt," Daniel retorted, his eyes cutting back continuing at the wall behind him as if he were expecting just that you happen.

"Dammit, Daniel, why can't you be reasonable?! We have no idea if they're even -" Cameron caught himself, not really thinking that anything had happened to his friends, just trying to consider all scenarios, but it was too late, the words had escaped his mouth and his co-leader was already storming up to his face, pointing his finger and shouting.

"Don't you even say it, don't even consider it!" he shouted, "I know she's on the other side just waiting for me to get to her!"

"She?! Daniel, we're assuming it is Adrienne AND Teyla in there. What the hell is your problem man?" Cam shoved him back, knowing full well what the problem was, a problem that as co-leader Daniel couldn't have. Fine, they could be together and Cam would keep his mouth shut, but Jackson couldn't stand here, losing his mind every time Adrienne might be hurt or in danger.

Refusing to back down from Daniel, not wanting it to come to blows but also feeling the need to inform him, if not verbally, that this was not how the team was going to run, Cam stood his ground as Vala walked over to him, reaching out for his arm.

"Let Daniel stay," Vala said carefully, "He has a radio, and I'll leave him my gun so he has two, just in case."

"You agree with him!?" Cam now directed his anger at her, "Do you realize how stupid you both sound right now?"

"Let him stay," Vala urged a second time, Cam shaking his head in disbelief. Apparently he wasn't the only team member privy to this information, and Vala seemed to be taking their side. Glancing back quickly at his friend, his palms finally beginning to clot from his earlier bad decision, Cam remembered Adrienne's words to him, the look in her face when she had to admit everything. Sighing, he opened a pouch on his vest, grabbing a small canister inside and tossing it over to Daniel.

"It's a gas bomb. It won't kill anyone, but can buy you sometime," Cam explained, giving in, deciding to leave him behind.

"Thanks," Daniel said as he caught the canister, slipping it into his own vest.

"I still think this is a bad idea," Cameron stated once more, wanting his opinion to be clear.

"I'm still staying," Daniel responded.

"Suit yourself," Cam replied and started up the hill toward the gate. Vala looked back at Daniel quickly and smiled, turning to follow Cam.

"What in the hell has gotten into him?" Cameron asked rhetorically, hearing Vala giggle from behind him.

"It's getting dark out," Adrienne stated some time later, having given up on digging out or shouting for Daniel. Frustrated, she had pulled off her tac vest, balling it into a tight ball of fabric to create a make shift pillow, laying down on the cold cave floor.

Daniel wouldn't let them down, Adrienne knew, she was just going to be patient and have to wait.

"How do you know?" Teyla asked, having not counted the time herself.

"I remember from the file, it gets dark here around 7 p.m. Earth time year round and my watch says it 6:55 our time," Adrienne answered, looking down at the manual watch she had gotten used to wearing, finally learning that her gadgets didn't always work when she needed them.

"Will it get colder?" Teyla asked another question, sounding worried.

"It might, but not much. This planet is pretty much a climatic paradise," Adrienne assured her trying to will away the coldness of the floor with the memory of the warmth of the sun on her cheeks.

"Did you look that up too?" Teyla teased.

"Of course. I've made the mistake of taking Daniel's word for it before," Adrienne giggled, knowing that important things like planet temperature were not items to be discussed with Daniel, who thought that sixty degrees was getting a little toasty.

"He is quite lucky to have you," Teyla stated, her tone changing.

"Who? Daniel?" Adrienne clarified, "Pretty much. I'm not sure how that man managed for as long as he did on his own."

"Yes," Teyla answered simply, "and you make him very happy."

Adrienne froze.

What did she mean by making him happy?

By doing her work?

Keeping him organized?

Or did she know...

Well, if she knows, Adrienne thought, it won't be my fault.

_I'm not in any mood to get caught or become an IOA secretary. _

"I'd like to think so," Adrienne replied, trying to hide the longing in her voice, her desire for him to come rushing in here, rescue her, take her into his arms and take her out of this stone prison.

"It is true. When you returned from your cousin's ceremony, Daniel was overjoyed to have you with him once more. I'm sure your joining was most celebratory as well," the alien joked and Adrienne's heart skipped a beat.

Their joining?

Did she mean?

"I remember when we would go on a longer mission and I could not return to the village for many days and to join again with Kanaan was almost magical," Teyla continued.

Yep, Adrienne thought, that meant exactly what I thought it meant.

"I hope I did not offend you," Teyla spoke again, noting Adrienne's silence, "I have forgotten that in your culture you do not speak openly of such things."

"No, you didn't," Adrienne answered, "things like that don't offend me."

Surprise me yes, she continued inside, but not offend me.

Unlike some other people, Teyla was talking about love making in the sweetest most perfect way possible and wishing well upon her and Daniel, not anything dirty or malicious.

"Then you do not feel the same? Has Daniel done something to upset you?" Teyla started to question again.

Adrienne felt so stuck.

Why? Why did she care so much?

Her words were so certain, not as if she was guessing that they were together, but certain that they were. Nerves built up in her stomach, and for the first time Adrienne wanted to tell someone, she wanted to stand up and scream it from the rooftops that she had found the love of her life and she never wanted to be with anyone but him.

Yet, she didn't.

Sighing, Adrienne laid her head back against the tac vest again and Teyla didn't question her silence.

They were certainly colder now, but it wasn't unbearable. She could hear water dripping in the distance and closed her eyes imagining the slow process of water forming stalagmites like some old filmstrip from when she was in elementary school. It was a soothing image and she started to feel herself drift off to sleep slightly, but not totally since she was still aware of being in the cave.

Despite being trapped in relative darkness she wasn't scared; instead she sat there completely confident that Daniel would come sweeping in to save her. In her partially asleep state she played out the rescue in her head, a light peering through the wall, his voice on the other side, his hands pulling away the rocks. She imagined him bursting through the wall and running up to her, pulling her into his strong arms, looking her deep in the eyes and bringing his lips to her own. She wanted to imagine more, had imagined more, even in the bed with him kissing her neck, touching him lightly through his clothes, feeling his strong grasp at her backside, moving slowly and cautiously for her.

"I can't," Adrienne said finally, "I can't make love to him." She didn't believe her own words until they came from her mouth, echoing on the wet stone surrounding them.

"Why not?" Teyla questioned and Adrienne dropped to silence once more.

Daniel watched the sun go down and peeked at his watch noting that it was 7:00 p.m. Earth time, just like Adrienne had said. He remembered her telling him that the sun going down was the only thing about the planet that she didn't like and he remembered telling her she would get more time with Eric Northman.

That had earned him a punch in the arm, her flushed smile and a stolen kiss in the lab.

A long stolen kiss, one that he could almost feel against his own lips as he sat at what would be the mouth of the cave, waiting.

Vala and Cameron had been gone about forty five minutes. The walk to the gate was less than five, but he was sure that Sam was trying to find a way to get the Adrienne and Teyla out of the cave without having to blow anything up, the general not being a huge fan of explosions.

He was also certain that they would be bringing the medical team too, just in case and he could see Adrienne's reaction now as she walked out of the cave to be greeted by Dr. Lam whom Adrienne would later swear had blamed the entire cave in on her. Dr. Grumpypants she called her, even though he had never thought of Carolyn as anything but nice, Adrienne claimed she had the bedside manner of an ice pop. He laughed to himself, thinking that if he had to patch up Adrienne as much as Carolyn had, he just might be a little grumpy too.

He also knew Adrienne was alright; he couldn't handle thinking anything else. She was his world now, his first thought in the morning and his last before bed, even if she wasn't in his arms for those thoughts. Now he finally had her, had finally told her, and they were trying so hard to overcome their pasts together, to be together despite it all.

If he lost her he just couldn't...

Daniel breathed in and tried not to think about it, glancing back in the direction of the gate.

"Have you told him?" Teyla asked her again after stressing the importance of being completely open with someone you love. What started out as a friendly conversation had turned into a complete analysis of Adrienne's psyche and she wasn't quite sure how to handle it.

"Yes," Adrienne answered quietly, hoping that Teyla didn't ask for specifics since her previous statement of having something terrible happen to her was hard enough to admit to yet another person.

"Daniel is a good man. I know he understands," Teyla defended, misunderstanding Adrienne.

"No, he does, he's been nothing but wonderful," Adrienne sat up, not wanting Teyla to think for a moment that Daniel was pushing her into anything, "And I want to, but I just can't. I get to the point and I just can't."

"Why not?" Teyla pushed, sitting forward toward her, "He would never hurt you."

He almost did, Adrienne thought, he was so very close and her heart sank. He was right, he was right in every one of his concerns, holding her close one night in his arms as she had laid so intimately intertwined with him, afraid to go on. It was that, it was that one insane moment, fueled by poison that was holding her back, but he hadn't hurt her. In fact, as sick as he was he was still coherent enough to be Daniel and here they were, in the most perfect relationship that she could ever imagine and she had become what she hated, whiney, needy, weak and it wasn't even his fault.

"You're right. He wouldn't. He would never hurt me," Adrienne agreed easily, confidently, a wave of relief rushing over her.

This was right, this could fix everything, he could fix everything.

The only thing in her life that made her feel powerless Daniel Jackson could wash away.

"I thought as much," Teyla declared, "I know I would give anything just touch Kanaan one more time."

Adrienne was speechless and heartbroken, pushing away her own selfish thoughts. She couldn't imagine being light years away from the person you loved most in this world, the father of your child, all with the knowledge that you very well may never see him again, ever.

Adrienne felt a tear roll down her cheek.

"I do not mean to intrude into your life Adrienne, I was just making an observation," Teyla said, thinking Adrienne had shed the tear for herself, reaching over to clasp her hand.

The watch said 8:05 and Daniel couldn't wait any longer, looking at how Vala had bandaged his hands and glancing back at the wall. Digging into his bag he pulled out his travel trowel and the K-Bar he never used for defense, but rather used to pick dirt out of carvings and stood, pulling, hitting and chipping away at rocks once more.

He removed one, two, three, four rocks working quickly with determination.

A large pile formed behind him and he felt a surge of pain in his hand, scanning his palms to discover that the bandages were soaked through again, red, brown and wet. Daniel just squeezed his hands into a fist and kept working, determination in his blue eyes as they glistened in the moonlight.

Cameron paced impatiently in the gate room, his gaze alternating between the left entry doors and the clock, his mind running through every possible scenario of what he could be walking back into. Vala's intelligence from the planet insisted it was secure, but Cam couldn't help but wonder every time something went wrong that Anubis was somehow responsible and waiting in the wings, ready to show them what he was up to, finally.

He'd given Sam the memory stick from the Tok'ra and she had sent it straight to Zalenka for analysis, promising him that she would join him as soon as she had sent a team to rescue Adrienne and Teyla.

"What in the hell is taking Rodney so damn long!?" he swore, "Does he not realize we've got three people back there?"

"Cameron, it's ACID," Vala answered, for once the patient one, "Personally, I feel better knowing that he's securing it in something before we blast through that thing," she pointed at the Stargate.

"Well, he could still hurry," Cameron said as the medical team arrived, Dr. Lam in SG gear and her red crossed tack vest, flanked by two large orderlies.

"She's as bad as he is," Carolyn spat as she was doing the clasp on the front of her vest, obviously having gotten dressed in a hurry and Vala laughed, thinking how many times she had told her friend the exact same thing.

"I'm serious. How in the world Sam found that man someone who is as much trouble as he is I will never know. She must come in once a week having done something stupid to herself, and I know for a fact she's got Ronon and Teal'c patching her up in between visits to me," Dr. Lam continued, adjusting her uniform and signaling to Walter that her team was complete.

'Technically," Cam defended his buddy, "it was an earthquake."

"And technically it was smuggler, the Ori, Adria, parasites..." Dr. Lam listed.

"Ok, ok, she's like mini-Jackson, we get the point," Cameron agreed as Vala just stood there smiling.

"What?" Cameron asked her, wondering to himself if maybe Adrienne had told her as well.

"Nothing," Vala replied, noting confusion in Cam's face.

Did he know something that she didn't?

"Ready, let's go!" Rodney was yelling as he walked briskly around the corner with a large white canister that looked suspiciously like a paint sprayer. Deciding not to ask, although a part of him was worried about this acid in something as simple as a paint sprayer, Cam gave the signal and the gate began dialing.

Renewed confidence, Adrienne leapt from her seat on the floor, turning to face the rock wall again. She was gonna get out of here, not sit around like some damn damsel awaiting rescue; she was gonna get out of here, march out of this cave, grab her boyfriend by the front of his shirt and drag him back to her quarters.

"What are you doing?" Teyla asked, confused.

"I'm gonna get us out of here," Adrienne answered plainly.

"Then I will help you," Teyla stood and turned to face the wall as well.

"I know that Daniel'll come, but I'm not gonna just sit here like a gah damn capon waiting for some damn man," Adrienne defended, both her actions and her love.

And I need to talk to him, she thought, now.

"I understand. I was getting a bit anxious myself," Teyla said and together the two women began moving the rocks, quickly making a new stack behind them.

Daniel dropped another large rock onto the ground and looked back at the wall. It seemed smaller and it didn't appear as if more rocks had fallen to replace the old ones. He felt he was making progress and turned to pull himself upright seeing stars in his vision.

He shook his head, squeezed his bare, raw hands into fists and kept working.

One rock, two, three.

As Cameron crossed through the gate, he waited only long enough to see that the medical team and Rodney had made it through and then sprinted down the hill, Vala following close behind him. The cave wasn't far, a large gray obstruction in the blue green grass that glimmered in the starlight, but that wasn't what made Cam hold up his hand to halt the group, everyone behind him stopping and pulling their guns; it was the body slumped over a large pile of rocks, a body in a black t-shirt and black pants.

With a wave of his hand, Cam ordered the group approach slowly, but Vala shoved past him, running straight to their fallen comrade.

"Daniel," Vala leaned over him, shaking him gently to rouse him, paying no attention to the possibility of attack from a foe. Following her lead, Dr. Lam rushed over, falling to her knees, checking for a pulse.

"He's alive," she said and started to examine him for wounds, running her hands across him, searching for any type of bullet wound or other indicator. Looking him over carefully, she stopped at his hands, holding them in her own as she gazed back to Cameron.

"There doesn't appear to be anything wrong other than his hands. It looks like he literally passed out trying to take down this wall," she said.

"He has completely lost his mind!" Cameron exclaimed, resisting the urge to storm down to Daniel himself, wake the idiot up and rip him a new one.

"No, he hasn't," Vala said, still kneeling beside him, smoothing his hair down. Not commenting, Dr. Lam stood to go retrieve some supplies so Cameron knelt down beside Vala and the unconscious Daniel.

"Vala, do you know what is going on with him?" Cameron asked, wondering how much she knew.

"I do," she answered confidently.

"What? If he's sick or something else, I need to know to make sure he is not a danger to the team," Cameron led, not wanting to give anything away himself, playing the fool to see how much Vala really understood was going on.

"He's not," Vala responded quickly, adjusting him in her lap and removing his glasses, setting them gently aside.

Odd, if she knows that he's with Adrienne would she really be so touchy with him? the colonel couldn't help but wonder.

"Then what in the hell is going on?" Cameron hissed, almost blurting out the question that was really floating around in his head.

"He's in love," Vala replied.

"What?" Cam tried to play stupid, knowing full well that acting was not his forte, but hoping he would do just well enough to convince Vala, "With Addy?"

Vala frowned at him.

"Of course Addy you dolt, no he's in love with me. Madly, they both are, but for some idiotic reason they just keep lying to themselves, acting like they don't. Addy's always mumbling some nonsense about getting transferred if she says anything and that there are things I just don't understand, but it's just an excuse to whine to me," she explained as Daniel began to stir in her grasp.

"Huh," Cam lied one last time, relieved.

So, only he knew.

Alright, this wasn't all bad, he thought, I might be able to salvage this without having my team ripped apart.

"Feet pue tan!" Adrienne shouted and went to stick her cut finger into her mouth out of instinct, deciding against it just in time once she remembered what they had been doing, her hands covered in dirt and debris from moving the rocks from the wall to the pile behind them.

"Are you alright?" Teyla asked.

"Yea, just cut myself on a sharper one, but I'll live," Adrienne replied, shaking the wound out instead to banish the pain.

"We should take a rest for a while. I expect that they will come soon," Teyla responded.

Adrienne slunk back down to the floor of the cave and looked at her watch, knowing she had to, at the very least needed to let her finger clot, maybe wrap it in a bandage from her tac vest before continuing. It was 9:10 p.m., her stomach rumbling the moment her brain registered how late it was and she burst into laughter.

"What's so funny?" Teyla inquired.

"I'm hungry. If Daniel were here he would be trying to convince me that a Powerbar counts as food," Adrienne explained, imagining what it would be if the two of them were trapped in here.

That might have been nice, her thoughts wandered, a smile creeping across her face, a smile that she felt so appreciative to have again.

"Ok everyone, STAND BACK," Rodney ordered and Vala didn't argue. Weapons, fighting she had never been afraid of, but science gave her the creeps.

She'd leave those kinds of things up to her teammates.

Vala would have walked back over to where she had been trying to thin out rocks so they would have less to burn through, but for now she went over to where Dr. Lam was making Daniel sit and wait and sat down right beside him.

"Just a bit longer," she told him.

"Yeah and I bet they both are tired and hungry," he answered, a noncommittal answer, as if he was trying to make up for his extreme behavior earlier. Vala reached around and put her arm around his waist and he shrugged her away, like he always did, glaring at her angrily.

"Jesus Vala, not now," he told her and she laughed, but didn't say a word, just folded her arms back into her lap.

"Vala, can I talk to Daniel for a sec?" Cam appeared in front of them, glancing down at his friend and the man that was supposed to help him lead this team. Confused, she looked back and forth between them before standing, shrugging and walking over to where the doctor was setting up a station just in case Teyla and Adrienne were injured.

"Layer one!" Rodney shouted, "We will wait five minutes and move on to the next layer."

Daniel shook his head and sighed as Cam took a seat beside him, pointing the tip of his P-90 toward the rock structure.

"When they get through that you can't go racing down there like some god damn love sick puppy Daniel, are you hearing me?" Cam asked, cutting his eyes over at his teammate, embarrassment spreading across the archaeologist's face. Setting down the gun Cam continued, knowing he only had a very short time before he would be needed below.

"What the two of you do behind closed doors is your business, but what you two do on this team, how you two carry on on this team is my business. I understand how you feel about her, I do, but the way you acted today? You could have gotten yourself killed, kidnapped by Anubis, anything. I'm happy that you have found something with Addy, I am, but you need to step back and realize that we also have a job to do here," Cam advised, carefully, trying not to scold someone who could probably technically be considered his superior, but Daniel didn't say a word, just looked down at his bandaged hands.

"Alright, shouldn't be much longer now. I'm sure she's fine and I am happy for you guys, truly," Cam added, tossing his arms over his knees looking ahead as Rodney directed SG-7 and his small science team through the next step in the burn.

"Do you hear that?" Teyla looked over at Adrienne.

"Hear what?" she answered, not stopping, too intent on getting out of their prison. Her eyes scanning their surrounding as her ears heard the sounds again, Teyla reached over to grabbed her hand so she would stop.

"Listen," Teyla whispered, setting Adrienne's hand to her side. Holding her breath, the cajun stood in silence, listening carefully when she heard a low hissing sound coming from right in front of this.

"Sounds like a snake," Adrienne stated not particularly frightened but beginning to look around her feet hoping she wouldn't get bitten; she didn't want yet another reason to go to the infirmary.

"It's coming from the other side," Teyla insisted, and Adrienne finally realizing that a snake in a cave was probably not very likely, stopped once more, to listen again, recognizing the sound, a sound she had heard in Rodney's labs on one of her numerous errands.

"We need to back up," she said and just as she pushed Teyla back, the noise intensified. Pressing themselves far against a side wall, the women watched the rubble as it began to smoke, the gray plumes slowly hissing toward them. The rocks crumbled away, dissolving into piles of fine sand allowing a light to shine suddenly in their faces.

"Dr. Rowan? Teyla? Are you alright?" the voice was Dr. Rodney McKay.

Adrienne was both disappointed and elated as Teyla laughed lightly.

"Yes Rodney, we are fine. We are hungry but we are fine," Teyla answered.

"Ok great, come on then and be careful," Rodney said, very kindly Adrienne thought and that probably had something to do with Teyla. Leading the way, Teyla held on to the remaining portion of the wall, stepping slowly, and Adrienne followed, carefully tiptoeing over smoking rubble.

The light grew brighter and Adrienne could see where the rescue team had set up a series of lights to illuminate the entire cave area, lights so bright that she was unable to make out faces, just bodies. She was looking all around her for ...

"Looking for me?" Daniel spoke from behind her.

"Don't you wish," Adrienne teased, "I'm looking for something to eat," she tried to cover the excitement she knew was on her face, because what she wanted to do was throw her arms around him and plant her lips onto his. Turning to face him, she saw that his hands were heavily bandaged, her eyes widening in panic.

"Sha what happened?" Adrienne slipped, grabbing his hands, turning them in her own, trying to examine them but he pulled his hand away, shaking his head.

"Nothing, I was trying to get the rocks moved and, well, you know, I'm accident prone," he tried to joke. Adrienne cut her eyes, not believing him, knowing exactly what he had done to himself trying to get her out.

You've just turned my world upside down, haven't you Daniel, she thought to herself, leaning forward to whisper in his ear.

"Dr. Rowan," Dr. Lam came up behind her before Adrienne could say anything, "Let's see what you've managed to do to yourself this time," she pointed in the direction of a small portable she had set up on a flat part of the meadow. Adrienne looked back at Daniel and sighed as Dr. Lam walked away toward her med station.

"Go see what Dr. Grumpypants wants," he joked and Adrienne laughed.

"It is hysterical to hear even you call her that now," she answered and walked over to the doctor, reluctantly, smiling back over her shoulder at Daniel who was being led over to another table by Vala, a scolding looking of her own in her face and a small purple gadget in her hands. Teyla was being checked out by Jennifer Keller when Adrienne arrived, that pleasant smile still entrenched across her face.

"Teyla, you're lucky, not a scratch. I think you can go!" Jennifer said enthusiastically as Dr. Lam looked Adrienne over, but Teyla didn't leave, she just stood and waited for the doctor to conclude.

"Just the cut on your finger, but you're fine. It's a miracle," Dr. Lam reported to Adrienne, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Thankful to have avoided another lecture, even though this clearly wasn't her fault, Adrienne shrugged and stood, thanking her politely. This time, Teyla seemed ready to leave.

"We are alright. Everyone is alright. Thank the gods," Teyla said.

"I know, usually someone is taken away on a stretcher, so I think we lucked out," Adrienne responded, looking ahead for Daniel.

"Yes, we were lucky this time. But next time, or the next. We never know. That is why you must cherish what you have as long as you have it," Teyla advised, one final suggestion, placing her hand on Adrienne's shoulder before walking away.

"What was that all about?" and again Daniel was behind her.

"Seriously, we are changing your nickname. No more Indy. It is officially Eric," she turned around to face him.

"Why?" he laughed, "Does he have to get Pam out of trouble? Because I seem to get you out of a lot of trouble."

"No," she laughed, "but he's always popping up behind Sookie and scaring the bejeezus out of her."

"Sookie huh?" he teased, looking behind them to see if they had any unwelcome visitors.

"Yes Sookie. She got pretty badass at the end of Season 3 and into 4," Adrienne played, noticing that his hands were no longer bandaged, "What happened to your little accident?"

"I guess that makes Vala Pam, getting Eric out of trouble and driving Sookie crazy. Snatched up Carolyn's hand device and used some left over Quetesh to patch me up," he explained, holding up his palms and waving them. Pleased, Adrienne smiled, reaching for his hands, taking them in her own and disregarding the crowd around them.

"Indy, can we go back? I'm hungry and we need to talk," Adrienne requested quietly, suddenly nervous by her words.

"You hungry? So what else is new?" Daniel joked and swept his hands in front of himself dramatically in the direction of the gate, peering over his shoulder behind them.

"Is everything alright?" he whispered, worried that something was wrong and she stopped, gazing up into his breathtaking eyes.

"Everything is wonderful. Listen, I need to run to my quarters, I'll meet you at your room in an hour ok. Trust me, everything is just perfect," she stressed the last word, reaching for his fingers and squeezing them lightly. Nodding, and trusting her, let her step through first, pausing to look back at the caves before turning and slipping through the wormhole.

He sat in his room thinking, about what Cam had said, about what he had done. The colonel had a point, he had acted rashly, but he wasn't quite sure if that would change one way or the other, whether or not he and Adrienne were together.

Maybe this wasn't for the best, if Cam knew maybe he and Adrienne should cool it, maybe he should stop trying to push them a bit further.

Sitting there quietly on his bed, Daniel thumbed through the written memory of the only time in his life he had ever felt like this before, thinking about his future with a woman he never thought he'd have.

She felt so silly doing it, but Adrienne had dashed to her room and showered, changing clothes when she got out at least seven times before deciding to keep it simple, a black skirt and tights with a silky navy blue tank top, not even bothering with perfume or too much make-up, just putting on enough to hide a few blemishes. Daniel loved her for who she was, and had seen her at her highest and her lowest, still insisting she was beautiful, but she still wanted to look pretty for him; she wanted him to know that in her eyes he was worth every effort. Taking a deep breath as she looked at herself one more time in the mirror, Adrienne smiled.

"You deserve happy. Daniel makes you happy," she told herself, grabbing her backpack and slipping out into the hall.

"It's open," she heard him shout moments after knocking. Taking a breath, she turned the knob and pushed the door open, peering slowly and cautiously inside and there was Daniel, sitting on the edge of his bed with a small leather book in his hand, a leather book she knew well. She closed the door behind her and stood there, not approaching him, afraid of the look on his face and instantly forgetting her entire rehearsed speech.

"I haven't pulled this one out to read in a long time," he said to her without looking up, opening the book slowly and thumbing through the pages listlessly. Adrienne's heart was racing inside her chest, making her knees grow weak, the look on his face making her unsure as if this was the right thing to do.

"Why is that?" she asked, a question that she had never asked him, fearing it crossed the line between best friends, even between two people that loved one another, fearing what he had written inside that book.

She wasn't jealous, how could she be jealous of someone who was no longer there, someone she actually looked up to the more she learned about her, but it still tore her up inside.

That journal made a small part of her feel that she would never live up to Shar'e; that she would never be good enough for him.

"Because it reminds me of a different life, one that I lost," he answered quietly, still turning the pages and not reading them, having yet to make eye contact with her.

"Daniel, I'm - " she started, but he put up his hand, silently halting her words.

"You see, I'm not supposed to be happy. That time ended for me," he continued, closing the book in his hands and setting it onto his nightstand.

"I'm not following," Adrienne answered, confused.

Was he trying to tell her to leave?

Should she go? She knew he loved her, but maybe he was having second thoughts; that maybe love or not this wasn't meant to be.

"And then you. You show up and just throw a kink into everything. Don't you understand, this wasn't supposed to happen?" he looked up, smiling, no sadness, no tears, nothing but sheer joy in his face.

"Sorry," she answered, smiling back, biting her lip slightly as she did when she saw him rise from the bed. Without a word, Daniel walked over to her and placed his hand on her cheek, running his fingers down her jawline tenderly.

So what if Cam knew? Yes, he probably needed to be a little more rational when it came to Adrienne, but never in his life had he ever felt like this before, never had he been so happy, so at peace, and he wasn't about to let her slip away.

When he reached her chin, he grabbed it lightly, turning her face upward toward his own and he didn't say another word, just leaned in carefully and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her slowly and gently and then broke away, looking down at her, asking her with his eyes if she understood exactly what she was offering him.

He knew, he must have known, and for what seemed like an eternity they stood in the dim light of his room facing each other without saying a word.

Finally, taking it as a signal that she had been wrong, that some things really were meant to be, no matter how hard you fight them, no matter how scared you are, Adrienne leaned up to kiss him again, with more passion that she had ever kissed him before, hoping that he could read in her kiss that it was alright. Reaching behind her head, Daniel pushed the door closed, engaging the lock and turning out the light.

Consequences be damned.

They didn't need words any longer, their kisses were enough. Adrienne reached behind his head and pulled his lips more forcefully to hers, sliding her tongue out and into his mouth, kissing him more frantically then she had ever kissed him before. She could taste coffee on his lips, able to tell he had used some of her hazelnut creamer rather than his own. When his tongue met hers, she continued to explore his mouth, running her hands sensually down his back.

They broke apart once more and looked at each other, breathless in the dim light of the room, Daniel taken aback by her behavior, but she nodded her head slowly.

"I'm ready," she whispered quietly, taking his face into her hands. Lovingly, he gazed down at her in the dim light of his bedside lamp one final time making sure it was alright, making sure that her gorgeous brown eyes understood that he was going to take her to his bed and show her how he had felt about her for all of these heart wrenching months.

Standing on her toes, Adrienne wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him lightly on the mouth, the cheek, his ear and neck, lingering there for a moment, pecking lightly up and down his throat and he turned his head, letting her lips caress his skin, before jerking back suddenly. Adrienne was startled for a moment until she felt him lift her into his arms, like he had done so many times before, sometimes playing with her and other times to save her, but this time he was lifting her for a different reason, one she wanted now more than she had ever wanted anything else in her entire life.

He was going to make love to her.

And she was ready...

**(The M version is listed separately, the SAME story WITH the love scene- go to my profile) **

"Ad?" he whispered into her ear, holding her so tightly in his arms, but she was asleep.

Laughing at the absurdity of it all, that he had just made love to her for the very first time, and here she was asleep in his embrace before he even was able to tell her why, that this wasn't just sex, that this was so much more than he ever expected.

That she was the surprise he never expected.

Laying back on the pillow, he held her closely, kissing her head.

"I love you Adrienne, my besherta, and we're going to make this work. I can't live without you," and he lay there in the darkness, his soulmate in his arms, until he followed her to sleep.


	35. Chapter 34 - Breathe

_Ok, ok, MAYBE this SHOULD go in side stories but oh well..._

_I couldn't resist the sap._

_:)_

"Oh shit!" Adrienne sat up in bed, swearing and looking over at the clock. It was 8:30 in the morning and she would have no time to go to the grocery store, get what she needed, make it back to her apartment and bake and she started to panic, racking her brain for an alternative. Noticing her abrupt exit, Daniel rolled over in the bed, reaching for her arm as her head whipped back and forth, her teeth already making quick work of her bottom lip.

"Oh shit what?" he asked, still waking up himself, running his fingers slowly across her bare arm. Ignoring him, Adrienne leapt from the bed in search of her clothes.

"Oh shit I forgot that lunch at Sam's and I'm supposed to bring dessert and I have nothing. What are you supposed to bring?" she asked, demanded really, running her eyes all over the floor to find her t-shirt lying at the foot of the bed, hanging off of the corner. She dashed over to grab it, throwing it over her head as she scanned the room for the remainder of her personal effects, including her underwear.

They needed a better system than this every morning; this was getting a bit ridiculous.

"Sodas," he replied sleepily, not getting up from the bed. He just didn't feel the need to race out of bed anymore, everything he wanted was right there.

Well, was right there.

Right now, 'everything' was standing that the foot of his bed making a face at him before throwing a pillow square at his nose.

"Sodas? Do you realize how sexist that is? You just get to pick something up; I'm expected to make something," she fussed, only half serious; she just liked to mess with him, more now than ever before, now that they weren't just in limbo, now that she had and was able to give herself to him in every way. Frowning, Daniel rolled back over, turning his back to her, pulling the covers up his naked torso.

"What are you talking about make something? I thought you couldn't cook? We'll just stop by a bakery on the way, you can get whatever you deem appropriate and then we'll go," he replied, pulling the blanket back up over his shoulder and stuffing his head into the pillow. Adrienne huffed and sat down forcefully onto the bed, trying to act like she was annoyed, glaring in his direction.

"WE can stop by the bakery on the way? WE will go? I thought WE were hiding this little thing we have going on here?" she asked, pushing at his arm, giggling. He didn't turn to face her, but she could feel him laughing lightly and trying to hide it underneath her hand that she was resting on his shoulder.

"We are, but WE are always together anyway so unless I go into Sam's with a big neon sign saying 'Adrienne and I are sleeping together' no one is even going to notice," he replied and paused, waiting for the attack and as expected, she slammed the pillow onto his head once more.

"You're a smartass," Adrienne teased.

"Only when you're armed with a pillow and nothing more," he replied, chuckling before adding, "come back to bed." Adrienne rolled her eyes but pulled back the covers and did as he requested, crawling over to him and he rolled back over quickly, pulling her into his arms.

"This is not a thing; this is a relationship," he corrected, kissing her ear and Adrienne sighed out, letting herself melt back into his embrace.

"I know, I was just giving you a hard time," she responded, leaning back to kiss his lips gently.

"Uh huh," he said as he laid his head back down on the pillow. Knowing that she had no intention of escaping his arms, Adrienne let out a sigh, glancing over at the clock to see that it was 8:45 a.m., plenty of time if she wasn't expected to make anything. They could just stop by that cute little bakery together like a normal couple and get some of those amazing Canolis or something close.

_Like a normal couple..._

"Daniel?" she asked, the tone of worry seeping up once more.

"Yea," he said from behind her, sounding like he had fallen back asleep.

"Are we ever going to be able to stop hiding?" she continued, hoping not to upset him. It's not that she wanted or felt the need to rub it in everyone's face, but now that she'd let herself accept this fact that she was going to be in an intimate, romantic relationship with Daniel, sneaking around like they were just felt, inappropriate.

"When I'm certain that Woolsey can't ship you to Area 51," he answered honestly.

Anticipating his answer, it was the same every time, she reached under the covers to where his arm was wrapped around her waist and pulled his grasp tighter, wanting the physical reassurance that he was there.

"You're sure no one has any clue?" Adrienne asked yet another worried question and Daniel shook his head in the pillow.

"Other than Teyla, who loves Woolsey as much as the rest of us, no one has a clue. Well, there's Cam and he's too worried about having his team dismantled again which is part of the reason why I haven't told Sam. Trust me. They've all just given up on me, so we just need to keep going on like nothing is happening. Just act like 'siblings' is what Cam says," he replied.

"Oh that's a comforting thing to tell your girlfriend," she teased, but Daniel just laughed.

"Ad, I'm going back to sleep. Don't move me until ten. That gives you a full ninety minutes to come up with something else to worry about," Daniel informed her, kissing her ear again and hugging her tighter.

"Fine," Adrienne pouted, a tiny part of her seriously worried inside, but allowed herself to relax in the comfort of his arms, closing her eyes.

At ten when Adrienne woke up again Daniel was gone.

She heard the shower running and figured that he must have finally gotten up remembering that they needed to be somewhere at twelve, Sam's, and that moving and getting ready might be a good idea. Slightly annoyed that he hadn't woken her up, choosing to shower alone instead, she decided to go get even with him, in the best way she could think of.

Standing from the bed she tiptoed to the bathroom and opened the door as quietly as she could. She could see his silhouette behind the shower curtain as he rinsed out his hair and she pulled the door closed, but not all of the way, dashing to the kitchen to get a cup of ice water returning quickly to the bathroom, pushing the door open. Daniel was still in the shower, but this time she could see him with sponge in hand like he was going to wash himself. She tried not to laugh as she stepped quietly over to the shower when saw his shadow look up, his head pointing in her direction.

"You're up," Daniel said from the other side of the curtain, "why don't you join me?" he invited.

Dammit, Adrienne cursed herself, not at getting caught but at having to turn down his tempting offer; she could never get enough of melting into his arms, kissing his lips, running her hands across him under the warm stream of water, but not now; now she was a woman on a mission.

"I'd love to shug, let me get this shirt off," she answered, as seductively as possible, hoping it would have the intended effect.

"Don't keep me waiting," he pleaded playfully as Adrienne tried to contain her laughter.

This is going to be too good, she thought, hoping he didn't catch her snigger.

"Oh, I won't handsome," Adrienne responded as she reached the curtain. She started to pull it back like she was going to slip into the shower with him, instead peeking inside to make sure that he was where she wanted him and he was, leaning over and washing his leg, water droplets cascading down his back. Ordering herself to focus despite her burning desire to rush into the stall and take him right then and there, she quickly stood on her tiptoes, pouring the cold water over the curtain.

"What in the hell!" he screamed out loud and she heard him drop the bottle of body wash, swearing in at least three languages. Bruising her butt in the process, or at least it felt like it, Adrienne fell to the bathroom floor laughing hysterically, tears forming in her eyes.

Daniel ripped back the curtain, not angry, but cracking up himself, stepping out of the shower glaring at her.

Dear god, she thought, I will never get sick of seeing him naked, but before she could say anything at all he leaned over and lifted her into his arms, t-shirt and all, tossing her gently into the stall, reaching over and turning the water to cold.

"Shower alone Dr. Rowan!" Daniel joked and grabbed a towel from the rack, wrapping it around his waist, still laughing at Adrienne who was now standing in the shower trying to frantically warm the water again all the while laughing and swearing up a storm in cajun French. She peeled off her wet shirt and threw it at him as he tried to flee the bathroom but missed, the t-shirt slapping the bathroom door with a wet splat, Daniel's laughter easily heard from the other side.

Pulling the curtain closed with a frustrated yell, Adrienne grabbed the shampoo, trying to shower quickly before Daniel got any other crazy ideas.

About five minutes later, record time really, Adrienne shut off the shower and reached for a towel from the rack and thankfully felt one. Luckily Daniel had chosen his retaliation to occur outside of the bathroom, so Adrienne just wrapped herself up and stepped out preparing for the worst. He had partially closed the bathroom door, so she opened it cautiously, looking left and right, noting the coast was clear.

"What have I done to this man?" she asked out loud, laughing about how playful he had become with her. They had had fun together before that night, two weeks ago, when they had made love for the first time and since then it had been absolute paradise.

It was a perfect work situation; everyone thought that after the cave-in Daniel and Adrienne had some kind of heart to heart and come to the decision that they were better as sort of pseudo siblings, all but Cam at least, who still looked at them during team meetings like Daniel was going to just throw Adrienne on the table and take her right there in front of everyone.

For the rest of the group however, such assumptions worked great for them, particularly because Daniel was terrified that if Sam's superiors found out he was in a relationship with his assistant that he would lose her and lose everything. The next morning, after their night, after she had given herself to him completely, they both went to work like normal, acting like nothing had happened except for a few stolen glances or hidden smiles. As night rolled on, everyone dashed off of the base, happy for the weekend and some leave granted while Sam deciphered what information the Tok'ra had given them, so no one even paid attention to Adrienne leaving in her beetle to go back to her apartment, Daniel following her only minutes later without a word to anyone else on the base.

They had gone back to her apartment, ordered dinner in and didn't leave the apartment, or answer a phone for that matter, until Monday morning when they had to return to base.

Back to work on Monday was like nothing happened, including a short two day mission that week where they slept side by side as normal, their fingers clasped lightly but hidden so that no one would see. The next weekend was the same, posing as their typical best friend geek fest movie night on Friday, this time locking themselves in Daniel's place for the weekend.

They didn't just spend the weekends in bed together, although it was love making like Adrienne had never imagined, soft, gentle, long and breathtaking, but they had fun, doing everything together from playing games, to kidding around, to just teasing one another in ways they were too worried to do before, too worried about what the other one would think. It was honestly the most fun Adrienne had ever had in her entire life; she was madly in love with her best friend and life just couldn't get any better, except for being able to tell people about it.

That, she thought, would be nice.

However, the biggest surprise of all was Daniel. Not only couldn't she believe that she was so relaxed with him, that she was able to be with him like this, but he was just so different now. He'd always been a little mouthy, but lately he had gotten spunky and he played right back, taunting her, playing with her. He'd even proven to be somewhat of a romantic, in ways she never expected. The night before, after they'd eaten a lovely dinner that Daniel had dashed down to the Italian restaurant to procure, he'd opened a bottle of wine and pulled her into his lap, singing opera loudly and playfully into her ear. She remembered turning around and slipping the glass from his hand, pushing him down onto the floor and making love to him then and there, the taste of the wine still on his lips, his singing a whisper in her ear as she rode him lightly, sitting in his lap as he held onto her. It was so magical, so perfect, and afterward he had carried her to the bed and proceeded to tickle her until she tackled him, pinning his neck as he tried to laugh, which is exactly what she was worried was going to happen right now.

She had taken a few steps to the drawer in his dresser she was now stowing things in when she heard a sound behind her and turned, just in time to see Daniel grab her, pick her up again, walk her over and throw her down onto the bed, Adrienne landing with an uf.

He jumped up, pinning her with his body weight, reaching down for her sides.

"Don't you dare," she threatened, laughing already.

"Dare do what?" he asked, beginning his torture.

"I'll launch you off this bed Indy, I swear fo gah," she retorted as he started to tickle her, working his way up and down, Adrienne trying and failing to hold back laughter and tears.

"And how will you explain that? Huh? If I get hurt?" he teased as he continued, "Sorry Dr. Grumpypants, Daniel and I were rolling around in bed, he was tickling me, oh yes, I was only wearing a towel, you see I'd just gotten out of the shower and wanted to play rough and I threw him off the bed. Please don't yell at me," he continued, his voice a mock female southern accent, until she was laughing so hard that she was screaming she couldn't breathe. He stopped, leaning forward, kissing her slowly, letting himself get lost, before he felt her grab him and throw him to the side.

Frowning, she pointed over at the clock.

'We've got to stop foolin' around; Sam's expecting us and I need to get a cake or something," Adrienne declared and Daniel stood, his cheeks flushed slightly at his own behavior, walking over to the dresser to get some clothes to for himself.

Digging around for a moment, he pulled out a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt and turned, stepping into the pants when he paused, a crazy thought in his head. Peering back at Adrienne, Daniel pointed to the drawers, about to say something he had never said before.

"I can consolidate so you can have two drawers here if you want, or three, make things easier," he offered, his voice trailing at the end as if he couldn't believe he had just said that.

Adrienne smiled, not only at the gesture but because for Daniel to be offering for her to invade his space he was serious, very serious and despite Adrienne's insistence in the past that she remain single forever, with Daniel, serious didn't seem so bad.

"Only if you want to," she answered, starting to get dressed herself but unable to take her eyes off of him. Eight weeks later, eight weeks since she told him how she felt about him, eight weeks since he had looked her in the eyes and promised her that he would never hurt her and she was still in complete disbelief that this was happening. She watched him begin to pull the black t-shirt over his head, changing, getting ready for his day like her presence there was just normal, like she had just always been there.

"Wear a blue one," she requested before he could finish pulling it down. Daniel paused, looking at her strangely, over his shoulder, fists of fabric halted at his chest still showing his perfect stomach.

"Excuse me?" he clarified and Adrienne stood, pulling a purple long sleeved shirt over her head and walking over to him smiling, wrapping her arms around his waist and gazing up at him.

"You have the most amazing eyes I've ever seen," she whispered, "and when you wear a blue shirt they stand out even more. Wear a blue one please," she repeated.

He smiled, shaking his head, but stood back and pulled the t-shirt off, opening the drawer and reaching in for a new one. He showed her a blue shirt, getting a smile in approval and put it on, laughing lightly as he did.

"I'm now letting a woman dress me," he teased, Adrienne refraining from comment as she pulled her jeans up to her hips, feeling her own cheeks flush. She was indeed dressing him, she just wanted to stare at him, and she felt like for the first time there was a person that she just couldn't take her eyes off of. Deciding to leave her hair as it was and put on her make-up in the car, she followed him out to the jeep to go, walking on air with every step.

She did have to admit though, dream come true or not, Adrienne was getting a little sick of him being right.

As Daniel had predicted, when they arrived together no one cared other than a set of raised eyebrows from Cam as though he could sense what they had been doing like some wild animal. Daniel, however, had already come up with a story of Adrienne wanting his opinion on some antique furniture that they were going to go look at after the party so they had just consolidated vehicles. They bought the excuse, or so she hoped, Sam taking the pastries from Adrienne and ushering them into the house without another comment.

The party itself really wasn't for any special occasion, Sam just wanted to beat the winter blues and dreariness of DC winters with a fun Sunday lunch with her friends. Sam herself hadn't been seen for weeks, every free waking moment spent on information from the Tok'ra, information that was coded in a complicated fashion and that Sam had only shared bits and pieces of with the rest of the team, mostly Daniel because of his own dealings with Anubis. He'd told Adrienne some of it, how much of what he knew she wasn't sure, but what Adrienne did know that was beyond gathering personnel; Anubis was on a cross galaxy shopping spree of ships, weapons and supplies, using what the Tok'ra believed were a collection of assumed identities. It chilled Adrienne to the core, even as she laid there in Daniel's arms every night, listening to the more detailed versions of their interactions with various system lords, terrified her that he, the team, the SGC would not be able to stop what their old enemy was planning. Sam must have thought the same, feeling they needed some sort of get together, even if it was just for an afternoon.

The lunch was uneventful, a rarity for their group, an oddity that could probably be blamed on everyone's apprehension from work transferring out, apprehension that had Daniel and Adrienne not been living in such a perfect escape for the past few weeks would have sucked them in. At about 2:30 Daniel made their excuses so they could leave, going back to the furniture story.

Everyone said goodbye to them and they left without problem, just like Daniel had said. He gave Adrienne the 'I told you so' look over his shoulder as they put their coats back on at the door and she kicked him playfully, the gesture escaping everyone's attention but Cam, of course, who had started to act as if everything they had done before when they really were just friends was all of a sudden an indicator of their relationship affecting their work.

Adrienne make a mental note to try to talk to him first thing tomorrow, to see if there was anything else she needed to know.

Once they were in the Jeep and safely out of the driveway Adrienne reached her hand over to Daniel's leg slowly slipping her palm up his thigh.

"So, where are we going in such a hurry?" she asked as they got onto the interstate heading toward the city instead of one of their apartments, especially curious since 2:30 was much earlier than she intended on leaving and there was no antique furniture that needed looking at. Biting her lip, she started to slide her hand up a little further, thinking he planned to pick up where they left off this morning when Daniel laughed, brushing her hand away with a sigh.

"Promise not to kill me?" he asked, glancing over at her, a look of discontent on his face as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, gazing back out at the road.

"Oh no sha, what did you do?" Adrienne asked, worried, her thoughts back to last night before bed, Daniel recounting how for a short time Anubis had possessed his body. Chills rocketing down her spine, Daniel, sensed her concern, reached over and squeezed her leg, rubbing it quickly before pulling his hand back to the wheel.

"It's what I didn't do, so I could run away with you two weekends in a row. We are due a check back in again with P3X-888, nothing Anubis related I promise. I was supposed to take our data from last time and go through some other things the IOA is going to have us check out. We leave tomorrow and I told Sam I'd finish it all this weekend, since we've been busy with that side mission and going through the intelligence most of the week," Daniel admitted, sheepishly, the first time in his life that he had allowed her personal life to come before his work.

Adrienne blushed, her mind floating back through the events and details of the weekend, every last one of them...

"And instead we ate take-out, watched movies, played a Monopoly marathon and well..." she teased reaching across to his leg again, unable to control herself.

What had gotten into her?

She had never acted like this before in her entire life.

Now it was Daniel's turn to get red in the face.

"Stop ja-wer, you can't do that to me in the car," he responded, laughing, using his pet name for her. He'd first called her that last weekend as he kissed down her neck so sensually, making her pause and push him away.

"Ja-wer?" she'd whispered, her Egyptian lacking.

"Yes, ja-wer," he replied, sitting back on his knees giving her a moment to translate.

"My or I for ja, I got that, but wer..." she trailed as he smiled softly, waiting, "love, heart, soul. Oh my god..." she glanced back into his eyes, tears in her own ebony orbs.

"You are, you're my everything," he'd whispered so softly, laying her back down on the bed...

"We're going to the lab," he continued, interrupting the memory, "and I was hoping you would help so we can get done faster, and then we can go get sushi or something before we have to eat Unas food for a few days."

This time Adrienne reached for his shoulder, leaning over the console between the seats, kissing his cheek softly.

"Of course I'll help you sha, all you had to do was ask," she said, returning the favor with a pet name of her own, one that she had heard used a million times before back home but never had used herself, not even with Joshua, the closest thing to a fiancee she had ever had.

"I love you," he answered in reply, glancing over at her quickly and then back at the road.

"I'll never get tired of hearing that," Adrienne replied and reached to turn on the radio.

Two hours later, Adrienne made her way over to Daniel's desk, passing over the iPad, a smile of satisfaction across her face.

"Alright Indy, everything we did last time, in short hand, on a spreadsheet so we can easily compare what we find this visit," she showed him flicking her finger around the screen, "with the additions you gave me and," she dramatically clicked around some more, "a nice little chart to compare."

Raising his eyebrows he peered up at her curious.

"As long as what I write on paper can be transferred to that thing we are fine," he joked, knowing full well how to use the iPad, hell he used it all of the time now, as Adrienne shook her head at him, her boyfriend, the technological dinosaur, and started to walk away when he pulled her down into his lap, kissing her passionately. Sliding the iPad over onto his desk and out of the way, she turned her body to straddle his lap, kissing him deeper, her hands behind his neck and his slipping down below her hips. They kissed for a long, breathless moment until she pulled away cocking her head behind her.

"Cameras," she said, unclasping her hands from behind his head and pointing over to the corner behind her desk. Chuckling, Daniel just kissed her head, reaching his hand for her face and running his fingers lightly down her jaw.

"I know, they can't see over here. I just wanted to kiss you; is that a crime?" he asked and Adrienne smiled, throwing her arms up onto his shoulders.

"Never," she replied, letting herself get lost in his eyes for just a moment, leaning forward to softly press her lips to his lightly and then stood, grabbing the iPad, talking over her shoulder as she walked back to her desk.

"My place?" she asked and Daniel stood, beginning to shut things down.

"Yeah, dinner?" he asked, looking at the clock as he continued to close folders and books and various other items. Adrienne started to answer when her phone buzzed in her pocket and she fished it from her jeans pocket, frowning in confusion.

_Can you separate yourself from him for five minutes?_

It was Vala and Adrienne shook her head, more out of annoyance than worry. Vala still knew nothing, she was suspicious sure, but she had no clue as to what was really going on and Adrienne had no intention of changing that.

"Do I want to know?" Daniel asked, clicking off his desk lamp.

"Not really," Adrienne replied, "but I think we're gonna have to start coming up for air."

"Well that's no fun," he answered, walking up and wrapping his arms around her from behind and peering over her shoulder to see the source of their interruption. She leaned back into his grasp, shooting off her answer.

_What's up mon ami?_

"She's gonna mess up our plans..." Daniel said at her ear, moving his lips to kiss her neck softly, lower and lower until she shrugged him away laughing.

"Air, Daniel, air. What have I done to you?" Adrienne teased.

"You woke up a monster," he responded, continuing his gentle kisses when the phone buzzed again.

_Get dressed or whatever, just ditch him and come by my quarters. I need your help with something. _

Adrienne peeked back at him and turned, reaching her arms up to his shoulders and gazing in his eyes.

"Look, go to my place, it isn't like you haven't had a key for a while. I'll go see what she wants and if it's tragic then I'll text you or something," Adrienne offered, knowing that she needed to go if not for any other reason than to prove to Vala that she was not having this little interlude with Daniel, which she might be using this as a ruse to find out.

On the other hand, it was a rare occasion that Vala ever asked for help, so there was a very good chance that something was really wrong.

Giving her a pathetic look, a combination of true disappointment and teasing her yet again, he walked over to pack up her desk, shoving the things she had spread out into her black backpack.

"I guess I also need to take your things to your apartment as well my dear," he mocked.

"Have I told you lately that I liked you better when you were afraid of me?" she replied.

"Often, go see what she wants. I just have to occupy myself," he said and pointed to the door, wanting her to go and get back as soon as possible. Rolling her eyes, but smiling, reading his face as she had learned to do so long ago, Adrienne waved goodbye, slipping out to the housing floor.

"That was fast; did you find what you were looking for?" Vala asked, opening the door to her quarters at Adrienne's first knock. The cajun was lost for a brief second but then caught on quickly, remembering their excuse from earlier.

Yet another reason to hope Daniel can figure out a way for us to go public, Adrienne thought, no more keeping up with your lies.

"No, the sofa was just not in the best condition. I'll have to try further away I guess," Adrienne lied and Vala rolled her eyes, not believing a word.

"Uh huh, that's what you two were doing. Anyway, I just need you to help me with something," Vala said, changing the subject from Daniel and Adrienne in bed together, which was a shock in an of itself, shutting the door quickly behind her, her face deadly serious.

It was a face Adrienne didn't like.

"What?" she asked cautiously and nodding, Vala walked over to her desk, which normally just held nail polish and pulled a folder handing it to Adrienne. It was stamped Intelligence and immediately Adrienne shook her head, handing the folder back.

"Wrong department shug; I'm in nerd studies, remember? Follow around Daniel, bag and tag," Adrienne responded as Vala pushed the file back in her direction.

"This came in the other day. Telford wanted me to take it to Daniel to translate since some of it was in Ancient, but I told him I could handle it, I mean I picked up a little here and there trying to get Glasses to acknowledge that I was alive. But, well, I can't do it," she admitted.

Still confused, Adrienne opened the folder, her dark eyes running across the pages rapidly. It wasn't that bad, looked like some poor photos taken of some ruins, nothing that would concern her and Daniel by the looks of it, and it was clearly over Vala's head. Adrienne peered back up at her frustrated, not really angry with her friend, this was what friends did for one another, but more angry at the situation.

This was going to take hours, hours she would rather spend eating dinner with Daniel, talking to Daniel, kissing Daniel, making love to Daniel. Resigning herself to the fact that tonight she would not be crawling into his loving arms, at least for anything other than sleeping, she let out a sigh, glancing back at her friend.

"You owe me..." Adrienne said, pulling out the uncomfortable military issue chair and taking a seat at the desk.

"Why, did you have a hot date with your little lover boy? Did you ACTUALLY fess up to him finally, or are we still playing the idiot game?" Vala asked and Adrienne cut her eyes.

"If you want me to do this you get to buy dinner. And I'm hungry, so go get something good," Adrienne demanded.

Pleased, Vala smiled and bounced over, wrapping her arms around Adrienne's neck and hugging her friend tightly.

"Thank you and I swear, if you really have told him and I'm taking you away from a night of hot sex or something I'll make it up to you both!" Vala declared.

"There is no hot sex Vala, now food, please," Adrienne restated and Vala turned on her toes, dancing out of her quarters.

"Definitely no hot sex tonight," Adrienne said to herself as she shot off a text to Daniel, glancing at the clock the moment the message was confirmed sent.

It was 5:15 p.m.

She'd told him she hoped this would only take an hour, but sitting here, her eyes running over the contents of the folder once more, she just hoped she was right.

Adrienne had underestimated her favor, really underestimated her favor, being that it was 1:10 a.m. when the taxi pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. Her beetle was in her spot, but she did see the Jeep over in guest parking, instantly relieved that he was still here and praying that he wasn't angry. He hadn't texted her back after his little sad face when she explained what was going on, cryptically so Vala didn't get into trouble, so she was a little worried he would be upset. Locking up the bug, she headed for her apartment door, throwing her messenger bag wearily over her shoulder before trudging to her front door.

When she let herself in, the apartment was quiet and dark so she just tossed her bag onto the sofa without bothering with the lights, walking over to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Grabbing a glass from the cabinet and turning to secure some ice from the freezer, a small slip of pink paper taped to the door of the fridge caught her eye.

_See why I don't do Vala favors? There's a slice of cheesecake in the fridge for you. _

"Dear GOD I love you!" Adrienne said loudly, too loud and felt bad for shouting as loud as she did given his terrible relationship with sleep. As she feared, she heard stirring in the bedroom, the guilt washing over her instantly.

"Ad," his voice came echoing from the bedroom. Forgetting about the water, she headed for the voice, more thirsty for his embrace, opening the door and letting the light of the hallway shine into the room.

"Hey Indy. I'm sorry I woke you," she apologized, dashing to the bed, eager for his touch. She felt him reach out for her, so she extended her hand, squeezing it gently and sitting beside him, relishing in the contact.

"What time is it?" he asked and Adrienne let out a sigh, back to her guilt from earlier.

"One in the morning, give or take. I'm going to brush my teeth and try to nap before we need to get up and go," she said.

Daniel was half asleep and she thought he said ok so she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and got ready for bed. She dashed over to her dresser and pulled out a tank top and shorts, swapping her normal clothes for it and tiptoeing back over to the bed. As soon as she got under the covers she felt him grab her, apparently not as asleep as she thought, and pull her over into his arms so she scooted over closer to him, rolling to face him, kissing him lightly on the mouth.

"I missed you," she whispered and he kissed her lightly again, a little slower than before.

"We're pathetic," he answered and Adrienne just laughed.

"What time do we have to get up?" she asked. Daniel squeezed her even tighter, wrapping himself around her and burying his face in her hair before answering.

"In about four hours," he replied, his warm hug his apology but Adrienne groaned, thinking that she really needed to try to get some more sleep; between wanting to spend every possible second with Daniel and work, she was getting seriously behind in her quota.

"You don't have to go; I can do it myself," Daniel offered, sweetly, even though Adrienne knew it was a lie; he couldn't do it himself, at least not in a reasonable time frame. This time Adrienne did the squeezing, burrowing herself again into his chest.

"No, not happening. And if they put us in that hut again, if it was repaired, I request you join me on that big pallet," she whispered in his ear, not seductively, as much as her body was screaming that it wanted him, right now, sleep be damned, the possibly of being off world, just the two of them, wrapped in each other's arms was just too tempting.

Frowning and shaking his head, Daniel pulled away quickly, gazing down at her the best he could in the dim light of the electronics.

"Ad, I'm not sure we can get away with that. In fact, I'm not even sure of sleeping in the same hut is a good idea..." Daniel replied, trailing, gauging her response and Adrienne sat up in bed quickly, reaching for his face in the dark.

"Wait, what are you talking about? We've never bunked separate, even when we hated each other," she protested, distinctly remembering this past week's venture where he had still tossed his bag beside her and held her hand as they slept.

"Adrienne, I'm going to be honest with you, alright? I've never been in a relationship like this, this professionally distracting, maybe close to this in grad school, but no where near as, Ad, I can't even think straight with you around anymore. I love you, I do, but I'm so distracted. I've never watched the clock before, ever, but every day I catch myself looking at it at least five times, wondering when the day'll end so I can just escape back here with you," Daniel explained, a slow sigh escaping his lips as he finished.

Her shoulders slumping, Adrienne let one out as well, Cam's voice in her head advising her, telling her that they needed to be careful that it didn't affect their work.

"Daniel, I'm sorry," she began, rambling herself, "This is why I kept my mouth shut for so long, I was so afraid that - " Adrienne began and paused, realizing what she had said, what she had admitted.

No one, not one soul knew how long she'd felt this way about him, not even Vala, because how could she admit that?

_Yeah, I hated him Vala, for so long, and then one day as I looked through the haze of confusion, past the burka shroud and into his worried eyes as he carried me to the gate, that my heart knew then and there even if it took my mind a while to catch up. _

She saw him look over at her in the darkness, his expression different, curious, and his hand was on hers then quickly rubbing her forearm.

"What do you mean for so long?" he asked and Adrienne let herself fall back down onto the pillow. They had talked about a lot of things lately, but just how long she had been in love with him was NOT a topic of conversation.

Embarrassed, she turned her back to him and pulled the blanket over her shoulders, pulling away, but Daniel crawled himself over, leaning over her face, smiling, kissing her cheek bone to keep her attention.

How long is she talking about, he wondered in silence, remembering her months and months of harassment about Vala, Satterfield, and others and her declarations that she was never going to be beholden to any man. Wrapping his arms around her, he squeezed tightly, determined to get it out of her.

"No, no, that's not an answer. How long are we talking about? I thought you were my great hold out?" he joked in her ear, kissing it gently, starting to wonder himself if at this point sleep was even worth it.

"I plea the fifth," she answered, embarrassed, giggling so Daniel, knowing sweet was not going to get him his answer, just reached under the blanket and started to tickle her again making Adrienne laugh loudly and roll back over.

"Fine, what about you? For all I know you could have just decided one day that I was willing and didn't have space herpes," she joked, knowing that wasn't the truth, especially with how gentle and kind he had been waiting for her to be ready to be intimate with him.

"That is NOT the case and you know better. I'm not sure when it really started, but I know when I admitted it to myself," he began, reaching to pull her back into his arms and she came, less tense then before, and he kissed her head once she was wrapped in his embrace, knowing he could tell her. He could tell her anything; he could admit to her how long his heart had ached just to tell her how much she meant to him.

"When?" she pushed, cuddling into him once more.

"When I thought I was going to lose you; when they were going to cut your position. I sat in that meeting panicking, trying to figure out who I knew at the Smithsonian to get you a job and how I was going to fit your furniture into my apartment until you were resettled when it hit me," Daniel answered, she deserved the truth and his heart skipped a beat as he felt her sit up and turn, wrapping her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly.

He started to hug her back, smiling, when he felt a drop on his bare shoulder and realized that she must be crying.

"Ad, are you alright?" he asked and she pulled back, tears streaked down her face. Smiling softly, Daniel wiped them away as she smirked at him.

"No 'uns 'eva made me cry so gah damn much as you 'ave," she said, smiling herself at her words and her accent.

"I don't mean to ja-wer," he apologized, resting his hand on her face using those words again, words that made her melt. She shook her head, more tears flooding her face, tears that were quickly wiped away by her love as he gazed into her eyes, concern on his face.

"My date with Dex," she said suddenly, sniffing in and pulling away. Confused, Daniel removed his hand from her face unsure as to what she was talking about.

"What about your date with Dex?" he asked and she laid back down on the pillow a third time, pulling him to her, holding him close. He didn't fight her, just let her wrap her arms around him.

"That night lying in your bed I just realized that the reason the date was so bad was because I was in love with you. I wanted to hear those things come out of your mouth, not his," she admitted.

Really, he thought, and Dex was talking about marriage and futures, topics Adrienne avoided at all costs. Trying not to be too hopeful, he reached down for her leg, rubbing her thigh softly.

"We won't take separate huts, but we can't sleep like this," Daniel relented, fighting the urge to ask her then and there how serious she really was, how serious this was to her.

_Ronon was talking about commitment..._

"I know; I was trying not to think about it. Have we even slept apart since...?" Adrienne said, thinking out loud.

"No," Daniel answered, not counting the mission since he lay there with her, side by side, but he couldn't get away with that visiting Chaka. The Unas would see right through it.

"Sigh," Adrienne said out loud playfully, "we really do have to come up for air."

"Unfortunately," he replied. Feeling better, feeling like she had been worried about nothing, that this was just part of the adjustment process of being with someone, of being in a real adult relationship, Adrienne leaned down and kissed his cheek, letting go and starting to roll over to assume their normal position.

"Well, we should probably sleep since we have to walk to the village and be coherent," Adrienne concluded but Daniel grabbed her arms and kept them wrapped around him, just rolling back over to his side. Smiling Adrienne adjusted to his silent request, kissing his back softly.

"This is new," she whispered into the dark.

"Sometimes we like this too you know," Daniel defended, reaching for her arms like Adrienne would always reach for his now, forcing her to hug him tightly.

"I love you Indy," she said quietly.

"I love you too," he answered and let himself fall back to sleep, this time in her arms.

5 a.m. was too early.

As always, Daniel was up and moving already and Adrienne had discovered over the course of their work relationship, their friendship and now their much more intimate relationship that he just didn't sleep, ever, yet he still looked handsome all of the time, even before his first cup of coffee.

She secretly hated him for it.

Standing from the bed, she saw their two mission bags packed and ready to go sitting over on her desk and Adrienne laughed; he was really too perfect for words. Hearing the shower running, she opened the bathroom door to find him reaching for a towel from the other side, so she handed him one, surprising him she could tell by his grasp.

"Leave it on," she said, "I'm moving." He laughed as he stepped out, toweling himself off right there in front of her.

Oh sweet lord, she thought, trying to calculate how much time they had left before they needed to go.

"Wonders never cease," he teased, "We have to leave in about twenty minutes; I was just coming to negotiate with you."

Adrienne made a face at him, both at the confirmation that she couldn't shove him back into the stall with her and at his relentless teasing about her lateness.

"I'm not that bad," she defended.

"Oh yes you are," he replied, "Twenty minutes or I come in here with the cup of ice water."

Adrienne threw her tank top at him.

They drove separately to work using a little system of deception so people like Vala wouldn't think that anything had happened, and trudged down to the lab to get the rest of their things. Sam, who Adrienne had determined also didn't sleep, was waiting for them, in full dress uniform and a smile on her face.

"You two look tired, is everything alright?" Sam asked as they approached, Adrienne struggling with her bags and her staff weapon. Without a word, Daniel reached over and took Eric from her, trying to help as Adrienne glanced at him, at her boyfriend, not just her friend any longer and noted that he looked ready to roll as usual.

"Took me calling every phone she had to wake her up; she was helping Vala with something until at least midnight," Daniel explained and Sam made a face at him.

"You weren't over at her place?" she asked.

Uh oh, Adrienne thought, knowing I've got a thing for your friend here in one thing, but knowing we followed through with it is quite another.

She started to panic, but Daniel answered right away, the lies just rolling of off his tongue with ease.

"No, I went back to my apartment to sort through some old boxes. Did you call? I thought I heard something but just figured whoever it was would call my cell phone next," Daniel replied deftly, all the while Adrienne thinking how months ago he criticized her for doing the exact same thing.

Hypocrite, she thought, deciding to throw that up in his face later.

"No, I didn't call. Anyway, if you two are alright I told Jack I think overnight should be sufficient," Sam stated, a look on her face that Adrienne swore was disappointment but could have just as easily been Adrienne hoping that they had an ally. Nodding, Sam turned around to signal the dialing of the gate, the large portal beginning to move, each chevron locking loudly into place.

Daniel looked over at Adrienne as Sam stepped away.

"You're a good menteur," she whispered, choosing to call him a liar in French rather than English just in case.

"I don't want anything to mess this up," he replied smiling and together they stepped through the gate, the world of gray and concrete disappearing behind him.

It was much warmer when they crossed to the other side, the season change on P3X-888 in full effect. Adrienne tilted her head back, taking a deep breath and letting the sun wash over her face.

"I've decided that in another life you must have been a beach bum," Daniel said, shaking his head at her dramatics as he looked around to see if anyone had come to greet them but not a soul was in sight. Noticing the same, Adrienne tossed her pack down and started peeling layers, intent of taking in as much sun as possible. As she began to peel her jacket away she felt hand on her shoulders and lips at her neck and smiled, peeking around her shoulder.

"We're on a mission," she teased, chills running her spine as Daniel just kissed his way up to her cheek and pulled back, readjusting his glasses on his face.

"I know, but the coast was clear and I wanted to get in one last..." he started when Adrienne just whipped around and began to kiss him passionately right at the gate, reaching for his tac vest to undo it, getting the zipper down and she felt herself start to get carried away, looking around for somewhere they could run off too, just for a little while, so she pulled back.

"Last time," she breathed out, "I swear." Daniel laughed, refastening his vest and looking to see if they had any witnesses to their indiscretion.

"This is what happens when you hide it for so long, it slams you like a storm. Next time, I think I'll say something sooner," he said and raised his eyebrows, hoping she would catch the suggestion, which she must have, since as soon as he was a few steps ahead her jacket smacked him in the back of the neck.

"Next time? There better not be a next time Dr. Jackson," she glared at him, but he didn't turn around, just shrugged his shoulders, as he headed for the village, wondering if she understood the suggestion of permanence in that statement.

They were about a half a mile from the gate when they heard a familiar shout and looked up to see Chaka with a fellow warrior walking their way.

"Daniel! Addy!" he shouted, saluting them joyously. Adrienne smiled, no longer afraid of the large man that was approaching them, waving back with as much glee as he stopped to embrace his friends, hugging Daniel tightly first and then Adrienne.

As he squeezed Adrienne, however, he paused, pulling back, his foreign eyes scanning their bodies in curiosity as he stepped back, looked at them strangely and then approached them both a second time, sniffing them like a dog. After only a few sniffs, he backed up again, his expression changing, a wide grin spreading across his green face.

"Addy mate!" he declared and Daniel laughed, shaking his head at Chaka, remembering the last time they visited Chaka he had confused Daniel's female assistant as his mate. It was true this time, but Daniel still didn't want to announce it to the world just yet, his mind already racing as he imagined Adrienne shipped off to some far corner of the galaxy.

"No Chaka, we went over this before," Daniel began, "Addy is my friend." Chaka, nonetheless, frowned, shaking his head muttering something in the Unas language before switching back to English.

"Daniel love Addy. Daniel say love Addy," Chaka retorted.

Shocked, Adrienne looked up at Daniel, trying to calculate how long it has been since they were at the Unas village last.

"You told Chaka before me!?" she asked incredulously and Chaka was laughing, speaking to the other Unas beside him. Nodding, the creature walked up to Adrienne and began to sniff her, crouching down embarrassingly lower to mutter again in Unas, something that must have been quite shocking as Daniel was turning about fifty shades of red in the process. He stepped over to Daniel, doing the same, the archaeologist hand pinching his nose underneath his glasses and then stepped back, laughing and looking at Chaka.

"Rithe say Addy mate," Chaka stated, "Addy smell of Daniel. Daniel smell of Addy. Mate!"

Finally clueing in on the extent of their examination, Adrienne began to laugh uncontrollably, her palms on her thighs, peering over at Daniel who looked so mortified that he would run and hide if that was an option.

"It's just Chaka. I'm sure that Chaka can keep a secret," she said, trying to control her giggles for the sake of her boyfriend, who let out a sigh, looking back over at Chaka, defeat on his face.

"Yes Chaka, Addy mate," he admitted so Adrienne reached out and grabbed Daniel's hand tenderly interlocking their fingers. Nodding and smiling brightly, Chaka reached out for Adrienne stomach, rubbing it in a forceful and circular motion.

"Mate have baby?" Chaka asked and again Adrienne coupled over with laughter as Daniel was shaking his head quickly.

Composing herself, Adrienne glanced back up at Chaka.

"No, no baby," she answered causing Chaka to look at Daniel with concern.

"Sad," Chaka replied and finally Daniel laughed.

"Chaka, it's different on Earth. Remember how woman can be warrior? Well, two people can, well, you see, they can," amusement over as quickly as it began, Daniel started to stammer and turn red as Adrienne tried contain her laughter, "be a couple without trying to make a baby, or make one, or," Chaka looked confused again and came up to smell Daniel once more, leaning down to where Daniel did not want a face before rushing over to do the same to Adrienne.

"Daniel work. Addy work. Why no baby?" Chaka continued as Adrienne tore her backpack off of her shoulder, tears now streaming from her eyes, pulling out her iPad, and pointing it at Daniel.

"What are you doing?" he asked, clearly flustered, his neck now as red as his face.

"I want to document how the brilliant Dr. Jackson explains Taur'i courting rituals and birth control to the Unas," she said lightly and he shot her a vicious glare, turning to try to explain to Chaka once more.

"Daniel love Addy. Maybe someday a baby, but not now. Right now, Daniel wants to be with Addy. Just Addy," he explained. Adrienne made a face of disappointment at how rational and simple an explanation he had given, putting the iPad down and the Unas smiled, apparently accepting the reason.

"Chaka happy Addy mate. Daniel love Addy," he said and turned back for the village. Stuffing her iPad, sadly, back into her bag Adrienne stepped forward to follow when she felt a hand grabs hers, interlocking fingers and looked back at Daniel surprised. He shrugged, squeezing her hand and pulling her closer to him.

"You said it's just Chaka," he argued, "And for the record I told you first. YOU were asleep, like always."

"Fine, just Chaka. But we need discuss this 'someday a baby mess' sha," she joked, squeezing his hand and walking onward to the village.

It took them a bit longer than last time since the IOA had requested they take soil and mineral samples as well, including specifics regarding where they were taken. Trying to break their tasks into sections, they worked separately on the same things that they had before and met up again for Adrienne to enter the data into the iPad before gathering the rest of the information.

It was sunset when Adrienne finally looked up at Daniel to show him what they needed to do next only to notice that he was sitting there, on the floor of the hut, a rebuilt version of where they had stayed before, just smiling at her.

"Ok, ready for part two," she said slowly, unsure as to how to interpret the look on his face. Standing, Daniel walked over to her, shaking his head and grabbing the iPad from her hand, putting it back into her pack and tossing it over to the side. That grin still plastered across his face, he reached down, pulling her to her feet.

"Let's do part two tomorrow; we don't have to be back until eight," Daniel said leading Adrienne out of the hut with him offering no further explanation.

"You're turning down work?" she asked, "What have I done to you?"

"I'm not turning down work. We'll get it finished, in the morning. In the meantime I would like to do something with you that we can't do at home," he explained, leading her over to the large grassy field on the outskirts of the village. Adrienne was confused but followed, blushing as he held her hand in front of all of their friends, more than one of which had noticed the two archaeologists were now together rather than colleges.

Well, either noticed or Chaka was about as good of a gossip as Vala, it was hard to be sure which.

At the edge of the field, the village now a blip in the distance, Daniel sat onto the ground, facing the horizon, guiding Adrienne to take a seat as well in between his legs. She did so, a smile of appreciation on her face and sighed, leaning back against him, letting him wrap his arms around her and kiss her cheek.

"Good idea," she admitted as the sun began to slip its last rays into darkness, changing even the air around them it seemed, giving it all a more romantic quality. Smiling, relishing in the scenery and the scent of her hair, some tropical shampoo that she had been using lately, Daniel hugged her tighter, never wanting to let go.

"I'm glad you approve. We have to be so careful back home we never just get to sit and enjoy something like this," he replied a small part of his heart longing to stay here forever, with her, letting this perfect dream become his reality.

"It's winter back home. Maybe by the time it gets this warm we'll be able to tell everyone," Adrienne said and Daniel sighed, rubbing his hands down her arms briskly.

"Maybe," he answered quietly, his tone telling her that he didn't have the answer she wanted to hear. Breathing in, Adrienne reached for his leg, rubbing his shin and squeezing herself between his calves.

"You have no plans of telling anyone do you?" she asked, leaning her head back on his shoulder and letting him caress her cheek. He was scared, more so than her, for different reasons she knew, but it still concerned her, made her question how far she was going to allow this to go.

"Ad, I don't want you to get the wrong impression, I don't. I love you. I love this; but I'm so worried that this will blow up in our faces," he breathed out, pausing, hoping that she wouldn't be angry but she just sat up and turned around, kissing him softly.

"I am too," she admitted truthfully as she backed away from his lips, keeping her face so close, close enough to nuzzle her nose at his, "Think about how it makes me look, the minute this comes out every single thing I do is going to be credited to our relationship rather than my work. I don't want to push anything either," she said, the last part a lie, knowing in her heart that she just wanted him to say to hell with the world, giving her the reassurance that this all wasn't some colossal mistake she was to live to regret.

Wanting more reassurance, wanting his touch again, she leaned in to kiss him quickly, turning to looking around them, the fires of the Unas village popping up in the distance as darkness enveloped the sky. It was just so breathtakingly romantic that worries or not, she just couldn't pass up the opportunity here in front of her. Glancing back over at him, she laid herself down into the grass, pulling him slowly on top of her.

"Adrienne, what are you doing?" he asked, but was starting to catch on as he felt her hands at his waistband, slowly pulling apart the buckle at his belt.

"Something else we can't do at home," she replied as she started to kiss his neck, lingering at the spot she had now learned was going to get her the response she wanted.

Daniel awoke confused the next morning in a field of grass with Adrienne in his arms and no recollection as to how he got there. Glancing up and around, the sun rising over a collection of small huts and other crude structures in the distance he suddenly remembered the night before, every last amazing detail.

Thankfully, they must have taken the time to get themselves somewhat dressed because he could see Chaka approaching them fast, arms waving as though he was very concerned about their location and well-being. Embarrassed, Daniel put his head in his hands, rubbing face before looking over at his sleeping companion, pulling slowly from her and shaking her gently.

"Adrienne, ja-wer, wake-up. We never made it back to the hut," he admitted out loud, cringing to hear himself say that.

Add this to the list of things he had never done before, well, coherent and knowledgeable...

Adrienne stirred and squinted as the bright sunlight shone on her face.

"What? Oh no..." she said and sat up, adjusting her tank top. Daniel just laughed and made a face at her.

"You've ruined my life Adrienne Margaret," he said and kissed her, standing to signal his friend. Finally realizing, remembering rather, what had happened, she laughed from the ground, pulling his pants leg to get his attention.

"Oh come on, never?" she joked.

"Not that I can remember happening willingly or not under some crazy ass drug," he replied honestly, brushing the dirt off of his pants, quickly refastening them as well; guess he'd missed that last night too.

As the Unas approached, they could hear Chaka laughing, clearly understanding what had happened.

I guess this could be worse, Daniel thought to himself, Sam could've caught us.

"Daniel! Addy! No sleep in village!" Chaka was shouting.

"No Chaka, we fell asleep watching the sunset. We're just fine!" Daniel shouted back.

"Correction, we fell asleep in the darkness after mating in the great wide open," Adrienne joked.

"Ad!" Daniel scolded.

"He can't hear me," she said and shook her head as she stood, adjusting her own uniform and fixing a few more intimate articles just in time, Chaka coming to an abrupt halt in front of them.

"Morning food ready," he said to the both of them. Still ashamed and flushing, Daniel grabbed Adrienne's hand and walked with her to the village, hoping that Chaka wouldn't want a better explanation or details on the way back.

Thankfully he didn't.

They managed to wrap up everything in a few hours, packed up their gear and bid the Unas farewell, Chaka still babbling on the entire way to the gate about how happy he was that Daniel finally had a mate.

Daniel made sure to stress to Chaka how he needed to not tell anyone that he and Addy were together because they might take Addy away from him which didn't take a whole lot of convincing since Chaka didn't want anyone to take Addy away, so he agreed to pass the word around the village. It was just cover, Daniel knew, because no one would believe him anyway if he slipped after the confusion last time, but Chaka's care and effort to keep the secret was appreciated anyway.

Sam met them at the gate and was pleased that nothing went wrong as it normally did. She requested they drop the information by Rodney so he could run some analysis on the samples and for Adrienne to send copies of their findings to Jack and the other powers that be.

Parting for the first time in over twenty four hours, Daniel grabbed the sample bag heading for Rodney's while Adrienne decided to swing by the lab and hook her little gadget up to the mainframe there to send their data off to Homeworld Command.

Two hours later, Adrienne sat at her desk waiting for the information to upload, a small rainbow colored circle taunting her as she stared at the screen, hypnotizing her into sleep. She was more tired than she thought, they really hadn't gotten that much sleep last night she recalled, blushing at the memory. It was taking forever and she didn't want to be caught face on keyboard, so Adrienne clicked on her favorite internet radio station and slipped on her headphones.

Turning the corner to the lab Daniel saw her, headphones on, dancing away in her seat as he caught the sounds of her music pouring out of them. It sounded like hard core rap and Daniel just laughed, remembering back when she was first hired and how he had hated the sound of that music more than anything. He still didn't like it very much now but it reminded him of her, of her smile and of her optimism and of happiness, and in that case he would listen to Eminem or Fifty Cent forever.

Shutting the lab door behind him, he walked over to switch off the camera in the corner, hoping that Sam wouldn't notice and tiptoed over to Adrienne's desk, pushing her hair away, and kissing her neck lightly. Startled, she jumped slightly before easing into his arms, sliding down her headphones and turning to face him.

"Indy, what are you doing?" she asked but Daniel didn't answer, just clasped her hands, pulling her to him.

"Cameras," Adrienne cautioned, pointing over to the corner of the room, not trusting the look in his eyes.

"Shut off," Daniel answered, lifting her up into his arms.

"Forgot to mention something the other day," he said as carried her over toward his desk. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips, pulling back to respond to his leading statement.

"What is that?" she asked, curious but unable to break her gaze into his magnificent eyes to see what he was talking about.

"Remember that cot I wanted, the day we interviewed you?" he asked and Adrienne laughed, remembering the story. Daniel kissed her again, interrupting her laughter and smiled.

"It arrived last week," he replied, cocking his head over to the corner of the lab where a small cot had been positioned, catty cornered behind his desk.

"I thought we were going to come up for air?" she asked not meaning a single word that crossed her lips.

"Tomorrow," Daniel said as he laid her down onto the cot, crawling on top of her, "let's come up for air tomorrow."

Adrienne didn't argue.


	36. Chapter 35 - Deception

_Sap AND naughtiness (PG-13 naughtiness) AND some story arc :) _

_Enjoy! _

_I know you hate today. But let's pretend for five minutes that I'm dating someone normal._

Adrienne found the note, in French, folded and taped to her computer screen, sending her imagination into a frenzy of worry as she tried to determine what exactly his words meant. They had worked late last night, again, but Adrienne had gone to bed a few hours before he had, slipping into his quarters like she always did now, quietly, hoping no one would notice, only to miss him again this morning, this note being prime evidence of that. Adrienne was confused though, the message was too simple, and missing their coding system they had resorted to use to plan their evenings.

Much to Daniel's delight, they had hidden it pretty well so far, work by day and their sordid love affair, as Adrienne liked to call it, by night. Other than a few code words they created for when they needed to figure out who was sleeping where and when, Adrienne's favorite being Bon Temp, their code for her place, there was no indication to anyone else that anything was going on.

She felt like Sookie Stackhouse, waiting for late night rendezvous with a forbidden lover.

In fact, she had even tried to get Daniel to refer to his quarters as Fangtasia, having fun reminding him that in the deep recesses of her brain that he was akin to Alexandar Skarsgard and therefore had nothing to worry about, but he wouldn't give in citing that while Bon Temp sounded French enough to be confused with her normal cajun slip ups, Fangtasia was a clear advertisement as to what was going on. So, it was Bon Temp sha? and depending on how late they were working dictated whether or not Bon Temp meant her apartment or quarters.

The best part was that it seemed to work and it helped them be able to plan things a little better to avoid detection, even Cam didn't seem to catch on and Adrienne felt like he was watching them both every chance he got.

Their one problem, though, was Vala who seemed to think something was up and wasn't going to stop prodding until she had her answers.

Just yesterday she had stopped by at the tail end of the conversation regarding the evening's plans when Daniel had said no to Bon Temp, worried about a knock on the door by a concerned neighbor the night before asking if Adrienne was alright since they had heard screaming. He was still mortally embarrassed, having locked himself in the bathroom for thirty minutes after the incident and wasn't about to discuss another option but his quarters, where he was certain Adrienne would not be inclined to shout anything in cajun.

Or so he hoped.

But it was kinda nice she appreciated, his, well, talents so much.

He gave her "the look" and had left to run something to Sam seconds before Vala, a gigantic grin on her face, sauntered into the room, having caught his last words.

"Why are you two always talking about going to Bon Temp?" she asked in an accusatory tone

, "Is there really such a place in Louisiana? I thought you said there wasn't." She stood; hands on her hips, a confidence in her face as if that was going to be what made Adrienne spill the dirty details.

"No, Vala," Adrienne replied, worried her friend was catching on but playing it cool, "I've gotten him to start reading the books."

"Really?" Vala asked, not believing her, but her tone changing slightly. There was no way Daniel would read them, he made fun of both of them for doing so; Daniel hated True Blood, but then again, maybe he was trying to impress Addy...

"Yea, really," Adrienne responded confidently, knowing inside he was going to kill her. As the weeks passed by, Vala grew more and more nosy and Adrienne was running out of excuses, a fact which she had pointed out to her dear significant other, who prior to the start of their little relationship had condemned lying in all forms.

For such a vehement condemnation for so long, Daniel Jackson had become a damn expert at stretching the truth.

Case in point, a few days ago at lunch Adrienne had slipped and said something about Daniel needing to see Dr. Lam for allergy medication since he was snoring loudly in her ear the night before when everyone at the table stopped eating, a collection of curious eyes, Cam the leader of said eyes, staring in their direction. Adrienne thought Daniel was going to choke on his sandwich, his face in shock from across the table, but he covered quickly, telling her that it was sad that she could hear snoring from the next room, to stop exaggerating, and thanking her for her concern. That seemed to calm everyone down, they knew that Daniel and Adrienne spent the night at one another's apartments and that they had cooled down the sharing a bed thing to dispel rumors.

Once again Daniel had proved his prowess in the lying department knew no bounds.

Everyone believed him every time, everyone but Vala, who cut her eyes at them the rest of the meal.

"How far is he?" Vala inquired, calling her bluff and Adrienne's heart started to race.

"Uh... book three," Adrienne lied, trying to remember what happened in book three. Why didn't she say he just started? Book three? He was going to kill her but Vala nodded, albeit with that look still in her eyes.

"I hope he hates Lorena as much as I do," Vala responded, dropping the topic quickly as she walked over to Adrienne's locker to steal the vitamins she evidently came for.

Lately, Adrienne had taken on Vala as her pet project, noting that while Vala was very thin and attractive, she wasn't very healthy and often complained during fitness testing. As a result, Adrienne was trying to get Vala to eat healthier and so far she was doing a pretty good job. Standing, she showed Adrienne the bottle to make sure it was the correct one, Adrienne starting her on Omega 3's first and the archaeologist gave her a thumbs up. Without any more prying or mocking, Vala thanked her and left, allowing Adrienne to continue her work.

"Hey," she said as Daniel came back about fifteen minutes later, her voice trailing to indicate that this was more than just a simple greeting.

"Yea," he answered, not looking at her, and not catching on.

"Uh, you need to start reading the True Blood books," Adrienne informed him and he paused, standing at his chair and peering over his glasses at her.

"Why?..." he inquired, fearing what he missed on his quick trip down the hall.

"Vala's getting wise; it was the best I could think of," Adrienne said, not apologizing.

"You owe me," he replied, frowning, as he sat down and cued up his computer.

"Whatever, sha, sleep alone," she replied, laughing and Daniel shook his head, a half of a smile on his face, thinking that sleeping alone was the last thing he wanted to do, ever again, and continued with the task at hand.

That was yesterday.

She was in his bed alone when she went to sleep last night, Daniel still eyeballs deep in something from Sam, and she was in his bed alone when she woke-up this morning, the only indication that he had joined her at all were a pair of dirty BDU's tossed onto the edge of the bed. Adrienne had fully expected face on keyboard upon her arrival to work, knowing there was no way he could be functioning on that little sleep, and was preparing herself, going over in her mind exactly what she could do to him, but the lab was empty all except for that note on the computer screen.

Smiling, a part of her hoping that this was coming despite her protests, she checked the date on her screen to confirm it was indeed Valentine's Day.

Damn him, she thought, as she wondered what he had up his sleeve.

Tucking the note into the pocket of her uniform pants, Adrienne started to sit and cue up the database when the phone at her desk rang.

"Archaeology," she answered cheerfully, the thought of her love's plan for later brightening her day.

"Hey, it's me."

It was Daniel on the other line and Adrienne beamed, excited to start the fun with him bright and early.

"Good morning sha, I missed you last -," Adrienne began, her voice lingering across those final words, but Daniel quickly interrupted her, clearing his throat loudly.

"Ad, sorry I didn't call you back to answer your question last night, but can you grab my computer and head up to the briefing room?" Daniel asked professionally. That was close, Adrienne thought to herself; she had almost told him exactly what she missed from last night.

She needed to get herself together.

What had this man done to her?

"Sure thing," she answered, hoping her voice didn't give away what she had meant earlier, because, listening to the noise in the background, she could tell he had her on speakerphone.

"Alright, see you soon," he replied and hung up.

"So much for Valentine's Day," Adrienne said out loud to herself, the tone she had been able to read in his voice being that work tone, and began to do as he asked, walking over to pack up his computer.

When she got to the briefing room she saw Daniel, Sam, Vala and Teyla were waiting, seated, the whiteboard cued up to some images of a collection of ships in some portion of space and each person in possession of a manila folder labeled top secret.

Weird group, she thought to herself as she reached into her messenger bag to pull out her boss' machine, stepping completely in the room.

"Hi Adrienne," Sam greeted her, "thanks for bringing that down, sorry to call you away from the database. You can get back to what you were doing," Sam reached out and took Daniel's computer from her hands, carefully passing it over to him, and he retrieved it without so much as a word of thanks to the woman that now shared his bed.

Shrugging, wondering why Sam was apologizing, it was only a walk of about 100 yards, Adrienne peeked over at Daniel who gave her that, 'I will fill you in later' look. Curious, but knowing Daniel well enough to walk away for now, he would fill her in later for sure, Adrienne turned to leave when Vala spoke up.

"I think Addy should come with us," she said, "after all three is a bit more believable for these kinds of things. Odd numbers mean teams, evens mean couple and a couple can be taken advantage of."

Adrienne turned around confused as Daniel was looking over at Vala, his face lacking any sort of emotion at all.

"I said no," he stated plainly as he opened up his computer.

"And I still don't understand why not. She's a member of the team and has done missions like this before on numerous occasions," Vala retorted, glancing over at Adrienne, who just stood there, completely lost.

"I just don't think it is a good idea, she doesn't have experience in this field," Daniel replied, looking to Sam for support.

"She can read Goa'uld," Sam said, not taking either side.

"So can the entire archaeological staff," Daniel responded.

"But there are only three females on that staff Daniel," Teyla offered, hoping that Adrienne would be the logical choice for third since Vala got on her nerves, Adrienne would make a great buffer and Teyla trusted that she would have her back in a fight.

"Yes, and I'm sure Satterfield would be thrilled to go," Daniel offered and Adrienne made a face. Adrienne wasn't too keen on Satterfield and Daniel knew why, a reason that kind of made him smile with pride, not that it mattered what Satterfield thought about him one way or the other, but that Adrienne cared enough to be jealous in the first place.

"Adrienne speaks the language, can fight, with a staff weapon, and knows everything about the Anubis situation that you do. Sam, it's my mission and my team. I want Addy. End of discussion. She's his assistant; not his property," Vala stated her case, casting her eyes at Adrienne on the last word, knowing that would be something she could agree with. Still completely lost, Adrienne looked at Sam, wondering what in the hell was going on, and could see the general nodding her head in agreement while her boyfriend sat there with an evil glare on his face.

"Alright, Adrienne, have a seat. Welcome to Intelligence," Sam said pointing to a chair at the end of the table. The cajun sat slowly, unsure, tossing her bag to the ground.

Daniel didn't even look at her.

An hour and a half later Adrienne and Daniel were heading back to the lab, Adrienne's head spinning with a plethora of information.

The mission was simple: Sam's intelligence from the Tok'ra indicated that Anubis was acquiring motherships from Lucian traders, lots of motherships, but no one could figure out where the ships were being taken once they were purchased. It looked as if he was growing a fleet, somewhere and for some reason, but beyond that, they had nothing other than a detailed lists of the purchased items.

Immediately faulting the Tok'ra for wasting so much of their time on such little information, Vala had proposed taking on her old persona of a space pirate with an all female crew as she had in the past, in order seek out the information they needed. She had insisted on a small ensemble, a crew of three, all hand-picked from her friends at the SGC including herself, Teyla and Adrienne. What she'd suggested during the presentation was this, go in, offer to sell a ship on the black market, one of the older models they were keeping around for research, and trace the interested buyers.

For Vala, this seemed to be cut and dry, and even Sam didn't seem to think the plan was too complex or dangerous, however Adrienne was just shocked that she hadn't been aware of that much of a covert operation going on just a few doors down from her pages of Asgard history and headphones of rap music.

Peeking behind him to make sure no one else was watching Daniel glanced back at Adrienne who was walking briskly behind him.

"Are you allergic to anything?" he asked in a whisper, peeking again, paranoia all over his face.

"Not that I'm aware of, why?" Adrienne replied, confused.

"Damn it, that'd have been easy to fake, trust me, I'm an expert on allergic reactions. I gotta come up with something else," Daniel answered, looking ahead and racking his brain, chewing his bottom lip as he continued to march onward.

"Fake an allergic reaction, why? Indy, what insanity are you babbling on about?" Adrienne asked, grabbing his arm and stopping him in the hallway once again completely confused as to what was going on.

It looked like it was just going to be that kind of morning.

"To get you out of Vala's mission," Daniel answered simply, as if he couldn't fathom Adrienne not having the exact same idea. Shaking her head, she laughed at him and kept walking down the hall, leaving him behind.

"You're so funny sha. I'm not going to spill ok. Do you think I want her to find out about us when I'm locked alone with her in transport ship?" Adrienne asked, coding herself into the lab. The light turned green and she peered back at Daniel, raising her eyebrows playfully before she opened the door, letting herself in.

"No Ad, I don't want you to go alone," he said, shutting the door behind them and engaging the lock, turning around himself to see Adrienne glaring at him, arms crossed across her chest.

"So... that's how this is gonna go? We're together and suddenly I go back to the helpless female?" she said, teasingly.

She knew she could handle herself.

He knew that she could handle herself.

She was just touched he worried.

"No, I don't think you're helpless, it's just that I -," he tried to explain but she didn't let him, leaning in, grabbing his uniform jacket and pulling their faces together. She started to kiss him slowly, his mouth opening to invite her in, when she felt a vibration in her pants pocket. Sadly, she backed away, reaching in to secure her cell phone, Daniel still hanging on to her belt loops, his lips sliding slowly across her cheekbone. Pulling away reluctantly so she could read the message, she saw that the text was from exactly who she thought it would be from: Vala.

_Ditch glasses. Meet me in my quarters._

"I've been summoned," she said as she showed Daniel the message and he let go of her waist, shaking his head, his mind back to the reality that this mission was happening, with Adrienne a part of it, and he could do nothing to stop it.

"God knows what she has up her sleeve," Daniel said as he stood back from the door, opening it quickly before anyone could get suspicious, they really needed to stop pushing their luck, stepping away from Adrienne who was laughing and shaking the phone in his direction.

"I think she wants me to dress the part," she explained, a grin still plastered across her face.

"You have fun with that," Daniel replied, watching Adrienne peek around to corner of the doorjam before racing back over to whisper in his ear.

"It just might be... if you're following me. Love you," she taunted, kissing his cheek before slipping out of the lab, headed for the elevators. He watched her leave, pushing away the image of Adrienne in a torn Lucian pirate get-up, thinking to himself that it really was nice not being single.

"Ok Miss Perfect, you won't get yourself off of the mission, then it's time to get myself on it," Daniel declared, trying to refocus on his original goal this morning, marching over to the phone on his desk to call Sam.

"I'll consider it Daniel," Sam said, "but I think it's a bit risky." Sam was sitting across from him in the briefing room once more as he lay out his plan to get on the mission, a plan he felt she just couldn't ignore, however, and much to his annoyance, the general didn't appear convinced.

"I don't," Daniel replied, "Remember when Vala stole the Prometheus? It would have looked questionable if she didn't have me as a captive. That helped her sell the entire exchange," he lied yet again. Vala had pretended he was her partner, not her prisoner, but Sam didn't know that...he thought...

Sam sighed, wondering silently to herself if Daniel had bothered to tell Adrienne yet how he really felt about her. It was quite obvious that he felt the same way as she did, as he sat here in her office telling her a bold faced lie about something he had given her explicit details about years ago. There was a slight chance that they had told one another; Sam knew about what had almost happened after their meeting with the Tok'ra, she knew Adrienne had left the meeting right after Daniel and neither of them left his room the rest of that night and since she had noticed it was slightly harder to get a hold of old friend.

Sam hoped that she knew where Daniel was, and if that was the case she was happy for them and thankful they seemed to be very discreet because discreet she could cover.

"I'm going to call Jack first. I'll let you know, but Daniel this information is too valuable to let it slip us by. We have to let Vala take lead on this," Sam said as she stood, heading to her office, giving him the silent cue to leave and Daniel rose without further argument, smiling as he turned.

She's gonna cave, he thought to himself as he reached for his phone in his pocket.

"Howdy Indy," Adrienne answered, her choice of 'howdy' signaling that she was still with Vala. Let the plotting continue, he told himself, clearing his throat again before speaking.

"Fangtasia," he replied simply, and waited for her response.

"Wait, what? You just said, did I just, are you," she was stammering into the phone, just as he had hoped and if he had his way, everything, original plans and new were going to go just as he had hoped.

"Yes, I did. Fangtasia, off, seven," he clarified, and hung up the phone, turning into the lab to continue the execution of his plan.

Adrienne arrived at Daniel's apartment as requested, her stomach home to a swarm of butterflies, wondering what he had done. Taking a breath, she knocked at the door rather than use her key.

What is he up to, she thought, because I know him and not only to call using a True Blood term, in that voice of his, but to do so in such a secret fashion, he's got to be up to no good.

To claim that he was so bad at dating and being someone's significant other, Adrienne was pretty impressed with the job he was doing so far and their entire relationship was still a secret.

What was it going to be like when it was finally safe to tell?

There was no answer, her nerves quickly turning to panic, when the door opened, Daniel peeking his head through grinning from ear to ear.

"You're late," he smiled and Adrienne looked at her cell phone which read 7:04. Glancing back up at him, she made a face, rolling her eyes.

"Really, you are going to hold me to four minutes? Seriously? This is practically early for me," she teased, pushing at the door to let herself in and without a word, Daniel stepped back, still smiling, watching her as she entered the apartment, her eyes widening with each step.

The apartment smelled spectacular, like spices and wine, the lights dim and soft classical music playing from somewhere setting a mood that was so surprising to Adrienne that she looked back at Daniel in complete shock as he was closing the door to the apartment. Tears in her eyes, unable to believe that this man not only loved her this much but that he understood her, she walked over and wrapped her arms around him, gazing into his eyes.

"What did you do?" she asked rhetorically as the scent gave away the answer clearly, "I hate Valentine's Day." Running his hand down her cheek, he leaned in to kiss her, touching their lips together gently and slipping his hand behind her neck. He broke away, leaving his face close to hers.

"I know you do. There are no flowers. There is no candy. There are no balloons or anything commercial. I just made you dinner," he replied and kissed her lightly again, pulling back and cocking his head over at the table.

Mystified by it all, she hadn't bothered to look much beyond the living room, and, well, him, but now that she did she saw his tiny dining room table set up with two places, nice china dishes rather than their normal plastic plates and a burgundy candle in a crystal holder lit in the middle.

She didn't even know he owned stuff like that.

Shaking her head, she made her way over to her table completely impressed.

Somehow, in this tiny apartment the man had managed to cook salmon, asparagus and cous cous, Adrienne's favorite meal, the smell emanating from the kitchen giving away their dinner to come. It made her feel even more special that she meant enough to him that he had taken the time to do this, considering the things he had told her about his past failed relationships and the thought brought tears to her eyes. She turned around to kiss him again, but saw he was in the kitchen apparently adding more to the surprise.

"And..." he said pulling a bottle out of the fridge, "...I have a nice chardonnay." He set the bottle on the counter and rushed over to get her chair, taking note that she was still standing at the table. She was so flattered by all of the attention that he was giving her that she didn't make on single comment about her hatred of the Hallmark holiday or the degradation of women just let him seat her and bring her some wine. Her cheeks were flushing she was sure, as he brought over each of the pans, serving her, making sure everything was just perfect before he sat down himself, looking over at her to make sure she was pleased and she was, in fact, she couldn't stop smiling.

"You made all of this?" she asked, "for me?"

"Yea," he nodded, pointing the fork at her plate, eagerly waiting for her to try it. She did, slipping pink meat past her tongue, the perfectly cooked fish melting in her mouth.

It was to die for and Adrienne looked at him in utter shock.

"Wow," she said, "I had no idea." He grinned at her evilly and sipped his wine.

"You don't know me as well as you think you do," Daniel replied, satisfied to surprise her, picking up his fork to start eating himself.

Still in a state of disbelief, Adrienne wanted to tease him a bit more about these hidden talents, see what else he might have cooked up, literally, when there was a knock at the door and they both looked at each other confused.

"Who is that?" Adrienne asked.

"I have no idea, maybe a kid selling cookies or something," Daniel replied, remembering that last year he had been roped into buying an entire case of the damn things.

"On Valentine's Day?!" Adrienne questioned and Daniel shrugged, folding his napkin and setting it on the table, standing to walk to the door when there was yet another knock.

"Daniel, it's me Sam; I wanted to talk to you about what we were discussing earlier," the shouting came from the other side sending both Daniel and Adrienne into a spiral of panic.

"Shit," Adrienne said, "what do we do?"

"Make it look, less, well, romantic," Daniel hissed, starting for the door to let Sam in, scanning his living room for any indication that Adrienne was staying here for the night. Her yellow duffle was on the floor, so he reached over and grabbed it, throwing it into his office, slamming the door behind him.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Adrienne asked, standing now and staring down at their dinner, their poor dinner.

_Damn it Sam!_

"You hate romance, right, make it look Adrienne normal," he replied as he dashed to the door, opening it slowly. Working quickly, Adrienne leaned over the table, blowing out the candle and rushing it to the kitchen, waving her hand frantically to dispel the smoke, leaving the beautiful candlestick, she swore that he didn't have candlesticks before and this looked expensive, wow did he buy this for her, focus Addy focus, and she ran back to mess up the table a bit and turn on the TV.

Daniel peeked behind himself before opening the door to make sure Adrienne had ruined his set-up.

Why did he have such bad luck?

Why in the hell couldn't he just get one break, one damn break, he thought as he turned the knob and there was Sam standing at the other side, still in Air Force dress uniform, brief case in hand.

"Hey Sam," he said confidentially, "Shouldn't you and Jack be out having a romantic dinner?" Daniel asked.

_Like I am trying to have, with my girlfriend. _

Her face telling a different story, apparently no romance must be in her imminent future, Sam made a groaning noise, indicating that she wanted to come in. Cutting his eyes quickly behind him, hoping Adrienne had sufficiently destroyed his careful planning, he saw her bringing the two plates, well two new plates, their typical plastic plates, to the coffee table in front of the TV and breathed a sigh of relief, stepping aside to let Sam in. She walked through the door, complaining about Jack getting called into a meeting with the Joint Chiefs and having to cancel their dinner reservations when she saw Adrienne entering with two plates, stopping her procession forward.

"Oh, Daniel, am I interrupting?" Sam asked, looking at Daniel for confirmation of what he knew her brain was concocting.

He didn't know what to say; for all of the times that he could respond quickly to a government official or a Goa'uld or Ori bad guy, he never could think of think of anything quickly when it came to things like this.

For one brief moment he actually considered tell her everything; she couldn't really fire Adrienne if they had gone this long and remained completely professional.

Could she?

"No way Sam, this is my anti-valentine celebration. I'm hanging out with my best friend, eating a non-romantic healthy meal, and we're going to watch a zombie movie. Down with commercialism!" Adrienne joked, poorly, damn it she was such a bad actress, Daniel thought as she set their plates on the coffee table, cueing up some old fashioned gore as promised.

Adrienne, unsure if she was convincing enough, quickly changed her strategy.

"I think we have extra Sam, especially since bureaucracy has rained on your own parade tonight," Adrienne offered, more believably, and Daniel glared over at her, trying to tell her with his eyes that he did not have any more, that this was dinner for two, as Adrienne making a face of her own, begging him to step in and get them out of this.

_Of course she isn't going to stay, she knows that I love you idiot, but can you just help her get us all out of this awkward situation?_

"No, no that's fine. I'm going to meet Jack at his office in a few, salvage what we can, I just wanted to let Daniel know that I thought about what he said and he's right, you're right. Can you be ready to leave with the others tomorrow?" Sam answered Adrienne and turned to Daniel conceding like he knew she would, the tall handsome man doing the best he could to not smile in glee.

"Yeah, that's no problem," he replied, Adrienne looking at him confused.

What in the world were they talking about, being ready tomorrow?

He didn't...she thought, her eyes widening, her jaw dropping.

"Alright, but remember, you have to play the part, no interfering. You'll be the link between us and command, message anything you find as soon as you find it," Sam said, her arms crossed looking at him, a small part of her still appearing unconvinced.

"Of course, I already grabbed some things from Rodney. I'll be ready. I'm gonna just go in standard Lucian attire, that way it will look like Vala stole the ship from me and kept me for collateral or as a bargaining chip. Makes it look more convincing than just conveniently showing up with a ship," Daniel continued to explain as if he hadn't won his argument.

"Alright, well, I just wanted to swing by and make sure. I'm going to get Jack and I take-out from the curry place down here, so I figured I would stop by instead of call. Again, sorry to interrupt," Sam apologized a second time, glancing over at Adrienne, a look in her eyes that the cajun woman could easily ready, but Daniel blew off her comment.

"I'll be ready in the morning Sam. Go get your curry, I'm sure that Jack would like to see you sometime today," Daniel said as he followed her to the door, seeing her out, hoping she didn't say anything else to make this situation any more questionable or awkward, especially since in about two minutes he was going to have to explain himself out of a completely different awkward situation.

Sam wished them both goodbye and left, and Daniel turned slowly to look at Adrienne waiting for the blowback.

Adrienne, who was now standing in front of the television, glaring at him, her arms crossed.

"You bastard," she spat, her eyes, those dark cocoa eyes of hers giving him a look that he hadn't been on the receiving end of in a long time. Reaching out for her, Daniel stepped forward, hoping she wouldn't punch him, the reaction in that past that would have matched that glare.

"Adrienne, look, I just can't let you," he started but she walked up, her expression changing, placing her hand over his mouth gently.

"So, I've discovered two hidden talents in one day. Not only can my boyfriend cook like a pro, but he's an amazing weasel," she teased, keeping her hand over his mouth. He was relieved, kissing her palm, but she didn't remove her hand, evidently having more to say.

"One condition," Adrienne stipulated and he nodded, since her hand wasn't going anywhere and this was much better than getting yelled at for undermining her or making her look helpless.

"You're my prisoner, got it?" she said, smiling evilly, stressing the word my.

His eyes got big, a sudden inappropriate thought flooding his head.

"Stop thinking like Vala," she teased, shoving him onto the sofa. So much for a romantic dinner, she thought and started the zombie movie, grabbing her plate to finish her amazing meal with the most considerate man in the world.

A part of her felt that she should be mad at him for going behind her back, but instead she was just flattered that he cared so much, because she did too; Daniel had become her entire world. Smiling, she leaned her head over onto his shoulder, popping a spring of asparagus into her mouth.

"Sorry our evening got ruined," Daniel added, adjusting her only so much as to get his own plate, resigning himself to luke warm fish and the undead.

"It's ok sha, I think this is pretty damn impressive. It's sweet; I love you," Adrienne replied, sitting up, eating her cous cous.

"Thank you. I love you too," he answered, cutting into his fish.

"Still hot sex tonight?" she asked, playing more than anything, although she had to admit that was on the agenda especially after the effort.

"Absolutely," he responded, without missing a beat.

"I want him in chains," Vala ordered over her shoulder to the cadets standing with them to aid in their departure.

"Absolutely not!" Daniel shouted in response, his outburst echoing throughout the gateroom, drawing even more glances from passersby.

Vala had found out just this morning, actually about thirty minutes ago, that Daniel had managed to talk his way into the mission and she wasn't happy in the least, intending to make the entire experience as miserable as possible. Shooting a glance at Daniel, who was standing there dressed like a Lucian trader getting ready to unleash a firestorm of hate on Vala, Adrienne warned her love with her eyes that he had gotten himself into this and needed to get his rage under control.

"Look, Daniel's much larger than all three of us, if he's not shackled, it's going to look quite suspicious," Vala protested, a poor excuse since she had taken him and other men to the ground before, on more than one occasion. Daniel too looked over at Sam as if he was getting ready to argue his case when Adrienne walked over to him, sweeping him with her leg and knocking him to the ground. Dropping to her knees, she pinned his throat with her knee, looking up at Vala, a smile on her face.

"I don't seem to have a problem taking him down," she said, "Why don't we just go with some fake Chewbacca-like shackles?"

Teyla and Vala looked confused, but Sam, having endured years of her husband and his best friend's Star Wars obsession knew exactly what she meant. She nodded her head and motioned for the armory head to go get some, hoping the word fake was enough to make him understand what she was requesting. Infuriated, Vala stormed up to Sam protesting, going back to complaining about Daniel being allowed on the mission at all, so Adrienne released Daniel, reaching to pull him to his feet.

"Thanks," he whispered as he stood, Adrienne smiling, looking behind her quickly before leaning down to whisper to him.

"No way that woman's puttin' chains on my man, if anyone is chaining you, it's me," she said under her breath, her accent just audible before patting his shoulder and walking away, over to Teyla, who was double checking their supplies.

Swallowing, Daniel made sure to return his jaw to an upright position, trying not to imagine what she could have meant by that; that just didn't seem to be her thing.

It really was nice to not be single any more, for more reasons than one.

An hour later they were finally ready to go, Vala leading the group, Teyla following and Adrienne bringing up the rear with their prisoner. They gated to Langara, where Jonas was waiting to take them undercover to the small pirate vessel and from there, Vala would fly them to a small planet on the outskirts of primary Lucian territory where she was to meet with an old contact in order to set up the sale.

It was a two day flight to Lucian space, two days of Daniel, alone with three women, the one woman he wanted three days alone with he couldn't even really acknowledge, in fact, he was starting to regret opening his big mouth.

At first, Vala insisted that he be kept in the holding cell, but Adrienne had convinced her that as long as the shackles were nearby it would look as though they were keeping an eye on him, just in case. Vala rolled her eyes and gave in, more for Adrienne's sake than Daniel's; she knew she would miss him, even if she was too stupid to tell him that she loved him, however, it wasn't too long before Daniel wished she hadn't.

"Definitely Alcide," Vala said, leaning back in the pilot's chair drinking her soda.

"Which one is that?" Teyla asked, looking at Adrienne's iPad where the ladies had cued up some silly game based on that ridiculous show. Holding up her finger as she swallowed, tossing the now empty bottle aside, Vala leaned over and grabbed the machine, flicking her finger around to cue up the correct episode. She hit play and leaned back again, signaling Teyla to come join her.

"That one," she said after a few moments, pointing selectively as the screen as Teyla watched the large muscular man strip his clothes to the ground, change into a wolf and dash off into a swamp.

"Dear gods yes," she answered, handing the iPad back to Adrienne.

"Yeah, but Addy here likes them tall, blond and lanky," Vala said, reaching for the iPad again to fast forward the same episode. Smirking, she handed it back to Teyla and the Athosian woman watched the scene unfold, her expression not quite as excited as it had been just a few moments before and then returned the tablet back to Vala, shrugging at Adrienne.

"I think the wolf is more attractive," Teyla stated, Adrienne not responding, just biting her lip nervously and Daniel could see her getting red in the face. Poor Ad, he thought, she's trying not to hurt my feelings. He felt bad for just a moment, he didn't care in the least that Adrienne had a crush on the actor, he was just an actor, when Vala spoke again, breaking his train of thought.

"But Addy likes the bad guys, she wants an evil man. Eric Northman's evil and she loves him. You probably like it rough too, don't you Addy?" Vala asked as Adrienne got redder, most likely for a reason that Vala didn't understand.

Daniel coughed, deciding to play a different angle and get her out of this conversation.

"Uh, I'm sitting right here, a male, who doesn't want to hear this," he argued, peeking over his glasses at Adrienne to make sure that she was alright.

"Yes, and you insisted on coming and you wanted to sit here with us. This is what women talk about, so, you get to sit here and suffer," Vala informed him, each and every time the word you rolled across her lips her eyes cutting between he and Adrienne. Peering over at Adrienne, relishing in her discomfort, Vala decided to let her suffer, especially if she was too stupid to admit to Daniel how she felt about him. If she would, Vala was sure that Daniel would just sweep Adrienne up and carry her down to his bed and do to her almost everything that she ever imagined doing with that vampire.

Ha, she thought, who am I fooling, Daniel would stand there and blubber back to her like an idiot.

They were hopeless.

"That's not true, I don't like bad boys," Adrienne argued, Vala cutting her eyes over at Daniel and kept talking.

"Yes you do. Let's go through your little obsessions. A) Darth Vader, B) Eric Northman, C) Jamie Lannister, D) - " Vala started to list but Daniel cut her off, throwing his hands up to halt her listing.

"You have a thing for Darth Vader?" he asked his girlfriend, confused, this being a new little revelation in their relationship and reading his face, she cut her eyes at him.

"Anakin Skywalker, not Darth Vader," Adrienne clarified, not looking forward to the questions that she was going to get about that later.

"Still a bad guy," Vala interjected, thoroughly enjoying the reaction between the two of them, especially Daniel's, thinking that they may be together and unable to resist pushing it further, "She also likes the bad kids in those wizard books, the creepy dude in red on that Seeker show, that serial killer, I can go on and on. Addy's got dirty little secrets that someday I'll discover and rub into her perfect little face, but what I do know, with no doubts is that she wants a bad boy," Vala said and finishing off her second soda, tossing the bottle behind Daniel.

"Whatever, I want a man of substance, the total package," Adrienne declared, hoping that would make Daniel feel just a bit better, hoping he would catch on that he was the total package.

"Uh huh, we know what package you had right in front of you and your stupid ass turned it down..." Vala taunted, glancing at Teyla, who seemed slightly amused.

Dammit, both of them knew she was crazy in love with Daniel, and Teyla knew they were together and trying to keep it under wraps for the sake of her job, why were they doing this to her?

"So Teyla, how's Torrin doing?" Adrienne changed the subject much to Daniel's relief, since Torrin was always a good way to change the subject with Teyla.

"Well, but he is trouble. He thinks that he is a bit bigger than he is. I fear he may hurt himself trying to be a big boy," Teyla started, as mothers do, her face beaming at a chance to talk about her son. Adrienne seemed genuinely interested, so Daniel relaxed, happy that Adrienne's secret love of bad boys was no longer the topic of conversation, but wondering if there was something else about her that he needed to know, maybe something fun he could store for later. Before he could dwell on it further, the feelings in his stomach a mixture of worry and excitement, there was a beep at the dash and Vala spun her chair around, shushing them as she waved her hand.

"Unidentified vessel, please state your purpose and destination," a voice came over the intercom, Vala's entire demeanor changing as she slammed the two way button down with her thumb, glowering at someone that wasn't there.

"I don't have to state any fucking purpose you bastard!" Vala shouted back into the intercom.

"VALA MAL DORAN! IS THAT YOU!?" the voice answered back, "We heard you hooked up with those Taur'i pussies."

"I did, until they served me no longer. I got what I needed and left. You know me better than that," Vala answered and worried, Adrienne scooted closer to Daniel.

"She's pretending, right?" Adrienne whispered and Daniel nodded in the affirmative, reaching quickly to rub her back before anyone could see.

"We'll lead you in. Got a new market set up, bit closer in. It'll be good to see you," the voice ended the transmission. Smiling in satisfaction, Vala turned around to face them, leaning back arrogantly in the captain's chair.

"Alright, we're in. I do the talking. Teyla, you're in charge of the money, I'll look to you as if you keep track of that. Addy, you get to play with Blue Eyes over here and let's go with Bad Addy. I think she'll do us well. Get him down to the holding cell and rough him up a bit," Vala winked at her.

Trying not to turn completely red in the face, Adrienne stood and helped Daniel up, reattaching the shackles and leading him to the cell block.

Once they were down the passageway, Teyla looked over at Vala and smiled.

"They make such a sweet couple, " Teyla stated, as she herself stood, adjusting her weapons and preparing for their arrival.

"They do, if she'd just tell him. We'd hide it, but Sam's not going to fire them," Vala answered as she flipped a few more switches on the consul of the ship, Teyla regretting her words. She'd just assumed that Adrienne would tell Vala, they seemed to be very close friends but it appeared that Vala was unaware of their current situation.

"There's something going on, I know it. He tried way too hard to get on this mission, and she's not having a fit over women's rights either. I'm gonna keep my eye out. Either way, there is something going on," Vala continued, switching the manual and grabbing the level, flying the ship toward a small colony in space.

"I guess this one's alright," Adrienne said, pointing to the first of three cells, "Are you going to be okay in here sha?"

She scanned the cell, noting a mat on the floor for sleeping and a bowl coming out of the wall that served as a toilet. It looked worse than an earth prison, and dirty, much dirtier than she wanted to leave Daniel in for any extended period of time, in fact, she couldn't help but wonder if the previous owner's had ever cleaned this ship.

"Yeah," he replied, "I've been in worse. But I appreciate the big tough villain caring for my well-being," he joked and Adrienne giggled, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Shut up Daniel," she spat, peeking quickly over her shoulder. Puzzled, he leaned forward to see what she was looking at when he felt himself being slammed back against the wall, as she pressed her lips to him forcefully, reaching her hands to the front of his tight leather pants squeezing the growing bulge that she found there.

Surprised and instantly aroused, he kissed her back, just as rough, letting her hands explore his body, hoping, waiting for her to take it a step further when he remembered where they were and what they needed to do. She must have too and he felt her pulling away, his body screaming at him in protest. Smiling sadly, she stepped back, looking him over, quickly messing up his hair and ripping the top of his vest.

"Perfect, roughed up," Adrienne said, her breath still slightly labored from their much too short encounter.

"More please," Daniel pleaded, jokingly and Adrienne laughed, biting her lip in embarrassment realizing what she had done and trying not to stare too hard at the result.

"I shall return," she promised, reluctantly leaving, closing the cell door behind her wishing she could just drag him back to her quarters. Sighing, and trying to negotiate with his body, Daniel watched her whisk herself down the hall, thinking how those cajun hips she liked to complain so much about rounded out that pirate getup nicely.

She looked fantastic in leather.

Taking a breath and accepting the boredom that was to come, Daniel went and laid down on the dirty sleeping mat, trying not to think about Adrienne.

He heard Vala's voice coming down the hallway just a few hours later and sat up, approaching the bars to peer out and see what was going on. It had been an uneventful wait, so boring in fact that he had actually fallen asleep for a while, much to his own surprise.

"And I kept this bastard because they coded the fucker and he's got all of the codes. I figure, he's worth at least as much as a small ship, if not more. He seems to be smart," Vala was telling a strange man dressed in a similar fashion as himself, in leather pants and a leather vest, just lacking the faded blue shirt that Daniel was wearing.

How cliché, Daniel thought, the macho man isn't wearing a shirt.

Between the leather, the walk, the stupid rusty blaster at his hip, it reminded him of one of Adrienne's ridiculous movies more so than real life. Actually, it really hadn't occurred to him until just now how much of his entire damn life reminded him of his girlfriend's crazy choices in entertainment which probably explained how she was so good at getting him out of trouble.

"What's he call himself, maybe I've heard of 'em?" the man asked Vala as he turned to face the cell looking Daniel up and down for some indication as to who this man was. Vala started to reply, a nervous look on her face when Adrienne walked up and poked Daniel with her staff weapon forcefully in his chest, shoving him back so hard that he fell on his butt painfully.

"Madmartigan," she replied, "or so he says."

Vala looked relieved, no one had thought that far ahead to give Daniel a fake identity, so she was glad Addy could think on her feet.

As if he had forgotten completely that Daniel was there, the man turned and smiled at Adrienne, seemingly impressed by her display, sauntering up to her with interest.

Seeing his approach, Adrienne pulled the stick out of the cell bars quickly and swung it behind her back, doing some fancy martial arts move as she did, warning him without words to stay back and he did as silently suggested, still grinning from ear to ear.

"She's new Mal Doran; what's her name?" he asked Vala without taking his eyes off of Adrienne, as he admired her obviously and disgustingly from head to toe, winking at her once his eyes met hers again.

"Sorsha," Adrienne answered emotionlessly, pulling the stick back to her side. Back straight and tall, the stance Daniel saw her take in the gym when she was fighting Ronon, Adrienne strode over to Daniel, standing in front of him protectively.

"I told you I decide what happens to him Vala, I do. He's too pretty to sell to someone like this," Adrienne said and spit on the ground at the man's feet, bringing the staff across her body in warning

"Dagal," Vala said, "he's hers. She brought him down; she's claimed him once the codes are transferred," Vala agreed with Adrienne, trying to lessen the man's interest, "Our primary objective is to sell the ship, enough codes to make it work and be on our way. Sorsha will decide if the ship includes him, which based on her earlier interest, seems unlikely," and Dagal laughed, easily accepting Sorsha/Adrienne as the enforcer and jailer.

"Fair enough," he said, his eyes lingering at Adrienne's hips causing a powerful and unexpected surge of jealously to rocket through Daniel as he started to sit up.

"I think I know a buyer, but you and I will need to discuss a finder's fee," the man continued, his eyes cutting from Adrienne to Vala as he slid his arm around their mission leader's waist.

Making a disgusted face at the display, Adrienne tiptoed over to the cell, reaching through the bars to motion him over as Vala and their guest rounded the corner.

"Did I hurt you?" she asked quietly. Daniel was standing again, bent at the waist and holding his stomach as he approached the bars, a grimace on his face. She had hoped the burgundy leather vest that he was wearing would have absorbed some of the blow, but it looked like it hadn't and she felt horrible for her lack of better control.

"Do you want to truth?" he replied, finally making eye contact.

"I'm sorry, sha, I'm sorry," Adrienne started apologizing, reaching through the bars, but Daniel shook his head, reaching for her himself, not wanting her to feel bad. She had done well and acted her part, which for Adrienne the acting alone was quite the feat.

"No, you did what you had to do, and even pulled off the acting," he said and Adrienne nodded, squeezing the fingers that had reached through the bars to clasp her own. Thinking about Vala, and the negotiations, she pulled away to follow, but he held onto her tightly, a curious and less pained look on his face.

"Who's Madmartigan?" Daniel asked, his face now changing to a smile. He knew her too well; he knew this was a pickable offense as Adrienne grew red in the cheeks and giggled.

"1980's movie, really good one, I'll make you watch it when we get back," she said, checking over her shoulder again for Dagal and Vala.

Coast clear, she kissed his fingers lightly and he released her grasp, letting her return to play her part.

When Adrienne entered the eating area, a space so small and disgusting she refused to refer to it as a cafeteria, Vala and Dagal were discussing the finder's fee, their conversation completely monetary, Adrienne relieved that it didn't include what she feared before it might include. There were times that Vala really worried her when it came to matters like that, times that made her want to sit her good friend down and have a serious conversation with her.

"I take 10%, period," Dagal demanded, taking a drink of something from a small silver cup, Vala simultaneously from similar cup in front of her.

"10% is out of the question. I can put out a coded message, get a buyer myself and not pay a fee at all. I came here because you used to be the best, but apparently now, you're just out of your mind," she said and took her drink, reaching over for a small canteen that Dagal must have brought on board, refilling her cup. She turned to offer Adrienne a drink but the archaeologist refused, shaking her hand in front of her face.

Not seeming to notice neither or presence nor her refusal, Dagal leaned forward toward Vala, cutting his eyes and grinning slyly.

"But this one pays big. Bigger than most, even if the ship's a piece of shit. I've heard he will even buy a ship sight unseen, doesn't care about coding, traps nothing, so your friend here wouldn't even have to part with her boy toy," Dagal nodded at Adrienne, evidently having noticed her entrance and took another swig, slamming the empty vessel onto the metal table.

Vala promptly refilled his cup from a canteen of her own, god knows what is in that thing Adrienne thought, beginning to argue that since her ship wasn't a piece of shit, 10% was out of the question.

Adrienne left them to their negotiation and went to join Teyla on the cockpit, who was sitting there quietly, reading a small blue book in the navigator's seat.

Not wanting to disturb her either, Adrienne grabbed her duffle from where they all had been chatting earlier and removed a composition book, letting the drama of her never ending writing project take her away.

"Got him," Vala said as she strode in about forty minutes later, slamming herself down in the captain's chair, an air of arrogance surrounding her.

"Anubis?" Teyla asked.

"Yep," Vala responded happily, satisfied with herself, leaning back and throwing her feet up on the control panel, but Adrienne was making a face and shaking her head already.

"I don't like it. It was too easy," she argued, looking at Vala, who just laughed and reached for a fresh soda from the cooler beside her.

Adrienne was glad that hadn't brought Dagal in here, if a cooler and sodas didn't scream "HEY WE ARE FROM EARTH" she wasn't sure what else did.

That and so much for being healthy Vala, Adrienne wanted to add but refrained.

"No, that's how I get things done. I get what I want," Vala stated, twisting off the cap and taking a celebratory swig.

Not everything, Adrienne thought to herself wickedly, not everything.

The thought made her remember and she stood from the chair, heading straight for the cell block.

"Don't bother Addy, I already told him. But if you want to go and make-out a bit, we have a few hours before Dagal gets back. Teyla and I won't interrupt, will we?" Vala said and Teyla giggled, holding her hand to her face.

Choosing not to respond, Adrienne just rolled her eyes, trying not to run as she rushed to go see Daniel.

When Teyla came to collect Adrienne she found Daniel's assistant leaning against the cell door, Daniel leaning back against the other side and were they not separated by bars they would have been sitting back to back. Teyla couldn't help but note how endearing the site was, made even more so by the slight touch of their fingers through their metal impediment.

"He's back," Teyla informed her and Adrienne sighed as she glanced behind at Daniel, who just smiled and shrugged. They had been talking, like they did normally before bed, like they did all of the time really, and after the past days it was nice to be able to do just that, talk.

"Ca viens? Did Vala talk him down?" Adrienne asked, not bothering to get up, just crossing her legs in front of her body and setting her hands on her ankles.

"I am not sure but whatever she sent him back to check he has and has returned and Vala says she needs you there," Teyla answered, clearly having no more information at all.

Peeking up at Teyla for just a moment, she turned back to Daniel who must have read her mind, leaning forward to kiss her lightly before she stood, while he lay back on the mat, closing his eyes.

Mouthing a quick "I love you" which he mouthed in return, Adrienne followed Teyla to the bridge.

They were halfway down the hall, headed for their destination, when Teyla stopped and turned to face Adrienne.

"Have you talked to him?" Teyla asked, Adrienne blushing instantly, unable to form words, choosing to nod her head instead, hoping her friend would understand.

"I hope it went well," Teyla added simply, not pressing any further.

"It was amazing," Adrienne whispered, her cheeks flushing impossibly redder as Teyla smiled brightly in return, continuing on to the cafeteria.

Pausing for a moment to make sure that Vala did not need any further assistance, Teyla peered through the small circular window before pushing open the doors to enter.

"Alright, you've got the place. Ten percent, right?" Dagal was speaking to Vala who looked over her shoulder at Teyla, the Athosian quickly nodding in affirmation.

"Ten percent will be fine," Vala hissed through her teeth and Adrienne could tell that she wasn't happy.

Apparently she didn't always get what she wanted in pirating either, but that wasn't exactly the way Adrienne hoped that would go down nor did she like the look on her friend's face.

"His contact will meet you tomorrow at the time listed there. No tricks Mal Doran. If you screw me out of this deal next time I see you it won't be such a happy welcome," he warned from his seat but Vala didn't seem to flinch, just stared him down like she could cut his throat.

She is damn scary like this, Adrienne thought to herself, wondering if there was a side of Vala that she didn't know about from sparring practice, a side that would come kill her in her sleep if she pissed her off.

A smug look on his face, Dagal rose from his chair and left for his shuttle, the swinging doors slamming shut behind him, leaving the three women alone in his wake.

"That was fast," Adrienne said, once Vala had indicated the ship had departed, her portable bridge scanner in hand tracking the transport ship's every move.

"I've got what I need," Vala replied, flashing a small slip of paper at Adrienne and passing it over. It was written in a language that Adrienne couldn't read, to be honest, it didn't even look like a language at all and she shrugged her shoulders, handing it back, and Vala took it, motioning for both ladies to sit.

"Alright, this is where it's gonna get hairy," Vala explained, "We're meeting him tomorrow at roughly 5 a.m. Earth time. We need to go, set up the exchange, provide him with false info, take the deposit, get the drop off point and then we need to get the hell out of there before we are caught."

"You mean before they find out we don't have a ship that we actually intend on selling," Teyla clarified.

"Exactly. We just want the contact's name and coordinates. Once we meet him and confirm what Dagal is giving me is correct, we get out of here, into radio range and call Sam," Vala said.

"And if we get caught?" Adrienne asked, considerably less confident in this plan than Vala was. Daniel often criticized her for thinking everything was like on a movie but this was more movie like than any craziness Adrienne could imagine.

"Then you'd better hope that karate mess of yours is going to keep you safe," Vala replied.

Adrienne felt a shiver down her back, missing her staff weapon that was lying back with Daniel, Adrienne insisting that he take it and hide it in the corner of his cell in case anything went wrong. Gun it was, she guessed and while Daniel had gotten her firing at the range at least once a week now, she really didn't like it very much and she would like it less if she had to point it at another person and be expected to do something with it.

Adrienne didn't sleep much that night. For a good portion of the evening, she considered going down to the cell and locking herself in with Daniel, just to sleep in his arms. The worst thing that could happen, she thought, would be that Vala and Teyla would catch them but quickly amended that assertion, realizing that the worst thing that could happen would be that Adrienne would lose her job, or worse, be shipped to Area 51.

After debating this for most of the night, she just fell asleep in her bunk of exhaustion, her dreams lingering thoughts of the person she longed for the most.

"Come on bitches, wake the hell up. We have a god to screw over," Vala's voice came over the intercom and Adrienne rolled over to inform Daniel that she was not going to get up this early when she realized she was alone. Throwing her head back against the pillow she let out a frustrated sigh, rolling her eyes at the clock on her iPod.

"I'm getting spoiled," Adrienne said out loud dragging her tired body out of bed and making her way to the main control area.

She wanted a shower badly, and coffee, and Daniel, especially Daniel.

Awake as ever, Adrienne had now amended her opinion of the SGC to be that no one slept but she and Jack, Vala looking over her shoulder as Teyla and Adrienne trickled in. Not having analyzed as closely the sleeping habits of the Atlantis crew, Adrienne looked over at Teyla for sympathy, but she was bright eyed and ready to go.

Right, she's a parent, Adrienne thought to herself, they don't sleep for 18 years or more.

As she had the day before, Adrienne sat down in the back chair, Teyla taking her assigned position in the navigator's chair as Vala glanced over at Teyla, her head cocked and a smile on her face.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Always," Teyla replied confidentially and Vala hit the button on the intercom speaking in a strange tongue. Adrienne made a mental note to try to learn something else other than Goa'uld or Ancient, since suddenly her list of ten to twelve, or as Daniel so elegantly put it, 'only half as many as me', no longer seemed sufficient. Thankfully, the voice answered in Goa'uld.

Gotta love the sand worms, as Jack would often call them, Adrienne thought to herself, always good for a universal language.

"You have the ship?" the voice asked.

"No, I have the specs. Dagal said just to bring the specs," Vala replied in Goa'uld and there was silence on the intercom.

"It's a mothership?" the voice seemed to feel it was being tricked, which it was, just as Adrienne had tried to warn, feeling panic in her stomach.

"Yes, of course. I'm surprised Dagal did not explain to you who I was," Vala answered confidently instead, not even one slight hesitation in her voice.

"He said you were a traitor and a friend of the Taur'i," the voice replied, but again, Vala didn't flinch, just smashed her finger angrily into the button.

"Well, that asshole's just jealous I got to use them for as long as I did; I got what I needed and more. And I got a ship I want to sell. If you're not interested, I can take my business elsewhere," she spat while Adrienne and Teyla remained silent, Adrienne scared, she was very scared, they were out in the middle of space, no back-up, Odyssey to transport them away, just alone, the three of them and Daniel.

Adrienne wanted more than anything to rush into his arms right now, but she held strong, calling on every inch of her being to be StarBuck, be Princess Leia, be any of her fantasy role models that would not be freaked out by what might be on the other end of that intercom.

There was the pop and click of static, the ship's communication system apparently starting to work as well as the rest of the hunk of junk, and finally there was the voice again on the other end, cold and distant.

"Transport over," it said, Vala glancing at Teyla, who stood nodding, as if she knew what was going on. Teyla came to her feet, adjusting her navy blue leather bodice and grabbing a small satchel from the control panel, making her way over to the transport rings while Vala remained seated.

Adrienne's eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

"She's going over there alone?!" Adrienne asked. That was in direct contrast with the number one mission rule Daniel had beat into their heads when she first went off world, always go in pairs, a rule he never let her break even when he didn't like her.

"Yeah Addy, alone. Not everyone can have a cute little archaeologist that follows them around acting like their body guard, although with you two, that seems to work both ways," Vala stated, standing from the chair, adjusting the leather vest that she was now wearing over her black bodice. Fixing a pulse gun at her size, one that Adrienne figured must have come from Ronon, Teyla continued walking over to the transport rings, standing in the marked center and turning to face her companion.

"Wish me luck ladies," Teyla said as the rings activated, Adrienne glaring back at Vala one final time, wondering what in the hell Vala was thinking sending Teyla over there alone.

"No running back to your little boyfriend to tattle on me, I need you here with me and ready to fire at that ship," Vala ordered, pointing through the viewing screen to a dark green ship in the near distance.

It looked like a submarine, out of water, the color shimmering in the starlight and not like any image of any Ori or Goa'uld ship Adrienne had seen in her files.

She was doubly concerned; nothing about this felt right and Vala's arrogance wasn't helping.

"Are you sure that's Anubis?" Adrienne asked, worried that someone was playing them just a bit better than they were trying to play themselves.

"We'll find out soon enough," Vala sat back in the chair, propping her feet on the control panel, looking calm and relaxed while Adrienne started looking over the blaster controls just in case she needed to shoot that large glowing green blimp out of the sky, hopefully not with Teyla on it.

Time passed.

Minutes turned into hours and Vala's confident attitude began to dissipate with each passing moment.

Moving from concern to planning mode, Adrienne kept her eyes on the view screen, scanning the ship, the intercom log, her brain active, looking for any indication that ship in front of them might be trying to make a quick getaway. She thought she had identified the hull, as much as she could based on her own TV watching and being friends with Cam, and should the ship move an inch, she would blast it, stranding them in space and hope it had no cloaked buddies watching them.

"I'm going over there," Vala stated, finally, fed up with waiting, grabbing her gun from the control panel that she had tossed there earlier. She stormed over to the transport rings, controller in her hand already cuing up the code.

"Uh, no, not alone," Adrienne stood, reaching for the Zat gun she had been carrying, which was temporarily on the floor. Straightening her own ridiculous outfit, she tucked it into her leg strap, following behind Vala.

"Addy, someone has to fly this thing to get back, which means you stay put," Vala ordered, pointing at the captain's chair.

"You think I can fly this!? Without one of you guys standing over me giving me directions? Vala, you're out of your mind!" Adrienne shouted, exasperated, "I have no freakin idea how to fly a kite without help much less a damn spaceship."

"Dammit! I can't send you over there!" Vala spat, her arm cocked as she prepared to throw her gun to the ground in frustration when she paused, looking back up at Adrienne.

"Go get Daniel," she ordered, remembering her previously unwanted guest.

Pleased that Vala was finally seeing reason, and happy to have an excuse to bring Daniel out of his cage, Adrienne dashed off to the cell block.

"You're not going," he ordered, "I am."

"Daniel, I'm sick and damn tired of people ordering me around this time. Yes, this is my first intelligence mission, but I'm not inept. I can fight. I've done a pretty damn good job playing my part this time. What I can't do is fly a spaceship and you can," she argued, grabbing his arm, dragging him through the open doorway to the cell and down the hall. He jerked back, pulling her to him.

"Adrienne please," he begged, his fears getting the best of him.

He couldn't lose her; he couldn't live without her.

"I'll be fine," she assured him, bringing their faces together, not caring whether or not Vala saw, "You just fly the ship and be prepared to come after me if this goes wrong," she continued, pecking him lightly. Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her, bringing his hand to the back of her neck, and they kissed quickly before breaking, disappointed that there was no time for more.

Daniel watched with apprehension as the woman he loved stepped into the encircled area, rings of gold dropping around her, and with Vala blasted away into space.

Would it always be like this?

Would he feel this way every time she left his sight?

Wasn't this one reason he waited so long to tell her how he felt about her?

Isn't this why the SGC has the rules it does about fraternizing?

Pushing the thoughts aside, unable to be distracted when they needed him at the ready, he turned to inspect the control panel and get a better feel for what he had just been thrown in to.

A large man in Ori armor was awaiting them, a bastardized version of Anubis symbol carved, or was that a burn scar, onto his forehead, crudely, as if it had been done in haste.

"Are you Mal Doran?" he asked as he approached Vala, who had stepped forward, her eyes scanning both their host and the room in search of the missing third.

"Yes, where is my navigator?" she asked without a pause between answer and question. Refusing to reply with words, the man looked behind him as two men, equally as large stepped forward, Teyla cuffed between them, dragged by her feet. She didn't appear to be hurt, rather it seemed that she wasn't walking intentionally to make it more difficult for her captors. Adrienne did note, however, that one of the men had a fresh black eye and the other a busted lip making her smile inside; that it had taken three men twice her size to bring her down.

_Nice job girl..._

"Our boss wants to know why you sent your second in command rather than coming yourself?" he demanded, stepping forward to look down at Vala with an intent to intimidate, but she looked right into his eyes, not in the least bit affected.

"I was about to ask the same thing," Vala replied, speaking through her teeth angrily. Fearing that this wasn't going to go as Vala had been claiming for days, Adrienne slid her hand to her gun, repeating the mantra in her head: One blast stun, two kills, three gone, preparing to do what she had to do.

"Inpu doesn't talk to trash. We're honored to keep filth like you from his sights," the man answered and Vala didn't move.

"Give me the fuckin deposit and my navigator, NOW," she ordered.

Unfazed, the man snapped his fingers and four more men entered the room from doors that the women had not noticed. Her brain kicking into defense mode, fear gone, now it was time to fight, Adrienne turned, pulling her gun from her holster, seeing that they were surrounded, seven to three and slowly looked back at Vala just waiting for a signal.

"No, I think not. You think we're gonna bow down to a bunch of women?" he asked.

Vala simply stepped forward and poked her finger into his chest.

"Then you must not know who I am," she said and quick as lightening pulled out Ronon's pulse pistol from her belt, shooting the man in the stomach, close range, the smell of burning viscera filling the air as the man crumbled to the ground.

As if cued, Teyla slid to the ground, sweeping the man to her right and kicking the man to her left in the face as he reached for her and quickly looked at Vala, holding her bound arms in the air. Popping the gun into the air, Vala shot through the binds, freeing Teyla, who returned to her captors, a loud crack indicating to Adrienne that at least one of them would be a problem no more.

The archaeologist froze for a moment, trying to decide how best to proceeded, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see two soldiers at her back and her marital arts training kicked in, making the decision for her. She spun around, zatting the man closest before reactively spinning into a hook kick, slamming the other man in the temple. Noting that her heel had done the trick, there was no way that he was getting up anytime soon, she peeked up see the other two approaching her when one of the men suddenly crumbled to the ground and based on the hole in his chest she knew she had Vala to thank for that one. Adrienne reached behind herself for a staff weapon that wasn't there and cursed, remembering she had left that with Daniel, turning back and putting her fists up to meet her foe with her hands, the zat just out of reach. The man saw her take a stance and laughed, scanning her smaller frame.

"Why don't you come try me?" she taunted and the man took a step forward and swung, sloppily, as she had anticipated. Blocked his advancing punch with her left hand and exposing his abdomen, Adrienne delivered a forceful kick to his solar plexus and he staggered back, falling to the ground. She collected her gun from the ground, zatting him as soon as he landed. Before she had time to check to see the fate of her companions, she felt her arm being grabbed was pulled into the transport rings just before they came down on her head.

"GO GO GO!" Vala was shouting as the rings reappeared on their borrowed ship. Daniel hesitated only long enough to see that Adrienne was alright and engaged the drive, the ship blasting off, leaving the strange looking vessel and Anubis' men behind them.

Safely rocketing through space, Daniel fought the urge to run up to Adrienne and take her into his arms, his heart already cursing him for allowing her to enter a situation in which she could have gotten hurt. Instead, heeding Cam's words, he got up from the chair and ran to all three of them, trying to not act like a 'love sick puppy'.

"Are you okay?" he asked, speaking as if he was addressing the group but was really only addressing Adrienne and Vala noticed, rolling her eyes and shoving past him.

"We're fine, fuckin fine, no goddam money, no goddam Anubis, just fine," she swore as she stormed over to the ship's controls, Teyla shaking her head before following behind her, rubbing the back of her neck as she walked. Worried, not so much about the mission as his assistant, Daniel looked back over at Adrienne, who was rotating the shoulder that had been so forcefully grabbed.

"I'm fine sha," she said sweetly and ran her hand down his arm quickly, not caring who would notice, squeezing his hand and walking over to Vala, who was messing with the controls, slamming switches and punching buttons angrily.

"We might not have gotten the money back, but we got him," Adrienne said, sitting down in the co-pilot's chair since Teyla was still standing, stretching out her legs. Adrienne made a note to ask Daniel to take a look at her and make sure she wasn't hurt terribly so, since she couldn't be hobbling around like that while trying to chase Torrin.

"No," Vala replied, slamming her feet onto the control panel and pulling out Ronon's gun, toying with it, "but we kept our cover so we can try again."

"We did Vala, we got him, he said his boss was Anubis; we've got coordinates, we've got everything we need to give Sam," Adrienne insisted, glancing back over at Daniel, who, reading her eyes, was already pulling out the communicator to call the general and inform them of their success.

"Addy, you need to clean your ears, that man said his boss was Inpu," Vala stated, looking at Adrienne like she was an idiot but Adrienne just smiled and sat back in the chair, throwing her feet on the dash as Vala had earlier.

"Oh Indy?" Adrienne shouted behind her and Daniel looked up curious, moving the communicator from in front of his face.

"Who's Inpu?" she asked before he could respond, and, as she expected, Daniel quickly switched into geek mode, that computer in his brain kicking into overdrive.

"Earth Egyptian dialectical version of Anubis. Used in the later years of the Empire, during Roman rule. Is that what he's going by now?" Daniel answered and asked. Adrienne nodded smiling but Vala still didn't seem happy, confusing the cajun entirely.

"What's wrong? We got what we needed and no one got hurt. That's pretty damn good for us," Adrienne said while Vala continued to pout.

"The deposit was exactly enough to buy a Porche," she whined, "I was gonna pretend we didn't get it back and buy one."

Adrienne's jaw dropped, although she should have expected as much from her friend, and Teyla looked at her friend strangely, a question on her lips.

"But Vala, you can't drive," Teyla informed her rather than asking why, still not understanding.

"Legally," she answered and plotted a course for home.

Daniel heard the lock to the cell click open waking him up from the mattress Adrienne had dragged their for the return trip home since Vala, still declaring that their cover needed to be kept, insisted he stay in the cell. He panicked for just a moment, in his sleepy state forgetting that he was on the pirate vessel, in his cell, heading home, but he laid there quietly, the recognition of his surrounding coming back, hoping that somehow Vala's arrogance had not gotten them hijacked by a bigger and badder crew. He could see someone approaching him in the darkness and he lay still and in silence, pretending to be asleep as the figure started to kneel. He flexed his fingers, preparing to defend himself when a black shape straddled him, leaning into his face.

"Wake up Indy," Adrienne whispered softly into his ear and he relaxed instantly at the sound of her voice.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked while allowing himself the pleasure of reaching up and wrap his arms around her, bringing her closer to his face. She came, kissing him lightly, nuzzling her way back to his ear.

"Vala put the ship on autopilot and everyone's asleep..." Adrienne whispered, pecking his ear and beginning to work her way down his neck to the spot she knew drove him wild.

"Are you sure?" Daniel murmured back, although he was starting to trace his hands down her back and to her hips, extending his fingers across her backside. They hadn't slept in same bed let alone the same room for almost a week and he missed her, he missed kissing her, he missed touching her, he missed making love to her.

Not waiting for her response, he reached back up for her face pulling her into a long sensual kiss. She opened her mouth, allowing him to invade, rocking lightly on the hardness she felt underneath when she felt him backing away slowly, pushing her forward, rolling her onto her side, hurriedly throwing his leg over her hips and crawling on top of her, reaching for the leather laces on that insanely tight Lucian blouse he had wanted to take off of her for days.

Sitting up slightly, to allow him to peel back her attire, Daniel ripped through the cording as Adrienne made quick work of his belt, moving on to undo some leather laces of her own, his own tight attire leaving nothing to the imagination.

"I fuckin' knew it!"

Daniel and Adrienne froze, turning their heads simultaneously to look in the direction of the cell door, where they saw her standing there, hands on her hips, shaking her head, black hair loose and wild around her face.

"I fuckin' knew it! Adrienne's little disappearing act every weekend, the weird way you two have been talking all in code, Daniel insisting to come on this little excursion despite his not being needed. And here you two are getting ready to get it on in a holding cell!" Vala was shouting and they couldn't tell if she was teasing or angry, Adrienne was hoping for the former.

"Vala, it's not what it looks like," Daniel said as he quickly got off of Adrienne, who was laughing as she sat up, retying the strings of her blouse.

"Jesus Indy, that's the best you can come up with? She walked in while I was undoing your pants," Adrienne laughed, harder as she watched her boyfriend frantically try to cover himself, noting that he wasn't wearing any underwear underneath of that outfit, dear lord...

"She caught us, ok, cat out of the bag," she added, her actions not as confident as her words, wrapping her arms around her knees, feeling very embarrassed and just a tad ashamed. They were getting ready to get it on in the holding cell, a few moments later Vala would have walked in on them getting it on in a holding cell, and Adrienne felt horrible.

"So you two are sleeping together now?" Vala asked, removing her hands from her hips and crossing them across her chest.

"No," Daniel said, "we're not sleeping together. We are together. We're in a relationship; this isn't just romper room."

"Looks like romper room was gettin' ready to start in here," Vala replied and Adrienne flushed further, glancing over at Daniel who thankfully had fixed the problem she had caused.

Mostly.

"Vala," Adrienne tried this time, dying to cure herself of this embarrassment, "of course we have a physical relationship, but it's not just that. You know, you've known for a while how I feel about Daniel. Well, apparently, it's mutual."

"Duh," Vala responded, "I've been trying to tell you that for months. So when did this happen?"

"Anubis' last attack," Daniel said at the exact same moment that Adrienne replied, "The cave-in," both of them staring at one another in confusion.

"Wait, that's when you started counting? After we had sex?" Daniel asked dumbfounded.

"No, I mean, not really, it's just when, you know, I was all in, no seconds thoughts, just able to take it all off," she tried to be funny, failing miserably.

"Wow Ad, why don't you just give her graphic details?" he said, shaking his head and Adrienne pushed his arm, adding annoyed with Daniel to her list of emotions for the night.

"No, GOD, no," Vala shouted, looking away from the both of them, "I don't want any damn details. We're out of Lucian space and almost back to Langara, Daniel doesn't need to play captive anymore so you two can go do that in Addy's room," she added, pointing back in the direction of the ship's quarters. Adrienne went to stand, but Daniel beat her to it, reaching down to help her up. Redness still in her cheeks, Adrienne scurried past Vala to head for her room but Daniel lagged behind, feeling he owed Vala some sort of explanation.

"I had hoped that, well," he tried to speak but couldn't. He had hoped his friends wouldn't find out like this; he had hoped to tell them in a more adult fashion.

"No worries. I like her, a lot. If I didn't, well, she'd be dead," Vala responded simply. Daniel was relieved and, for the first time, very glad that Vala and Adrienne were friends.

"We don't want anyone to know, yet. I'd hate to lose her, IOA bullshit and whatnot," Daniel added hoping that his old friend could keep this secret despite their own past.

"I won't say a word," she promised, but Daniel didn't leave, just stood there a moment longer, his gaze no longer at the floor in embarrassment, but straight into Vala's eyes.

"I love her Vala, more than anything," he confessed, feeling relief at finally telling someone outside of he and Adrienne's little world, someone outside of Cam's scolding and Chaka's incorrect baby celebration. Smiling softly, she reached out and squeezed his arm, gazing right back.

"I know you do. Now go, we don't have long before we get to Langara," she said as she squeezed him again and Daniel smiled, dashing off after Adrienne.

Adrienne dropped her bag onto the floor of her quarters, flopping herself onto the bed, exhausted, sore and with a splitting headache. They had been gone nearly a week and she actually missed sitting in the lab with headphones. Face buried in the pillow, not caring about washing it or moving at all for that matter Adrienne laid there, willing herself to sleep when her phone began to vibrate loudly on her nightstand. Groaning, she reached for the device, activating the screen.

_Ok, let's try this again. Fangtasia. On. 30 mins. _

"Indy, you'd better be glad I love you," Adrienne complained, dragging herself out of bed, headed for his quarters. It was almost midnight when they had arrived, the medical exams taking much longer since Carolyn had been about as impressed as Adrienne was with the cleanliness of the ship. Daniel excused himself to his room and Adrienne hadn't questioned, figuring that he was just as exhausted as she and would at some point just crawl into bed with her, after all, they had had quite the romantic rendezvous in her on ship's quarters the last two nights they were on board.

Knowing that there was no way he could possibly be in the mood for that, again, the cajun was raising her hand to knock when the door opened and there he was, standing there, looking as exhausted as she did.

"I hope you're not planning on me actually staying awake," Adrienne said, hoping he wasn't thinking anything other than cuddling and sleep, when she saw it.

The entire room was covered in candles, of all shapes, sizes and colors set in every inch of the room and she could hear music playing, some of the cheesy rock from her iPod that she wasn't even aware that he paid enough attention to to criticize, much less know what it was to play it. He shut the door behind her and took her hand, leading her carefully through the sea of tiny flames, over to his small desk where there was another candle, larger than the rest, set in the center on a cafeteria plate rather than a crystal stick. Placed around the display wasn't dinner this time, or at least a normal dinner, but there were two ice cream sundaes, simple ones, vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and a cherry. Tears in her eyes, she looked back at him shaking her head and smiling.

"Best I could do in thirty minutes," he apologized as Adrienne jumped into his arms kissing him, trying hard not to knock over the candle on the desk or the ones around her feet. She pulled back from their kiss and gazed into his equally tired eyes, running her hand down his cheek.

"I love you Daniel, so much," she said, resting her palm on his face.

"I love you too, now sit down and eat this before it melts. It'll be nice, after this week, to just sit together and have a normal conversation," he said as he slid out the lone chair and sat, pulling her into his lap. Adrienne grabbed the sundaes and handed his over, making a worried face as she cuddled back against him.

"Someone else is going to figure out," she said, "Vala was a given." Thinking the same, Daniel nodded his head.

"I know," he said, "I just don't know what Woolsey and his cronies are going to do, I don't think we'd like the loopholes. And I don't want to lose my little groupie."

Adrienne just laughed and looked away for a moment.

Their little secret couldn't last much longer, but for now, she just needed to enjoy what they had and hope that this magical dream wouldn't be torn from her. Trying to hide her worry from him, she slid a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, enjoying relaxing in his embrace.


	37. Chapter 36 - The Fan

_**Author's Note**_

_There are two versions of this story. This version in the main storyline will fade to stars during intimate scenes between Daniel & Adrienne. The mature version can be found under the erotic storyline under my profile. For readers new to the saga, you might want to start a the beginning and please be warned that my erotic versions are very loving in nature as I want Daniel to get the happily ever after he deserved with someone that would love and respect him and vice versa. _

_I hope you enjoy and thank you for reading. _

He heard the music blasting as he turned the corner and remembered their dinner conversation, how Vala declared they should party all night to switch over to the reverse schedule before the mission. It was an important mission, and they needed to reverse their body clocks. The objective was to try and track down Anubis and this secret army, an army that their spies kept reporting was growing at an alarming rate, with no one really knowing why or what he was up to. The coordinates they had acquired from their undercover mission with Vala proved to be a location in deep space, almost to the edge of the galaxy, not near any known Stargate.

They had spent much of the past week racing around the SGC, Teyla hooked up to various machines in Rodney's lab to jog her memory as to anything she might have seen during her brief captivity, Adrienne and Vala questioned extensively, their clothes taken for DNA samples as well, making Daniel very glad that Vala had interrupted he and Adrienne's in cell rendezvous.

That would have been some DNA he'd have preferred not to explain...

Vala had also managed to grab one of the weapons from their attackers before Daniel beamed them back to the ship, the strange bastardized gun under full scrutiny by the weapons department. It was still going to take a couple of days and a crazy amount of meetings but once they had a better idea as to what needed to be done, a team would be sent aboard the Daedalus but to do what Daniel wasn't exactly sure, and to be honest, he wasn't exactly sure he even wanted to be included on the mission.

As the SGC's lead archaeologist approached the entrance to the lab, the music just grew louder and louder and he grew angrier and angrier. Vala had become much less annoying with Adrienne around to balance her out, making her tone down her more extreme behaviors, but it seemed that she had gotten bored with behaving and was back to her old tricks, most likely in some kind of passive aggressive retaliation and payment for keeping their secret. As he drew nearer, however, he recognized the music, and knew instantly who was to blame.

"Oh come on Ad..." he whispered. He should have known; music wasn't Vala's thing, it was Adrienne's and to confirm this, he heard a pause, the next track starting, one he had heard many many many times before.

"FLO-RIDA!" he heard her voice shouting in approval, the song being about some sort of wild child, so very appropriate for the lovely cajun woman that was dancing around his lab, that had become the most important person in his life.

Dammit, he thought, it was so much easier to be angry when it was Vala.

He walked through the doorway to see Adrienne wearing only those tight damn short running shorts and an equally as form-fitting Reebok t-shirt.

Why did she have to do this to him?

Sometimes it felt as if she took every tight article of clothing that she ever owned and pulled it out just to wear around him and torture him.

Damn woman had created a monster.

Much to his dismay, although he knew the colonel meant nothing by it, Cam was dancing right behind her, hands on her hips while Vala and Ronon were dancing over by his desk. He was going to have to reconsider this Adrienne is really not a virus thing; it seemed that her insanity was contagious.

"Indy!" she yelled, abandoning Cam, racing over to him, grabbing the files from his hands and setting them on top of her computer. Already moving to the music, she grabbed his hips pulling him over to her and started to dance.

"Ad, you know I can't dance," he argued, but was already laughing at her determination to make him have fun, to get her to fulfill this silly little fantasy of hers.

"Indy, anyone can dance, I've told you a million times, trust me, just follow," she put his hand on her waist, her arms on his shoulder and began to move. Shaking his head, Daniel followed her to the center of the room where she had pushed the tables against the chalkboard to make room for a dance floor.

"Jackson, you stole my partner!" Cam yelled across the room a huge smile on his face, making Daniel feel somewhat at ease. He knew and Daniel didn't even care anymore: he only cared that the colonel seemed to disapprove of their relationship, thinking it would change the team but lately he had started to see reason, that Daniel and Adrienne could continue to work together without their relationship interfering and the last mission was just further proof of that.

"Then get your sexy ass over here, I can handle two even if Addy can't!" Vala shouted from around Ronon, who seemed to be disappointed at her offer.

He knew too now, Adrienne felt like he ought to know and had pulled him aside the other week to tell him. Daniel didn't care about that either, in fact, it seemed that the Sateadan had set his sights on a new target, one that really shouldn't have surprised him, but it did.

"Sorry Mitchell, but I think you got dumped," Daniel joked, as he kept dancing, closely but poorly, with his assistant, his more than assistant, someone who was just his.

God he loved this woman.

"You're trouble," he said to her once the others were laughing and dancing at the other side of the room.

"Me? This was Vala's idea. I just had the tunes and the speaker," she winked.

"I distinctly remember telling you a long time ago that my lab was not to be turned into a disco tech," he joked, but didn't stop dancing with her, laughing loudly as she reached to fix his hips yet again, desperately trying to get him to follow her and the beat.

"I didn't. This is more of a hip hop club," she smiled, throwing her arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him.

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!"

Daniel spun Adrienne around to see the doorway and there stood General Jack O'Neill in all of his four star glory, wearing full dress uniform his face bearing an expression that Daniel didn't want to see, especially given that those brown eyes of his were glaring at Daniel's hands as they were tightly clasping Adrienne's waist.

Before Daniel could say a word in their defense he saw that he was flanked by two men in dress suits that he didn't know, but they looked serious. Dropping his hands, he didn't need to tell Adrienne to shut off the music, she was already reaching onto her desk for the remote and had hit stop, stepping away from him quickly. Confident that the men behind him could not see, Jack gave Daniel a clear "I can't believe this is going on RIGHT now" look, his eyes darting between both archaeologists, nearly shaking with anger.

"Sorry, eh Jack, I mean general, we have to stay up all night so we were just trying to pump ourselves up a bit to make it through," Daniel answered, trying to remain calm, reading the look in his friend's face, the look that said he knew exactly what was going on and he didn't need to walk into anything more intimate to figure that out.

Opening his mouth to speak, Jack stopped as Vala waltzed up, throwing her arm around Daniel, facing O'Neill and his guests.

"Sorry boys, this is my fault. Just trying to stay awake to switch to the night shift. Goodnight lover," she declared, kissing Daniel square on the mouth, him fighting her off as always, strutting out of the room. Adrienne turned her head and tried not to laugh, appreciating her friend's act since Jack still seemed to be staring at Adrienne like she had done something wrong, while Cam and Ronon scurried out behind her.

"Dr. Jackson, this is Dr. Peterson the IOA liaison at area 51 and Mr. Lordes from the UN," Jack introduced, the tone in his voice indicating that he was still not happy, Vala taking the blame or not.

Adrienne tensed; she would owe Daniel later... big time...like take over for at least five sucky meetings big time.

"They're here to see the progress that you and Dr. Rowan have made on the Asgard database," Jack continued, Adrienne leaping up seeing the opportunity to make it up to him.

While the rest of the team had been stuck on Anubis, Daniel had made sure to keep Adrienne moving forward on the database whenever she could, if not for any other reason but to prove how valuable she was should they be caught. So far it was still a lot of history, but there had been a few new gate addresses here and there, those discoveries thrilling to both archaeologists.

Nodding excitedly, she ducked between the tables and over to the chalkboard, flipping it onto the white side she had installed a few months back and locked it in place while she heard Daniel continue to bumble through an explanation of their little dance party as he pushed the tables back into position. Adrienne excused herself in front of them, getting a dirty look from Jack in the process and then grabbed a chair, climbing on top of it and pulling a chord hanging from the ceiling.

Out of the corner of his eye Jack saw what she was doing and tried not to give her the satisfaction of a smile. She was a clever woman for sure and had a very specific talent for pulling shit out of her ass, good shit, shit that got them kudos from the people with the pocketbooks. While he'd never admit it aloud, he kinda liked her, even though he was fairly certain that she had pulled Daniel into her web of insanity, most likely sans pants.

There was a dash of rushing cajun past him, and he watched her hit the button on the machine, a light filling the room, pointing over at the white board.

"Gentlemen, if you would like to take a seat, I've tried to keep up with the amazing things that Dr. Jackson has been able to accomplish down here, so I only have a portion prepared for you right now, but I'm happy to show you what I have been able to put into a presentation," she hopped down and hurried over to her desk, grabbing her iPad and tapping her fingers around quickly on the screen. A series of images with notes and equations appeared on the whiteboard and Adrienne began to present, starting with the other Earth civilizations that had interaction with the Asgard and the list of recommended planets to explore, each gate address carefully catalogued and organized using her system Daniel was quick to note.

Smiling, Daniel just stepped back and let her do her thing, trusting her completely, counting himself lucky yet again that he managed to end up with someone so brilliant. Clearing his throat, Jack stepped back to join him, needing to talk to him about a few things, a few very important things, well one very important thing, that was giving a presentation in tight black running shorts to his bosses...

"Look, I'm glad you have rejoined the human race, I am, but you need to rein her in a bit, keep it quiet," Jack whispered.

"Jack, she was just trying to keep everybody awake and moving. We're on reverse days for at least two weeks, maybe more if we are the group shipped out to find Anubis. And what do you mean rejoin the human race?" Daniel stood back and crossed his arms, annoyed by the assumption.

Just because he didn't feel the need to sleep his way around the base, not that Jack had but he seemed to have felt for years that Daniel should, didn't mean that there was anything wrong with the way he had lived before.

"Come on, you and her aren't?" Jack asked, trying, yet again, to get Daniel to admit what Jack knew to be true. Men don't do things that they hate, like dance, to music that they hate, like rap, with their grubby paws all over a woman if they aren't getting any.

That just went against nature.

"No Jack, we've been over this," Daniel replied. It really wasn't that Daniel cared anymore who knew, but as the head honcho Jack might have to make some decisions that Daniel didn't want made and he didn't want to put his friend in that position or have someone at the IOA level ship the love of his life across the country.

"Daniel, we know you sleep at her place and vice versa," Jack said, sharing the one tidbit of information that Sam had leaked. Jack didn't know they were having damn adult slumber parties and had just about choked on his beer when his wife informed him of that. That was a clear indicator that his good buddy was up to no good; who in the hell sleeps at their assistant's place almost every weekend and isn't getting laid.

"On the sofa. We're just good friends," Daniel argued, standing his ground, lying through his teeth.

Damn Adrienne, he thought; she's right; she's made me an expert liar.

Jack scowled, knowing Daniel well enough to know that he was full of shit, but wasn't going to get into a shouting match while his lover tried to save their faces with the assholes he had to babysit this evening.

"Fine, I take that back. You're an idiot," Jack shook his head and changed his expression to one of false politeness as he made his way back to their guests.

Adrienne was just wrapping up her presentation and the men looked to be in a considerably better mood, much to Daniel's relief. A long list of new planets to explore, any of which could provide money, bombs, whatever the hell else they wanted to hear was enough to please them, keep them out of his hair for a while longer.

Standing from where he had been sitting in the back of the room, Daniel thanked them, shaking their hands and they left the lab, Jack following close behind, not bothering to look back at his friend. Daniel waited until the coast was clear before turning back to Adrienne, a look of his own plastered across his face.

"I don't know if I should thank you or fuss at you," he walked over to her, hands crossed in front of him.

"I was just trying to have fun; I really didn't think that we'd have company," she said as she slipped over to the door of the lab and closed it, shutting it tight to engage the lock. She sauntered back over to him and pushed him back against the center table, slipping her arms around his waist and bringing her lips to his neck.

"We're breaking our rule..." he said but grabbed her face to look into her eyes, relenting and letting himself slip into their kiss. As she backed up smiling at him, running her hands sweetly down his arms, she noticed that he wasn't.

"Did Jack say something to upset you? Are those guys gonna put us back on the Ori junk? That isn't getting us anywhere, Vala's intelligence has gotten us further than playing with that damn corpse has," Adrienne argued, backing up a bit further but not letting go of him.

She never wanted to let go of him.

"I think he's figured us out," Daniel responded honestly, terror in his voice. The truth of the matter was that sooner or later they were going to have to face this if they wanted to have a real relationship and Daniel wanted a real relationship.

He was fairly certain that Adrienne did too.

"Uh oh, and?" Adrienne asked, now letting go, worried, fears of being shipped off to some other facility racing through her head and to make it worse, Daniel's face still looked concerned.

"He was kinda hard to read. You know how he is. He welcomed me back to humanity and when I denied it, he called me an idiot," Daniel answered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

Wait? Adrienne thought, an idiot?

Smiling, she approached him again, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest.

"You are an idiot sometimes," she laughed, "that's probably why I love you so much. If Jack doesn't care, I think we're in the clear." He didn't answer at first, just hugged her tighter and kissed her head.

"I hope you're right. Pretty soon one of us is going to look at the other the wrong way and we're gonna be in Sam's office doing a lot of explaining," he said.

A lot of explaining, he thought, two months' worth of explaining.

Daniel had envisioned the conversation in his head a million times as he and Adrienne cuddled in bed, Adrienne fast asleep while he lay there, worried.

_Sam, I have something to tell you. _

_Sure Daniel, what's up?_

_Adrienne and I are together. Like a couple together. I'm in love with Adrienne. _

_That's great Daniel; I'm so happy for you guys. You're fired. _

He had a million other versions too, ones that included her being fired, her being sent to Area 51, the reconstructed Gamma site, the Delta site and one nightmare where she was betrothed to Ronon to gain the trust of what was left of the Saetadan people, people that they couldn't even have contact with until Atlantis was fully operational once more.

They were all stupid scenarios of course, but he still worried that if this all blew up on the wrong day, any one of those would come true.

"Sha? You in there?" Adrienne asked as she walked over to him in a very seductive fashion, her hips swaying lightly in those running shorts, those god damn running shorts, why in the hell was she wearing those running shorts?

"I guess you are," she teased, unfastening his belt and making quick work of the top button. Well, he thought, if Jack is going to catch me I might as well go down in a blaze of glory, and reached for the back of her shorts, beginning to tug them to the ground.

"Honey, I'm home!" Jack shouted as he entered the front door of his home for the first time in two weeks, having been stuck on base dealing with the endless stream of bullshit caused by Vala's latest little expedition, which in his humble opinion, had gotten them nowhere. Sam stuck her head out of the kitchen in complete shock as Jack walked over to the closet, opening the door and hanging his coat inside.

"I must be dreaming, who are you and what have you done with my overworked husband?" she asked as she exited the kitchen, glass of white wine in hand. It was nearly two in the morning, but she just couldn't sleep knowing that during this, with SG-1 all on the night shift, Woolsey had his paws all over her things and all over this latest mission.

Shrugging, Jack tossed his briefcase onto his old recliner and walked up to her, removing the glass from her hand, setting it on the coffee table and hugging his wife tightly.

She was right, he hadn't been home often enough; he missed home, and he missed her.

"Meetings done. I shut that snotty Weasley man up, let Daniel's little pet flash some fancy slide show at his buddies and bam over," Jack replied, kissing Sam gently and backing up. He was just starting to unbutton his uniform jacket as Sam shook her head at him.

"His name is Woolsey, not Weasley," she corrected reaching down for her glass of wine. Laughing, Jack tossed his jacket over to the recliner as well and walked into the kitchen in search of food. The last thing he had eaten was a stale pack of crackers at his desk at god knows what hour and he was starving.

"Have you looked at that man?" Jack asked over his shoulder as he made his way to the fridge, "I think I'm pretty close to the mark. But it wasn't just him anyway, it was that little UN liaison weasel. Two different weasels," he clarified as his wife giggled, following him, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"There's take out on the top shelf, but it's cold," she replied, having ordered enough for him, as always, in the hopes that he might come home tonight.

She understood his job as he understood hers, but they had waited so long and there was a part of Sam that still wanted that fairy tale ending, even if it meant they kept insane work hours.

This was why she started implementing mandatory leave and vacations, because it wasn't until she was on the other end of things that she finally understood how important family was, even if it was just a family of two.

On the top shelf, as promised, Jack found the chinese box and smiled.

"This is why I love you; a woman not afraid of some good Mushu Pork," Jack said as he stood, closing the fridge door and grabbing some chopsticks from the counter. He snapped his fingers, opening the fridge door once more, securing himself a beer, coming to plop down at the table, Sam smiling the entire time just glad to have a meal with him even though she had enjoyed her own hours before.

"So, how did it go?" she asked and took a sip of her wine. Not that she wanted to talk about work, but she could never resist her husband's recap of a meeting; it made reading the report the next day much more entertaining.

"Just like I said it would. They're halting that stupid Destiny crap until we hit the three year mark. It's like they are all living in a Sci-Fi movie or something. Even if we gate over there, we have no idea what in the hell we're gating into. We just need to wait. In the meantime, between the Anubis mess and that cloning crap of Rodney's, we have plenty of things to worry about, but nonetheless they still wanted to go down to nerdville and see what in the hell Daniel and his girlfriend have been up to," Jack said, shoving a chopstick full of meat and noodles into his face.

Sam was pleased. She hated to not handle things like this herself, but sometimes, like when they gave her the brush off for being a woman, she liked to remind the powers that be that she was married to the most powerful man in the department.

"Thank you, now I just hope that keeps Woolsey out of my office," she said sincerely, a part of her still wondering if Hammond or even Landry had to deal with as much garbage. She knew Jack had when he was in charge for a brief spell, but Jack also enjoyed toying with people like Woolsey and other bureaucrats and Sam just didn't have the patience for ignorance like her husband did.

Taking a few more bites and a swig of beer, Jack swallowed quickly, pointing the chopsticks at her, having something else to say.

Sam looked at him strangely, wondering what else could have possibly gone on in that meeting, one that she was very thankful to have avoided so she waited for him to compose himself, sipping her wine.

"I think Daniel's banging Dr. Perky," Jack said finally and Sam fell forward, spraying wine into her hand as she shot it up to her face. Trying to compose herself, she swallowed what bit was left in her mouth, grabbing for a napkin to wipe her face.

"What?" Sam asked as the wine dribbled down her chin, one hand wiping herself frantically while the other was signaling for Jack to keep talking.

"I think that Daniel is sleeping with his assistant," Jack restated, in a more adult fashion, well as adult as her husband was going to be about such things and Sam shook her head, knowing that he wasn't understanding her question.

"I heard what you said Jack, I want to know what makes you think that," she inquired.

"The way they act together. They're all," he paused for a moment, searching for the correct word, "chummy." Sam laughed.

'They've become pretty good friends, that's all," Sam answered, starting to drink her wine again.

She was slightly disappointed inside; she had kind of hoped they were together, quietly of course, she couldn't risk them out in the open, but she couldn't find any evidence of the sort.

Sure, Adrienne was a bit more touchy with Daniel now, but no more than she was with Cameron, Teal'c or Vala for that matter.

Daniel was very protective of her as well, overly protective it seemed at times, but other than the night at her house so many months ago where Adrienne had declared loudly and drunkenly her love for Daniel, she hadn't really said anything else and neither had he.

In fact, Sam had started to give up.

"Yeah, but they speak all in codes and look at each other like no one else is there," he said, digging for more meat in the pile of noodles as Sam nodded.

"They've been doing that for a while. They switch languages and whatnot so no one else knows what they're saying. I agree, that's a bit nerve racking," she admitted.

Sam had been in large group meetings when the two of them would get into a heated argument in French, switch to Spanish, over to Ancient and then top it off in Goa'uld. It was confusing and sometimes if one or both of them stormed out between the team she could get a gist of what they were saying but sometimes not. It was as if the two archaeologists had created a language all of their own that no one else spoke and at times it was indeed very annoying.

"No, no, I've heard their weird little French and Spanish crap. I mean in code. It's English, but in code. As they were leaving Daniel said something to her about Bon Bons or something and she said ocho, which I know is Spanish for eight and then he starts talking about the damn weather tomorrow. It made no damn sense, but Dr. Perky knew what he was talking about and left smiling. I think they were deciding a hook up point," Jack finished off the beer and stood to get another, glancing behind him to see his wife's response.

"Adrienne, honey, her name is Adrienne and that's not evidence of anything other than their geekiness. Which shouldn't bother you because you married a geek yourself," Sam smiled, teasing.

Maybe he was right, maybe it was a hook-up point, she thought, deciding that she needed to do some more fishing first thing tomorrow morning.

Jack, disregarding her joke, kept talking.

"I know her name Sam and again, I think I've hit the mark with that one pretty good too. But answer me this, what about his sudden social life? Other than movie night and what, two dinners with Vala, that man hasn't left his hole in years for anything fun. Anything. Now all of a sudden, he's out every single day that he's not working, a lecture here, dinner there and ever damn time it's with her! Sam, I caught him in the lab practically dry humping her, or trying to, to that damn rap music of hers! And he's ... happy," Jack continued, emphasizing the word happy with disdain in his voice.

Sam couldn't help but laugh at his last reason; Jack was right but, really, god forbid Daniel was happy. After everything the man had been through, happy was definitely what he deserved.

"And what if they were?" Sam asked, awaiting his response, never having broached the topic with him before. Frowning, Jack opened the fridge door and took out another beer, twisting the cap and returning to the table, sitting down.

"I don't know, is he supposed to be scoring with his assistant? I know they're civilians, but isn't that just a little too close to home?" Jack asked, turning it back on her. Sure, he had teased Daniel about it, the woman was a cute little thing and the two of them seemed way too close, but he really wasn't so sure that hooking up with one's assistant, much less one's teammate was such a good idea. After all, he and Sam had waited but they weren't civilians.

Would they have waited were it not for years of military training and regulations telling them they had to? What were the regulations for people like Daniel and Adrienne?

Sam leaned forward a bit on the table, pushing the wine glass aside.

"If they are, no one knows and obviously it's not interfering with their work so leave them alone. We can cross that bridge when we get there," Sam replied, wondering what she really would do if they were together.

What would Woolsey say?

He had been trying to do away with Adrienne's position since day one.

Jack, however, didn't respond, just drank his beer, starting to think to himself that maybe he was just hoping that Daniel finally found someone that made him happy.

The magnifier slammed onto the floor, it's glass shattering into a million pieces across the lab, the noise from its impact on the floor echoing throughout the room. Adrienne's heart stopped at the sound and she looked back at Daniel, panicked, who had stopped his lips moving down her neck, his eyes wide at the floor.

"You did that," she said quickly, realizing that it might not have been the wisest idea to let him throw her up on the table, as fun as it seemed at the time.

"No, you started it. You locked the door and waltzed over here with one thing on your mind," he accused, pulling back from her, his face red with embarrassment as he pulled away, suddenly unable to believe he had let them get carried away like that, at work no less.

Damn tight running shorts, he thought, damn Adrienne.

"No, you slammed me up onto the table with one thing on your mind," she replied, slipping back over to her desk.

"I said let's go back to my quarters, you obviously didn't want to wait," he teased, not really mad about the magnifier but still regretting this little indiscretion.

This wasn't like him, what had Adrienne done to him, but then she smiled, that smile she only gave to him.

She changed my life is what she did, he thought, she brought me back from the brink.

"Sorry, ok, fine, my fault," she said, laughing, returning to the scene of the crime to help him pick up the mess. Kneeling beside him though, another thought popped into her head.

"What are you gonna say happened?" she asked, worried. They had really crossed a line here, a line they should have known better than to cross, given it was in this exact same fashion that Vala found out and they were just damn lucky that she hadn't slipped or blackmailed them for that matter. The last thing Adrienne wanted was for Woolsey to finally have an excuse to ship her to Area 51 or to fire her.

The all-important Daniel Jackson or not, she wasn't supposed to be sleeping with her boss, period and she was fairly certain that having intimate contact on a mission, well, two missions now, and in the lab was a fireable offense.

"That I was having my way with my assistant on my desk and she knocked it over," he teased, trying to be funny, seeing the worry in her eyes, the same worry that was ripping through him at the exact moment.

They needed to cool it, at least here, and fast.

Forcing a laugh, Adrienne shoved him playfully and he shook his head, having finally come up with a real excuse.

"That I was trying to use it, but it's gotten so old that the clamp broke. I was pushing down on it to get a closer look and it popped up and fell over, end of story. I've been asking for a new one of these for a while now so I guess I owe you a thank you," he said, leaning up to kiss her lightly. She returned the gesture and backed up, sitting on her heels, smiling again.

"In that case, you're welcome," she replied, hoping it was that easy and stood, returning to pack her things as Daniel went to grab the broom from the corner of the lab. Her items shoved away, she looked over her shoulder as Daniel was pouring the last of the pieces from the dust pan into the large metal trashcan.

"Wanna do something? Clothed?" she asked, blushing.

"Yes, and away from here. I'd rather not think about SG finances or bureaucratic idiots for the rest of the night," Daniel replied, tossing the larger magnifier pieces in the garbage. He grabbed his bag from his desk chair and slipped it over his shoulder, walking over to Adrienne and slipping his arm around her waist, stealing a kiss and unlocking the door.

"Come on Indy, I've got an idea," she said.

"Where to?" he asked as she walked out of the door pulling him along.

"I was thinking a late night movie at the IMAX, the one downtown that's open all night. It's probably something stupid, but we can sit in the back and make fun of it," she replied, letting go of his hand the minute they entered the hall as it was time for the work face.

Slightly disappointed to not be heading to have a more intimate evening in his quarters, Daniel followed along, hoping she wasn't dragging him to another zombie movie.

It was worse than a zombie movie; it was awful, some stupid teenage vampire love story with crappy cliché music written by wanna be punk rockers. They were, however, mostly alone in the theatre so they sat in the back, speaking French, making fun of the entire first half of the film when Adrienne finally leaned over onto his shoulder, Daniel instantly slipping his arm around her.

"Are you tired?" he whispered, taking a peek at his watch to see how much longer they had to force themselves to stay awake, knowing that Adrienne could fall asleep at any moment.

"Not really, just thinking about what Jack said earlier," she whispered back.

"About my being an idiot?" he teased, kissing her temple lightly.

"About us being together. If that's really what he said it certainly doesn't sound like he's that concerned if we are," she replied.

"Excuse me for saying this, but Jack just wants me to 'get laid'; I think that he would have an entirely different position if he knew how serious we were," Daniel answered.

"So we're serious?" Adrienne asked, taken aback by the statement.

Granted she knew that they weren't just having a good time and she loved him more than she had ever loved someone else before, but she hadn't really thought to the future, past their day to day secret keeping. She had used the word serious before and she thought that didn't scare her with Daniel, but to hear him actually say it, just out of the blue, made her heart race.

_He's serious..._

_How serious is serious..._

_Could he be thinking..._

She began to pull away slowly, Daniel looking over at her strangely.

"Of course. I mean, we have our nights, but we're pretty much living together now; I would say that's serious," he explained, sounding a little hurt.

Was there something she wasn't telling him?

Adrienne was quiet for a while, still in shock because with his words he made it all real.

This wasn't a quick I love you, a declaration of forever in a moment of passion, Daniel wanted a future with her, a 'this is it for me' kind of future.

Giving Adrienne a moment, as he could see she needed it, Daniel sat back to try to figure out why that stupid girl on the screen thought that having her vampire boyfriend break into her house while she was at school to get her car keys was not creepy.

"Daniel, sha?" she whispered again.

"What's wrong ja-wer?" he replied, hoping she didn't want to discuss how serious they were any further. It made him nervous, made him think that he had jumped to conclusions, made him think that he was the only one in this relationship that was thinking forever.

He had thought she was, wasn't she?

"I think we need to tell Sam," she said quietly.

"Why?" he asked looking over at her, those not the words he expected to hear from her mouth.

"Because if this is serious, like you said it is, I think we have to disclose that to our boss," Adrienne declared.

"Ok, if you want me to I will. This is serious. I do love you and you're right," he answered, deciding that she had a point.

They were going to need to face the consequences of their actions if he wanted this to lead anywhere like it had in his mind, to a future that he hadn't even discussed with Adrienne.

Smiling in the dark, she cuddled closer to him using his touch to calm her fears.

They were back at the base at 4 a.m., and only other members of SG-1 that seemed to be up.

Over pretending, Adrienne just headed to Daniel's room with him, openly holding his hand and Vala, who was apparently up as well, made some crude joke about them spending their next four hours enjoying one another. Adrienne tried not to laugh, because a part of her wanted to do exactly that. Daniel yelled at Vala and made her go away, but they did go straight to his room, just like Vala teased.

They actually worked on some things for a few hours and then, since they were both on the first day of the switch, finding they couldn't focus, played multilingual Scrabble for a while which ended in a draw, a long, loud draw filled with screaming and hysterical laughter.

Finally, it was late enough, or early, depending on the definition, so they went to bed, wrapping up together in a tangle of arms, legs, blankets and slow kisses.

"Archaeology," Daniel answered the phone.

"Why are you answering your phone?"

It was Jack on the other line so Daniel answered a smartass question with a smartass remark.

"Because I was standing beside it," he replied, rolling his eyes and wondering why Jack wasn't at home with his wife at ten at night when neither of them were confined to reverse schedule.

"Where's your girlfriend?" Jack continued.

"Adrienne stepped out," Daniel answered, forgetting himself for a moment, "and she's not my girlfriend," he added quickly, half tempted to admit it right there.

_No, you're not lying Daniel, she's not your girlfriend. She's your soulmate. See, no lie. _

"Sure, listen, leave her a little love note to tell her you're gone for the night; I need you on something," Jack requested, Daniel making a noise into the receiver.

"Is it more blowout from that meeting? Jack, I've got things that I'm trying to get accomplished down here, which is hard enough as it is on this backwards mess that Woolsey calls a schedule," Daniel protested, hoping that he could at least get a new magnifier ordered and start to sort out and assign the next section of database.

"No, it's geeky mess from area 51 I need you to look at. Get your ass up here," Jack ordered, hanging up the line. Knowing he would just be fighting a losing battle, Daniel walked over to Adrienne's desk to leave her a note so she could at least get started on their work for the week.

Adrienne got back to the lab, wanting to just lock the door and throw herself into Daniel's arms, but he wasn't there. Instead there was a note on her computer.

_Up with bigshots. Go through tag 56932 database and make calendar. _

_Fang. On. 6, just in case._

He didn't need to sign the note, the code was enough, but Adrienne was disappointed that she would have to wait so long to see him. Looking at the clock, 11 p.m. on this stupid shift, six in the morning was an eternity.

She sighed, cueing up the database to his requested tag and began to plan out their attack plan for this section, hoping the time would fly.

Sam was sitting in her office just about to go home and end her semi-normal day shift when the red phone rang and her heart started to race, like it always did when that phone rang; she could only imagine what was wrong.

Reaching for the phone, she brought it to her ear cautiously, hoping that an attack from Anubis or worse was not the news to be relayed by the other side.

"O'Neill," she answered professionally.

"I never get tired of hearing that," Jack said on the other line and Sam softened her tone a bit thankful that if bad news was to come, it was to come from him.

"Jack, why are you calling the emergency phone?" she asked, not really wanting to know. Jack had way too much fun with his power despite his years of military behavior and more than anything liked to play with said power. She secretly thought it was hysterical, but would never admit it to him and now more than ever hoped that he was calling for one of those more idiotic reasons.

"Because I'm going to try to get Daniel to admit that he's doing the horizontal mambo with his little girl, and I need a good way to make him admit it," Jack explained, as if using government resources to satisfy his curiosity was perfectly normal.

Sam made a noise into the phone.

"I said to leave them alone," she stated, knowing full well that not only hadn't he listened to her last night, but that he had no intention of listening to her now.

"I take it you're not gonna help then?" he asked, sounding disappointed.

"No honey, I'm not," she replied, "I'm going home. My shift today is done. Good night."

"Dammit, you're no fun," he said and hung up, just as Daniel was knocking at his door.

Jack stood, adjusting his jacket, trying to look official and not like he was snooping before walking over to open the door.

"Took you long enough," Jack said in greeting.

"You do realize I'm on the bottom floor and, I had to leave Adrienne a list of things to do in my absence," Daniel rolled his eyes at his friend and Jack smiled.

He could comment now, of course he had to leave a note for Adrienne, probably a note that said where they were meeting for their next whoopie session, but it was best he wait.

"Alright, so Rodney has sent this crap over and says it's time sensitive so I need you to read it and tell me what it says," Jack ordered as he walked Daniel over to a table.

Making a face the moment he noticed that this had nothing to do with Anubis or anything else Daniel had been working on these past few weeks, Daniel rolled his eyes at the complete waste of time in front of him before glaring back at Jack.

"You could have sent this down to the lab where Adrienne and I could have finished it in about half the time it took for me to come up here, sit here alone, do it and then head back down," Daniel said, pulling out the chair and removing a legal pad from his messenger bag.

Not responding, Daniel did as he had asked, Jack smiling as his friend sat, taking the bait.

"There you are, talking about your little sweetheart again," Jack began his taunt carefully, "You know you got along just fine for years without her."

"Yea, I did," Daniel said, "but I get along better now with her," he replied coolly, starting to read and write things down on the pad.

Biding his time, Jack decided to back off for a while and let him work, planning to try a different angle later. He'd gotten Daniel up here, alone and cornered, which was phase one of his plan but at this point Jack was still waiting to start on phase two.

About an hour into the task, as he himself went through stack after stack of mission reports, Jack had an idea. Trying to act casual, he stood from his desk, glancing over at his friend, who hadn't made so much as a sound or sent one text message to the chickadee downstairs.

"Hey, I'm going to go get some coffee or something, do you want anything?" Jack asked, walking over to the desk now noting that Daniel was working furiously, obviously in a hurry to get out of there.

I bet I know why, Jack thought, he's trying to get back downstairs to her.

"No, I'm good," Daniel muttered, not looking up, flipping to the next page in the stack.

Perfect, Jack thought to himself and headed down the hall to the elevators that would take him to his wife's part of the Pentagon.

"Good evening Dr. Perky!" Jack shouted as he got into the lab. Adrienne had her headphones on looking at a calendar layout when he shouted and just about fell into the floor with shock, ripping off her headphones, peering back at him.

"General you scared me to death!" she shouted, putting her hand over her chest.

"What happened to that karate stuff of yours? Aren't you supposed to kick my ass or something?" he asked, making a face at her reaction.

"I try not to as much, it's usually Daniel that jumps out and tries to scare me," she said.

"And we wouldn't want to punch our loverboy, would we?" Jack said quietly.

"Sir?" Adrienne asked, trying to act innocent.

This week was just getting better and better; who else was going to find out?! But wait, maybe Daniel had talked to Sam, should she answer accordingly, but she froze not knowing at all what she should do.

"Nevermind. I need your Ancient/Goa'uld/ translating doohickey," he said.

"It's not a doohickey, I mean, it's not a separate tool or anything, it's an iPad app I created, right over here, would you like me to show you how to use it?" Adrienne asked as she rushed over to her desk to get the iPad. Grabbing the tablet, she hurried back over to Jack, opening the case and tapping around the screen.

"Here's the icon," she said hoping to be helpful to one of the many people around here who after all of this time still didn't seem impressed with her, "just tap here. What are you trying to translate?" she asked curious as to why he was not only down here but asking for her help.

"English to Space Worm," he replied. Trying not to make a face at his word choice, Adrienne selected the right option, turning the screen to show him where to enter the text.

"Just type here, and hit enter like a normal keyboard. Sir, can I ask why you need to do this; since Daniel is indisposed I would be more than happy to help you with whatever," she offered, determined to get to the bottom of his strange behavior.

"Nope, gotta do this myself. I'm gonna use Daniel's computer over here, so you just carry on with whatever you were doing," he replied, shooing her away with his hand and walking over to Daniel's desk.

Still confused, and not wanting to annoy the big boss, especially if Daniel was going to go public with their status, Adrienne just shrugged and put her headphones back on, determined to be finished before six and not to worry about Jack O'Neill's unexpected visit.

About thirty minutes later Jack returned to his office but Daniel didn't even notice, still enthralled in his task, not even giving his old friend as much as a wave.

Jack's phone was ringing, so he took the call, having to put off his scheming for a while longer and it was important, of course, meaning he would have to put his little plan on hold until he took care of real work. He was annoyed; if Sam had agreed to help she could be down here filling in for him, but no, she had to be a stick in the mud and make him be the one to figure out whether or not Daniel was finally recognizing that females actually existed.

Frowning at the occupied archaeologist, Jack stepped out for the stupid meeting, who in the hell met at one in the morning other than Robert Idiot Woolsey, running around the Pentagon for a few hours, returning back by two thirty, hating this stupid schedule more by the minute.

When he finally stepped across the threshold to his office, Daniel was still there, foregoing food even though he knew his friend surely hadn't eaten.

Perfect, Jack thought, not only is he still here but he's already proving my point by skipping lunch, he's rushing to get back to Dr. Perky because heaven forbid the woman eat a meal alone.

Running his plan through his head, Jack opened his email slowly, cutting his eyes over at Daniel.

"Asshole!" he shouted aloud and that, as he had hoped, got Daniel's attention.

"What now?" he asked without turning around, knowing full well that it was going to be more work for him and not Jack. Smiling, the general hit print, grabbing the document from the printer and stood, walking it over to Daniel.

"More bullshit from Rodney; it says you need to do this first," Jack explained as he hastily handed Daniel the sheet of paper. Frowning, he took it and scanned the document, quickly glaring back at Jack.

"Goa'uld text usually don't begin with the words TOP SECRET," Daniel stated sternly.

"Probably some of Rodney's smartassness, just do that first, alright," Jack said and went back to his desk as Daniel turned to the document, beginning to start the translation.

"Really Jack? Really?" he said moments later.

"What, does it say something important?" Jack asked, trying to hide his excitement.

"Besides the fact the wording is horrendous and sounds like an uneducated buffoon it reads 'I know you are knocking boots with Dr. Excited' which I am sure you meant to read Dr. Perky," Daniel said, rolling his eyes.

"Well?" Jack asked.

"Well what?" Daniel replied.

"Are you?" Jack continued and Daniel stood from the table.

"This just says the same thing over and over, like every other machine Rodney thinks he can't translate. Send it back, I'm going to do some real work," he said standing from the table and heading for the door, Jack grabbing his arm and pulling him back.

"Look, I get it ok. I won't say a word. Are you and Dr. Perky a thing?" Jack asked more sincerely, Daniel biting his lip and pulling away.

"Yeah."

"Like having a good time kind of thing or I need to prepare for backlash kind of thing?" Jack push further, watching Daniel's face, somewhat taken aback. They really did, he thought, he really hooked up with his assistant.

"Option two."

"How serious are we talking Daniel?" he now inquired, his mind already racing for solutions. His old friend, his friend for so long finally looked up at him, with a look in his eyes that Jack hadn't seen in years...

"Serious enough where I need you and everyone else to cool it so I don't lose her. Serious enough where it would be great if you could find out any and all loop holes in the dating one's subordinate regulation. Serious enough where," he paused, taking a breath, "where I'm filing formal paperwork in the morning with Sam."

Ok, yeah, Jack thought, that's serious and Robert Woolsey just might hit the ceiling. He hadn't been keen on an assistant anyway and this would just add fuel to the fire.

"Is she worth it?" Jack asked the only other thing on his mind, that if this were to completely collapse in on him was it all worth it. He really hadn't taken the time to get to know Adrienne, Sam seemed to like her but was really too busy to know her either, this woman who had apparently stolen the heart of one of his dearest friends.

"More than anything," Daniel answered without hesitation, Jack nodding in reply.

"Ok, I'll see what I can do," the general muttered, patting his old friend on the shoulder before turning to head back to his desk. Daniel didn't say another word, just shoved his hands into his pockets and left the office, leaving Jack with piles and piles of more useless bullshit. Turning to his screen he started to check email when he paused, opening a different folder instead.

_Pentagon Personnel Regulations and Code of Conduct_

Adrienne noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and after her little episode with Jack earlier in the evening was paying better attention but it was Daniel so she slipped her headphones to her neck smiling.

"Well, I'm glad that didn't take all night. I'm just about finished with the calendar. What did the boys upstairs need?" she asked, looking back at what she had been writing.

"Jack needed to act like an ass, that's all," Daniel replied, not wanting to tell Adrienne it looked like their little secret was going to blow up in their faces very soon. She didn't need to worry about that but he needed to come up with something good, and fast, and before someone that signed his paycheck was down here escorting the love of his life from the premises.

"Jack?" she said, "Huh, that's odd. He came down here about an hour after I got your note wanting to use my iPad and your computer. He was translating something," she said, confused.

"Uh huh, he sure was," Daniel walked over to his own computer to see where Jack had left the iPad, English translating still reading 'I know you are knocking boots with Dr. Perky' and erased the message, walking the iPad over to Adrienne.

"Don't let him play with that. Think of it like Vala and your surfboard. Same idea," he instructed, handing it to her and she laughed, not questioning, tucking it back into its case.

"Ad?" Daniel opened his big mouth, again, before he could think, her perfect dark eyes glancing up at him.

"You ok sha?" she asked, reading his face, dammit why could she read him so well.

"Jack knows," he spat out, coming to the conclusion that the rest of the conversation and how exactly Jack got it out of him could and should be omitted.

"And?"

"And he was fine, you were right," Daniel replied.

"Told you. I really think we're worrying about nothing. Fang on still or not?" Adrienne asked like nothing had happened.

She's right, Daniel thought, this is going to be just fine, peeking up at the clock. He'd lost track of time, seeing it was nearly four in the morning and they would still need to stay up until eight to maintain the schedule.

"Yeah, I need to eat but we can go back to my room," he answered, not even bothering with their code, starting to look at her layout, nodding his head in approval.

"Nice work," he told her, reaching to take the calendar over to his desk.

"Do you expect anything less?" Adrienne smiled right back at him. Chucking, he peered around the corner to see if there was anyone in the hall. There wasn't, so he leaned down quickly, taking her into his arms and kissing her passionately right in the middle of lab, in the clear path of the doorway, kissing her long and slow, his fingers in her hair and his body pressed close to hers.

"What was that for?" she asked as he pulled away, breathless, barely able to choke that out.

"A preview," Daniel replied, folding the calendar on her desk before splaying out his hands, inviting her to lead the way to the commissary.

Sam was just making coffee when she heard the door open, pleased to maybe get a five minute conversation with her husband before they would switch places, yet again, working through this awful spell. It was six, not too bad to be honest, and despite the insanity going on at the base, the round the clock meetings and operations, she could now be thankful for two days in a row of getting to spend actual time with her husband.

Standing back from the counter, she tapped the start button on the machine, walking out into the living room to meet him.

"There anymore of that chinese food left?" Jack asked, trudging past her into the kitchen, making a bee line for the fridge.

"No, you finished that off yesterday," she said, following him, trying to figure out what he could eat since this was his dinner and not breakfast, "How was your day?" she continued.

"Normal, busy, stupid, shit that could have been done at four in the afternoon," Jack answered, pulling out the essential ingredients for a sandwich. Sam, noticing he was making himself something to eat, went and sat at the table, her coffee still in the process of brewing.

"Daniel caved," Jack continued and Sam laughed.

"I told you to leave them alone," Sam said, repeating her new mantra.

"Well, I was right, sorta. They're not just screwing though, they're together. Daniel wants me to help him find a way to keep her around. He said he's coming to see you this morning, but he might have meant his morning," Jack said as he spread some mayo onto the bread.

"After everything Adrienne went through to get this job, and the way Woolsey is always looking for a reason to cut her, I understand them keeping tight lipped," Sam said as she stood, the machine clicking to a finish and her body ordering her to caffeinate it as soon as possible.

Pouring herself a cup, she could feel eyes on her and glanced back, noticing Jack looking at her.

"So, wait, you thought they were too!" he said, stopping his sandwich construction and Sam just nodded her head.

"Yes, honey, I was pretty sure," Sam finally admitted, "Or was hoping that they were," His eyes wide, Jack abandoned his food quest and walked over to his wife, pointing the knife in her direction.

"Samantha Carter O'Neill, you foxy little minx, you know something..." Jack said and Sam smiled at her husband coyly.

"I don't know anything. I just know the signs. After all, we played that game for a while ourselves," Sam replied, waiting for Jack's answer and he shook his head.

"Well, when we get this straight and I make sure Woolsey isn't going to ship her off, I plan on rubbing it in his face. A lot," Jack turned and headed back for the counter. Sam just smiled.

She was right and she'd already worked out what she would tell Woolsey.

Without Daniel, he wouldn't even have a job at all. That in and of itself should give him more leeway than others, especially since if they were together it was not effecting their work in any way that she could see.

The alarm buzzed and Adrienne looked over at the clock and sighed. It was 8 p.m. time to wake up, again.

She hated reverse schedules.

Not that she was any better in the morning but she just hated how everything just seemed to be messed up. The alarm went off again and Adrienne crawled over Daniel's bare back to reach it but he beat her to it, his left hand thrown over the small black device.

"You know I've moved it out of your reach to save it from your fastball," Daniel said, shrugging her back over to her side, rolling over to face her.

"This is also why you're late every day. There is this nice little invention called snooze, that allows you to wake up slowly. Normal people don't just launch alarm clocks across the room," he made a face at her so she turned, burying her face in the pillow.

"However, by no longer allowing me to launch my alarm across the room you are having a significant negative economic impact on the alarm clock industry," she turned her head only so much as to allow her lips freedom to giggle. Daniel laughed as well, but not entirely at the joke, more so at the dark red mark on her shoulder, a red mark he remembering making last night, accidentally, as he had gotten a bit carried away.

"Let's not get up," she said, trying to slide into his arms.

"Let's not get caught," he replied, but he didn't want get up either, her love mark making him remember last night, remembering how...

What had she done to him?

"Lay back," she instructed from her knees, evidently having gotten into that position at some point. He paused, unsure as to what to do; they'd just woken up...

"Just lay back," she repeated, bringing her tongue ring to her teeth, revealing her intention instantly, causing his heart to race.

"No, Ad, don't, you don't have to, I don't want you to, I don't expect," he started to stammer, ashamed, worried, pulling away. This wasn't something she should be doing, she didn't need to do this to make him happy; he loved her even before they had laid a hand on one another and she needed to know that...

They had been taking it too far lately.

This was getting out of control...

He sat up slightly, protesting, pushing her away and she sat back on her heels, appearing confused and nervous.

"Sha, I'm sorry, is there something I need to know?" Adrienne asked, worried and curious herself, never having seen this reaction from him before, but Daniel was shaking his head, waving his hands.

"You're not my slave, you're not here for that, we are not together for that, it's just, I meant what I said about serious, I mean I want," he stammered some more but Adrienne just giggled, pushing her hair out of her face and leaning forward again.

"I want to, trust me, you'll like it," she promised, no longer moving slowly...

They laid there for a little while longer before getting ready for work, Daniel relishing in their physical intimacy yet again, until Adrienne stood from his bed, wiggling out from his grasp. Chills ran down her back, the room being much colder than their shared warmth. and she fought every urge she had to just stay in bed, wrapped in his arms.

Composing herself, she tiptoed to the bathroom to take a shower, feeling he might need a bit to recover.

Adrienne heard him open the door just as she was finishing.

"Ad, did you see my journal of the Atlantis lab work?" he asked, his voice a clear indicator that he had not totally recovered from their previous encounter. Had she not been so close to finishing up she would have invited him to join her, still a little aroused herself, but she was fairly certain that he wouldn't be ready for anything else for a while.

"Not recently, last I saw it you had it at your desk in the lab, did you bring it here?" she replied, pausing at her own response, remembering their conversation from yesterday, the nice memory of pleasuring him this morning leaving her thoughts. Wow, we really are serious, she thought, we sound like a damn married couple.

_Is that where he's going with this?_

_Oh my god..._

"I have no idea; did I mention I hate this schedule," he said, sighing, and she laughed from the shower.

_Ok, if we're this serious then there were some things that needed to be straightened out, especially if he's thinking..._

"When are you going to meet with Sam?" she asked bluntly, laying it out.

"For what?" Daniel responded, his mind still on the lost journal and the surprising wake-up he had just moments before. She didn't have to do that, but she seemed to want to and that was by far the most amazing experience that he had ever had, second only to actually making love to her.

Adrienne stuck her hand out of the curtain as she shut off the water, stretching for her towel which was just out of reach, her hand flailing cutely for the fabric, trying to stay hidden in the warmth of the shower, so he stepped forward and collected it, handing it to her with a smile.

"Thank you sha," she chattered out through gritted teeth, drying off and wrapping it around herself, stepping out into the cold again shaking. He wanted to take her into his arms the moment he saw the goosebumps on her shoulders, but she scooted by him, heading back into the room, digging through the bottom drawer of the dresser where he was letting her keep things here at well, smiling as she pulled out some clothes and began to get dressed.

"You said that since Jack doesn't care that we're going to tell her, now that we know neither of us are going to get fired," she said.

"Oh," Daniel answered, "that meeting."

Adrienne made a face and it wasn't a happy one.

It's not that he hadn't planned on telling her, he just hadn't figured out what to say yet that didn't end in a scenario where his entire world came crashing down all around him.

_Then again, Jack has probably already told her..._

_Dammit..._

"Yes, Daniel, that meeting, aren't we going to start taking the next step," she said and he sighed.

He was so scared to tell Sam, to admit everything publicly, terrified that they would separate he and Adrienne.

Ad, I can't lose you, you are everything to me, he wanted to say but couldn't, his lack of response sending Adrienne into a rage.

"What in da hell Daniel!? Wha 'tah we doing 'ere? 'Ow 'ard is it ta march up ta Sam, one of yo best amis, and tell 'er? Dit on verite! Please tell me dat yo nah voila merde ahd dat dis is fo real. Dat I'm nah makin' a cooyon ah myself!" Adrienne screamed at him, the anger in her voice rising, her speech nearly unintelligible.

_What was happening? _

_Where did this come from?_

"It is Adrienne, it is. I love you. I'm just..." but he couldn't finish, the look on her face was terrifying him far worse than anything Sam could say, this was the look of his world tumbling down, this was the look of Adrienne, pulling herself from him, looking for an escape. Instead, he walked to embrace her, trying to show her that he loved her, that he meant what he said, that this was really it for him.

Oh my god, he thought, stopping in his tracks, she is it for me, this is it.

_I want to spend the rest of my life with her..._

She shoved him away, clearly unable to read his thoughts and as angry as ever.

"No, pic kee toi Daniel Jackson; fuck you! I'm nah 'ere fa yah amusement. I'm nah in da sac wit yah fa da fun of it. I'm NOT VALA MAL DORAN!" she kept screaming and Daniel was completely lost.

Didn't he just say to her last night that they were serious, that she was all he wanted.

What was going on?

"Ja-wer, I know, you're not, please, calm down," he tried to approach her again but she was shaking her head and out of nowhere, lashed out, slapping him across the face.

Hurt and surprised, Daniel backed away slowly.

"I 'ave work ta do ya damn cooyon, ya kno ahr jobs!? Ya let me kno what ya decide. If ya want me ahnd ah real relationship, I'll be in da lab. If nah, I'm sho Vala's still game," she stormed out of his room, half dressed, slamming the door behind her.

Daniel didn't chase her; what would he say?

There was no way that she would understand what he was going through.

True, there was a part of him that was terrified of the repercussions of allowing their relationship to unfold and become public, but he realized walking through the halls of the SGC that it was something more.

Admitting that he and Adrienne were in love publicly made it real and real was something he could easily lose.

He had lost real before but if he continued to stand here like an idiot he was going to lose it again. Instead of going to the lab to try to reason with her, he went to the one place he knew he could go.

He went to see Teal'c.

"DanielJackon," Teal'c greeted him as Daniel slowly pushed in the partially open door, "I was just preparing to complete my meditation."

Regardless of night schedule or day, Teal'c was a creature of habit and it was 10 p.m., the time he liked to set aside to meditate when he could and Daniel was thankful that tonight was not an exception.

"I was hoping so, may I join you?" he asked the Jaffa, who was sitting in the floor, shirtless and crossed legged, surrounded by candles.

"Of course," Teal'c indicated the floor beside him and moved some candles to allow Daniel to sit down which he did, crossing his legs as his friend had done and closing his eyes.

"It has been a long time since we have shared a meditation," Teal'c noted, once he saw that Daniel had taken his seat and was comfortable.

"Yes, I'm sorry my friend, I've been distracted," Daniel apologized, realizing that he indeed hadn't spent time with Teal'c or anyone else for that matter, not in a long while.

"With AdrienneRowan," Teal'c said without expression and Daniel's heart started to race.

"Yes, with, well, no, what do you mean with Adrienne?" he panicked, sure that Teal'c didn't mean anything by it, but isn't that why he was here in the first place, to talk to Teal'c to get advice to figure out what he should do?

"You are in love with AdrienneRowan and you spend your free time with her. You have no need to meditate to have your peace because you have your peace with her," Teal'c answered simply.

Sighing, Daniel opened his eyes and glanced over at his friend, who was already looking at him, with a serious but kind expression.

There was no hiding it any further.

"How did you know?" he asked, giving in, the list of knows quickly growing longer than the list of don'ts.

"AdrienneRowan has loved you since you saved her from the nomads. She refused to leave you when Kasuf haunted you. You tore the flesh from your palms to extract her from the cave when the team went to meet the Tok'ra. I have loved DanielJackson; I know how it appears," he said.

Daniel looked ahead and realized, realized that Teal'c was right; it was obvious to everyone. Cameron and Vala didn't have to say a word and Jack had figured it all out god knows how long ago.

Adrienne was right, this was ridiculous, he just needed to go and talk to Sam, tell her everything, tell her that Adrienne was all he ever wanted and he was going to fight like hell to keep her.

Without a word, he stood, exiting the room, the big warrior remaining on the floor, smiling slightly as Daniel left.

He didn't hesitate when he arrived at Sam's door, but knocked since it was closed. On the elevator ride to the bottom floor from the housing wing he almost changed his mind, those fears and worst case scenarios playing out in his head over and over, but he forced the thoughts away, intent on making this right.

"Come in," she shouted, to both his relief and regret, so he turned the knob and headed on in slowly, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Hey, Sam, you got a minute?" he asked, peering into her office where she looked up from her desk at him over a large piles of files and memos quickly glancing at her clock. She appeared to be busy, which made Daniel feel even worse for bothering her with something so foolish especially since she was trying to keep the entire planet safe along with a host of others and he was here to discuss the fact that he was dating his assistant, that he was sleeping with his assistant, that he wanted to marry his assistant.

Oh my god, he thought, his heart racing again, I want to marry Adrienne.

He started to change his mind, his latest revelation rocking him to his core.

_I want to marry Adrienne. _

"I have a pre-mission briefing with SG-17 in about 20 minutes..." she said, trailing her voice as she glanced up at him once more, her expression changing. She knew him too well, they had been friends too long and the look on her face broke him.

It was now or never, he told himself.

"This shouldn't take long," he answered quietly and she closed the folder, indicating that he take the seat in front of her, which he did, finding himself unable to form the words.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concern washing across her face and Daniel took a breath, nodding.

"Yea, I just needed to come here to talk to you about a personal matter," he started.

Ok Daniel, you can do this, she's not going to scream and yell, it's time to do this, he coached himself.

Sam furrowed her brow and leaned forward on the desk.

"Personal? Is everything ok with Adrienne?" she asked. Shocked, Daniel made a face, turning his head slightly.

Her too?

"Why are you asking me about Adrienne?" he questioned, starting to think this entire charade had been completely in vain because apparently, for Sam, a personal matter for him automatically meant Adrienne.

"You just have this look on your face like you two had a major fight or something. You guys didn't split up did you?" Sam asked concerned.

Oh, see, Sam didn't know, he must have misunderstood.

"You mean did she quit again? No she didn't quit-" he started but Sam cut him off.

"No, I mean did you two break up?" Sam clarified. His jaw dropping, this really had all been in vain, Daniel just sat in the chair, a look of shock on his face and unable to hold back anymore, Sam started to laugh.

"I thought so, but I just needed that look to verify. You two are really really bad at hiding it. Worse than Jack and I. I mean, since when do you shut off the lab cameras, and at random times during the day? Did you really think it was some big secret? Did you think I didn't know why you begged your way into Vala's undercover mission?" Sam asked, figuring that maybe if she disclosed a little of what she suspected that Daniel would open up, let her know how much of a blow back to expect.

"Well, you didn't call me down to do any kind of sign anything saying that I'm dating a co-worker, I'm sure there is something like that we have to declare," he said, deciding to avoid the Woolsey/IOA issue for now.

"Daniel, I'm married to the head of Homeworld Command and he's been convinced for about a month now and he doesn't care; you're fine," she smiled, hoping she wasn't lying to him, but the way that they had conducted themselves so far, she had a pretty good case for keeping them together, "you guys are ok, right?" Sam added quickly. fearing that her original concern had not been the reason for his visit.

"I hope so, I have one more stop to make, enjoy your briefing," Daniel replied and scurried up from the seat, dashing out of the room, throwing the door closed behind him.

Sam looked at the door as he left.

"I wish Mr. Request a Cot could see himself now," she chuckled and opened the folder again to continue preparing for her meeting.

Adrienne wasn't in the lab working like she said she would be and she wasn't in his quarters, which he had highly doubted, but checked anyway. She wasn't in her quarters either, so Daniel hiked to the last place he knew she would be, the gym and there she was, running on the treadmill today instead of the track.

She must still be really mad at him; the treadmill always meant serious mileage. He walked over, seeing that she had on her headphones and he waved in front of her face so she would acknowledge his presence.

Adrienne didn't speak, but she pulled the headphones to her neck and kept running.

"Can we talk?" he asked, making sure to keep his tone apologetic. Adrienne didn't reply at first, looking at the treadmill's screen and mouthing to herself before finally glancing back at him.

"In two miles we can," she answered curtly. Daniel took a breath and tried to retain his composure.

"Can two miles wait?" he continued, as politely as possible.

"No, because when I set out to do something and decide I'm going to do it and say that I am going to do it, I do it, because some things are too serious to play around with," she stated, her voice shaking, not from the exertion of the exercise but from the sadness in her voice.

She needed this, she needed him to be her strength because for as strong as she was in everything else after everything that had happened to her, after living the life her family criticized her for living, she needed him as much as he needed her.

"Adrienne, ok, you keep running, just hear me out," he requested hoping that she was reading his face, that he was sincere.

"Fine," she answered, choking back emotion.

"I talked to Sam," he started and her eyes widened a bit, but she kept running, her focus still somewhat on the treadmill's monitor.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yea and apparently she already knows. Everybody knows," he said, relieved to hear the admission come out of his mouth. However, to his surprise, Adrienne didn't seem pleased, that odd mixed expression of anger and worry still on her face.

"So, you didn't tell her?" she asked, still pounding away at the treadmill. He had hoped that she would stop once she heard that, but she hadn't, so Daniel reminded himself that running was her release.

"I didn't need to, didn't you hear me, she knows..." Daniel answered.

"That's not telling her," Adrienne looked down at the treadmill to check her mileage and kept running.

"Ok, so I still have to tell her what exactly? I'm trying to make you happy here," he was starting to get annoyed and stopped caring about whether or not she could hear a tone in his voice. Adrienne's head shot up and she hopped the straddle the treadmill, finally pausing her run, as the machine continued to pedal on.

"This isn't about making me happy Daniel, this is about whether or not you're adult enough to have an adult relationship, one in which you can say without shying away like a pimply faced teen that you love me and that we're together. For some reason, you can't do that," Adrienne continued, whispering so no one would hear. This argument was going to spawn enough base gossip as it was and she wasn't trying to embarrass him, he just needed to know that if they were going to do this, if she was going to risk it all, she needed to know that he was prepared to make the same sacrifices.

"What is wrong with you?!" he shouted, loud enough to elicit some stares from a few nearby people.

Hurt, Adrienne just cut her eyes, glancing back at the machine.

"You might want to keep your voice down Dr. Jackson. People might notice you caring about me, which apparently is something you're not ready for," she hopped back onto the belt and kept running.

Frustrated with her more than he had ever been, or at least since they had gotten together, Daniel stormed out of the gym.

"Walter," he asked about five minutes later as he marched into the observation deck, still obviously angry, "do we have any teams coming in?" Walter shook his head, trying to judge what was going on.

"Not for a few hours, why sir?" he answered.

Adrienne saw the warning lights flash and pulled her headphones back to her neck, but didn't stop the treadmill. It could just be something routine, but she didn't feel like checking the calendar on her iPod to see what it was, so she listened while she continued to run since she only had one mile left.

"Attention all personnel," she heard Walter's voice over the intercom and waited for the news, butterflies in her stomach as always when such announcements were made, but he didn't announce anything further. That was odd, she thought, and kept running.

"Hi everyone, it's Dr. Daniel Jackson and I just needed to take a moment to clear something up. I apologize for taking this time from your day. Many of you are aware of the addition of my assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan to our staff almost two years ago and the great things she has done not only as a member of the archaeological staff but as the most recent addition to SG-1," that familiar voice spoke over the loudspeaker.

The other crew members in the gym started to clap and Adrienne felt her stomach drop.

What in the hell was he doing?

"However, what only some of you may know is that Dr. Rowan and I are romantically involved and have been for some months now. Apparently, I need to make this public knowledge as soon as possible if I wish for this relationship to continue. So, if Adrienne hasn't taken off those damn headphones yet, can someone go and yank them off of her head. I'll wait a second, just to be sure," he continued and as promised, there was a pause and the entire gym was looking at her, the whole night shift crew which she had never realized was so large staring right at her.

She wanted to die, right then and there, but just couldn't leave with the entire room staring at her.

What was he going to do?

"Thank you. Adrienne, I LOVE YOU! Everyone, I am in love with Dr. Rowan and we are together. I love her more than anyone else in my entire life and I want to be with her. Does that work for you Ad? Do you understand now that I'm serious?" Daniel's voice blared across the gym, echoing off of the walls. Her heart racing, her chest tight, Adrienne slipped, having to jump to avoid falling off the treadmill, landing on her leg funny and falling to her butt anyway.

When she looked up she saw Vala reaching down to help her up, her face in a complete state of shock.

"That my dear," she said, "was impressive." Adrienne took her hand and stood, adjusting her running shorts and wiping a stray hair from her face.

"What, almost breaking my neck?" she asked, her face flushing in embarrassment.

"No," Vala pointed at the loudspeaker, her face actually sincere, "that." As if on cue, the entire gym started making childish kissing noises all except Vala who looked genuinely worried as Adrienne's face turned a hundred shades of red.

"I hate that man," she spat as she stormed to find him, racing out the gym heading in the direction of the observation room muttering to herself the entire way.

"Such gawh damn tchew. I bet 'ee dinks 'ee's so cute, like I'm gonna go rushin' up into 'is ahms, 'Oh Daniel, I love ya so much, ya 'ave declared ya love fah me', well if 'ee dinks dis be adult behavior den I've got news fah 'im, he can embrasse moi techew," she turned the corner and ran smack into him.

"You're a PIG," she screamed, even as he was catching her and helping her not fall to the floor. Reaching for her face he gently grabbed her chin and brought her gaze to meet his.

"No, I wanted to prove a point to you. How STUPID was that? Was THAT what you wanted? Do you want me to scream it again?" he had started slowly and calmly but by the end was almost yelling already.

At first, Adrienne wanted to scream out and smack him across the face again but he backed up, reading her mind and looked at her, his arms crossed.

Instead of screaming, or crying for that matter, she just started to laugh.

"Finally!" he said, "A reaction I know how to handle," He uncrossed his arms giving her a silent invitation and she slipped into them, hugging him tightly, right in the middle of the hall, passersby stopping to glance and whisper. She looked up at him, gazing into his eyes, feeling awful about everything. He should have gone to Sam as promised, but she had also overreacted.

He tended to bring that out in her.

"I'm just not used to having, well, this," she apologized in her way and Daniel held her tighter, kissing her head lightly.

"And you think I am? You know my history," he replied as he backed away, but Adrienne didn't let go.

"I love you too," she said quietly. Grinning from ear to ear, Daniel pushed her back from him.

"What was that Ad, I don't think I heard you..." he teased and Adrienne rolled her eye and stepped back, clearing her throat.

"I SAID DR. JACKSON I LOVE YOU TOO!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as he began to laugh hysterically.

"I can be equally as embarrassing," she told him, winking.

"Of that I have no doubt," he replied, leaning down to kiss her softly. They kissed gently and slowly in the hallway, no longer caring who saw and who knew.

"I can't show my face in the gym again thanks to you Indy," she said to him as they broke away.

"Trust me, we'll be old news tomorrow," he put his arm around her and started to lead her to his room and Adrienne pulled away, stopping and staring at him strangely.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To shower," he answered. Adrienne cocked her head and rolled her eyes.

Really?

A shower?

That was where his mind was after all of this?

Evidently reading her mind, Daniel started to laugh again.

"Now you need to stop thinking like Vala. You stink, and I can't take you out dancing if you stink," he replied.

"I hate you Daniel," she said, her face softening, shaking her head at him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, pulling her along, hoping that he remembered the name of the club she was always talking about.

"I hate you too," he replied, deciding that Adrienne was far more important than anything else he had planned, ever.

"General O'Neill," Robert Woolsey peered around the door to Jack's office glad that he was here. With the reverse schedules, it was hard to know whether or not Jack was going to be working the same time as he or as his wife, but it seemed that tonight he had lucked out, thankfully, because he really didn't want to be discussing this with anyone else.

"What do you want Woolsey? I actually have work to do other than attend poorly planned midnight meetings," Jack hissed from his desk, his head aching already at the mere suggestion of another meeting.

"General, we need to have a conversation about Drs. Rowan and Jackson, and their, um, relationship," Woolsey began, treading lightly since he knew that he was talking about one of Jack's closest friends, someone he thought of as family more than a work colleague.

"Yep, heard the announcement, he's all in love, that's next on the list I can assure you. Let me handle that, they've done nothing wrong, it seems they have been together for a while now and no one has been the wiser," Jack replied, not looking up from the mess strewn across his desk.

Taking a breath, Woolsey cleared his throat and stepped closer, holding up a small plastic case in his hand.

"Not exactly General, there's something you need to see," he started, Jack's eyes finally making contact with his own, curious as Robert handed him a DVD.


	38. Chapter 37 - Adjustments

"Because I said so," Adrienne laughed and rolled over on to her side, pulling up the blanket to her chin.

Of course he had to bring this up again before bed, he wanted to corner her, but she wasn't going to back down.

"You are too intelligent a woman for that to be your argument," Daniel teased, reaching around her waist and kissing her ear, cuddling close to her. He wasn't going to get her to change her mind by being sweet either so she pushed him away again, still giggling lightly.

"Fine, because I think that a vacation is something we both need. Away from work. Away from this place. Away from Vala annoying me about how you are in bed," she rolled back over to face him biting her lip.

"She asks that?" he looked surprised and very embarrassed.

"Often," Adrienne answered, quickly changing the subject, "So, where, I'm leaving up to you," she kissed him again, a tad slower than a normal goodnight kiss and rolled back over, readjusting the blanket, intent on going to sleep.

_Let him figure this out; he's the most brilliant man I know, I have full faith in him. _

Well, at least faith that he could pull something off under pressure. That, she knew, he was good at.

"You know, this isn't my area of expertise. Why don't you pick?" he argued, trying again to persuade her. True, it had been a while since anyone took a trip, a group trip, but a trip together, alone?

It had only been a few days since they had made it known to the entire staff of the SGC the extent of their relationship a few very strange days that started with Jack sending Daniel a very cryptic email that he needed to speak to him in his office. It was a meeting that never happened as Jack was summoned to the Atlantis base as the two remaining ZPMs were beginning to flicker down to nothing. The text Daniel had received when he had woken up the next evening, which thankfully was his last day on the reverse schedule, had said that he needed to speak to Daniel the moment he arrived back on base. He was trying not to think about it, but he knew that it was part of the blowback and if he was going to be with Adrienne, blowback was going to have to be part of the deal.

Still, while it had been nice to finally be able to be themselves, Daniel also felt like every judgmental eye was watching them, waiting for the moment when one of them would do anything that had been misconstrued as inappropriate. Much to Adrienne's, and his, disappointment as well, they had decided that they needed to have a few ground rules, which included among other things, no showing affection publicly and no more shutting of the cameras in the lab, at least for that...

For that, they needed to go to their quarters.

Shutting of the cameras for Daniel to cuss about the IOA was still perfectly acceptable.

"That's my personal challenge to you. Can my boyfriend pick an appropriate vacation destination that has nothing to do with our job? Now, it's after midnight, I have an 8 a.m. meeting and I'm going to sleep. Goodnight Mr. Difficult," she said smiling, hunching down to make herself more comfortable as Daniel pulled away frowning.

"Be that way, goodnight," he flipped over and turned his back to her. She hated that, she hated not saying it now that they did, but he lay there, stubborn, almost able to count it down.

"I love you," she said out loud over her shoulder, annoyed.

So predictable Ad, he thought to himself, smiling.

"Sometimes you make me wonder," he answered, feeling a smack at his arm.

Laughing he rolled back over and reached again to wrap his arms around her bringing his lips to her ear.

"I love you ja-wer," he whispered, kissing her ear again and cuddling close to her, letting himself fall slowly asleep.

The alarm woke him first, and he realized that once again he had slept through the night, calmly, peacefully, and was waking up refreshed.

Add that to the list of things that were so much better now that Adrienne was, well, more than just his assistant, that she was his girlfriend, that she was _his._

It was strange to think about, especially after all of the hiding and sneaking. Last night they had gone to dinner, sitting together like a normal couple and then headed back to the lab to work late, going to bed, together, in his room like this was just supposed to be.

Smiling, happier than he'd ever been before, he reached over to shut the buzzing off, but as usual Adrienne hadn't moved, even to pitch the alarm clock into the wall.

He was starting to believe that she could literally sleep through anything.

It was 6 a.m., so he decided just to go ahead and try to shower before she took over the bathroom, yet another new experience of sharing a space with a woman, at least one from this world. At least Adrienne didn't cover the bathroom in make-up; it was more like bottles and bottles of vitamins, which he had discovered did work when he needed them to. He would never tell her that though; instead, he just popped whatever vitamin he wanted when she wasn't looking since he was fairly certain that she didn't count them and hoped she wouldn't notice.

That alone would be years' worth of harassment.

By the time he was finished in the bathroom and dressed, Adrienne was still asleep, as if she hadn't moved in years. It was just too much temptation; honestly one of the best parts about being in a relationship with Adrienne was that she made such an easy target.

Tiptoeing, Daniel inched over to the bed and leaned over where she was huddled against the concrete wall, cold, shivering slightly, missing his presence beside her.

"You're gonna be late..." he whispered gently into her ear and Adrienne's eyes flew open.

"Merde, Daniel," she said as she shoved past him and leapt out of bed, " 'Ow cud ya let me oversleep!? Sam'll KILL me if I'm late ta dis one," she was yelling, accent at full tilt, as she tore around the room, grabbing clothes from the bottom drawer, some garment bag that was hung over his desk chair, her make-up kit and a towel.

Daniel managed to keep a straight face for all of ten seconds before he lost it completely, laughing hysterically and sitting down on the bed watching her panic when she turned slowly to face him.

"I hate you," she spat, throwing the clean towel at him.

"You just make it too easy," he replied, "it's only 6:45, you have plenty of time."

She walked back toward him, frowning and collected her towel, shaking her head, and went back to getting her things, much slower this time. Armed with an arsenal of god only knew what, she made one last face at him before entering the bathroom. He didn't need to be any place in particular today, so he took his time straightening up his quarters and figuring out his plan of action for the day.

They had worked late again last night, there being no real excitement for a few weeks, the mission to follow up on Anubis last known coordinates on perpetual hold, and they had gotten pretty heavy into the database until almost 10:30. Too late to drive to either of their apartments, they had decided to just stay in his on base quarters and had made love, slowly, forever, not bothering with clothes when they were finished.

He shook his head and made the bed, dispelling the memory.

There was no time for that this morning; she had a meeting to get to, unfortunately.

He heard the hair dryer shut off just as he was satisfied the room was clean enough to leave it for the day, the door opening and out came Adrienne, in her black suit, the one from her interview. He remembered how a small part of him had noted how attractive she was then, a very very small part because that day he was mostly annoyed by her sheer existence.

It's funny how things change, he thought.

"That's a blast from the past," he stated noticing now that the suit really accentuated her figure in a way he would have never let himself notice back on that day she had walked into his life.

He really wished that she didn't have a meeting this morning.

"I know, I thought that when I put it on," she replied as she walked over to where her dress shoes were sitting in the corner.

Damn distracting Adrienne.

Willing himself to not think about spending the day loving, in love with the most perfect woman in the world, he stood from the bed and walked over to the desk, collecting his things and beginning to get ready for work himself.

"The last time I saw you wearing that you hated me and thought I was nuts," he informed her, as he grabbed his bag from the table, tossing it over his shoulder.

"I still do, but you're a good kisser, so I let it slide," she teased, sauntering over to him and kissing him passionately on the mouth. For just a moment he broke, standing there, kissing her like he had last night, so slow and careful but he pulled away before he was at the point of no return.

"Not now," he told her, "You have work to do."

_And I shouldn't sit around and think about you all day like I have grown accustomed to doing now..._

Damn distracting Adrienne.

She laughed, "I know, and I'm turning over a new leaf. No more lateness."

With that declaration she grabbed her own bag and wrapped the strap across herself, careful not to mess up her outfit but Daniel just shook his head.

"I'll believe it when I see it," he answered.

"Goodbye Daniel," she said curtly, but in jest, spinning on her heels, heading for the door.

"Have fun!" he yelled as she rolled her eyes at him and left.

It was all so weird, he thought to himself, to be happy again and to be happy with her, the person he never expected and never thought existed.

Smiling, something he did now more than ever before, he adjusted his bag and was close behind her, pulling the door to his quarters closed.

About 4 hours later, as he was debating whether or not he should get real food or just eat a Powerbar, Adrienne came storming in the open door of the lab, slamming her bag onto her desk and her fists onto the wall.

"What a fuckin' waste!" she shouted in frustration, her head now lightly banging where her hands were seconds earlier. Without a word, Daniel stood and went through their post official meeting ritual, walking over, shutting and locking the door and reaching up to turn off the camera.

As soon as the red light disappeared, he looked back at her, adjusting his glasses and crossing his arms, preparing to listen.

"Rage on," he said, leaning back against the file cabinets. She did this enough for him but as Adrienne had become more and more respected at the SGC, she was made to attend almost as many meetings as he was and she came back from almost as many irate.

"Remember all of those great Ancient documents they shared with us, the ones we got from Grayson and company after they settled their differences? The ones I have been working on for three weeks? The ones I was supposed to present this morning? Well, that's all on the back burner now, let's get ready to spend all of our time back on the leftover Ori weapon information. Because that's the purpose of the SGC, to explore the galaxy looking for new and creative ways to kill people. Like a goddam peekon," she shouted, slamming her chair back and throwing herself into it.

Daniel was shocked; she made it through almost the entire speech before slipping in some cajun phrase.

She must be holding back.

"And every day you sound more and more like me," he told her, "continue."

"Dere's nuttin else ta'say. Donna even know why in da 'ell we bodder anymah," Adrienne swore under her breath, something he could barely make out except that it was full blown cajun.

Yep, she was done.

Sensing that she needed a hug, he walked over to her desk, leaning down to where she was sitting in her chair, staring at a blank computer screen and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind, bringing their faces together.

"We bother because despite all of it, one great discovery is worth the mountain of bullshit, I think is how you put it to me once," he whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek. As he went to hug her tighter, there was a knock at the door, but Daniel didn't let go, just peered over his shoulder.

"Please tell me that you guys aren't having sex in there," a voice from the other side mocked.

It was Vala, and Daniel had no idea why.

Letting out a sigh, he shook his head, stood and walked over to the door, unlocking it and she whisked herself into the room, looking them both over, Adrienne sitting back in her chair, feet propped up on the desk and Daniel standing in front of her, his arms crossed.

"Good, you're both still dressed," she stated smartly, resenting the look on Daniel's face already as he rolled his eyes.

"Vala, you've got a one track mind. We were just having a conversation. We're allowed to do that," Daniel defended. He tired of Vala's obsession with sex and for a moment his thoughts wandered to what Adrienne had told him last night before bed and hoped that Adrienne hadn't shared any details with their dear friend.

"Whatever, Sam said to come get you guys," she replied, hands on her hips.

"Why didn't she just call?" Adrienne asked, confused, removing her feet from her desk. but their visitor didn't answer, just rolled her eyes and held up a piece of paper:

_ Go get Daniel and Addy. Stuck on phone. _

"She wrote this and pointed to the phone, which she was on when I stopped by, so I did what she asked because I'm a nice person," Vala answered.

Concerned, neither of them having spoken to Sam since Daniel's public announcement, Adrienne glanced over at Daniel, putting her face in her hands for just a second and looked back up at him once more.

"Can we go back to bed? Please?" she begged, making Vala laugh from the doorway.

"See, and I'm the one with the one track mind," she said, tracking her gaze over to Daniel as she smirked and he scowled.

"Leave," Daniel ordered and pointed at the door as she was smiling evilly and without argument, she turned around and left, laughing as she did.

He really hoped Adrienne hadn't told her anything, or if she had, it was at least in his favor. Not that he cared of Vala's opinion of him in that department but he did care if Adrienne wasn't being ...

He forced himself to refocus.

Damn distracting Adrienne.

There was a thunk, Daniel turning to see said distracting Adrienne dramatically beating her head lightly on her desk a la Charlie Brown.

"I really have no clue what the hell else I could get hit with this morning. I'm starting to miss hungover freshman," Adrienne said pitifully, so much so Daniel walked back over, reaching out for her hands to bring her to her feet.

"Don't jump to conclusions," he told her, "let's go see what's up."

Dreading the worst, Adrienne let him guide her down to Sam's office, walking hand and hand down the hallways like they didn't care, which they didn't any longer.

When they arrived, Sam was still on the phone and she didn't look happy. With a slight wave of her hand, a ballpoint pen clasped lightly in it, she pointed at the chairs in front of her desk and they took a seat, waiting patiently for whatever was to come.

"Yes. Yes sir, I understand. No, no sir. This is just a standard mission sir I didn't see. Yes, yes sir. I will right away," she hung up the receiver and directed her gaze at the two archaeologists sitting in front of her, who looked confused as to why they were here.

"You would think being married to the head honcho of all of this would make my life easier, but no. It just makes the bureaucrats question your every move," she rolled her eyes in disgust, " but thanks for rushing down you two."

"No problem," Daniel answered, "Adrienne and I are just trying to tie up loose ends before we take leave Friday."

Sam shook her head, "About that..."

"Oh no," Adrienne said without thinking, that part of her that knew this was going to blow up in their faces kicking into overdrive. She'd been looking forward to this vacation for weeks, even more so now that it wasn't going to be a big secret and after her meeting this morning she couldn't take one more stitch of bad news.

"I'm sorry, I hope you guys didn't make big plans," Sam apologized, reaching behind her for a folder, the look on her face showing that she was indeed sorry.

Only a romantic weekend, alone, Adrienne thought to herself but deferred to Daniel, who was shaking his head in the negative.

Thanks sha, Adrienne thought, just let my entire day fall apart.

"Not yet, we were still discussing that, what do you need us to do?" he answered, not at all the answer Adrienne wanted to hear. Before responding, Sam opened the folder and set it open in from of them to display a picture of an Ancient temple, nothing new really, sitting in front of them.

"Well, you both know we sent SG-6 over to PFJ-009, correct? The one with the temple covered in Ancient writings," she told them.

"Yeah," Daniel answered, "it's nothing they can't handle, why?"

"They found this," Sam replied and pulled another photo out from closer to the bottom of the folder, handing it over to Daniel and Adrienne watched as the color left her significant other's face entirely.

"Dear god," he said, his eyes widening as he adjusted his glasses pulling the photo closer to his face, "I thought there was only one."

"So did we," Sam replied, sitting back in her chair letting Daniel take it all in.

"One what?" Adrienne asked.

"Ark of Truth," he answered without breaking his gaze from the photo, " or something close." Puzzled, Adrienne gently slipped the photo away from his long fingers, scrutinizing it as well. She had seen pictures of the ark, drawings really, of what Daniel remembered in case they ever encountered it or something like it again, but had never really seen exactly what it did or should look like.

"It's a box sha, a box. The pixilation on the photo is too poor to really make out what it says. It looks like the images in the database, but come on. If the first box was so important, so difficult to make, why is there another one?" Adrienne, forever the skeptic, asked, resisting the urge to reach over and squeeze his leg. He had that look on his face, that look of the terror that she knew he tried to hide, the look that made her want to take him into her arms.

"I have no idea," Daniel answered her, quietly, as he took the photo from her hand and looked at it carefully once more.

"When this came back with this week's check in, the IOA liaisons overseeing the project decided that you need to head over there Daniel. Immediately," Sam said, closing the remainder of the folder and pushing it toward him. Nodding, Daniel slipped the photo inside, tapping the contents lightly on the desk to balance them, glancing back up at the general.

"Fine, when do we leave?" Daniel asked, disappointed at the interruption to he and Adrienne's first vacation together but understanding the severity of the situation. He'd explain it to her, make it up to her somehow, he knew she'd understand.

"You leave," she clarified, "at 1300 hours," she added, looking at them both sympathetically.

"I leave?" Daniel asked, "but what about Adrienne?"

"Welcome to the new world order Daniel. When you date your assistant, she's really no longer your assistant. I'm sorry Adrienne," Sam said, full of sympathy as Daniel's expression changed from worry to frustration.

"But I need her. Do you realize how much faster I can get things accomplished with her around. There's no more, hurry up Daniel, or Dr. Jackson can we get this done? With Adrienne, it gets done before anyone can start complaining," Daniel argued, albeit to the wrong person.

"I know that but Mr. Woolsey doesn't share my feelings. He thinks the SGC is turning into some kind of large scale dating service. In fact," Sam took a deep breath, "Adrienne will be splitting her time between you and Rodney."

"What!?" Daniel and Adrienne both shouted and the look on Sam's face was enough to indicate to them both that this was not her doing and that she hadn't particularly liked this decision herself.

"I'm sorry guys, I didn't want to tell you like this. Woolsey thinks that the nature of your relationship is, well, distracting," Sam explained and Daniel's stomach sank.

Those were his exact thoughts this morning, distracting, but he still wasn't just going to sit here and let this happen. He needed to think, he needed to come up with a good reason to show Woolsey that their relationship didn't interfere with their work, because it didn't, in fact, the SGC was getting a lot of extra work out of the two of them considering they were always talking about work before bed, over breakfast, in the shower.

That should count for something.

"Distracting?" Adrienne asked, "I make a conscious effort to avoid him like the plague. I mean, before we were together, Vala practically crawled into his pants in front of everyone and THAT was ok. The two of us have a REAL relationship, that we are handling like ADULTS and I get punished by having to go work with RODNEY!?" She was almost shouting toward the end, not in cajun thankfully, glancing over at Daniel for support.

"Adrienne, look, I understand, I do. You all would have both been in serious trouble were you not civilians. This, however, I can't change. There are some things that are just over my head," Sam said Daniel put his hand on Adrienne's leg and looked at his old friend.

"Sam, what about Jack? I know he needed to talk to me before he was sent to Atlantis, is there something we can do? Adrienne is vital to my research and we haven't let our personal life interfere with our work life in the least," Daniel argued, squeezing Adrienne's hand in his own, his eyes pleading with Sam who was shrugging.

"I don't know Daniel, I talked to Jack about it, very briefly last night from San Francisco and he said that I needed to remind you both something about a magnifier?" Sam replied, almost asking a question and this time it was Adrienne's face that turned white.

Shocked for a moment Daniel sat in silence, racking his brain, how would Jack have known when he remembered...

He remembered that he had looked over at the cameras, meant to run turn them off, thought to run turn them off, started to push away her wandering hands to turn them off and then just hadn't and a quick glance at Adrienne told him she was thinking the same thing.

"We understand Sam. I'll head down and pack," he stood and motioned for Adrienne to follow. The cajun woman took a deep breath and said goodbye, following after him, a sick feeling entering her stomach and she lagged behind hoping that Daniel wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

She really never had cried so much as she did over this man and that made her as angry as the transfer.

"Honestly, this might be a good thing," he said from in front of them, looking over his shoulder, slowing to let her catch up, "It would allow you to learn a bit more about other departments and maybe even help connect his work to ours."

As she reached him, he could tell what she was hiding and he didn't want to tell her that he could fix this, he needed to work on it, but for now he just needed to assure her that it would be alright.

"Stop, it's not worth it. Do you think I'm just gonna let them drive us apart?" he turned to face her, bringing his hand to her cheek, "You brought me to life again. They can try, but it's not gonna work."

"But it just won't be the same, you know?" she replied, unable to hold back any longer, starting to cry. He wiped away the loose tear quickly and pulled her into his arms, resting his head on hers, garnering looks from personnel as they walked by.

"Not exactly, but we can use computer chat to make fun of Rodney all day, that should keep us entertained," he tried to kid and Adrienne giggled a bit, hugging him tighter. Here they were, in the main hallway, breaking their most important rule, do not show open affection at work but Daniel didn't care. He and Adrienne hadn't let their relationship affect their work at all, and a hug in the passageway wasn't going to kill anyone.

"Fine, then I demand to at least come while you pack up for the mission before I have to report for hell," she relented, pulling away from him reluctantly.

"I'd hoped you would, oh, and we need to stop by the mess," he exclaimed as he began to change direction and Adrienne glaring at him strangely.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because, I want to make sure you have an orange in your pocket at all times," Daniel was smiling as he said it.

"You're an evil man," she grabbed his arm, sniffing, and slid her hand into his own, reaching to interlock their fingers. He didn't shrug her away either.

Let them gawk, he thought as they headed for the mess hall, if you're going to take her away for one little indiscretion in the lab, then I'm going to hold her hand and kiss her the entire way to the commissary, he strode, as confident as he could, a part of him wondering how much of their little indiscretion Jack had actually seen.

"That means there's a recording, isn't there?" Adrienne whispered, glancing up at Daniel as he packed his duffle with a few sets of standard issue clothes and some boxer briefs, black and gray ones she had purchased for him.

"I think that's a safe assumption to make," Daniel admitted from the dresser as he shut the top drawer, peeking over his glasses to make sure she was alright, which she wasn't, judging by the way her head collapsed into her hands. Tossing the bag aside, he still had a few more hours before he needed to leave, he marched over to the bed, sitting down beside her and taking her into his arms. She wasn't crying, she was just red from her cheekbones to her neck, outwardly expressing what he was feeling himself.

"So, Walter saw," she started, burying herself into the comfort of his embrace, her arms clasped around his middle.

"Probably, but I don't think he would say a word. I think he was probably reviewing tape and Woolsey just walked in or something," Daniel tried to explain, holding her closer, kissing her cheekbone softly.

"I don't think I can ever look him in the face again," Adrienne added, quietly, Daniel laughing uncontrollably, peering over to make sure she wasn't angry, even more worried as she shoved him away.

"Shut up Indy, this is NOT funny. There's a video, video of you and me and ahhhh!" Adrienne shouted out, falling back onto the bed, hands at her face again.

"Come on, if anything you don't have to face one of your best friends after he saw your bare ass on camera," Daniel joked, well, halfway joked; he really wasn't looking forward to having this conversation with Jack in the least.

"Whatever, he's gonna be so happy that you're getting some that nothing else will matter," Adrienne spat from her hands, Daniel laughing, laying down beside her.

"I'm going to try to fix this. We just need to play their game for a little while," he replied, reaching for her hand and holding it up, squeezing it tightly.

"I know, I know. Just feel stupid and all. The dumb bimbo that's screwing her boss," Adrienne said, carefully, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"Don't. Think of yourself as that girl you like so much on that spaceship show and how she fell in love with the captain, what is that show called, the one with those space

zombies?" Daniel asked, trying to make her feel better, trying to relate it to something in Adrienne land.

"Firefly? Zoe didn't love Mal, she was married to Wash, the pilot. Inara was in love with Mal," Adrienne explained, rolling to her side, laying her head on his chest and wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Right, ok, so imagine you're her then," he answered, slipping his arms around her and pulling her close, but she didn't seem comforted, laughing loudly at his chest.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Inara was a prostitute," she answered, still laughing. Flushing now, Daniel shook his head, rubbing his hand down her back.

"Ok, scratch that, let's go back with bimbo," he replied and she sat up quickly, reaching for the pillow and slamming it into his head.

"Asshole."

"You know," he said to her as they headed for the gate room a few hours later, after packing and carefully briefing her on how to handle Rodney in tight enclosed places, "I might have succeeded with your little challenge."

"Is that so? So you're that confident that this won't take very long?" Adrienne asked, her mood lightening.

"Just an idea right now. Came to me as I was packing. Needed motivation to get back fast," he smiled. Returning the gesture, she put her hand on his back as they turned the corner to the gate room to send Daniel on his way.

"Dr. Jackson, Dr. Rowan, nice to see you both," Mr. Woolsey was standing there, in the gate room, his fake grin from ear to ear, almost sneering at them. Adrienne wanted to die of embarrassment right then and there, his greeting might as well have been an outright announcement that he saw, everything, and she avoided eye contact darting her gaze to the corner.

Trying himself to not imagine what Woolsey was really thinking, Daniel was additionally surprised to see he was dressed in full SG gear including tac vest rather than his usual suit and tie, unable to imagine what he would actually put in there. Lists of reasons to cut the intellectual parts of the program he supposed, his thoughts actually coming to him in Adrienne's voice as they ran through his head, and he reached out, running his hand down her arm to reassure her not caring if Woolsey noticed. Stepping ahead, Daniel reached out his hand to greet Mr. Woolsey, who shook it and readjusted his uniform.

"Mr. Woolsey, hello, will you be joining the mission?" Daniel asked rhetorically since by his dress the answer was apparent.

"Yes, doctor, I wanted to see if this little box is anything like the original ark that you discovered. If so, I think we might have stumbled on something of great importance," he stated.

"Une machine de lavage de cerveau," Adrienne whispered to Daniel.

"Exacte," he answered, quietly, feeling an anger in Woolsey's gaze at their secret speech.

Well, learn another language, Daniel thought, cursing the man's ignorance because he was fairly certain Sam understood what he was saying, Sam who was standing to the side talking to a few gate techs that were working in the control panel.

Thank god she didn't see that video...

"Ok, then, well we're off. We'll be checking in periodically General to alert you to our progress," he said and glanced back at Daniel as if he was waiting for something. Sam nodded and gave Walter the signal to start dialing as Daniel looked back at Adrienne, knowing that she was probably looking back at Walter as well trying to feel out if he was upset with her as well.

Worried, he walked over to her, debating whether or not he should kiss her, to hell with Woolsey. He had kissed her goodbye in his quarters, but he could tell that she wanted to again, needed to again, and he reached out to do just that when instead, she squeezed his forearm and gazed into his eyes.

"Ana bahbak," she told him, I love you in Egyptian. He smiled softly, but didn't reach out in return, reading her mind.

"Wa ana kaman bahbek," he responded and turned, walking through the gate, for the first time in a long time leaving her behind. Not even acknowledging their exchange, Woolsey turned to follow, the sucking noise of his exit confirming he was gone.

Ignoring Sam as well, not in anger but in a combination of shame and depression, Adrienne sighed and left the gate room, squeezing the orange as she made her way to her new assignment, four whole floors higher than her lab, than her work space with the man she loved.

"Dr. Rowan, I've been expecting you," Rodney glared at her with a combination of happiness and disgust as she turned the corner to his laboratory door. Forcing a smile and walked over to his desk, preparing for the worst.

The first check in was twelve hours later and there was no rushing the clock. Adrienne had trudged unwillingly to her own quarters after finishing her afternoon with Rodney, who was surprisingly friendly as the day progressed, for Rodney anyway.

He had her translating some items from the Atlantis lab while he ran some mathematical simulations and it wasn't bad, it just felt lonely. Rodney didn't talk much, well to her, he really just talked to himself, out loud, loudly, and it took everything in her power to avoid both smacking him and answering him but really she just wanted to have a conversation. Even before their current situation she still relished harassing Daniel on a daily basis, in fact, she just missed looking over and seeing him there, hunched over the magnifier, squinting, the light reflecting off of his blue eyes.

Trying not to think about it, his absence, her quiet work day, she took a shower and crawled into her cold military issue bed, alone.

Adrienne actually managed to get up with the alarm at five, a first for her; Daniel would have been proud. Rushing to toss on her uniform, she made it to the observation room, only fifteen minutes later, hoping to hear news that he was making some progress, progress that would get him home.

She was just arriving as Sam was watching a grainy video on the screen, her back to the door and arms crossed across her chest.

"It looks that way Sam, but it's in bad shape and I need some more time. There's a lot of reconstruction that's gonna have to go into this," Adrienne knew it was Daniel's voice even though she could barely make out his face. She kept quiet despite the fact that she was disappointed to hear that this might take longer than he had originally thought.

It would have probably taken less time if we had been able to work together, she thought, but she refrained from comment.

"Alright, well, I still want you all to check in every twelve hours. I need to ensure we're making appropriate use of manpower," Sam said and Adrienne could hear the annoyance in her voice at the idea of Woolsey sticking his nose into the operation and smiled appreciatively, knowing that Sam was on her side.

"Yes General," Woolsey interjected, "we will try, but I really want to allow Dr. Jackson as much time as possible to determine if this is indeed what we think it might be."

Yeah, something to kill people with, even if indirectly, Adrienne thought, now they were giving Daniel all the time in the world.

"Understood Mr. Woolsey," Sam replied, reluctantly and ended the transmission, tapping the button on the console before looking over at Adrienne.

"I'm sure he would have said something if he knew you were here," she told her.

"Bah," Adrienne replied, a touch of Louisiana in her response, "I just wanted to see if he was having any luck with the thing. Sounds like a no."

"I should have overruled Woolsey and sent the both of you. This is yet another example of how they like to give Daniel the work of two people and expect him to do it in half the time," Sam said, shaking her head and continuing, "Next check-in, if there isn't any progress made I'm going to intervene. This is ridiculous, you two haven't done anything wrong!" she exclaimed when she noticed Adrienne's face, flushed, looking in the opposite direction.

"The magnifier?" Sam asked, starting to put everything together.

"Yea," Adrienne answered quietly.

"Forgot to shut off the cameras..." the general continued.

"Uh huh," Adrienne responded and Sam began to laugh.

"Was it at least..." Sam started, feeling suddenly weird about asking such things in reference to Daniel.

"Oh yeah," Adrienne replied, her cheeks redder than ever, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Let Woolsey cool down it is," Sam concluded looking back at the screen.

"I think that's the plan," Adrienne answered, hoping that was the only reason that Daniel hadn't marched down to Woolsey this morning yelling and screaming.

"Gotcha," Sam concluded, trying not to laugh. Daniel, having sex? In the lab? Breaking things? It was just too unfathomable not to laugh...

"We'll see how the next check-in goes," Adrienne said, as she was thinking the exact same thing, and made her way to the gym, hoping to run before day two of Rodney.

At 1650, Adrienne headed back up to the observation room, meeting Teal'c and asking him to join her for dinner afterward. He was the best listener, at least when Daniel was away, and she needed someone to blow off some steam after this long and terrible day.

Rodney had called her everything from incompetent to inept to making a suggestion that Daniel kept her around for his own physical pleasure and not because she was good at anything.

For that comment, she was just proud she didn't knock him unconscious.

Eager for the check-in, if not for any other reason than just to hear his voice, she walked in at 1700, Sam smiling kindly at her. Adrienne just hoped that she was unable to read the disgust in her face, this really wasn't her fault, when her thoughts were interrupted by the eruption of activity as the gate began to move and the wormhole opened. On the screen another grainy transmission popped up, a blurry figure in SG gear standing there waiting to send a message.

"Daniel?" Sam asked.

"It's Robert. Dr. Jackson's working, so I'm checking in," he responded and Adrienne's heart sank.

So much for racing up here, she thought.

"Any progress?" she asked, peeking over at Adrienne who was rolling her eyes.

"I believe so. However, Dr. Jackson is still against opening this box, so I'm hoping he finds some instructions soon, to ease his fears," Woolsey continued.

Sam had nothing to say to that and neither did Adrienne, the glares between the two women saying enough.

"Alright, check in please in 12 hours," Sam replied and signed off once more, looking back up at her newly arrived visitor.

"I just hope that creep is letting Daniel rest or something," Adrienne said to Sam knowing that if anyone else understood her boyfriend's workaholic tendencies, it was definitely Sam.

"I just hate when he puts on the nice guy 'I am one of you attitude'; it's so fake," Sam said in response, turning her gaze back to the monitor, tapping her pen against it but Adrienne just shrugged.

She had no solace to offer and it seemed the more time Robert Woolsey spent on Earth with the IOA the more he reverted to his old self, forgetting the lessons that the Pegasus galaxy had taught him so instead, she offered the only idea that did come to her.

"Wanna join Teal'c and I for dinner?" she asked, figuring that Sam could use some venting too.

"Why not," she replied and stood, following Adrienne out and to the commissary.

The sirens were going off as soon as they set down their trays.

"Incoming wormhole, SG-6," Walter's voice said over the intercom, music to Adrienne's ears.

"Yessss!" she shouted and stood, not caring who saw her tearing out of the gate room to meet him, hell, she might even kiss him right there when she saw him, just to piss off Woolsey.

"Now to see about this destination of his..." she smiled, reminding herself but paused as she noticed that the sirens were not shutting off. The blaring now more ominous than before, Sam, Adrienne and Teal'c looked at each other and tore in the direction of the gate room.

As they were running through the door to the gateroom itself, two members of SG-6 came dashing through the ancient stone circle, one leaning on another obviously injured. Out of the corner of her eye Adrienne could see the on call staff on the red phone, most likely calling down to the infirmary, the rest of the room in a flurry of activity, rolling into action to help the distressed team.

"Where's Daniel?" Adrienne forced her way through the confusion, demanding, no longer caring about professionalism. The uninjured team member looked up at Adrienne as two medics relieved him of his burden, out of breath, taking a moment to catch it before answering.

"We were attacked, not sure who, maybe Lucians. He and the IOA guys are pinned down. We lost Major Jeffers and we are not sure where Dr. Hensen is..." he answered, but that was all she needed to hear.

Frantic, Adrienne looked back at Sam.

"We've got to go back there and get them!" she shouted, forgetting her place with her friend and her superior.

"Adrienne, we have no idea what we're running into, we need to call down some teams and try to assess the situation," Sam started, although there was clear panic in her eyes as well, not only for Daniel, but for the possibility of the Lucian Alliance, or worse, far worse, Anubis, getting their hands on anything like an ark of truth.

"Ok, great, you do that, Teal'c and I will go," Adrienne offered peering over at Teal'c, and nodding in agreement, the cajun hoping that she would agree otherwise Adrienne was going to have to get creative, or worse, break some rules, a sure fire way for the IOA to kick her out the rest of the way, but she didn't care.

In her opinion, it was better to be jobless and with Daniel than being promoted upon his death.

"Addy, I'm not sending you into a firefight, you or Teal'c," Sam answered.

"Come on Sam, it's Daniel, please," Adrienne begged, trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes.

This is why Woolsey says it's a distraction, yes he's pissed off over Daniel & I getting it on in the lab, but here I am crying in the gate room, she thought, maybe we do need a cooling off period. There was a touch to her shoulder and Adrienne glanced over, a large kind brown hand clasping her as Teal'c stepped forward, directing his attention to Sam.

"SamanthaO'Neill, I am certain that the IOA would want reinforcements sent in immediately to insure the safety of their people," he reasoned, referring to Woolsey, whom Adrienne had forgotten.

Genius, she thought, why didn't I think of that?

Her eyes reading his intention hidden in his words, Sam smiled for a second, only a second and then frowned, shaking her head again.

"Cameron's at the academy and Vala's off-world -" Sam began, but Adrienne interrupted, on Teal'c's wavelength, feeling the need to help.

"Like Teal'c said, I'm sure the IOA would understand if the two on-base members of SG-1 were sent through, covertly, so we would have a better idea of what we were walking into, if anyone can send back intelligence," Adrienne offered and Sam smiled.

"Suit up," she ordered, "Now."

Adrienne and Teal'c were ready in less than 15 minutes.

"SG-3 is almost here, they should be there shortly. Be careful, assess the situation and radio me back as soon as you guys know what is going on," Sam instructed and Adrienne nodded as Teal'c tested the radio at his shoulder. Seeing Sam give the signal, Walter dialed the gate and the wormhole formed, Sam taking a deep breath hoping that she was making the right choice sticking her neck out for her friends yet again.

"Allons mon ami, let's go retrieve Indy," Adrienne shouted over her shoulder, storming ahead, staff weapon pointed in front of her.

"AdrienneRowan, I remember a time when you avoided running into gunfire," Teal'c smiled at her as he turned around, beaming, walking backwards slowly up the ramp.

"Oh how things change," she answered, stepping through the wormhole...

...to have her head almost shot off on the other side.

"Pic kee!" she yelled and hit the deck, crawling on all fours out of firing range, her staff weapon clutched to her chest as Teal'c dodged a shot on the other side advancing behind her doing a military type crawl himself while shooting from side to side with his own staff weapon. At the base of the dirt ramp, Adrienne got her bearings a bit, shooting Eric at a leather vested man running toward her.

"Lucians," Teal'c spat in disgust.

"At least it's not Anubis," Adrienne replied, relieved for at least that bit of luck, looking ahead for the ruins. They were about fifty feet away and the shots had stopped, for now, Teal'c having taken out three men while she herself had downed two, but they were both acutely aware that at least one scout had to have gotten away to go for reinforcements.

Not bothering to tell Teal'c what she was doing, Adrienne stood and ran into the temple, hoping it would take the next wave of Lucians a while to arrive.

"Adrienne, what in the hell are you doing here?" Daniel shouted as she turned the corner to the main room of the temple. She was running full force, her uniform jacket singed from near misses, her staff weapon in hand and he couldn't believe that Sam had sent her here.

"We're here to rescue you, you know like from Jabba's palace?" she winked.

There goes Adrienne, Daniel thought, forever the comedian.

"Cute, how bad is it out there?" he asked as Adrienne saw Woolsey appear from behind him.

"Bad, but SG-3 should be coming, actually..." Adrienne interrupted herself and grabbed the radio at her shoulder.

"Sam, Sam?" but all she got was static, "Dammit, Sam, can you hear me?" she repeated but there was no response.

"Most likely GeneralO'Neill will see the lack of communication as a sign of the severity of the situation," Teal'c said, as he joined her from behind.

He didn't mention to Daniel that she had run ahead without warning despite the possibility of gunfire and Adrienne knew that she would need to thank him for saving her a tongue lashing later.

"Hopefully," Daniel replied with no tone of concern in his voice, "Well, we'll just have to wait it out I suppose," and he turned, heading into a small chamber, completely confusing Adrienne in the process.

"Daniel!" Adrienne shouted, "Where are you going?"

"To try to finish translating this thing," he said over his shoulder and kept walking, right past Woolsey, starting to crouch at the doorway.

"Seriously? I almost got my head blown off trying to come save your ass and you're just going to keep working!?" Adrienne shouted and Daniel stopped in his tracks, turning around dramatically to walk back over to her.

"I love you," he replied, kissing her lips quickly and turned around heading back for the far chamber once more.

"ARGH!" she shouted and followed him, figuring she might as well help not caring that Woolsey had stood staring at the exchange, hoping instead to prove him wrong as both of them got to work immediately on the task at hand.

She squinted as she entered the dim room and saw where he had set up a portable lamp, pointing it at the side of the box. It look just like the sketches on the database, just like he had described, and she could see by the look on his face that he had been correct. Placing her hand lightly on his back, she knelt down beside him to hear what he had discovered so far.

"I think this might be a prototype for the original ark the Alterans tried to create, but for some reason didn't work," he explained to her.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, bringing her face closer to his and to the ark, scanning with her dark eyes the very mangled and broken ancient on the box. It sounded like more religious nonsense to her, but she knew better than to question when he had that look on his face.

"Just a hunch," he said, surprisingly jovial, as he turned, flashing her a smile. She went to answer but heard gunfire erupt again before she could say anything, followed by clicking and popping, a voice on her radio.

Of course, it works now, she thought to herself.

"DanielJackson, AdrienneRowan," it was Teal'c, "I am going to escort Mr. Woolsey and the IOA officials to the Stargate immediately, however, the gunfire is too close to reach you."

"We're fine Teal'c, we'll figure out something," Adrienne said as a blast went off beside her foot, forcing her to squirm herself the rest of the way into the chamber.

She hated tight places, changing her earlier fine to a more frantic plea, "Dammit, ok Teal'c just send SG-3 in here and soon!" she shouted, looking over at Daniel.

"Sha, we gotta move!" she told him.

"No," he answered, "I have to finish this."

"Are you kidding me!? We're getting shot at and you won't stop working!?" she looked at him incredulously. He had done some crazy things over the time she had known him but getting shot in order to finish some silly IOA task really took the cake.

"Ad, listen, I know this is hard to understand. So much of what happened to us before you came along is just a file folder to you, but I lived it. I've told you a lot but even telling doesn't really even come close to experiencing it. If this thing works, if there is any juice left in it, I need to stop it. No one can get their hands on it, especially not Anubis," he said, sincerity in his eyes, the look that she had always believed, the look that she could never say no to. Knowing he was right, just not too happy about any of this, Adrienne breathed out in frustration.

"Ok, I'll cover us until SG-3 gets here. But you know I do not like guns sha, you need to keep that in mind," she crawled over to the opening and pointed her staff toward the gun fire, sending off a few shots. A few blasts exploded beside her head and she dodged them like a pro and waited for the shots to clear, trying her hardest to focus on keeping their attackers at bay and not at the fact that bullets were whizzing past her and slamming into the wall. She then leaned back and took a few more shots, to no avail, she couldn't get a proper angle on her long staff and the bullets just kept coming.

"Damn Lucians!" she swore, glancing over her shoulder at Daniel, who was still crawling along the floor examining the box, "Hey, slide me your P-90," and Daniel looked up in shock as he reached for his gun.

"Seriously ja-wer?" he asked, thinking those were words he would never hear cross her lips, no matter how much better she had been doing with him at the range.

"Yes and hurry the hell up with that box!" she spat as he slid the gun across the floor.

Adrienne tossed her staff aside and took a deep breath; she hated bullets, she hated guns but she kinda liked living and she loved Daniel so she shoved the gun into her shoulder and began to fire. Daniel watched her for just a moment in amazement, noting too that it had taken his life in peril for her to pick up a gun, and continued working.

He was close to the end, what he thought was the end, hoped was the end, he really hoped this thing would work like he was guessing, when he heard her swear in French behind him.

"Merde! I think I've used 'alf of ahr ammo 'en got one guy, I suck at dis sha, please tell me ya close," Adrienne shouted back at him.

"Almost..." Daniel kept working, trying to watch her out of the corner of his eye but her expression was cool and she leaned over, closing one eye and kept shooting.

"Ad!" Daniel shouted as his blue eyes reached the final line, pushing his glasses up his face to try to read it one more time.

"Whah Indy!? Imma lil busy 'oer 'ere!" she yelled back, firing more. Checking the line yet again, Daniel scratched something onto the box and glanced back over at his other, for just a moment noting how incredibly gorgeous she looked firing that weapon.

"I need your help, get over here quick," he responded and she fired off another shot again quickly, flipping onto her stomach, crawling over to him, holding the gun close to her.

That surprised him as well; she was just full of surprises today.

"Right here," he pointed to a line, "Check behind me right here." Leaning closer and finally tossing the gun aside, Adrienne squinted and read aloud.

"_...releasing the knowledge of all and the ability to show the way to others once must open at the direction of the sun or open at the side of the moon to shut it away forever..."_

"Ok, help me turn this," he ordered her, interrupting her abruptly as he grabbed the sides of the box "and get ready to pull." They heard voices coming closer and could see blasts outside of the small doorway. Without her gunfire the Lucians were making their way toward them, fast, taking advantage of her absence.

"Daniel, sha, we are gonna DIE," Adrienne tried to explain, looking him in the eyes, as she helped him turn the very heavy box.

"No, we are NOT ja-wer, just keep turning," he growled through gritted teeth, throwing all of his weight against the heavy box, Adrienne joining him in between quick glances over her shoulder.

Together, they pushed and pulled turning the gigantic wooden box covered in precious metals, weathered and aged, various bits of lore written all over it. The box was huge and Adrienne felt every muscle in her body straining as she moved it, her neck pop and panic fester deep inside her stomach as she ran the words of the inscription through her head once more.

"Wait, the sun, the moon? They both rise in the east," Adrienne shouted.

"Not here," Daniel answered and grabbed her hands placing them on the top of the box, sliding his besides hers.

"Pull!"

Side by side, feet pressed to the box, hands together, they pulled, their combined strength popping the lid open, releasing heat and flame into the room.

Daniel and Adrienne were blasted backward, and Adrienne felt a hand on hers, slipping away, a sharp pain in her head before the world went black.

Adrienne opened her eyes to Daniel leaning over her, frowning, his hands rubbing all over her face.

"Yuck, your hands are filthy," she told him as she sat up, shooing him away from her cheeks. It was then that she noticed that the gunshots had stopped, the room eerily quiet, dust particles flying all around them.

"I was trying to make sure that you didn't choke on debris. I've grown a bit attached to you," he answered as he sat back against the rock wall, leaving her alone as requested.

"Are you ok? What happened? Why are we not getting shot at anymore?" she asked, sitting up herself, rubbing her throbbing temples.

"Because we opened the Ark, well the prototype arch, on the wrong side," he answered and Adrienne looked at him, lost.

"We did? What did it do?" she asked, now taking the opportunity to scan the room, slowly, as her head was still spinning and her vision a tad blurry. At least she could blame this one on Daniel when Carolyn began her lecture.

"It set off a massive explosion, a chain reaction that went that way, which either killed them or knocked them out. I haven't heard a sound for a while," he told her, pointing across the room where the side of the wall had been blasted clear through, a large tunnel that looked like it had been made with a fireball.

That would explain the headache, she thought, turning back to face him.

"How long has it been?" she asked, taking the opportunity as her vision started to clear to scan Daniel for possible injuries that he would be ignoring, only concerned for her well-being.

"A few hours, give or take," he answered. Nodding, and wincing for as bad as that hurt as well, Adrienne looked over at the Ark, or what was left of it. It was busted into easily a thousand pieces, fragments of wood, metal and stone in every corner of the chamber, what was left of the chamber, not one piece big enough to justify taking back to the lab to record the translations. Confused, Adrienne peered back at Daniel, unable to believe that he had destroyed the precious find.

"You broke it," she stated but it was really more of a question.

"I had to. No one has a right to that much power. Not even us," he answered quietly, that seriousness in his voice. Adrienne nodded, knowing that he was exactly right, knowing some things she had read in a file she would never understand and crawled over to him. His expression softening, he reached out his arms and she slipped right into them, laying her shoulder on his head and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Don't worry, I know they'll be here soon," he told her and kissed her head, hugging her tightly.

"I know sha," she answered and just let him hold her until help came.

"Come on! Why are you still packing?!" she asked him, "You said our flight leaves in thirty minutes. At this point you're gonna to have to flash your government credentials to even get us on the plane!"

"Twenty seven minutes now," he told her, but continued to pack slowly. Her brow furrowed, Adrienne turned around, cutting her eyes and dropping her duffle on the floor.

"Wait a sec," she said, "we're not flying commercial, are we?" she asked.

"Nope," he answered smiling, "In fact, now that I'm ready, we can get going. If you're sure that you're ready."

She smiled at him catching on, reaching for her duffle again.

"I'm ready," she said and in an instant, two light columns formed around them. When the columns dissipated, they were not on the Odyssey as Adrienne had expected, her first thought a romantic mini-vacation in space, alone, making love under the literal stars...

Instead, they were smack dab in the middle of a parking lot for an AutoZone.

"Where are we?" Adrienne looked up at Daniel, confused.

"Anaheim Street, Long Beach California," he answered with a smile.

"Why?" she asked, completely flabbergasted but Daniel didn't respond, just kept up that mischievous grin, pointing to the dilapidated building in front of them. Following his finger, Adrienne looked left, her eyes widening and she started to scream.

The parking lot beside them was filled with movie cameras and trailers, all surrounding a seedy bar displaying the sign "Fangtasia."

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Adrienne began to repeat, was jumping up and down with excitement in her eyes, excitement like Daniel hadn't seen before, even with huge finds at work, even when he had surprised her with other small gifts.

It made him feel so amazing inside; she looked like a small child on Christmas morning.

Daniel loved seeing her like this, he loved doing this for her because after the life she had led and the life she would continue to lead to be with him, she deserved this and he wasn't even finished.

"Surprise not over," Daniel whispered, grabbing her shoulders to calm her, taking her by the hand and walking towards a row of trailers, showing his government ID to anyone that asked. Adrienne didn't say a word as they walked, just gawked and stared, muttering something about that man named Sam and some girl called Luna. He recognized the names vaguely from the show that he did watch on some Sundays with she and Vala, but really cared more about just being there with her than anything those silly fake supernaturals had going on...

But this?

This name he knew well.

Stopping at a large white trailer, he steadied her shoulders as she ran into him, pointing at the door.

_ALEXANDER SKARSGARD_

"I'm gonna faint," Adrienne said, glancing up at him.

"Just an autograph Ad, and maybe a picture," he told her, knocking on the door. The look on her face as the knob turned made it all worth it, always made it worth it and he made a promise to himself standing there as the tall blond man came smiling from out of the trailer door.

He would love her, cherish her, do anything to make her happy.

Anything.

Even if it was let her fawn all over some Swedish actor.


	39. Chapter 38 - Bad Call

_This story is somewhat adult in nature and has been toned down to keep the TEEN rating. The original, uncensored version is located in "Erotics" as there is a love scene. _

"I'm not responsible for the state that she's in right now," Vala defended as she stood at the open door of Daniel's apartment seconds before the cajun woman staggered in behind her. Daniel was going to ask exactly what she was talking about when Adrienne stumbled right up to him pressing her lips to his own.

"I want ya, righ naw, take off ya pants," Adrienne begged, frantically reaching for the top of his jeans. It was so sudden, so unlike her, that he hesitated to shoo her away, only remembering her state and their visitor when he felt himself begin to throb.

Reaching gently for her hands, Daniel moved from her urgent grasp, taking her carefully into his arms and away from her mission.

"What did you do to her?" he asked, dumbfounded, having seen Adrienne a bit intoxicated before but never like this. Vala started to answer when he felt tugging at his flytechie a second time. The button was undone before he could stop her, the zipper shortly after, reaching down quickly to cover himself before Vala could see, but she was already laughing shaking her head at his current predicament.

"Addy tried to out drink me; that was her stupidity," she stated leaning in the door jam watching one of her friends frantically try to undress the other. It was hysterical and she was half-tempted to take out her phone and start filming but, Daniel, on the other hand, didn't seem as amused.

"Ad, ja-wer, calm down, what's wrong, stop, can we go get in the bed please, let Vala leave," he tried to reason with her, having no intention whatsoever of being intimate with her in this state but trying to use her own plans to get her into the apartment and passed out as soon as possible.

"No, I donna cah if she sees, it's beautiful, yah blessed by da gods sha," Adrienne insisted, pulling his jeans open again, so forcefully he had to literally smack her away as she grabbed, glancing up at Vala in a panic.

"This isn't alcohol Vala, this is insanity, can you help me?" Daniel tried a different approach, his lovely girlfriend strong, very strong and whatever she had been drinking was only making her stronger as he felt the fabric at his fly being ripped apart. Rolling her eyes, Vala walked over, grabbing Adrienne under her arms, pulling her back into her chest.

"Get her feet," she ordered, motioning for Daniel to lift Adrienne from the ground but he paused, one hand holding his pants up, the other reaching out to block a kick from Adrienne that hadn't yet come his way.

"Daniel, pick up your girlfriend's feet. You don't have anything I haven't seen before and she's too drunk to kick you, I made sure of that," Vala repeated, using her head to point down at Adrienne's feet, now devoid of the flats she had been wearing when she left his apartment earlier, the purple shoes in a path as though they had fallen off on her pursuit to his crotch. Frowning, he did as Vala asked, hoping his jeans stayed at his hips as he reached to grab her calves, lifting her lower half into the air when he realized what Vala said.

"Wait, what do you mean you made sure of that? I thought you said that she tried to outdrink you?" Daniel asked confused as he started to step backwards, leading them to his bedroom.

"She did. Sorta. I just stopped. Same difference," Vala replied, adjusting to pull Adrienne higher as she began to slip from her grasp.

"Why? What in the hell happened?" Daniel continued, reaching the bedroom door and donkey kicking it open to continue their trek to the bed.

"Oh yay, your bedroom, and here I am putting another woman into your bed. There is something very very wrong with this," Vala joked, turning as she crossed the threshold to carry Adrienne to the correct side, how she knew Daniel didn't know, but just assumed it was because Vala knew about the door fear as well.

"That's not answering my question," he replied, helping Vala lay his assistant on the bed, who apparently was not as passed out as he had hoped.

"Vala wud nah let me punch dat pue tan en da damn mouf," Adrienne babbled, reaching again for Daniel's groin as he tried to fight her off, his eyes pleading with Vala for help, who was ignoring his dilemma completely.

"Addy they'd have banned us from the bar for life and I happen to like that place," Vala retorted, her face slightly angry, still to Daniel's complete bewilderment.

What was going on?

"Ad, why did you want to punch someone in the mouth?" he asked, holding her hands in his lap gently, bad idea Daniel, he thought, moving her hands to her side, holding them in place.

"Because the asshole said that she's sleeping her way into every perk your penis can offer, which I find interesting that it has perks at all," Vala explained, smiling at her taunt at the end. Tempted to lash out at her for the comment, Daniel ignored her, looking back to his girlfriend who had broken free from his grasp, her hands at his fly once again, tearing her way to said organ.

"If dat wha evreebahdee dinks den I might as well get da most out ah it I can," she argued, as Daniel shoved her away, looking up at Vala again.

"Can you lock the door on your way out?" he asked.

"Can you promise me that you are not actually going to bed her in that state?" Vala spat back.

He should have been angry at the assumption, but instead was touched that Vala cared so much about Adrienne.

It was like Adrienne had her own private guard dog, how sweet...

"Of course I'm not," Daniel started as Adrienne began to heave in his lap.

"I got da mal au couer," she choked out, Daniel understanding just enough to know he needed to move, making it to the bathroom and dashing back with the trashcan, shoving it swiftly under the spew that emitted from her body.

Holding Adrienne's hair as she puked, Daniel glared back up at Vala.

"Thank you for bringing her to me; now good night Vala," he said through gritted teeth.

Grunting, Vala spun of her heels, storming out of the bedroom, a loud slam heard seconds later. Daniel let out a sigh, appreciating the gesture just not the method, redirecting his attention to Adrienne once more, who was sitting up, wiping her face.

"Canna get ah towel?" she asked and Daniel nodded, leaping from the bed to race back to the bathroom, grabbing the one over the sink and rushing it back to her. Trying to smile, Adrienne wiped her face, tossing the towel onto the floor and curling over to her side.

"Ad, let's get you undressed," Daniel said, turning her slightly, reaching for her jeans this time, undoing the button and zipper as she started to giggle.

"Dat's wha I be talkin' about sha!" Adrienne declared as she sat up reaching for his clothes, repeating her frantic performance at the door. Scowling, he pushed her back, holding her down with one hand, annoyance creeping across his face.

"Ad, Vala's gone, stop with this act, just stop. You haven't slept your way into anything, you know it, I know it, Sam knows it, everyone who matters knows it. Who cares what some peon says in a bar?" Daniel asked, warning with his head to stop, Adrienne evidently sober enough to understand, allowing him to pull the jeans from her hips and toss them over into his hamper. He stood, going to get her one of his t-shirts to sleep in, peering over his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it? Do you want to tell me who said that to you?" he asked as Adrienne pulled her shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor, again not like her at all, and reached behind her back to unfasten the next article of clothing. He turned, not that he was embarrassed, he saw her like that now practically every day, but she just seemed so out of sorts that he felt he owed her as much privacy as he could afford to give in her current condition.

"Sum gah damn cadet ahn den wun ah his podnas say 'Well she must nah be dat gud if he's sent 'er 'oer ta McKay," Adrienne continued from behind him, her voice cracking at the end.

Sighing, this was going to be a long night, a long night where he would have to translate from cajun to English in between vomiting spells no less, Daniel opened the top drawer, securing a black t-shirt just as a bra landed on his head.

"Gar I cahn trow tings a lah bedda wit a few en me!" she exclaimed from behind him, Daniel choosing not to turn around and have to fight her off again, which he knew would cause a massive argument, instead tossing the garment over his shoulder hoping it would land where it needed to land. There was a soft thunk of fabric hitting fabric and he gave her just a moment to pull the shirt over her head before turning around to face her.

She was wiping her face, crawling under the covers, muttering to herself in that bayou slang she always swore she never slipped in to, so Daniel collected the trashcan and cleaned it out, bringing it out into the bedroom in case it was needed again. Curled up into a ball on her side, Adrienne lay in his bed, tears streaked across her face.

"Evree wun dinks Imma slut," she wept from her side, one extreme emotion now replaced by another. Shaking his head and shucking his own jeans to the floor, Daniel crawled in behind her, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly.

"I'm so sorry, ja-wer, you know you're not. It's not like that, we're not like that and if we could never make love again I wouldn't care as long as I had you," he whispered softly, meaning every word. It was how she made him feel inside that was what mattered, she was more than his lover, she was still his closet friend, his greatest ally and he could never imagine a life without her.

"Ah luv ya Dahn-yell," Adrienne whispered, letting herself fall back into his grasp, the effects of the evening finally at their last.

"I love you too Adrienne," he replied, deciding to just lay there and hold her even though he wasn't tired.

It was the smell of coffee that awoke Adrienne, not because she had any particular craving, but because the smell was sickening, making her race to an upright position and scan the room frantically for the trashcan. Choking down the small amount of food she had eaten last night, coupled with the massive amount of tequila, Adrienne almost lost it right there in bed when she saw the small blue plastic container sitting at the corner of the footboard. She crawled quickly to the corner, reaching it just in time, erupting in an explosion of illness and tears. She cried more than she threw up, it hurt so bad, memories of the night before coming back: the other personnel asking her and Vala to join them for dinner, the crude jokes, the innuendo and then the remark.

Fortunately Vala had her back, quickly subduing Adrienne's violent response and promptly telling the entire group off, using more foul words in that two minute lecture than had been used their entire meal, so foul that the manager had come and asked them to leave. Rather than take Adrienne home, as she was begging her friend to do, Vala took her to a seedy cantina, filling her with chips, salsa and cheap tequila, most of which she was staring at right now, and then brought her here for her to make a damn fool of herself in front of Daniel.

Damn Vala.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her sweetly from the doorway, keeping his distance knowing that this morning she would be both sick and embarrassed. He wanted to give her space to recover.

Nodding, she reached for the towel he had carefully laid on the bed, wiping her face before laying on her stomach.

"Like a bonne a rienne," she responded from the comforter, still not making eye contact.

Laughing at the double meaning of the phrase, both that she was disgusting and a slut, Daniel walked over to the edge of the bed, sitting down, setting a mug on the nightstand and resting his hand cautiously onto her back.

"Well you look like courtbullion," he replied, smiling, hoping she would catch on.

"That's fish stew sha," she muttered from her position.

"I get credit for trying to learn your language don't I?" he teased, rubbing lightly where his hand was resting. Giggling, Adrienne rolled over, grabbing his hand and holding it to her heart before bringing it to her lips kissing his fingers.

"Sorry about my performance last night," she apologized quietly, her face flushing again as Daniel wondered how much she remembered about said performance.

"No apology necessary, that's what I'm here for, to cry to and to forcibly undress," he joked, getting another laugh in return and another kiss on his fingers.

"Sorry about that too," she answered as he shook his head.

"Actually, that might be fun to play out just sans tequila," he teased, looking over his shoulder at the clock as her cheeks flushed at his suggestion, "it's almost ten, I told Sam you were dealing with some allergies and I didn't want you driving in with medicine head, but we'd still better get going if you're up to it. I made you some blackberry tea," he explained, pointing to the nightstand and standing from the bed.

"Thanks, and I am, but can I get a shower?" she asked, standing behind him, feeling as though the leftover drink was seeping from her pores.

"Yeah, but you're lucky you decided to do this the night before my service," he chided, knowing that were Adrienne reporting to Rodney today that it would be a different story, that Daniel would have to be making a far better excuse.

After the scene he apparently missed last night, one in which Adrienne had almost gotten into a bar brawl, he didn't want to land back in Woolsey's office, or worse Jack's...

When Jack returned from Atlantis, the call came, as Daniel had expected, first thing in the morning. The general asked to speak to him and him alone, so Daniel left Adrienne a list of tasks not knowing where the meeting would take them or how long.

Nervous as if this was a first date, Daniel had knocked carefully at Jack's door, standing outside, waiting to be called in like a low level grunt, not at all like someone who with whom he had worked for years.

"I know it's you Daniel, just open the damn door!" Jack shouted from the other side but after all of these years of working together the archaeologist could never be sure as to what his tones really meant at times. Right now it sounded annoyed, but with Jack it could also be normal so taking a breath, Daniel turned the knob, stepping into the office thanking every god he had knowledge of that Jack and Jack alone was sitting there.

"Take a seat," the general ordered, deadly serious, a look on his face that Daniel wasn't sure that he had ever seen before. Chewing his bottom lip nervously, Daniel pushed his glasses up his face, shoving his hands in his pockets before taking a seat, as requested, in the chair across from his friend, not saying a word, just waiting for the hell that was about to be unleashed.

"So, you're screwing your assistant at work now," Jack started in, glaring straight at him.

"You know our relationship isn't like that," Daniel corrected his voice even. Expecting that very correction, Jack leaned back into his chair, opening the top drawer to remove a plastic case from the desk, throwing it at Daniel.

"This, my friend, is screwing. At work. On camera," Jack explained as Daniel caught the case clumsily in his hands. Not bothering to open the box, Daniel knew what was inside; he held it up, shaking it at Jack.

"This, Jack, was a mistake, it happened once, it won't happen again," Daniel insisted, setting the DVD back onto the desk. There was no point in asking for it in order to destroy it, if Robert Woolsey had found it, which based on the circumstances Daniel was certain that he did, there were at least five copies of he and Adrienne's indiscretion so removing one from the equation really wasn't going to make much difference.

Nodding slowly, Jack leaned forward on the desk, his expression changing.

"It's gonna take me some time to get things back to normal. Dating, I had covered, this, well, not so much," Jack continued, Daniel understanding without further explanation.

"We know and we're willing to do what we need to do until things can return to normal," he answered, hoping Jack could see the sincerity in his eyes as his own deep brown looked different now, hurt even. What could Jack be upset about now?

"How long?" Jack asked, the question surprising Daniel who had expected to get yelled at, get screamed at but that was not what was happening right now.

"I told you already that we were together," Daniel replied, confused, not sure what exactly Jack wanted to know.

"I'm assuming our conversation last week wasn't the beginning of things, especially considering what's on this, so, how long?" Jack repeated, Daniel noting the words, no more "screwing" or anything related; he actually seems to want to know, in a caring way.

"About four months, give or take," Daniel answered after a pause, having to count.

Wow, he thought, four months doesn't seem that long at all, especially given that he was already planning on forever and reading his face, or at least that was what it felt like, Jack smiled. The man did know him too well.

"I'd figured longer; you've had the look for longer," the general answered, getting a shrug in reply so he continued, "Off the record, I think she's perfect for you. You deserve this; you deserve to be happy with someone that seems to make you as happy as Adrienne does."

The shrug became a smile, Daniel bringing his gaze back up to Jack.

"More than you can know; it's like a dream, and I'm just afraid I'm going to wake up and it's all going to be gone," the younger man answered honestly, fear apparent in his blue eyes.

"It always feels like that, doesn't get any better. I mean, have you looked at Sam? I've watched myself become a grouchy old man and she's just perfect. Who's to say one day she's gonna decide she could do better, because she could, easily. But you can't dwell on that, you've just gotta... listen to me. Sitting here, lecturing you like you're some teenaged kid with no clue," Jack stopped his speech, noting he was rambling, not unlike Daniel, who was sitting across from him, a slight grin still on his face.

"No, I kind of don't have a clue, this isn't some fling from grad school or, well, anything else that I have experience with, you know my history with women isn't exactly normal. There are some days that I really have no idea what I'm doing," Daniel admitted and Jack nodded, noting the look in his friend's eyes. He loved that woman, that crazy woman he couldn't believed his wife had hired, that punk rock younger alternate reality version of Daniel. His friend, however, was right, he really didn't seem to have any idea as to what he was doing.

"Daniel, the door's always open, figuratively speaking, not that I'm an expert but I do know what not to do. And I'll see what I can do with Woolsey, smooth things over a bit," he offered, returning the smile.

"Thanks," Daniel replied, standing, glancing over at his friend once more, before opening the door.

"Daniel?" he heard called behind him and turned back around confused to see Jack grinning like a fool as he slipped the DVD back into his desk.

"Told you so," Jack winked, slamming the drawer shut, Daniel shaking his head knowing that was going to become Jack's new mantra...

"Do you care if I just wear yoga pants today sha, there aren't any BDU's in the drawer," Adrienne asked from the floor, Daniel snapping back to reality realizing that she had finished showering and was trying to get dressed. It did make it that much easier, Jack seemed supportive, maybe everything would work itself out he thought as he watched her move around his apartment like it was her space as well.

"Sure, that's fine, works with the allergy story," he responded, pointing back behind him, "I'll get you some coffee." She smiled, standing with pants in hand and walked back over to the bed.

"Thanks Indy," she answered, blushing, still obviously embarrassed about everything, tossing her clothes on the bed. Daniel left her alone, letting her sort it all out in her head on her own, returning to the kitchen to make breakfast.

"Archaeology," Adrienne answered, rather chipper she thought to herself for someone suffering from an allergy attack, remembering to tone it down for their next caller.

"It's me. How are you feeling?" Vala asked on the other line, a relief to Adrienne that she didn't need to keep up her act as she could barely keep up her breakfast.

"Like merde, hot merde spread on a cracker, but I'll live," the cajun said, glancing over to Daniel to give the thumbs up that it was alright.

Nodding, he looked back down at the screen, continuing his task.

"Well, I'd love to say that I'm just calling to chat and make fun of Glasses, but Sam wants everyone down here in about an hour to discuss our next meeting of the girls club. Everyone. Including Rat Face," she explained, Adrienne cringing. As if Robert Woolsey didn't seem to have it out for her in the first place, now that he'd caught them with their pants down, literally, he seemed to be an ever existing presence in their lives.

"Ok, so what time do you need us down there?" Adrienne asked, reaching into her desk to grab her nerf gun to bring Daniel out of his trance since it seemed they were going to have to leave anyway.

"I don't know, I wasn't told to call and tell you anything, I just wanted to warn you. Eavesdropping. I'm good at that," she answered and hung up, leaving Adrienne staring at the receiver in confusion. Grunting, she placed the phone into its cradle and looked over at Daniel, firing off a round to the side of his head.

"What now?" he called out, evidently not as enthralled as she had thought as he collected the dart tossing it back over to her casually.

"That was Vala. Big meeting, Woolsey. IOA. Bullshit. She wanted to warn us in advance," Adrienne responded, catching the neon projectile and tucking both it and her gun back into the desk.

"Why do I get the feeling we're going to start owing her big time?" Daniel joked from his desk.

"Because she's in the business of saving our asses lately," Adrienne replied, getting back to her own section of the database before the real summoning was to occur.

Which it did twenty minutes later.

"Archaeology," Adrienne answered again, this time making sure to sound slightly hoarse.

"Hey Addy, it's Sam. I hope you're feeling better," the general said, genuine concern in her voice. Clearing her throat before she continued, Adrienne snapped her fingers at Daniel this time, forgoing the gun, trying to get his attention.

"Yea, a little better, thanks for asking. Must just have been something I got into," Adrienne lied feeling bad for doing so because she was certain that Sam would not care if she was hung-over or not, in fact she knew the general would be concerned; Daniel was just worried about Woolsey and she wanted to ease his fears.

"We've finally gotten the results in from your intelligence mission. Meeting in thirty in the briefing room and I need both you and Daniel present," Sam ordered politely.

"Yes ma'am," Adrienne replied, hanging up the phone for the second time to look over at Daniel, "Thirty minutes sha."

"Joy," he replied, shaking his head at the screen.

"Dr. Rowan, if you please," Rodney began, having sent Adrienne a frantic message not five minutes after Sam called requesting a powerpoint presentation on the results of his findings thus far. They made no sense to Adrienne since he had her working on translating more silly machines that did silly things while he had analyzed all of the interesting stuff from her first intelligence mission with Vala, but she had prepared them nonetheless.

Without answering, Adrienne cued up the very basic show she had been able to throw together in less than twenty minutes, preparing to do her techy magic for boss number two as she peered around the room noting the personnel present. Seated around the table were Robert Woolsey, Sam, Cameron, John, Vala, Teyla and Daniel right beside her, as usual, work separation or not. Noticing how mixed the group really was that sat in front of her, Adrienne wondered where Teal'c was, or Ronon for that matter, the additions to the original mission curious.

"As you all were aware from our last encounter with Anubis we were able to glean a few pieces of information such as coordinates and this weapon, a type of pulse pistol, that seems to be a hybrid of Goa'uld and Ori technology," he began, indicating a picture of the pistol on the screen. Glancing up Daniel noted that it did look like a Zat, stuck into the upright position, the naquada portion of the weapon replaced with something that looked more like a clip.

"Our intelligence experts have concluded that these guns are being manufactured by traders in black markets that are unofficially run by the Lucan alliance. Other than the fact that this is a hybrid weapon and further proof that the Anubis, or Inpu as the intelligence agents are calling him, is working with the Lucians, there has been nothing else we have been able to glean from this bit of information," Rodney continued, Adrienne trying not to roll her eyes.

Then why am I showing it, she wanted to say, but watched his fingers as he guided her to continue with the presentation, keeping her mouth shut.

"However, and what has taken most of our analysis is the DNA collected from Vala's clothing," he added, walking over to point to a series of grids that Adrienne couldn't read, more like didn't care to read, but had just arranged them like Rodney had shouted over the phone.

"What in the hell did you get off of my clothing other than guts?" Vala asked, pride in her face for blasting the man through, creating the very guts in question. Not acknowledging Vala, Rodney looked directly at Sam and Woolsey as he answered.

"The man that Vala shot was not an Ori solider, he wasn't a turned Jaffa, he wasn't even totally human. He was a clone," Rodney stated, crossing his arms with pride nodding for Adrienne to advance the presentation and the next slide, and to a section of a human body that Adrienne hadn't paid much attention to before it flashed onto the screen, certain parts highlighted, naming sections of the brain.

"Since when did you become a biologist?" John asked from the table, skeptical that someone with a degree in astrophysics suddenly had an interest in biological matters.

"Since we can't seem to find competent help in the field and Carson gets to spend his free time dealing with training accidents from our new cadets," Rodney shot back, returning his gaze to his superiors, giving Woolsey in particular a glare Adrienne was delighted that someone had the guts to give.

"As I was saying," he readdressed the persons he deemed in charge, "there are areas of the brain in which a significant amount of decay is being shown as you can see here," he said as he pointed, Daniel and Sam leaning forward with some sort of understanding, "it seems that in order to have the heightened growth and senses that we can see here," Rodney pointed to yet another part of the brain that Adrienne did not know, "he is sacrificing life span. Dr. Rowan, next slide please," Rodney asked, surprising Adrienne with his manners. She advanced the slide, hearing the clearing of a throat in the back of the room.

"Dr. McKay, why does any of this matter? If he is using an army of clones that are not going to live very long, isn't that to our advantage?" Woolsey questioned, once again missing the entire point, the point that even Adrienne, who was terrible at science had gathered from the presentation so far.

"Mr. Woolsey, Carson and I have been working on segments of the Asgard database provided by Dr. Rowan and Dr. Jackson, segments concerning Asgard cloning," Rodney began to explain, angry to be questioned, walking over and ripping the iPad from Adrienne's grasp, so much for polite, advancing to the final slide. Presented on the white board were two charts, one obviously showing greater growth in the numbers than the other.

"This Mr. Woolsey is the rate of cloning in the Asgard. They were forced to grow bodies for years in order to provide each new consciousness with a properly functioning vessel, but a limited vessel which forced later generations to decrease in mental abilities," he continued, stating something Adrienne had never heard before, in fact, she'd always thought what she read of Thor that he seemed very intelligent.

"Anubis has figured out a way to solve the Asgard problem even though he has no way to implement it. We do," Rodney ended, shoving the iPad back at Adrienne, who took it, breathing in deeply as she felt Daniel's gentle hand clasp her leg.

"Rodney," Sam began, shaking her head as she spoke, "why do we care about cloning? I'm not about to let my base turn into a factory for producing people," she argued, Rodney rolling her eyes.

"Samantha I'm not talking about people, yet," he threw in quickly, "I'm talking about plants, livestock, things we can trade to some of the lesser and hungry civilizations for naquada, gold, silver, trinium..."

"I think that's all we need to know general, when can we leave?" Woolsey interrupted, glancing over at Sam, his expression clear, because with the IOA, it was greed, not love, that conquered all.

"Sha, did we have any plans for next weekend?" Adrienne asked from her desk as Daniel was digging through the file cabinet, trying to pull any information he could on other civilizations they had encountered that cloned, all of which he remembered had the practice blow up in their faces. Shrugging he turned around to her, shaking his head.

"Not that I made, why?" he asked, wondering how, after that briefing, the room oozing with tension as Woolsey had stood, taking over the entire meeting to order Sam into a mission she clearly did not want to embark upon, Adrienne could be thinking about weekend plans.

"Did you hear what was happening when we left? Sam's concerned about saving the planet and Woolsey's just seeing dollar signs. I want to take her out to dinner. A NICE dinner, me, not you, because you just left her in there with those bibittes," Adrienne explained, cueing up her laptop.

"Bibettes?" Daniel asked confused, cutting his eyes at his dear assistant.

"Dickheads Indy, you left her with those dickheads," Adrienne clarified and he shook his head at her, walking back over to his desk.

"Then why don't you just say that?" he teased, trying not to laugh.

"Say what?" she asked innocently, but he caught her intent, grinning over at her.

"Nice try ja-wer," he replied, opening the folder and scanning its contents in contrast to his screen. Giggling, Adrienne sat down, getting back to work until she was told otherwise, letting him do the worrying for the both of them.

I miss being in here with him so much, she thought, typing away at the next section.

"Addy, pack up, you leave at 1900 hours," Sam ordered as she came around the corner, her tone one of exasperation and her expression as Adrienne looked up no better. Pulling headphones from his head, light orchestral music seeping out of them, Daniel peered over at Sam before glancing down at his watch.

"That's only two hours Sam, I'm nowhere near a stopping point, and Rodney really needs to take a look at some of these back files before he starts worrying about cloning here," he argued, pointing back at his screen, waving his hands around his desk.

"You're not going Daniel, it's just Adrienne on this one," Sam explained, her expression even worse.

"What do you mean I'm not going? This is Anubis, not just a scouting mission, and I think as many people who have experience with him should be aboard," Daniel arguing, standing, disregarding what he had been working on in an instant for Adrienne's safety and the sheer illogical nature of the mission.

"Mr. Woolsey doesn't feel the same. He feels that we need to maintain the cover from before, the best we can, and it is going to be Addy, Cam, John and Rodney," she replied, peeking back over her shoulder suspiciously before looking back at them. Confused, Daniel was about to ask why in the world that particular combination was being chosen, especially given that Ronon would be a better sell as a pirate when Sam rushed over in his direction.

"Daniel I need you to get on that ship," Sam hissed, under her breath, to her confused friend, who was shrugging as he walked to approach her.

"If you need me on that ship why am I not on it? And what about Teyla and Vala? The original mission was the three women, with Vala in charge, why John and Cam, why not Dex?" he retorted, stepping forward to offer Sam a seat at the center table, but she refused, shaking her hand in front of her.

"Mr. Woolsey and a few of the powers that be insisted that since Vala used her name and Teyla was captured for a few hours, the chances of Anubis' men recognizing her are high, Adrienne is the only one that Anubis wouldn't know," Sam started, Daniel beginning to interrupt when Sam threw her finger up in front of her face.

"So, the plan from Vala, yes, I was able to get them to call her down there at least, was that Addy go back, as this Sorsha character and Cam is her new partner, John and Rodney crew. Go in, try to make the deal again, kidnap a solider and get the hell out of there," Sam explained, crossing her arms, waiting for the question that was to come.

"Then why not me? I was on the first mission as well," Daniel asked, thinking that to swap Cam in now, in his place, made no sense, it made more sense that Adrienne would free her captive and declare mutiny, in fact, none of this made any sense at all.

"Because Dr. Jackson the IOA does not feel that you and Dr. Rowan are able to handle this situation without prejudice and we feel a military presence is needed on this particular mission," a voice said from the door, a voice both Adrienne and Daniel had hoped to avoid hearing for the rest of the day, Daniel especially, who glared at the man with a look sheer anger.

"Because why? Because we're together? You think that given a choice between Addy's safety and stealing a human being for your personal gain Cameron wouldn't choose Addy?" Daniel asked, refraining from adding, are you an idiot.

"Colonel Mitchell would do what was necessary to ensure success on the mission as he has been ordered to do and I cannot be assured that you would do the same," Woolsey retorted, standing away from Daniel, who Adrienne could tell was ready to explode, so she just stood there in silence, flattered that he was making such a fuss over her.

"Cameron knows nothing about Anubis, none of them do, what happens if he tries something?" Daniel asked, keeping his cool, trying to throw a little reason into his argument instead of exploding about how he was using Cam's loyalty to the United States military as an excuse to toss Adrienne to the wolves, or, in this case, the jackal.

"Dr. Rowan is familiar enough with the files, she's intelligent, she can manage," Woolsey sneered, the compliment backhanded to say the least. Breathing in before he spoke, Daniel looked back at the bureaucrat once more, hoping to try one final time.

"Mr. Woolsey, I'm requesting permission to accompany the team on this mission as I have had the most dealings with Anubis and as the co-leader of SG-1 I feel it is imperative that I'm part of any mission of which half of my team is a part of," Daniel stated professionally.

"Request denied Dr. Jackson; I'm not in the business of authorizing romantic getaways. Sleeping with a team member does not get you access to every mission she is on. You'll just need to get it out of your system before she leaves, which doesn't give the two of you that much time," he spat, turning to leave the lab, Sam and Adrienne standing there in shock.

"Get on that ship, I don't care how and I didn't tell you to," Sam ordered Daniel the moment Woolsey was out of sight, her tone deadly serious.

Not saying a word, he nodded, reaching behind himself for Adrienne's hand.

Adrienne tossed and turned in the cot, wondering how in the hell pirates slept on this, thinking then to herself that must explain their rotten disposition. Rolling to her side, her back pointing at the door, making her nervous enough, Cam across the hall or not, Adrienne willed herself to slumber, knowing she had to play Sorsha tomorrow and play her well. She was just about asleep when she heard a click behind her, at the door, and her heart stopped, her mind racing and she reached under her pillow, sliding her k-bar from where she had stowed it hours before.

Weapon in hand, she watched as the door opened slowly, a tall figure slipping into the tiny crack of light.

"It's me, put that damn knife down," Daniel hissed, unable to see her in the darkness but knowing that without him she would have slept with a knife under her pillow; it was something she told him that she did away from home.

Sighing, Adrienne did as requested, tossing the blade over to her backpack, no longer needing it, her apprehension of sleeping alone gone the moment he entered the room.

"Took ya long enough sha, where were ya?" Adrienne asked, having not seen Daniel for at least twelve hours if not longer.

Shortly after Sam had left the lab Daniel dashed off, leaving the disaster on his desk and lightly kissing her goodbye before racing down the hall, to where Adrienne had no idea.

"Cam snuck me in a spacewalk suit, no one was the wiser," Daniel explained, slipping off his boots as he approached the bed. Scooting over, Adrienne reached out, pleased that she wouldn't have to sleep alone and he pulled off his pants, tossing his jacket aside, slipping right into the bed beside her.

"We're sad and pathetic and this is why Woolsey doesn't want us on missions together," Daniel teased, reaching his hand to her face and kissing her softly, feeling her melt into his arms, pulling him tighter into her own.

"No, he's just a nasty angry man that doesn't want anyone to be happy," Adrienne replied, burying herself into his chest.

"I don't like sleeping alone anymore," she whispered into the darkness.

"Me neither," he responded, squeezing her tightly before letting himself fall asleep.

"How in the hell did you get in here?" Rodney exclaimed as Daniel walked into the small eating area, Adrienne trailing behind, exhausted and nervous.

"Through the door," Daniel answered smartly, avoiding eye contact and walking over to where Cam was preparing a sort of make shift breakfast of powdered eggs and coffee. Hoping to skirt the argument, Adrienne powered ahead to where her running buddy had a cup out in front of him, reading her mind.

"I thought Mr. Woolsey was very clear that you were not to come along on missions with your girlfriend!" Rodney spat and Daniel could read the suggestion in his voice. It wasn't the fact that Daniel and Adrienne were together that was bothering him so, it was the fact that Rodney always felt threatened by Daniel and if Daniel was here, then he would have some stiff competition.

"Rodney, I'm not getting into this with you. This isn't about Adrienne, it's about the fact that not one of you has had experience dealing with Anubis. Yes, I want to keep her safe, but I want to keep all of you from harm and if my knowledge can do that so be it. Unless of course you have a plan for if you come face to face with him in which case, I'm all ears," Daniel retorted smugly, crossing his arms in front of him watching Rodney's glare straight through him.

"We're not going to run into Anubis, Vala and I carefully planned every aspect of this mission. You want to come babysit Dr. Rowan, fine, but stay out of my way," the scientist hissed back, turning to storm out of the room to where no one knew.

The door closed with a loud smack, John rolling his eyes before peeking back at the group.

"I'll go deal with the big baby, Jackson glad to see you figured out a way on. Cam can brief you on the details; I'll be back soon," he explained, apology in his voice, trailing behind his comrade.

Laughing, Cam reached out to give Daniel a cup of coffee as well, the three members of SG-1 sitting around the small cafeteria table with plates of what Adrienne believed had never seen eggs.

"Suit not too bad?" Cam asked, shoving a forkful into his mouth as Daniel sipped his coffee, shaking his head.

"Little hot, but I didn't stay in there long. Thanks by the way," Daniel added, his fork running slowly through the eggs, thinking to himself how much influence Adrienne really had on his eating since he was finding the presentation in front of him thoroughly disgusting.

"Don't mention it. Only Woolsey would be stupid enough to send us all the way the hell out here blind. No offense to you Addy, but I prefer to have someone on board with more experience than just folders," Cam added, glancing over at Adrienne to make sure that he hadn't offended her, which she made clear by a shake of her fork that he hadn't.

Swallowing, god these eggs were awful, damn Adrienne, Daniel washed down the mess with some coffee, before questioning him further.

"So, what is this plan that Vala and Rodney have cooked up?" he asked, Adrienne shaking her head, oh great even she doesn't like it, as he peered over in her direction, indicating exactly what he thought, that he had missed very little cramped into a smelly old spacesuit.

"Basically, we go back to Vala's original coordinates. Addy here's gonna tell them that she has something to trade, Vala suggested weapons but I'm not sold on that. Tell them that she betrayed Vala and wants in on the trade. After that, Vala says just like last time, except Addy needs to insist that they meet on a planet, somewhere public, a bar, Vala gave the name of some place she used to use. Addy negotiates while Rodney and Sheppard beam down, grab a goon and beam back," Cam explained, but both Adrienne and Daniel could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't happy in the least about the plan.

Forcing down another forkful of warm yellow mush, Daniel looked back up at Cameron, his own doubt evident.

"That's the big plan? Repeat last time with one change and hope for the best. I'd expect better from Vala," he trailed at the end, leading Cam to answer.

"Vala AND Rodney. I think the latter more than the former," the colonel agreed, peering over at Adrienne who had remained surprisingly quiet, picking at her eggs and practically ignoring her coffee, "Girl, how are you feeling about this?"

What a question, Adrienne thought, one that she didn't have an answer for.

Sure, she knew she could handle it, despite Daniel's constant teasing of her acting skills, she had gotten pretty good at pulling off ruses just like this, especially when put on the spot. On the other hand there was so much riding on this mission, so many people counting on her that if she screwed this up she wasn't quite sure how she would be received or how she would be able to face her team or Sam for that matter.

It would really look like she had slept her way to the top.

She opened her mouth to answer when she felt a palm lay on the small of her back, rubbing lightly, and knew he was reaching out to give her physical reassurance rather than embarrass her with verbal cheerleading.

Can't we just go back to bed and cuddle, Adrienne thought for a split second, before laughing at her own absurd ideas, taking a sip of the disgusting instant coffee before answering.

"I'm ok. I was there when Vala negotiated before, I've seen how she does it," Adrienne began when a thought popped into her head, a blip of she and Vala's brief private conversation in her quarters, "but there is one thing we need to change."

Nodding, swallowing, apparently open to suggestions, Cam gestured with his hand for her to continue, which she did, taking a deep breath before she spoke.

"Daniel needs to be my partner, not you Cam. If I'm playing the part I played before, it's a bit more believable if I took my captive as my lover and overthrew Vala than just showed up here with another random man and according to Vala, we were pretty transparent," Adrienne added the last part carefully, hoping it wasn't taking it too far,

Daniel already thinking to himself how much he loved this woman, this perfect woman who could read his mind and judging by the smile on Cam's face, apparently his as well.

"One step ahead of you girl, one step ahead."

Rodney had the exact reaction that Daniel anticipated, a tantrum, insisting as Daniel had originally thought that he was there to usurp the mission. He wasn't, in fact, more than anything the idea of the mission itself disgusted him because clone or not the person they were sent to steal was a human being and if the IOA was going to start sending teams to participate in kidnapping, Daniel at least wanted to make sure that they would be treated humanely.

Once John had spoken to him, however, he did have to agree that using Daniel did make better cover, made Adrienne have to create less of a backstory and therefore give her less to lie about. That didn't stop his pouting though, as he spent much on the next four days in transport, twice as long since they didn't gate to Langara this time, hiding in the makeshift lab/quarters he had set up, leaving Daniel, Cam, John and Adrienne to entertain themselves, which they did, playing cards, talking, with poor Adrienne and Cam stir crazy since they were unable to work out.

To be honest, it was kind of driving Adrienne just the tiniest bit insane as she realized that in the past few months she had become quite spoiled by her relationship with Daniel. It was nice to not be sleeping alone, the small bunks forcing them to sleep so impossibly close, holding onto one another tightly, but Adrienne did miss making love to him; however neither of them really wanted to cause any more trouble than Daniel's presence already was. Forcing herself to tow the line, Adrienne laid each night in his arms, trying not to think about rolling over and pecking her way up the side of his neck.

It was a little past three p.m. earth time on the fourth day, Adrienne's analog watch ticking the minutes by, when the call came in, interrupting she and Cam's card game. She couldn't have been more pleased, she already owed him a six pack of beer and a racing technical so this game really needed to come to a close, and fast.

"Dr. Rowan, Colonel Mitchell," Rodney's voice came over the loudspeaker, startling Adrienne so much that she dropped her cards onto the table, revealing her very poor hand, "We need you down to the bridge."

"Showtime girlie," Cam said, tossing his own hand onto the table, three tens proudly displayed, "and now you owe me another six pack," he added as he pointed to her hand, a pair of threes, a two, a king and a jack.

"Why do I suck at the simplest things?" she bemoaned, sticking her tongue out at Cam, before heading out of the mess area, Cam laughing as he brought up the rear.

When she tapped the button to enter the bridge she was surprised, although she shouldn't have been, to hear Daniel and Rodney arguing over the plan, yet again, as John steered the ship to what looked like a collection of rusted vessels. She couldn't help it, she should be taking things seriously right now, but she wanted to make a joke right about now about how this situation was anything but 'shiny.'

No Firefly jokes Addy, she told herself, walking straight up to Daniel and resting her hand on his shoulder, disregarding what anyone would think. He stopped shouting instantly, reaching to rest his hand over hers, pulling it down to the side but clasping it lightly.

"Are you ready?" Daniel asked cutting Rodney off mid yell.

"Is there a no option?" she replied, joking as she squeezed his hand and let go, looking ahead to Rodney who was still obviously fuming from whatever he and Daniel were arguing about now.

"No, Dr. Rowan, and we need for you to stop trying to be funny. Now, what you need to say is that you mutinied Vala, took over the ship and have some items of intrest- ," Rodney began, a hand shoved into his face, a hand that Adrienne couldn't believe that she had shoved there.

"I've got this, no worries," she responded coolly, reaching cautiously for the button, the very same button she had seen Vala strike before, clearing her throat as she did.

"Someone better be able to tell me where that fucker Dagal is," Adrienne practically growled into the speaker, every last man in the room looking at her in complete and utter shock, Daniel the most surprised, not at the swear, he had heard those sorts of words come out of her mouth many times before, generally directed at him, but at the manner in which she spoke.

She was, believable, and could read his expression from a mile away, her finger releasing the cool metal circle.

"We've had a few days, I've been practicing," she shrugged, clearing her throat yet again and repeating her request.

"Code," a response came back as calm and collected as Adrienne seemed to be.

"I don't need any fucking code. Dagal knows me and if he knows what's best for him he'll answer or he'll meet the same fate as Vala," Adrienne hissed back, Daniel covering his mouth to suppress a giggle.

Lifting the button, she glanced back at him confused.

"Ja-wer, pirates don't say things like "meet the same fate," he teased lightly, his arm smacked in return.

"What do ya mean fate as Vala? What did ya do to her?" the voice over the crackling speaker was clear, it was Dagal, the memory of the voice matched to the greasy face giving Adrienne chills.

It took her a moment longer to answer than she had anticipated, her in room practice sessions unable to prepare her for actually have to hear his voice once again.

Swallowing, she leaned forward a bit closer.

"Let's just say I don't like my property to be fucked with," Adrienne replied, winking in the direction of Daniel, who instantly understood her meaning as did Dagal who was laughing loudly.

"Tried to take that pretty boy from ya didn't she Sorcha? Well, I've no use for a pretty boy, but if you have shit worth selling, I might have a buyer, especially if you can guarantee you took care of Mal Doran. Her stunt last time hasn't made you very popular here..." he responded, Daniel frowning at the console.

"Pretty boy?" he questioned, Adrienne shaking her head and rolling her eyes at the things he would worry about sometimes, stupid things, like being called pretty boy.

"I can, now you wanna deal or what?" the cajun asked, hoping to seal the deal, tapping the button quickly to add another detail, "but I'm not stupid. My men and I will meet you on the planet's surface. I will not board another ship."

"Fair enough," the voice laughed back, more chills, continuing with the transmission, "I'll send coordinates. Table for two I assume, you don't want to let your toy out of your sight?"

"One hour. Longer and you miss your chance," Adrienne spat in return, standing back and taking a breath, turning to face the group.

"Ok, we've got an hour, let's figure this shit out shall we?"

Glancing between themselves, the men nodded, Daniel's face gleaming with pride.

"You really have weapons?" Daniel asked in amazement as Adrienne led him to the back cargo hold, prying open a wooden crate filled to the top with Goa'uld weapons, very familiar Goa'uld weapons.

"Are those?" he questioned, leaning down beside her to reach in, pulling out a few pieces with his hands, re-examining them. He hadn't seen them in months, he knew they were planted by Anubis to lure them in, but the weapons themselves proved to be nothing special and had been put into storage with the other less than useful items.

Nodding without words, her pale hand reached in beside him, squeezing gently before pulling out a hand weapon, sliding it carefully onto her fingers, adjusting it as he had seen so many people do before.

It gave him chills seeing yet another woman that he cared about strap the contraption to her body, but he willed himself to control any outward negative reaction that he may be having seeing that Adrienne had a plan.

"Yeah, they're the ones we found with Sarah. Vala said since we really don't need them to sell them," Adrienne explained, wiggling her fingers into place. Daniel was puzzled; he wasn't sure what Adrienne was doing with the thing, she couldn't fire it, when she gently moved him away, reaching for a leather pouch strapped to her hip. Her fingers slid inside and she produced a long red rubber band and syringe, sitting back onto her heels.

"What's that?" Daniel asked, confused, having seen her shoot herself with vitamin B dozens of times but mystified as she wrapped the red strap around her bicep, pulling it tight with her teeth. He'd never seen her do that before, nor had he seen her flick the needle like she was doing and flick the vein in the crook of her arm. Stretching her fingers, she looked up at him with a slight smile, popping the cap off with her mouth and wordlessly sliding the point of the needle into her vein. She hissed in, puckering her lips to blow out slowly while her finger eased the plunger to the end. Sucking in air a final time, Adrienne slid the needle from her arm, reattaching the cap and tossing the trash aside into the far corner.

"That's Vala's DNA, or it's like a cocktail or something, you know me and hard science. Jen's been working on it for a while, trying to make it so anyone can use the Goa'uld weapons that are lying around," Adrienne explained as she shivered.

Concerned, Daniel reached out for her, pulling her close to his body, her reaction to whatever she had just injected in herself troubling.

"I haven't heard of that, Sam didn't mention anything about it," he stated, holding her tighter as her body convulsed violently for a few seconds.

"She doesn't know about it. Just started human trails, Jennifer really didn't want to have to tell Sam anything she'd be forced to disclose to the IOA until we were sure it would work," Adrienne answered, backing up from him and standing, shaking her hands in front of her and jumping up and down as if she were preparing for a race.

"Has it worked so far in the trails?" he asked, fearful of Adrienne being the first person to use technology like this so soon after it had been released. Shrugging, she turned her back to him, pointing her hand to the corner of the room and closed her eyes. There was a moment of silence, penetrating quiet when her hand roared to life a beam emitting from the palm of her hand, disintegrating the syringe into a pile of dust and smoke.

"Trail one, success," Adrienne replied, sheepishly, bolting for the door before he could start to yell, Daniel following behind her trying to suppress his vehement objections.

The coordinates were to a bar, as Vala had suggested, so very cliche Adrienne thought, just like one of her movies, and she clung to those silly thoughts to keep herself calm.

"Anything else you can think of?" Daniel whispered, sitting beside her at the table, reading her face.

"No sha, stop fishing, just let me handle this. Vala and I went through everything while you were playing hide and seek," she joked back, her gaze to the door, looking for their host.

"I hope you realize how mortally terrifying it is to hear you say that you and Vala have it taken care of," he quipped, raising his eyebrows, trying to play it cool himself, his left hand reaching down for his leg, the weapon recovered by Vala in their last encounter with Anubis' men strapped carefully there.

"Shut up Indy," she replied, her eyes now at her nails, heavily picked, her index finger almost bleeding.

"So she brings the toy with her," a voice spoke from behind her, making her turn around quickly, not liking being taken off guard but slipping into the persona, the one Vala had begged her to practice.

I can do this, Adrienne thought, Vala said I can do this.

"He has multiple uses," she responded naturally, her right hand slipping down, ready in an instant to grab Eric and blow the trader off of the planet, but he laughed, reaching for the table behind him to bring a chair to her side, very close to her, so much so that their knees were touching as he took his seat.

"So, the ship," Dagal started, disregarding Adrienne's response, and she shook her head, her face cold, hard, like Daniel had never seen before.

"I told you I have weapons and information. Vala was screwing you on the ship, it wouldn't fly, he'd disabled it," Adrienne answered cocking her head at Daniel.

No longer as pleased by their meeting it seemed, Dagal leaned forward on the table, glaring strongly at Adrienne as if they were alone, as if her companion wasn't even there.

"Inpu doesn't want weapons. He has weapons," the trader responded flatly, his glare piercing through Adrienne. She shrugged, wishing that she had brought a gun rather than Eric because this was turning very quickly into Han Solo versus Greedo.

"So, you're now in the business of serving Inpu?" Adrienne asked, sneering right back, hoping that Daniel could read her face when she was acting too, read the look that was saying "We might need to shoot this fucker love," that she was trying to convey.

"I serve no one, but I am in the business of going where the money is. He is where the money is, and his money is in ships, not in weapons," Dagal argued, sitting back, feeling the anger radiating off of the woman.

"Consider the weapons my gift, an offering to your boss man to start up this little business venture. What I really have is information," Adrienne taunted, lingering on the last words.

"Inpu has spies everywhere, what makes your information that much better?" he challenged, cutting his eyes at Daniel, who he was certain was the source of said information.

"Because his name isn't MadMartigan. And he isn't Lucian. He's Taur'i," Adrienne replied quickly.

Daniel almost dropped his gun.

"They're taking too long," Rodney complained from the bridge watching John and Cam play cards on the console between them, "who in the hell decided that the archaeology department needed to suddenly become action heroes?"

Throwing down his hand, full house, Cam shook his head at Rodney while reaching out for John to pay him again for his loss.

"They've both done things like this before. Can't you just chill the hell out?" Cam asked, taking the five from John and shoving it into his pocket.

"Rodney doesn't know the meaning of chill the hell out," John answered, moving to shuffle again.

Angry, his impatience growing, Rodney glared at them both, now pointing to the game started in front of him.

"So you two are just fine sitting here waiting, hoping that she doesn't screw this up or start pretending this is Star Wars and play cards!?" Rodney demanded, reaching to yank said cards from John's hand to have his fingers smacked violently by Cameron, who was reaching to shuffle the deck himself.

"Yep, and for the record if Addy starts choking giant mobsters with chains a la Princess Leia that would be pretty damn cool," he joked, glancing up at John for approval which he gave with his own chuckle and nod.

"The biggest issue in this program is the lack of competent leadership," Rodney spat at John, storming out of the bridge.

"Where's he going?" Cam asked, cocking his head at the door as he shuffled.

"Probably to hide in his hole, that's what he usually does," John replied, taking a swig from his bottled water.

"Just like Jackson pre-Addy," Cam joked.

"Pretty much," John replied, reaching to take his cards.

The rings were on the bridge, but he didn't plan on using those to head down to the surface. This ship wasn't very big, but it had been big enough for the cargo hold to take a puddle jumper, a puddle jumper that John insisted on taking, wanting every possible escape he could get. He didn't like this plan any more than Sam and he wasn't about to sacrifice half of SG-1 as well as Atlantis head team for one damn mission, IOA mandated or not and fortunately for Rodney, this was exactly the kind of attitude that was going to work in his favor.

"Let Jackson's little girlfriend screw this up; I'm gonna go down there myself, slap one of the bastards with a transmitter and viola, mission over, none of this spy game crap," Rodney muttered to himself storming through the dark brown hallways leading past their quarters and to the cargo hold, the door a mere fifty feet in front of him.

"This should have been the damn plan in the first place," he added, coding himself into the hold marching straight for the control panel, ignoring the jumper completely. The screen was in Goa'uld, he hated that stupid language, it was easier to make Jackson or Rowan read it, but he didn't have a lot of choice right now so he sighed, hoping for the best.

Scanning the keys he entered in the code, he waited, tapping his foot impatiently, for the confirming lights and message. There was nothing and he was getting nervous; if he entered the code incorrectly too many times he would be locked out just like simple Earth coded systems.

He had to hope he had translated this correctly.

Just when he was about to panic, one try down and he had no idea how many to go, a message flashed across the screen letting him know that the bridge no longer had contact with the cargo hold.

"Now Sheppard, let's see how much attention you pay to your ship," Rodney sneered waiting for his communicator or even the ship's all call to begin to search for him, but there was nothing, just boring yet agonizing minutes of silence. Rodney glanced at his watch noting seven minutes have passed with no word from either colonel that he had left at the bridge.

"I'm not sure what's more disturbing, your lack of concern or your faith in that woman," he grumbled, tapping his pocket to check for the ring transponder as he proceeded to the back of the jumper, opening the airlock.

"What do you mean Taur'i?" Dagal asked, his tone completely different now; he was intrigued just as Adrienne had planned.

She probably should have explained this part to Daniel, but like the DNA, she was certain that he wouldn't have approved, so she had kept him in the dark as much as possible.

"Taur'i, from Earth, home of the famed SGC, you know, Vala's good buddies?" Adrienne smiled, trying to send Daniel messages with her eyes, messages that she had everything under control.

"I get that, I want to know who he is," Dagal clarified, his eyes not having left Daniel's for a second, eyes that were tired and dry from wearing the contacts that Adrienne had forced him to wear.

"His name is Anthony, Anthony Davis. Lab rat, lower levels, but had some access to Dr. Jackson," Adrienne lied, deftly, again surprising Daniel, relieving him at the same time as Dagal nodded, believing her story.

This was going better than Daniel ever thought she could pull off, there was no flaw in her story, no hesitation in her speech.

"Ok, how did you get him to talk? Seems to me that I'd have a hard time not slitting the throat of any bitch who hit me with that staff like you did..." Dagal pushed, making Daniel's heart race again. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't come up with a good enough story himself, when Adrienne leaned back in her chair and started to laugh.

"Let's just say he's got loose lips when at the height of pleasure," Adrienne replied smoothly, peering over at him, warning him not to blush, not to argue, just go with the flow.

"I think I made the best choice, given staying there or being here," Daniel added, cutting his eyes over at Adrienne, hoping it was the right thing to say and it was, Adrienne smiling slyly at his response.

Their Lucian friend however, remained silent, glancing back and forth between them trying to determine whether or not it was all a lie.

Buy it, Daniel thought, can't the way I look at her be enough?

"Weapons then," he man agreed, both archaeologists breathing a sigh of relief, on the inside at least, "but how do we know they work? If they are Goa'uld weapons I have no way of assuring Inpu they will work," he asked and Adrienne just stood, smiling, pointing her hand toward the ground releasing a beam of red light onto the ground, blasting a deep hole into the floor of the bar, all eyes now on her and her performance, before looking back at him smiling.

"Dagal my dear, don't underestimate me like Vala did. It will only result in your death," Adrienne warned, clenching her hand into a fist as the pirate smiled.

There was an open field, if you could call it that considering the disgusting space port has resulted in mostly desertification of the entire area, area that based on the trees in the distance should not be desert, that looked as good as any other place to touch down. He landed the jumper, poorly, he wasn't too good at flying it even though he could, behind a collection of buildings, if you could call them that, engaging the cloaking device as he exited. Checking his pockets a final time, he made his way for the collection of people milling around in the distance.

It was hot here too, he thought, shame these idiots couldn't take care of their own planet, but that was their problem right now his only concern was to find one of those clones, get him sent up to the ship and get them the hell out of there. Bringing his hand to his forehead, Rodney McKay gazed out into the distance, powering out into the crowd.

"Please tell me McKay didn't just go and screw this all up," Shepard plead the moment the rings appeared in front of him, Daniel and Adrienne taking shape in their line of sight. The rings disappeared back into the floor, Daniel looking up at them surprised.

"What, was there something else supposed to happen that I missed, because at this point I'm still trying to figure out what happened to my assistant and who this woman is," Daniel joked at Adrienne, who was flushing, shoving his arm back playfully.

"He didn't make it to you guys? He took a jumper down, we didn't notice because he hacked into the alert system, and went down to the surface. Has been complaining for hours that you two took too long and that Adrienne was gonna blow our cover," John explained, concern in his voice, peering over his shoulder at Cameron who now had concern of his own as did both Daniel and Adrienne, who were looking at each other stunned, shaking their heads.

"No, we went down, met with Dagal, gave him the spiel and came back. We're supposed to head back down to the surface in five hours," the cajun stressed five hours, significantly less time than they had with Vala and she wanted them to be aware that they needed to be getting ready to make this all happen. Eyes meeting, the two men looked at one another then back at Daniel and Adrienne who had yet to move from the ring transport area.

"You don't think?" Cam asked, throwing his hands up at John, unable to believe that someone like Rodney, not Vala, but Rodney would do something this foolish.

Why in the hell would he believe that he could do this himself?

"I don't think, I know, we need to head down there," John growled, stepping forward to move Adrienne and Daniel from their positions intent on going down their himself to recover the missing scientist when Adrienne stepped forward, stopping him, glancing back at Daniel.

"No, let us go. Keep cover. I'll call him incompetent, blame his fear, make him look space crazy or something. You guys stay just in case we need to get out of here fast," Adrienne ordered, confidently, like she had done on the surface, Daniel smiling with pride.

"Girl, you sure?" Cam questioned, Daniel already shaking his head.

"Oh yeah, she's got this covered," he assured his teammates looking down at the love of his life. She's got this covered and she looks so amazingly hot doing it, he couldn't help but think, shaking his head and taking a breath to refocus on the situation at hand.

Stepping back, John just nodded, making his way to the control panel to send the pair back down, hoping that whatever Adrienne could come up with was good enough to repair the disaster that he was sure Rodney was creating.

There were no lights in the room save for a faint orange glow of something electronic in the far left hand corner. Starting to sit up, Rodney discovered that he was bound, his hands tied tightly behind him, allowing him only the use of his feet to stand upright on the cold floor. He tried to stand, bracing himself on his elbows, slipping miserably downward.

"Help him," a voice ordered from behind him, startling him as he thought he was alone in some sort of cell. His last memory was being led by a woman to a group of soldiers and his feeble effort to talk to them, asking them if they had seen his captain, describing Addy the best he could remember, red leather breeches, a blue leather bodice shirt, pale skin, dark shoulder length hair, those crazy evil looking eyes of hers but none of them knew what he was talking about, not a soul, and he started to back away when he realized what he was wearing: BDU's. Most of the soldiers must have been clones but one, one wasn't, and before Rodney could yell for help, scream, make any kind of scene, the zat was pointed at him.

His last memory was the stream of lightening heading in his direction.

Hands swept under his arms, lifting him thankfully from the cold, although the grip was painful, making him hiss out in discomfort. His helpers tossed him forward so roughly he almost stumbled and went crashing down again, but caught himself just in time to hear the voice behind him speak again.

"It seems the planet is crawling with Taur'i today. Miss Mal Doran's murderer has a Taur'i lover and now you. Care to tell me what the sudden fascination in Lucian affairs is it seems that Jack O'Neill is suffering from?" the voice continued, closer this time, so close that Rodney could feel warm breath at his neck making his hair stand on edge. He panicked, unsure as to what he could say; he didn't know how this person knew Daniel was one of them unless Adrienne had told him, but why would she do that? Why would she just offer Daniel up when Anubis could be anywhere?

"Don't bother answering Dr. McKay, it is still a lie when it is an omission," his captor responded coolly. How did he know his name?

And then it hit him.

"So what's the plan?" Daniel asked as the rings lifted, Adrienne speeding ahead of him adjusting her fingers into Kara Kesh in a way that gave Daniel chills. She seemed way too comfortable with that device and each clench of her fist was an eerie parallel into a past life, one he cared not to repeat.

Peeking over her shoulder, Adrienne checked to insure that they were alone before opening her palm, aiming her hand to the ground yet not one shot emanated from her fingers tips.

"Dammit," she swore, reaching for Daniel's own vest, pulling him into a side alley way.

"Block me," she ordered, opening the leather pouch at her waist, collecting yet another syringe into her palm.

"That didn't last very long," Daniel observed as she repeated her procedure from this morning quickly, no hesitation, a woman on a mission in every sense of the word, "How long was it supposed to last?" he added watching her glare at him as she pulled the red rubber strap tight with her teeth.

"Right, guinea pig," he reminded himself, not letting her answer, half tempted to scold her for allowing herself to be part of such an experiment but the look on her face was enough to tell him to keep his mouth shut.

"Help me," she requested now, fumbling with the objects that before she had handled with ease, the nerves causing her to tremble. Removing the needle gently from her hand, he slipped off the cap to the syringe, turning her arm and flicking her vein, taking this opportunity for scolding.

"I don't like this ja-wer," he whispered, rubbing her arm tenderly before inserting the needle, "any of this," he clarified.

Hissing in as the cold fluid shot into her veins, Adrienne peered up at him with a scowl, somewhat playful and somewhat serious as she started to shake and convulse as she had done before.

"I'm sorry sha, it's just for this. Trust me, I don't like having Vala in me either. Let's just let this do it's magic, get that cooyon and get da hell outta here," she assured him, lifting her arm to pinch the area taut.

Reaching out to grab her hand and kiss it lightly, Daniel recapped the syringe carefully, tossing it back into her pack pulling her into his arms to hold her while the tremors rocketed through her body once more.

Shaking subsiding, Adrienne glanced back at him a final time, raising her eyebrows before marching confidentially out of the alley, motioning for Daniel to follow.

"I know who you are," Rodney managed to choke out as the man, the creature, whatever he was paced in front of him, coming to a halt inches from his face sending terror deep into his soul.

"Good, then you know not to question me. Now Dr. McKay, I have no need for you and your life matters to me not, however I will let you live if you tell me what I need to know," Anubis explained, backing away, allowing Rodney space to breathe again. He wanted to speak, his body was begging him to fall into the floor graveling, begging for his life and offering whatever the ancient being wanted, but he remembered his friends, he remembered Sheppard, Teyla, Ronon, SG-1 and even his new part time assistant, who really wasn't that bad.

Saving his own ass wasn't worth risking any of theirs.

"I won't tell you anything. I don't care what you do to me," Rodney said, his voice nowhere near as confident as he had imagined in his head.

"An idiot like the rest of them," his captor stated as Rodney began to feel the air around him squeeze his lungs.

"I'm looking for my navigator," Adrienne hissed as she leaned over the bar to the man operating a large crystal machine pumping out a neon orange concoction that seemed to be as popular as beer.

"And I'm looking for a woman to fuck me silly and cook me dinner, but you don't see me walking around bitching about it," the man answered, pivoting around to serve a drink to a nearby gentleman, another slimy Lucian trader. Angry, her request wasn't even rude, not by the standards of these people, Adrienne composed herself, trying another tactic.

"He's about as tall as my friend here, missing some hair, wearing green pants, black t-shirt, annoying," she started to describe as the man continued to ignore her, serving up more drinks.

Seeing that this was getting them nowhere, Daniel stepped forward to speak when he felt a hand push him back, her hand, her left hand, her right hand placed strategically on the counter.

"I do not like being ignored," Adrienne warned, a buzzing shaking the counter.

Confused, the barkeep turned to see what was going on, his eyes widening and peering over her shoulder, Daniel saw that Adrienne was standing there, palm up, the small metallic circle in her hand glowing to life.

"Haven't seen him, but I know where people go when they vanish," he answered, his tone changing instantly.

Wow Ad, Daniel thought, you're just full of surprises today.

Her expression not changing, Adrienne closed her hand, retracting her arm to behind the counter.

"Thank you," she replied, leaning forward for her information.

"Let's start with what I know and I can gauge your reaction to see how close I am, how does that sound," the voice reasoning with him almost sounded jovial, delighted to be here with him rather than threatening as it should. It was strangely relaxing to Rodney, who was determined not to give anything away, holding out for that hope that John would notice his absence, figure out what he had done and come racing to his rescue.

How feminine McKay, he thought, breathing in and preparing not to answer.

"I know that Dr. Jackson is still working with the SGC analyzing the Asgard knowledge, knowledge that was rightfully mine," he began, pacing around Rodney in a circle, the scientist choosing not to answer.

"See, simple, that's a yes. Continuing. I know that you have changed your access codes to your allies, as I had hoped, cutting you off from many of your friends you had come to count on for so long," he added, Rodney's heart racing.

How did he know that?

Did he send those goons through on purpose, just to be killed?

Was this all part of his plan, whatever it was?

Did he know that since the Tok'ra had contacted them?

Silence didn't seem to be working for him, but he wasn't sure what to say.

"You know nothing about our allies," Rodney feigned bravery, a laugh of disbelief in return, a face in his own, hot breath heating his nose.

"I know everything I need to know and you are going to tell me the rest," he threatened, the air squeezing again, but the silhouette in front of him didn't move as he fell to his knees unable to breath, looking back at his captor, noting a green light at his wrist, a light with numbers...

"At the risk of sounding like one of your movies, I have a bad feeling about this," Daniel whispered to Adrienne as she continued to stride confidently through the back alleys, following the complicated directions given to her by the bar tender.

"Me too, but do you want to leave Rodney?" Adrienne asked over her shoulder, pausing and closing her eyes, trying to summon up the scene in the bar once more to recall the specific directions, Daniel running right into her.

"Watch out Indy," she spat as he caught himself at her shoulders.

"Sorry, you stopped right in front of me. Are we lost?" he asked, unsure as to what was going on.

"Nope," she answered, a song like quality to her response, trudging forward, Daniel shaking his head following behind.

The pressure in his chest was so great he was unsure if he really wanted to live anymore, the pain caused by trying to fight the pressure greater than any he had ever experienced before. He laid his head onto the cold damp floor, giving up, giving in, when the pressure was gone, the figure standing above him, straddling his waist with large boot clad feet.

"Shall we continue Dr. McKay?" Anubis asked, not moving, not flinching, unafraid of Rodney in the least, but the doctor didn't respond, just lay there quietly.

"I just want to know why you are here. I know you have Dr. Jackson with you; I'm not ready to deal with him just yet, but he usually doesn't hide. It's not like him to not come and face me. Why are you here?" he continued, the air around Rodney's chest pushing in again, caving in, that feeling of desperation returning.

Would he stop?

Would he stop if he just told half of the truth?

"Clones," Rodney choked out, the part of him that still desired to live overtaking the rest, and it worked, the sensation eased and he could breathe again.

"So, that was Mal Doran on that ship. She must have taken a few pieces back on board. What do you know of my clones?" he asked, the pressure increasing before Rodney could answer.

"Nothing, that's why we are here. We wanted to take one to study," Rodney lied, partially, not wanting to mention what he had discovered: the life span, the increased capabilities, that was why, that was why the air affected him so, why hadn't this worked, why hadn't he been able to get a clone and get out of here, if only Adrienne hadn't taken so long, he shouldn't have let them listen to Vala, it hurt, it hurt so badly...

"Of course, that is why Dr. Jackson and that woman were on the surface, negotiating with that man, as a distraction so you could come down here and capture one of my men, is that correct?" the questions turned, Rodney unsure how to answer, if he should answer, the squeeze choking his lungs, he wanted it to stop, the vein in his head throbbing...

"Yes, he and Dr. Rowan were going to sell some weapons to buy us time to take one of your men. She's pretending to have killed Vala, taken her ship, her crew her cargo," Rodney could no longer bear the pain, spilling out everything, willing to answer anything he asked.

"Now we are getting somewhere..." Anubis chuckled, stepping away, that green indicator flashing brightly.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about this," Daniel said, his eyes rolling under his glasses as he glanced over at Adrienne, who was backing up as well, her eyes focused on the clone Jaffa heading in her direction as Daniel tried to pretend there were none heading in his.

"Can we argue about this later sha?" Adrienne hissed, scanning the room for an escape but seeing none, only the door in front of them, the one that she had picked the lock to enter, the one that she had been certain was unguarded which it was on the inside just not the out. Moments after Daniel and Adrienne had rushed into the room, the small door leading to where she was certain Rodney was being held in front of them, a throng of men had dashed in behind him, closing their only way out.

"Who are you?" one of the men asked, the one in front, the one that looked like the one beside him, and the next one, and the next one, all with pale skin, black hair and black pupil-less eyes, clones without a doubt.

"Sorry, we got lost," Adrienne tried and failed to explain, the lead clone looking left and right at his companions before taking another step forward.

"You both will come with me," he directed, reaching out his hand to grab Adrienne's wrist, a wrist she jerked back to her side, taking another staggered step toward the second door.

Fear in her eyes she glanced at Daniel, finally out of confidence, this wasn't a movie, this was it, she was going to be taken captive, taken by this Anubis, this evil man that Daniel had told her about so long ago, his face torn and broken and she had held him, this was going to be her fate and she would never have the chance to tell Daniel that she would, that given the choice she would take back everything she had ever said about forever just to spend it with him...

"Sorsha?" Daniel asked calmly from behind, bringing her out of her panic attack and back to reality.

"Sorsha, if ERIC would just give me a sword, I'd win this war for Galladoorn," Daniel stated, cool, collected from beside her. What? Eric? Sword? Galladoorn? Why was he screwing up quotes from Willow?

"Sorsha, I cannot believe that Eric would just leaving me hanging like this when I am right up here," Daniel continued, when it clued in for her, what he meant.

"All the way up in that crow's rest?" she clarified, thankful that they were so used to speaking in code to hide their relationship that this was second nature.

"Yep," he responded, taking a quick scan of the room noting that there were two on his side, four on hers. We can do this, he thought, we just have to move quickly.

"HYAH!" Adrienne shouted out, throwing her staff weapon into the air and dropping to her right knee sweeping the man closet to her with her left, firing the hand device at another advancing soldier. Glancing up she caught sight of Daniel catching her staff, activating it the moment it reached his fingers, the head opening as it cut through air, a beam of light blasting the man furthest to his right when she heard shuffling behind her. She turned, just in time to dodge a clumsily grab from a third man, hearing a zat activated to her right, so she leapt up, firing with her hand blindly to the source of the gun, hoping she'd hit her attacker and not Daniel, hook kicking the other with her left leg, heel to temple, sending him crashing to the ground. There was a thud, and Adrienne pivoted on her heels to see Daniel slamming a guard with the back of her weapon, knocking him unconscious to whirl the weapon behind him.

_Oh dear god he looks so amazing right now..._

The weapon spun again, and he brought it quickly to his side.

"Zat any of them that are still alive," he ordered, strength and command in his voice.

Impressed, taken aback, floored, Adrienne did as he asked, grabbing the closest zat and marching up to him, grabbing him by the deep blue leather vest he was wearing and pulling him to her, pressing her lips forcefully to his.

"Hotter than words can express sha," she said breathless as she let go, making quick work of the unconscious men as Daniel stood there in shock, mouth open, tingles races from his head to his toes.

The commotion to his left brought him back, his head throbbing, his lungs no longer pumping air through his body as they should, only vaguely aware of what he had been saying. He remembered something about the database, the shield Adrienne had found, the findings from the clone DNA, and had answered a surprising number of questions about the wraith, what he knew of their cloning, the iratus bug, his memory was so cloudy he didn't know what else, until he heard the blast and the voices.

"There's no getting out of here now, my reinforcements have arrived," Rodney taunted, almost drunkenly, that was the best way to describe the cloudiness in his thoughts, his speech, he couldn't think clearly, and then he heard the voices. It wasn't Shepard, it was Daniel and Adrienne, they found him, that stupid little girl of his found him and he started to laugh at the hilarity of the two archaeologists coming to his rescue.

"Where'd your goons go? I'd get out of here if I were you, she can kick his ass on a good day, hell, she can kick just about anyone's ass on a good day and if I'm reading your little gadget there right, you're not in tip top shape are you?" Rodney sneered, mocking, pointing at the light he had seen before, the countdown, as the air was once again ejected from his lungs, but he fought, knowing he was making him angry, hoping it would buy his teammates, his friends, more time.

"Just, keep, squeezing. I may be out of shape and eas, eas, easier to control but Jackson's gir, girl, girlfriend, she's, she's unstop, op, able," Rodney bragged, having never seen Adrienne fight but if this was all he had, a cheap Darth Vader like parlor trick in a weak body, one that had an expiration date less than two weeks away, he knew enough about her from Sheppard to know this was going to be a quick fight, but his plan backfired, as he felt his body being lifted from the ground, jerked by his shirt and brought nose to nose again with his captor, who was growling in his face.

"What did you say?" he hissed, the pressure relaxing allowing Rodney to laugh, as the blood rushed back into his head, making it feel light, making him feel like he was floating.

"Dr. Rowan, she's tougher than Teyla, it's over for you," Rodney answered, his head flopping back behind him.

The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the sensation of falling.

"He's up!" John shouted, making Daniel leap from the chair, rushing over to the cafeteria table upon which he and Adrienne had laid Rodney after unloading him from the jumper. Fully expecting to have to fight Anubis, Daniel led the way through the small back door, his right arm shielding Adrienne protectively as they entered to find Rodney and Rodney alone, laying on the floor unconscious.

"My head hurts," the physicist whined, sitting up from the table, feeling a hand at his back, a small hand, a quick glance revealing that it was Dr. Rowan, his part time assistant, assisting him right now.

"You slammed your head when you fell," she said kindly, leaving her hand at his back. Pulling away and trying not to be rude at her gesture, he sat forward, resting his arms on his legs, looking out to his audience, Daniel, Cameron and John all sitting in front of him, looks of concern on each face.

"It was him, Anubis, he was on the planet," Rodney started to explain, his voice cracking about half way through. There was another light touch and he turned to see Adrienne offering him a cup of water, which he took, slipping it slowly.

"Thank you," he replied, passing it back when he started to shiver violently, dropping the cup, water and all onto the floor.

"I'll go get some meds and something to clean that up," Adrienne declared, standing and walking out of the mess area, leaving the men alone. Swallowing again but holding still so he wouldn't fall, Rodney gazed back at his friends.

"The cloning's not working; it's worse than I thought," he started, "there is a timer on his wrist and his current body is wearing down. He did this choking thing and..." he stopped talking, the memories flooding back. Anubis might have been weak but it was just enough, Rodney had talked, he blabbed and blabbed and told everything, his stomach dropping at the realization.

"And what?" Cam asked, confused, the look on Daniel's face not much better than Rodney's.

"He did this choking thing and what Rodney?" Daniel repeated, leaning forward as Rodney began to suck in his cheeks, his eyes darting around the room.

"I'm not strong like you are, I'm not. I talked, I couldn't think, I told him everything," he admitted, throwing his hands up, muttering to himself, rubbing his face with his hands. Reaching forward, John calmed his flailing arms, looking him right in the eyes.

"Rodney, what did you tell him?" John asked carefully, fearful, blaming himself, knowing that he should have paid more attention to where Rodney had gone, that fact reiterated as he watched his friend shake his head.

"The cloning, everything from the database, the Tok'ra, Vala, everything, I couldn't breathe, I thought I was going to die until I heard you and Adrienne, that was what made me stop, he knew it was you out there Daniel," Rodney started and began to laugh, "but I told him it wasn't you he needed to worry about, it was your girlfriend," he added, laughing some more.

"What?" Daniel asked, leaning forward, his eyes wide.

"Jackson, he's weak, like I said besides that parlor trick he's falling apart. I don't care if he is the most power system lord to ever live, Dr. Rowan could tear him apart," Rodney explained, pride swelling inside that she was his assistant now too, an ass-kicking assistant, but Daniel didn't seem as pleased, his glare tearing right through him.

"Rodney, what exactly did you say? Word for word," Daniel hissed, his confused frown an evil glower.

"Dammit, I don't remember, but I told him that your girlfriend was unstoppable," Rodney answered shrugging, looking over at John, missing the millisecond opportunity he might have had to avoid Daniel's fist slamming directly into his face.

Daniel stormed out of the mess the minute Rodney had fallen back onto the table, letting John and Cameron deal with him while he went back to the bridge to think.

_Anubis knew about Addy._

Sitting here, flying home, faster than the autopilot had set, Daniel ran every possible scenario through his head, how much did Rodney tell, how much did Anubis know, how much was he still able to hide.

_Anubis knew about Addy. _

He hadn't sought her out, knowing that she would find him, as she always did, but then she didn't, so he sat there staring out into space until John had relieved him, promising to maintain current speed and ordering him to get some sleep.

_Anubis knew about Addy._

Walking down the hall to their shared quarters he tried to remember what else Rodney had said. Anubis had a countdown of sorts, his body was failing, Rodney said he was weak and that is when he mentioned that Addy could take him and maybe Adrienne could take him in that state, she was special, she was magnificent, on that planet you would have never known that woman down there was just some community college professor only a short time ago. It made his heart race and he picked up his pace to rush to be with her, no longer wanting to be alone.

_Anubis knew about Addy._

She was lying in bed, laying on her side, it was late by Earth standards and she was still wearing her disguise, why, was it fear, laziness, waiting for him. Unsure, he shut the door behind him, approaching the bed and crawling in beside her. Sensing his arrival she rolled over and started to speak but he didn't let her talk, placing his hand over her mouth as he kissed her bare shoulder, running his lips lightly against her skin, making her tingle all over. He wanted her, he needed to be close to her, he needed to forget all of the horrible thoughts that had crept up on his mind as he sat on the bridge watching the stars jet by. She wriggled in his grasp, trying to shoo him away until he finally moved his hand and let her speak.

_Anubis knew about Addy._

"We shouldn't," she whispered, a weak effort as he could tell by the movement in her hips that she didn't really mean it. Not answering, Daniel pushed her onto her back, reaching for the leather lace to her top.

"You're right, we shouldn't," he answered, pulling the laces out of her bodice and tossing them onto the floor...

_Anubis knew about Addy._

"Woolsey will be so mad," she replied, so innocent, so unaware of his thoughts, his mixture of desire and sheer terror...

"I'm sure he will."

***** (_M version in Erotic Storyline will continue the love scene) *****_

"Come here," he requested, pulling her into the safety of his arms, the touch that had been so reluctant for so long easily floating into him. She nuzzled her way onto his chest, her legs reaching to intertwine with his, she wanted to be so close to him, closer than even sex made possible, and she reached for him with that urgency. There was fear in her grasp, had she heard he and Rodney's conversation because she was holding onto him like he had never felt her before.

_Anubis knew about Addy. He knew about this. He knew..._

"Ja-wer, are you alright?" he whispered into the darkness, leaning to kiss her head and she nodded underneath of his lips.

"I'm fine sha, just missed this, this closeness," she whispered quietly. Understanding, as he had missed this too, he squeezed her tightly, holding her carefully in his arms. He had missed this, not the just the love making, but the actual intimacy of it all. Lying here a sudden quick thought popped into his head, he had to, before he lost her, before he lost everything. Sitting up, he brushed her hair from her face with his hand, gazing down into her mysterious brown eyes.

"Adrienne, will you - " he started to ask, unable to believe the words coming out of his mouth. He was going to ask her, there, in bed, on some disgusting pirate ship after they had fought their way out of, together, yet another dire situation. He couldn't ask her, not like this, and he didn't even know if she would say yes.

What am I doing, he thought to himself, this is too soon, she doesn't want this, I don't even know what she wants; we never talk about anything other than the now.

_But Anubis knew about Addy. _

"What sha? Will I what?" she asked, her voice indicating that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"You're closet to my bag, I just wanted to get changed before bed, it's chilly, will you pass me my pack," he lied, the cold never bothered him, but it was the best he could think of and she seemed to believe him, slinking from his arms and pulling what was left of the vest off of her shoulders. She stood from the bed carefully and walked over to the corner securing their packs but stopping before approaching the bed.

"I know they're gross, but you want to grab a shower, since I am all about taking advantage of perks and whatnot," she led, biting her lower lip, embarrassed by her suggestion. Smiling, he nodded, standing up, walking over to where her gym bag was, towels tucked inside. The showers were down the hall, but Rodney wouldn't say a word, none of them would, and he just wanted to be closer to her for a little bit longer.

"Come here," he commanded from his seat, squinting his eyes at the bright light reflecting from the view screen emanating from the door behind him, making him take a mental note that he needed to make sure the next batch had a better tolerance for light, or at the very least his own vessel. Blue eyes glancing down at his wrist, rough ancient numbers clicked by on the small panel installed there, he scanned quickly, confirming his math that this body had approximately fifteen days left, exactly what that disgusting man had said. Those pathetic scientists from Galara were only help in the memory department, his soldiers much more cunning this round than last, but their alterations in overall genetics left much to be desired. He needed a real geneticist, he needed to hunt around and see if any of the lower lords had managed to survive and hidden into obscurity.

"Yes sir," the clone replied, heeding the request as he approached the chair quickly. Turning his head, he read the man's counter, noting that this model had only seven days remaining.

Perfect, he thought.

"I need you to assemble a team. Go to Earth. You are not to take weapons. You are not to be noticed," he instructed carefully, his left hand already sending instructions to Amuro that their brains needed to be stroked out at day six, lest this plan go awry.

"Yes sir," it repeated, he couldn't call it a he, it was a thing, it lacked what he had, a soul, power, it was just a temporary flesh covered robot.

"I want you to find out everything you can about Dr. Adrienne Rowan," he ordered, making yet another note to Amuro, one he knew that he could do.

_Add a direct brain link to Solder 34502-x straight to me. _

"Yes, sir," it answered again, like a trained dog, all that it really was, dashing out from the room and shutting the door behind it. Pleased, Anubis sat back in the chair, staring out towards the stars on the view screen.

"You don't know how easy you have just made all of this Dr. Jackson. You just don't know."


	40. Chapter 39 - Concessions

"Ow!" Daniel exclaimed as Adrienne straddled his back, strongly rubbing the same shoulder blade that he had been complaining about for nearly thirty minutes. She didn't feel a knot or anything, but one would have thought just by the way that he was whining that his arm was about to come off, swearing and fussing like a huge baby. Growling, Adrienne pulled back, giving her hands a rest, an expression of dissatisfaction on her face that Daniel couldn't see.

"Indy, sha, Carolyn said you're fine. I have no idea what else I can do," she reminded him carefully, annoyance in her voice. For him to be so big and tough sometimes he could certainly be such a wimp at others. Lifting his head quickly, Daniel looked behind himself, shooting her a glance.

"Since when do you listen to Carolyn? There's something wrong. I'm gonna go see Carson as soon as her shift ends to find out what," Daniel spat, slamming his head back onto the pillow. Baby, Adrienne thought as she sighed, resuming her rubbing, a little more gently this time.

"Do you care to tell me what happened yet? Or are we still in a mood?" Adrienne teased, deciding to change her tactic, leaning down to kiss his bare back, letting her lips linger lightly at his skin. He had arrived from P4Y-329 over three hours ago, angry, aching and swearing and girlfriend or not, Adrienne knew when to keep her distance.

She had been with Rodney, it was his day to have her smiling assistance, when the announcement came over the system and surprisingly he had let her go to meet Daniel. She hadn't questioned, just dashed for the stairs and ran down the four flights, tearing straight for the gate room, arriving just as he was coming through the wormhole. He marched right by her, no 'I love you', no 'Hi Ad', no anything, straight up to Sam rambling on and on about "This is why this is a ridiculous idea" and a few other things.

Not wanting to interfere, Adrienne had just returned to Rodney's lab, slowly, very slowly, where he was on the phone, rolling his eyes at whomever he was speaking to.

A scowl plastered across his face, one so cruel it could have easily killed the violets they had been working to clone, he hung up the receiver and turned to look at her.

"Dr. Rowan, you're being summoned, to his quarters. Must be nice to have a concubine on call," Rodney informed her.

Adrienne didn't smack him or say anything smart, just left, hoping that there was nothing really wrong with Daniel.

When she had arrived at his quarters, he was lying on his bunk, face down, boots on, still swearing. He hadn't asked her to come and do anything, she could tell he just wanted her presence; he called it soothing, so she had taken it upon herself to climb onto the bed with him and rub his shoulders. Other than informing her that he had gotten slammed in the shoulder he hadn't said much else, even when she pulled his shirt over his head to examine the supposed injury for herself. He still didn't speak now, just rolled over onto his back and pulled her into his arms so she wrapped her arm around his waist, hugging him tightly.

"My big baby," she finally said, Daniel chuckling slightly, kissing her head.

"You're so awful to me. Aren't you supposed to sympathize? Regardless, I'm heading upstairs as soon as I get Carson to take a look at my shoulder one more time. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen and I'm finished," he said, running his fingers up and down her arm gently. Adrienne had no idea what he was talking about, but she knew his rants, so she just laid there and let him continue, kissing his chest lightly.

"Rodney needs an assistant, yes, I understand that. Not mine. Not you. I don't care if we're having sex in the middle of the commissary for all to see, the point of the matter is that distraction or not I cannot get accomplished what they expect me to be accomplished alone. That's why Sam hired you in the first place," he continued, his voice rising even though the person to whom he was talking was snuggled at his chest, rubbing it gently.

So that was where this was going, Adrienne thought, complete with a Daniel doesn't care anymore ranting.

Adrienne had been alternating her time between Daniel and Rodney for weeks now and database research had been put almost entirely on hold. Daniel was ripped away nearly every day to deal with any more possible leads on Anubis, with more frequency than before now that Sam knew that Anubis knew they were on to him. In fact, Adrienne barely felt like his assistant anymore, since her days in the lab he was off world and her days with Rodney he was on.

She knew that they had caught someone, some man spying on Anubis for the Lucians and he was being held in the brig, but other than that she knew more about Asgard cloning than her own work lately.

It was pathetic, but she just counted down the hours until she and Daniel could be together again, which in and of itself was depressing. The 'new world order' had made Adrienne the type of woman she never wanted to be, one that rushed through work to get home to a man, a man that she had decided it would be just fine to be with forever.

It made her heart race but she finally realized that Daniel had stopped talking, so Adrienne took it as her cue to speak.

"Shug, I hate to break it to you but I think this is out of your control," Adrienne whispered, not wanting to kill his little plan. After the first week of working on her alternating schedule, Daniel had marched into both Sam and Jack's offices demanding Adrienne back and was told on both accounts that they were sorry, there was nothing that could be done, despite Jack's assurances that he was trying and that he really understood. Still, it had been weeks, weeks of waiting patiently while they did their best to avoid one another, not even a kiss goodbye before a mission and Daniel was sick of being told no.

Sitting up, he reached over to where Adrienne had set his shirt and pulled it back on standing from the bed and gathering his bag. Adrienne felt bad, but she had given up hope herself, so she didn't allow herself the satisfaction of letting herself feel it now despite the determination in his face. He tossed his bag over his shoulder and walked back to the bed, leaning over to her and kissing her gently.

"I'll be back in a while, hopefully with some good news. I love you," he said, and without giving her time to answer, scooted out of the door of his quarters. Adrienne just sat back on the bunk, frustrated that she could do nothing, watching the door close behind him.

With nothing else better to do and not wanting to dwell on Daniel, she stood from the bed, deciding that she needed to run.

Daniel started with Jack's office first, having polished his argument from the time it took for Vala to slam into Daniel as she dodged what she thought was Lucian fire, that turned out to be backfire from the MALP that Cameron was trying to fix because they had been there too long and he was trying to rig the battery to give them more time, which would not have happened if Adrienne had been there to assist him and allowed them to finish the translation on time, and consequently sent Daniel falling off of a small ledge and slamming his shoulder.

From his position lying on his side as Vala apologized profusely, he formulated his nastiest argument yet.

Taking a breath Daniel knocked at the door.

"We don't want any," the voice from the other side of the door shouted. Either Jack had had just as good a morning as he had or he knew Daniel was coming, but either way, he wasn't going to be deterred. Reaching down, Daniel turned the knob and let himself in, resolve in his soft blue eyes.

As he peered around the corner, Jack didn't look up from desk, just kept staring at some folder, tapping a pen violently so Daniel closed the door behind him quietly, walking to the desk to take the chair in front of him.

"What do you want Daniel? I'm waist deep in bullshit at the moment," Jack spat, still not looking up. The direct approach Daniel had determined was best, so he cleared his throat to prepare his argument.

"Adrienne, Jack, I want Adrienne," he replied sternly. That got Jack to look up, a smile on his face. He glanced at his watch quickly, peeking back up at his friend, mischief in his expression.

"Well, it's closing time for you my friend, go have at it. Just keep the noise down; I heard she was a screamer" he quipped, looking back down at the folder not waiting for the reaction in return. Sighing, Daniel rolled his eyes and leaned forward onto the desk.

"No, Jack, I want her back in my lab. With me. Full time. As my assistant. The IOA has proven their point, we shouldn't be dating, but I would like to remind that powers that be they wouldn't have their jobs were it not for me, so I think that gives me the right to date whoever the hell I want," Daniel argued, choosing his words carefully.

He knew Jack didn't care, hell Jack had been trying to help them it was Woolsey and the IOA that had gone ballistic after, well, after things he wasn't totally proud that he had done, as fun as they had been or not.

The sarcasm no longer present, Jack just looked up again at Daniel and sighed, shaking his head.

"Listen, I tried, really I did, but this is out of my hands. You're just damn lucky they've let her stay on SG-1," Jack apologized but Daniel threw up his hands, not buying that argument.

"Stay on SG-1? Oh, you mean she gets to keep wearing the patch? Jack, she hasn't been on a mission with us in weeks and she earned that position in her own right!" he felt his voice raising and tried to control it, but was unable to do so, clearly, as Jack was starting to get annoyed.

"Look, I believe you, but half the base thinks that Dr. Perky banged her way right to the top and considering the evidence in my desk, I'm wondering if I should start to listen to them," Jack retorted, not really meaning it, he knew Daniel loved her and Dr. Perky was a smart little thing, but he just wasn't in the mood for one of Daniel's tantrums.

Enraged, and unable to believe what he was hearing, Daniel stood, slamming his hands onto the desk, staring Jack down.

"Fine, you want to play their game Jack. Then consider this my vacation, my extended vacation. I'll be at my apartment when you decide to come to your senses," he declared, turning to leave if that's what it took.

"Really Daniel?" Jack argued as Daniel reached the door, stopping to glare behind him, "I've been sticking my neck out for you for weeks. Where is she right now? She's NOT in area 51, where Woolsey wanted to send her. She's not scrubbing toilets in the Bayou. She's still in YOUR BED," Jack stressed staring at Daniel who stood at the open door like he was ready for a fight, a fight he was having with the wrong person.

"Look at yourself, throwing a fit. You know, the more I think about it the more I'm starting to think that she's too happy for you," he said, Daniel spinning around to face him.

"What? So, I need gloom and doom? That's what wrong with Adrienne and I? She's too happy for me? That's why you won't see our side of this? That's why you won't stand up to Woolsey? She's too happy?" Daniel was starting to raise his voice again and Jack shook his head, an stern look on his face.

"No, Daniel, what's wrong with you and Adrienne is that she's your assistant and a man shouldn't be shacking up with his assistant, announce it over the god damn PA, fuck her in your workspace and expect the entire rest of the world to think it's normal. You've made a bed that you can't lie in and this time I can't get you out of it," he replied.

Growling, really was he growling, Daniel simply rolled his eyes and left the office.

Adrienne saw a text blinking on her phone when she got back to the locker room, choosing to run instead with her iPod only, wanting to cut herself off from the rest of the world.

_Come over. I'm cooking. Bring liquor. _

"Oh that's not good," she said out loud as Vala, who had joined her lifting weights after her run, peered over her shoulder, curious as to exactly what wasn't good.

"Trouble in paradise?" she asked, Adrienne cutting her eyes over at her friend, tapping the phone into her palm.

"No, we're fine, well I'm fine. He's, uh," Adrienne paused, searching for the correct word, unsure as to how she should describe his behavior this morning.

"Throwing a fit. That's the phrase you're looking for: throwing a fit. I don't think you have really experienced one of those before, at least not as his little woman. They're quite entertaining," Vala explained and by the look on her friend's face, Adrienne could tell that she didn't want to go over there, to see Daniel or not.

With him expecting her, however, she didn't have much of a choice, so she bid her friend farewell and headed straight for her bug, figuring that she would shower at his place after running to the store to fulfill his request.

When Adrienne unlocked the front door, she could hear loud classical music blaring from the kitchen, the smell of something spicy floating around the apartment, his bag thrown onto the floor.

"Oh this is definitely not good," Adrienne said to herself, walking over to his satchel, collecting it from the floor and toting it back to his office, leaving both of their work bags on top of his desk. Retrieving the brown paper bag from the ABC store from her own backpack, she headed into the kitchen to see how her significant other was doing.

There was Daniel, standing at the stove, trying to make what Adrienne thought was curry chicken, which looked to be a mush mess. To top it off there was a bottle of Virginia wine that Adrienne had bought at the wine shop sitting on the counter, his wine glass half full. Not having been acknowledged yet, Adrienne walked over to the bottle to confirm it was one that she had just purchased and had not yet opened and it was, not a drop left.

She glanced up at him when she realized that her normally cool and collected Daniel was not just listening to any old classical music, but some Italian opera, because at the exact moment she set the wine bottle down she heard him start singing, badly, drunkenly and she backed up to take in the entire scene one last time.

Daniel was toasted and so was their dinner.

Shoving the bag of Godiva liquor, his favorite thanks to her, onto the top of the fridge, Adrienne walked over to him, turning off the stove and placing her hand lightly on his back as he whipped his head around to glare at her.

"It's not done yet Ad, I've still gotta add the..." he trailed off, his very glazed blue eyes scanning the counter where she could see every spice he owned spread out in front of them, some bottles upright, others knocked over, various granules spilling all over the surface and onto the floor. Shaking her head, unable to believe what she was staring at, Adrienne reached out for him gently, resting her palm cautiously on his forearm.

"Stop sha; I'll call for take-out. It's ok, just come sit down," she urged him, hoping he would come easily, but he pulled away from her.

"No Ad, I said I'd cook dinner. Did you get Godiva? I pulled up a Monty Python movie on Netflix. Can we drink to 'Life of Brian'?" Daniel asked, turning back to the stove, staggering a bit, reaching to grab to hold himself upright. Fearful he would burn his hands, positioned dangerously close to active burners; Adrienne caught him and pulled him into her arms.

He was completely gone, and this time just let her, relaxing into her arms as he started sinking to the floor, still mouthing some unintelligible arguments.

"I wanna make dinna and spend da evening with you and it's not ready Ad, I'm sorry..."

"Indy, sha, listen, it's ok. This is all very sweet, but let's go to bed. Let's get you into bed," Adrienne whispered, pulling him upright and debating as to whether or not she could get him through the shower since he reeked of alcohol and burnt chicken.

After deciding that she couldn't sleep beside him smelling like that, she walked him to the bathroom and started the shower, hoping that he wouldn't argue. He didn't, but just kept ranting and babbling, his speech slurred more and more as he talked.

"I'm sorry I burned dinner," he finally said coherently, flopping himself onto the toilet to wait while she started the water.

"It's ok, I'm not really hungry anyway," Adrienne answered, reaching to turn on the water. Understanding what she was doing, he reached to take off his blue t-shirt while she got some towels and secured them both some pajamas.

So much for a romantic evening, so much for any evening; she would just get them both clean, let him pass out and call for a pizza. Glancing quickly at her watch as she took it off, she discovered it was only 7:25 p.m, meaning that Daniel would be passed out drunk before eight.

Yep, she thought, only my boyfriend.

Sighing, Adrienne reached in to start the water and brought Daniel to his feet, hoping she could survive this without him puking on her.

"I think I drank too much..." he mumbled as he stood, tossing his glasses on the counter, unbuttoning his jeans and shucking them to the floor.

"Nah, ya think?" she joked, reaching to undress him, pulling off the remainder of his clothes before removing her own.

"Come on, hold on to me," she ordered and he did, following her into the stall.

"Stand under the water, let me get your hair wet," Adrienne continued, Daniel frowning immediately.

"I can do this myself," he grumbled.

"Really Daniel? You can barely stand and - " she started to argue as he reached for the shampoo, screaming out and grabbing his shoulder.

"And you're a big baby. Just hold on here," she placed his hand on the railing, locking his fingers to the rod.

"See, I need you around, you know when I'm too stubborn to listen," he uttered, falling to her, and the water, making her hit her back against the stall.

"Daniel, dammit, can you stand up!" she shouted, pushing him off of her watching him fall backward, catching him and hoping they didn't both slip to the floor.

"Scratch that no," she corrected herself, pulling him upward again and on to her.

"We can skip dinner," he was at her neck now, murmuring, kissing, running his hand down her butt.

"No sha, you're gonna pass the hell out as soon as you are clean, now Indy," Adrienne shoved him away again, flipping him around and under the warm stream.

"Wash and keep your hands to yourself," she ordered, glaring at him.

"That's not fair; we're in the shower, together..." he tried again, Adrienne holding out her plan to keep him away and upright.

"Yep, we are and we're getting out of here, together, just as soon as you are human again," she said as she grabbed the shampoo, trying a second time to get him cleaned and in bed. He didn't fight, letting her wash him as he leaned onto her shoulder, this time keeping his lips and hands to himself.

"What I don't understand is why they just keep jerking me around," he mumbled from her shoulder, Adrienne's caring fingers running through his hair, "Eventually a man has to sleep, and eat, and live and enjoy other things..."

There was that hand again, Adrienne not moving a muscle other than to scrub his scalp.

"You ever want to touch that again?" she asked plainly.

The hand stopped.

"I'm not going back. Not until I have you back, well at work, since I have you right here..." he was kissing again, Adrienne deciding this was a fight she was not going to win. Part of her was flattered; it was very sweet to know he cared so much about her, but she also had to face the reality that he had gotten used to working with her and at their output.

She reached behind herself to the shower head, shooting the water into his face.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly as he staggered back, "I'm just not very happy right now. There no point in even opening the god damn database."

He had a point.

Losing her had set him back to a place that in terms of work performance he didn't want to be, so she couldn't say that she wouldn't have done exactly the same in his position.

"So, fine, if that's how they want to play, then fine. You're here now and we're here," he started in, again with the kissing, god he still spelled like wine and not in a good way. Stopping his advance, Adrienne grabbed his face, looking him dead in the eyes.

"You can stand. Wash yourself, I'm gonna get you some clothes," she said, slipping away and out, wrapping herself in a towel making a beeline for the bedroom.

He managed to finish showering and get himself dressed too, still cursing and swearing and apologizing about dinner, but Adrienne shushed him and got him into bed, promising that she wouldn't leave.

So here it was, eight o'clock, just like she had anticipated and she had nothing to do so she went with the first idea she had.

"Hey," she said when Vala picked up the phone hearing laughing on the other end.

"What did he do?" Vala asked and Adrienne almost changed her mind, after all, who calls their boyfriend's sorta ex-girlfriend to come over to his place and hang out?

Apparently, she did.

"Drank an entire bottle of my wine and almost burned the apartment to the ground," she replied, pausing to let Vala laugh.

"You've ruined him, he would have never drank himself away before. I hope you're proud of yourself," she replied, snickering, making Adrienne roll her eyes, but she was right; even Sam had said that Daniel never even kept that much alcohol in his house until Adrienne came along.

"Look, I'm bored and apparently he's on some kind of strike, and I have a sinking feeling that I am going to be sucked into this mess with him. So, you might as well come over here and bring us something to eat. I don't even want to look at what Daniel tried to make," Adrienne requested, not needing an answer since she could hear Vala packing up her things on the other end of the line.

"I can't find the keys to Cam's car. I think he knows I copied a set, so I'm going to take the Odyssey. Order pizza," Vala responded and hung up.

It was a good idea to call Vala.

Adrienne managed to find another bottle of wine and by ten both ladies were stuffed with pizza and wine and happily giggling over some stupid movie on Cinemax. The film ended, replaced by some smut so Adrienne clicked the TV off, glancing over at her friend.

"I think I'm gonna see if he's sobering up and reason with him," Adrienne declared, standing from the sofa her dark eyes lost as she looked at the bedroom but Vala shook her head, not agreeing with her friend's course of action.

"You sure that's a wise idea?" she asked. Still gazing ahead, Adrienne sighed and looked down, not really wanting to deal with him, he was a blubbering emotional mess, but knowing she at the very least needed to make sure that he hadn't gotten sick.

"Yeah, I should check on him too. I think I'm heading to bed; can you lock up before you go?" Adrienne requested, knowing that Vala would refuse to stay the night on the sofa. That, at least, she said made her feel awkward; apparently spending the night there was her boundary. Frowning, Vala rose and grabbed the pizza box, intending to clean up for Adrienne before she departed.

"Addy?" Vala asked and Adrienne stopped, turning slowly, hoping everything was alright, but didn't answer, just stared at her friend, a look of intense concern in her eyes.

"What if he quits? What if they say no, no for good, and he quits?" Vala asked honestly.

Adrienne hadn't thought of that.

Daniel would never quit the Stargate program, would he?

She shook her head.

"No, he won't quit. He's just, well, like you said, throwing a fit," Adrienne replied.

Grabbing the empty wine bottle and heading to take both of them to the kitchen Vala mumbled something under her breath and Adrienne caught one word, Shar'e, making her stop in her tracks and look back over her shoulder.

"What about Shar'e?" Adrienne asked, changing directions and following Vala into the kitchen. Her friend was shoving the pizza box and glass bottle into the recycling bin, her faced screwed up in disgust at the smell still emanating from the room and the pan Adrienne had soaking in the sink.

"Vala, I said what about Shar'e?" Adrienne repeated, her voice pleading as she approached.

Slamming the lid to the bin shut, Vala sighed out, looking back up at her friend and teammate.

"He almost quit then, when they found her, when she died. That's what Sam said. But he did quit today, for you, " she explained, making Adrienne feel guilty and loved simultaneously but the cajun shook her head, quickly dismissing her words.

"He won't quit, he didn't quit, not over me, not over this. I mean, we're still talking all day long over the computer, it's not like I've completely gone away," Adrienne lied deftly because it was exactly like that, but she wasn't going to let anyone see her crumble, even Vala, who through all of this had become one of her closest allies.

"I wouldn't be so sure Addy. He loves you, not like any of us have ever seen. You might be his breaking point," Vala responded quietly, regretting the last part as soon as the words crossed her lips as Adrienne stood in front of her, a look of sadness on her face, like she understood, like she knew all along.

Looking down at her feet, Adrienne turned to go back to the bedroom.

"He's been to complain to her nearly every day since you were shipped down to Rodney; we all have. You're a part of the team and I need someone with me to keep the boys in check," she tried to recover, take some of the blame on the team, but Adrienne just stopped in the hallway, sighing out.

"Night Vala," Adrienne said, ending the conversation.

"Night Addy," she replied and dialed for a lift home.

Adrienne tried not to think about what Vala had said as she made her way to the bedroom, shutting out the lights behind her and crawling into bed with him. She had planned on trying to wake him up, to talk to him, but now she just wanted to be close to him, feel his skin touch hers and hear his heartbeat.

She didn't want to be his breaking point; she hated the thought of either one of them being so dependent on the other's existence, but maybe that is what real love was and she just hadn't experienced it before.

She honestly had no idea; this was all so new, so strong...

Daniel stirred, normally he would have woken up, sleep having never been his friend, but the wine was keeping him in a deeper than normal slumber so Adrienne laid there, her face close to his. She could smell the faint odor of wine even after showering and brushing his teeth, making her cringe.

Maybe she was his breaking point.

Leaning closer, she kissed his lips before pulling him into her arms the best she could facing him.

"I love you Daniel," she whispered.

"Love you Ad," she heard him respond, somewhere between awake and asleep, and held him tighter, just wanting this awful day to end.

When Adrienne awoke the next morning, she was in bed alone, the smell of eggs and bacon wafting into the room. He was back to cooking, and judging by the smell, was able to get it right this time.

Brushing her hair out of her face, she stood, pulling the loose strands back into a ponytail and made her way to the kitchen, hoping there was coffee.

"Good morning beautiful," Daniel greeted her cheerily, as if nothing had happened the night before, and it appeared that it hadn't since the kitchen was spotless, no evidence of burnt chicken curry nor she and Vala's pizza throw down. He must have been up for a while, it had to have taken a good hour to clean all of this up Adrienne thought as she rubbed her eyes and made her way for the coffee-maker, which she was pleasantly surprised was already brewing.

He read her mind, like always, making her smile at how much she loved him.

"You've been stirring for about ten minutes now, so I started the coffee. Did you sleep well?" he asked over his shoulder, flipping something in a pan with no mention of dinner, no mention of passing out like a frat boy last night, nothing, in fact, he seemed to be in a much better mood this morning.

While a large part of her urged herself to go with it, another part of her, the eternal best friend part, wanted to get him to talk it out so she went with the latter, treading as lightly as possible.

"What happened last night?" she asked, grabbing a mug from the cabinet and starting to pour herself her elixir of life as Daniel sighed, flipping that same something over into another pan.

"Jack said no, I got pissed off, came home and made a stupid choice," he replied, reaching for some plates but Adrienne beat him to it and handing them over, setting her coffee aside and reaching to wrap her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back.

"We'll be ok Indy, I promise. I'm not going anywhere," she said softly, squeezing him tightly but Daniel didn't turn around, just served up breakfast onto the plates and kept talking.

"It's not just that Adrienne. I love you and I miss you like hell, but it's more than that. It's the fact that they're back to expecting me to finish more than I can handle alone. It's the fact that the entire reason you were hired has just been shoved aside. It's the fact that even though none of this would even exist without me, the whole place just moves on like I never mattered," he continued, getting quiet on the last part.

Daniel wasn't an arrogant person, not on the least, but he was correct in that for someone who made this all possible, he was certainly looked over in matters like this.

She squeezed him tightly again, kissing his shoulder blade through his t-shirt, the "hurt" one, and backed away, grabbing her coffee again and heading for the kitchen table to sit down.

Shrugging, Daniel brought the plates over to her, not as happy as he was before, and set them down, going back to make himself a cup of coffee, glancing over his shoulder as he stirred in the sugar.

"So, I've got a fun day planned out for us. There's an opening at the National Gallery of Flemish Renaissance Art and I figured afterwards that we could eat there or since you're always talking about going to Hard Rock Cafe, so we might as well, we have plenty of time on our hands and if we go to Hard Rock I would really like to see the play that is running at Ford's Theatre, it's about ..." he started to explain and stopped, noticing the confused look on Adrienne's face.

"Sha, I have to go to work. Rodney's is direct cloning African violets today; he needs me to check over the machine before we activate it," Adrienne replied, watching Daniel's eyes for a reaction.

"Oh," was all he said. Not sure what else to say, Adrienne sat at the table and began to quietly eat her breakfast. Coffee in hand, Daniel came and joined her at their meal, picking at his eggs as well, not saying a word but not really eating that much either.

"I can't quit," she spoke, finally, not looking up.

"No one's asking you to," he replied curtly, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth.

"You're not gonna quit are you?" she asked, fearful of her own question and he didn't respond for a moment, making Adrienne's heart skip a beat.

"Daniel?" she pushed, flashes of her conversation with Vala returning to her memory.

Was she really his breaking point?

He ate a forkful of eggs and responded, not looking up.

"I haven't decided," he answered, not the answer she was looking for. She glanced at her watch to see that it was 7:50 a.m. and she needed to get dressed and get going so she wouldn't be late. Shoveling as quickly as she could, she never would get over how good of a cook he was, she choked down her meal, chugged her coffee and stood, walking the plate to the dishwasher. She returned to him, resting her forearms on his shoulders, bringing her lips to his ear.

"I'll be back here as soon as we're finished, I'll even skip lunch and we can make it to that play or go to Hard Rock or whatever you wanted to do," she assured him, kissing him so sweetly, nuzzling at his ear.

Daniel, however, didn't respond.

"Sha, did you hear me? I think it would be six, seven at the latest," she said when Daniel stood, pushing her arms away and gathering his own plate, heading for the sink.

"I heard you," he answered curtly and Adrienne made a face at him.

Was he angry?

How dare he be angry...

"Dammit Daniel, what did you expect, me to join you in this insanity?" she shouted, louder than she intended. She hadn't meant to scream but she needed this job, for more reasons that one, a primary being that Daniel didn't pay her bills.

Slamming the plate into the sink and breaking it into pieces, Daniel turned back to face her, anger wafting off of his face.

"Yes Adrienne, I did expect you to join me in this insanity! After all, I thought we had decided that we were a team now. Unless of course you are enjoying working with Rodney," he spat.

"What in hell Daniel! Can you stop acting like a gah damn tchew for five pick kee mon! I miss the hell out of you, but I'm not exactly in the position to be making demands around the SGC or staging protests!" she screamed back, realizing that she hadn't shouted at him like that in ages, but then again, he hadn't acted like this much of an ass in ages either.

Collecting himself, Daniel walked over to her, a tad calmer now it seemed, realizing that she was right.

"Then quit. We'll both quit. I have plenty of money in savings and I can take care of both of us until we figure out what to do," he suggested, reaching for her face to run his fingers down her cheek. Marry me Adrienne, his heart was telling him to say, marry me and we'll run away together, but he stopped short, not allowing himself to say what he meant to say as Adrienne was shaking her head through the entire suggestion.

"Indy, are you listening to yourself? Quit!? You could never walk away from this. I could never walk away from this. It's a part of us, it's everything. It's what brought us together," she added the last part softly, knowing in her heart that was why it all meant so much to her. This job, this crazy unbelievable job that made her believe that she could be happy again, that she could be happy forever, but that didn't seem to phase him, as he stepped back, a look of hurt in his face.

"Then go. I might or might not be here when you get back," he retorted sending Adrienne into a rage.

"Fine, you want to act like the asshole I used to know it don matta ta me! I'll clean aht my drawers after work," she spat, her words slipping into somewhat of an angry cajun drawl, storming to the bedroom, trying not to cry.

Daniel didn't follow her.

He didn't go anywhere like he had threatened and even checked her drawers to make sure she hadn't started packing. He didn't want her to leave, those two dresser drawers meant a lot to him, meant that she was here to stay, meant that he wasn't entirely crazy for lying awake at night, daydreaming about forever. He wished he could make her understand that this wasn't just about their relationship, that it was about people who knew nothing about how things worked interfering in just that, the way things worked. He had to think of something, anything to get everything back to the way it was before, without losing Adrienne, either as his assistant or as his partner for life, as he had begun to think of her as.

He hadn't told her, but Robert Woolsey had agreed to return Adrienne to his service, on the condition that their romantic relationship cease immediately, and that all social contact outside of work end as well. For a fleeting moment he had considered it, that part of him that had always put work first for so long, but his heart began to ache at the possibility.

He needed her, he loved her and he wasn't going to lose her, not to anyone or anything.

There was a small part of him that hoped she would quit, hoped that she would take this as a sign like he was starting to, that if neither of them worked for the program then Anubis would never find her, never find them, and that would be yet another problem taken care of, but Adrienne didn't know about that and he wasn't going to tell her.

He refused to let Anubis harm her, no matter what it took.

So, it was back to racking his brain.

Daniel texted Adrienne all day long, messages saying that he was sorry, please come to his place after work and that he loved her, but she hadn't answered a single one. She must be really mad at him; she had slipped into full blown cajun swearing at the end of their argument.

Writing her a note telling her how much he loved her and how sorry he was for his scene in the kitchen this morning, Daniel slipped it into her drawer in case he did end up going out and she came back to clear out her things as promised.

Trying to take his mind off of everything, he went to his office, grabbing a long forgotten book from his desk, opening the volume to where he had left off.

"Dr. Rowan, please," Rodney hissed, the please not being nearly polite as the word is supposed to be.

For the fourth time in an hour her phone was bouncing around on the spare desk and she glanced over, knowing exactly who it was. She knew Daniel, better than anyone else, and fit or not he would apologize, want to make sure that she wasn't too angry with him and wouldn't give up until he was sure that she was going to speak to him again.

Rodney, however, had kept her so busy today, reading and rereading each step of the process, that she hadn't even had time to see the messages much less reply. She hoped he knew her well enough to know that she would never storm off like that leaving him to wonder, that clearing out her drawers was an empty threat she had no intention of following through with, she could never imagine life without him anymore.

She loved him much more than that, much much more.

She didn't want drawers at his place, she wanted a dresser.

She never wanted to leave, ever.

Tapping around on the screen, she read Rodney step seven for at least the fourth time, watching her phone drop to silence out of the corner of her eye.

"Look, what you need to understand is that no one's coming to rescue you, no one. You were a spy, remember, you were supposed to disappear?" Jack stood in front of his prisoner, who was sitting quietly, his head bowed, in an uncomfortable metal chair. They had been questioning the man for hours, denying him food and water, but never torturing him. Jack had learned from personal experience that when tortured you said whatever your jailer wanted to hear, even if it was a bold faced lie.

The man continued to sit, motionless, silent, his gaze to the floor and frustrated, Jack decided to try another approach. Reaching for the chair at the center table of the holding cell, Jack pulled it up and took a seat, so he was facing the man, staring him down eye to eye.

"Alright, fine, you don't want to talk to them, they can leave," Jack said, shooing the guards away. They looked at one another, but did as they were told, quietly exiting through the door to the outside. Following with his eyes, Jack watched to make sure they were gone and looked back at the man, hoping he had proved his point.

"Let's start with names. I'm Jack. And you are?" he asked, hoping to get a response but the man was silent.

"Alright Steve, nice to meet you," Jack supplemented and continued, "So, Steve, I know us and the Lucians aren't exactly buddy buddy but this Anubis fellow, he's bad damn news, I'm not sure if you guys realize that yet. We just want to know what you know about him and what he's doing and why in the hell you guys are paling around with him."

There was more silence and Jack sat back in the chair, starting to question his no torture policy.

"I don't know what in the hell he's promised you, but he's a liar. A huge epic colossal liar and he will blast your entire little alliance out of the universe without batting an eye. So, fine, you want to sit here and play the loyalty game so be it. We're not the people you want to be fighting against; we're the people that you want to be fighting with," Jack stated.

As he finished his rant, he noticed the man looking at him.

Progress? Jack thought to himself.

"He's already attacked us. We're not stupid," the man spat, cutting his eyes. Jack smiled, feeling proud that his little strategy worked, leaning forward on his knees to encourage the man to continue.

"Good to hear, I get tired of dealing with stupid. You care to spill yet Steve? Tell me why in the hell they've got you following him?" he continued, hoping "Steve" would open up some more and continue their luck.

This had been a lucky break in and of itself, Vala's spy team catching up with him after she had returned to the trade outpost, in disguise, to try to dig up any more information concerning his apparently long term stay at some facility on the planet. They hadn't found Anubis, the building in which Rodney had been held burnt to the ground, but they did discover that the Lucians had their own set of spies, who were tailing Anubis, spies that had nothing to do with the greedy traders like Dagal, it was the why that they just couldn't figure out.

"My name is Endrae. Inpu is who I am following, I did not know he was this Anubis until your people took me. Inpu was buying from us, ships, weapons, but we never met him, just those fake Jaffa he has been using in his stead," the man explained.

Jack nodded, at least glad that the Lucian alliance was smart enough to understand that the Goa'uld were really not back and the Jaffa that were traipsing their way around the galaxy were ex-Ori impostors, but he didn't mention the clones so to err on the safe side, Jack decided to keep that piece of information to himself.

"Ok, so you seem to have figured ole' Nuby out, then why all the cloak and dagger? And what did he blow up?" he inquired; the look on the man's worn stubbled face not any friendlier but the expression in his eyes did seem to indicate a willingness to cooperate. He looked considerably less tough, not have eaten in a few days, only given water and vitamins, stripped of his red leathers, and sitting in front of Jack in a worn gray shirt and brown burlap slacks.

He had stopped cutting his dark brown eyes and was now looking at Jack not as a prisoner, but as an equal.

"Mobile domicile. He didn't even go for a fuckin' gunner; he blew up our families. My wife and kid. We want to find him, capture him and set him adrift in space, with a slow leak in the capsule..." Endrae hissed evilly.

That explained some, his anger and how he became a spy, but Jack still had no idea why Anubis would bother with blowing up some women and children, that seemed like an awful lot of work to murder innocent people with no real gain and he shook his head, not at the man's resolve, but his plan.

"You won't get him that easy, trust me. But why would he do that? Why would he go after you?" Jack asked, hoping that Steve, no Endrae, kept talking. Endrae shrugged and shook his head as well, looking over to the door and then back at Jack.

"Couldn't keep up with his demands. We've been selling him ships, but you knew that. You think we don't know that Mal Doran is working with you, we know she tried to lie about a ship and we know she's not dead, that that Sorsha woman's working for her. But he wanted more, more than we could salvage. He said he had a contract with us and that contract wasn't being fulfilled. He said he'd start with something of lesser importance. He did, lesser to him," he concluded, looking at the floor obviously having nothing else to say.

Jack knew why he was here; the ship explained the rest.

Walking over to the door, he signaled the guards in, ordering them to feed the man at once and headed for his wife's office.

"So, it's blackmail?" Sam asked. Sitting in the chair across from her desk, Jack leaned back, nodding.

"Yep, see that's what happens when you try to be friends with the devil," Jack replied, giving his lovely wife a moment to look at the folder. He knew she could only read about as much of the language as he could, but she could get the gist of the pages and pages of print outs.

The Lucians were closer than they were, much closer, probably because of this trading agreement gone wrong but they still didn't know about the cloning, so the combined knowledge of what was on that ship plus what they had found out on their own might provide them with a much needed break.

Running her fingers down the text she mouthed the English for what she did know but that still made no sense; it was just what Jack had read, coordinates that were moving away from Earth and not towards it and not one stitch of it made any sense.

Sighing, Sam looked up, closing the folder in front of her.

"Has Vala looked at this?" Sam asked, knowing that bringing in Vala would be their very next step and Jack nodded.

"Yep, she got the same thing out of it but it's in code. Not any code she knows. This fellow Endrae and his confidants are flip flopping languages so fast that you'd need to speak a good dozen or so to understand what in the hell it is saying," Jack answered, trying not to roll his eyes when Sam peered up at him, a half a smirk on her face.

"You mean we need Daniel?" she asked coyly.

Sam knew all about the entire situation, Jack had informed her of what exactly happened in his office yesterday right after it had happened. Sam couldn't say it publicly, but she was in total agreement with Daniel. The two of them hadn't done anything wrong, in fact they had carried themselves as total professionals, except for the few times she saw the camera switched off and not after a meeting for one of his rants, but only she and Walter knew about those times and Walter would keep quiet. Sam thought it was cute, even their one-tape indiscretion that Adrienne had apparently told her about.

Jack gave her that look, that disgusted look, bringing his hand to his face.

"Yes, we need Daniel, who is currently throwing a temper tantrum over Dr. Perky," Jack replied, needing to express his opinion on the situation.

He knew Sam's opinion, she made that very clear and kept relating the entire situation back to them, which was not even equivocal, since Sam was never his assistant and he and Sam had never decided to get it on in a lab here on base, and they weren't taking turns having sleep overs right in front of everyone.

"Well, he's mad at you. You could get her back if you wanted. Get her back," Sam challenged and Jack sat up, annoyed by his wife's assumption. True, he could throw his weight around a bit, but he was hoping to use that weight for something more pressing, something that would involve saving the world, not keeping Daniel's love life in check.

"No. I was working on it already, getting Woolsey and the rest of those assholes to back off so I wouldn't need to make a scene, but after his little performance yesterday, he can wallow in self-pity for all I care," Jack retorted, making a face but walking the line with the woman he had to go home with.

Does Daniel really know what he is getting in to? Jack thought as Sam shrugged, her left finger tapping the folder lightly.

"Then, you and Vala can figure out what's on that ship. Some of it looked Ancient. Maybe Teal'c can help," she replied.

Breathing in before he lashed out at the person responsible for his dishes, meals and laundry, damn he had it good, Jack stood from the seat, straightening his uniform jacket.

"I feel the love hun," he answered and set out for the transport area, to be beamed aboard the Daedalus.

The Lucian ship, a modified fragment of a mothership that Jack still wasn't sure was worthy of flight, was currently being housed in the cargo hold of the Daedalus. Jack had beamed up, along with Vala and Teal'c as Sam had suggested to begin going through the information contained in the ship's database.

That was three hours ago, three long hours, three very very long hours.

"Jack, I told you I can't read this shit, what the hell do you expect me to do? Seduce the spy?" Vala asked, throwing up her hands. She'd stopped before suggesting that they call Daniel immediately, especially after Jack's insistence that they could read this without his help, muttering something like he didn't need that whiney brat to get the job done.

If Jack was as stubborn as Daniel, which by this performance it seemed that he was, she really had no idea how the two men had functioned so long together.

"O'Neill, would it help if I made a list of the ancient words that I do recognize?" Teal'c offered, Vala shooting him a glare.

That was how the team functioned before, Teal'c, the only logical one of the bunch save for Sam who Vala had determined just got everyone out of trouble while Jack and Daniel had argued. But if the Jaffa was the voice of reason between the men then why in the hell wasn't he stepping in now?

"See, good idea T, that's what I'm talking about. Let's get Walter to blast up a board or something like Daniel..." Jack paused, realizing his words and Vala didn't even try to cover her laugh.

Typical men, she thought, glancing over in the general's direction.

"Yes, like the chalkboard in Daniel's lab. And lay it out like he and Adrienne do. In fact, why don't we just call them and save ourselves another three hours of headaches," she finally said, unable to hold back any longer.

This time, however, it was Jack's turn to do the glaring.

"Daniel," he stressed the name sarcastically, "has decided that getting laid is more important than his duty to his job or his friends so DANIEL can stay on Earth," Jack spat as he walked over to the console, presumably to call Walter for the chalkboard. Rushing over to Teal'c, Vala grabbed his arm and pulled him aside, taking the opportunity to try and talk some sense into someone.

"You've got to do something about this. Addy might as well not even be on the team anymore, Daniel's ready to quit, we can't get a god damn thing accomplished and that jackal headed asshole is plotting right now fuck all knows what. Talk to him; he'll listen to you," she pleaded.

Teal'c had tried to stay out of it, he could see no harm in DanielJackson's relationship with AdrienneRowan, but there seemed to be much concern with Mr. Woolsey's people and O'Neill was angry with DanielJackson about something he refused to speak of, but staying out of it didn't seem to be an option any longer.

Placing his hand gently onto Vala's shoulder, he moved her aside, approached his friend respectfully.

"O'Neill, we should call DanielJackson and request his help," he stated as Jack held his finger up behind his head.

'Walter, hey, it's me. Can you blast a chalkboard up here?" he spoke into the intercom.

"Yes sir, is there a particular size you need?" Walter clarified from down below but Jack looked puzzled, screwing up his face before hitting the button again.

"Big," he replied and Walter muttered some sort of yes sir, a confused yes sir, signing off. Satisfied, Jack turned back around to face Teal'c, smiling from ear to ear.

"See, we don't need him. We're not idiots. This is just a code. We've done this a hundred times before," Jack declared. Teal'c started to respond but paused, Vala slamming him with her elbow not believing that he was going to remain silent.

Daniel was staring between the clock in the kitchen and the fridge and back to the clock. It was 4 p.m. Adrienne had said between six and seven.

Should he start cooking now?

He had salmon and she loved salmon, however, his vegetable selection was a little low, so he was also wondering if he had time to go to the store and get back and still have dinner ready when she arrived.

"What am I doing!?" he shouted out in frustration, slamming the fridge door.

Daniel had spent his day reading, and not remembering what he read, texting Adrienne, who didn't answer, watching TV, something he NEVER did unless Adrienne made him and now he was standing in the kitchen like a 1950's housewife trying to prepare supper for his significant other.

"I've become in twenty four hours Adrienne's worst nightmare," he said out loud, walking out of the kitchen, and staring again at his cell phone on the dining room table.

_Maybe I should at least call Sam, see if I can reason with her again, at least have a meeting called to look at the lack of progress being made in the department since Adrienne's been gone. _

"No, you're not winning this one. This is my life and I'm going to live it," he continued to talk to himself, refusing to give in, forcing them to call and beg him to return, to give him back his assistant.

He was just about to reach for his phone to see if Adrienne, the only person he wanted to talk to right now, had responded when bright lights shined all around him.

"Spare me the mouth that's to come. We've got a situation here and I need you to fix it. Now!" Jack ordered as the lights dissipated.

Daniel rubbed his eyes under his glasses, examining his surroundings to find himself on some small spaceship, in very poor condition with Vala and Teal'c frantically tapping things into a control panel while Jack stood by a blackboard of mess.

Hearing the beams end, Vala shot a glance over at Jack before directing her attention to Daniel.

"In an attempt to prove his superiority General O'Neill has activated the self-destruct on the only piece of information we have on Anubis' new whereabouts," she spat as she continued tapping at the control panel.

"Dammit Vala, shut up, I beamed him in ok," Jack retorted as Teal'c took his turn to look at their newest guest.

"DanielJackson, O'Neill has misunderstood 'preserve the information' to mean save as on an Earth computer. To the Lucians preserve means to keep away from others," Teal'c explained, Daniel already walking over to the output screen.

"And blow us the fuck up," Vala spat again.

"Goddam it Walter, beam her out of here, I can't listen to it any longer," Jack ordered into the intercom, Vala disappearing into columns of light before she could speak.

Glaring back over at Daniel, Jack pointed at the control panel.

"If you please, before we get blown the fuck up," he requested. Frowning, Daniel looked down at the output screen, scanning the lines of text before peering up at Jack, shaking his head.

"How long do we have?" he asked.

"This meter reads ten minutes DanielJackson," Teal'c answered.

"What he said," Jack replied.

Turning his head to scan the screen a second time, Daniel's eyes widened, realizing that Teal'c was correct, terrifyingly correct.

"Jack, there's no way; I can't get through this in ten minutes. We need to beam out of here and jettison the ship," Daniel explained but Jack just tapped the chalkboard, shaking his head with a frown of his own.

"No, no, look, we did a lot of this for you. I don't need it all translated right now, just shut the hell off," Jack demanded as Daniel made a noise under his breath.

"Jack, you're not listening, THAT over there is NOT how to deactivate the self-destruct. THAT is barely correct anyway and I can't do this alone, are you hearing me? It takes too much time for one person," Daniel tried to stress to Jack that he couldn't do the impossible, that some things were just beyond his control.

Kicking the chalkboard over, Jack stormed back to Daniel, glaring at him.

"If this is some bitchy attempt to get your girlfriend back, it's not gonna work," Jack hissed, daring Daniel to question him, but his old friend stood, nose to nose with him.

"No Jack, it's not, but it brings up a good point. I might be able to do this were she here, but since she's never here anymore I have no way to find out if she could help or not!" Daniel replied, not backing down.

"O'Neill, let us bring AdrienneRowan aboard to see if she is able to assist," Teal'c offered from behind his friends and Jack removed his gaze from Daniel to glare at his friend, not expecting the warrior to speak.

"Not you too," he pleaded.

Taking it as an opportunity to finally express his opinion, Teal'c stood upright, running his eyes from one friend to another.

"Ishta and I both serve on the Jaffa council and there is no conflict between our personal and professional interests," he started, time clicking away.

"No time for a sermon T, we need to get this thing deactivated," Jack said through his teeth but Teal'c shook his head and continued, disregarding Jack's words.

"DanielJackson and AdrienneRowan have continued to complete their jobs and there is no indication that they would do less. As the leader of the SGC you have the power to return AdrienneRowan to her lab and her team. I believe that it would be wise to do so," he finished calmly and said no more.

Fuming, Jack glanced back at the meter to see only nine minutes and two seconds. Giving up he looked over at Daniel, pointing to the mess that he had to admit was his fault.

"Just save the damn ship," Jack relented as Daniel reached over to call Walter.

The lights trickled away and there stood Adrienne, iPad in hand looking thoroughly confused. She squinted, scanning her surroundings, seeing Daniel and Daniel alone waiting for her in what looked to be the bridge of a very disgusting space ship, far worse than the one from the previous two missions.

"Where are we?" she asked, confused as to what was going on. When Daniel said he might not be home, this wasn't exactly what she was thinking.

"Cargo hold of the Daedalus; why didn't you answer my texts?" Daniel asked, motioning her over to the console. She followed without question, but her face told a different story, her normally captivating eyes cold and cutting into him.

"Seriously Daniel, you've beamed me into orbit to argue over text messaging?" Adrienne asked, fighting the urge to just go completely crazy on him right then and there because after his plate-breaking fit this morning she didn't want to deal with any more of his temper tantrums.

"No, I need you for something," he answered instead, reaching his hand in offering, a gesture of good will. Adrienne hesitated before taking it, but finally reached out, setting her fingers into his open palm.

"And you realize that Rodney is calling Woolsey and every single IOA official on base at this very instant trying to figure out where I went?" she continued, letting him pulling her over to screen where lines of script, some in Ancient, some in Goa'uld, some in Lucian slang and many others in other languages were rolling along screen rapidly.

"Yes, let me deal with that, I need you to help me read this, fast," he requested, running his finger along the screen, slowing the text to a more readable pace. Scanning the words Adrienne could see that they were instructions, instructions for operating the ship and shutting off certain systems. Confused, he could read this, what was she doing here, she looked back up at Daniel, throwing her hands into the air.

"Fast why?" she asked but Daniel didn't say a word, just pointed at a clock over his shoulder a dull red digital counter using Goa'uld numbers reading seven minutes, ten seconds.

"Jack flipped on the self-destruct," he answered calmy.

"Fast it is sha," Adrienne replied, tossing the iPad aside and beginning to speed read what was in front of her as Daniel raced to read the text on the wall.

The clock in Jack's office ticked by, Sam, Teal'c, Vala and Robert Woolsey waiting patiently.

"They've only got two minutes left, you told them to jettison the ship at the one minute mark to be safe, right?" Sam asked worried. She was sure that Daniel would blast Adrienne out of there no question, but he had a problem with sacrificing himself for others; he did it far too often.

"Yes, I told him at the one minute mark, no matter what. I don't think he'd let Dr. Perky die," Jack responded.

"Dr. Perky?" Robert asked confused.

"It's what he calls Addy, because she doesn't hate life or some shit," Vala replied, her filter for the day gone.

Redirecting his attention to Jack, Robert spoke again.

"Do you really think he can do it?" he asked and Jack nodded confidently now seeing an opportunity to make all of this right.

"Yeah, I do, especially with Adrienne there to help. They do work very well together, eerily so," Jack admitted, making Sam smile.

She knew he really didn't hate them together, he was just annoyed to have been left out of the loop for so long. Mr. Woolsey went to answer when there was flash of light and low hum and when Sam and the others uncovered their eyes, there was Adrienne, iPad in hand smiling.

"He's got it, says he's right behind me," Adrienne informed them, smiling nervously as she noticed their IOA visitor, looking back up at the ceiling and then at her watch, tapping her foot.

"Come on Indy, don't do this me," she muttered, willing herself not to panic, the group remaining in silence as they watched the time click by. Glancing up to compare her watch with the clock on the wall, Adrienne's eyes grew big and Sam could swear she heard Adrienne start to curse in cajun and it looked as if a tear was going to escape the corner of her eye when those familiar columns of light appeared and Daniel was suddenly there in Sam's office with them, a prideful smile on his face.

"Right behind me?" Adrienne said before the light had completely vanished, a sly smile across her face Sam could tell was covering for her earlier loss of personal control.

"I know how you get, that's why I sent you ahead, but I had it, and I'm here," he replied, shaking his head to readjust to the world again. Walking over to where Jack and Woolsey were standing, Daniel cleared his throat and spoke.

"The self-destruct has been deactivated, but as far as the rest of it, it's going to take me days to get through it all, maybe even a week, so I don't want someone bothering me every five minutes wanting to know if I can hurry up," Daniel explained.

"So you're not quitting?" Jack retorted smugly, that support from before momentarily gone.

Rolling his eyes, Daniel went to respond when Robert interjected, clearing his throat to call the attention to himself.

"What if we let you work with Dr. Rowan? How long would it take then?" he asked, glancing back over at Adrienne who was standing there quietly, beside Sam and Vala.

"I can't give you a timeline per se, but faster, much faster, like always," Daniel replied shrugging, trying to control the attitude in his voice.

Breathing in, Robert looked over at Jack who was making a face, a face he knew well and continued.

"Dr. Jackson, we're also concerned that you have made very little progress with the database in the past month, is this also due to Dr. Rowan's absence?" he asked the obvious question, for which Daniel already had an answer.

"Yes Mr. Woolsey. In the past if I was called away to something else, Adrienne could continue working. But now, it's just left until I can get back to it," Daniel answered, honestly and professionally.

Nodding his head, Woolsey looked back at Jack, deferring to him.

"Look Daniel, we talked about it and as soon as Rodney is finished this experiment today with the violets, Adrienne will be returning to your service on a full time basis. Provided you two continue to act like adults about all of this and there's no more hanky panky in the lab," Jack explained as Sam tried not to laugh, Adrienne's eyes widening as she flushed red with embarrassment, her southernness shining through.

Woolsey made an awful face, a face of defeat, agreeing with a nod, his head down, quickly leaving the office.

Adrienne was back to reading step seven, or was it eight, which ever she had left off with when she was beamed up; she had no idea anymore they were all running together now when her phone began to bounce on the counter.

Rolling his eyes, Rodney glared over at her, his typical face, smart remark ready.

"You might as well see what he wants since he apparently can't wait to rub it in," Rodney sighed out, removing his hands from the empty case which hopefully soon would contain a matching pot of African violets.

It made Adrienne feel guilty; it seemed that he had gotten used to having help, and he had been very nice to her since his close encounter with Anubis, very very nice. She made a mental note to meet with Sam as soon as things were back to her normal to talk about getting Rodney someone on a full time basis; he deserved that, his research was just as important.

Sliding the iPad onto the table, Adrienne grabbed her phone, tapping around to get her message.

_Come over. I'm cooking. Just bring yourself. _

Adrienne smiled and started to set the phone down when she remembered how upset he had been earlier about her lack of reply. Quickly, she shot off a message before returning to Rodney.

_Looking forward to it. Stay out of the alcohol till I get there this time. :0)_

She hit send and paused, looking back down at the phone and nodded, typing once more.

_I love you. More than anything. _

Satisfied that things were finally returned back to normal, Adrienne hit send and placed the phone back on the counter, walking over to read to Rodney again. The phone bounced around again, but Adrienne didn't rush over, she knew what it said.

_I love you too. _


	41. Chapter 40 - The Price

"Well Daniel, if the two of you are going to work at this speed, we're going to be here all weekend," Rodney slammed the folder on Daniel's desk, walking out of the lab back to his own hovel, as Adrienne had started to call it.

"He's such a creep sometimes," she said as soon as the coast was clear, looking back at her screen, a direct feed to the Lucian ship that was currently making its home aboard the Daedalus.

"Creep is such a nice word; how about total asshole," Daniel corrected, walking over to the door, looking over his shoulder as he did, "and to think you wanted to get him permanent help. Who exactly were you hoping was going to volunteer for that job?"

Adrienne just shrugged, noticing where he was heading and trying to figure out exactly where he was going with a near literal mountain of worked piled on the center table.

"Where are you going sha?" Adrienne asked before she could think, noting her slip in vocabulary selection. Since she had been returned to the lab and to Daniel, she had made a conscious effort to make certain that no one who met them could think for even a moment that they were together, and she had tried to keep her use of sha, my love, or any other references to their being together as quiet as possible.

"To shut the door and keep him out. I can't work at an acceptable rate with him stomping in here every hour bitching," Daniel said as he pushed the door shut, activating the keypad lock but he didn't return to his desk, instead, walking over to Adrienne's, spinning her around. She looked surprised as he stopped the chair once she was facing him, grabbing her hands, pulling her to her feet and into his arms, bringing her into a kiss, so slow, so deep, so forbidden at work that she could feel tingles all the way down to her toes. She smiled as he pulled away, his hands still holding on gently to her biceps.

"What brought that on?" she asked, her heart racing with a combination of fear of being caught showing affection, on camera, again, and complete love for him for just not caring.

"Needed to make myself feel better," he replied, kissing her lightly once more, before finally releasing her. He sighed and returned to his desk, his step making it clear that he'd rather stay.

"I hate when Sam agrees with him," he said as he sat, knowing that until she was able to find him an assistant, the two of them were going to have to help him out with his research, which she had deemed necessary to understanding how Anubis' clones were failing, as well as their own tasks of translating and analyzing the data from the secured ship. Adrienne just nodded in agreement and kept working, happy to be here with him and at her own desk even with pages and pages of Asgard cloning data piled beside her current screen.

An hour later Adrienne was antsy. She stood from her desk and walked up behind him, her boss, her boyfriend, he's mine and there is no hiding, and this time it was she that wrapped her arms around his neck. He expected her to bring her face to his and peer over his shoulder like she would do sometimes, trying to see how far he had gotten on his part of the translation, but instead he felt her lips kissing lightly at his neck. Panicking, he quickly shrugged her away and she pulled back, looking hurt, walking around the chair to sit in his lap. She sat and started to wrap her arms around him again, when he grabbed her hands and set them back onto her legs, frowning at her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, looking confused, especially after his display earlier; she had taken it as an indication that everything was alright, that they could go back to acknowledging their relationship, at least in this very small way.

"We can't make out at work," he said shortly, Adrienne making a sour face at him.

"I wasn't trying to make out at work. I just wanted to come over here and kiss you. I happen to love you, you know," she defended her actions, hoping he knew that is all she was doing.

Oh well, she thought, so much for being able to act like we're together.

Sighing, Daniel pushed her back to a standing position, turning to his computer.

"I'm sorry ja-wer; I just want to get this done. How far along are you?" he asked, changing the subject, but at least he wasn't upset, just stressed and stressed was an emotion that she could deal with.

Not remembering exactly where she had left off, Adrienne returned to her desk, stretching a bit before she sat down in her chair and checked the monitor, mouthing a few things before peering back over at him.

"I have five more pages, if you can call them that, on this section. Shouldn't be too bad. But I'm starving, so I think I am gonna get something to eat," she said, saving her work, noting that he was back to typing again, paying no attention to her whatsoever.

"Daniel, I'm going for nourishment, what would you like?" she asked, knowing that he would refuse to come with her, he was in a zone, a zone where it was best that she just facilitate the frenzy of work and be there when he crashed.

"AMOR MEI" she said loudly, "CIMBUM?"

Holding up a finger to ask her to silently wait a moment, Daniel scribbled a few more things on the notepad before speaking, Adrienne making a mental note that screaming in Latin seemed to get his attention.

"Bring back whatever, you know what I eat," he said without looking up.

Scowling, Adrienne shook her head, muttering to herself.

"Yes Adrienne, a sandwich would be great, how nice of you to offer, oh, and I love you too," she mumbled, turning to leave. Daniel must have caught the last part of her little rant since he finally looked up, a slight smile across his face.

"Ad!" he yelled behind her and she paused as she was reopening the door, glancing back to see what he wanted. He was looking at her, that same sweet look on his face, the look that made her want to melt into the floor.

"I love you too," he said sweetly, making her smile, and looked back at his screen, continuing with their task.

Adrienne was gone a very long time. Once he got hungry, he figured she would arrive any minute, Adrienne always had excellent timing like that but she didn't, in fact, she was gone a full ninety minutes when Daniel started to get annoyed. They needed to finish this crap if they ever had a hope of getting Rodney off of their backs; where in the hell was she?

Standing from his desk, he headed down to the commissary to see what was taking so long.

He heard her laughter as he turned the corner and there was Adrienne, sitting on a table right by the door surrounded by some of the guys from SG-11. She was laughing at some young man, Martinez Daniel thought his name was, and he was so obviously flirting with her that it made Daniel instantly sick to his stomach.

What was she doing?

She saw him from the corner of her eye and leapt from the table, looking at the clock, realizing her mistake.

"Dammit, Indy, I'm sorry. Carlos was just telling me about that fight that broke out in the gym last week and -" she started to speak but Daniel silenced her, holding up his hand.

"That's fine Ad, I'm just starving," he said as he walked right by her, trying to not let her see his expression but, of course she did, reading his face. Adrienne rushed to catch up, feeling awful about forgetting and hoping he wasn't too angry.

"Daniel, look, I'm sorry alright? I just lost track of time, I was achy and needed a break. You know me and time," she said, reaching out for his arm but he pulled away.

"I do, I said it's no big deal, I'm just going to get some food and head back. I'd like to sleep in my own bed tonight," he replied shortly, turning away from her and proceeding through the line. Adrienne started to reach for his back, but saw some staff members looking at them, waiting to see if this was a lover's feud or anything else that could be gossiped about.

Not at work, she told herself, or you'll be with your good buddy again, so she stepped away, pulling her hand slowly to her throat, reaching for her necklace to toy with the chain nervously. Hoping to avoid a fight, she walked back over to Carlos, grabbing her apple and heading back to work.

Adrienne had finished her part two hours later, two long dragging miserable hours. She stood, stretching, looking over at Daniel to see how he was doing noting that he still looked engrossed and very stressed.

Feeling bad for leaving him to starve, Adrienne walked up behind him, pulling his jacket from his shoulders and reaching to rub his neck slowly, hoping to relieve the stress, but he shrugged her away. She was puzzled, that wasn't like him, he was usually so relaxed at her touch, so she tried his shoulders, thinking maybe she had started to high and pinched him the wrong way, but he shoved her off again, muttering stop under his breath. Upset, she grabbed his shoulders, turning him to face her.

"Daniel, what in da 'ell is wrong wit chew!? Ah said Ah was sahry!" she yelled, pulling his chin to look at her in the face. This seemed to be an awfully long grudge to hold over a forgotten sandwich but he didn't respond, just glared at her, confused and annoyed.

"Nothing Ad, I'm just trying to get something done. You seem to not want to let me do that!" he yelled back.

"Dammit Daniel Ah was jus comin' ta help wit dat knotted mess ya got brewin' back 'ere," she spat, pointing to his back as he whipped his head to face her computer.

"Are you finished? How in the hell are you finished?" he asked mystified, yelling still really, angering Adrienne further.

"Wha? Ya donna believe me? Yea, Ah finished. Excuse me fah workin fast an efficient. Necks time Ah'll work all extra slow like ya and den whine 'bout 'avin ta fais do-do on base," she hissed as she walked back over to her desk to get her computer.

"Did you just call me slow?!" Daniel asked, again, his voice growing louder and more frustrated.

"What are ya talkin' 'bout?! No ya cooyon, Ah said you're workin' slow. All dat click click, peck peck at da keys like ya've neva seen a computer bafore. Ah dought sumetin might be wrong, ya looked so damn stressed out Ah was tryin ta relax ya. Ah'm so gah damn sahry dat I care, gah fabid Ah luv ya," she continued her rant, barely comprehensible, closing her laptop and shoving it into her bag, throwing it over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" he shouted at her, pissed off that she was leaving when there was enough work to be done for a small army.

In reality Adrienne had just been planning to go to the gym, but after this display, she just wanted off base and away from him and fast before either of them could say something they'd regret, but he was glaring at her, like she had done something wrong, what had she done, she was sorry she had forgotten his lunch, she was stressed out too, neither of them had been sleeping very much lately, intimacy out the window for over a week, and it wasn't like this was her fault but there he was lashing out at her over trying to give him a massage.

To top it off, he was asking her where she was going, like she was a child, like she needed permission to go to the bathroom or go anywhere; it was the last straw.

She cleared her throat, controlling her accent, wanting to make her words clear.

"Oh, I'm sorry Dad, do I need to report in? I'm going home, to MY apartment. You said you wanted to sleep in YOUR bed. Fine, you can do so ALONE," she declared as she stormed out of the lab.

Cursing under his breath, Daniel looked back at his computer, scanning to see where he had left off.

Let her act like that, he thought, if that was going to be the way she wanted to act, he refused to chase her down. He stood, crossing the room and slammed the lab door, pausing for a moment.

Why was he mad at her?

Everything was fine this morning, until she had gone to the cafeteria, until she hadn't returned from the cafeteria, until he saw her with SG-11.

Everything was fine until he saw her, so bright and beautiful and full on life sitting there laughing with those other men and that had torn him apart.

He wasn't sure why, Adrienne had plenty of male friends, but for some reason there was something about the scene that just bothered him.

Unable to put his finger on it, Daniel refocused, returning to his computer and where he had left off.

Adrienne lay in her bed looking up at the ceiling, hurt by his attitude and comments.

She'd come home, worked a little bit over the computer and made herself a cup of hot tea to dull the throbbing headache that was developing between her temples. She tried not to let it bother her, but she hated his hot/cold attitude he had toward her lately, since she had been moved back into his lab; one day he was affectionate and protective and the next day if she put her hand on his shoulder he'd leap vertical. He confused her and she was never sure what to do or what was ever going on with him.

In the beginning, he'd been so affectionate, so loving and they would lay in bed in each other's arms, kissing, making love slowly, whispering quiet I love yous, but now, after the public announcement, after their separation at work, after the rumors had started flying, again, about how Adrienne got her job back, now she wasn't so sure anymore.

It broke her heart, especially since she's been considering forever, she'd been trying to tell herself that Daniel really could be the person she could spend the rest of her life with.

Rolling over to her side, she grabbed her phone, scrolling through the numbers; she needed to talk to someone, but Daniel was who she would call just to talk, who she would call for advice, who she would call for everything, even before their relationship had become romantic. She couldn't call him about him, though, so she just laid there awake, continuing to stare at the ceiling.

"I'd even say yes," she cried, rolling back over to her side, "if you called and asked me to marry you right now, I'd say yes."

Daniel got to his apartment at ten, exhausted, in a general foul mood and he hoped there was something to eat in the refrigerator since he was too tired to wait for takeout.

Walking to the fridge, he opened the door to find some carrots, a few apples, and a couple of bottles of vitamin water: Adrienne food.

Damn Adrienne; he hadn't heard from her all day, not even one sarcastic text, not an apology, nothing.

He wondered what she was doing.

Thinking he might have missed her, he walked back over to his jacket, reaching for the cell phone, to check his history but there were no calls, no texts, no silly picture messages and he started to call her himself and stopped, walking into the living room and sitting down on the sofa.

"What am I doing?" he said out loud, confused, starting to wonder how he had gotten himself into this mess. He needed to stop worrying; Adrienne was probably out with Ronon or Vala, or hitting the gym with Cameron, she was probably just out being Adrienne. They had fun together, but before they were a couple Adrienne did go out a bit more with people that seemed more like her, people closer to her own age. Vala had teased about their age difference, not like she had a clue as to how old she was herself, and it had always been at the back of his mind, but Adrienne never seemed to be bothered by it.

Why was he fooling himself?

Adrienne was a thirty one year old woman and he was a forty six year old man, which was fifteen years of a difference, fifteen years. Hell, he was old enough to be her father, biologically at least.

No longer hungry, Daniel set the phone on the table, deciding to head to bed, alone.

At three a.m. Adrienne wasn't asleep yet and knew that sleep wasn't going to happen.

Breathing out, she got out of bed, pulling on some yoga pants, and grabbing her keys, tossing her backpack over her shoulder as she powered by on the way to the parking lot.

Daniel was only ten minutes away, screw calling, she was going to talk with him now, she needed to talk to him.

When she arrived at his apartment, she parked the beetle and entered the building, taking the elevator up to his floor and digging the keys from her purse. The apartment was dark when she entered so she shut the door behind her, quietly, and tossed her things on the couch, slipping her boots off of her feet and walking to the bedroom.

The lamp in the bedroom was on and Daniel was asleep on his side in boxers and a t-shirt, pen in one hand and a journal in the other evidently having fallen asleep writing. Adrienne smiled, he just looked so sweet there, and started to clean up so that she could get into the bed, pulling his glasses carefully from his face and pulling back the covers when she saw her name on the page in his jagged script. Adrienne would never normally read his journal without him asking, but she saw her name on the page not one but two, three times and her curiosity got the best of her. Standing at the foot of his bed she let her eyes satisfy the urge.

_... I just am not sure what I'm doing. I told myself that the age difference wouldn't matter but I can't make Adrienne happy. I can't keep her happy. What's going to happen in four or five years? I'll be in my fifties and Adrienne won't even be thinking about turning forty. I'll be worrying about retirement while she'll be running our entire department. This isn't fair to her. Is it fair to me? Some days I wish I never met her..._

Adrienne started to cry at the last line and stopped reading, sitting down on the bed. She didn't know what to think. He wished they'd never met? The thought tore her up inside so she laid the journal down, back beside his hand, sniffing in strongly and turning to leave.

"Ad?" Daniel asked as he started to roll over in his light sleep thinking he heard her in the room with him. Wiping the tears from her eyes first, Adrienne turned to look down at him, but glasses or not, the redness in her face gave her away. Panicked, he sat up quickly, reaching out for her.

"Ja-wer, what are you doing? What happened? Why are you crying?" Daniel asked, his own question answered as his hand bumped soft brown leather and he peeked out of the corner of his eye.

There was his journal, closed, laying away from his hand and instantly he knew what had happened.

"I couldn't sleep. I can't sleep witout ya," Adrienne admitted, her voice cracking, slipping at the end.

Concerned, Daniel scooted over and reached for her but she didn't come to him, pulling away, tears beginning to pool in her dark brown eyes.

"I don't wish I'd never met you," she said and began to sob, unable to contain her tears any longer.

It felt like he'd been hit by a train; he hadn't intended for her to read that and he certainly hadn't meant it like she was interpreting it, and here she was, obviously coming to make up for their fight earlier and heartbroken. Determined to fix this to her, Daniel crawled across the bed and pulled her into his arms, a little more forcefully and this time she came, letting him embrace her tightly, shoving the journal and the pen to the floor.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you deserve better than me, someone who can make you happy, somebody younger, somebody more like you. Sometimes I feel like you, well, settled, for me," he admitted to her quietly.

He had never admitted that to her before, but there were times when he noticed how Ronon still looked at her, when Cam told him how lucky he was, when the newer personnel came down to the lab and talked to her like he wasn't there. Sometimes he thought that maybe Adrienne had just picked the safer, secure option, rather than any other prospective suitors because after all, Daniel was about as loyal as they came.

Surprisingly though, Adrienne began to laugh between sobs, starting to pull away.

"Settle for you?" she said as she sat back, reaching her palm to his face, "I didn't settle for you, ya damn fool. I fell in love with you. Madly in love with you," she explained, seeing now in his face what he meant, that he wasn't trying to push her away, only trying to ease the heartache that he was afraid was coming, the fear of losing her in his eyes.

Reaching for his shoulders, she hugged him tightly, brushing her lips lightly against his cheek before kissing it softly.

"Adrienne, I don't wish I never met you. It's just, well, this is all just to good to be true, too good to be real, I don't get lucky like this. It was a stupid thought coming from a stupid worry and a stupid thing to write, please don't be upset," he apologized, kissing her cheek and she squeezed him closer.

"I'm sorry I stormed out of the lab like a brat and forgot your lunch," she replied, trying not to wipe her wet face on his shirt. Not letting her go for a second, he reached behind her head and shut off the light from the nightstand he had left on when he fell asleep.

"I wasn't worried about lunch ja-wer; I just took my stress out on you and I'm sorry," he corrected as Adrienne pulled back the covers, and Daniel followed her lead, pulling her back into his arms as she crawled into bed and into his embrace.

"Much better," she said, sighing out and reaching her fingers to run across his as they wrapped around her waist.

"Adrienne, I need you to make me a promise," Daniel requested quietly from behind, nuzzling his face into her neck, taking in the scent of her hair, the feel of her body pressed to his, the closeness that they shared when they were together.

"Anything," she replied honestly, starting to wonder what he would say, what he would ask, suddenly recalling the words in the journal, the messy script talking about the future.

Was he going to ask her; was he going to ask her to stay with him forever?

"I need you to promise me that you 'll never let me hold you back. Ever," he said.

Disappointed, but not wanting to show it, especially when he was laying like this so open and fragile, his behavior over the past week and a half making much more sense now, Adrienne reached for his arms, pulling him to her tighter.

"You don't hold me back. If anything you push me. And for the record, if I ever hear any more of your age difference bullshit I'm going to smack you. So, you're pissy, be pissy. Just don't be a jerk to the one person who loves you no matter what, ok?" she said.

"Ok," he responded and they fell asleep, Daniel holding Adrienne like he never wanted to let go.

The alarm went off at six, and like always Adrienne reached over to throw it across the room but Daniel could read her mind.

"We have go to work," he whispered in her ear, reaching to rescue the alarm clock from her clutches.

"No, let's pretend we finished what we had to work on and stay in bed. All day..." she rolled over and kissed his neck.

Sure, they had about three quarters of a ship's database left to go through and a mountain of other mess, but this would be so much nicer...

"I wish," he said and meant it honestly, wanting to do nothing more than lay here in her arms, make love to her, talk to her, be with her, "but it's only Wednesday, and I really wanted to get through that last set of coded transmissions..." he started, stopping himself mid-sentence realizing that this was what made him a boring old man. Instead, he rolled over, a devilish smile across his face, whispering in her ear, wondering if that was the response she was looking for but she just started giggling.

"Nuh uh," she said, sitting up from the bed, "Don't you tempt me like that sha. You're right, we've got work to do."

Daniel didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved, not quite sure if he could live up to that promise whispered in her ear, but either way he did make one decision right them and there.

He would join her in the shower and not rush.

"Dammit!" Daniel shouted out, holding his face tightly, water splashing into his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Adrienne asked, leaning over his shoulder to see what he had managed to do to himself now, the other person she met that could literally get hurt doing anything.

"Cut the hell out of myself," he grumbled, turning his cheek to check on it in the shower mirror. Worried, Adrienne, turned his head to face her. He was bleeding pretty heavily, so she angled his head to let the water pour down his face, washing away the blood to reveal, nothing.

"Indy, I have no idea what you're talking about. Where did all of that blood come from?" Adrienne questioned, trying to wipe away the massive amount of blood and water that had collected on his jawline but once the water was running clear and there wasn't any more blood on his face, she couldn't find a large gash that would have bled that much, in fact, she didn't even see a nick.

"What do you mean? You don't see anything?" he asked, reaching for his face, "That hurt there has to be something there."

"There's nothing there shug," Adrienne answered, "I have no idea where the blood came from."

She let go of his face, planting a light kiss on his jaw and reached again for her sponge, feeling the water start to turn cold as they has been in there too long.

"I'm telling you, I felt the sting of cutting myself. I've been shaving for a long time; I know what it feels like," he stressed, glaring down at her as she squeezed more soap onto her sponge.

Rolling her eyes, she tucked her washing tool under her arm, reaching up for his face again taking a second look.

"Shug, I have no idea what you're talking about, there's nothing here," she searched around yet again, trying to see if she missed anything. Satisfied that they were both imagining things, she reached up and pulled his face her hers, this time kissing his lips lightly. He returned the kiss and let out a sigh, knowing he had to have cut something no matter what she was standing here saying, looking back in the mirror to finish what he was doing as Adrienne returned to her own morning ritual.

He had forgotten the entire incident when he caught Adrienne staring at him funny as he got dressed, her eyes locked on his torso as she was making a face of confusion.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, pulling his shirt down the rest of the way and beginning to tuck it into his pants. Adrienne, who had been sitting on the edge of the bed lacing up her combat boots over her BDU pants, stopped what she was doing and stood from the bed, squinting her eyes, her face in a frown of concern.

"Take your shirt off," she ordered as she approached him, offering no other explanation.

"Why?" he asked confused, but started to do as she said, her demeanor just slightly disturbing, but Adrienne grabbed his hand and pulled him forcefully back over to the bed.

Well hello, he thought, his worry changing to something else entirely.

"Ad, I thought we decided that we had things to do," Daniel said, lying, at that very instant not caring about a single thing they had to get done, he needed to stay here today with her and not think about anything else but her...

Instead, she shook her head dismissively, walking over to the nightstand, clicking on the light.

"Come here," she ordered, sitting back on the edge of the bed, pulling him close to her and examining his waist. He noticed that she was still making that funny face as she aimed the light at his abdomen, muttering under her breath.

"What are you looking at?" Daniel asked, as Adrienne brought her gaze closer to his torso, such a confused look on her face as she pawed all over him running her hands all over his middle slowly before glancing up at him.

"Did you start using scar cream?" she inquired, a very familiar frown on her face, one that he didn't like.

"Scar cream? They make that?" Daniel replied.

"I'll take that as a no..." she replied, beginning to turn him again.

"What are you looking for now?" Daniel asked her, totally confused but Adrienne didn't respond, just grabbed his left arm pulling it to the light and scanning it up and down, running her fingers along his skin. He laughed, pulling his arm away, trying to figure out exactly what she was doing and how in the world this was going to end with them rolling around in the bed.

"That tickles Ad, what are you doing?" Daniel said thinking tickling, maybe tickling, odd to tickle his arm yet again, she didn't say a word, reaching down to shove him onto the bed.

_Maybe I should call Sam and play sick, would she believe that we were both sick? _

She wouldn't say anything though, she knew they were working hard, but Adrienne grabbed his face not bringing her lips to his, instead pulling his head into the light.

"Ja-wer, do you care to clue me in as to what you're doing?" Daniel asked, a little less playful since it was quite clear that she thought something was wrong and wasn't trying to take him up on his offer from this morning.

"That scar," she answered, "the one on your head. Remember, you told me that robot girl threw you; I found it that one time you were sick and I was running my fingers through your hair," she explained as she kept digging.

"What about it?" he responded, holding his head at the uncomfortable angle she had placed it and she ran her fingers through once more, sighing, letting him sit up again, much to the relief of his aching back.

"They're gone," she said pulling her legs to cross them as she sat on the bed, her face full of worry like he hadn't seen in a while.

"What's gone?" Daniel asked, now starting to feel around his hair himself, noting she was right, the small bump on the back of his skull was gone, completely gone, replaced with smooth, untouched skin, hair growing from it. Glancing up to tell her she was right, Daniel saw that Adrienne was shaking her head.

"Your scars, or at least the ones I've noticed. The appendix scar was big, though, really big, I always notice it but it's just gone," Adrienne looked at Daniel, puzzled and paused, her eyes widening and she leapt up from his bed, dashing out of the bedroom.

"Ad, where are you going?" Daniel asked, his stomach knotted, having no idea as to what was going on and his worry turning to her; what did she know, was she going to be alright? Pulling his shirt back on he followed her, the two running into each other at the doorway to the bedroom, Adrienne stopping in front of him, a large steak knife in her hand.

Without a word, she reached out for his palm, slicing right into it.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Daniel screamed out, pulling his hand back.

Remaining silent, Adrienne simply tossed the knife behind her and reached for his hand, wiping the blood away with her fingers. Her eyes widened, so he pulled back his hand to see what was wrong, but she didn't allow him, dragging him to the bathroom where she turned on the water, thrusting his hand under the faucet. His hand hurt like hell, he could actually feel it throbbing in pain, but he trusted her, he trusted the look in her perfect eyes and he looked down at his palm to watch the blood wash away.

There was no cut, Adrienne glancing up at him slowly as if she knew that was going to happen all along.

"That my love, in NOT normal," she said.

"Hello?" Jack answered the phone wondering who was calling his house this early especially given that he was barely on time himself this morning.

"Hey, where's Sam?" the voice on the other end said and it took Jack a second to place the voice, it wasn't one he heard often: Jackson's little girlfriend.

"Hiya there Dr. Perky, good morning to you too. Sam's left for work, where you probably should be already," he replied, refraining from joking about where she probably was, Daniel's, and why she was probably late...

"Well, she's not there yet and I've got a problem here," Adrienne responded.

Great, Jack thought, as if Daniel wasn't a problem enough alone.

"Let's hear it," he said, preparing for the worst.

"My boyfriend has turned into one of the X-men," she said and Jack made a face, glancing at the clock.

Something weird happening to Daniel and it was only 7 a.m.

Fantastic.

"Which one?" Jack asked, knowing that Adrienne was just geeky enough to answer him, trying to not admit the fact that he could even ask such a question made him no better.

"The Wolverine," she said, attitude in her voice.

"That's the cool one isn't it?" Jack heard Daniel asking in the background and he could tell he was trying to be funny but failing miserably, the worry in his voice apparent despite the miles of distance and the phone between them.

He let out a breath, rubbing his face, daring to ask for clarification.

"Alright, so I'm assuming that he doesn't have metal claws coming out of his hands," Jack made sure he was understanding her because he had a sinking feeling as to where this was going.

"Point for General O'Neill," Adrienne replied snottily but before he could snap back; it was too early for this shit, and he heard shuffling able to tell that she was walking away from Daniel.

"Jack," she whispered into the phone.

Well, that was new, he thought, she never called him by his first name.

"I'm here," he answered curtly.

"Daniel's flipping out. He's poking his fingers with a steak knife, watching them seal back up again, trying to play it cool but the look on his face tells me that he's just moments away from completely flipping out. I need Sam, NOW!" Adrienne hissed into the phone.

He had to agree, that probably was just a bit freaky to witness, Daniel cutting away at himself with that eerie frown on his on his face he got when something was wrong. At least if Daniel did flip out, he was confident that Adrienne could beat his ass and keep him under control because she was useful like that.

"Ok, I'll find Sam, you call the infirmary. See who's on call today and get someone over there. Sam and I will be over as soon as we can," Jack ordered, hanging up the phone before she could argue. Let her call Carolyn and try to convince her that this wasn't her fault.

"Just another normal day in the O'Neill household," he said to himself and, as promised, began to track down his wife.

When Adrienne heard the knock at the door, she was relieved, taking a breath and peeking over at Daniel, who was sitting on the bed, a nervous wreck. He had stopped poking his fingers about thirty minutes ago and was now just staring off into space. Worried enough herself, Adrienne walked over to the bed and put her arm around him, bringing his head onto her shoulder.

"That's Jenn; she'll know what is going on," Adrienne assured him, although she was not so sure herself that Dr. Keller, who Carolyn was sending over, would have any idea as to what was going on.

"I just never catch a break," he said, leaving his head on her shoulder and glancing down at his feet. Squeezing him tightly once more and rubbing his bicep, Adrienne kissed his head gently, standing to answer the door.

"I came as soon as Dr. Lam paged me, so Daniel's healing super-fast?" Jenn asked, talking the moment Adrienne turned the doorknob.

"Yeah," she said as she nodded, "and I'm not talking like bruise going away in 24 hours. I sliced his hand open and watched it close right in front of me," Adrienne explained as she walked Jennifer to the bedroom. Without emotion, Jenn was making a face, calculating in her head, taking all of the information in.

'That's what Carolyn said, but she's with those SG-7 boys that came back with that flu virus; she said she's sorry," Jenn added quickly but Adrienne didn't believe her.

Carolyn Lam was an awesome doctor, but was also quite annoyed by Daniel and Adrienne, who in her opinion took too many risks and got hurt too often at their own hands. Jennifer was a skilled doctor, just as much as Carolyn, and she wouldn't scold them. That in and of itself made Adrienne feel a touch better.

Feigning calm, Daniel waved hello at the visiting physician and she walked over to him, placing her stethoscope in her ears. Daniel removed his shirt again without being told and Adrienne grabbed the chair at the computer table bringing it to the foot of the bed as Jenn began to examine him, talking to herself as she did.

"Heart and lungs sound good, but I expected that, you're in pretty good shape," Jenn started, Daniel peering over at Adrienne and raising his eyebrows as if to say "See, I don't need to run a billion miles a day like you do."

Adrienne made a face right back.

Oblivious to the exchange between the couple, Jenn tilted Daniel's face up to the light to look at it, running her fingers carefully down his glands.

"Normal, normal, everything looks normal. Ok, I'm going to get some blood samples and take those back, see what we can find out," Jennifer said as she grabbed a rubber band to cinch his arm and the needle. Wrapping the red strip above his left arm, she pulled it tight, flicking the vein and pointing the needle to insert it when Adrienne had a sudden thought, leaping from the bed and dashing over to the doctor.

"Wait Jenn, don't do that!" Adrienne shouted, grabbing her hand, nearly knocking the needle to the floor.

"Adrienne, I need to run blood work, so we need some blood," Jenn pulled away like Adrienne was acting like some crazed girlfriend but the cajun just shook her head.

"Because he'll heal around the needle while you draw the sample, watch" Adrienne grabbed the knife Daniel had been playing with and cut his arm before he could protest again. He flinched, but was now used to the pain since both he and Adrienne had been experimenting with this all morning and gazed down sorrowfully as the cut healed before Adrienne had completely lifted the knife.

Jenn's eyes widened, her head shaking, her hands reaching out to undo the tourniquet attached to Daniel's arm.

"I believed you, but that? That was amazing," she said, glancing back and forth between the archaeologists.

"We can't explain it; that's why we called you," he said and rubbed his arm where it still stung like a cut but nothing was there. Still in a state of shock, Jennifer looked over at Adrienne.

"When did this start?" she asked them both and Daniel answered, surprising Adrienne with his calm.

"I cut myself in the shower shaving this morning, pretty badly, but when I went to wash the cut out it was gone. The blood was there but the cut was gone," he said and Adrienne nodded, reaching over to him, pushing him back onto his bed a bit, so he was laying down, her dark eyes glancing back over at the doctor.

"And his appendix scar is gone, just gone. And that was a BIG scar," Adrienne pointed out, tracing her finger along where it used to be, gently, so gently that were it not for the severity of the situation Daniel would have laughed.

Pulling a small flashlight from her coat pocket, Jennifer leaned over to examine his side, shining the light all over his abdomen.

"I'm glad it's gone since it bothered you so much," Daniel grumbled as the women searched, Adrienne tickling him playfully as Jenn stood, moving to get a better angle.

"It didn't bother me; I thought it was sexy," she replied, winking at him as she reached to squeeze his hand gently.

"It was from an emergency appendectomy, so very attractive," Daniel joked, leaning so Jennifer could keep poking and pressing into his abdomen.

"I used to pretend it was a sword wound from you having a duel in my honor, so see, very sexy," Adrienne teased, kissing his hand, sitting back gently on her heels as Daniel started to laugh.

"I'm glad you guys can joke about this, but this is strange. Really strange. Daniel, I need you to get dressed. I'm gonna call Carson," Jennifer ordered, her face showing concern that Adrienne didn't want to see, reaching for her phone in the front of her bag.

"Isn't he at Atlantis base?" Adrienne asked, knowing where Carson was at all times since he was her go to guy for anything medical. He didn't fuss at her for being foolish or overdoing it in the gym like Carolyn did and didn't question when Adrienne preferred an alternate form of medicine.

"Yes, and Adrienne I need you to call General O'Neill and inform him that we are going to have to use the Daedalus to beam over to my lab there immediately," Jennifer requested, phone to her ear as she packed up her things quickly, too quickly, so quickly it made Adrienne's heart race.

The cajun looked at her friend terrified while Daniel did as he was told, stepping into his boots and lacing them up.

"Jennifer, please tell me there's nothing wrong," Adrienne asked, her voice shaky. After wanting to be with him for so long and almost losing him so many times, the thought of there being something wrong was more than she could bear.

"I need to take a full body scan to be sure, but.." Jennifer paused, glancing at Daniel, intentionally avoiding eye contact with Adrienne, "it appears that you have an appendix."

Swallowing, still avoiding Adrienne's gaze, one now filled with shock, Jennifer stepped outside the bedroom to speak to Carson, leaving Daniel and Adrienne to digest that bit of information. Panicked, Adrienne turned to Daniel trying to hold back the tears forming her eyes but he shook his head and grabbed his SG jacket, pulling it over his shoulders.

"Stop looking at me like that," he instructed.

"Like what?" Adrienne answered reactively, not thinking about anything other than the chance of losing him to some mysterious sickness. Not now, not after last night, after this morning, please Daniel I read what you wrote, you were planning for the rest of your life, the rest of our lives, there can't be anything wrong, her heart cried, pounding in her chest.

"Like I'm going to die. I'm not gonna die," he approached her, smiling, taking her into his arms. Sighing, she laid her head on his chest and slipped her arms around his waist as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, kissing her head. They were still standing like that, just holding one another in silence, Adrienne letting herself melt into the safety and comfort of his touch, when there was a slight knock at the door. Peering up, Adrienne saw the knocker, Jennifer, re-entering the bedroom, a sheepish look on her face like she had interrupted something.

"Sorry guys, uh, Addy, have you called the General yet?" Jennifer asked, Adrienne shaking her head no slowly, but not backing away from the love of her life, her heart aching, she didn't want to let go, she was too worried about Daniel to think of anything else. She could have gotten lost there, wanting to send Jennifer away go back to bed and to sleep, hoping that she would wake up and this would all be some terrible dream when there was a knock at the door, the main door this time.

Kissing her head, Daniel unwrapped himself from her embrace to answer it, excusing himself past the women and leaving the room, leaving Adrienne, which he didn't want to do.

He didn't need the peep hole, he could tell by the knock who it was and when he opened the door, Jack walked himself into the apartment, shaking his head as he stepped.

"My better half is stuck with Woolsey all day, so you get me. I'm supposed to be running an entire department in the federal government and yet here I am dealing with the two of you. What did you touch this time Daniel?" Jack demanded as he came to a halt in the living room of apartment but Daniel rolled his eyes not needing Jack's lip while his girlfriend was falling apart in the bedroom and his body was going haywire.

"I didn't touch anything," Daniel answered Jack with the tone they often gave one another, "I woke up this morning, took a shower and discovered as Adrienne put it, that I now have superpowers. And, according to Dr. Keller, I might also have a brand spanking new appendix."

"Wait, you grew an ORGAN!?" Jack said, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Looks like it," Daniel answered, grabbing his bag from the sofa.

"It's always you Daniel, always you, why is it always you?" Jack asked, shaking his head.

"I was just wondering the same thing. Dr. Keller wants us to take the Daedalus over to San Francisco and let Carson use the Atlantis lab to examine me," Daniel informed him as Adrienne walked into the room.

"I assume us means you and Dr. Perky here," Jack clarified cocking his head at Adrienne as she came into his line of sight. Daniel nodded as Adrienne was squeezing his arm, annoyed to be referred to as Dr. Perky again making Daniel stifle a laugh; if she was feeling well enough to be annoyed by Jack that was a step in the right direction.

"General Jack O'Neill requesting transport aboard the Daedalus for myself, Dr. Jackson, Dr. Keller and Dr. Rowan to the Atlantis base, copy?" Jack spoke as he tapped his ear, nodding at the response he was getting in return.

Smiling, taking advantage of the moment, Daniel looked back at Adrienne.

"See, he does know your name," he teased and Adrienne cut her eyes at him, elbowing him in the side.

"So I hear that Dr. Jackson's growing new parts?" Carson inquired as their eyes adjusted to the light, considerably dimmer than the glowing beams that had brought them here.

"Carson, it appears that he's grown a new appendix and the scars from various injuries have healed. And then there is this," Jennifer spoke quickly, falling right back into doctor mode, grabbing Daniel's shoulder and ushering him over to Carson. She grabbed a scalpel from the tray and then reached for Daniel's palm to cut him as Adrienne had earlier, but Daniel pulled away, procuring the small metal knife from her hand.

"I can do this myself," he said, trying to be polite as possible, hoping that doing it himself would hurt a bit less, realizing quickly that he was dead wrong as he sliced into the side of his hand. Blood began to flow and then stop suddenly just as it did before, and he wiped his hand on his pants, displaying his hand, his healed hand, completely devoid of injury.

"Well, that's handy," Carson stated happily, his kind voice calming to both Adrienne and Daniel, pointing at the scan table. Breathing out, Daniel took off his messenger bag and tossed it to the floor, hopping up on the table as Adrienne stood back and watched, worried, small liquid crystals forming in her eyes, crystals that Jack noticed.

He felt bad; he knew exactly how he would feel if Sam were sitting on that table with strange things happening to her...

"He'll be alright," Jack said, walking over to the sad young woman standing far away from the table, a distance he could tell she was placing between herself and Daniel so he didn't see her cry, "that man has nine lives."

Adrienne laughed, but stopped, a vision in her head of Daniel saying the same thing to her as he plummeted over the side of a ravine and her stomach dropped, her heart ached, her memory recalling that journal entry talking of five years, ten years, a future Daniel was planning out, a future that she was never sure that she was going to get.

"True, but how many has he already used up?" she questioned right back, holding back tears as Jack reluctantly nodded in agreement.

The woman had a point, there had to be a limit to how far Daniel's luck could go.

Before he could come up with something good to say, something to ease her fears, there was a buzzing sound and Adrienne peeked up just as Carson was starting the scan. They all stood in silence, while he and Jennifer looked over the diagrams being displayed on a side board, speaking to themselves in doctor speak and making notes, Jack, his face calm and cool as always, Adrienne fighting the urge to have a panic attack, Daniel, in the meantime, laying on the table looking thoroughly bored.

Finally, after what seemed to be hours, the slow box moving slowly over and over Daniel's t-shirt clad torso, Carson glanced back up at Jack and Adrienne.

"Alright, the good news is that there doesn't appear to be anything degenerative about this, condition," Carson began and Adrienne breathed out a sigh of relief, willing the tears to stay back in her eyes. Smiling, knowing she needed that, Carson let that much sink in before continuing.

"It does appear that Dr. Jackson has regrown his appendix, which considering how sudden his appendicitis came on last time, we will need to watch this new one. In addition, his file here says that he has suffered at least three recorded concussions, but this brain scan indicates that there is nothing of the sort. Honestly, if I didn't know better, I would assume not only has Dr. Jackson never suffered a serious injury, but that he is only about 36 years old," Carson explained as Daniel tried to sit up quickly, finding there was no room with the scanner as he slammed into it, leaning back to hold himself up on his hands.

"Wait, I'm regressing in age?" he asked, looking panicked, trapped in the confines of the machine.

"No, no, not at all. There are still various markers that indicate your age, well, relatively since you've ascended twice, but physically you're not 46 years old. Anymore at least," Carson answered, directing his attention now to Jack who looked like he was debating putting his arm around Adrienne.

"Why don't you and Addy head down to the cafeteria. I want to try to take some blood and check on a few more things but I'll radio you when I'm finished, alright?" he asked as though he was giving them an option, which he wasn't, but he wanted to keep the poor terrified woman as calm as possible.

Carson wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but the idea of Daniel turning into a real life Benjamin Button he could tell wasn't sitting right with Adrienne something Jack could see as well. Nodding, Jack finally reached out for Adrienne, placing his hand on her back to lead her out of the infirmary; not giving her time to get upset over anything primarily because he didn't like crying women, even his wife.

Adrienne sat across from him not saying a word, which was weird considering she liked to talk, a lot, about nerdy things just like Daniel did, in fact, she was so much like him in so many ways it was just kind of creepy. It was too quiet thought, and unable to sit in silence any longer and watch her poke at a bowl of fruit, Jack spoke, trying to get a better handle as to what was going on in that overactive brain of hers.

"You don't have much to say," Jack stated and Adrienne looked up emotionless, or at least trying to hide her emotions from Jack, but either way she stared at him like a zombie.

"Nah, just worried about him, that's all," she replied, shrugging, just like he did.

"I told you he'll be fine. Daniel's always fine," Jack responded but Adrienne just sat there, expressionless.

"Besides," Jack continued, satisfied at least that she was listening, "he's got someone to live for now and that makes a big difference. Trust me," he added, taking a bite of the apple in his hand.

It took a second to sink in, for her to realize that Jack was talking about her, but finally Adrienne smiled slightly and nodded.

"He said he wishes sometimes that he never met me," Adrienne said in response, aloud, not believing that she said that, to Jack no less, who was looking at her strangely.

"He said that?" he asked, not believing that Daniel would ever regret meeting Dr. Perky. He hadn't seen him so happy since, well, Shar'e, happier in fact, it was a side of his friend that he didn't even know existed. This little chickadee seemed to mean a whole lot to him and he knew that Daniel would never regret meeting her. Shaking his head Jack glared at Adrienne, trying to make eye contact to see if there was more to the story which clearly there was as the stirring of the fruit became much more aggressive.

"He wrote that, in his journal. I saw it when I went over there last night. We had a fight and he wrote that. I just can't get it out of my head," Adrienne sighed.

"Did you read the entire entry?" Jack pried, "You probably shouldn't have been snooping in the first place, but did you read the entire thing?"

"I wasn't snooping; he left it open and it's hard NOT to read when you see your name on the paper a half dozen times. Yeah, he's worried that he's too old and boring for me, that he holds me back or some nonsense," she answered defensively at first, but then softened into worry again all the while Jack nodding in understanding.

That made more sense than not wanting to have ever met her and leave it to Daniel to lack the vocabulary to express real human feelings.

"Been there, lived that," he responded honestly and Adrienne looked up at him, making eye contact, no longer worried but bewildered.

"16 years," Jack continued as Adrienne continued to glare at him quizzically.

"16 years between Sam and I. We've got you two by, what a year or two. I used to worry about the same thing," Jack admitted to his own surprise, unable to believe that he was sitting here getting ready to advise Dr. Perky, because for some reason, one that he didn't quite understand, he'd become the person in now both of their lives making up for the fact that neither of them had parents they could talk to.

_Christ, when did I become the old father figure guy?_

"But you guys got through it?" Adrienne asked quietly, interrupting his thought. She looked so sad and worried, wow this woman really loved Daniel, Daniel of all people.

"Yeah, we did. I think it's a matter of what you want in life. Do you want spend your life with Daniel? Then the rest doesn't matter. He apparently wants to spend it with you," Jack said plainly, biting into the apple once more.

"I hope so," Adrienne replied, avoiding part of the question, looking back down, that fruit just a spinning away, a whirlpool of small cubed health food. He had just asked her, asked her if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Daniel and the strangest thing was that for the first time in her entire life that answer was yes.

Yes, she did want to spend the rest of her life with Daniel.

"Trust me, I knew he did the minute he let you invade his space. He's funny about things like that, but not with you. I knew he was a goner right then and there," Jack said smiling. She's not so bad, he thought to himself, I guess I can see why he cares about her so much, she really is too happy for him but there is just something about them that fits.

"Thanks," she replied, her expression more hopeful, starting to pick at her fruit again. She really does love him, God bless her, Jack thought but right now there was nothing she could do but wait. What she needed to do though was relax because she looked like hell and if something were to go wrong she needed to be in a better state than she was right now.

"Why don't you go rest or something? I'll come get you when the tests are done. I'm sure you can grab one of the empty rooms around here. You look pretty damn awful," Jack informed her, hoping that last comment wouldn't get him smacked. He'd learned through two marriages that you never tell a woman that she looked awful but instead, she just laughed, setting the fork down on the table.

"I'm fine. You're just getting Adrienne sans make-up and that is quite the frightening sight," she joked, looking up at him to make what he supposed was to be taken as a scary face, Jack laughing at her attempt.

"Liar, you must have been trying to slip on something before leaving the apartment; I know you women. Sam tries to pull the "I look so awful card" all of the time. You managed to take the time to put on some lipstick over that scar Daniel gave you," Jack stated, pointing at her lip.

He remembered the ridiculous footrace and how Daniel had called him complaining about how annoying Adrienne was, that she was a Rodney junior, a know it all and that she had busted her lip being stupid and he remembered the first time he saw it. It was during a briefing, a white line down the lower right side of her lip and it had cracked him up thinking that Daniel had given it to her, even if it was accidental. It was a rather distinct white line, you couldn't miss it, but right now he couldn't see a thing.

"Nah, it's probably just bad lighting," Adrienne said, "I've got nothing on and I'm sure I really need it. Daniel and I went to bed at three last night and were up at six. Maybe you're right; I should go get some sleep," Adrienne stood and grabbed the bowl, smiling down at Jack.

He was about to make a joke as to why exactly they hadn't gone to bed until three am, glancing up at the now smiling cajun woman, the overhead lights shining brightly on her face. He looked quickly for the white line again, hoping to find it in the brighter light, make a joke about that as well, but he saw nothing, absolutely nothing.

A thought flashed in his head and he stood quickly, throwing up his hands.

"Adrienne, come here," he said, motioning her over but she looked at him strangely, frozen in time.

"What?" she asked, confused, as Jack set down the apple, walking over to her, his eyes squinting, scanning her face and reaching for her chin. He turned her head, examining her mouth and there was no line on her mouth, no indication that there was anything on her mouth at all or ever was. Jack pushed her head back and looked her in the eyes, shaking his head in concern.

"Adrienne, do you have any other scars?" he asked, no mocking, no Dr. Perky, his voice deadly serious.

A light went off in Adrienne's head and she turned around, pulling up her shirt frantically, talking over her shoulder.

"My back," she said, "center right. It's about five inches or so long. Horseback riding accident when I was ten. It's red and bumpy."

Lifting her shirt, Jack searched around her back, checking right side first and then left, thinking maybe she got her left and right confused, Sam was always teasing her about that, but there was nothing; her back was smooth, even when he ran his hand across it quickly to see if it had faded over time.

Sighing, he pulled her shirt down, peeking back over to her face.

"No nap for you Dr. Perky," Jack declared, indicating she follow him to the infirmary.

"Addy too?" Carson looked concerned as Adrienne climbed up on the table without being asked, glancing quickly back at Daniel, who was leaning against the console, his arms crossed, his right hand at his chin in what Adrienne referred to as the concerned stance.

No self hugging sha, she tried to tell him with her eyes, because I can't get over there to remedy that.

Reluctantly, she lay down, the bright blinking box moving slowly from her ankles and up her body as Carson began the scan.

"What gets me is the selectivity of it," Carson said as the scan began, "it's replaced Daniel's appendix yet hasn't even bothered to repair his eyes. It seems to pick and choose what it wants to heal." Daniel pushed his glasses up his face.

"Maybe that's not recent enough of a wound so to speak," Daniel offered, "I first got glasses when I was eight."

"Yeah, but the scar on my back is from when I was ten and that's gone," Adrienne said from the table, Daniel started to point out age differences when she caught her glare and stopped, deferring to the doctors.

"Adrienne, your eyes aren't any better either as far as we can tell," Jennifer said.

"Also, eyes aren't an injury. Generally speaking, vision is a genetic trait," Jennifer continued as she ran the scan. A look of worry on her face, one that he found troubling, Adrienne glanced over at Daniel, signaling him with her head.

"Come here sha," Adrienne requested from the table. Concerned that she might be in pain, Daniel walked over to her, laying his hand gently on her shoulder, rubbing it softly, resisting the urge to kiss her right there in front of everyone.

"Can you take my boot and sock off?" she asked him, wiggling her left foot. He looked at her puzzled but walked to the end of the table, wondering what scar or other wound could be on her foot that he had never noticed before, peeking back up at her over his glasses to see what she was talking about as he slipped the white cotton covering from her foot.

"Is it still there?" she asked, wiggling her toes. Daniel shook his head, completely lost, moving her foot around looking for a mark that he didn't know about, not that he spent a lot of time looking at her feet but she would have mentioned something large.

"Ad, what are you talking about?" he asked confused, letting go to peer back at her. Adrienne picked up her head the best she could from the examining table, looking at Daniel frantically, trying to angle her head around to see for herself.

"My vine Daniel, is my vine still there?" she demanded and Daniel shook his head, rolling his eyes, glancing back at her worried face.

"Don't worry ja-wer, you're still properly tattooed," Daniel responded smartly, because only Adrienne would worry about tattoos at a time like this. Avoiding eye contact with Jack, who was probably thinking the same thing, Daniel walked back over to the console, trying to understand the information running along the screen.

"Good," Adrienne said as she relaxed on the table, "because if you had infected me with a tattoo eating virus your next paycheck was going to ink." Carson and Jennifer laughed quietly at her comment while Daniel stood back, still concerned, and continued the scan.

"It's what we thought, it's viral," Jennifer said about twenty minutes later, "Same indications on Adrienne's workup as Daniel's so far." Carson nodded, fearing that would have been her answer, glancing over at Jack.

"We need to examine, or at least test anyone who has had extended contact with either Daniel or Adrienne," Carson stated.

"I can't very well fly the entire damn SGC over here and Lam doesn't have one of these scanner doohickeys. Besides, these two generally hide in their little hole on level M, so I doubt it could've spread too far," Jack replied, growing more and more frustrated by the moment. With Sam trapped in meetings all day, he was stuck here dealing with the dynamically sick duo and a possible viral outbreak at the SGC, which was not exactly his idea of a good morning.

"We don't need to beam everyone here," Jennifer spoke up, "We can run a scalpel test. Start with SG-1 and move from there. Adrienne's healing as fast as Daniel is at this point."

For effect Jennifer walked over to Adrienne, taking her forearm in her hand and cutting it gently, a small one centimeter mark. Adrienne hissed in pain but powered through, watched her arm heal in front of her eyes as she had watched Daniel's heal this morning.

"If they aren't healing at this rate, we can rule them out, initially. That would also allow a blood test to be run on the staff to help us determine if maybe they're carrying an early stage of the virus," Jennifer explained as she looked at Jack, who was sighing out in general annoyance.

"Fine," he relented, "Call Carolyn. Let's get this show rolling," Jack said resigning himself to reality as he pulled up a chair and sat down.

It was going to be a long damn day.

"Alright Carson, I've got Mitchell and some others here. How fast a reaction are we looking for?" Carolyn Lam's face said appearing on a large screen in front of them and she didn't look happy.

Adrienne wanted to explain to her that she and Daniel hadn't done anything wrong this time, that they were just getting ready for work, that this really wasn't anything that she could have prevented, but she kept her mouth shut, head down, walking over to stand beside Daniel.

Sensing her discomfort, a part of him finding it mildly amusing that of every person he had ever seen Adrienne encounter it was the petite Carolyn Lam that made her tuck her tail and run, he reached across, rubbing her arm.

"We have amazingly bad luck sha," Adrienne said and Daniel laughed, nodding his head in agreement.

"No, I have amazingly bad luck and I've managed to suck you into it," he responded, squeezing her close to him, disregarding his own rule about showing affection.

Leaning into him ever so slightly, Adrienne peeked back up at the screen where she saw Cameron sitting down, looking between the doctor in the room with him and the doctor on the screen as Carson was talking to Carolyn explaining that Daniel and Adrienne were healing almost instantaneously and that was the reaction they were looking for.

Eyebrows raised, poor Cam Adrienne thought, there's no getting out of this, the colonel put out his hand allowing Carolyn to slice the side of his palm. He didn't flinch, to Adrienne's surprise, a surge of red flowing across peach skin, oozing, bleeding, no sign of stopping, the memorizing stream broken by the flush of water from Carolyn's irrigation bottle, her small quick hands covering her inflicted wound with a swatch of gauze.

"Still bleeding, how long do we wait?" Carolyn asked as she held Cameron's hand, dabbing it repeatedly but Carson was already shaking his head.

"No, it would have sealed by now, I'm not exaggerating when I say instant. Take a blood sample, I'll send you the markers," Carson requested, turning back to his computer with a sigh as Carolyn ordered a nurse to bandage Cameron's hand.

Dr. Lam repeated the process with Teal'c, who would heal on his own with an extra dose of Tretonin, but nowhere near that fast; Ronon, who Adrienne had worked out with a few times this week; and Sam, who seemed to be very pleased to have been pulled out of her meeting with Woolsey, all with the same results.

From the Atlantis infirmary, the two doctors, their patients and a very annoyed Jack watched as Carolyn Lam went through other various personnel, most of whom were people with which Daniel and Adrienne had very little contact, but she didn't want to take any chances. Screwing up her face as she bandaged Walter's hand, Adrienne feeling awful that even poor Walter had to be tested, Carolyn glanced back at the screen, frustration in her face.

"We're down to Vala, who's due back on-world in about fifteen minutes. Is there anyone else you two can think of? Anyone visit from off world?" Carolyn asked the pair of very confused and now very worried archaeologists, both of whom shrugged.

Since the small trade ship had been recovered from that Endrae, Daniel and Adrienne could barely leave the lab, let alone go off world or meet any off world visitors. At an impasse, Carolyn informed Carson that she would call them back once Vala had arrived and ended the communication, the screen going to black.

"It must be something in that lab; I think we should quarantine it," Carson said from the side desk as the transmission ended. Knowing that this was somehow going to be the outcome, Jack let out a sigh and stood from his chair, grabbing his phone and making the necessary calls.

"Are you two feeling anything else? Any other symptoms? Nausea? Headache?" Carson asked as he approached them, hoping there was something, anything he missed that would explain what was going on with his two friends.

"Not a thing," Daniel said, removing his arm gently from around Adrienne who was shaking her head, disappointed that she couldn't think of anything else. Carson gazed them both over, running through his head the list of every symptom of every illness he could think of when the screen flicked on again.

"She's back..." Carolyn's face was in the screen and she was rolling her eyes at the loud whining going on behind her, a whine that Adrienne knew all too well. She stifled a laugh as their last try, Vala, the only other person who Adrienne spent as much time with as Daniel, waltzed into view.

"I just got back and I can't even take a piss! What the fuck is going on?" Vala stormed up, swearing profusely, glaring up at the screen.

Smiling, Adrienne waved at her friend but Vala just made a face at her.

"Addy, what in the hell did you do now?" she asked but before Adrienne could answer, Dr. Lam grabbed Vala's left hand, turning it around so the blade was pointing to her face, slicing it open.

"What in the hell!?" Vala shrieked, ripping her hand from the doctor's clasp, her right hand a frenzy to stop the bleeding.

"Is it healing?" Dr. Lam asked, her eyes rolling, knowing full well that the cut wasn't as big of a deal as Vala was making it.

"No it's not damn healing, why would it heal?!" Vala stopped squeezing her hand for a moment and with her good one, grabbing the water bottle from the doctor, shooting a spray of sterile liquid onto the wound before tossing the bottle aside as she reached for a pile of gauze that must have been reserved for her.

"It appears that Daniel and Adrienne have been exposed to a virus that's allowing them to heal at a very alarming rate. We're trying to test to see who else has been exposed," Dr. Lam explained, reaching for Vala's hand, now cautiously tucked under her arm.

A menacing glare across her face, Vala extended her hand to allow Carolyn to examine it, droplets of red still flowing and cascading on the floor.

"Nothing," she said to Carson, "she's still bleeding too." Shaking his head, the Scot looked at Jennifer, for the moment out of ideas.

"I don't get it. This seems to be a pretty strong virus. Why only Daniel and Adrienne?" he asked and Jennifer shrugged, puzzled herself, gazing back at Dr. Lam on the projection screen.

"I've looked at the blood work," she said, "it's clear they both have the same markers and so far no one else is showing any indication. We need to go through the mission reports and figure out who has been exposed to what so we can make sure this doesn't spread. We still don't know exactly what this does," Carolyn said as she started to bandage Vala's hand.

Annoyed by this little diversion from a hot shower and her comfortable bed, Vala grabbed the bandages from the doctor and began to mend the wound herself, muttering.

"Sounds like a god damn STD to me," Vala mumbled under her breath.

Thinking she must have misunderstood, she was tired and Daniel and Adrienne were already providing her with a new headache, as normal, Carolyn Lam frowned as she looked back at Vala.

"Excuse me Vala what?" she asked but Vala finished wrapping her hand first, ripping the bandage dramatically with her teeth, tucking the last piece under finally glaring back at Dr. Lam.

"I said, if it's just them two, and no one else, then it sounds like a damn STD. You know a se-" but Carolyn held her hand up to silence her, getting the point.

Turning her head she peered into the camera, the look on her face indicating that she was considering Vala's suggestion, as were the other doctors.

Oh no, Adrienne thought as she could feel her face turning about seventeen shades of red, no eighteen, as Daniel put his head in his hand, apparently agreeing as well, all the while Vala's laughter echoing from the speakers.

"See, look at them. They fuck like rabbits, that's exactly why," she stated plainly, turning to saunter away, laughter audible until she had left sight of the camera, both rooms, on either coast dropping to dead embarrassed silence.

"Addy, I think we need to have a little talk," Jennifer said, breaking the silence, stepping out toward a side room. Adrienne, refusing to make eye contact with anyone, not even Daniel, followed until Jennifer halted her, waiting for Carson's input on the matter.

"So I can lift the restriction on the base?" Jack asked, interrupting Jennifer's train of thought.

"Not just yet General, but what Vala said makes sense. And if it's just Daniel and Addy, well, I don't think they would be passing this around the base..." he replied carefully as Adrienne, who was standing over by Jennifer, brought her hand to her face, rubbing it, still mortified while Daniel kept his distance across the room.

A huge grin on his face, Jack walked over to Daniel.

"I can't wait to tell Sam this one," he said quietly into his friend's ear, tapping his communicator to call the Daedalus as Daniel looked away, still incapable of speech.

Now the second person to laugh at their predicament, their supposed predicament, Jack roaring with laughter up to the very moment that he was beamed back to the Daedalus to halt any further action until Carson said otherwise.

The room finally silent, the doctors returned their gazes to their two visibly embarrassed patients.

"Ok, it's just us now, so we need to ask you guys a few questions. Let's start simple. We need an initial point of exposure," Jennifer began, trying to word this as carefully as possible, evidently not successful as Adrienne breathed out and turned away.

"Can we not call it that?" Adrienne asked, stepping away from Daniel, who had walked over to join her, his arm hanging lightly in the air for a moment, Adrienne absent from his grasp.

"Addy, Daniel we need to know," Jennifer urged gently, her eyes tracking slowly between the two.

"About three months ago, after the cave in on P45-942, the Tok'ra meeting," Daniel answered, swallowing, remembering that night, that amazing night where she came to his room and trusted that he would never harm her. He hoped it wouldn't embarrass her too badly, fingers suddenly touching his lightly, letting him know it was alright, and she was back at his side again.

Nodding, Jennifer tapped around on the computer touch screen, pulling up a mission report and calendar, entering in the information, before peeking back at them.

"Ok, and since this is a possibility I'm assuming that you two don't..." Jennifer led, hoping to preserve some of their dignity.

"No, I'm on the pill," Adrienne whispered, her dark eyes counting the tiles on the floor.

"How often would you say that you...?" she continued, wincing as the question crossed her lips. She hated asking them this, but they needed to know, needed to know what was happening and needed to figure out if Vala's insane theory was correct.

"Often," Daniel coughed out into his hand, his face now as red as Adrienne's.

Making another note Jennifer hurried, peeking back at them one final time.

"Ok last question, I promise, we need the last exposure as well," Jennifer asked carefully, running her eyes between them but this time neither responded, both casting their eyes downward. Laughing, Carson took a step forward, peeing in Adrienne's face, trying to get her to smile.

"Dinna fash yersel!" the Scot said as he walked over to the two of them, "The two of you are together and that's that. We're all adults here. Now, we just need to know the last time, that's all. No more details are required."

Swallowing, Daniel looked up, over at Adrienne and back at Carson, letting out an embarrassed sigh.

"This morning," he said quietly, "before the cut incident," looking back down again, quickly, Carson placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Ok, that's all we need to know, why don't you guys go take a break, a walk or something. Just stay close," Carson suggested, patting Daniel twice on the back, before returning to Jennifer who had gone to enter that information onto the screen.

Understanding, regardless of how uncomfortable he felt right now, Daniel turned finally to face Adrienne who was looking at him sheepishly.

"I was gonna take a nap before all hell broke loose; do you want to join me?' Adrienne offered but Daniel stood there, continuing to look embarrassed.

"Just sleep shug; I'm exhausted, and I just want you to hold me," she added.

A nap never sounded so good, especially one with Adrienne curled in his arms, so Daniel nodded his head and followed her out, still without saying a word.

Jack explained the entire embarrassing scenario to Sam, cracking himself up at least five times, no six if you counted when he spit his coffee into his hand. He had hoped Sam would find it as hilarious as he did, but she was in deep thought, her pen tapping slowly on her desk.

"Honey, I just said it's a -" Jack started but Sam cut him off.

"I heard you Jack. It just reminds me of something," Sam replied, trailing off a bit as she stood from her desk, walking over to a file cabinet in the corner of the room.

There was a sad look on her face as she opened the top drawer, digging around for a moment, turning to face her husband.

"Orlin," she said as she set the folder down once she had returned to her desk, "It reminds me of Orlin. I need to get to Atlantis."

Samantha explained everything she could to Jennifer and Carson in what she hoped was clear and timely.

When Orlin had descended initially, when he decided to take human form to be with Sam, he had forsaken his knowledge of the ascended, like Daniel when they found him on Vis Uban. When Orlin came the second time, he chose to retain his knowledge in order to help Sam with the Ori plague but in order to do that he had to be a younger version of himself, a 12-year-old boy.

When Daniel was descended a second time, he had no choice, Oma was saving his life and he did remember some things he shouldn't have, things he shouldn't have remembered having come back at a grown man.

He'd also come back a bit fitter than before, however, and a bit younger in appearance. At the time, Sam chalked it up to good genes, but for a man nearing fifty he shouldn't look as young as he did and Sam couldn't believe that she hadn't made the connection before.

"So, we need to go to the facility, use our government credentials and take some samples. Jack can get us in there. Whatever's going on in Orlin's blood is probably close to what is happening to Daniel and Adrienne," Sam deduced.

"But Sam," Jennifer started, "neither of them are regressing in age at all. Just healing. And besides, Adrienne hasn't been descended, she's just -" Sam cut her short.

"Look, as far as I know, there has never been a descended being to stay among the unascended as long as Daniel has, much less have the kind of intimate relationship that the two of them have. We have no idea what's going on with him, with either of them," Sam stated, not wanting to get into a more detailed debate.

She had spent time with Orlin and remembered things; remembered him burning himself cooking and watching it heal. She just hoped that her friends were not suffering other adverse effects, specific adverse effects which were making her heart race.

Ordering herself transport, Sam made her way to the government mental facility.

"Hi Orlin, it's me Sam, do you remember me?" Sam quietly addressed a tall, lanky teenaged boy standing in the rec room of the hospital, his raggedy wispy long hair covering his face. She didn't need to see his face, the stance made it clear that it was him, confirmed when the boy turned around and smiled.

"Of course I do, you're my only visitor. How could I forget my favorite aunt?" Orlin turned to face Sam, a smile on his face.

He's grown so much, she thought to herself, I should have come sooner.

Approaching him cautiously, Sam reached out to hug him tightly and he hugged her back, as much as a teenager would, before pulling away, heading to sit down.

"I can read your letters now, without help," he told her, pride gleaming in his eyes. The statement broke Sam's heart, that this brilliant beautiful man had been reduced to this, for her and for Earth. She tried to focus at the task on hand, not allowing her emotions to get the best of her, clearing her throat so she could continue.

"Orlin, I'm not here for a real visit. There's a problem with one of my friends, Daniel. Do you remember him?" Sam asked, hoping that he would and he nodded.

"Yeah, the one with the glasses, right? Kinda geeky guy?" Orlin confirmed, Sam laughing lightly.

"That's him. Orlin, do you remember how I told you that you were in an accident? Well, Daniel's also been in an accident, very similar, and it looks like he may be getting sick just like you. Our doctors might be able to help him if you would be willing to help us," Sam explained.

"Anything, I would do anything to help," Orlin replied without hesitation, Sam fighting back tears. Her Orlin would and had done anything as well and she was glad that whatever strange processes were going on in his body that they had not taken away his kind heart.

"Alright, I have a friend outside, Cassie. She's gonna come and take some of your blood. I need to ask you something first though," Sam signaled that Orlin lean closer.

Making a confused face, he did as she asked, his fingers brushing away wisps of blond hair as it fell in front of his face while Sam took the distraction as an opportunity to glance around the room before she spoke.

"If you cut yourself, how fast is it fixing back?" she whispered quietly.

Finally understanding why his aunt was acting the way that she was acting, Orlin backed up, peering himself left and right at the nurses in the room with him as Sam had scanned before.

"Not as fast as it used to," he said back quietly.

Nodding, Sam stood from the table to get Cassie, who was waiting outside to take the samples.

Cassie sent the results directly to Carson and Jennifer, Sam taking the Daedalus back to San Francisco to check on Daniel and Adrienne, dropping off the actual vials with the two doctors as well for further testing. Heading down to ship's quarters, she found the two archaeologists curled into each other's arms asleep in an empty bedroom.

Not wanting to disturb them, they looked so peaceful there, like nothing was wrong, which she hoped more than anything there wasn't, Sam returned to the infirmary to find the doctors standing at the computer, looking at the readouts from Cassie and their own secondary samples. Leaning in, she could see it was the video of Cassie splitting a few blood cells, the small blobs joining together, slowly, but still much faster than normal. Concerned, Carson looked back at Sam as she approached.

"But he still heals?" Carson asked, seeing from Sam's report and Cassie's samples nothing that he could deem hopeful.

"Yes, he does. However, it's much slower. Still not normal healing, but slower. He's also showing great strides in brain development. Socially, he's right on target for his age, it's the cognitive abilities that are coming back at a reduced rate," Sam explained, seeing at least that much as hope for her friends because friendship aside, she also couldn't afford to lose two of the brightest minds at the SGC.

"But they have him on a cocktail of medications to do this," Jennifer argued, "We have no idea which one will work on Daniel or Adrienne for that matter. And it's Adrienne that worries me the most. How she, contracted this..." Sam shook her head.

"That worries me too, but we can't think about that right now. We just need to stop this in case it causes anything else like Orlin has experienced. I think we need to get a list of his medications and take some blood from both of them and go one by one until we see which one slows or halts the healing," Sam ordered and went to find her friends.

This time they needed to wake up.

Neither Daniel nor Adrienne were completely thrilled at Sam's suggestion. Since they couldn't have an IV inserted or blood taken in the traditional manner, it required a rather large incision into their arms to get enough blood to be tested, an incision much larger than any of their previous experiments.

"I don't understand why you just can't test me," Daniel protested, not liking the idea of someone slashing his girlfriend's wrist, pouring her blood into a Petri dish.

"Daniel, at the risk of embarrassing you both further, Adrienne's circumstance is a bit different. We need to test her separately," Sam explained. This time, neither of them turned red; somehow it seemed so much better coming from Sam.

"I don't like the idea of a drug cocktail, I mean, if it's just healing, why do we need to stop it? That doesn't seem so bad," Adrienne protested, reaching out for Daniel's hand to comfort herself, which he took, squeezing her fingers gently.

"It's the other things that worry me. I'm afraid in order to heal your wounds and injuries that it may be borrowing from other things..." Sam said, her finger tapping her temple to indicate the one thing that still bothered her, Orlin's verbal acknowledgment of his continued diminished abilities the one lingering thought in her mind.

"No, I like my brain thank you, carry on," Adrienne answered, quickly, reconsidering her protest.

Stepping forward, Daniel reached for the scalpel on the tray and breathed in deeply, taking a stance. He positioned his wrist over the petri dishes, counting the spread in front of him, four of them, he had to get a usable sample into four dishes, and sliced his wrist open, wincing as he did so. Blood poured out, a thick red stream of fluid flowing from the wound and he tried to get as much as possible in the small glass discs to avoid having to repeat the painful procedure, however was only able to partially fill two. He closed his eyes and looked up, drawing the courage to repeat the process, slitting his wrist a second time, more crimson leaking out, forcing Adrienne to look away.

It took three slits in all, three painful slits that made even Sam cringe, before the doctors were satisfied and let him stop.

"Look, I don't care how Adrienne got this. Test mine first. Whatever works we try on her. I'm not making her go through that," Daniel declared, strongly, as he wiped the blood off of his arm, tossing the towel onto the floor and walking over to Adrienne, wrapping his arm around her protectively.

Touched, but not wanting, once again, to be made the exception, Adrienne peered up at him, forcing herself to be strong.

"I can do this sha," she said but he held onto her, not allowing her to step forward or escape a millimeter of his grasp.

"You're not going to do this," he stated clearly and looked back at Sam, Carson and Jennifer, his blue eyes cold as ice.

Sam shook her head, knowing that Daniel wasn't going to back down, for an instant; he never did when it came to Adrienne and she shouldn't start expecting him to do so now.

"Run it with his, see what comes up," Sam relented, following the doctors over to the testing area that they had designated. Relieved that she wouldn't be subjected to what Daniel had just done, Adrienne went to sit down in the chair beside where Daniel had taken a seat, when he reached over, pulling her into his lap.

Adrienne was surprised, Sam and the doctors were right across the room, but he didn't seem to care or notice, he just wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly and resting his head against her back.

"I'm so sorry ja-wer," she heard him say, squeezing her in his arms and she laughed, not knowing what he could be sorry for; surely he didn't mean this.

"For what?" she asked and felt him grasp her even tighter, starting to hurt a little but she kept silent, letting him have this moment.

"For this. For all of this. For having to share in my insanity," he replied, Adrienne laughing, reaching to unlace his fingers at her waist to catch her breath.

"I love your insanity," she assured him, but didn't get up, instead turning herself to the side to lay back into his arms, resting her head at his collarbone.

A sad smile across her face, Sam glanced over at them, worried. She couldn't imagine Orlin's fate, his circumstance, affecting the two of them, especially after everything they had been through and that they were finally together and happy.

Daniel deserved to be happy, he deserved for he and Adrienne to just run away into the sunset or whatever the two geeks would deem romantic paradise.

Trying not to imagine a scenario of gloom and doom, she peered back over to check on the doctor's progress.

"Nothing," Carson said, sitting back into his seat heavily, "not one damn thing works. Whatever's making Orlin stop isn't working on any of Daniel's samples."

Unable to believe that they had been unable to yield any results, after hours of testing, hours of watching Daniel hold Adrienne, hours of Daniel and Adrienne chatting with her like nothing was wrong, hours of watching the two of them play some complicated card game that was math based and watching Adrienne cream her old friend.

Shaking her head, Sam walked over to the microscope, crossing her arms.

"There has to be something, anything," she declared as she peered in, unfolding her arms to press her palms on either side of the device.

"I wish there was, but there's nothing. We could try to get a sample from Adrienne," Carson suggested but Sam shook her head quickly.

"If Daniel's the host and we can't affect it in him, there's no point in getting samples from Adrienne. It will cause more harm I think than good," Sam said, thinking of Daniel's reaction earlier to Adrienne's being cut; he wasn't going to let anything happen to her especially if Carson told him that his own painful sample had yielded nothing.

Running out of options, Sam sat down to think.

When did Orlin first heal in front of her?

When did he stop healing or at least slow down according to his story?

Sam's head sunk down in her hands, feeling hopeless, some terrible malady affecting her friends that she couldn't control when it hit her and she glanced up at Carson.

"Run that sample for dopamine levels," she ordered, Jennifer and Carson looking at her strangely.

"Dopamine? Sam you aren't suggesting that there's dopamine in their blood stream? That doesn't cross the brain-blood barrier," Jennifer stated.

"In a human it doesn't. Daniel's not exactly 100% human anymore," Sam answered.

Nodding, Jennifer went to test the sample.

When Sam re-entered the quarters the two of them had taken over for the time being, she was smiling, an expression that she hadn't made in hours and Daniel was instantly relieved.

"I have good news, very good news," she announced, Daniel motioning for her to continue.

"There's no cure, but there's a treatment. It might take Carson and Jenn a bit to perfect it, but it is a version of a drug called Clozapine," Sam explained, pulling up a chair as Adrienne sat up from the bed, sleeping yet again while Daniel appeared to be reading something he must have found lying around at a nearby desk.

"And that is?" Adrienne asked, rubbing her eyes as she crawled to the edge.

"It's a drug used to treat schizophrenia, but more than that it lessens your white blood count, making you heal slower. Essentially it will control your dopamine levels as well as your blood cell counts. You may both still heal a bit faster than normal, but no more of this superhero stuff," Sam smiled and sat down in the chair in front of them visibly pleased.

"Dopamine? Isn't that a good brain chemical?" Daniel asked.

"Yes, for normal people. However, it appears that after one is descended, certain emotional states can cause the dopamine to jump to unnatural levels and hop from the brain to the blood stream. This hop can cause an increased white blood cell count, which speeds healing and allows the body to repair itself. Remember Orlin? I saw him heal more than once," Sam laid it out for him, hoping he would understand without Sam having to give him a painful personal history lesson, but he did, looking down at his lap, sadness in his azure eyes.

"So I did do this to her? Not just the passing, I caused this?" Daniel asked quietly as Adrienne rose from the bed to stand beside him, confused.

"Maybe, but you can't beat yourself up over that. Especially if we have a solution," Sam replied.

"Caused what sha? I'm a big girl; I knew what we were doing. And what's this drug?" Adrienne, the one who barely ate non-organic food, asked as Daniel solemnly directed his attention to her.

"I told you ja-wer, being with me is nothing but trouble. Let's pretend for a moment that I'm not ridiculously older than you are. I'm a magnet for bad luck and now I've caused this, and not just to myself. Do you know what dopamine is? It's the love hormone, as stupid as that sounds, this has happened to me, to us, because I've fallen in love with you. This isn't going away, it can only be controlled, by drugs apparently. So, now, with everything else you have to endure, you'll have to be medicated. Permanently. I don't know what to say or do because frankly I'm just out of 'I'm sorrys'," Daniel explained, not reaching out for her, not making contact, just sitting in the desk chair, looking back down at what he had been reading.

Adrienne stood quietly for what seemed to be an eternity. He was right, being with him wasn't easy. He was older than her, an insane workaholic, had more baggage than any normal man would or should ever have, did get into the worst situations imaginable, worked an insanely dangerous job, was her boss and now this. Life would be easier dating Martinez, Ronon, or anyone else off of base, anyone but Daniel, but easier wasn't better. Gazing down at the man sitting in the chair, the one person she never thought would really exist, she didn't care.

She would do anything to be with him, forever, and he needed to know.

"What are you sorry about? I'll just add it to my vitamin regimen, no biggie," Adrienne replied, not giving him the chance to talk his way out of their relationship and Daniel looked at her surprised, like he didn't expect her to agree to any of this.

"Really?" he asked, wondering if she understood that she would have to take this drug for the rest of her life, or at the very least, the rest of her life with him but she just nodded her head and reached out for him, moving to sit in his lap again. Taking that as her cue to leave and go tell the doctors to start working on blending the medication, Sam stood, excusing herself quietly.

Gazing back into Adrienne's dark mystical eyes, Daniel wrapped his arms around her waist bring their faces close together.

"I'm gonna rip out that page," he whispered softly, rubbing his face lightly against hers.

"Which one?" Adrienne asked, even though she knew.

"The one you read. I don't wish I never met you; I can't imagine life without you anymore," he said, kissing her lightly and pulling away those eyes of hers catching him again.

Ask her, his heart plead, ask her right now, but he stopped, not out of fear but out of poor planning.

He needed a ring first, he needed to make this perfect, so he decided to let her know without asking, let her know that she was the greatest gift of his life...

"Adrienne, I want to spend my, no, I want to spend forever with you," he choked out the best he could, his heart racing, wondering what her reaction would be.

"I do too Daniel," Adrienne whispered back, agreeing.

That's a yes, he thought, she said yes, screw the ring just ask, when he noticed that she was smiling, standing from his lap, "but if I'm gonna have to start taking meds every day, you need to make it worth my while sha," she added slyly, pulling him to his feet and over to the bed.

Daniel didn't need to be told twice.

He'd ring shop when they got back.


	42. Chapter 41 - Stillness

"So, can you explain to me exactly how the boring twins got out of this one?" Vala asked over her shoulder as she checked around the corner of the abandoned building, her black booted foot carefully moving aside various broken pieces of wood as she took yet another cautious step forward. She honestly wasn't sure why they were there either; Tok'ra intelligence or not it didn't look like anyone had been here in years. They should just be relying on her spy team; that never ended them up on hot, deserted planets with nothing to do but stare at rocks and broken buildings.

"Sam's got the IOA coming, and you know she's all about pawning any of that off that she can on Daniel, especially since no one's heard a peep from 'ole Nuby in a few weeks and you know that where Daniel goes..." Cameron replied, kicking over a box, or what was left of it, pointing his P-90 downward as if the small container would actually house an Ori/Jaffa clone.

"Addy goes. For someone that wanted so bad to be left alone he seems to be completely unable to do anything without her now," Vala noted, continuing forward, deciding not to mention that they probably wanted to get in a good snuggle or something else while they were at it.

She wasn't jealous, although a part of her really thought she should be; she was happy for them but there were times when they just made her sick to watch. Even if they were standing fifty feet away from one another, they had this look between them, it was disgusting, but she kept her mouth shut and just left it at that, continuing her inspection of the area.

"Clear," she stated as she looked back to her teammates, the light affixed to her gun shining into a drab empty hovel that she wasn't about to enter to test the strength of the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Teal'c finishing up his inspection of a further matching building, just as she was, appearing to yield the same result.

"ColonelMitchell," Teal'c yelled as he was exiting the building behind where Cameron and Vala were searching, "this structure is clear as well."

Nodding, Cam reached for the radio at his shoulder to inform his comrade that they were at another dead end. He was starting to agree with Vala; Tok'ra intelligence sucked.

"General, looks alright here, how 'bout on your end?"

There was a crackling sound for a moment so Cameron switched channels as Vala and Teal'c approached him.

"Not one damn squirrel," Jack answered, "if this planet even has squirrels. I think we missed him. Yay."

Cameron could hear the sarcasm in his voice even over the radio.

This was the third planet in so many weeks that the Tok'ra had reported signs of Anubis' foot soldiers, the third, and they were at another dead end. Daniel and Adrienne were still working on that ship, but so far it just seemed like a list of weapons sold and past rendezvous points, each of which had been checked out in addition to the Tok'ra leads. This was going nowhere, Anubis was out there somewhere, making himself a cute little Play-Doh army, amassing all sorts of weapons of mass destruction and laughing at them as they desperately tried to play catch up.

Whatever he was planning, it was big, he was taking too long to be planning anything otherwise, something Jack was pleased to present to the powers that be.

General Jack O'Neill had declared his time would be better spent on the lower levels of the Pentagon helping out his team and making sure his old friend didn't have any other tricks up his sleeve and, more importantly, making sure that jackal headed bastard stayed the hell away from his wife.

Besides, he was getting pretty tired of sitting in an office all of the time, it made him feel fat and old and that annoyed him.

Clicking the radio off, Jack looked up at the members of SG-6 that he had been assigned to. When Sam decided to send a team through he was kinda hoping he would get Teal'c and Daniel with him and let Mitchell deal with Vala and that perky little archaeologist that Daniel was now shacking up with.

Adrienne, he told himself, her name is Adrienne, he'd just called her Dr. Perky for so long that it stuck, despite Daniel's request that now that he was seeing her that Jack refer to her by her name. Daniel didn't even call her Adrienne for crying out loud, he called her Ad, which was WEIRD, ads were something people hated because they interrupted the good stuff, but whatever.

Jack was just surprised that Daniel had discovered women existed.

"Alright, the jackal headed freak show's gone, so we need to take a complete survey of the area. We're looking for anything, bullet casings, evidence of a staff weapon being fired, body parts, anything the geeks can use to give us an idea of how far behind this asshole we really are," Jack said as he stood and they scattered, instantly, like good lower level personnel. Rolling his eyes at the collection of children in front of him, why couldn't he have at least gotten Teal'c even if Daniel had to stay home and kiss ass, Jack turned to dial home, tripping on a large rock.

"Not one sign of Anubis, but the planet's got enough goddam rocks," Jack swore to himself as he hit the red activate switch.

"Hi honey!" the general called into his radio as the wormhole stabilized, "It looks like we missed our good buddy once again." More popping and cracking, Sam's voice echoing over the radio.

"I figured as much, I just wish we could get some kind of idea as to where he was headed," she replied, sounding frustrated. He smiled to himself; she took the job so seriously, which was a good thing, but she was so intense when it came to problem solving. It was something he always loved about her, he just hoped that she wasn't beating herself up internally for the lack of leads.

"Pretty soon he'll show his head. I don't think we can do much more than we're doing. I've got these guys searching for anything but it looks like he just holed up some soldiers here in an abandoned city, why I couldn't tell ya. I'll let you know if I find anything," Jack answered, wishing he had something more to report.

"Alright, but get back soon. I don't like to have that small of a force out too long without back up. Especially one that includes my husband," he could hear her tone change at the end and was touched.

After everything he had to admit he liked the way things had worked out.

"Awww... I love you too..." he laughed, "O'Neill, the uglier one, out."

Breaking the connection, he turned to follow behind his people.

Connection broken, Sam sat back at the computer, tapping her pen on her desk. It had been nearly a month since they had begun work decoding Endrae's ship, longer since three of Anubis' soldiers had infiltrated the base and she still had no answers. When Woolsey came this morning, his full contingent of IOA members with him, even having Daniel share some information on Anubis that they had gathered didn't seem to help.

They wanted answers and they wanted them now but she had none to give.

She was staring out into space when there was a knock at her door, making her gaze up from the empty legal pad at her desk.

"Am I interrupting?" Daniel asked from the door jam as he walked in, hands in his pockets.

"No, just thinking, are Woolsey and his lackeys gone?" she asked, feeling bad that she had left Daniel to deal with them.

"Not yet," he said as he sat down, "I passed them over to Adrienne. She has this very optimistic yet authoritative way of making someone feel really good about themselves while subtly telling them that they are a moron all at the same time. Just one of the reasons why I love her; she can be so evil when she needs to be."

"Well, I'm glad she can be optimistic about it. Guess she doesn't have the history with them that we do," Sam sighed, thinking that Adrienne did have her own history with Woolsey which was probably fueling the evil.

"Hear from Jack yet?" Daniel asked, changing the subject quickly, noting his friend needed a subject change fast.

"About ten minutes ago. Nothing and like the past two times, it seems like they covered their tracks pretty well," Sam replied.

"I can head over there if you like. Adrienne's going to be a few hours at least. I told her to torture them," Daniel smiled slyly.

"Yeah, go grab a few supplies and head over there, see if you can find anything," Sam decided, a small part of her hoping that Daniel's attention to detail would yield better results.

Nodding, Daniel stood, rushing out her office, his body language indicating that he was just as happy as Jack to be escaping bureaucratic mess for off world adventure any day. True, Sam felt a little better sending him over to lend a hand but she was fairly certain he was going to come up empty as well but at least she could say that she exhausted every option.

On the way to the locker room, he passed Adrienne, directing the IOA men into one of the side briefing rooms, her professor's persona in overdrive.

"Rubrique d'aide à la recherche, les avez-vous?" (Hey, heading to help with the search, you got them?) Daniel shouted over to her, cocking his head in the direction he was heading.

"Bien sûr, êtes-vous bien?" (Of course, you good?) Adrienne responded, obviously enjoying her torture, torture he couldn't wait to get details about later.

"Oui mais si ce changement je vais vous appeler" (Yeah, but if that changes I'll radio you) Daniel answered.

"Plus tard, mon amour" (Later my love) Adrienne smiled, following her guests into the briefing room.

Daniel grabbed what he needed out of the equipment locker and closed it behind him as a chill rocketed down his spine.

Even though they always seemed to be just days behind Anubis he still had this itching feeling that one time he would cross through that gate and come out on the other side face to face with him again, except this time he was just normal old human Daniel minus the cool superpowers of being ascended.

That freaked him out just a bit, that and the fact that Anubis knew who Adrienne was, knew how special she was to him...

"Stop it. Focus on ring shopping Daniel, ring shopping, you're gonna listen to Jack whine and drill him for information," he ordered himself, slamming the locker and heading to the gateroom.

"Gentlemen, if you would take a seat, I'd like to go over some of the greater specifics concerning the various markings that Dr. Jackson and I discovered on the bodies and how they correlate with the findings on the Lucian ship that was recovered three weeks ago," Adrienne began as she walked over to the projector and turned it on, activating the blue tooth and starting up her iPad.

"Dr. Rowan," Mr. Woolsey began, "We've been over this before, General O'Neill said you had new information to share."

Adrienne hated that man.

Sam seemed to think he was alright based on her time with him on Atlantis, but he just infuriated Adrienne to no end. He acted like she was an idiot and treated her as if she was just some little cadet who had no idea how the SGC ran, even more so since she and Daniel's relationship had become public knowledge. Daniel told her he was like that with everyone, but she felt singled out and she would never admit it, even to her own knight in shining armor, but she felt better doing things like this when Daniel was around.

To be honest, she just liked him around in general.

"Mr Woolsey, we've discovered some patterns in the tattoos that we believe Anubis might be trying to use to indicate generations and groupings among the clones. If I may," she started, cuing up the presentation without making eye contact as he sat back into his chair his arms crossed.

Fine, she thought to herself, pout like a child, I'm gonna give the damn presentation anyway, the first slide coming to life behind her.

Jack was sitting at the gate waiting for Teal'c to arrive when he heard the giant circle moving behind him.

"What the hell?!" he spat, rising quickly as to not be taken out by the incoming wormhole and as he turned around to face the formed crystal mass to see Daniel come walking through.

"His majesty graces us with his presence," Jack stood to greet him, "and he comes alone. Impressive." Jack couldn't remember the last time Daniel had come through that gate without Dr. Perky, no Adrienne, he's gonna get all pissy if you don't call her Adrienne, but now Jack was just waiting to call her Dr. Jackson, which he knew was coming soon.

He'd never thought of Daniel as the marrying type after Shar'e but this ball of fire Sam had plopped in his lab had really changed him and for the better in Jack's opinion.

"Hey, I would rather have been here than that farce Sam put me through. Don't you outrank her enough to get me out of those things at least once in a while?" Daniel defended himself as he head down the ramp.

"And," he continued as he walked, "Adrienne's the reason I even got to escape here in the first place."

"How does that work?" Jack asked as they walked toward the other SG personnel who were scouring the ramshackle buildings, yet again, looking for the evidence he had asked for earlier.

"She actually enjoys talking to those IOA guys but I think it's because she likes to talk over their heads and watch them try to follow her," Daniel explained, Jack smirking and shaking his head.

"You really need to talk to her more; you two have a lot in common," Daniel added, lifting his eyebrows surprising himself at the suggestion that she and Jack be friends since that might prove to be a bad idea.

"Really? I find that hard to believe," Jack answered pointing over to the building that appeared to be the most structurally sound, "And watch the damn rocks, they're everywhere." Daniel stepped carefully to the side.

"She's a huge smartass. If I didn't know better, I would swear you two were related," Daniel replied, hoping Jack would listen. He really would like Adrienne, and if Daniel was ever going to have five minutes of time to himself to buy a ring and come up with a way to propose, he wanted Jack to at least be nice to her.

Jack, and his very biased opinions meant a lot to him, though he would never tell him.

"Sure. Ok," Jack replied, blowing him off, "here's the only place we found anything. It was this," Jack handed Daniel a strip of leather, " It doesn't have anything on it though, no DNA that Carson and Rodney can run, but if you look here it's freshly torn. Someone ripped it off in a hurry trying to get the hell back, my guess by where we found it is back to the gate."

Taking the fragment from his hands, Daniel looked at it carefully in a way that made Jack want to smack him. He wondered if he did the same thing to Dr. Perky because girlfriend or not Daniel would still act like a brat. He hoped that if Dr. Perky, Adrienne, dammit call her Adrienne, was as snarky as he claimed she was that she'd just smack him in the face.

That would impress him, watching Adrienne deck him a good one and not in training.

Finally, Daniel shrugged, muttering something nerdy to himself and handing it back so Jack tucked the piece of fabric into his tac vest. Looking at Jack one more time, the archaeologist nodded and headed into the building, Jack ducking into the doorway as well to follow.

He watched Daniel dig around where he had already looked, but was less annoyed this time, after all, he was sure Sam was just covering her tracks with those IOA clowns around. He hated them and watching his poor wife have to jump through the hoops that she was jumping through made him glad that he still reported to the president. He was just walking over to hand Daniel a flashlight, although it was quite funny watching Daniel fumble around in the dark, when he heard his name being called behind him.

"O'Neill," Teal'c shouted into the building, the man in question turning around immediately to face him. He noticed DanielJackson was kneeling on the ground in front of him, on his hands and knees examining a patch of dirt in the corner. Surprised to see him, Teal'c figured that he must have finished his meeting with Mr. Woolsey's men early or left them with AdrienneRowan, who he was now noticing was not present. Somewhat drained himself, Teal'c knelt down to join them, peering into the corner as well.

"ColonelMitchell and ValaMalDoran see no point in staying any longer. I must concur," Teal'c informed O'Neill, knowing now with DanielJackson here they would not be leaving any time soon.

"Well my loving wife sent Danny boy here to check up behind us, so we aren't off the hook just yet," Jack answered as Teal'c expected, but he laughed. He loved hearing O'Neill call SamathaCarter his wife and it was also quite humorous to see her tell him what to do, despite rank, this being one of those times.

"I must warn you O'Neill. ValaMalDoran has begun to complain," Teal'c added, his mind drifting back to the small fit she had been throwing when he made his escape, in fact, ValaMalDoran had started whining just as soon as CameronMitchell declared the area secure.

She did not enjoy missions in which someone was not shot or something interesting did not happen, he noticed that she bored easily, and without AdrienneRowan to tease her in response their comrade was beginning to grate on his nerves.

DanielJackson answered him this time, "Tell her to chill out. If she chooses to work with us she needs to shut up and accept all aspects of the job. I'll tell her if you like."

"That will not be necessary DanielJackson," Teal'c answered, thinking his reaction harsh, the IOA officials must have been more trying than usual, "ColonelMitchell I am sure is taking care of that already."

O'Neill tapped him on the arm indicating they should leave DanielJackson to explore and he followed, reading the concern in his old friend's eyes.

"Let him do his little geek thing in there; did you guys really find nothing?" O'Neill asked, verifying the cause for said concern. Teal'c knew that he was hoping that they would find something for SamanthaO'Neill's sake; he did not wish to let her down.

"I am sorry; we have found nothing. Anubis is intelligent. He will not be so easily cornered," Teal'c answered and O'Neill shook his head, making as face as he glanced quickly back at the small hut.

"Well let's hope Daniel has better luck. If not, we get to wait until the Tok'ra decide to inform us, too late once again, that Nubey has passed us on by. I hate that she relies on them so much, as much as I hate to admit, I think we should starting listen to Vala more," Jack said, confirming what Teal'c was already thinking.

Every break that they had concerning Anubis had come from ValaMalDoran's intelligence missions, not one real lead from their allies.

Crossing his arms across his chest, the Jaffa nodded in agreement, a noise behind him making him turn as DanielJackson exited the building, his customary frown on his face.

"I didn't find anything either. If the Tok'ra hadn't been so insistent that the army stayed here, I wouldn't have even thought to take a second look at these buildings," DanielJackson stated, brushing the dirt off of his pants.

"Fine, let's head down to see what Cam and Vala are looking at, " Jack said, "T, send SG-6 home."

Nodding in agreement and happy to oblige, Teal'c walked over to collect the members of second team.

Jack led Daniel down to the second set of buildings, a more numerous arrangement of structures, although their state was the same, in shambles. As they approached he could see Vala laying on the ground, sunglasses on her face and head resting on her pack as Cameron himself was sitting on a large rock, his hand at his brow to block the sun, waving his other in hello. Jack returned the gesture and the two men picked up their pace, closing in on the area quickly when Vala lifted her head up, removing her sunglasses.

"Where's Addy?" she asked, no hello, no acknowledgement of Jack, nothing, just glaring right at Daniel.

"Hi Vala, nice to see you too," he responded, rolling his eyes.

"If they're going to send a nerd I'd prefer they send the one I like," Vala spat, laying back, putting her sunglasses on again.

She had laid her loyalties with Adrienne shortly after Adrienne had saved her from some slavers and even more so now that Adrienne and Daniel were together. It was sweet, Daniel was glad that Adrienne had found a confidant even though it was Vala. It was annoying at times, however, especially since Vala seemed to no longer listen to anything Daniel said, always deferring to Adrienne.

Completely ignoring the exchange between Daniel and Vala, Jack strolled over to Cameron who looked up at him, again shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Not a damn thing but a lot of rocks; makes me want a dump truck. Could save me a ton on gravel," Cam joked and Jack laughed, sitting down beside him as Daniel walked ahead to the building, ducking to enter through the broken doorway.

Grimacing, Cameron looked over at Jack once Daniel was out of sight, cocking his head in their teammates direction.

"Does he think he's going to find anything?" Cameron asked, his doubt apparent.

"Probably not. It sounded like he wanted to escape the oversight committee and that I can understand," Jack answered and Cameron nodded, understanding far too well himself.

Nothing else to do but wait, the two men sat in silence, looking out in the direction of the horizon.

"SamanthaO'Neill, they are not here," Teal'c spoke into his radio.

"Teal'c, how can they not be there?!" Sam's voice was as clear as was the concern in it.

"They are not here at the gate nor are they at the next village and there is no sign of struggle," Teal'c answered calmly unsure at to what else to tell SamanthaO'Neill; his friends were just gone.

"But Teal'c, there were no ships in the area, nothing. Is there a chance someone left something behind," her voice was worried and Teal'c knew why, in fact he was sure that AdrienneRowan was having the same reaction right now although he could not hear her over the radio.

"I am sorry but there is nothing. Perhaps I should return to Earth and we could contact the Tok'ra?" Teal'c suggested.

"Fine," he heard her voice, "Head back. I'll meet you in the briefing room." The radio at his shoulder went dead so he shut it off, glancing over his shoulder once more before walking through the worm hole.

"It's been 5 hours," Adrienne argued with Sam the moment radio contact had ended.

"I know Addy, I know. I don't know what else to do. The Tok'ra have been monitoring the planet, no one has entered or exited the atmosphere. They have to be there," Sam assured. Knowing that she wasn't going to be swayed, especially where the Tok'ra were concerned, Adrienne just plopped herself into the closest chair, refusing to leave until she had word on Daniel.

"Samantha, I'm not sure why you've called me down here, you know I'm in the middle of something important that YOU ordered me to work on, if you will recall," Dr. Rodney McKay hissed, his footsteps echoing on the tile floors, their rhythm matching his words, short and terse but Adrienne, for once, sat up, interested at the arrival of her short term former boss.

If Sam had called Rodney, this must be more serious than she was letting on.

Adrienne's stomach knotted as she had a sudden horrible thought and tried to shove it away, glancing up at Sam in an attempt to absorb some of her confidence.

"Rodney, close the door," Sam ordered gently and he paused, doing as she asked but remained standing at the door, arms crossed across his chest.

"Closed, now can you tell me why I've been called down here?" he asked, rudely Adrienne thought, but that shouldn't shock her anymore.

"SG-1 is missing," Sam stated, taking a breath before looking over at Adrienne, evidently not having been ready herself to admit that.

"Apparently not all of SG-1," he replied, looking over at Adrienne as well. She started to give him the finger but paused; now was not the time for petty arguments.

Rodney didn't seem to take her as a full team member very seriously and frankly, especially after Daniel had told her how he'd spilled everything to Anubis, Adrienne thought Rodney could go to hell.

"No, Adrienne stayed behind for the IOA meeting, but Jack is with them as well," Sam answered and at the mention of Jack O'Neill, Rodney's expression softened.

"Sam, I'm, what can I do?" he asked. Adrienne knew Rodney had a soft spot for Sam and apparently she knew how to work it.

The cajun considered that to be her advantage if she wanted to get Daniel back as well as the rest of her friends.

"Rodney, I want you, John, Carolyn and Zelenka to head over there, ASAP, to see if you can find anything," Sam ordered.

"Dr. Lam and Zelenka? Why? Radek just got here yesterday!" he made a face at her, "What about Teyla and Ronan?"

"Rodney, I really don't think there was an attack, if there was Teal'c, the Tok'ra, someone would have found something. I think there's something else going on over there and I need the best I have in science and medicine to figure out what," Sam answered but Rodney's expression did not change.

"Rodney, it's final. I've called down to Zelenka and Carolyn already. You go get John and meet in the gate room in an hour," Sam didn't falter and for that Adrienne was grateful, very grateful.

"Fine, I'll go, I'll go, let me get my equipment and something to eat," Rodney was complaining to himself as he opened the door to the briefing room, slamming it ever so slightly behind him

"And me," Adrienne spoke up once he was gone, "I'm going."

"Adrienne..." Sam started to argue.

"Sam, please," Adrienne didn't want to beg but she would if she had to.

"Addy, I understand, GOD do I understand. But feelings make people make stupid choices. Poor choices," Sam explained, hearing Woolsey inside of her head already talking about the inappropriateness of their relationship and that they tended to throw themselves into danger for one another, time and time again; Sam didn't need to worry about Adrienne on top of everything else.

"Sam, for my own sanity, I've got to go. I just, I just need to," Adrienne said, now preparing to beg, hoping her eyes would do the begging instead.

_Sam he wants to marry me, we want to get married, please, this isn't some fling..._

"If you can be ready in an hour," Sam gave in knowing that she would be no good here, not that Sam would be better but at least she still had a base to run. That and she couldn't bear to look at the cajun's eyes the way they looked right now, she knew, she knew now more than ever that this wasn't some attraction or fling between the two archaeologists, that this was so much more.

"I'm ready now," Adrienne replied, dashing out of the room. Sam watched her leave and suddenly got the urge to suit up as well, however, with the head of home world command missing the head of the SGC couldn't just go gallivanting into space after him even if they were married. She had to let Adrienne go for the both of them and she trusted Adrienne enough to know that she wouldn't make a careless mistake, that she would do whatever she could to bring home the men they loved.

Returning to her office solemnly, Sam lifted the receiver to the red phone to call the president and inform him of Jack's disappearance.

Another wild goose chase, Rodney thought to himself as he stormed back down to his lab, and of course it's SG-1 getting themselves into trouble. All they did was cause trouble and Sam relied on Rodney and his crew to bail them out of it, time and time again and to be frank it was all rather annoying.

His stride fast, his face drawn into a scowl, Rodney entered his lab and began to pack a few things, trying to determine precisely what equipment would help him find four missing people.

Carolyn was early to arrive at the gate room so she went immediately to see Sam, jogging lightly up the staircase to her blue office door. She didn't bother with the pleasantries of knocking, she just entered, surprised to see that she wasn't the first to arrive. Sitting there with Sam was Adrienne, who was never on time, ever, even for physicals that she easily aced, but Carolyn guessed with Daniel missing that she could manage to read a clock for once.

What also surprised her, however, was that she thought all of SG-1 had disappeared, Adrienne included, but maybe this was a blessing in disguise, maybe she knew what happened.

Looking up, the general greeted Carolyn politely, inviting her to sit while Adrienne waved a non-committal hello. She felt bad for the poor archaeologist, it didn't seem that she and Daniel were going to catch a break and they really were good for one another.

Nodding in reply and forcing a smile, Carolyn sat and Sam began to immediately explain the situation and when she finished, Carolyn looked up at Sam confused.

"What exactly am I supposed to do?" she asked, unsure of her role here in the mission.

"Be there, whatever has happened to them I need you to be there when they're found, in case..." Sam put her hand over her mouth, trying not to choke up.

This, Carolyn thought to herself, is why personnel shouldn't date one another, no matter how cute even she found Daniel and Adrienne, in fact, as much as she found Cameron Mitchell exceedingly charming she had rejected each of his advances for fear of sending him through the Stargate and never getting him back.

Carolyn looked over at Adrienne for an answer that might not involve tears but saw the cajun was on the verge as well.

Of course, Carolyn thought to herself, leaving me to be the one rational woman on this mission, that's my real role here.

Stuck in this room, being sent on an impossible mission, Carolyn needed to lie to two women, one of which was her boss, to comfort them.

"Alright," she finally said," Let me get the mobile med unit and I'll need a nurse," she added.

"No," Sam replied, "I don't want to send anyone else until we know exactly what's going on. Adrienne has volunteered to help you."

Carolyn made a face. Adrienne hated her and called her Dr. Grumpypants to anyone that would listen. She wasn't even sure if Adrienne knew how to apply a band-aid,the last time she worked with her Addy hadn't been much more than a translator, handing out a few ice packs here and there. She was into all of that homeopathic mess that just made people think they were getting better but never did any real good.

Wondering what else could be thrown in her face, Carolyn tried to remain calm as she glanced kindly over at Adrienne.

"Are you up to this? Do you have any medical training?" she asked, not knowing much about Adrienne's personal background other than, like Daniel, she was a magnet for injuries.

"I ran summer camps for kids when I was in high school, so I had to take all of those first aid and CPR classes, and I had to be the lifeguard sometimes, but it's been a while," she responded.

"Better than nothing," Carolyn replied and returned her attention to Sam. "I'll be ready shortly, I had everything packed but the med kit, wanted to know what I was walking into first. So who are we missing exactly?"

"Vala, Cam, Daniel and Jack." Sam choked on the last name but Carolyn was pleased; that meant Teal'c was alright as well, so they were only looking for four missing persons, not five and she was certain Sam would grant her the assistance of the very reliable Jaffa if asked.

Four people to find, and Cameron was one of them.

Pushing the thought aside, she stood and excused herself heading back to the infirmary.

She was at the gate room ready to depart moments later as promised.

At 1300 hours the rescue team was ready to leave, a group including Dr. Rodney McKay, Colonel John Sheppard, Dr. Carolyn Lam, Dr. Radek Zelenka, Dr. Adrienne Rowan and Teal'c, who had requested to return to the planet, Sam having no problem fulfilling that request.

She wished them luck, reviewing the information one final time, more for her own sanity than to brief the team, and she allowed them to pass into the wormhole, shouting behind them that they report back in in two hours.

An hour later, after unsuccessfully searching the far settlement area twice, Adrienne sat down on a large rock inside one of the buildings. Normally she loved the sunshine, but there was something about this planet that made her feel, heavy.

It was an uncomfortable feeling, so she was thankful for all of the large stones lying about, they were cool to the touch and even though she wasn't terribly warm there was something soothing about them in general, this one in particular. Someone must have been using it for a chair since it was right in the corner of the room and she was thankful for it, in particular its perfect position allowing her to lean back against the wall.

Kicking the dusty floor beneath her, Adrienne noticed the smaller sparkling rocks under her feet, something she hadn't noticed before, leaning over to pick one up, turning it gently in her hands.

"Find anything doctor?" a voice asked and Adrienne looked up seeing Zelenka as he entered the building, walking over to where she was sitting, the same expression of failure in his face.

"Just some pretty rocks, you?" she answered, not as emotional as she had been when she crossed over originally, while she held the rock to the light, watching it glisten in the rays of sunshine slipping through the small window above her head. There was movement, a shadow, out of the corner of her eye as Zelenka shook his head.

"Neyt," he answered, disgusted, his Czech accent thick, "and of course Rodney thinks I've missed something so I told him to keep searching himself. I only have limited patience for him today."

Adrienne smiled, having worked both for and with Rodney, she understood completely. Her teeth making quick work of her bottom lip, her focus on these stones rather than finding Daniel, why didn't she care about finding Daniel, Adrienne held the rock closer to her face, yawning to moisten her eyes. The liquid dissipated, and it was then that Adrienne noticed some faint lines, lines that looked like they were forming a shape.

Puzzled, the cajun tapped Zelenka on the shoulder, who was staring back out of the hut, seemingly lost in thought.

"Look at this," she showed the stone to Radek, "it looks like a fossil. See the lines?" Adjusting his glasses, he reached out for the stone, taking it in his hand and holding it up to the light as she had before, examining it carefully.

"It does; that's odd, they're just littered about here. You would think they would be a bit deeper. Do you suppose Dr. Jackson might have dug them up?" he asked.

"Nah, he didn't take any of that gear. When I got back to the lab it was still in the lockers. And besides, there are no holes here, nothing, and he would never excavate without perfect layout. He's particular, trust me," Adrienne answered, still examining the stone.

_Where is Daniel?_

The thought floated through her head, but that was it, it just floated, she wasn't up and panicking or racing around.

"Take some back," Zelenka suggested, "I'm sure geology department would appreciate being remembered, all two of them." Adrienne nodded, remembering the two quiet doctors that had been left after the last congressional house cleaning, hoping this might be an exciting find for them.

_Indy would love this...where did you go sha?_

Crawling down onto the ground, Daniel gone from her thoughts again, Adrienne tried to find a suitable assortment of specimens, pieces that looked out of place here in the drab sandy surroundings. There was a small collection of shiny black stones in a pile, so she grabbed a few of them and a little further away there was a large brown stone that looked like there were feathers etched into it.

She collected that as well.

There were a few others scattered about and she amassed a fair representation of each, placing them carefully into the backpack, regretting that she didn't have any sample bags with her, but happy for the distraction, something to take her mind off of the love of her life being lost, somewhere, somewhere where she couldn't find him.

_I really should stop picking up these rocks and go find him..._

Brushing the thought aside, Adrienne took the original stone, a reddish purple one, and shoved into her pocket, motion in her line of sight alerting her to another visitor.

"There you guys are. It's time to check back in with Sam. Did you all find anything?" John asked, knowing the answer; he would have heard from them sooner otherwise.

Knowing what this meant to Adrienne, the loss more painful to her than anyone else here, Zelenka glanced at her to make sure that she was alright before looking back at John.

"Just rocks and more rocks, you?" the scientist answered as Adrienne shrugged putting more of those very rocks into her pack.

"Same, I say we head back. I'm feeling sick and Carolyn thinks there's some kind of pressure change that's causing it. Do either of you feel sick?" John continued and Adrienne raised her hand, glad that someone else was feeling bad and it wasn't just her worrying about Daniel.

_Then why am I not going after him?_

Zelenka nodded as well, a surprise to Adrienne since he hadn't mentioned it to her before.

"Alright, then let's get going," he ordered, ducking back down to leave. The reality of their failure setting in, Adrienne stood slowly and looked over at her search companion, offering her hand.

_He's gone..._

Trying to hold it together, she zipped up her backpack and trudged onto the gate, trailing Sheppard and Zelenka.

She could see Teal'c dialing as they approached, evidently he hadn't found anything of use either, a waiting pair of doctors standing over to the side. As soon as the wormhole formed, Carolyn and Rodney stepped through, John and Radek close behind but Adrienne paused and looked back to the ruins one last time, a tear forming in her eye. She was on the edge of losing it completely, the first emotions she had really felt since they got here when she felt a hand on her shoulder, a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

"We will find DanielJackson; we just need to determine where to look," Teal'c whispered, before walking past, stepping into the shimmer.

Wiping her face, Adrienne sucked in some tears, glancing back over her shoulder one final time.

"Don't you leave me Daniel Anthony, you promised," she said into the light breeze, stepping through after her friend.

Adrienne crossed over to the other side and saw Rodney talking to Sam, Sam looking exactly like she felt right now, the wave hitting her like it hadn't on the planet before.

_He's gone, go back, demand to go back!_

Taking a breath, Adrienne decided that she needed to do everything in her power to keep it together for the both of them, willing that screaming voice inside of her head to be quiet and let her think about this rationally. She had hoped to bring better news, but she could say without a glimmer of doubt that there were no signs that anything was afoot; they had simply vanished.

Holding onto to that hope, that there was just something that they weren't seeing, Adrienne took a few steps down the platform, a yoga mantra in her head as she stepped, ordering her emotions in check. With her final step onto the gate room floor, she felt her pack shaking wildly on her back, so much so that it felt like she was going to be pulled down onto the ground. She tried to reach behind herself to see what was going on but couldn't, so she grabbed the straps to remove the parcel from her shoulders when she was scratched, violently down the center of her back.

"What the - !" she screamed out, throwing her pack to the floor, peering down at it as it was bouncing around violently, appearing full, even fuller than it had with the rocks in it she was bringing back to geology. Every armed member of personnel in the gate room pointed the guns at the black ball of fabric, thrashing and leaping about onto the floor.

"Dr. Rowan!" Rodney screamed at her, "What is in that thing?!"

"Rocks, Zelenka and I brought rocks for geology," Adrienne replied, confused, beginning to step slowly away from the pack, just mere seconds before it erupted open, the sound of ripping cloth an explosion just feet from her, however, there wasn't a bomb, instead out of it a bird, some hawk-looking thing, flew to the ceiling of the gate room.

Shaking her head, shocked as she gazed back down at what had been her backpack, Adrienne saw three squirrel-like animals scurrying in three different directions. There was a snap and a hiss as an assortment of snakes and a rather large snapping turtle came crawling out right after and Adrienne stood in amazement looking at the small zoo exiting her backpack when she felt a sharp pain in her side. She started to look to see what was wrong when she felt Teal'c grab her forcefully and reach into her pocket, pulling out a scorpion and throwing it to the ground. Recognizing the animal, Adrienne ran over to Dr. Lam, undoing her pants as she ran but Dr. Lam had read her mind already reaching for her med kit and the anti-venom. Adrienne showed her hip and thankfully she hadn't been stung, instead there was just a scratch from the animal trying to escape so Dr. Lam applied iodine to the relieved archaeologist, both women watching chaos unfold all around them.

Various SG personnel were trying to round up the creatures at Rodney's direction, his annoyed and annoying voice echoing around the gateroom. Two men were walking over to a box that Walter was wheeling in, snakes carefully balanced on the end of P-90's while another young lieutenant was trying to goad the squirrels to her with an apple she must have had in her pocket. John was trying to corner the hawk with a net Adrienne had missed someone bringing in as Sam came storming over, her hands thrown up into the air, a look of bewilderment across her face.

"Adrienne what were you thinking? Why did you bring back...animals!?" Sam demanded looking at her as if she were insane.

"I didn't," Adrienne insisted, "I just grabbed some fossils to take down to geology and paleontology."

Dr. Lam made a funny face at her as she talked, placing a bandage on her side, Teal'c walking over with what was left of her backpack, a handful of shredded black canvas.

"AdrienneRowan, you should not put animals in your pack. They have defecated on your notebooks," he scolded as he handed her the bag, if you could call it that, Adrienne shaking her head in disgust at the offer.

'"I didn't put any animals in my pack, why in the world would I do that!?" she defended, Zelenka hurrying over now as well, his expression as puzzled as everyone else's.

"Dr. Rowan, what else did you bring?!" he asked.

"NOTHING! You SAW me put those rocks in my bag. And Teal'c, YOU walked with me to the gate, why would I bring back the damn wild kingdom!?" Adrienne shouted, red in the face with fury.

The others were still looking at her like she was insane, but Radek simply dug through the shreds of filthy and torn backpack, tossing her composition books onto the floor and then turning the bag over shaking it out. Nothing fell out but a few pieces of rodent poop and the scientist tossed the pack onto the ground and shook his hand, his palm now covered in small black ants. Looking over his shoulder as the remaining personnel were rounding up what looked like a rabbit and a weasel, Teal'c now carrying the snapping turtle, it's mouth firmly clasped on his staff weapon, Zalenka looked back at Adrienne and Sam, nodding his head.

"I think those are your rocks," he stated, pointing at the creatures.

"What?" Adrienne exclaimed as she buttoned her pants again, her side throbbing in pain, the more neurotic side of her personality starting to contemplate the worst case scenario, that the scratch was really a sting, when the accented voice continued.

"I think somehow, on that planet, they were turned to stone. Not stone exactly, but a solid mass of matter, almost as if they were being preserved. For some reason escaping the planet's atmosphere must allow the object to reawaken, reform or something similar," Zelenka answered glancing at Sam who paused only for a moment to consider his words before reaching out to his arm, trying to entice an ant onto her own. Bringing the ant to her face Sam closed one eye and then the other, her intelligent eyes cutting back at short Czech man.

"There doesn't seem to be anything special about this ant Radek. It's just an ant," she declared as she glanced up at him.

"Are we still subscribing ta da idea dat I brought back a bag ah critters?" Adrienne demanded. Sam laughed at bit at her Louisiana pronunciation of critters; Adrienne normally hid her accent so well, unless she was really angry, which given this situation she guessed her friend was heading there right now.

"May I just add that even for Adrienne, a scorpion in her pocket is a little extreme," Carolyn pointed out, zipping up the medical bag.

"Thank you, a voice of reason," Adrienne sighed, slightly touched that Carolyn of all people had jumped to her defense. Her expression changing, considering Radek's suggestion, the circumstances, the disappearance of her team, Sam looked over her shoulder, finding who she was looking for swearing at a few members of SG-4.

"Rodney, take those things to your lab. Now! I want Carolyn AND Carson examining them immediately!" Sam shouted, walking over to John and Teal'c, who were both trying to load the snapper into the plastic box with the snakes as Rodney continued giving orders.

Sam hated giving him power but she didn't have much choice this time.

"You two, and Addy, I want you three in the briefing room. I need a diagram of the area, and I need it now! " Sam was still shouting a bit, not out of urgency but excitement, this was a lead, this could bring Jack home to her.

She saw Adrienne trying to salvage her things from the ground as John and Teal'c made their way to the briefing room and hoped that between the three of them they would have some idea as to what the area looked like. There was a figure dashing down the stairs, Walter. thankfully, taking over the clean-up of the gate room and control of the situation, so Sam left, following them to the briefing room, her steps swift up the metal staircase.

As she expected, Adrienne had already turned on the Smartboard and was sketching a grid of the area, thank god for archeological methods and an anal staff. John was filling in with rough sketches of the buildings, the ruins and the sparse vegetation but paused, glancing over his shoulder as Sam entered and closed the door.

"So General, what do you think is going on here?" John asked, placing the black marker into the tray, Adrienne turning around to hear her answer.

"I think our people are still over there. I think they're frozen, like Adrienne's rocks, for the lack of a better word," Sam replied.

"Dear god," Adrienne shrank into the nearest chair, every possible nightmare scenario playing through her head, but it explained a lot, why she felt so heavy, so unmotivated to find the love of her life when he had just vanished, that all she wanted to do was sit.

"SamanthaO'Neill, how is that possible? I was on the planet almost as long and yet I am not a stone?" Teal'c asked and John nodded in agreement.

It was a good question...

"I don't know Teal'c, maybe because you're Jaffa, maybe the tretonin. But, if I'm correct, we need to figure out which rocks are our people and which rocks aren't," Sam walked over to the diagram.

"Wait, how are we supposed to figure that out? What if we bring back, I dunno, a pissed off mountain lion?!" John asked, looking at Sam in disbelief.

"Which is why we're going to wait on the doctors before going back through. We need to see what kind of hibernation these animals are in when they take this form. And I need the three of you to remember every rock that you encountered, anything large around the size of a person and we'll have to bring them back, one by one and hope for the best," Sam laid out her plan to her friends with pure honestly, this was a long shot, but it was all she had.

Sighing, her eidetic memory already making a mental map of the entire area, selfishly trying to figure out where Daniel might have been, Adrienne put her head into her hands, rubbing her aching temples, while John peered back over at their chart, shaking his head, finally returning his gaze to Sam.

"There's no way we can remember every damn rock. The planet's covered in them," John responded.

"It is the best chance we have, so rack your brains," Sam ordered and turned, headed down to the science wing.

"Alright General," Carson spoke, walking over to a box of squirrels, at least Sam thought they were squirrels, the small creatures running around the clear container so fast she could barely make them out.

"I thought there were three of them?" she asked, concern mounting in her voice, as Carson nodded in the affirmative.

"There were, but the third one died. Not related to the hibernation; the snake bit it," Carson added the last part quickly, sensing Sam's apprehension.

The snap of latex on skin echoed throughout the infirmary as Carolyn Lam came into the room, removing bloodied gloves from her hands and tossing them into the contaminated materials bin.

"Thankfully it did die; it let me examine the brain. Nothing. Every physiological test that we ran indicates a type of hibernation very similar to that of certain animals here on Earth. Deep relaxation, sleep and hibernation. The key difference is" she walked over to a print-out of a DNA sequence and some blood work, "something on the surface of the planet acts in a manner similar to the stargate, however instead of taking the bodies apart to atomic units to transport it through space, it takes the body apart and transforms it into, well, stone."

"Then how do these plants, animals or people awaken?" Sam asked.

"I don't think that they do," Carolyn continued, "I think it was just pure coincidence that Adrienne decided to bring some rocks through the gate and since the gate works on basically the same principle coming through the wormhole reactivated the cells and told the body to reform and wake up."

"So," Sam clarified as she studied the blood work carefully and it seemed in order, nothing in any of these DNA strands very different from standard Earth mammals and reptiles, "bringing each one, one at a time to be safe, through the gate should wake them up?"

"In theory," Carson replied and while Carolyn seemed to be refraining from comment, so Sam nodded, feeling the lead doctor would have objected if necessary.

"Understood, well, unless anyone has a better idea, I need you two to get a team together to check each and every one of them as they awaken. Full work -up. I don't want to miss anything," she ordered, not awaiting their reply, rushing out of the infirmary headed for the elevators when her phone buzzed in her pocket. Trying to keep calm, she slipped it out, gazing down at the message.

_I think I found Jack _

Adrienne and Teal'c stepped through the gate and stood aside, allowing John and a few of the orderlies to file in behind them, pulling the stretcher. John waited for everyone to come through and the wormhole to collapse before activating the timer on his watch, peering up to address the crowd.

"Ok people, we start with that one," he pointed over to the rock that Adrienne had been claiming for at least an hour was Jack, "load it up. General says that NOTHING goes through the gate with it; we just push it through and the team on the other side pulls him over. Then we cross after it, make sure everything went as planned, and repeat. I'm watching our time. Are there any questions?"

Everyone was silent, Sam had gone over this at least five times before releasing them through, so Adrienne broke the silence, directing the orderlies over to the large stone but stood back, unable to touch it.

She had the ability to help, she was strong and capable, however the thought of it being Jack O'Neill freaked her out just a bit so she let the others load the rock onto the stretcher.

There was minimal talking as the operation was carried out and they all hurried back to the Stargate, carefully rolling the stretcher forward and pushing it through alone. Breathing in and glanced down at his watch yet again, John picked his head up to look back at everyone just as the end of the bed slipped into oblivion.

"We wait five full minutes and then go. Teal'c?" Teal'c nodded and began to keep time on the stopwatch John had given him, the double checking most likely unnecessary but gave them all at least the idea that they were doing something other than waiting, which is really all they were doing, waiting.

It was the longest five minutes of Adrienne's life.

When they crossed into the gate room they did so to shouting and guns pulled on them. At the base of the ramp SG-3 was pointing their guns at someone who was kneeling onto the floor, the stretcher knocked over onto its side and Sam shouting orders from the observation room.

"What happened?" John asked, approaching where the marines were holding someone captive, someone in familiar garb, garb quite familiar to Adrienne.

"How in the hell did he get in here?" John looked up at Sam in the observation room as some gate room personnel wrestled with a clone who was thrashing in the floor.

Well, Adrienne thought, Rodney got his clone.

"Not Jack," Sam spoke into the microphone, everyone looking back at Adrienne for answers.

Now I know how Daniel feels, she thought, everyone always looking at him for a solution.

"Sorry, I'm trying to work with last known locations here," she replied with a shrug.

"GeneralO'Neill took DanielJackson to the far settlement. I believe he is there," Teal'c spoke up and Adrienne shot him a glare.

"And ya couldn't 'ave mentioned dis befo' T?" she made a face, her accent a clear indicator of her annoyance level.

"I did not wish to precipitate on your procession," Teal'c responded, in incorrect slang but Adrienne was too annoyed to correct him, her scowl now directed at the observation glass.

"I think we go back and see if Mr. SmartyPants has got anything else he neglected to mention," she shouted, hoping Sam did not take her frustration as insubordination, but she must not have, as Adrienne heard the click of the Chevrons behind her, the ancient metal and rock slipping into place.

_Come on Teal'c, please help me find Daniel. _

"I believe this is ValaMalDoran," Teal'c stated as he pointed at a long stone on the ground, smooth and flat with flayed top edges.

"Why?" John asked, kneeling into the ground, looking for the fossil like indicators that Adrienne had claimed to see on some of the animal stones but finding nothing.

"Because as I left to inform O'Neill we had found nothing she was lying upon the ground complaining of boredom," Teal'c answered.

"That one," John ordered their companions without hesitation, who carefully wheeled it back to the gate.

After five minutes, Adrienne, alone this time, raced through the wormhole.

"What do you mean I was a rock? I was lying in the sun waiting for stupid Daniel to tell us what we already knew and now I'm here on a stretcher. Leave me the hell alone, stop touching me! Sam! Sam, what in the hell is going on?!"

Adrienne knew that voice and couldn't have been happier to hear it, looking up to the observation room to see Sam giving her the thumbs up. Without hesitation, without a word to Vala, Adrienne raced back down to go through again.

When she returned, Teal'c informed them that Cameron was most likely the rock near where Vala had been lying, explaining that Cam and he had taken bets as to how long they could torment Vala before she completely flew off the handle. John ordered that rock to be taken back as well and twenty minutes later Teal'c returned, a smile from ear to ear.

"Now to find Jack and Indy," Adrienne said to herself, "If I were Daniel, where would I be," Adrienne asked herself out loud, pausing for just a second before quickly looking up.

"I've got Daniel!" she shouted, John rushing to her side, scanning the ground at their feet.

"Where?" he asked, as she pulled him by his hand to the distressed doorway of a structure on the very edge of the village.

"He's inside, over in the corner; I think I was sitting on him earlier," she admitted.

"How can you be sure? I'm a little leery of something inside a building... it could be a wild animal, anything that was hiding from Anubis' men," he inquired in follow-up, not wanting a repeat of their first pass through, or for that matter, a literal wild animal but Adrienne was just nodding emphatically.

"Trust me, he would have come in here, hunted around a bit and noticed the same rocks I did. We think alike," she answered plainly, forgetting how that sounded, as if they didn't catch enough heat from the powers that be...

"Uh huh," John replied, a smirk on his face, leaning back to order the men over to collect the rock that Adrienne had been talking about.

"If that is DanielJackson then the stone outside the doorway will be O'Neill," Teal'c stated as he approached, pointing to a large lump to Adrienne's left.

"How do you figure?" she asked.

"Because O'Neill does not like tight places however would have remained by the door to encourage DanielJackson to work faster," Teal'c responded.

Adrienne couldn't help but laugh at his choice of the word 'encourage' since Jack's 'encouragement' of Daniel was often anything but.

"Take that one too," John responded.

The orderlies lifted the second rock to the stretcher, rushing back toward the portal to take them home as Adrienne noticed that she was starting to feel heavy again, the desire to allow her body to collapse to the ground overtaking her thoughts of following the stretcher. They had been there too long, Carolyn had warned them of this and if they stayed much longer they would all be literal piles of rubble.

Taking a breath of the air thickening around her lungs, Adrienne powered ahead, following the rock that she hoped was Daniel.

_Don't lay down Ad, follow him..._

When they arrived at the gate Adrienne dashed ahead of the scout team to dial home, glancing back at Teal'c.

"I'm going ahead, so I can, uh, tell Sam to be ready," she stated not eager to admit to this particular assembly that she wanted to be there to jump her boyfriend the moment he woke up.

"Of course," Teal'c responded but he knew that AdrienneRowan wanted to be there when DanielJackson came through but he did not call attention to that fact, just smiled as she dashed through the minute the gate was active.

Adrienne stood and waited at the base of the ramp as Sam came to join her, peering down at the shorter woman.

"Both of them?" Sam asked.

"We think so," Adrienne replied.

"Good," Sam answered simply.

Her heart beating so strongly in her chest, the cajun looked up as the end of the stretcher came through the gate and saw combat boots over the edge, the figure sitting up and adjusting his glasses.

In complete and total disregard for anyone else in the gate room, Adrienne took off running up the ramp, pushing an orderly out of the way and throwing her arms around him.

"Ja-wer, what's going on, what happened?" Daniel looked at her like she was completely out of her mind as she started to crawl onto the stretcher, crawling onto him, leaning in to kiss his lips when she froze. She backed up, realizing that the every person in the gate room was looking at them, her arms around his neck and her face dangerously close to his.

No affection at work Adrienne, no affection at work, at least not right here...

"Sha, let's just say that you were probably stoned for the first time in your life," she joked and he looked at her totally confused, removing his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Come on Indy," she ordered, wrapped her arm around him to help him from the stretcher as she climbed down herself, leading him to the infirmary.

Sam smiled as she watched Adrienne lead Daniel out of the gate room, noting her friend's inability to resist as she slipped her hand up the back of his shirt, rubbing him gently. Breathing in, hoping that Adrienne had been right, that she would have the same luck, Sam looked back at Walter to redial and send the stretcher through for hopefully the final time.

As the yellow metal bar peeked through the event horizon Sam held her breath, peeking slowly to see who was on lying on top.

"Dammit, Daniel, I fell asleep you're taking so goddam long," Jack sat up and put his face in his hand. Forgetting herself, Sam hurried up to the stretcher and grabbed his face, kissing him dead on the lips and he kissed her back for just a moment and then opened his eyes, scanning the crowed.

"Honey, I knew you liked kinky, but I think this is a bit much," Jack joked before pausing, the reality of where he was setting in.

"Wait, how did I get back here and where did Daniel go?"

"I'll explain later, but the good news is you guys found something. We have a live Anubis clone in custody," she backed up and straightened her jacket, trying to salvage the little bit of decorum that could be left in such a situation but Jack smiled at her, seeming to enjoy that attention.

"Alright Hot Lips, that sounds good," he teased and she made a face having already switched back into their work persona, "let's go have a little chat with our socially confused amigo," the general declared as he hopped from the stretcher, holding onto the end, apparently a little wobbly still from the effect, making his way carefully toward the exit, right past Dr. Lam as if she wasn't there.

Frowning, Sam marched over to grab his arm, pulling him back as she pointed to the base doctor, whose own eyes were already glaring at the second stubborn man to march past her.

"Mission protocol General, full medical work-up," Sam tilted her head to Dr. Lam, smiling back at her husband.

"Does Daniel have to go through this too?" Jack asked.

"He's already down there, as are Cam and Vala," Sam answered.

"Good, we can complain together. Come 'on doc," Jack gestured to the doctor, who rolled her eyes but followed, heading down the hallway.

Sam breathed a sigh of relief as the gate went dead behind her and dismissed the rest of the staff, thanking John and Teal'c for their efforts before making her way to her office. She planned on ensuring that her husband was alright, although since his sense of humor seemed to be intact she was fairly certain that everything would be ok, but first she had a phone call to make.

Entering her office, Sam closed the door behind her, walking to her desk and without taking a seat, picked up the phone, dialing.

"Mr. Woolsey please. Yes, I'll hold."

"_Sha, I don't understand why you want to come down here, Sam's not gonna let anything happen to him." _

"_Ad, I said you didn't need to come, but this isn't like dealing with some real bad guy. These poor men are created for one purpose; they can't help it. I just want to make sure they're treating him well." _

"_Dammit why do you go and say things that make me love you more." _

"_Because it's all about bringing you into my web so that you can no longer escape my clutches." _

"_Stop it, you're gonna make me drop this and then it's not going to be any good."_

"_I still don't see why you brought him a soda. I thought you didn't want to come down here." _

"_I don't, but just trust me, Diet Coke makes everything better." _

Resting his head back in his chair, the transmission causing more pain than he had anticipated, Anubis closed his eyes, willing the ache away.

It was done.

He had his direct line and now it was just a matter of waiting until the time was right.


	43. Chapter 42- Risks

_Remember to pay attention to detail, in all of the chapters, as everything happens for a reason. _

_EVERYTHING..._

Daniel thought the smell that hit him as he entered the front door of her apartment was strange, not in general, but just that is was coming from Adrienne's apartment. It smelled like cake, unburned cake, which made it all that much stranger considering Adrienne claimed that she couldn't cook.

Frowning, he tossed his jacket onto the sofa and followed the smell, his stomach beginning to rumble violently.

As he turned the corner, there was Adrienne; standing in her kitchen baking cupcakes and shocked just wasn't strong enough a word to express what he was feeling right now.

"Adrienne?" he asked, confirming for himself that she was standing there, over a stove, looking like June Cleaver, her worst nightmare. Dropping a pan onto the floor, empty thankfully, Adrienne whipped around quickly glaring at him.

"Don't you call anymore?" she asked, looking nervous as if he had caught her doing something inappropriate rather than baking.

"No, I don't, I have a key, what are you doing?" he asked, wanting to hear the words come out of her mouth, trying and failing to hide the smile on his face.

"I'm baking cupcakes for Jack and Sam's anniversary," she stated, turning around again quickly like nothing had happened, temporarily ignoring the cookie sheet sitting at her feet.

"Oh really," he continued, as he approached the counter, kneeling to pick up the forgotten piece of cookware to set it on the counter beside her, puzzled now for more than one reason. First, her own birthday was just a few days ago and she had so quickly moved on to someone else's celebration. Second, Jack was at area 51, but Daniel just figured that she was doing this for Sam alone, who had seemed bummed out about the entire situation. Thirdly, he thought she couldn't bake...

"Yes really," she spat but didn't look at him, just stepped back, pulling out a pan of cupcakes and switching them for a tray of mix sitting in little cups to her right. Without a word, she set the cooked treats onto the stovetop and returned to stirring in a large bowl.

"I thought you couldn't cook. Or bake?" Daniel asked, now confused. Adrienne always joked that she ate raw food because she was so bad at cooking but now, here she was, all decked out in an apron looking like she knew exactly what she was doing. There was a hesitation as she stirred furiously until she dropped the spoon into the bowl, sighing and turning back around to face him.

"Promise not to tell?" she asked, looking at him sheepishly. Tell what, he thought, what grand secret could possibly be behind her ability to make desserts, so he nodded in the affirmative.

"I can cook alright. And bake. And a lot of other shit I say on base that I can't do," Adrienne said, this time lining a new baking tray with little paper cups, very certain as to what she was doing.

"Ok, so then why are you telling everyone otherwise?" he asked, mystified. Scowling, Adrienne grabbed a large spoon off of the counter, beginning to ladle the mix into the cups, answering him without eye contact.

"Because, just, I can do a lot of things ok. A lot. Not because I'm perfect, or want to be better than everybody, or whatever you used to say about me. I just can do a lot of things because when I find something that I feel I need to learn how to do, I learn it, make sure I can do it well and then do it. It's what you do when you have to survive. People don't like that though; that's not how you make friends. So, if I have a bunch things people can tease me about, then it just makes things easier," she answered, quietly. Daniel breathed out, taking in her words. It was typical Adrienne, over analyze anything, as if anyone would care, but she obviously thought they would. Instead of offering her any sympathy for her silliness, which he knew she would find patronizing, he walked over to the bowl of batter and moved to stick his finger in.

"You wanna keep that," Adrienne hissed, grabbing his finger fast as lightening. He smiled, cursing her black belt reflexes, glancing over at her. She must have been baking all day; she was covered in flour and there was even a spot on her nose, barely visible against her pale skin. It looked so cute, in fact, despite her hatred of anything domestic; she looked absolutely beautiful standing there like this.

"Trust me, they'll be good," she said, as if he didn't believe her, "I'll even give you one when that group comes out since I have batch one packed away already."

Smiling softly, dear lord if he kissed her right now would she explode about being made some housewife, she pointed over to some carefully placed cardboard boxes when it occurred to Daniel, the one thing she hadn't explained away.

"If you're planning on hiding that you can bake, how are you going to give Sam cupcakes?" he asked and Adrienne, rolling her eyes, pointed back over to the cardboard boxes for a second time.

Confused, Daniel walked over to them seeing that they were all stamped "Metro Cupcakes Inc."

"Really?" he asked over his shoulder, unable to believe the lengths that she was going to to keep this ridiculous secret.

"Yeah, told them it was for my daughter's class. They gave me five boxes," Adrienne smiled and kept baking.

Daniel shook his head, deciding to ignore the daughter comment but it got him thinking that maybe, just maybe she'd been thinking a little more about his, well, sort of question from the week before...

"Ja-wer, you take neurotic to a whole new level," he said instead, walking back over to the fridge, opening the door and starting to dig.

"There's no junk sha," she called over her shoulder, switching out more finished cupcakes, knowing that with the smell of one kind of sugar present that Daniel would be seeking out another.

He didn't reply, however, rummaging around a moment longer before standing from her fridge, a vitamin water in one hand and a Snickers bar in the other. She looked at him funny, wondering where it came from as he waved the candy bar at her grinning.

"Took your advice; I hid some stuff here," Daniel smiled and shut the door, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Indy, you're way too comfortable here," she joked as he finally came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her ear. Smiling, she leaned back on him, cuddling herself into his gentle embrace.

"I was waiting for that," she said, resting the back of her head on his shoulder.

"You looked busy," he whispered, squeezing her tighter, "Are you almost finished?"

"This batch that I'm spooning is my last tray," she answered, pulling away, reluctantly he could tell, but intent on finishing. Not wanting to let go himself, Daniel pulled her into his embrace for one quick second, kissing her a second time before releasing her, taking his snack back out into the living room.

"Can I still have one?" he asked again smiling at the doorway.

"Go find something to do and let me finish," Adrienne responded, turning back to her task. Knowing she'd give in, Daniel didn't respond, walking to the living room to turn on the TV.

He was much more nervous than he should have been.

It really wasn't a big deal, not a holiday, no stupid one or two month anniversary like they were teenagers, not her birthday, for that he had gotten her bug detailed, something she had complaining about forever, but it was jewelry and it was his test. He hadn't planned it that way, it just worked out like that last week when Daniel was with Teal'c helping him select some more appropriate clothing for being seen around Earth. The warrior had been spending so much time with the Jaffa council and with his new granddaughter Nia'lyn that his wardrobe was severely out of date, severely, much to Adrienne and Vala's gentle teasing. Not that Teal'c cared that much about fashion, but he did care about standing out more so than his gold tattoo made him stand out already, as did the IOA. Daniel had volunteered to take him to the mall to keep the entire affair low key, especially with Vala agreeing herself to tend to the task.

That would have been anything but low key.

After they had finished at one large department store, Teal'c set out for the only store that had shoes in his size, a smaller shop located at the far side of the mall. There was a nice sales lady there to help, so Daniel didn't feel the need to hover, moseying his way slowly toward the food court to get himself a pretzel when he saw it.

In a very simple gold and glass display case, right in the front of the jewelry store just two doors down from the shoe shop was the necklace, a blood red ruby in the simple shape of a tear drop.

It looked like a drop of blood; Daniel's first thought was Adrienne and her obsession with vampire novels, but the second was the stone. It was his birthstone, his birthstone that he would give to her as a symbol of offering his heart to her, forever, before he could really ask. He couldn't think of a better gift for now, a better way to test and see if she was ready to take the step that he knew in his heart he was ready to do.

Decision made, he walked right in and bought it, no questions asked, forgetting the pretzel completely...

He wasn't nervous until he got home. He had just bought her a gift, an expensive gift, not a book, or a dinner, like he had before but a real gift, jewelry. Jewelry was a serious gift, he knew that standing in the jewelry store but at home, standing in his bedroom with the box in his hand, his heart raced.

Adrienne didn't accept the traditional male/female gender roles that were dictated to her by her Louisiana upbringing; she hated flowers and candy and Valentine's Day.

Would she hate this too?

Would she think he was patronizing her?

Last week he'd shoved the box back into the drawer, making himself obsess over it for days when he made his decision. If she liked it, if she understood, he would stop playing around on the internet, call Jack and go back to the jewelry store and buy her a diamond.

If she didn't like it, well, he hadn't thought that far ahead.

Now, however, he sat on her sofa, looking at the box in his hands, opening it once more, the blood red stone glistening in the low light, his heart went into overdrive.

He shut it again quickly.

"Ok, here, you get one, but Indy I swear, if I get up in the middle of the night to find you eating anymore I will kill you. And you need to keep in mind that I know where you sleep," she reached behind him on the sofa, passing him a cupcake. Surprised by her arrival, he quickly slid the box underneath his knee and reached behind, taking the small dessert. The lighting in the kitchen had been bad, he thought she was making chocolate, but that was not what was being placed into his hand.

"It's red velvet. It's a girl thing, well, and a Southern thing," she said, reading his mind. Smiling, her eyes eager for his response, she walked around the sofa, crawling close to him, watching as he peeled back the wrapper and took a bite.

"Dear God," he said to her mouth full of cake, his eyes wide with surprise and shock.

"Chew Indy, then critique," Adrienne laughed, biting her lip lightly, clearly satisfied. He swallowed quickly, amazed, peering back at her.

"You made this? From scratch?" he asked, not believing it himself.

"Yea," she answered, her face flushing.

"Then I'm mad at you," he replied, taking another bite while Adrienne looked at him strangely. Seeing that she didn't get his joke, he couldn't laugh, the dessert was too good to waste a speck, he held up a finger as he swallowed before continuing.

"You cook like this and you've been holding out of me! I've been living on Chinese take-out and pizza for years and I'm seeing someone that bakes like this! And you can cook too! I think you owe me, what, a year and a half of back cooking," he explained, smiling, hoping she would catch on.

"A year and a half?" she asked, counting in her head how long that they had been seeing one another, six months she thought, was it six months, she never remembered stuff like that. They'd only know each other for about two years when she caught on, punching his arm.

"Yes, I demand back cooking from the time you first told me I was alright to hang out with and that was about a year and a half ago," he said as he finished the cake, peeking over his glasses carefully, hoping that she didn't take it the wrong way.

She didn't, smiling, taking the wrapper and placing it on the coffee table, leaning over into his arm and cuddling close, turning her body to lay her head on his chest. She shifted her body once more, wanting to lie in his arms when she felt something hard poking the underside of her thigh.

"Ow, I must have left a book on here," Adrienne said as she reached under herself and pulled out not a book, but the box, holding it in her hand confused. Daniel's heart stopped as Adrienne turned the long black rectangle over and over in her hand, a smirk across her face as she handed it back to him.

"Did you lose something?" she asked, smiling slightly and Daniel shook his head, taking a breath before he spoke.

"I was waiting until I had something nice and romantic to say, but I'm at a loss. Open it; it's for you," he said instead, knowing that with Adrienne it was best that he keep it simple and direct, that and he really hadn't been planning anything.

Her eyes bright with excitement, warming his heart, she was excited, she was really excited, she held the box carefully in one hand opening it slowly with the other.

"Wow," she breathed out as the lid popped open, Daniel sitting in suspense trying to gauge her response.

'Why? You did the car and the dinner last week?" she asked, shocked, speechless as she looked at him, but he laughed, her reaction assuring him, telling him that this was alright.

"Do I need a reason? I just saw it and thought of you. It reminded me of...Eric," he teased, not wanting to give away his true intention, just yet anyway, and thankfully, Adrienne began to laugh.

"It does look like a drop of blood doesn't it?" she agreed, reaching to take it out of the box but Daniel pushed her hands away, grabbing the chain and undoing the clasp, placing it tenderly on her neck. She touched it lightly as it reached her collarbone, her deep chocolate eyes gazing up slowly to meet his.

"But, it's not just the vampire thing. It's a ruby, a real ruby. My birthstone, but you probably already know that. I wanted to give you something to make you always think of me like I always think of you," he finished quietly. He hadn't prepared that speech and he wasn't sure what she would say when she sat up quickly, throwing her arms around his neck.

"I love you Daniel. So very much. And I love it, it's just perfect," she said in his ear, kissing him slowly there moving to the cheek and then the neck. Pleased with her reaction, and hoping to please her further, he leaned over gently, turning off the TV, returning his attention to her lips.

"I love you, more than I've ever loved someone before," she whispered as he pulled away, warming his heart.

"I love you too Adrienne," he answered simply, knowing he had made the right choice.

Tomorrow, he would really start looking for a ring.

Daniel awoke the next morning regretting it was Monday. He never used to regret Mondays before, but before he didn't have a reason to stay in bed. Reaching behind to shut off the alarm, the annoying buzz not what he wanted to hear right now, he was careful not to wake Adrienne just yet since they had a bit longer that she could sleep, mentally ordering himself to wake up in twenty minutes. Gazing down at her breathtaking form, he kissed her bare shoulder, slipping his arm back around her waist, and pulling her close feeling her cuddle herself to him.

He slept more than twenty minutes.

This time, the phone ringing woke him and he reached behind himself once again, grabbing it from the nightstand. Rolling onto his back, his left arm still trapped behind Adrienne's neck, he flicked the screen with his right, not bothering to read the name on the screen.

"Hello," Daniel answered, still half asleep.

"Hey there Danny Boy, did you guys decide to sleep in?" Cameron teased and Daniel could hear laughter in the background. Sleep in, he thought, sitting up straight in the bed, jerking his arm from his sleeping bedmate, looking at the clock.

It was almost 10 a.m.; sleeping in was a nice way to put it.

"Shit," Daniel hissed, glancing over at Adrienne, who was still fast asleep, as always; the woman could sleep through anything.

Damn comfortable Adrienne...

"Yeah, spare us the details. We have, HAD, a briefing at 10 and Sam says she can have the Odyssey beam you guys in, but we would all rather that you guys were clothed before we do," Cameron choked out between bouts of laughter, Daniel frowning at the phone.

He's loving this, Daniel thought, they're all just getting a kick out of this.

"Dammit Cam, just, well, stall or something. Tell Sam to give us thirty minutes and then beam us up. Just, please, make us not the topic of conversation, ok?" Daniel pleaded, standing from the bed, turning to lean back over to Adrienne who just pulled the blanket up higher onto shoulder. Sighing, Daniel hung up on Cameron, who must have handed the phone to Vala as she was making obscene noises into the phone, noises that he didn't want to hear.

"Adrienne, ja-wer, wake up," Daniel whispered softly and she rolled over to face him, the ruby sparkling against her throat. To him, she was breathtaking anyway, but the stone just accented her beauty, making him lost his concentration for a moment.

"Good morning my love," she answered, reaching up for him but instead of melting into her arms like he desperately wanted to do, he clasped her forearms, pulling her in a upright position.

"Come on Ad, it's 10 a.m. You now have ME operating on Cajun time," he joked as Adrienne sat up unwillingly, grumbling and rubbing her eyes.

"Ugh, is it really?" she asked, looking over at the clock as if she thought he was kidding, which he had to admit, he did to her a lot to get her moving.

"Yes, really. We have thirty minutes to get decent before we're being zapped to work. Let's get moving," Daniel replied, pulling at her arms again. Grunting, she really isn't awake yet he thought, trying not to laugh, she stood unwillingly, trudging toward the shower.

They were beamed directly into the briefing room to the sounds of kissing noises and other sexual jokes. Red in the face, Adrienne set her stack of cupcake boxes on the table in front of Sam, looking away as she took a seat by Vala. Daniel slipped in beside her, red in the face himself, trying not to look at the his old friend who was shaking her head at both of them.

"Now that we're all here..." she began, Adrienne flushing for a second time. She and Daniel looked over at each other quickly and broke their glance, both feeling a serious talk coming on, as Vala leaned over to Adrienne, bringing her lips to her ear.

"First, I hate you. Second, well, I hate you," she joked, sitting back as Adrienne covered her mouth so she would not laugh.

"Despite the fact that I don't like using you all as my trading emissaries, once more I'll be using you all as my trading emissaries," Sam began, Cameron laughing, shaking his head. It was one of the things that they were getting used to, either as spies after Anubis or trading emissaries, and he would take the latter any day.

"With the way things have been going with trading partners and Anubis poking around, trading is slim, as is our supply of naquada, which we need if we have any hope of defending ourselves," Sam began as she clicked on her smartboard. Behind her were some pie charts and other things that Daniel didn't need to read; they were things that he was just complaining to Adrienne about the other night and he wasn't thrilled to see a visual reminder of Anubis' ability to kick their asses should he arrive to do so.

"We know that SG-7 has established a pretty good relationship with this world, P98-452, also known as Pusflet, and they seem willing to discuss an exchange of naquada for farming supplies. It's a good situation for us, they haven't been contacted by Anubis or any of his men and they understand the nature of the situation. SG-7 has started everything, but I would just feel better with a situation like this, an agreement that we need so badly, for you guys to close the deal," Sam explained, handing out folders as she cued up the first slide, another set of diagrams.

More charts, Daniel thought, we're going to be here for a while, opening the folder as he glanced quickly at Adrienne, trying to give her a quick smile before they began.

Daniel was right about being there for a while. Almost ninety minutes later Sam closed the meeting, shutting off the smartboard, Daniel's head throbbing with information, although it could be his medication, that tended to give him headaches too. Having his to-do list ready to go, he stood, everyone stood to leave, stretching and moaning, everyone except Adrienne who leapt up calling for everyone's attention.

He smiled, remembering last night and once again thankful that this wonderful caring person was such an important part of his life.

"Hey everyone! Today is Sam's anniversary! Of her promotion and marrying Jack! Let's celebrate!" she announced happily, shoving the folder away while her teammates just stopped, frowning at her, clearly wanting out of this room as soon as possible, but undeterred, Adrienne made a face, pointing to the boxes.

"I brought cupcakes,' she smiled, the team suddenly making a mad dash for the boxes, Adrienne smiling, noticing Daniel looking at her wanting to expose her secret. She shook her head in the negative, telling him with her eyes that this was a secret to keep between them. There was happy chattering, thank you, and a box and a half was quickly demolished. Within moments, the group had eaten their fill and moved on, leaving Sam with dozens more cupcakes.

"I bought plenty knowing this crowd. Take them home to Jack. Happy Anniversary Sam," Adrienne said sweetly, walking over to hug her friend. Smiling, Sam hugged her back and thanked her, gathering the cupcake boxes to do just that, knowing Jack would appreciate the gesture as well.

"I'm going to start getting ready Ad," Daniel said, leaning over, kissing her goodbye lightly, leaving to head back to the lab. Sam thought she heard him whisper I love you before he left the blushing cajun woman as she repacked the pastries, resisting the urge to tear up right there. They were so happy and she couldn't have been more pleased to see that her old friend had found such happiness, in fact, she was just waiting for the day he came to her office telling her that he was going to propose.

She didn't think that was going to take him very long.

"This is the last one Sam," Adrienne said, bringing over the final box of cakes, "I'll go put them in your office."

"Thanks again Adrienne, that was really sweet. They're delicious. How long did they take you to make? I'd hate to think that you spent your whole Sunday baking just for me," Sam said.

"No, it's no big deal Sam. I bought them last night after I ran errands," Adrienne responded but Sam shook her head.

"Addy, nice try, but Metro doesn't do Red Velvet with Sugar Icing. They use Cream Cheese," the general corrected, pointing down at her own second cupcake on a napkin. Adrienne smiled slyly and Sam laughed, reading her face.

"Your secret's safe with me, but you'd better watch your back. If Daniel gets wind of this you'll be cooking until the end of time..." Sam raised her eyebrows, laughing some more and Adrienne was nodding, rolling her eyes, giving her every indication that he had found out and was already requesting.

Adorable, Sam thought, they're adorable, and she turned to bid Adrienne farewell when she saw a sparkle at the archaeologist's neck, a red glisten, lit by the fluorescents in the room. Reaching out she grabbed Adrienne by the shoulder, moving for her neck to examine the gem.

"Oh wow," Sam said, impressed by the large stone resting softly at her collarbone, "did he?"

Adrienne just smiled and nodded her head, "Yea."

Sam looked surprised but went back to her desk, her head shaking, "I guess he's not totally hopeless," she said out loud, thinking to herself if he was ready for that a diamond had to be soon to follow.

Still blushing, Adrienne laughed, waving goodbye as she headed for the lab.

They left promptly at 8 a.m. the next morning and this time Daniel made sure that he and Adrienne didn't oversleep, determined he was going to make her run on his time and not the reverse.

As soon as they crossed over, a small army of mounted knights and vassals were waiting to greet them, large finely dressed men on a team of some of the most beautiful horses that Adrienne had ever seen. Excited, she leaned over to Vala, her eyes as wide as saucers.

"Kinda disappointed I didn't wear my Ren Faire costume," she whispered and Vala laughed, figuring that would be her friend's first reaction. Daniel, however, just ignored them, having just given up on trying to make the two of them behave.

"Good morning SG-1, my name is Ailwin and I am the liege lord for this province," a burly man with reddish hair and beard walked over to them, the knights parting like the Red Sea to clear a path.

"Good morning," Daniel answered back since Cam had declared him in charge of all things boring, this co-leadership starting to be something the colonel didn't hesitate to take advantage of. To Cameron, trade missions were considered boring.

"As I'm sure you've been told I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson and this is my team, Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Teal'c, Vala Mal Doran and my assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan."

"My _lover_ Dr. Adrienne Rowan," Vala whispered to Adrienne who promptly kicked her, crimson flushing in her cheeks. This time, however, Adrienne could see Daniel waving his hand behind himself in a 'cut it out' motion, so she complied, shaking her head for Vala to stop.

"Excellent," Ailwin continued, "I am pleased to meet you all. Right this way," he indicated, walking between the men on horseback a second time, expecting them to follow, which Daniel did immediately, Adrienne lagging behind staring out into the distance.

"It's just so cool," Adrienne whispered over to Vala, pointing to a small manor house situated at the base of the castle, the center focus point of the surprisingly neat medieval village.

"Not really. We saw a lot of this when we were chasing down the Ori. After a while it just gives you the creeps," she replied quietly.

Remembering, and wishing she hadn't said anything, Adrienne nodded and walked on, looking ahead for Daniel.

As Daniel had expected once he got a handle on the layout of the village, they were set up in the manor house, which apparently had been converted to guest usage once the castle had been completed. As normal, there were quarters for the men and for the woman which Vala picked up on right away and began her typical torture of Adrienne, torture that included a variety of comments about Daniel and Adrienne sneaking out to make whoopie in the woods.

Blushing, Adrienne just walked away, admittedly disappointed that she would have to sleep for at least tonight not wrapped in his warm embrace. Adrienne went to grab Daniel, inform him of the arrangements when she saw him being whisked away by their host, legal pad out already writing feverishly. She was sad for a moment, having to remind herself that this was her job and this was what they needed to continue to do if they wanted to continue working together and being together, so she distracted herself with setting up for the night.

For the remainder of the day Daniel met with Ailwin and the village leaders, apparently meetings that she didn't need to attend, so Adrienne and the team set out for the town, eager to explore.

"Put that thing away Addy, you're scaring the villagers," Cameron teased Adrienne as she used her iPad to take photos, flashing the contraption all around her, snapping uncontrollably.

"Girl you know better, to them, it looks like you're using some crazy spelled mirror," he explained as she frowned at him, like Daniel did, so much like Daniel, trying not to laugh at her expression. For as smart as she was Adrienne sometimes forgot that her fun technological gadgets tended to freak people out and she blushed, pausing to kneel and remove her pack, switching to her less intimidating digital camera.

The team wandered around for a bit longer, Adrienne continuing to snap pictures, stopping to speak to villages and take some video footage, yammering on about societal roles and Goa'uld and Ori religious influence. She was very excited, but Cam was starting to wish that she had gone with Daniel, the longer the two of them were a couple the more they acted like one another.

The sun rose to its final peak, reminding the group that it was midday already, so they decided to eat lunch under some trees on the outskirts of the village, Cam hoping to get a break from the anthropology lesson.

"I love an easy mission," he said as he removed his jacket, setting it down to make himself a seat, "no getting shot at. No worrying. Just come, walk around, relax and let Jackson run his mouth." Adrienne laughed, opening her bottle of water and leaning against the tree, no longer talking but finally relaxing.

"What are you laughing at Addy? You know how he gets and yet you choose to spend every waking moment with him. Wait, I take that back, every waking, sleeping and whatever you guys do in between moment," Cameron teased and Adrienne reached over, grabbing a rock and tossing it playfully in his direction. Teal'c was laughing loudly and Vala just crossed her arms, happy someone else was doing the picking. Smiling, Adrienne just lay back on her jacket to relax looking up at the clouds when she saw that the colonel had moved over to sit beside her.

"You guys really are serious aren't you?" Cameron asked, wondering how far it had come since they had last talked, but Adrienne just shrugged.

"Yeah, if you're wondering if he's planning long term, not yet, but I think it's heading that way," Adrienne answered honestly. She'd told herself that if he asked her to marry him that she would, but he hadn't asked that specifically, just told her that he wanted to spend forever with her, which she wasn't quite sure exactly what that meant.

Maybe he didn't want to get married again.

Before the conversation could go any further, as if his ears were burning, they heard Daniel's voice coming over Cam's radio.

"Cam, can you read me?" he asked. Swallowing his water, the colonel squeezed the button, turning his head to answer.

"Yep, we're just relaxing and letting you do all of the work. How's it going?" Cameron replied casually.

"Interesting... can you guys head back?" Daniel responded, the team looking at one another strangely. Puzzled, Cameron clicked the talk button once more.

"How interesting?" he asked, cutting his eyes at Adrienne who shrugged at his non-verbal question.

"Just head back..." Daniel requested, ending the conversation, and Cameron, once again, looked over at Adrienne.

"I speak Daniel but I can't read his mind," she retorted and stood, heading back before anyone else cared to mock or pry into her personal life.

When they arrived Daniel was waiting for them outside of the castle and without a word, he motioned them toward the guest house. Confused, everyone followed him in and to the common room when he leaned back on the central table, looking at his friends.

"Who can ride a horse?" Daniel asked calmly and Adrienne immediately raised her hand, remembering many a summer with Aunt Barbara and her cousin Rae. Frowning, Daniel shook his head.

"Who else can ride a horse?" he corrected, ignoring the glare he was receiving from his bewildered significant other. Cameron raised his hand now, of course, having grown up on a farm and Daniel nodded but was still making a face.

"They smell bad," Vala replied as Daniel shook his head in the negative, now peering over at the final member of their party.

"Teal'c can you ride a horse?" Daniel now asked, confusing Adrienne further; why would it matter if Teal'c could ride a horse? The Jaffa shook his head no as well and Daniel sighed, looking back at them as if he was finally ready to explain.

"Well it appears that we're going to get our trade deal. Provided we're able to meet one...stipulation," Daniel began carefully.

"Why do I have a feeling that this stipulation involves me doing something crazy that I would rather not do?" Cameron stated.

"Here a tourney is usually called to celebrate new alliances. The proper documents are signed following the event provided the visitors can supply a knight capable to facing theirs," Daniel continued, everyone staring at him puzzled, everyone but Adrienne.

"Cam's gotta joust?" she asked in disbelief, Vala frowning in her friend's direction.

"How did you know what gibberish he was talking about? I thought you studied those toga people?" Vala asked.

"I do, but I've been to enough of those Renaissance Faires to know where this is going. He doesn't have to win, right? Just take a few blows, enough in the final bout where the king eventually steps in, calls it a draw, honors both men, and what have ya?" Adrienne peered over at Daniel clarifying and he nodded.

"That's about right. Cameron just needs to stay upright for a few passes and then the show is over," Daniel agreed, Cameron already shaking his head no.

"Nuh uh," he began, "not only do you expect me to ride a horse I don't know, but I have to ride a horse with a stick and try not to get poked by someone else's stick. Do we really need this naquada that bad?" Cameron asked a question everyone knew the answer to.

"Yeah," Daniel replied, "we do. I mean, I can head back to base and see if we have anyone who is as geeky as Adrienne and has done this before but in all honesty you're a team leader. It would probably look best if you did it. I would, but I can't."

Looking at the ceiling, muttering something about his grandma and his life, Cam took a deep breath before glaring back at Daniel, the expression on his face not one of contentment.

"Alright, alright. I sword fight, I did all of that crazy King Arthur shit with the Ori so I guess that makes me the official knight of the group. Maybe I need to go with Addy to those geek fests of hers to prepare for future contests you guys decide to volunteer me for," he agreed, reluctantly, Adrienne suppressing a giggle at his reaction.

"I'll buy ya some sexy breeches when the Fredericksburg Faire comes to town shug, I promise," she offered as Cameron shook his head, Daniel standing from the table, clasping his hands together nervously before leading him to the armory to select his attire.

The tournament took a few days to prepare so the team got to enjoy the amenities of Pusflet a little longer than they had originally anticipated.

On Daniel's orders, Vala had radioed back to Sam that they were staying for a few days and she insisted that she would send whatever the team needed to make this trip a success, excited and hopeful that this was going to all work out as planned. Most of the members of the team were bored, but Adrienne was thrilled to be living a live Renaissance Faire, dragging Vala around the entire village explaining things and shopping.

Adrienne found her translation skills and talents with a knife paid off and she was able to swap reading documents and writing letters for some illiterate villagers for various things she and Vala wanted to purchase, or could challenge more arrogant male merchants to a knife throwing contest for an apple or two. Daniel just let them be, figuring that Adrienne was at least keeping Vala out of trouble, although he did wonder how he was going to explain to Sam the three baskets of dresses his assistant was bringing back through the gate. The general had made a few comments but it was true; he did let Adrienne get away with a bit more than he should because he loved her and he couldn't help himself.

Vala had noticed too, but she didn't seem to mind anymore. In fact, she acted like she was Adrienne's personal bodyguard and threatened to do severe bodily harm to Daniel should he hurt her. He had no intention of doing so, in fact it was quite the opposite, he was starting to figure out if he should include Vala in his proposal scheme, but he couldn't help but wonder what harm would come to him if he did.

Better safe than sorry and he still needed to buy a ring first.

Teal'c stood back from Cameron as he fastened the last bit of armor to his chest, Daniel looking to Adrienne for the final inspection. It had been three very exciting days for the cajun woman, but she was also missing sleeping curled up to Daniel, so she wanted this over as soon as possible.

"Is it put on correctly Lady Rowan?" her lover asked, knowing Adrienne would know and she made a face at him because she did, and not for a professional historical reason but for geeky ones that he would mock later.

"Yes smartass, yes it is. I think he's ready to go. How do ya feel mon ami?" she asked Cameron, reaching her hand out for his shoulder.

"Like a very hot canned ham. Do I have to wear this wool crap underneath?" he questioned.

"ColonelMitchell, that protects your skin from the metal and lessens the impact," Teal'c explained.

"T, can we not use the word impact? Or blow? Or anything that reminds me that that huge Orbert fellow I met yesterday is going to ride at me with a small tree," Cam requested, Adrienne once again trying not to laugh.

Yesterday, Cameron had gotten an impromptu riding and jousting lesson from a very large and very friendly man named Orbert. After helping Cameron drive his lance into a straw figure a few times and after showing him how to do it himself, thereby destroying the target entirely, Orbert then announced that he would be Cameron's opponent.

Adrienne was still surprised that Cam hadn't fainted right then and there.

"You've got this Cam," Vala assured him, although Daniel knew she was lying. At this point, everyone just wanted to get this over with, with their team leader in one piece, well this team leader in one piece. Daniel, only partly feeling guilty for being the team leader not about to get slammed with a large lance, excused himself to sit with Ailwin, kissing Adrienne lightly before leaving, as Cameron mounted up to meet his fate.

Adrienne was spellbound as she walked beside Cam's steed, gazing out into the main arena area. They had seen the setup from the outside, but there was no way that she could have truly understood what it looked inside.

Flanked by large sheets of brightly painted canvas in green and blue, the colors of Ailwin's family, were wooded foundations, home to rows and rows of bleachers, carefully crafted in only two days' time, complete with intricate carvings of war scenes and hand railings. There was a main box, where Ailwin was sitting watching and Adrienne could see Daniel joining him, his perfect tall frame kneeling down to duck under a canvas canopy as bright as the flags surrounding it. The central part of the arena was just like she had seen at her 'geeks fests' and on movies, two lanes separated by wooden railing, the scoring flags waiting in the center to be moved to their correct positions, a light blue and black flag to represent their team.

She wondered if that was Daniel's doing, the SGC flag flashing through her memory, as they walked out to the starting line. Instantly, popping out of seemingly nowhere, they were greeted by a small squire wearing the same colors as the canvas and the flags billowing over them.

"The name of your knight my lady," he asked Vala and she smiled at the title, answering him with a blush in her cheeks. Nodding, the young boy repeated the name carefully, running over to make the announcement.

"Announcing, Sir Cameron of the Taur'i!" the boy shouted to the crowd. From atop the brown steed Cameron was smiling from ear to ear, his copper colored armor wrapped all around him. The helmet was covering most of his face, but the grin was clear and one could just make out his green eyes sparkling with pride from inside the helmet. He sat up a bit, regal and proud, his appearance all the knight he was being asked to play.

"Sir Cameron, I like that. From now on you all can call me Sir Cameron!" he declared in jest.

"Sir Cameron," Vala shouted, "Try not to get your ass knocked off the horse."

The squire shouted once more, ordering the start of the match and Adrienne, the only other team member with much horse experience began leading the stallion to the starting line, having assigned herself the task of being his squire.

Finally out of earshot, Cameron glanced down at her, those smiling lips now looking deadly serious.

"Tell me I'm not gonna die," Cameron said quietly to Adrienne.

"You're not gonna die, Sir Cameron" she replied plainly, distracted as her eyes scanned the horse and rider one final time in case she had missed anything. For all of the times Daniel teased her about working off of movie knowledge he was sure relying on that knowledge now.

"That didn't sound confident," he joked, turning his head and raising his eyebrows.

"You're gonna be fine. Just hold on and point stick. Easy as pie," she smiled and handed him the reigns, backing up from the animal.

Looking ahead, and breathing deep, "Sir" Cameron rode forward picking up his lance and holding it under his arm.

"Announcing, Sir Orbert of Glasdonn," the squire shouted as Adrienne made it back to her friends, the three gazing out as Orbert, riding out in black armor on a large black horse, entered the arena. Horse and man combined must have stood a good 15 feet off of the ground, maybe more, and his red beard poked out from the sides slightly, like flames, making him much more intimidating.

"Holy shit," Vala breathed out.

"That is no joke ValaMalDoran," Teal'c answered. Remaining silent, hoping for the best, Adrienne just shook her head, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

The contest began with the sounding of a horn, a loud brass echo into the air, vibrating in the fields around them and Cameron took off just as he had been trained, his lance pointed at Orbert and Orbert's giant lance pointing at him. The colonel wasn't joking when he said small tree, Adrienne thought, one man clearly dwarfing the other as they approached one another, all three members of SG-1 holding their breath as they awaited impact.

Daniel watched the two men ride, lances out and ready, their steeds carrying them swiftly toward their opponent.

Come on Cam, he thought, immediately thankful he couldn't ride a horse.

Time seemed to speed up and the two men were suddenly on one another, Cameron's lance pointed at Orbert's chest moving closer and closer until the crash of metal on metal, echoing louder than the trumpets had before. Daniel almost stood and shouted, but restrained himself, shocked however, that Cam had hit him, a direct point on that large and very skilled man...

who now wasn't moving, who didn't budge an inch, who apparently wasn't even trying to hit him this round...

Daniel actually felt the blood leave his face; this was not good, not at all, his concern not lessened as he heard Ailwin laughing beside him.

"Orbert likes to play in the first pass," he explained, "feel out his opponent."

"Play," Daniel repeated, "nice."

Breathing out, he looked back at the competition field as the men went to the opposite sides to ride again. Daniel squinted, trying to see if he could gauge how Cam was doing, but the colonel gave him no indications one way or the other, just rode over and back to the starting line to go once more.

Maybe Cameron thought he did well, it was a good clean hit.

Please don't let your guard down, Daniel thought, please realize what just happened.

Sitting there, wishing he had a way to communicate that to Cam, Daniel tried not to worry as the squire trumpeted again, the men riding toward one another for a second time and it was clear by his stance that this round Orbert wasn't playing. He rode powerfully towards Cameron, lance holding strong and pointed at his opponent's chest but Cam held his lance as well, riding hard and fast, his gaze on Orbert.

And then there was impact, loud, fast, more powerful than before and Daniel looked up just as Orbert's lance slammed directly into Cameron's chest, making a disgusting, gut wrenching, crunching sound as it did. Daniel couldn't tell if there was damage to the lance or to his friend, but Cam just kept riding toward the side line, to where the team was waiting.

He seemed alright, fortunately, so Daniel let out a sigh of relief and prepared himself mentally for the next set of passes.

They saw he was beginning to slump over as he rode toward them, the butt of his lance being the only thing holding him upright. He seemed to have wedged the lance underneath himself for just that purpose, to keep him upright, and he was hanging on to it as Vala ran to pull him down off of the horse.

"Cam, Cameron, wake up, Cameron," she was saying as she struggled with his head weight, the lance not only holding him upright but pinning him to the horse. Teal'c and Adrienne rushed to help her, dragging him to the ground beside the animal, pulling off the helmet.

"Can't breathe," he whispered hoarsely as Teal'c began undoing the armor. Vala sat on her knees, Cameron's head in her lap, smoothing his hair, Adrienne rolling up the tunic the minute that Teal'c pulled the chest plate away, her eyes widening.

"What?" Vala asked, "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Adrienne cut her eyes silently at Cameron's chest and back at her friend. Vala leaned in and could see a large black bruise spreading across his sternum, Adrienne looking her directly in the eyes, mouthing no.

"That's better," Cam said, interrupting the women's silent communication, pulling from Vala as he tried to sit, but she held him down, raising her eyebrows at Adrienne.

"Val, girl, I'm fine. That damn armor was just too tight," Cameron tried to argue, looking up to Adrienne for support and over to Teal'c, who was standing with the horse shaking his head no as well.

"CameronMitchell, you cannot ride again," Teal'c stated in their stead but the colonel sat up, shrugging off Vala and pushing Adrienne aside.

"Yes I can, just tie the armor a bit looser," but as soon as he was up and the words were out of his mouth he reached for his chest, his face telling everyone that he now understood their objections. Seeing in the others that they didn't have to heart to tell him, Adrienne leaned over him gently, taking on the task herself.

"Shug, you aren't going anywhere," she said, pulling him back down to lay on the ground and he let out a sigh, allowing her, adjusting his position to help him breathe easier on the ground.

"It's a lot harder than it looks like in the damn movies," Cameron admitted, breathing in and out slowly as he reached for his rapidly blackening chest. Vala shook her head and stood, brushing off her pants as she looked back at the group.

"I'll go tell Daniel, unless you want to go over there and kiss him first to make it better," she looked at Adrienne.

"Nuh uh. I'm with him and I don't like giving him bad news. You can be my guest mon ami," Adrienne replied.

Scowling, Vala peeked over at Teal'c who was starting to pull the horse away from them and back over to the stable and to Adrienne who instead of running to inform the other squire that her knight resigned, was standing there, staring out into space.

We need this, she thought, we need this naquada. If we've lost Atlantis we need to at least have the Odyssey and Daedalus ready to go...

"Suit me up," she declared, her gaze clearly locked on Daniel who was looking in their direction, trying to figure out the cause of the delay. Unable to believe her ears, Vala whipped her head around, shaking her head.

"No way Addy, not happening. You do realize that if you get smashed to bits this will somehow get blamed on me!" she hissed.

Ignoring her, Adrienne turned to Teal'c.

"We need this, suit me up," she ordered and held her arms out but Teal'c hesitated, peering around her shoulder over to Vala. Angry, Adrienne spun around to look at Vala who had kneeled once more by Cameron.

"Can YOU ride a horse?" Adrienne asked and Vala shook her head, giving Adrienne the answer she wanted, so the cajun now turned back to Teal'c.

"And you?" she clarified.

"Riding such a beast is primitive AdrienneRowan," Teal'c responded, Adrienne nodding, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Look, this is our only shot at getting this trade agreement, ok? And in case you two haven't noticed, we haven't been doing that great in that department. I get to hear about it daily," Adrienne kneeled over Cameron herself this time, starting to pull the armor off of his legs.

"Addy, that asshole hits hard," Cam warned, pointing to his chest, trying to sit up so she could see, to make her understand the mistake that she was about to make.

"Hopefully, I'm not as big of a target," Adrienne grinned a bit, hoping her shorter build and smaller frame would work to her advantage and hoping to hide her fear. Knowing this was a battle that they were not going to win, her friends looked at her, glancing at each other before kneeling down to start removing the rest of the armor from Cameron.

"I hope your friend is not hurt badly," Ailwin leaned over to Daniel stating quietly enough for the other nobles not to hear but loud enough to get his point across.

"No, I'm sure he's fine," Daniel replied, trying to see what was going on over by the stables. Cam had taken a pretty powerful blow to the chest and Daniel had seen him retreat to the sidelines.

This is why he wanted Teal'c to do it, the Jaffa could take a blow better than anyone he had ever seen, but his inability to ride a horse prevented that.

Daniel was just about to excuse himself to check when he saw the brown stallion re-enter the arena once more and he breathed a sigh of relief as Cameron seemed to ride the horse effortlessly, as if he hadn't taken a major hit at all.

Smiling, Daniel looked back over to Ailwin.

"There we are, everything's just fine," Daniel said, sitting back, relieved, to watch the contest continue.

Cameron lined the horse up again, carefully, expertly, but he looked like he was struggling a bit with the lance, probably a result of the earlier blow. Knowing this was something that he just had to accept, Daniel just sat there hoping that his friend had everything under control.

The small squire entered the arena once more and blew the trumpet to indicate the second bout. There was no hesitation in the colonel's movements and Daniel saw Cameron pull the horse a bit to begin his pass once more. Lances up the two horses, the brown steed of his friend and the black steed of Orbert, ran strongly to face one another advancing closer and closer when Daniel saw the tip of Cameron's lance falter slightly.

Shit, he thought to himself, that blow must have bruised his arm too, but Daniel didn't have time to dwell on it since the men were together once more, however, just as the two men should have had impact, Cam dipped down, not striking Orbert but dodging his lance completely, pulling the lance over his lap, as his horse passed on by.

He ducked, Daniel thought, is ducking even allowed in jousting, as Ailwin was laughing loudly beside him. Daniel turned, slightly embarrassed to face him and apologize for Cam's little stunt.

"Your Mitchell is a tricky man! A tricky man. But Orbert will not be fooled into slipping off of his horse by his own accord," Ailwin said, thankfully not angry, but Daniel still frowned, glancing back to see Cam turning around to make his second pass returning him to his teammates.

He looked down the line to see if maybe the others were in on this little tactic that the colonel was trying now and saw Teal'c and Vala standing there waiting, but not Adrienne.

Odd, where did she go, he thought, maybe she was behind this madness, she usually was.

Daniel shook his head, hoping that his assistant, his girlfriend, the woman he loved, was not doing anything too drastic to try to improve their current situation, focusing ahead on Cameron to watch him make the next pass.

The colonel was adjusting himself awkwardly and appeared as if he was struggling to hold the lance. Daniel saw him pull it back into his lap a second time, reaching to mess with the helmet again.

It was strange, it looked as though he was adjusting the armor as if it was too big for him, in fact, the colonel appearing just a bit smaller than before. Maybe Cam had removed the under padding because it was pushing in on him too much, Daniel thought, knowing that the woolen undergarments under metal covering were not very comfortable nor light. If he did, he hoped Cameron knew what he was doing because knights wore those garments for a reason, Egyptologist or not, even he knew that.

There was the sound of the trumpet once more and the horses tore off towards one another, Cam galloping to Orbert, his lance holding strong this time, leaning forward on the beast, preparing for impact.

Good, Daniel thought, he's actually going to joust this time and not play.

His teammate came riding in faster and faster, the sun blaring down on the two men and their horses when Daniel noticed a flash of red light, and looked over at his friends, hoping that no one decided to use the P-90 as a distraction or some other form of cheating; the ducking before was bad enough. As the sun shone brighter, some overhead clouds being whisked away by a light breeze, Daniel saw that is wasn't a red light, it was a red sparkle, in the shape of a teardrop, or a drop of blood.

His heart stopped as Daniel stood from his seat, his eyes wide.

Adrienne continued to hold up the lance, determination in her face, riding toward the large and experienced knight. She couldn't see his face, only his eyes, black as night and piercing. He was utterly terrifying, but Adrienne didn't look away just rode on, knowing this was something that had to be done.

She just hurt so badly...

Daniel was petrified with fear; he had no idea what to do.

Should he stop the joust and reveal the deception, thus saving Adrienne from whatever was about to happen?

Why did she do things like this?

Why did she insist on, again and again, behaving in this way?

Yes, she was tough, the toughest Earth woman that he had ever met, but Adrienne didn't have the experience that Vala or Sam had, even two years later she still took unnecessary risks and put herself into harm's way in a moment's notice. She had been off world sure, plenty of times, but Adrienne's ideas often came from something she read, or worse, saw on one of her TV shows not any of her actual SG experience.

She was going to kill herself, his heart was racing, he felt like he was going to be sick as he stood again, unable to speak.

_Why does everything I love get taken away from me?_

Don't falter, don't falter, Adrienne repeated the mantra inside her head, keeping her gaze on Orbert and aiming her very sore arm at his chest.

This thing is so damn heavy, she thought, but forced herself to focus, repeating don't falter to herself once more.

_I can't let everyone down._

Daniel couldn't watch but he couldn't tear his glance away, his heart beating so loudly in his chest it was a wonder that no one had heard. They were almost at one another when time itself seems to slow to a crawl, Daniel only able to focus on the necklace, the small droplet of gemstone blood, hoping that it wouldn't soon be covered in droplets of its real counterpart.

The hooves were beating faster and faster, the only thing faster was the beating of his own heart, the necklace bouncing off of her chest plate in the same rhythm.

And then they hit.

_I've lost her..._

There was no way that Adrienne could have prepared herself for the sheer force of impact that came from the lance, no amount of reading, fighting with Teal'c or Ronan, or other experiences with her friends could have given her any idea of the pain that she was experiencing right now. Had she known that it would have hurt this bad, she never wouldn't have hopped on that horse like she had a clue as to what she was doing, but she hadn't, and she did, and here she was, her chest throbbing uncontrollably. She looked down at her arm to see that the lance was gone and went to move it to see where her staff had fallen, but she couldn't move her arm, she couldn't feel her arm and the ground was fuzzy and then she was falling...

Daniel saw that Orbert's lance missed it mark, instead of slamming Adrienne in the chest, possibly cracking a rib or worse, it had hit her upper right arm. He saw her stay true to target at long as she could, but her lance just tapped his torso, bouncing to the ground and he glanced up, seeing that Adrienne was still on the horse.

He had no idea how, but by some miracle she was still upright.

The crowd was screaming and yelling, the judges were trying to determine points since she was clearly still on the horse and had hit something and he was leaning over the edge trying to listen in on the shouting when out of the corner of his eye he saw her move her head, looking at her arm.

It wasn't moving, he noted as he glanced back at her again, to see that she was looking at her arm like she was willing it to move.

And then she fell; she just toppled off the horse, her body slowly cascading to the ground. No longer caring about appearances, Daniel leapt to his feet.

_It's not fair..._

"Addy!" Vala was screaming and running down the sand path, heading straight for her. She saw Daniel leaping over the stands making his way to the arena as well, so apparently he had figured out that it was Adrienne that was on that horse, not Cameron.

He was going to kill her.

Reaching Adrienne first, Vala ripped off the helmet, finding her friend unconscious.

"Addy, Adrienne," Vala repeated her name over and over, slapping her face, "Addy, wake-up. Wake-up dammit! Wake the FUCK up!"

She was screaming as Daniel almost fell into her, skidding on his knees over to Adrienne, grabbing her face in his hands.

"Adrienne, ja-wer, please, please wake up. Why do you do this to me? Adrienne, please wake-up," Daniel was pleading with her, tears forming in his eyes, as a crowd began to form, Orbert taking center standing over him.

"That's a woman," he stated, looking around him to the people beginning to gather. He shouted up to Ailwin, "they made me fight a woman!"

He seemed angry, angry that he had been put in a position to possibly hurt her, dropping to his knees by Daniel.

"Undo her chest plate," he ordered, "give her some air." Vala did as she was told, while Daniel began to quickly unfasten the armor at her arms and she started to stir, the rush of air was waking her as Orbert had suggested. Adrienne looked over just as Vala tossed the breastplate aside.

"Vala, did I do it? Did I knock him off?" Adrienne asked, her voice weak and Vala snorted.

"No, and you almost got yourself killed. Why don't you listen to me? Ever?" Vala responded harshly, beginning to unfasten the wool under armor. Turning her head, she now noticed that Daniel was looking down at her, and she took a deep breath.

"Hi sha," she said, trying to smile, "Can I preface this with an I love you?"

Daniel started to answer but he was interrupted by Orbert laughing loudly, slapping him on the back.

"This is your woman! Your woman!" Daniel couldn't tell if Orbert was asking or declaring but he began to laugh louder. For the life of him Daniel couldn't figure out what was so funny as he looked at Adrienne laying there in pain, the hand lifting from his back and Orbert peering over his shoulder at Ailwin who was now joining the crowd that had gathered.

"Majesty," Orbert addressed his liege lord, "This is a woman. You saw, was I not fighting a man?!"

Ailwin nodded his head in agreement, looking over at Cameron as he approached, hanging onto Teal'c's shoulder, still in obvious pain.

"I thought I hit you hard enough to knock you off! But then you stayed upright and rode on! I thought to myself what a man!" Orbert was roaring with laughter now as he addressed the injured colonel, turning his attention now to Daniel.

"But your WOMAN stepped in for him! She rode with the lance and faced me with no fear!" he declared, slapping Daniel on the back a second time before dropping to his knees at Adrienne.

"This is a WOMAN!" he declared, looking around at the other knights in attendance who were nodding their heads in agreement.

Daniel was shocked; they were actually impressed that she stepped in for Cameron.

What in the world was going on?

Shoving Daniel forcefully out of the way, Orbert leaned over Adrienne, gently taking her hand into his own.

"My lady," he began, "where do you ail?" he asked politely and Adrienne smiled.

"Everywhere," she tried to joke, her face wincing in pain. Smiling himself, he leaned over lifting her up into his arms and turned to face the healers on the sidelines.

"Get over here you fools! We have a jouster down on the field, what are you idiots staring at?!" he shouted as he walked Adrienne over to his personal prep tent.

Confused for only a moment, the healers grabbed their bags and rushed over to follow him while Daniel stood, watching the opposing knight carry Adrienne gently and respectfully to the tent in complete shock.

"Trade with our world must mean a great deal to your people if your woman would pretend to be a man and face Orbert," Daniel heard a voice behind him say, turning to see that it was Ailwin, looking as equally impressed, but Daniel, still worried about Adrienne, did not reply.

Ailwin sensed his hesitation.

"Do not worry. Orbert is quite impressed; he will see that she is cared for. However, I would worry about him trying to steal her away," Ailwin joked and Daniel finally eased just a bit, looking over at his host.

"Yes, yes this trade deal means a great deal. We need that mineral for our starships and to protect our world and worlds like yours," Daniel conceded honestly as Ailwin smiled.

"We are agreed then. Any people that would not only face the joust, but have a woman amongst them brave enough to step in for her companions are a people with courage and valor. Let us go to my tent and discuss this trade agreement," Ailwin spoke, placing his hand on Daniel's back to lead him to finish the negotiation.

Pausing for a moment, Daniel looked at where Orbert was ducking down, carrying Adrienne into the tent, Ailwin glancing back, laughing once more.

"Again, do not worry. They will care for her," Ailwin assured him just as Vala walked up beside Daniel.

"I'll go deal with her. If you botch this after what she just did, she'll kick your ass," Vala warned, dashing off after Adrienne.

Frowning, in worry still, Daniel let Ailwin lead him away.

Adrienne was sitting in her quarters trying to figure out how to turn the pages in her book while her arm was in a sling. Fortunately her arm hadn't been broken, however it had been painfully dislocated.

Orbert had put it back into place for her and that had hurt more than getting slammed with the lance.

Once she'd been patched up, she, Vala and Cameron, barely walking himself had returned to base while Teal'c and Daniel worked out the trade agreement. Thankfully, Dr. Beckett met them at the gate so Adrienne didn't have to endure another lecture from Carolyn, who had informed her that each time she had to repair Adrienne based on what she called her own stupidity she was going to insure that Adrienne felt every stitch, every swab, and every repair. Adrienne knew she just worried, Carolyn was quite a caring person inside, she just used her grumpy exterior to try to keep them all in line. Adjusting herself yet again to no avail, she had just about given up on reading at all when there was a knock at her door.

"If you don't have the code I probably don't want to talk to you!" she shouted, knowing only her fellow team members could really get in. There was tapping, the familiar bing bong of buttons and the door opened, Daniel slipping in through the entrance. He must have just gotten back from the planet and he didn't look happy, that familiar frown across his face.

"Oh no, did the trade agreement fall through?" Adrienne asked, tossing the book aside to give up completely.

"No, it went well. Better than expected. Apparently, everyone was quite impressed with your little performance," Daniel said as he approached the bed, Adrienne scooting forward to let him sit. He sat and she tried to move her body to lean against him, but he stopped her, shaking his head slowly. She looked up at him surprised for a moment and then understanding, realizing that her little performance was about to blow up in her face.

"Daniel, look, I know what you're gonna say, and once again, I'm sorry. It's my Daniel mantra 'I'm sorry'," she said, looking into his eyes.

"Adrienne, I'm not looking for an apology. I'm," he said quickly and started to sit up straighter, pulling away from her even more.

"You're what?" Adrienne asked confused.

"Ad, I'm not sure what to do. Before, well, before us, yeah I worried about you of course I did, we all worried about each other. But things are different now," Daniel began, his voice faltering. Concerned, she reached out for his face but he grabbed her hand, setting it aside, far away from himself before he took a deep breath and continued.

"Adrienne I love you, more than I have ever loved anyone else in my entire life, but I've had a few days to think about everything. To think about what happened, what you did and I've realized that I can't do this. I can't spend every mission, every waking second wondering if you're doing something reckless, something you think has to be done, something that will take you away from me. It's not fair to me, I just can't do this again Adrienne, I just, I just can't. And it's not fair to the team, they're worrying about us and this more than, well, just more," Daniel kept talking, finding the words hard to say, Adrienne growing sick.

No, she thought, not after everything, no, she couldn't lose him like this, over this.

She felt tears in her eyes and glanced up to see Daniel looking at her, appearing as if he was going to start crying himself. Sniffing in, he stood quickly, taking a breath in and out.

"Ad, I don't think this is a good idea anymore. Under other circumstances maybe, but, I," he choked up a bit and started to leave, pausing at the door.

"You will always mean the world to me, like no one else ever will," he added quickly, a thin stream of liquid racing down his face as he opened the door and he left, closing it behind him.

It was then that Adrienne started to cry.

Vala struggled with the tray of food as she keyed in Adrienne's room code, trying to balance the assortment of insanity that she had collected for her friend. Finally the light turned green and Vala reached for the doorknob, letting herself in, yelling as she stepped.

"Addy I did the best I could but I have no idea if I got the right amount of carbs or proteins or whatever the hell else you need," Vala explained, kicking the door behind her to face Adrienne, who was laying on her side, the good side, in the bed, not speaking or moving. Sighing, Vala set the tray on her desk and walked over to her, pulling up a chair and taking a seat.

"Addy, if you're hurting I'm sure that Carson will be happy to give you some more meds," Vala offered, leaning forward, placing her hands on her knees to brace herself, examining her face to see if Adrienne was trying to hide the pain and saw that she was crying, and it looked like she had been crying for a while.

"Adrienne, this is stupid. No one is doubting how tough you are. I'm gonna call Carson right now," Vala said and stood when Adrienne started crying again, harder, a heavy mournful sob that was painful enough to watch let alone to experience. Shaking her head, now angry at her friend's stubbornness, Vala started over to the phone when she heard Adrienne mumble behind her.

"It's not my arm," she said and Vala stopped, whipping around, slamming her palms to her hips.

"Whatever, there's nothing wrong with some good pain killers every now and then. And anyway, you're gonna want me to call and ask before Dr. Lam gets here because she'll say no," Vala replied and Adrienne picked her head up a bit.

"Vala please, don't call the docs ok. It's not my arm. It's Daniel."

"What did that asshole do this time? Did he come in and fuss at you? He'll get over it; he always does. I've told you a million times that you can't show weakness with him, he'll just walk all over you," Vala responded, approaching Adrienne again but she just cried harder, curling herself into a ball. Vala looked at her in shock, watching her friend as she convulsed and shook, having a complete emotional meltdown, a melt down that could only mean one thing.

"No," Vala began, shaking her head, "there's no way. Adrienne did he come in here and?" Vala didn't want to say it; there was no way that he would just march in here and end it all after everything they had been through, had gone through to be together, but Adrienne was nodding her head slightly and crying harder.

At a loss for words, Vala walked over and sat on the bed with Adrienne, comforting her until she was calm.

Daniel heard boots coming down the hallway, fast, and he didn't look up, assuming it was Sam coming to get the report on what had happened. He didn't have it ready, he'd been staring at the computer screen for two hours at least and had typed nothing; he couldn't bring himself to even type her name so he just sat there, staring, trying not to cry.

_What have I done?_

The boots entered the lab, approaching him swiftly, but he continued to stare at the screen, trying to compose himself before addressing Sam.

"Daniel?" it was Vala's voice, surprisingly, and he looked up to see what she wanted when he saw a fist heading toward his face. He didn't have time to duck, to speak, or to move, and her fist hit him square on the cheekbone sending him, still in his desk chair, crashing to the floor.

"What in the HELL is wrong with you?" she screamed. Daniel started to speak but Vala cocked her fist again daring him to utter a sound.

"One word and I make the other side match," she said, "you will sit there and you will listen to me. Do we understand one another?" Daniel nodded, holding his cheek.

"We don't choose a lot of things in life. Sometimes awful goddam things happen to us and we can't do a damn thing about it and those things shape us, they make us who we are. Adrienne has spent her entire life worrying and caring about other people. She doesn't do things like jump up and joust or work her way into a slave facility or any other thing she has done that pisses you off for attention, she has done them FOR YOU. Or for ME. Or for SOMEONE ELSE. Of all of the people I have met in my life that woman is one of the most caring selfless people that I have ever known. So, you don't love her anymore, that's fine, then end it, but what you just did to her is cowardly and disgusting," Vala raged and Daniel tried to speak, to explain it to her, but Vala kicked his leg hard, painfully hard, and he shut his mouth quickly.

"Did I say I was finished? You and I have been through a lot together, and I think I know you pretty well. I know you well enough to know that you do love her, and, although I do not understand for the life of me why, she loves you too, madly. You're just scared, scared of losing her, like Shar'e, like Janet. But Daniel that's life. Is it even worth living if you spend it trying to shut yourself off from caring about anyone just so you don't get hurt? So what, are we next? Daniel's going to cut everyone off so he can just go about his business, a big cold mass of flesh, not caring about anyone or anything? You think becoming emotionally void will protect you from ever being hurt again? If there is some big man in the sky making people or something like your religious people hear say, he made Adrienne for you. If you are too stupid to see that you don't deserve her but to be honest, I don't think you deserve her anyway, " Vala spat, turning to leave when she stopped once more, facing him as he was crawling from the floor.

"And if you go to Sam to get her removed from the team, make sure you add me to the list. We can start our own team. Daniel's exes. And every time we do something good we can laugh about how much of an ass and a coward you are and how we are all much better off without you," she added, crossing her arms and remaining as if she decided to stay and await his response.

Not speaking, Daniel stood quickly, hand still holding his face, hoping to hide the new bruise and the tears, shoving past Vala and storming out of the door.

Sam couldn't seem to find anybody, which was pretty rare. Cam and Addy were not badly hurt and they had secured the trade agreement, however, come report time there was no one to be found. Cam was no longer in the infirmary and since he and Teal'c were both off base Sam figured they had gone for drinks, drinks she had to agree that he needed considering his temporary foray into the middle ages. Much to her surprise though, the lab was empty and Vala wasn't answering either of her phones, so Sam decided to just go get what she needed from Adrienne, who she knew was in bed trying to keep her arm still so it didn't swell further.

Rounding the corner to Adrienne's room, she found Daniel, standing at her door, not entering, not moving, transfixed at the keypad. His arms were crossed and he was just staring, his face a slew of emotions.

Sam smiled, walking over to him.

Of course he was here, she thought, I should have tried here first.

What she couldn't figure out, however, was why he was standing outside with that look on his face.

"Is she asleep?" Sam asked as she reached him, trying to gauge what was going on. Lifting his head slowly, Daniel looked up and over at her.

"I'm not sure," he answered quietly, diverting his eyes away quickly.

"Well, I need to talk to her so let's go find out," Sam said stepping forward, expecting him to enter her key code, but he didn't, just stood there, staring again.

"Is something wrong?" she asked but Daniel simply breathed in, not answering, sniffing in slightly.

"Are you two alright?" Sam pushed, although she was fairly certain she knew where this was going.

Still silent, Daniel shook his head.

"Why?" Sam continued.

"Because I can't go through it again. That man could have killed her," Daniel answered and Sam nodded.

"He could have. Maybe tomorrow she gets shot or next week poisoned. Hell, I could go home and find Jack dead in our bed. Your point?" Sam replied, Daniel lifting his eyes back to the keypad.

"I want to marry her Sam," he whispered, the words crossing his lips for the first time, the reality of them making him tear up again.

_I want to spend the rest of my existence with Adrienne and nothing good ever happens to me. _

_I'll just lose her too. _

"I know you do," she answered, reaching for his shoulder.

"I'm worried of losing her, to this, to him, to, I don't know, it's just easier if I have nothing to lose," he admitted looking down to the floor, "And safer for her."

Releasing his shoulder, Sam leaned across him, typing in Adrienne's code on the keypad. The light went green and Sam turned the knob, stepping back and out of the way.

"You never know until you try. This might be exactly where you were supposed to be. You might be surprised. Now, I'd really like to have a report by tomorrow night, if at all possible," Sam requested, smiling once more before walking away.

Taking a breath, Daniel entered the room, closing the door quietly behind him, to see Adrienne laying on her side in the bed. There was a tray of food untouched on the desk, a tray someone, probably Vala must have brought her, but she didn't seem to even know it was there. Letting out that same breath, he made sure that the door was locked and walked over to the bed, stopping at the end. She didn't look up at him, didn't even acknowledge that he was there, just lay there in silence, her hands tucked under her cheek.

He started to speak but couldn't bring himself to form the words, his heart broken as he looked back down at her.

_I just walked out of her life, out of us like it was nothing. What kind of horrible person am I? _

Finally she glanced up at him, her face red and tear streaked and she didn't speak, just scooted back on the bed, making room.

_Well, she's not screaming..._

Without a word he got in beside her and rolled over to face her, wrapping his arm around her waist, trying to hold her to him the best he could without hurting her wrapped arm.

"Ad, I'm - ," he tried but couldn't, tears welling up again, he couldn't even look at her, his eyes cutting to focus on the wall. He wanted to say something, to beg her to forgive him or admit he was wrong, or at least that he had handled it wrong but he said nothing. Sniffing, her dark eyes gazed up at his, red, swollen, hurt, making him vow inside to never hurt her like that ever again.

_Adrienne, I am so sorry..._

"Injured lets me break the diet plan. I want cheesecake for breakfast. With dark chocolate crust," she finally said, leaning forward to bury her head in his chest.

"Anything ja-wer," he whispered, holding onto her.

It didn't matter, the fear, the hurt, nothing mattered now, all that mattered was right here, right now. He'd rather have only a moment with her in his life than let her slip away.


	44. Chapter 43 - Outsiders

_Don't hate me for the reminder but everything happens for a reason and details are not to be forgotten. _

"Happy Birthday handsome," he heard a voice from over top of him and pressure on his chest, realizing that it was her voice awake before him.

Adrienne awake before him?

Without a fight?

This must be a dream.

Slowly Daniel opened his eyes and sure enough, there was Adrienne, straddling his waist, an evil smile on her face. Oh no, he thought, slightly panicked, that face meant madness, which was never good.

"How are you awake?" he asked the first question that popped into his head and she scowled at him, rolling her eyes and slapping her hands on his chest.

"That's the greeting I get from you this morning? How are you awake? Sha, I'm beginning to regret all of my careful planning," she replied, her smile not diminished for a moment. Knowing there was no way out of this, he laid his head back on the pillow and groaned.

He had specifically told her to ignore this day, but no, Adrienne would never let a birthday pass silently, ever, especially his. Last year they hadn't even been together and she had bought him a Nerf gun and brought a huge chocolate cake into the lab, covered with enough candles to start a wildfire. It was sweet, she was sweet and had always been sweet, but dating someone that much younger than he was, he didn't want a reminder of how he was just marching his way on to fifty years old.

Forty seven today, he thought, he'd been rounding up for a few months now, an old habit from childhood when he was always light years ahead intellectually but not biologically, but today it was real. He was old and even if she said she didn't care, even if being descended made him look and feel younger, there was still a part of him that knew the truth and he wasn't sure how'd he'd get over that.

"What have you done?" he asked, hoping that his poor word choice as he was just starting to wake up wouldn't offend her, so he ran his hands carefully up her arm to be sure. Smiling, she leaned down, kissing him lightly and crawled off of him, signaling with her hands that he remain in bed.

"Don't move," she added for emphasis, "I'll be right back," she said, dashing off into the kitchen.

Rubbing his face with his hand, Daniel did as she requested, staying in bed but reaching for his glasses, after all, he needed to see what she had come up with. He started to sit up when the smell hit him and he wasn't sure exactly what it was, but it was some combination of fruit and chicken, which in and of itself was odd. Looking up he saw Adrienne coming toward him, tray in hand, and all smiles.

"We will begin our day with breakfast in bed!" she declared, setting the tray across his legs. Before him was a large plate of strange looking pancakes, a bowl of rice and blueberries set in some sort of casserole and what looked like a pile of cheese. In fact, the only thing he recognized at all on the entire tray was the cup of coffee that she had put into a non-spill cup so he reached for that instinctively.

"Alright sha, since I know you like to eat things that are ultimately going to make me single in the future, I figured I'd pull out some oldies but goodies from Aunt Barbara's cookbook," she began to explain, still beaming. He had just learned recently that she could cook, even though he'd only had her cupcakes so far, so he was both worried and clueless right now as he sat in bed, trying to figure out exactly what it all was when he noticed that she was staring him in the face, awaiting his response.

"Well?" she pried.

Trying to hold back his initial reaction, of fright at this spread of New Orleans specialities, Daniel reached for the fork but didn't try anything in front of him just yet, for fear of what it was. It had been a long time since Abydoys and he had to admit he had gotten used to eating normal food again. He dug around the cheese mixture for a bit, glancing up at her before taking a bite.

"What is it?" he asked and again, Adrienne made a face at him. Sighing loudly and dramatically, she began to point at the items on the tray, starting with the berry concoction.

"That's just blueberries and rice with heavy cream, starch and fat Indy, right up your alley, and these," she pointed to the bowl of cheese mess next, "are just plain ole' baked grits, ya know grits, chicken soup and cheese and this," she pointed to the thick pancakes covered in powdered sugar, "is called couche couche."

Daniel couldn't help but laugh at the last item.

"I have an overwhelming urge to make a joke," he said, smiling, hoping that she did know he appreciated the gesture, despite his earlier protests, but she giggled, crimson in her pale cheeks.

"Mind out of the gutter Indy, lord I've ruined you. They're just thick cornmeal pancakes. They're good," she assured him, sitting beside him on the bed. He didn't comment further, just smiled and reached for the fork, cutting into the sugary round cakes and taking a bite, chewing them very carefully, Adrienne eagerly awaiting a response.

"Well..." she asked, unable to hold back.

"They're fantastic, you want some?" he answered and asked, surprised they were so good. Vala had told him if possible Adrienne burned water, which was the opposite of this and he was pleased that she hadn't been stretching the truth with her confession, that she really could cook, and he shoved the fork into his mouth, eating his breakfast with gusto.

"No, I had my toast while I made sure I didn't burn my apartment down," she joked, winking at him, already chugging a bottle of vitamin water. Daniel smiled between bites and continued to eat his meal, Adrienne beaming as he did so. He had finished the couche pancakes and moved on to the bowl of grits when she stood from the bed, her bottle of vitamin water empty already as she smiled at him.

"Ok, you finish present number one while I get present number two," she stated, scurrying from the room.

"Present number two?" he asked, his mouth full, his hand quickly reaching to cover his face. Raising her eyebrows a tad as she turned, Adrienne paused at the doorway.

"Yes, two of... well, you'll see. I haven't had anyone to spoil in a while, let me have my fun ok," she answered, dashing away and Daniel just laughed again, deciding to enjoy the treatment. After all, he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten treatment like this either, not to mention that this cajun food was good, really good. It was much better than her usual rabbit food, so he took a sip of coffee, secretly loving every moment.

He was just about finished his tray, and full to his eyeballs, when Adrienne bounced back into the room, a wrapped box in hand, her face full of that Adrienne excitement, that excitement he could never get sick of. Setting the box over on the dresser, she gathered up his tray and ran it to the kitchen, stopping at the door to glance over her shoulder.

"Don't you even think of touching that box until I get back," she ordered, winking as she dashed away again. Daniel felt his face flush at all of this, it was just so new to him, so unexpected when he caught the time out of the corner of his eye noting that it was 7:25, already. He needed to shower and he was sure Adrienne would, there was no way she had gotten up that early, and they still had to make the 45 minute drive to work.

"Adrienne!" Daniel yelled, "we're gonna be late!" He decided that a lie was his best bet to get her moving but she didn't rush back, just came waltzing in, still smiling.

"I've got that covered sha. Careful planning, remember? This is your type-A assistant we're talking about," she winked, grabbing the box from the dresser and walking back over to the bed, sitting beside his leg.

Smiling, Adrienne passed the box over, bringing her hands back to rest in her lap.

"Open it," she ordered, her deep beautiful eyes transfixed on the cube that was resting on his leg. There didn't seem to be anyway that he was going to make it to work on time, so he pulled at the ribbon on the top, tossing it aside and freeing the lid, peering inside slowly.

Stuffed in the box was wide assortment of bath products, candles and incense, why he had no idea, so he pulled out each and every item examining them confused.

"Ad, what is this?" he asked, emptying the box, noting out of the corner of his eye that she was smiling and looking at the clock.

"Due to the nature of your eight a.m. present, I'm giving it to you now so I can set up while you get undressed," she stated, gathering the items again and putting them into the box, Daniel gazing at her still bewildered.

"Ja-wer, we have to get to work some time, we don't have time for, well..." he trailed hoping she would get the gist of what he was saying, not that he didn't want to, lord did he want to, especially since they hadn't made actual love in a couple of weeks. She had been a bit distant, but there wasn't any time for that, unfortunately, and he missed so much being that close.

Adrienne, however, wasn't on that wavelength, in the least he quickly determined, standing with her hands on her hips and facing him scowling.

"Is today 'Daniel's mind in the gutter day?' " she asked, rolling her eyes now, "I wasn't thinking hanky panky in the bathtub. I told you, today is my day to spoil you and I'm gonna spoil you. Let me get your eight a.m. present rolling and while you enjoy that I can set up nine."

Feeling a little foolish for his assumption, he started to get out of bed when he paused, realizing her words.

"Wait, eight a.m. present? Setting up nine? Have you arranged for something every hour? Two of? " he inquired and Adrienne just smiled.

"Point for Indy, now strip, I'll holler when it's ready," she replied, whisking the box away and heading for her bathroom. Starting to grow very concerned as to exactly what Adrienne had in mind, Daniel pulled the blankets back slowly and stood from the bed, walking to get his clothes from the dresser. He heard the water running and knew there was no way of getting out of this, so he pulled his shirt from his head and tossed it into the hamper, doing the same with his boxers, making his way to the bathroom. The door was cracked and that's when he noticed that the light was off.

Pushing it open slowly, he started to reach for the switch when Adrienne was yelling again.

"No! That's what the candles are for! It's like Kelnareen! Just get in ok?" she ordered.

Oh right, the candles, he thought, and continued to do as he was told, gazing forward at giant vat of bubbles before him.

Oh dear lord, he thought, she's really taking this to the absolute limits.

"Ad, I can't see. How am I supposed to shave?" he asked honestly, trying to figure out how to balance her gift with what needed to get done. It might have been dark but he didn't need lights to know that she was glaring at him, her eyes might as well been shooting laser beams into the back of his skull.

"This, Daniel Anthony, is why you've been single for over a decade. Just shut up and get in," she replied, her tone not as playful as before. He tried not to laugh, she was really getting into this, instead choosing to do as he was told.

Apparently, she had thought of everything, a small lighted mirror so he could shave, every scent and bath product he needed, a new clean fresh towel with his initials on it for when he got out. He was rushing probably more than she would have liked, and there were his clothes laid out nicely on the bed with another small box on top.

Adrienne, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Ja-wer, what in the world did you do now?" he shouted behind him, pulling his shirt over his head and getting dressed quickly, eager to open up the box.

He had to admit, this was exciting and fun; god he loved this woman, how could he have ever thought...

Pushing the doubt away, he buckled his pants quickly and reached for the box, opening it to discover a small iPod, not the gigantic one like Adrienne had, but a smaller version with a little wheel. He tapped around like he saw her do and it started to play classical music, one of the operas he liked and smiling, he walked out to the living room in order to find her.

Adrienne, however, wasn't there either, but his bag was, packed and ready to go with a note on top.

_If you did what I said and actually relaxed, it should be almost nine. Part one was on your bed. Meet me in the jeep for part two. _

Glancing at his watch, he noticed it was indeed 8:50, and he really hoped that Adrienne had okayed all of this with Sam in advance. He shouldered his bag and locked the door, heading out to see what in the world part two was.

The 9 a.m. gift was a new stereo for his Jeep, one that adapted to the iPod he discovered, as she was sitting there, ready for work and waiting for him.

"Did you find a song you like?" she asked, still smiling.

"Quite a few songs, Ad, I really appreciate this I do, but this had to cost a fortune," Daniel replied, honestly beginning to grow concerned at how much she had spent but she just shook her head and smiled.

"No worries, you know I'm the queen of a bargain, now let me show you how this thing works," she answered, reaching over to the radio when she felt vibrating in her pocket.

Making a face, she retrieved the gadget, handing her phone over to Daniel to answer while she fumbled with the stereo. Daniel looked at the screen to see it was Sam calling and answered, letting Adrienne continue to set up her gift.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Daniel? Hey, I called Adrienne's phone didn't I?" Sam said, sounding flustered, and continued, "Well, Happy Birthday and I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I wanted to remind Adrienne that I still need you both here for the mission briefing at 10:30."

Daniel himself had forgotten that meeting in all of the excitement this morning, but he now glanced at his watch, noting it was a few minutes after nine and started the car, holding the phone with his shoulder. Adrienne must have seen his little balancing act, since she reached over and took the phone, indicating for him to drive.

"Hey Sam," she said, having heard the familiar voice through the loud speaker on her phone, thinking that she really needed to turn that thing down.

"Morning Addy, just wanted to make sure that you all were still coming in, I hate not to be able to give you the entire day but I don't have a lot of options," Sam apologized. She had wanted to give them the entire day or at least let them leave after the briefing, but with more and more intelligence about Anubis pouring in each day she couldn't afford to take any chances.

"Already in the car Sam, we'll be there shortly," Adrienne replied happily, having made plans for if this had happened as well. The general said goodbye and Adrienne tossed the phone aside, redirecting her focus back to the stereo. A few clicks and plugs and suddenly there was a loud rap song playing from the Jeep's speakers, Daniel taking his eyes off of the road for a moment to give her a look.

"I just had to, couldn't resist the temptation," Adrienne smiled, leaning over to kiss him, before changing the song and sitting back in her seat. Touched, there was really no other word to describe what he was feeling, Daniel smiled and laughed, wondering what the 10 a.m. present could be since it would be right around the time they arrived at work.

It was a Kuering machine, and considering his girlfriend's coffee addiction, well, and his addiction to coffee as well, he shouldn't have been surprised, but again, it was sweet and made him wonder for a second time how much money this was all costing her. He knew how much Adrienne made, it was a decent salary, but not even close to his and he just worried about her, especially since finances were something that they had never discussed.

Probably should have that talk, he thought, before I go through with buying a ring, but he didn't say anything other than a sweet thank you, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her lightly. Popping a cup onto the brewer to get them both ready for their meeting, Daniel started to think back to the webpages he had bookmarked with those very rings he had been looking at, hoping that in all of this planning she hadn't used his computer and found them.

That he still wanted to be a surprise.

"How was the birthday sex?" Vala asked him as soon as he hit the door to the briefing room, making him almost spit out his coffee. She was enjoying his being in a relationship way too much, much more than she should all things considered. He chose not to answer her, instead walking on by, tucking his folder under his arm and taking a seat.

Adrienne, on the other hand, wasn't as nice.

"Fantastic. We woke up the neighbors; I might have to move..." she teased and Daniel tried not to let anyone see him laugh as she watched his lovely assistant take her seat between he and Vala. In the past he might have fussed at Adrienne, but now, he found it all kind of flattering.

Before Vala could retort, Sam entered the briefing room, closing her office door behind her and walking over to the whiteboard. For the first time in a while, Adrienne didn't have any slides to show because this wasn't one of Daniel's presentations, so she leaned back into her chair, reaching under the table, rubbing his leg lightly. He smiled and slid his hand under as well, interlocking their fingers.

"Make me puke," Vala said as she stood, preparing to lead the presentation. She clicked on the whiteboard and looked to Teyla, who Adrienne had missed as she entered, her attention today completely focused on Daniel, to run the slideshow. Scanning the room Adrienne could see it was she and Daniel, Teal'c, John Sheppard and of course Teyla and Vala, no Ronan and no Cam.

That's odd, she thought, as she felt Daniel pull away and lean forward toward the table to open the folder.

"Alright, so our few Lucian friends and those damn snake houses have found out that Anubis was last seen on this planet which we are calling P45-S32. It looks like this," she began, flashing a picture on the screen, the surface of the planet appearing to be a swamp of some sort, gray dreary sky and a wide variety of green plant life, masked in a thin haze.

"It's the Dagobah system," Teal'c said, a half of a smile and glancing over at Adrienne, who immediately erupted into laugher causing Vala to shoot a glare at the both of them.

"What in the hell is the Dagobah system?" she spat as Daniel shook his head, reaching under the table to squeeze Adrienne's knee.

"Star Wars joke Vala, continue," Daniel replied and Adrienne raised her hand.

"I'm sorry Vala, we're listening," she apologized. Rolling her eyes and glancing over to Teyla to change to the next slide, Vala continued.

"It appears that Anubis has been visiting the villages there for a reason none of our contacts have yet to ascertain. However, the first MALP we sent through did manage to make contact, they speak English, so they were most likely Goa'uld controlled at some point and they seem willing to meet us. Unfortunately, that's all we have. Are there any questions?" she concluded, a picture of a small village of shanty bark houses displayed behind her.

Leaning forward, Daniel raised a finger slightly.

"Do we know anything about their culture? Who's in charge, anything about them as a people? " he asked, but Vala was already shaking her head seeming to have anticipated his question.

"No, the village we're in contact with seems to just exist on sustenance farming and basic hunting. There appears to be no real structure to their society as a whole," she responded.

Not quite sure if he believed that, Daniel made a face but leaned back in his chair, scanning the folder again.

Vala had little more information to share on the planet than what was in the folder and on the slides. Daniel was concerned, this hadn't been a planet that he and Adrienne had prepped, so he wasn't used to the limited amount of information, however, since it was Lucian intelligence, it was her turf, so the team would just be going in with this information and nothing more.

It wasn't that he didn't trust her, it was just that he was used to the way he and Adrienne did things and this was not how he did things. He was sitting at his desk, looking over the information again, trying to ascertain if Vala had missed anything that they needed to know when he felt lips brush his ear, kissing their way downward to his neck.

"It's noon. I owe you two presents," Adrienne whispered lightly. He reached back for her and squeezed, turning his chair around and taking her into his arms. He didn't care about the rule, she was really taking a day that he hadn't been looking forward to and turning it into something wonderful, wonderful enough that he was going to take the risk, push the boundaries of their recent distance. Holding her in his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her, he rested his chin on her shoulder, nuzzling close to her.

"I have everything I want right here," he said sweetly into her ear. She smiled and leaned back into his arms, tilting her head back to kiss his cheek.

"And you have everything else you could want in the fridge," she answered, trying not to choke up over his words.

He's trying Ad, she assured herself, you can't hold it against him forever.

He squeezed her once more and kissed her cheek, pushing her forward gently so he could stand and investigate. Walking over to the lockers, he knelt slowly in front of the mini-fridge, another Adrienne addition, and opened the door. Inside were two bottles of chocolate milk and a unlabeled brown paper bag. Curious, he pulled the bag out and opened it, peering in and smiling.

"More baking?" he asked over his shoulder as he took out a chocolate walnut cookie, popping it into his mouth. It was perfect, absolute heaven, so good he could quite easily eat the entire bag.

Dear god he loved this woman, how could he have ever risked throwing it all away?

"Nope, not this time, you're too nosey. They're all Sam's doing. She's a good ally to have," Adrienne responded, walking over to her locker and pulling out her gear. Daniel snuck another cookie and stuffed the bag back into the fridge for later, grabbing a chocolate milk. Sam scheduled them to leave within the hour, so he needed to pack, even if he was slightly disappointed to miss Adrienne's 1 p.m. gift, what it might be he couldn't even imagine.

Everyone was waiting when they arrived, late, as Adrienne made him now, another thing he just didn't care about. She made him feel so loved and alive, he couldn't imagine life without her anymore, refused to imagine a life without her, and if that meant he would never make it to a meeting or a departure on time for the rest of his life, so be it.

"About time, round two?" Vala asked but Adrienne smiled, prepared for the comment.

"Yes, breathtaking. I wouldn't go in the lab for a while if I were you," she responded without missing a beat. This time, Daniel laughed into his hand, wondering if Vala really believed her, or if this was just some inside joke between the two women. Tossing her head back laughing as she signaled for Walter to dial, Daniel assumed the latter as Vala led the group through the wormhole.

Daniel looked up just in time to get a face full of poop. Thankfully, his glasses kept it mostly out of his eye, the archaeologists reaching blindly to clean off the mess when he felt them being removed and a towel wipe across him gently.

"Thank you ja-wer," he said, eyes closed as the excrement was wiped away.

"Nope, it's me. Your lover has left you behind to join her people, while we get to fight off the wildlife," Vala replied, pointing to a bird swooping overhead. Surprised, Daniel took the towel from Vala and rubbed his own face, opening his eyes to scan the surroundings to see that she was indeed correct. John and Adrienne were a slight distance ahead, talking to a man in heavy burlap looking pants, overalls and no shirt and a woman in a straight line loose purple dress. Teal'c stood back, scanning their surroundings, looking for trouble, looking for clones as Daniel glanced over at Vala, who was cleaning off his glasses, wondering why she wasn't down there.

"When you were at the meeting basking in the afterglow of banging your assistant, I was explaining how they spoke Addy. So, I decided to let her and John be the faces of the SGC while I hang back and investigate," she answered, reading his mind. Daniel must have really been studying the folder, he missed that part of her briefing but there was no mistaking that she was correct when he heard Adrienne exclaim loudly.

"Gah lee, ya can't mean dey jus gone like dat?" she asked the man, hands on her hips. The alien was back, the alien that invaded her body and made her talk like some stereotypical TV character. The man was nodding in the affirmative, so Daniel approached the scene, hoping to figure out what was going on.

"Yah, dems 'ere fah long time, vay-yay wit some of da folk, like ah healer and then passe and jus gon like nuttin be," the man answered, the woman nodding in the agreement. Glancing over at John, Adrienne smiled slightly, giving him a silent signal. She didn't trust that Anubis would just leave and neither did Daniel. Concerned, he grabbed Vala's arm, pulling her back to his side before he approached.

"How friendly are these people?" he whispered at her ear, trying to keep close enough to still hear Adrienne's conversation but far enough away to not be noticed.

"Don't worry. They're not conspiring with Anubis if that's what you are thinking. I won't let her get hurt. She's my friend too," Vala accused, missing his point as Daniel was already shaking his head.

"No, they just left. Up and left. I know we need to search for anything they might have left behind, but to just leave? That seems suspect," he explained and Vala shrugged, craning her head to see what Adrienne was saying to the man now.

"Not really. The leads I've been following, that's just what they're doing. Staying put for a while and dashing off. The Lucians are finding the same thing. He's not staying in one place for very long," she answered. Reluctantly Daniel didn't argue further; this was what she had been working on while he and Adrienne continued with the database when they were not being asked to translate the bits and pieces of intelligence that needed decoding.

He just hoped she had done his level of prep work.

Stepping forward, a part of him still concerned, he stood behind Adrienne, resisting the urge to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Ahn we don't know where dem udder ones went, da men in da skins. Dey came trew da chapa ai jus like yous and passe without ah word," the man continued. The Lucians had been through here too and left, seen, not just spying. He wondered if Vala knew that, and if so, why were they here at all? Reaching her hand out, Adrienne touched the man's arm gently and thanked him, turning back to Daniel and John who had stepped back to allow her to speak.

"Does Vala want us to camp or stay here? They seem friendly enough, I think if we would like to avoid sleeping on damp ground we would be safe," she stated and John was nodding his head.

"I agree, I think I'm gonna tell Vala we're going to request housing. Adrienne, can you take care of that?" he asked.

"Of course," she answered and went back to approach the man who had started to leave with his wife. Not wanting her to go into the village alone, Daniel followed, catching up just as she had explained their situation.

"We nigh 'ave much space. Des a few cahbins we can put cha in," the man offered. Adrienne smiled, accepting the offer and he walked slowly back to the village, like a true cajun. Smiling, the temptation to tease too great, Daniel walked up behind her, running his fingers lightly down her spine.

"Feel like home?" he joked, backing up so she didn't smack him, watching carefully as she turned around to face him, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

"You want your one o'clock present smartass?" she asked slyly. Daniel raised his eyebrows, surprised, no impressed, that she was going to continue this madness through the mission.

"Thought so," she replied, walking back in the direction of Vala and the others.

"Hey, trouble!" he shouted out as she walked away and she paused, turning back smiling that evil smile of hers.

"Yesss Indy," she answered.

"What's the one o'clock present?" he asked, noting that he didn't see her pack anything into her bag this morning, nor did he see any kind of gift in her hands or hanging from her tack vest.

She winked at him and smiled once more.

"Let's just hope we get a cahbin all to ourselves handsome," she whispered slyly, making him flush red. She couldn't mean, well, that?

Could she?

Lord please, he couldn't believe that he was thinking, forcing the thought away as he followed behind her, trying not to imagine what gift she had up her sleeve or be too excited about what might happen if they got a 'cahbin' alone.

They didn't, of course, and the kind man, by the name of Dutroy, led them out to two sheds on the outskirts of the village. He had thought 'cahbin' meant cabin, but apparently Adrienne knew they were being taken to a tool shed and divided up the group three and three, Teyla, John and Teal'c and then himself, her and Vala.

Of course, he had to be trapped with both of them, so much for the 1 p.m. present.

Daniel tried not to act too disappointed as he shoved some tools aside to make a place for the three of them to sleep, placing his bag beside the wall, Adrienne's by his own and Vala's as far from his as possible. By the time he was finished Vala was at the doorway, Adrienne having left him again, waiting, tapping her foot on the floor.

"There will be no sex in here tonight unless I'm part of it," she stated simply. Daniel rolled his eyes and pushed past her, heading out for the rest of the team. Adrienne and John were talking once more to Dutroy and the woman he assumed was his wife, Teyla and Teal'c emerging from the adjacent "cabin". He scanned the area around him when he heard Vala slinking up behind him again, her lips dangerously close to his ear, making him flinch with old fears.

"Blue eyes, I need you to get that sexy ass of yours over there and make sure that your little woman is schmoozing them proper while I poke around. They need to have never noticed that I was gone," she whispered, holding him in place so he would cover her escape. He nodded slightly, understanding her covert mode, and waited for her to exit around him, hearing underbrush crush behind him, fainter and fainter until the sound was gone and he knew Vala had slipped away. He started to move when he felt hands on his shoulders once more and a hand slip into his pocket.

"Your one o'clock present. You'd better be glad I like her so much," Vala's voice hissed in his ear, startling him, he thought she was gone, before there was more crunching as she darted off into the swamp. This time, Daniel watched her until she was gone and reached into his pocket pulling out a small wrapped package. He glanced up at Adrienne, still chattering away, and decided to open the small surprise to see what was inside, his inquisitive nature overtaking his patience. Tearing at the paper, he noted that his hands were shaking nervously, wondering what it could be considering her earlier comment and wondering why she had given it to Vala.

It was a statue, a tiny statue of Aphrodite, along with a note.

_Thought she'd jazz up your place a bit. All things considering. _

He smiled, thinking back to a conversation a few months ago, when he and Adrienne had debated the true roles of the Greek gods and she had mentioned something about Aphrodite not really being the goddess of true love, only screwing around. Seeing the joke in her gift, that she was really trying to tell him what she had wanted the afternoon gift to be, he cursed the mission under his breath, annoyed that they couldn't have had the day off to lay in bed, make love and enjoy one another, instead were trapped on this muddy mess of a planet. It wasn't that he necessarily wanted sex, well, he did, but they hadn't since the Pusflet incident and he just wanted to know that everything was ok, that she still trusted him.

_I betrayed her trust and I just want it back._

Sighing, Daniel walked ahead to see what she and John had discovered.

The people of the village, Ruton they called it, were quite friendly and gave the five of them a quick tour of the area. It was a typical mid eighteenth century Bayou village, even more evidence that the Goa'uld were still making Earth pit stops years after they had originally thought. Surprisingly, Adrienne managed to give him a two o'clock gift, a case for his iPhone, in red, a deep red, his favorite color. Just as Adrienne was showing him how to put the phone into its case, Dutroy's wife, Mari entered, a kind pleasant smile on her face.

"Is suppa time," she announced cheerily and motioned for them to follow. Daniel paused, looking over at Adrienne confused and then down at his watch.

"It's two o'clock; supper time?" he asked.

"Just because I'm Cajun doesn't mean I hold the secrets to all of the swamp people in the galaxy," she responded. Shaking his head, Daniel tossed everything he would need into his pack, pocketing his newly cased phone and reaching out to help Adrienne to her feet.

"This is why I like to do the prep work, what time does it get dark here? Is there a reason we're eating so early? I've learned my lesson going in blind, apparently she hasn't," he fussed but Adrienne just leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Play nice Indy," she whispered, following the large red-headed woman out of the tool shed and to the central part of the town.

It seemed that Mari and Dutroy were hosting the team themselves, Teal'c, John and Teyla seated at the table with a bowl of grits, or at least what resembled grits, in front of them with Vala, Adrienne noted, nowhere to be seen. Ducking through the shorter doorway, Daniel was about to go and take a seat at the table when he felt finger trace down his back and a hand pull him backwards by the center of his shirt.

"Où est Vala et?" (Where is Vala?) she asked, quietly in French. Turning his head slightly so it wasn't too obvious they were sharing a secret, Daniel leaned back to whisper to his reply.

"Elle explore," (Exploring), he answered carefully and felt Adrienne tap her fingers lightly at his spine in recognition before moving forward to greet their hosts.

It was a simple dinner, lunch she guessed since it was only two, and it reminded Adrienne of some of her cousins that were, if possible, less fortunate than she was growing up, grits, gravy and some egg and potato dish. Their hosts, strangely enough and definitely not a cajun trait, didn't offer much information on themselves, the food, or the town itself, just asked them questions about other places they had been and some of their advanced technology. Based on the conversation, it seemed as though they had had very little contact with the outside world which troubled Daniel; people like that were easily influenced by the first advanced society in which they came in contact and in this case that was Anubis so their intelligence would lead them to believe.

Sensing the tension in the room, Teyla began to speak, asking their hosts if they had any children, about their family trying to get them to open up and finally Mari smiled and began to speak of a daughter that lived in a nearby village. Immediately there was a calm to the room, Adrienne smiling over at Teyla, who of everyone she had ever met in her life had the most soothing personality, whether it be in a small room or a large crowd. Winking over at Daniel who was eating the grits, a look on his face of recognition from his meal this morning, Adrienne was about to relax and eat herself when there was shouting heard outside of the window, familiar shouting, shouting that during each and every mission she hoped to avoid.

"Let the fuck go of me! I'm with the group you backwards hillbilly rednecks!" Vala was screaming full blast, those among other choice words.

Shouldn't have taught her those little slangisms, Adrienne noted and stood, glancing over at John whom she hoped would step in with her to help ease the situation.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened; Vala had gotten caught "exploring" and most likely didn't handle the confrontation properly or their hosts hadn't taking kindly to her snooping, something Adrienne knew was a bad idea the moment Daniel told her that she had left.

That little part of the plan had been left out of the briefing.

Either way, it was going to take John or Daniel's diplomacy skills to get them out of this.

"Dat be da udder womun in ya group," Dutroy, most certainly not a backwards hillbilly redneck, stated. Apparently, Vala's little disappearing act hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Yeah, she's looking for those folks we told you all about, the ones that are killing women and children," John replied, hoping that reiterating what Anubis had been doing would be enough. Dutroy was standing now, however, walking around the table to John, his wife already at the door opening it, intensifying Vala's shouts.

"Get me out of this goddam thing, I'm not a fuckin fox, I shouldn't be trapped like an animal!" she continued to shout as her teammates were finally able to see her, dragged in by a large caramel skinned man, literally dragged, as she had fallen in a trap of sorts, her legs and arms bound tightly.

"I advised her to wait until nightfall and to not go alone," Teyla noted, shaking her head as she addressed the group, evidently the one person in the group to have been made aware of this plan.

"Listening's not her forte," Daniel responded, stepping forward himself in order to get her out of trouble yet again.

"Dutroy, ya gots a 'nife o sumtin?" Adrienne turned to their hosts, trying to keep on as if nothing had really happened, as if this were some accident. Dutroy, however, didn't move, didn't motion for his wife to get a knife or anything.

"We donna take kindly to snoopin," he answered, looking over to John.

"Not snoopin, we know y'all didn't have anything to do with those other folks, but we need to know where they've gone before they hurt anyone else," he replied, walking over to where Vala was being held up in the air slightly, by her arms, which were tied tightly behind her back. Rather than relinquish Vala to the mission leader, however, the man tossed her to the ground, the captive member of SG-1 still swearing profusely, and he stepped in front of her, proud of his prize and unwilling to part with her.

"Ya be snoopin, just like dem last folks," Dutroy continued, "and wen we fund dem last folks snoopin, we took dem ta Laja."

Confused, the team looked at each other, Daniel wishing he was over by Adrienne so he could at least get her out of here. Holding up his hand gently, John took a step closer to the large man in front of Vala, hoping to keep the peace.

"Alright, Dutroy, alright, we shouldn't have been snoopin without tellin ya but if we could just have our friend here," he pointed down at Vala as he spoke. One more quiet step forward and for just a moment John thought they were going to allow him to free her when a fist went across his vision and met with his head.

Before Daniel could grab his gun to enable Adrienne and Teyla to escape, he felt a slam from behind and caught out of the corner of his eye Adrienne turning to fight two young men with sticks before the world went black.

"Indy, sha, god damn it wake the fuck up!" Daniel heard a voice in the distance, so very far away, swearing at him. His head ached badly and he went to bring his hand to his temple to rub it, planning to roll over in bed and ask Adrienne to get him some Advil when he realized that he couldn't move his hands. They were bound, tightly, behind his back, and he forced his eyes open, quickly turning his head, looking for Adrienne.

"Welcome back my love, how's ya noggin?" she asked from beside him, similarly bound but using her elbows and body to try to rouse him. He shook his head slightly and scanned to see his entire team tied up right along with him, including Vala who was still restrained by both hands and feet.

"The people of this village are not as simple as Vala believed," Teyla answered, "they knocked you and John out from behind, used your Zat on Teal'c, John's on Adrienne and told me if I did not submit then they would start to cut your throats one by one."

"Great work Vala," Daniel spat over his shoulder, his eyes cutting into her as she made a face, opening her mouth to speak when Teal'c intervened.

"AdrienneRowan has been trying to awaken you so that we may all devise a plan for escape," he stated. Relieved that at least his assistant could think rationally, Daniel turned to Adrienne.

"Great Ad, what have you come up with?" he asked, but she just shrugged.

"I don't have a damn thing; I just wanted to make sure you weren't permanently damaged. I'm kinda attached to you," she answered.

Great, Daniel thought, no plan.

"This Laja seems to be a leader of some sort; I'm thinking of explaining the situation to her first. Maybe Dutroy and the others don't understand like this Laja the real threat they are facing here," John offered.

Considering his words and deciding to volunteer to explain that they were looking for Anubis not trying to interfere with their lives, Daniel started to answer when there was a click and they collectively turned to face the door to Dutroy's house as he stepped through. He was leading behind him the same man as before, as well as two other thin, pale men and a small dark skinned woman. The woman, Daniel guessed, was Laja, assuming the 'a' at the end of her name indicated that Laja was female.

She couldn't have been more than five feet tall, long, heavy dreadlocks hanging on her shoulders, accented with feathers, shells and stones. She wore a navy blue dress, a simple a-line design with long sleeves, a large golden amulet swinging around her neck. Her feet were bare and dirty but she didn't seem to mind as she made her way across the jagged and splintered threshold of the home.

The others parted for her and stood back in silence, letting her pass to walk slowly from one end to the other, starting with Vala who was leaning against Teal'c, then Daniel, Adrienne, Teyla and finally John. In eerie silence, her eyes ran up and down each of them a few times, inspecting every individual with judgmental black eyes, until she stopped at John, holding her stare.

"Be dis der leader?" she asked out loud, not at anyone in particular.

"Yes Laja, dis be der leader, John he say his name is," Dutroy answered.

Nodding, Laja approached the Atlantis commander, who was now regretting his volunteering to take lead on this one, kneeling, cocking her head left, right, and back left again.

"Why ya be nosin' around? Whatcha lookin' far?" she inquired of him, peering deep into his eyes.

Clearing his throat before he spoke, John formulated his words carefully.

"There were a group of men here, before us, bad men. They're hurting people and we want to make sure they don't hurt anyone else. We're trying to figure out where they went," he answered. Laja cocked her head a few more times and it was then Daniel noticed that she was blind in her left eye so she was trying to make up for that vision loss with her head movement.

"Dey be right. Dey be bad men. But we got rid of dem," the woman answered.

Got rid of them?

How did they do that?

Unable to hold back, Daniel leaned forward, ignoring his lover's glare which was shooting in his direction.

"Excuse me, Laja, my name is Daniel. How did you get rid of them? We're trying to find them to stop them from hurting others. We want nothing else from you," he requested.

Redirecting her gaze from the colonel, she cocked her head again, peering at Daniel, studying him from top to bottom, her pitch black eyes lacking the mysterious beauty of Adrienne's and quite frankly, it gave him the creeps.

"Dey all say dat. Dat we want nuttin else from ya. But dat never da case. Dey want de da ore, in da ground, but we ain't givin," she replied, her head whipping around quickly to look at Adrienne.

The moment those eerie eyes met her own she felt chills course down her spine as the woman examined her head to toe as well, slowly and then began to laugh, cackle almost, looking over at Daniel shaking her head.

"It nah be wise ta bring ya gainne wit ya. She hesitated en gut caught cos of ya," the woman added, looking Daniel straight in the eyes.

Confused, he glanced over at Adrienne who was shaking her head but the woman just continued to laugh.

"Donna let her lie ta ya. She en da uddah fighta woman cuda gutten loose, but she wudn't leave ya, wud ya Addy?" the woman asked, now glaring at her.

Adrienne froze, unable to speak, wondering how in the world she could have read her mind while Laja stood still, almost as if she wasn't breathing at all, scanning them all once more, directing her attention this time to Teyla.

"Nah as if ya would've left em eadder," she continued, pointing a finger at John, "ya say he fahmlee, but he nah. Ees odd, ees deefrent, ees nah like dem two," she explained as she cocked her head back at Daniel and Adrienne.

This time, it was John's turn to glare at Teyla, knowing that she most likely refused to leave him behind as well; she really was the sister he never had. Staring ahead at the woman, not giving away anything else by her facial expressions, Teyla maintained her composure, but the woman was laughing already.

"But naw she regrets eet, gut 'erself da liddle one ah 'ome," Laja spoke, striding over to Teal'c and Vala, who was still bound tighter than the others.

"Ahn ya two, ya monsters. Ya dink dat jus cos da Gahds be missin means dey gone fa gud? One ah dem already bahk ahn ya lookin fah 'eem instead ah takin' care ah ya own," she hissed, spitting on the floor at their feet.

Daniel was starting to catch on to how this was working and leaned forward again, feeling Adrienne slam his knee with her own in the process.

"Laja, it seems that you're intuitive and if so, you can read our thoughts and see that we're only here because we're after Anubis in order to destroy him, and not for anything else," Daniel explained as the layers and layers of head turned, moving like a snake, slowly, hypnotically, before she finally twisted her head slowly to meet his gaze.

"Dat might be paht ah why but nah da truth. Ya dah nah tell each udder da truth always ahn dat nah so gud," she replied and pointed over at Vala.

"Dat one wants glory mah dan anything ahn der be an anger ehnside 'er," she started, running her eyes over to Adrienne briefly, and then Daniel and then back to Vala, the mood in the room suddenly changing as though Daniel could actually feel the anger, the jealously, the outright rage; it was overwhelming.

Daniel thought Vala was alright with he and Adrienne, but apparently not, apparently there was a part of her that was still holding on to hope.

Smiling, Laja left them to sit in the heat of emotion, turning to Teal'c.

"Jaffa, part ah ya wundahs if ya did dah righ ding, bringing down dah Gods. Ya Jaffa nah do so well," she accused.

That Daniel knew was true; Teal'c had confided in him when they would share meditation some of the internal problems in the Jaffa council, and he had told him as much. Not that he meant that he would have chosen a different path, but the troubles in the Jaffa leadership were just that, troubling, and he was concerned, not plotting treachery.

Daniel started to speak up, defend his friend, when she glared right at he and Adrienne.

"Ahn ya two, ya jus worried 'bout everything but what cha nee tah be wahrried 'bout. She donna want him to get hurt, out ah lives, ahn he worry 'bout 'er, want 'er tah stay 'ome, be safe, he dinks he gonna lose 'er, but dey nah talk ta each udder, dey just donna understand like dey did," she explained, looking at them.

Daniel kept silent but he felt Adrienne's glare at the side of his head, knowing her words to be true. He did worry, much more than before, before she was his friend and he cared about her, but now, now he was so in love with her at times he couldn't concentrate, lost in thoughts of their future together and in webpage after webpage of rings. He worried, daily he worried, about her sharing Shar'e's fate, but never would dare bring that up to her for fear of the massive fight it would cause for this distance it would put between them, for this distance it had put between them.

Laja was laughing again, so she just stood back from the group, reaching underneath her skirts and pulling out a leather bag, brown and worn, feathers hanging from the bottom.

"Arrete toi, cracher en l'air ca va tomber sur la nez!" Adrienne shouted, as Daniel looked over at her confused, not understanding her words, it must be cajun because spitting on the air and landing on his nose made no sense. No longer watching Laja Daniel suddenly felt dust against his cheek and he jerked his head quickly back in her direction to see the old woman blowing something out of her palm, something thick and dark, something that must have come from the bag, something that was moving toward him so slowly but still fast enough that he couldn't dodge it.

For the second time on his birthday, Daniel Jackson blacked out.

This time when he came to he didn't have a headache, thankfully. He sat, slowly, but still felt out of sorts and strangely uncomfortable in his clothes. Reaching for his chest, he scratched an annoying binding there to discover there was something wrapped around him. His hands were free so he didn't know what exactly it was; it was bothersome and underneath his clothes, but he would worry with that later, his first concern was Adrienne.

"Ja-wer, are you alright?" he asked, turning to his side to look for her and choked on his own words, his own light tinkling words, coughing it up like something was stuck in his throat when he saw it. Laying in the grass beside him, was himself, his own body, unconscious and unmoving.

"Daniel, it appears that Laja has taken care of us as she did Anubis' men," a voice behind him spoke. Turning, still confused, he saw Teyla sitting on the grass, a small brown haired boy laying across her lap.

"Teyla, where are we? What's going on?" Daniel asked and stopped noticing his voice, a very familiar voice that was not his own. Glancing down, not waiting for Teyla to respond, he realized instantly what was wrapped around his torso, quite uncomfortably he thought.

It was a sport's bra.

He was in Adrienne's body.

Quickly he stood and dashed over to his own to see if she was breathing, alive, alright but hesitated, feeling strange reaching for his own cheek.

"She's breathing, I think the switch just took her harder," Teyla responded, Daniel peering back over her shoulder to where she was still sitting holding the child.

"So, is that you John?" he asked, again surprised at Adrienne's voice coming from his mouth, trying to process that as Teyla was shaking her head.

"No, John and I have not been switched. This is John," she said, indicating the child in her lap. Daniel leaned over onto his knees, looking down at what, or who was apparently John Sheppard. Teyla followed his gaze with her own, her face solemn and her mouth drawn.

"DanielJackson"

"DanielJackson"

"DanielJackson"

Spinning around, more brown hair flying into his mouth, and accidentally biting down on that damn tongue ring, Daniel glanced over his shoulder to see Teal'c, no three Teal'cs, standing in a line as if they were preparing for an attack. They looked confused, as confused as Daniel felt.

Carefully, he reached down and pushed himself standing, shooting up faster than he intended, staggering as he stood. That's right, he thought, women have a lower center of gravity, spreading his legs and shaking his feet to adjust to the changes.

"DanielJackson"

"DanielJackson"

"DanielJackson"

"It appears..."

"It appears..."

"It appears..."

"That Laja..."

"That Laja..."

"That Laja..."

Shaking his hands in front of him, Daniel signaled for Teal'c, the Teal'cs to stop, unable to understand what they were saying.

"One at a time, who's the original Teal'c?" Daniel ordered, following up his command with a question, the three large Jaffa looking at one another confused.

That's not gonna work, Daniel thought, pointing to the man standing in the middle.

"Center Teal'c," he began, "what do you remember?"

"The spirit woman blew powder into your face and once you were unconscious AdrienneRowan fell unconscious as well. She did the same to Teyla and John, although they tried to fight and I was knocked unconscious by a Zat," Teal'c explained, Daniel noting that they were missing a team member.

"Where's Vala?" he asked, turning back over to see himself, well Adrienne laughing, awake now, pointing to her left. Taking a step to turn himself around completely, he followed her finger, his finger, the finger as she collapsed onto the ground cackling hysterically.

"Sha," she started, the cute cajun diminutive sounding so strange in his voice, "can ya hand me my camera, because after you figure a way out of this I want photographic evidence."

Vala, shuffling four pink legs in his direction, oinked in general disapproval.

He really didn't know what to do. After assessing the state of his team, it appeared as if he and Adrienne had traded bodies, Teyla was left to care for a very young John, Teal'c had been duplicated, not cloned but completely duplicated and Vala had been turned into a pig.

Were they not sitting here, in what seemed to be the middle of a swamp, the sun blazing overhead, heating the beads of sweat from his face, he would have thought that was as funny as Adrienne did, but for now he couldn't joke.

They were lost, in the middle of nowhere, on a planet that did not want them there, their radios taken from them, with no idea where the DHD was, and it was his birthday.

It was his damn birthday.

So much for enjoying the day; he knew there was a reason he didn't like this day. Breathing out he scanned the area one more time, Adrienne sitting crossed legged like she did, her satchel between his legs digging through as if the solution were inside.

"Ja-wer, are you alright?" he asked, disregarding the others for a moment as he studied his own frowning face.

"Yeah, just, yeah, I'm fine sha," she answered, the pig Daniel now noticed laying at her feet lifting her head, a low in and out grunt emitting from her snout.

"Vala's not," she added, reaching to pet her friend's back as if she were a pet rather than a colleague, in his body no less.

"Daniel, do you think this is how they rid themselves of Anubis' men?" Teyla asked, John asleep by her side, his head lying on her pack.

How old was he?

Two, three?

There was no way to know, but what he did know was that his original idea of seeking out the DHD wasn't going to work with a child that small and a farm animal in tow. More importantly however, he knew this Laja woman was responsible and he knew that only she could reverse it, so they needed to stay until they figured out how to get her to do that. Chewing his lip, Daniel stared out into the distance, looking for a marker or anything that would give him an idea of the direction on the village.

"Indy?" he heard, making him look up and over in Adrienne's direction again.

"What? Did you think of something?" he asked, watching her nod in reply.

"We did this you know. Not just Vala snooping, but all of it. I recognized the spell, old old voodoo; I had a teacher in school that was really into the stuff, and she used to say it to the kids that bullied the other kids," Adrienne explained, her hand rubbing Vala's back nervously, apparently her friend as a pet was a soothing to the petter as the pettee.

Shrugging, Daniel was confused, he turned so that he was facing her, awaiting her explanation for the phrase that he had not understood.

"What do you mean?" he asked, noticing that Teal'c, the center Teal'c, he had marked himself with a cord from his tac vest, was also now directing his attention to Adrienne.

"The spell, it says that you should be what you do, feel what you do, learn from what is wrong," Adrienne explained, pointing to Teyla first to continue, "I'm guessing that Teyla feels that she should be with Torrin, not be doing any of this for fear of dying herself and leaving him parentless, but at the same time she feels that same connection to us, to John. Hence, well, mini-Sheppard. Likewise, John and Teyla are best friends Indy, not like we were, are but they're family, so his transformation kinda makes sense."

Making a face, Daniel scanned the Athosian and gauged Adrienne's words. That was what Laja was saying to them, wasn't it? She wanted them to realize why they were here. John, of course, was ordered, it was his job, but Teyla had no formal ties to the SGC, just her maternal obligation to Torrin and getting him back home. When he looked up Adrienne was still staring him, evidently waiting for him to take in her words.

"And," he led, trying to get her to continue.

"Ever seen 'Multiplicity'?" Adrienne asked, shaking her head, his head, knowing the answer, " never mind, I know you haven't. Teal'c wishes he could be more places at once, spread himself around, but I can guarantee that multi-Teal'c over there is experiencing diminishing returns." Wondering if this was true, Daniel looked over at Teal'c who was nodding in agreement.

"See," she kept talking, his voice actually cracking as if she was trying to imitate a woman, "there is most likely a delay in processing too, hence the nod rather than the verbal reply." Daniel peeked again at Teal'c who, yet again, nodded, before looking back at Adrienne.

"As for you mon ami," Adrienne giggled, petting the pig's back again lightly, "the pig is a symbol of greed and desire. I know shug, it's hard, and we hold the secrets of the universe and you still can't even own that Porsche, but I promise, it's worth it. And we know you've got our backs, but if you think of putting a trotter on my man, Imma make you bacon," she joked, or was she?

In his body he really couldn't be sure whether or not she was joking, but he was flattered either way.

He started to laugh, stopping himself when he heard her own laughter, waiting until she was finished to ask his next question.

"Alright, so she's teaching us a lesson, fantastic, so we need to learn something and then she will reverse this?" Daniel asked, yawning to hydrate her contacts.

Well now that's an annoying habit, he thought, missing his glasses already.

"Ah cahn't reevesse disss, only ya be da ones ta reevesse disss," a voice spoke, Daniel looking left and right unable to figure out where it was coming from until he looked over at Adrienne who was frozen in fear, gazing at a large black and red serpent at her feet.

"Der be two opshuns. One, ya choose ta stay like deess ahn make ya way in deess walh o ya leahn ta tell wha fuh shore, la verite ahn den ya can go 'ome," the snake continued, its mouth not opening, not moving, instead the words floating from it as if it were a recording. Laja's spirit must have invaded this poor animal's body and judging by the expression on Adrienne's, ugh, HIS face, he thoughts were exactly right.

"Ya be dinkin' ah deez dings, ya be dinkin' ah eech udder, because ya gonna need da udder wun," the reptile added, Adrienne shaking her head again, like she did before, this must have been some cajun tale, some old story, but he didn't have a chance to ask Adrienne to translate what in the world the woman was saying.

There was a flash, the sun sinking rapidly in the sky, that's not possible, he thought, the forest in front of them bursting into flame.

"I really hate birthdays," Daniel said, moments before the fire exploded.

"Sha, wake up," she said but he kept his eyes closed trying to pretend that it wasn't his voice and that it wasn't his hand shaking this arm and that it wasn't his face he was going to open his eyes to when there were fingers at his eyelids, doing just that, prying them open.

"I'm still you," he complained, opening his eyes, seeing the contacts slide on the surface. How does she live in these, he thought, sitting up and looking around to see no one, no magic Jaffa, no pig spies, no child-like air force colonels, not a soul other than the love of his life trapped in his body.

"Yep, and I'm still you, and yes, we're alone, our dear voodoo buddy saw to that," Adrienne explained, standing and reaching down for him.

"Ad, how did you know? How did you know what would happen?" he asked, taking her hand and allowing her to help him up, remembering his balance from before.

"Just some scary ass stories Aunt Barbara used to tell me when I was a kid, me and Rae. Stories about the white voodoo and the black voodoo and that the white voodoo was always scared of the black and would break their own rules to flush out a black voodoo practitioner. Stuff like this, like making you play out your weakness," Adrienne replied, kicking a rock as she walked, her head down and eyes to the ground.

"We're being flushed? She thinks we're evil?" he asked, following behind as he watched his own tall form mosey listlessly back into the forest.

"No, she doesn't think. She knows. Good people, truly good people tell the truth. We've all become liars," Adrienne responded, a sickness in her belly.

_Especially me..._

"Teyla!" John cried, whined, afraid to be alone. He'd awoken again, still in this helpless body, at the base of a tree, large and old with a perfect squirrel hole in the base. Huddling himself in to the best of his ability, he got into what he felt was a safe position, scanning the surrounding area for his best friend, for the one person in his life he could count on.

That had been at least an hour ago, if not two, and now he was scared.

"TEYLA!" he repeated, his small heart racing, his baby teeth chattering. He'd heard Addy explaining before the explosion, something about the witch woman changing them because they wouldn't accept the truth, but how in the world his reality was being a preschooler he had yet to understand. Teyla made less sense to him, having not changed at all, the only one in the group not to undergo some massive transformation.

"TEY-LA!" he tried again, exaggerating his speech, wondering if she was hurt, lost, or had forgotten he was a child, not recognizing his small soprano voice. He felt hopeless, desperate and started to cry, am I really crying, he thought, when he saw black pants and a beautiful woman racing toward him, her long brown hair flowing behind her.

It was Teyla, she'd found him, so he scurried out of the hole to meet her.

"Thank the Gods John I found you," she praised, her brown eyes cutting quickly at the sky before taking the boy into her arms hugging him tightly. Kissing his head, she let go, checking him over carefully for any sign of injury.

"Teyla, where is everyone?" he asked, frightened, remembering that he didn't have his weapon, that he had nothing, he had nothing but her, Teyla, his closest ally who was shaking her head slowly, lacking answers herself.

"I don't know John, but we need to find them, come on, give me your hand," she stood again, offering her own, which he took without question, letting her lead him into a thicket of underbrush.

"ValaMalDoran, I do not understand what you are saying. I do not speak pig," center Teal'c said, the original Teal'c he thought, or at least who DanielJackson had deemed as the main Teal'c, the other two lagging behind and waiting for orders. Annoyed, Vala rammed her snout into his leg, grunting again before taking a right down a well-worn path in the opposite direction.

"I do not believe that Laja would have made this task such a simple one. I believe that we should continue into the forest, find our team members and work together," he replied, looking downward at the animal that was now slamming itself onto the wet mush of earth below.

_Stupid idiot god damn witch wants me to have some big god damn revelation with myself and solve some fuckin problem with three Teal'c s and turns me into a PIG! How in the fuck am I supposed to fix anything as a fucking PORK CHOP!_

Frustrated, since she knew that all Teal'c got out of that was a collection of grunts and oinks, Vala plodded onward, down the path she preferred, hoping that Adrienne did the same.

After all, these slimy rednecks were her people, she had to know how to get them all the hell out of this, without some stupid lesson on morality.

"Dammit," Adrienne said, pushing the glasses up her nose.

Why in the hell didn't he just wear those contact lenses, she thought, they're in his bathroom.

Looking over and pushing her hair out of his face or was it her hair out of her face, his hair, whatever, Daniel paused, trying to judge what was wrong.

"Everything alright?" he asked, Adrienne scowling before finally letting out a sigh.

"I've gotta pee," she admitted quietly, embarrassed, having been trying to hold it for well over an hour, "and I'm debating slipping over behind that bush there."

Daniel's eyes widened in panicked; this was something he hadn't anticipated and now that the situation had presented itself he was unsure as to what he should do.

"Ad, I told you not to drink so much water. You're gonna have to hold it," he stated and walked on, knowing if they kept going they had to eventually run into the others.

"Indy, I can't wait. It hurts," she pleaded, "I'll be quick. Just point and fire right?" she joked and once again Daniel stopped dead in his tracks, spinning on her heels, his heels, whatever, glaring right at her.

"Adrienne, you can't go pee," he said plainly and now she stopped, throwing her hands up, looking confused.

"Why the hell not?" she asked, trying not to dance in place.

"Because, well, you just can't," he answered, unsure as to what else to say, not aware that he was glaring down at her waist, his waist, ugh, at the area of concern.

"Sha, I see you naked every gah damn day, I shower with you, I've, uh, never mind, and you mean to tell me that you're worried about me taking a piss in your body?" she ventured, knowing him well enough to know that she was right and he flushed red, a dead give-away.

Gotcha she thought to herself, putting her hands on her hips, awaiting his reply.

"Yes Ad, but that's completely different," he replied, still at a loss, because it wasn't, but he didn't know what else to say, it just felt wrong.

Adrienne sighed out and walked toward him, looking down at herself, him, wanting to hug him, but it was just too awkward.

"Shug, I'm not going to have a comparative anatomy discussion with you. I have to pee. I've seen everything you own more times than I count. I'm going over to those bushes and go to the bathroom, can you make sure that no one jumps me?" she responded pointing at the foliage behind her.

Relenting, Daniel drew Adrienne's zat and started to look around, covering her as she dashed over to the plants.

Moments later he heard a familiar sound, one that at this very moment was quite disturbing to him and she was back at his side before he could panic or overanalyze the situation too much.

"Everything go ok over there?" he asked, worried at her reaction but Adrienne just shook her head.

"I didn't break it Indy, trust me, I wouldn't want to do that. I was laughing, though, at the idea of you having to pop a squat if we don't get this figured out soon," she joked, her stomach sinking.

I can fix this, she thought, right now, but I just can't.

Red in the face once more, and hoping it didn't come to that, Daniel walked on.

This wasn't the ideal environment for a child, Teyla determined quickly, wondering exactly how these people raised their children in such an place. John's round pudgy cheeks were covered in bites, mosquitos she had heard them called on Earth, and the sweltering heat was making him tired and cranky. Torrin was a little older and might have been able to handle it, but John was much smaller, less equipped to handle himself, and he wasn't...

He wasn't Torrin.

She'd been walking in the woods for hours and now she was carrying him, holding him to her shoulder, powering on, looking for the rest of the group as if finding one another would fix all of this but it wouldn't.

The witch had been quite clear, her words never leaving Teyla's thoughts, Adrienne's confirmation not too far behind. She did feel guilty, every time she had to ask someone on base to look after young Torrin she felt that pang of guilt, not because she needed to work because even if she left the SGC Kanaan wasn't there and she would still need to leave Torrin behind in order to provide for him.

The guilt was there because she didn't leave him to go to an office like Sam and file papers, she didn't leave him to teach like Adrienne said she had done before she came here, she didn't even leave him to run a business like John's father had, like John could have himself if he wanted.

She left him to travel to other worlds, to get shot at, to get into situations like this.

I'm a horrible mother, she thought, adjusting John on her shoulder as she trudged on.

He shouldn't have let her carry him, but his legs were just so tired and his entire body was sore. She couldn't have been much better but in this form he was finding that will power was nowhere near as strong as the actual physical fatigue that he was experiencing right now, and Teyla understood, more than anyone, she always understood.

This, he thought, is exactly why we are in this mess, at least this much of the mess, I've become too dependent on Teyla.

While the colonel had no romantic feelings toward Teyla, she was truly his best friend not his lover like Adrienne was Daniel's, but he had taken on the Athosian woman and her son as his own, trying to do his best to fill the void that Kanaan had left. The void he was filling, however, wasn't hers, he had known that in his heart and the voodoo priestess must have seen that too.

Teyla was his reason to stay close to home, to base and never stray far.

Teyla was his reason to keep busy, busy enough where now that his family knew he was stationed in D.C. that he just never had more than five minutes to talk.

Teyla was his reason to never go out and find anyone else.

Taking care of Teyla was not for Teyla he realized, taking care of Teyla was for him and now he was paying for it.

Laying his head onto her shoulder, he decided he would rest a bit and then insist that she put him down, so he would walk on his own two feet.

Daniel wasn't quite sure how Adrienne had grown up in an environment like this, so muggy and hot and he was certain that he had mosquito bites covering most of this body. The worst, however, was the hunger and thirst; it was taking so much out of him to trudge on and move forward. He felt bad for Adrienne, trapped in his body, he was a good forty to fifty pounds heavier if not more, so if he was feeling this fatigued he could only image what she was feeling.

Stopping once more, he turned back to face her.

"You okay sha?" she asked, stopping herself, thinking he had figured it out, that he was going to confront her, but he didn't say a word, just walked over to her, turned her, his, body and reached into his tac vest.

"Yeah, just hungry," he answered, pulling some items out of the side pocket. Clasping something in his hand, he shut the flap and walked back over tearing open a wrapper.

"Daniel, what is that?" she asked, turning him around to face her. In her, his, hands was a candy bar, which he had opened and was getting ready to move toward his, her mouth when Adrienne smacked it away, knocking the arm aside, jaw dropping.

"Nuh uh Indy, over my dead body are you gonna put that shit into me!" she hissed, trying to get the candy bar, which normally he would just hold over his head so she couldn't reach, but now, dammit, now he was four inches shorter and this wasn't going to work.

"I'm starving," he replied, stepping back and holding fast to his snack. Adrienne scowled, stepping up to him, easily taking the candy bar away knowing that with her karate knowledge plus a size advantage, there would be no candy for him.

"That is my body, not yours, do you even know what putting shit like that into it will do to me!?" she demanded, tossing the candy to the ground and turning him at the shoulders. Reaching into her own backpack, she pulled out a small reusable plastic container full of baby carrots and turned him back around, handing it to him.

"Here, eat these," she said as he took the box.

Frowning, Daniel looked down at the small clear container now in his hands and back up at her, rolling his eyes.

"Carrots?" was all he said.

"Yes, carrots. That will take care of your hunger and not destroy my entire digestive system," she replied, Daniel shaking his head.

"Have I told you lately that you're completely and totally insane," he responded.

"And yet you love me," she teased and continued on their way, smashing the candy bar further into the ground with her foot. Accepting that this was going to be his only nutrition option, Daniel opened the lid to the box and pulled out a carrot, staring it for a moment.

"Pretend it's a Cheeto," he coached himself and popped the vegetable in his mouth as he watched his own silhouette slip in between the trees.

So Teal'c had been right, and they should have stayed in the woods because not fifteen minutes down the path the entire thing had dropped off into a bog, one that was so disgusting and so deep Vala didn't care to cross it, even if she was in a pig's body. Turning around slowly, she had grunted at her tripled companion, walking right between center Teal'c's legs and back down the path from which she came, vowing to bite him if he said a word, which he did not, quietly turning in a set of three to follow.

If ValaMalDoran had only listened they might have found AdrienneRowan or DanielJackson or possibly their friends from Atlantis, but Vala never listened, which is why she was currently in the form of a swine, the Jaffa surmised. Swine were very intelligent, clean, cunning animals but very stubborn and prone to gluttony, a very suited description of his teammate.

As fitting as her current form was, however, he still did not completely understand his, as tripling himself seemed more like a grand solution to the problem at hand rather than a punishment or lesson. Two copies of himself would allow for him to sit at the Jaffa council, spend time with his grandchild and still be an active member of SG1. He racked his brain, but other than the slight delay in processing information, a delay that he could easily explain away, it seemed that of all of his friends, Laja had done him a favor.

Either way, Vala needed to go back to being human, so he followed her in her pursuit of the one member of their team who ValaMalDoran had deemed could get them out of this, and for once it wasn't DanielJackson.

Shrugging his shoulders to crack his back, Daniel looked ahead where Adrienne was trudging ahead silently, advancing unusually fast in his body.

Maybe women are just better at adapting to things, he thought, adjusting her satchel and carrying on.

She hadn't said much since the snack food incident, which worried Daniel, but maybe she was just worried as to how they were going to get out of this. Daniel was worried too, not just at the situation itself but worried about what Laja had said. He had tried not to think about it, tried to trust that once they found the others and ultimately the DHD, that they would dial home and Sam would find a way to reverse this; that this was simply a cheap parlor trick designed to scare them away as it had Anubis men.

If that was the case though, how did she know?

How did she know that they were together and that they were hiding something from one another?

At first, he had just dismissed it as a typical assumption, normal couples hid things from one another so it would be normal to make such an accusation, but he and Adrienne were not that transparent at work, well not anymore, and definitely not on a mission.

Alright, he thought, watching Adrienne trek onward, reaching up to branches to clasp them as she passed evidently enjoying her advanced height, what if this Laja has a point? What if he needed to tell Adrienne what was going on? Tell her that he was shopping for a ring, planning the perfect proposal, that in his mind she was no longer his assistant, his friend or his lover, but his life mate. He just felt like he couldn't, especially after the last mission, after the joust. She had been more guarded since and he understood, he'd hurt her so badly that he just counted himself lucky that she took him back at all.

"Ad," he called out, watching her stop and turn, his own tall figure grabbing a tree branch almost playfully.

"What's up sha?" she asked, still hanging on, smiling at him.

_Adrienne, I want to marry you. That's why you're trapped in my body; that's the secret Laja is punishing us for keeping from one another. I didn't mean to hurt you, it was wrong, I was just trying to protect myself because you're it Adrienne. You are the one thing that I just can't live without. Will you marry me? _

"Daniel? Are you ok?" she pushed, frowning at him, his frown, is that what I look like, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Because Laja is right, he thought shaking his head, it's a lie by omission.

"Nothing, I thought I saw someone ahead, but I'm just tired. Keep going," he replied, motioning her onward.

"John, I cannot carry you any longer," Teyla apologized, setting him down, a thought popping into her head.

"It's ok, my legs feel better," he answered, sliding down from her neck to reach and rub his tiny legs hearing her sigh and take a seat in front of her.

"John, I've been thinking," she started, but he looked up, shaking his head and his hand simultaneously, such a strange gesture from such a tiny person.

"I have too and it's not fair. What I am doing to you isn't fair," he started, Teyla turning her head in confusion.

What in the world was he talking about?

What wasn't fair?

"Teyla, I've intruded into your life too much. I hope you know that I'm not trying to replace Kanaan in Torrin's life, but I will say that I have been using you both, as a crutch, as a reason not to face my own life," he continued, watching Teyla's face soften, and her hand reach out for his own.

"John, you are not an intruder. You have been an excellent uncle to Torrin, you have not used us. John, you are family; we might not share parents but you are my brother," she assured him, patting his hand before retracting her own.

"It's not just that Teyla. I'm back on Earth and I, well, I haven't even called my brother. He's sent me a few emails, but I just use work, anything as an excuse not to call," he explained.

"Then once we are back, we shall call him. I would like to meet your brother," she said, smiling, "I would like to tell him how you met me overseas and are helping me adjust to life here while my husband continues to fight in a war zone. I would like to tell him that his brother is like a brother to me and if I had a real sister I would insist that she marry him right away." John blushed, laughing slightly, imagining taking Teyla to his parent's mansion as he has taken Ronon, letting Torrin play on the lawn.

Maybe it was time, he thought, maybe it was time to really mend fences.

This is ridiculous, she thought, plodding through the woods, stepping in cold wet mud that was inching through in-between her hooves.

_Dammit. I'm not a pig. I'm not greedy. Yeah, I want things, of course I do, but who doesn't? I don't care about the stupid Porche, it's a damn joke, if she was so damn smart she would have seen that. All I wanted to do was find out why in the hell Anubis was poking around here, around these primitive people and figure out where in the hell he went and I get treated like this! Why don't these idiots understand the threat he is? I remember when he was a system lord, I remember having to answer to his Jaffa like my power meant nothing! He's ruthless, he'll kill anyone in his path. _

_He'll kill my friends and I've never had friends before. _

She stopped in her tracks, looking back at Teal'c, understanding what had happened, understanding what that witch woman and Addy had been babbling on about.

She was a pig, not literal, but symbolically just like Addy had said; she hadn't taken the time to be as good a friend to others as many, especially Daniel, had tried to be to her.

Frustrated to be out of her body, Vala grunted, knowing that she couldn't explain it to Teal'c, that it wasn't just that they had to pay attention and understand what Adrienne had said, they had to accept it.

"Hey Muscles!" she shouted, trying, expecting a grunt and was shocked to hear her own voice come out of the snout. She almost jumped into the air like that pig in that silly spider movie, but she wasn't quite sure how to do that on four legs.

"ValaMalDoran, you can now speak," Center Teal'c stopped surprised, as Vala began to nod her pig head happily, relieved.

"You're damn right, I've figured this shit out, so we need to get to talking, pronto," she ordered, taking a seat on the ground.

"There has to be something else Teyla," John said, pushing long hair out of his lean face, "I've got to be what fourteen, fifteen now, so there has to be something else. Is there anything that wasn't the truth, that verite mess the witch was talking about?"

He watched her carefully as she sat on the ground in front of him, after having listened to him talk for at least an hour about his family, his memories and his fears of being alone. It wasn't that he felt he needed someone, a wife per se, but he did feel that he didn't deserve a family so he did everything he could to avoid participating in one, all but Teyla's.

"John, I am not certain. I have no secrets from you or anyone else but the woman was correct. I do feel guilt, I feel as if I selfishly put my own needs and everyone else's above the needs of my son," she admitted, not seeing how that was anything punishment worthy.

"Why do you feel guilty? Torrin's your entire world, everything you do you do for him," John replied, confused, frowning at her, "what else would you do?"

The Athosian shrugged, reaching down for a fallen leave to pull at it nervously with her fingers.

"Leave the base. Find a safer job, maybe become a teacher. Sam has said that I would enjoy this college that you offer to adults," Teyla added, realizing that she had never told anyone about that conversation that she had with Sam.

Odd, she thought, I tell John everything.

Peering up, she saw that he was nodding with understanding, now grabbing a leaf himself.

"Yeah, I mean, if you want to, you should. I do think you'd like it, but a safer job? Sure, you might find something that's safer for a while but what if we fail? What if we don't get Anubis? No one will be safe then. You're not doing this for us, you're doing this for Torrin," John offered, raising his eyebrows.

She paused for a moment, considering his words.

He was right.

Deep inside she knew he was right, that every day she fought and worked for a better world, a better universe for her son and everyone else's. Nodding, Teyla looked up at him, smiling.

"You are right, I am doing this for Torrin," she stated, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open as the words crossed her lips.

"What?" John asked, but heard it in his voice, deeper and reached for his face, feeling the hair as it grew on his chin.

"...and I really don't want Daniel. He was safe, I wanted to be loved, but now I have a family that loves me and I want him to hurry his ass up and propose to Addy because she's the best thing that's ever happened to him and if he doesn't I'm gonna punch him out again," Vala breathed out, finished with her confession and reaching for her face to find that her snout was gone.

Smiling, she glanced over at Center Teal'c.

"Your turn," she stated, hoping he had listened to her confession and would follow suit.

"ValaMalDoran, you still have a tail," he advised, pointing to her rear end.

She peered over her shoulder, frowning the moment she realized that he was right, jerking her head back to glare at him.

"Fine, I think Ronon's hot and I want him to ask me out!" she concluded, checking once more to see that the tail was gone, which it was, much to her delight.

"Now handsome," she redirected her attention to center Jaffa again, "let's talk about spreading ourselves too thin..."

Adrienne stopped shortly in the brush, wiping her brow and the sweat beneath her, his, glasses. Replacing them, she glanced down at her watch, noting the time.

It was five thirty in the evening.

She'd missed the three p.m. gift, the four, and now the five, and they were never getting out of this, it was all her fault and suddenly it was too much for her to take.

Standing there, in the middle of the second Star Wars movie, without the privilege of Yoda to coach her through, Adrienne began to cry.

Daniel looked ahead to see her stop, and heard the sobs. What a strange sound, he thought, to hear my own crying. Rushing ahead to make sure she was alright, he placed his hand up and onto his own shoulder to see her turn around in tears. He needed out of this body, this was just too much, gazing into his own ocean blue eyes red with tears, looking up to himself to offer comfort.

This was madness.

"Indy, I'm sorry," she was sobbing, reaching out to hug him and he started to back up, watching his own larger form approach himself arms open, but relented, wanting to know what was wrong. Still crying, she wrapped her arms around him, wow this was a reverse, and held on tightly.

"Ad, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to look up at her face, his face.

Dear god, please don't try to kiss me, he pleaded inside and she pulled away, yanking the glasses from her/his face and wiping her/his eyes once more.

"Your birthday. I knew we were heading off world, so I prepped each hour in advance and now that we've gotten caught here we've missed the last couple of hours and we aren't going to get out if this because of me and I just can't fix this," she cried, eerily in his deep voice. Out of instinct he hugged her tighter, realizing that he couldn't quite hold her like he was used to. He almost laughed, but decided against it, holding her carefully with her own smaller arms.

"Adrienne it's ok, I promise ja-wer, we're going to get this fixed, we're going to find the others and everything will be alright," he assured her, hoping that he wasn't lying to her but she was shaking her head, crying even harder.

"No Indy, it's not, it's not going to be alright. It's me, this is all because of me," she wailed, collapsing to the ground, to her knees, taking him down with her. She fell forward, holding her head in her hands, her chest heaving and her tears raining onto the ground.

Daniel didn't know what to do, what was she talking about?

If anything, this was all his fault for not explaining it to her. Sure, they were together, hell, they'd only been apart a few hours in reality, but he hadn't apologized to her; he hadn't explained why he had run away from the most wonderful thing in his entire life...

"Ja-wer, this is not your fault. This could be Anubis, it could just be because of what Vala did, but it is not your fault," he insisted, still lying, why am I STILL lying, placing his hand on her back, yet she continued, coughing in between sobs.

"Ja-wer, please, look at me," he requested, whispering her name once more, whispering ja-wer again softly when her head shot up, his face glaring right at him, an evil glare that just wasn't as intimidating without her eyes.

"Stop calling me that. Stop, stop calling me that, stop telling me everything is gonna be alright, stop acting like everything is alright, just stop. I'm sick of faking, I'm sick of pretending that it didn't happen, I'm sick of all of it," she screamed, at him, into his face.

Dumbfounded, he sat back onto his heels, fighting the urge to reach out for her shoulder to comfort her.

"Adrienne, what are you talking about?" he pushed, gently, trying to figure out exactly what had caused this reaction.

She sobbed quietly for a moment longer, finally raising her eyes to meet his, sucking in tears before she spoke.

"Daniel, we're stuck like this because of me, because I just... You left. You quit. You never quit anything and you quit us like it was nothing. I was wrong, dead wrong, but you quit, you didn't even give me a chance! And then you just came back like I was just supposed to accept that and forget and I did, I just let you back in. But I can't. You quit, you quit us, you walked away from everything and I've been too chicken shit to tell you," she let the tears flow again, removing his glasses and letting her head sink back onto her knees, sobbing like he had never seen her cry before.

His first thought was to vomit, he knew he had hurt her, deeply, so much so that he had been very careful with her since, but he had no idea until this very moment the damage he had truly caused. He'd been promising her forever, looking for rings even though she didn't know and had just thrown it all away in an instant because he was scared, a scared little child afraid to lose his prize. She was more than that, though, more than just his prize, she was the other piece of his soul that he had been missing, the one person that if there was indeed a God, that he had created just for him.

Yet, despite all of that, he had never told her, never just taken the time to really explain to her what was going on inside, what he was thinking. She was his best friend, the one person in his life he felt that he could tell anything and he had just shut her out, bottling himself up again into his prison of emotion, and here she cried, sobbed, all for and all because of him.

_For so very long I had all of these thoughts about her, how beautiful she was, how smart, how kind. I'd wanted to sweep her up and carry her away, and not just to my bed but to be with me, to hold her, to care for her. I can't imagine a day without her in the lab, or right behind me on a mission. I want to hear her silly club music and catch her dancing around or reading those cheesy vampire novels that she's always reading. _

_I deserved to be happy, she deserves to be happy._

_I lost my WIFE to this program and since there has been a hole I've been unable to fill. _

_Until now. _

_SHE can fill this hole. _

"I didn't. I mean I did, but I wasn't. I can't quit, never could I quit. I sat in the lab trying to figure out what to do to beg your forgiveness, to take it all back. Adrienne, I was scared, stupid, impulsive, guarded, but I mean it when I say that I can't live without you, that I can't do any of this without you. I've never been so happy in my entire life as I am with you. Adrienne, I didn't," he breathed in trying to form the words, "I lost one wife to this, I can't lose another, especially if it's you."

He said it, he told her, he told her his intention, he admitted it to her, that it wasn't just speeches about forever, that he was ready to make a full commitment to her, and his heart was racing.

There was a sniffing sound and he saw his eyes look back up at him again, his lower lip trembling as she tried to compose herself.

"Wife?" she asked, confused, and he nodded slowly, reaching a finger out to her lips, gross his lips, to shush her before she could speak again.

"Yea, but please, don't make me do it here, like this, please. Let me do it right, the way it's supposed to be. You deserve that, you deserve so much more, and I just want to make it perfect, " he added, wanting to hug her, even if she was trapped in his body.

Trembling now, he saw her shaking as she sat and began to reach out, only to have his hand pushed away.

Oh no, he thought, that tiny voice inside of him spoke, that's her breaking point, that's what makes her the nightmare Southern belle that she has fought so hard not to become. The horror hit him, that this might not be, that her feelings weren't the same as his, that maybe when she had said forever she hadn't meant this, not marriage, and children, dear god he was thinking children, a family, a home, a life, she's gonna say no...

"I want that," she whispered, not looking up, "I've never wanted that before, but I want that now, with you," she started, swallowing and taking a breath, "I'm not saying yes, I don't want to ruin that for you, for any of it, but I'm there. I'm ready. With you I can do anything."

That was all he needed to hear. He'd told her, he wanted to marry her and she wanted to marry him and were it not for the fact that they were in the middle of a swamp, God knows where on this planet, stranded from home, hot, tired and in each other's bodies, he would have asked her right then and there, ring or not, he didn't care anymore, but they were still trapped here so he did the next best thing.

Daniel leaned forward and kissed himself.

And there went the lights.

When he opened his eyes he was sitting at the desk in her apartment, the computer screen up but cued to nothing, just a picture of the two on them on the beach dancing all over the page.

Confused, he looked around, trying to figure out where she was, what time it was, and why they weren't in the swamp anymore when he realized that he couldn't see; his vision was blurry. He blinked, wondering if as he had been knocked out for the umpteenth time today he had lost a contact lens, but felt nothing.

Standing, Daniel reached for the chair to help hold himself upright when he caught the flash of a reflection out of the corner of his eye, turning around to look into the small mirror that was hanging over Adrienne's dresser.

He was himself again.

The spell was broken, or whatever had been done to them, a quick glance at the clock telling him that it was only noon. They hadn't been reset to this morning, they had just been sent back in time a few hours but where was Adrienne?

Shaking his head, he shut the lid to the computer, dashing around her apartment.

Adrienne sat in her beetle, staring at the dashboard, the vinyl still shiny from his gift some weeks back. A gift before he had left her, before he quit their relationship, before he had in just a few brief moments destroyed her faith in him. Granted, he had come back, he had apologized in his way, he had more than made it up to her since with caring actions and kindness and gentleness, but she hadn't been intimate with him, she was too fearful.

As much as her body and soul wanted to, making love to him just made her feel too vulnerable.

"No, not again," she vowed, turning the key in the ignition, the engine picking up instantly, a millisecond before she slammed the clutch into reverse, darting out of the parking lot.

Rubber screamed across pavement as Daniel opened the door, a bolt of yellow lightening flashing across his vision.

"Adrienne," he whispered, realizing that the yellow blob was her beetle and it was Adrienne that was now tearing off down the street, heading where he had no idea.

Frozen for a moment, he stood at her open doorway, the DC July heat rushing past him into the cooler apartment.

Remembering not to cool the entire capital, Daniel closed the door behind him, turning to look back at her apartment.

Why did she leave, he thought, confused, walking over to the sofa to take a seat, not bothering with the TV, instead sitting down quietly, his head in his hands.

Where did she go?

She'd said yes, she'd said that with him she could do anything and he felt the same; never before in his life did he have a person that he felt was his equal, that made him better than he was alone.

Then where had she gone?

Standing in frustration, he wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting, he went back to the bedroom to get her laptop, deciding to waste time watching videos, to just wait until she got back. He walked over to her desk when he noticed her new black satchel, the one he had gotten her to replace her black backpack which had been shredded some time ago, lying open, a bright green parcel falling out of it. Puzzled, he knelt to clean up the mess, seeing his name scrawled on the wrapping, a number three scratched in the corner.

The three o'clock present, he thought, his first instinct to put everything back together but his curiosity was getting the best of him.

Pulling his legs to cross them, sitting like she always sat, he slipped the present out into the open. Much to his surprise, three other wrapped gifts of various shapes and sizes came cascading out behind it, each numbered in order, four, five and six.

He smiled, she really had planned the entire day, opening the first present, the one with the number three on it, ripping into it like a child his eyes widening at the result.

It was a t-shirt, blue of course, the one color she always requested that he wear because it brought out his eyes, the message on the front making him blush.

_Archaeologists do it in the dirt_

"Ja-wer, where did you find this," he asked out loud, laughing, reaching for the next gift.

"The internet," she said behind him, "you know that lovely invention that you use at work but outside of the lab you act like you've never heard of before."

Daniel smiled, shoving the presents aside and turning, not sure if he should stand or reach out his arms, so he decided not to do anything. She smiled in return, sitting down in front of him, a paper bag in her lap.

"It's not three yet, we got reset in time sha. You're cheating," she joked, pointing to the pile.

"Sorry," he replied, pushing the presents back to her, "I was afraid you..." he started, stopping to breath in slowly when she started to laugh, tossing the brown bag into his lap.

"I like things simple, even this, just FYI," she instructed, stuffing the presents back into her satchel, before standing and leaving the room, her cheeks flushing.

Confused, Daniel reached into the bag, feeling slick pages inside. Frowning he pulled out the magazine, his eyes widening at the cover.

_Brides_

"Simple Indy," he heard shouting from the kitchen, "from start to finish!"

Sam didn't know how she got back in the locker room, but there she was, in her sweaty workout clothes, her duffle bag in hand. She wasn't alone in the locker room, there were a few other members of personnel, each of them staring at her in equal bewilderment. Opening her mouth to ask someone what time it was, what was going on when she was interrupted by the click of the intercom.

"General O'Neill?" Walter's voice came over the speaker, evidently as confused as she was.

"Yes, Walter, I'm here, what's going on?" she asked, hoping the forced calm in her voice would maintain the composure of the locker room.

"Ma'am, we need you down to the gate room ASAP," he advised, calmly, the speaker clicking off again.

Nodding confidently at the gawking woman, Sam tossed her duffle over her shoulder, racing out and to the requested area.

"Ya peepel be ahnest, dey be la verite. Ya may take da ore frum da ground and we be 'appy ta be podnas," the alligator spoke, clearly, well as clearly as an alligator speaking cajun could, paddling the rest of the way down the ramp where it began to heave. Every last member of the gate room personnel froze, watching the animal shake and convulse it's large long throat wiggling, something moving slowly upward.

The large jaws opened and there was something there, dark, large and with a final cough, the creature spat the object onto the floor.

"Dat be da way we know eet es ya if ya be wantin' da ore o 'elp wit da bad one. Dat be da way Laja protects ya," the animal added, turning to face the gate.

Without dialing, the ancient ring activated, shifting itself, chevron after chevron locking into place, the gator eerily still, even as the wormhole activated, racing towards it, enveloping it.

When the event horizon settled, their visitor was still there, untouched, padding upwards toward it's exit.

"Adyeu," it shouted back stepping into the blue, the gate closing instantly behind it, the iris snapping shut as if it never opened.

Sam looked left and right at her colleagues, seeing that John Sheppard and Teal'c had now entered the gate room, their expressions troublesome.

Taking a breath, she stepped forward to what had been left for them, a small brown rag doll in a reddish dress.

A voodoo doll.


	45. Chapter 44 - The Solution

_So, technically speaking this SHOULD be a side story, but then the next stories would just be confusing. This is PURE humor and sap with just a few important details! _

_Enjoy! _

Yawning, Adrienne coded herself into their room and opened the door, covering her face with her free hand as she turned the knob. It was late but she knew he wouldn't be asleep yet; he was like a vampire just minus blond hair, the ownership of a seedy Southern bar and control over an area of Louisiana.

As she pushed the door open she saw the light beside the bed was on, as expected, and that he was reading, again not a surprise. What was a surprise, however, was what he was reading, a familiar book, a big familiar book, a big familiar book with pictures.

"Shut da door!" Adrienne shouted, realizing exactly what was poised in his hands, a smile spreading across her face. Startled, he looked up at her, dropping the volume to his lap and losing his place.

"Dammit, Ad, you scared the hell out of me! What's wrong!?" he asked, not hearing her arrival and now only beginning to see the grin on her face, one that he didn't like. Unable to resist, this was just too good of a thing to walk into, Adrienne fell to the ground dramatically, bringing the back of her hand to her forehead like a true Southern Belle. His expression changed and Daniel tossed the book aside, leaping from the bed, rushing over to take her into his arms.

"It's the end of the world..." she twitched, gazing up at him out of the corner of her eye, her head hanging back as if she was going to faint.

"Ja-wer, what's going on? Is everything ok? Are you sick?" Daniel asked, his face furrowed, reaching for her head to bring her eyes to meet his, his palm resting on her face.

"Daniel, you're, uh, reading The Walking Dead; it is a sign of the end times!" Adrienne exclaimed, lying back in his arms. He paused for a moment, realizing her ploy and let her drop to the ground.

"You're so awful to me," he said, frowning, standing and walking back to the bed as Adrienne rolled over to her side laughing, laughing hysterically. He just shook his head and pulled back the covers, getting back into bed, this time to go to sleep now that she was here. She sat up on the floor cross legged and peered over at him, still laughing uncontrollably, wiping tears from her eyes.

"I'm glad that I amuse you," he said, pulling the covers over his shoulder and turning his back to her, slinking down in the bed.

"You should have seen your face," she continuing giggling, untying her boots and tossing them into the corner.

"Uh huh, I'm going to sleep. You're welcome for waiting up for you. I love you too," he grumbled, only half serious; he just needed to figure out a way to get even.

"How far into it are you sha?" she asked, pulling off her uniform to change into a junky tank top and shorts.

"They just got to the prison," he responded, still not turning around but clearly not angry. Adrienne smiled as she changed out of her work clothes; he really was reading it, he really did care enough to try to share her interests. He does try so hard, she thought, flushing at the gesture. Eager to be in his arms, she pulled on the tank top, crawling over him to get into the bed. He was pulling back the blanket, allowing her join him, so she slipped her legs down onto the cool sheets, getting under the blankets, turning to her side, slamming her elbow on the hard concrete wall as she did.

"Merde, dammit, Indy, can we go to your place next time. Or mine?" she asked, "This is getting ridiculous." Sighing, Daniel reached out, rubbing her sore elbow sweetly, pulling her into his arms.

"I know we should. It's just that we live almost forty five minutes away, give or take. By the time we get to either of our apartments, it feels like we have to turn around and come right back. And I worry about being too tired to drive that far home," he whispered softly, kissing her ear and pulling back, adjusting to their normal sleeping position.

"Besides," he continued, "if we get a bigger bed I'm afraid that you won't sleep so close." Smiling, Adrienne shook her head, resting it against the pillow, running her foot down his leg.

"The clone died today," she whispered quietly, holding her breath. She'd heard the news over two hours ago, long before her meeting with Rodney's team, but wanted to wait to tell him in person and since he seemed to be in a good mood, she figured now was as good a time as any. She laid there silent, in his embrace, awaiting his response, a word, a sigh, but got nothing.

"I'm so sorry Daniel," she added, rolling over to face him, resting her hand against his cheek.

"It was bound to happen," he said with a sigh finally, "he stroked out weeks ago and you can't just stay in a coma." His words were confident but his eyes were his tell, especially with his glasses laying on the nightstand. With no glass impediment to block her line of sight, she could see the hurt there, the sadness at the loss of life. Yes, he might have been a clone, yes he might have worked for Anubis, but they hadn't caught him trying to hurt anyone, in fact, based on the interrogations it appeared that he was a scout and Anubis had abandoned him and his shipmates, whom the later teams had been unable to find, to their fates.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she pried, gently, not wanting to make this worse but he shook his head, bringing her closer to him and kissing her gently on the forehead.

"No, you can't do anything. It's just sad when a person dies, no matter who they were," he answered, pulling her into a tighter embrace and she lay there, letting him hold her, hoping their contact would make him feel better.

Adrienne knew that he had been going down there as often as possible, to visit, to chat with the man, to keep him company, despite Jack's clear orders not to. Undeterred, Daniel had made the argument that it wasn't healthy for his mental state to be trapped in a cold dark cell, alone, his only human contact being Rodney when he needed to take more DNA samples or Jack and Teal'c when they wished to interrogate him. Daniel had even said that the man was kind, speaking of the wonders he had seen on other planets and how he desired to be away from Anubis to live as they lived here. Sensing the sadness as though she could feel it through his touch, Adrienne pulled back, leaning up to kiss him gently.

"What if we get a bigger bed for here, a queen size? I mean, Sam lets us share quarters now and I promise I'll still sleep just as close," Adrienne decided to change the subject, still scanning his eyes for signs that he needed to talk, but he smiled, chuckling slightly.

"Sam looks the other way because it's so late when we do stay here, your room is technically still issued to you," Daniel corrected.

"It's so stupid, the whole damn world knows. I don't see what the big deal is..." she whined a bit more, determined to get him to cave.

Adrienne had abandoned her quarters shortly after Daniel's spectacle with the intercom since they were no longer sleeping alone anyway. She hadn't keep a whole lot there once she had moved into her apartment, but what little she did have she moved to Daniel's room since it was bigger. Neither of them really said anything about it, it just seemed like something they should do, so they did it, however, on base quarters were not made for two people in one room, let alone two people in the same bed.

"You're still my assistant ja-wer. People aren't supposed to date fellow team members, much less someone in my position dating their assistant. Fortunately I have enough clout around here for us to get away with it, we've finally got Woolsey off of our backs, it's just that having a giant bed delivered here sends the wrong message," he replied, rolling over and shutting off the light. She felt the small bed move as he adjusted in the darkness, and sighed, reaching out for him to find his arms once more and move close into them.

I shouldn't complain, she thought, at least I get this every night.

Nuzzling close to him the best she could, she tried to shield her knees from pressing on the cold cinderblocks, wrapping the blanket up and around her legs.

When Adrienne awoke the next morning Daniel was already awake and in the shower. That was something else she noticed, he would dash awake in the mornings when they slept on base now so that he could shower, shave, get ready and get out before she got in there. They had tried getting ready at the same time and regardless of where they were standing in the room, they always ended up feuding over the sink, the shower, the mirror, so much so that some mornings Adrienne wondered if it was even worth staying the night with him, knowing that just a floor down she had her own space.

"Almost done," he shouted from the other side as she entered. How romantic, she thought, what ever happened to 'do you want to join me'?

"Alright," she answered, considering for a moment climbing in with him, choosing to 'join him' herself, however, they had discovered that didn't work well either when on base, discovered quite dramatically that it didn't work.

Adrienne's butt still remembered the last try, painfully.

Instead, she got out her arsenal of beauty products, her 'lotions and potions' that Daniel loved to harass her about, his every gripe making her laugh, lining up her items as they went through their new, cramped morning routine.

This morning Adrienne was working with Rodney, at her own volunteering, which had actually worked out fairly well for them. It wasn't an even time split like before, Rodney had to request Adrienne and she needed to accept, but it actually made them miss one another and that was nice. Neither of them could imagine really being together every waking moment of every day that they were heading for, even with Daniel planning to propose and Adrienne dying to know when he was going to do it. It was good to have time apart, she had learned, it made her miss him that much more and long for when they were together.

He slipped out of the shower, grabbing a towel from the rack and leaving on the water as promised, Adrienne popping into the back, rubbing her eyes and wanting coffee already.

Forget the ring Daniel, she thought, we're already married and have been for a while.

Laughing at it all, she angled the shower head and turned the heat up, getting ready for her day.

Daniel was sitting on his bed lacing up his boots when Adrienne walked over to say goodbye, squeezing his shoulder softly.

"See you at lunch?" she asked.

"No breakfast?" he answered with a question of his own.

"I've got some stuff Rodney lets me keep down there; he knows he owes me for helping him with this cloning mess. I'm hoping to finish early," Adrienne said as she pushed him back a bit on the bed, crawling into his lap, "so I can spend some time with you," she whispered, kissing his cheek, "alone," she added running her lips down his neck, noting that he had his hands on her arms, pushing her back slightly.

"I'm probably going to be late tonight, Ad, I'm sorry," he looked up at her sincerely, disappointment clear in his eyes.

"It's ok; I was late last night. How about I finish early, and we plan on dinner together. I can go get us something from off-base, bring it back?" Adrienne offered, pulling away and smiling, trying to make him feel better.

"That sounds good to me," Daniel smiled and pulled her back into his arms, kissing her more appropriately this time. She broke away and hugged him tightly, tucking her face into his shoulder.

"See," she informed him, kissing his cheek again, "we make this work, no matter how busy things get."

"We do," he answered, squeezing her once more, the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with, watching her as she slipped away from his embrace and glided out of the door.

It was about 10 a.m. when Daniel realized that he brought the wrong set of journals down from their quarters.

"Dammit" he swore aloud, to no one in particular since Adrienne wasn't there, looking over, wishing that she was, because not only did he have to stop what he was doing, but he had to get up himself and try to go find the thing, leaving the lab empty and unattended while he looked with no assistant to answer the phone. He grunted in frustration, both at her absence and how used to having her do things for him that he'd become, and headed back to his quarters, hoping that Adrienne would be finished with this little favor soon.

The desk in there was a mess. Granted, he was the type of person to spread out and create piles, but he could always find everything, however, the desk had been organized, Adrienne organized, in some system that she had yet to explain, her things intermixed with his piles. His only saving grace was that he liked to write in leather bound journals and she in composition books so he just needed to get to said journals free without his world crashing down onto him.

It took him about 20 minutes, but he got what he needed, tucking them quickly under his arm to race up to the lab. As he was leaving he heard a crash behind him and he paused for just a moment at the door. There was no point, he knew what he would see without turning around, so he just didn't bother, closing the door behind him.

Adrienne had worked through lunch, determined to get finished in time to go get something really good for dinner, like Hibachi, but her stomach reminded her to stop. Annoyed, but needing to control the rumble, she walked over to the small fridge and peeked inside. She must have eaten the last of the healthy food at breakfast, or Rodney had finished in it during one of his many snack breaks, but either way she needed to eat.

"Rodney!" Adrienne shouted, loudly to get his attention, since he was deep into something that she didn't understand; she just translated.

"Yes, Adrienne," he answered, finally calling her Adrienne as she had requested. It only took her volunteering to help him, trying to find him an assistant and saving his ass from Anubis, but at least it was happening.

"I'm going to get something to eat from the commissary," she stated, "do you want me to get you anything?" she added trying to be polite, knowing he would refuse to leave what he was doing.

"No thanks, I'll head down in a little bit to get something else. Are we out in the fridge?" he inquired over his shoulder, no scowl, in fact, it actually looked like there was a smile on his face.

"Yea," she laughed, not placing the blame where she knew it needed to go.

"Fine, but get back. I plan on holding you to your promise of finishing this today," he responded.

"Don't worry," she said as she left, heading for the elevators to the commissary, thinking that all she really wanted to do was finish as fast as possible to get back to Daniel, even if it was to hang out with him over take-out Japanese food while he worked.

She could hear the commotion before she made it to the entrance, stopping in her tracks as she saw John Sheppard exiting the mess hall, shaking his head obviously frustrated over something.

"What's going on in there?" she asked, confused, trying to peek around his shoulder.

"Broken stove. People are arguing over toast in there," he replied curtly, stopping in front of her to talk, annoyed.

"Are you serious?" Adrienne clarified, trying to see around him yet again as the commotion was growing louder, shouts leaking out into the hallway.

"We're a hungry crew," he shrugged, continuing his march down the hall.

"Where are you going?" she turned around, her stomach ordering her to follow the colonel to wherever he was headed, hoping it was to a source of food.

"To collect pizza money," he answered over his shoulder without stopping.

"Gross, pizza," Adrienne said, knowing that would tear her stomach up, it did every time she gave in and let Daniel order it, changing directions to head for their quarters since she knew she had some food stashed in there.

A quick jog down the hall, a brief ride on the elevator and she was coding herself into her room, opening the door. Disregarding the light switch, as she had the tiny room memorized, she stepped out, feeling something slick under her foot.

And fell to the floor, landing, like she always seemed to do, on her butt.

"Oo ye yi!" she exclaimed in pain, reaching under herself to pull out a composition book, one of her composition books. Muttering a plethora of cajun swears under her breath she stood, carefully this time, and clicked on the light, her jaw dropping.

Their desk had exploded, the contents shot like shrapnel onto the floor, pens, pencils, notebooks, journals, loose papers, file folders, everything. It would take some pretty careful maneuvering to get anywhere in the room through this mess, maneuvering that the very angry cajun was not willing to do.

Adrienne had had enough.

Reaching for her cell phone, she texted Sheppard to add her to the pizza count, storming out of the room to find Daniel.

He was sitting at his desk like it was just any other day, that same intense look on his face he always had, clicking away at the computer keys.

"Daniel," Adrienne said as she entered the room, "I can't take this anymore."

"On it," he responded, not looking up.

"I mean, I get that we live far away, it's just the layout of DC lends itself to either living in the city center or far outskirts for a decent apartment, but we're either gonna have to just knock off early and decide where we are going for the night, or go to our separate rooms here on base. I can't continue to live in a closet," she pleaded, not rudely or angrily, just desperate, like a woman who had had enough.

"I'm on it Ad," Daniel repeated, holding up a finger in her direction, his eyes still locked on the screen.

"On what?" she asked as she walked over to the desk, trying to figure out exactly what he was 'on'.

"This," he said, backing up from the computer, on the screen a picture of the inside of a living room. Confused, Adrienne scrunched up her face, looking at him strangely.

"What's that?" she asked, tapping her finger lightly to the screen.

"Our solution," he answered, smiling, seemingly please with himself. Squinting, Adrienne peered closer, scanning the rest of the page, realizing what it was.

Her heart stopped.

"It's a townhouse," she said simply, not wanting to jump to conclusions, there was no way, no, he must mean...

"Yeah. It's five minutes from here, we can even take the subway if we prefer, not that I ever expect you to leave the beetle behind. It's not even that expensive with no maintenance, there's an association for that, because we both work too much to worry about that on top of everything else," he explained as she stood gazing at him in utter shock as he continued to ramble on.

"It's a three bedroom, so we can have separate offices, two baths; the one in the master is quite large, so no more feuding. I can keep reading to you, but it's right here if you want to take a look at it. I think I'm gonna call to see if we can see it tomorrow," he listed off, sitting back in the chair awaiting a response but she said nothing, just stood there with her mouth open.

"You don't like it?" he asked.

"No, it's really nice and that's a deal, but do you realize what you're saying?" she asked, hoping, well, no, he couldn't want to do it this way, could he? No, she thought, he said he was planning something big; he hasn't made the connection yet.

"Yes, I'm saying that this would be a better option than driving two hours a day or cramming ourselves into that cold, small, gray room," Daniel stated, trying to figure out her objection, Adrienne laughing as she shook her head at him.

"Who exactly is going to purchase said townhouse?" she asked, smiling.

"Us," he replied quickly, when it clicked, when he actually realized what he was saying.

"Oh," he said, looking back at her.

"Oh is right," she answered, "This isn't how you're gonna do it, is it?" She checked to make sure her hunch was wrong and he stared at her puzzled.

"Do what?" he asked, lost again, why was he so lost with her lately. Her face serious, Adrienne grabbed a chair from the center table and sat down, looking him in the eyes.

"Ask..." she led, Daniel quickly cluing in.

"No, oh no, no, I'm still working on that, no, I," Daniel answered flustered, breathing out a bit, "I'm just so bad at this. Why am I so bad at this?"

Adrienne laughed, "I know you are; I try to overlook it," she kissed him lightly, relieved, "I should make you ask," she taunted, "it'll be good practice for the big day."

"So, is that the new etiquette?" he teased, "shall I get on one knee or would you prefer the intercom?"

"Yes ass, there's your answer, and you get to chicken out yet again. Call the realtor. I'll move in with you, but for the record we're totally doing everything wrong and out of order," Adrienne joked, shaking her head as Daniel reached for his phone, unable to hide the grin on his face.

The next morning they were standing on the curb waiting for the real estate agent to arrive when Adrienne started to get nervous. She kept looking over at Daniel, who seemed very calm and collected and organized and she just couldn't believe they were doing this and neither could Sam. The general had looked at them like they were both speaking a foreign language, kept eyeing Adrienne's left hand for a piece of jewelry that wasn't there, but she agreed to give them the time off to meet with the realtor and see the townhouse in person. She did inform them too that there would be paperwork they had to fill out, because apparently having the same address was something Sam had to make official, on paper, something the intercom and general public knowledge didn't replace.

Sensing her nerves, that tiny voice inside his head still telling him that she may bolt, Daniel reached out to her, peering over into her eyes.

"We don't have to do this," he whispered as he looked down at her, slipping his hand onto her back, "if it's too fast we can slow down and I can try to think of something else." Shaking her head, she stepped over, running her arm through his.

"No, it's just weird. Not only have I never owned a home myself, but, well, let's just say I never thought I'd be buying one with you," she answered, choking up a bit at the end. Smiling, Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him, the sound of a car coming to a stop interrupting their tender moment.

"Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, sorry to keep you waiting," a short well-dressed man apologized, dashing out of a gray Volvo, his feet heavy as he plodded along the sidewalk. Adrienne made a face at the salutation but Daniel just looked down at her, trying not to laugh.

"Consider it practice," he said, raising his eyebrows, as he walked over to the realtor.

"We need to discuss that sha," Adrienne said, to herself apparently, following, her cheeks flushed at the thought of giving him yet another piece of herself.

Daniel had agreed to purchase it an hour later, calling a military attorney from the Jeep before they were out of the neighborhood.

So much for shopping around, Adrienne thought, although she had to admit she was excited and touched but more than anything she felt loved, really loved by a man and not just her family for the first time in her life.

Over the next few weeks, things for them proceeded as normal, or as normal as things could be considering the entire base was buzzing that Dr. Jackson was buying a house with his assistant.

While they were waiting on the paperwork to be completed, they worked as they would have normally, late most nights, staying on base and smashing themselves into Daniel's tight quarters. Once they had a closing date, they split what little free time they had between his apartment and hers, packing things and preparing to move, Adrienne on cloud nine the entire time.

She was moving in with Daniel and it was surreal.

The big day came and went, Adrienne discovering at the signing, as she carefully scripted her name on the deed, at his urging, that there was no mortgage; Daniel had paid for the house in full, not asking her for even one cent. She didn't know what to say, especially knowing how much it had cost, deal or not; this man had just bought her a home.

This is really happening, she thought, as she set down the pen, sliding the papers back across the desk.

Dr. Adrienne Rowan now owned a home, with Dr. Daniel Jackson, who was going to ask her to marry him just as soon as he could do it in the way he thought she deserved.

It's just funny how life works out.

"Ok, Jackson lives farthest away so we start there. We'll be picking up the moving truck right at 7 a.m.," Cameron announced from the head of the cafeteria table the night before the move, making himself, of course, the self-appointed move director.

"Cam?" Adrienne raised her hand, it was stupid, she knew, but it was just easier to get his attention that way, "they don't open until eight on Saturdays."

"I called ahead, we'll be there at seven," he answered without missing a beat, Adrienne leaning over to Daniel, reading his mind.

"Sorry, I thought he could make this run more smoothly," she offered, knowing that she was going to hear it from Daniel for not making him stop.

"Smoothly?" he questioned, looking at her over his glasses so she elbowed him, Cameron continuing, oblivious to the exchange.

"As I said, we'll be getting Jackson's things first and then moving onto Addy's place. Our goal is to get to the townhouse no later than 1 p.m.," Cameron continued.

This time it was Daniel that elbowed Adrienne, who peeked over at him, glaring viciously with those eyes of hers.

"He's set a time limit on our move. Why couldn't we just do this ourselves?" Daniel hissed under his breath, blue orbs darting around the room to see if he was being noticed, which he wasn't, as Cam began to give a minute by minute itinerary of the entire ordeal.

"Everyone wanted to help. Jack and Sam just eloped but we're - " Adrienne stopped herself realizing that they were just moving in together, not getting married, not yet, her face flushing at her slip. She must have said something right, however, as Daniel smiled and reached his arm around her.

"I know what you mean," he whispered back to her, "but just remember that you said you wanted everything simple."

"Ok, does everyone know what we need to do?" Cameron finished, exaggerating his words, apparently having noticed the side conversation in the back.

Adrienne just shrugged, elbowing Daniel, who quickly did the same.

Adrienne whacked her arm on concrete the next morning as she awoke, however, this time, she was bouncing up and down on the bed in glee, crawling right on top of him.

"I heard ow, are you alright?" Daniel asked as he rubbed his face, yawning groggily.

"Yes! That will be my last ow ever!" Adrienne exclaimed, diving across him to jump in the shower.

Daniel just rolled back over, knowing she must be truly excited if she was actually moving before 8 a.m., opening his eye slightly to see that it was 5:30. Frowning he pulled the blankets back up over his head.

"Come on Indy," she begged, "wake-up. We've got moving to do!"

Letting out a groan Daniel opened his eyes and there was Adrienne, standing over him, tugging at the blanket.

"Fine, I'm up, I'm up," he whined, standing, making his way to the shower, reaching behind him.

"You need to hurry, I want to get in there too, moving or not," she ordered, squeezing his hand before turning away to gather her things, surprised at the grip on her wrist, clasping her quickly, quicker than a sleepy man should, pulling her toward the shower, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Really?" she clarified, puzzled, her eyes darting to the clock to check the time.

"Uh huh," he replied, pulling her again, right to the room in question.

"Can you not drop me this time, I actually have to lift and move things today," she teased, smiling, waiting for his reaction.

"I didn't mean to drop you," he defended, frowning, but not stopping his advance.

Nice wake-up, she thought, as long as I don't end up bruising my ass.

"Guys! Are you up yet!? Why aren't you answering your phones!?" Cam was screaming from the other side of the door as Daniel worked his lips down Adrienne's neck, the water pounding down his back and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

"I'm a patient man. But that's going to get on my nerves, fast," Daniel whispered, not moving, not pulling away, thankfully her body added, so Adrienne tried not to laugh, despite the sheer ludicrousness of the situation.

"Do you want me to get rid of him?" she offered, not really wanting to stop, after all, he had managed not to drop her yet.

"No I want him to take a hint, go away, and let me finish what I was doing," Daniel hissed, resuming his earlier movements.

"I've ruined you," she joked, returning her lips to his.

"Dammit guys, this isn't funny! I know Addy isn't sleeping through this!" Cam shouted again, banging on the door, Daniel's head coming to a rest on her shoulder.

"And he's killed it," he sighed, pecking her collarbone and turning his head to rest it there as he returned her feet gently to the floor of the stall.

"I'm sorry sha, I'll go get rid of him," Adrienne apologized, disappointed, slipping away from his embrace, frowning as she exited the shower.

She was in a towel when she answered the door, subtly trying to prove her point.

"Oh sorry Addy, I didn't realize you were in the shower. Where's Daniel? Why didn't he answer the door?" Cam continued, but Adrienne didn't reply, just cleared her throat cutting her eyes down at her attire.

"Oh..." Cam replied, catching the hint, "sorry 'bout that..."

Smiling, Adrienne shook her head, still hiding behind the door.

"Cam, shug, I appreciate it, I really do, but can you just calm down a bit. Just a bit. I'd like for Daniel not to have a stroke. I'm kinda in love with him," Adrienne finally spoke, hoping to ease his embarrassment.

"I'm sorry, really, but we need to get moving Addy. I'm not trying to be annoying, I'm just trying to keep this going. You wanna sleep here another night?" Cameron asked knowing the answer.

Adrienne often complained of not sleeping well anymore, she didn't like their on-base room but she hated sleeping alone and he knew how to get to her, obviously, as she gave him a dirty look.

"Go get the van, meet us at Daniel's. We'll take the Jeep," Adrienne answered, shutting the door on him before he could argue and turned to face Daniel, who had gotten himself out of the shower and was pulling a t-shirt over his head.

"We're going to meet him there," Adrienne declared.

"Thank you," he answered, the tension still in his voice. So much for a last goodbye to their quarters, Adrienne thought, walking over to the dresser to pack herself.

Nerves in their stomach they headed out, both from excitement and from the realization that this was happening, that they were taking this huge step together. They grabbed the final boxes, opting for breakfast on the road, and made their way to the jeep.

Their moving crew was outside of Daniel's complex waiting for them, each dressed in their own moving attire. Cam and Teal'c were wearing jeans and t-shirts like normal people, but Vala looked like something out of Fame, leggings, a blouse hanging off of her shoulder, her hair in pigtails cascading down her shoulders.

Adrienne decided to refrain from comment, she just knew that was going to be a bad wardrobe decision, in fact she believed that bad wardrobe decisions were something about her friend that she was never going to be able to fix.

When she looked over at Daniel, who had calmed considerably on the ride over, she could tell that he was trying not to kill Cameron, who was already approaching the Jeep, looking at his watch. She rubbed his leg up quickly, leaning over to peek at his face, but he didn't say a word, so she just remained silent, trying not to laugh and making a mental note of the location of her phone, in case there was something blackmail worthy to photograph later.

Sighing, he pulled the car up into a space in the lot, shifting the gear into park, finally looking over at Adrienne.

"No going back now," Daniel said, worried, leaning over to try to gaze into her eyes.

This is huge, he thought, bigger than a ring and a promise.

This, he knew in his heart, was really the step, that there would no longer be a Daniel and an Adrienne just Daniel and Adrienne, as a unit, a one. Her face, however, wasn't what he expected, it wasn't what he had worried about, she seemed calm, happy even, like this wasn't anything unexpected at all.

"I was pretty clear on that when we signed the papers sha," she noted, reaching her hand across.

I'd hoped so, he thought again, considering I put your name as 50% of everything.

Turning his hand over to take hers into his own, he squeezed it lightly, leaning over the console to kiss her lips, getting lost for a moment, forgetting where they were, reaching his hand behind her neck, before she pulled away, giggling.

"We've got to go," she whispered, pecking his nose lightly.

"I love you Adrienne," he replied, running his fingers down her cheek, turning to pull the keys out of the ignition.

"I love you too Indy," she said with a smile, reaching for the door handle.

It was time to face their future.

"I've got it Teal'c!" Vala snapped, glaring up the stairs at her teammate as they carefully moved Daniel's sofa down the steps to the next floor, Teal'c's assistance making her more unsure of her footing than were he just holding half of the weight.

"ValaMalDoran this is very heavy and I do not wish to crush you," he yelled down below, thinking to himself he could have just gotten the piece of furniture down the side stairs by himself, however she had insisted on helping. Taking a breath, he relinquished more of the weight forward, and he was correct, it was more than she could handle, a slew of swears now flung in his direction.

"Keep moving people, this box isn't light," Cameron shouted behind them, a large cardboard container of wall decor in his hands, Daniel's assortment of artifacts and replicas that Adrienne still had no idea where she would be putting in their new home.

One's face in a scowl, the other suppressing laughter, Adrienne and Daniel were shortly behind carrying his dining room table in between them.

"This is insanity," Daniel stated, frowning, glaring at Adrienne shaking his head. He didn't even want to look at Cam, between the moving agenda and the fact he was now carrying a box of his prized possessions Daniel was starting to wonder if he would have a complete meltdown before or after they got this table loaded.

"Personally, I find it kind of amusing," Adrienne answered, laughing again as she heard Vala refer to Teal'c as a muscle bound idiot from the back of the truck.

"You would," he replied, grimacing, Adrienne lifting the table higher to adjust her grip, making a face at the effort.

"Too heavy?" he asked, mocking her because he knew her answer, and that answer, to him, was as amusing as Adrienne was finding the rest of this fiasco.

"No, too ugly," she answered, winking at him, "I can't believe we're keeping this."

"Nuh uh," Daniel responded, quickly, "we're NOT doing this. This is a move together, not a hostile Adrienne takeover," he tried to sound serious but he was laughing knowing full well that despite his protests he was going to end up with faux grapevine hanging in his dining room, and probably throughout the entire house.

"You watch it Indy," she threatened, "I'll let go and we'll solve this argument right now."

Raising her eyebrows, she dropped the table just a bit, just enough to make him gasp, and pulled it back up, giving him an evil grin.

"You do realize that's a declaration of war ja-wer," he stated, started down the stairs.

"Bring it on," she answered, giggling, following close behind.

Cameron was pleasantly surprised when they finished up at Daniel's place early and moved onto Adrienne's, very pleasantly surprised, ordering Teal'c to drive the van to the next stop while he rearranged their schedule, Daniel's advance to choke him only stopped by Adrienne literally grabbing his waist from behind.

"Play nice," she ordered in his ear, feeling him breathe in deeply in and out but not turning around to face her.

"Want me to chill Mitchell," Vala offered, trying not to laugh at the vein throbbing on Daniel's forehead.

"Please," Adrienne requested, turning her very annoyed beloved around, gazing into his eyes.

"I'm going to kill him," Daniel hissed through his teeth, continuing with what Adrienne swore was Kelnareen breathing.

"He's trying to help," Adrienne reminded him, telling Vala with her eyes to get the moving truck out of here and fast.

"He's trying to give me a heart attack. This is OUR house, not his, and if a single one of my artifacts is broken..." Daniel began to rant, Adrienne standing on her toes to shut him up with a kiss, one hand wrapped around his neck, the other waving Teal'c to drive.

Seeing the truck turn left out of the corner of her eye, she backed away, Daniel sighing as she did.

"You're trying to distract me," he accused, himself trying not to smile.

"Is it working?" she asked, rubbing his arms lightly.

"Come on," he replied, frowning, grabbing her hand to pull her over to the Jeep.

Adrienne's place was pretty cut and dry, Daniel even managing to not go storming after Cam screaming, which was a plus, and they got everything moved out in stowed safely into the moving truck in record time.

That was, until it came to her wine cabinet.

"What is that?" Cameron asked, looking at the last thing in the apartment, a huge mass of bubble wrap setting beside three wooden crates.

"That mon ami is my wine cabinet, with which you are quite familiar, minus the protective covering of course," Adrienne stood with her hands on her hips, examining both the object and packaging with pride while Daniel shook his head.

That's going in my house too, he thought, maybe I should have talked to Jack before coming up with this idea.

"That is what AdrienneRowan?" Teal'c knew what wine was, and had seen the cabinet, but could not believe what she had done to prepare to move her precious piece of furniture, in fact, he never realized how big the thing was until he was staring right at it, alone in the dining room of her apartment covered in plastic.

"That Muscles is her alcohol collection," Vala clarified.

"No," Adrienne corrected, pointing to six neatly labeled crates, red, white, blush, champagne, liquor, microbrew, "THAT Is my alcohol collection. THIS just holds my alcohol collection."

Vala laughed, glancing at Daniel as she stepped forward to grab a crate.

"Adrienne's loves in order: her car, her wine, running and then Daniel," Vala joked.

"Don't forget fighting, somewhere after running," Cameron added, stepping up to examine the encased mass he was expected to move.

"And you must list her staff weapon close to fighting," Teal'c chimed in, moving to join Cameron, reaching for two crates.

"And I've just been moved to sixth place," Daniel sighed as he reached for a crate of red wine. Laughing, Adrienne leaned over to kiss him, wrapping her arms right around his waist from behind.

"No, you're second sha right behind the car," she teased and pecked his cheek, grabbing the last precious crate, turning to lead Vala to the truck.

Colonel Cameron Mitchell, Supermover, was at a loss after about three minutes of struggling with the obscenely large final piece before he was yelling for Daniel to help them. Frowning, so what else was new, Daniel looked over at Adrienne before he went inside, an expression on his face she could have read before they were a couple.

"You've wrapped that thing so much that it's double in size, round as a ball, yet you didn't think to construct some handles?" he asked, peering down at her over his glasses.

"Good idea Indy, why don't you go make some," she smiled, patting his shoulder.

Shaking his head, he walked back into the apartment.

Somehow, and surprisingly only twenty minutes later, the boys got the cabinet into the truck, no suggested handles, no screaming, no fighting, with everything intact.

Adrienne decided not to ask for details and since Daniel didn't seem like he wanted to punch Cam in the face and it looked as though everything was alright. Smiling, she went to thank them, however, rather than speak, they each made a face at Adrienne as they entered the truck, faces that made her smile of gratitude feel a little silly.

"We need to make a stop," Adrienne ordered Daniel, as soon as he got into the jeep and shut the door behind him.

"Why? Cam wants to keep to this schedule of his." Daniel answered, the sarcasm dripping as he tried to keep the moving truck in his sights.

"Sha, have you ever moved?" she asked.

"Yes, would you like me to start counting the times? Would you like me to count them with or without deaths?" he retorted, cutting his eyes over at her.

"Then you should know that we must stop for pizza and beer. Now I've already ordered and paid for the pizza by phone but in Virginia one cannot order beer with an iPhone," she informed him, disregarding his smart remark.

Resigning himself to the fact that Cam would have to wait, and God forbid be fifteen minutes off schedule, he pulled into the first grocery store, deciding to wait in the car.

Their friends were waiting for them when they arrived and while Daniel was expecting a run-down of where they should be in the schedule, Cam was especially appreciative of the beer, opening a bottle and not saying a word.

Laughing and joking, the real stress of it all gone, they sat together on the front stoop, eating every last slice of pizza before unloading.

The rest was simple, since they had no idea how much space their things would fill, Daniel was finally able to take over, ordering the boxes to just be taken to the rooms that they were labeled as, a plan that Cam did not question. Pleased to finally be in charge of something, Daniel stood at the back of the truck, passing out orders and boxes and furniture.

About an hour in, Adrienne's arms were killing her, as it seemed that every box Daniel passed her was for the kitchen or an office, boxes full of dishes and books while he kept taking the boxes labeled bedroom for himself, disappearing in there for breaks as often as he could. She was really annoyed not only because those boxes were much lighter but because every time he needed to take a break she felt like he was just checking out of the entire process. He didn't need to do that anymore, Cam had calmed down considerably and there was no reason to be stressed now that they were here.

After she was on about her fourth trip to his office, a fourth trip of books upon books, she got to the truck to find that Vala was now distributing boxes, Daniel yet again nowhere to be seen.

"Where did Daniel go?" Adrienne demanded, "Is he taking another "break"? He's been taking the easy route all day long!"

"I don't know. He said he had something to take care of and told me to read box labels. Here's more kitchen," Vala passed her a box and Adrienne took it, annoyed, but delivered it to its destination.

At last the truck was empty and everyone gone, leaving Daniel and Adrienne standing in the foyer, in their foyer, looking at the mountain of boxes that didn't have a home. Both annoyed, still, at Daniel and overwhelmed, her compulsion to organize starting to take over her exhaustion as Adrienne's dark cajun eyes scanned the mess laid out in front of them.

"Dear God," she said, "Where in the hell do we start?" Daniel, however, just stood there, smiling, not saying a word.

"Offices? I'm thinking that books might be the least stressful. Books and bookshelves," Adrienne declared, looking over for his approval, but he shook his head, that same silly grin on his face.

"We can start unpacking tomorrow," Daniel replied, turning to walk to the back of the townhouse, past the kitchen and down the hall, heading for the bedroom.

"Daniel, where are we gonna do anything?! This place is a disaster! I can't live like this," Adrienne was fussing but following.

Again, not speaking, Daniel just reached for her wrist and pulled her along, past the offices and the hall bathroom.

"Daniel, I'm serious," Adrienne pulled away, growling, angry and ready to have it out with him, "I've worked all day long while you took all of the easy stuff and now you just wanna sloth around when our home looks like a disaster. What is wrong with you?"

Shaking his head, he just smiled, walking the rest of the way down the hall to the bedroom and opened the door.

That grin plastered across his face, Daniel leaned against the doorframe gazing back at Adrienne as she continued to rant.

"If you think that I'm even for a second in the mood for that, and on what I might add, you're out of your mind," she stormed up to him and looked into the bedroom, her jaw dropping.

Sitting in the center of the room was her beautiful dark carved canopy bed, completely reassembled, its sheer curtains pulled back to the side, pinned together by what looked like ornate grape decorated pulls, new pulls, pulls that she had never seen before. The curtains were a deep purple, wait, those weren't her faded curtains with that coffee stain on them, these were new and obviously silk, as purple as the matching comforter lying across the bed, her comforter, he had matched it perfectly. There were pillows spread about, new additions as well, each with gold accents and tassels.

It was amazing, simply amazing.

The rest of the room was an explosion of boxes and whatnot, but the masterpiece in the center made up for it.

"No concrete walls," he said, smiling as Adrienne finally realized what he had done, that he wanted her to finally be able to relax and sleep well.

Grabbing his hand, quickly changing her mind, she pulled him into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them when he stopped her, pulling away.

"What's wrong?" she asked confused, trying to figure out where he was going as he headed down the hall.

"Hold that thought, I need to put a note on the front door," he said over his shoulder, powering down the hall.

"A note, for who?" she continued, stepping into the hallway.

"For Cam, in case he decides he needs to be helpful again..."


	46. Chapter 45 - Interference

Daniel rolled over toward the wall, reaching out to stir Adrienne, his hand dropping to the bed. He opened his eyes slowly to confirm that she wasn't there and she wasn't; he was in the bed, alone, in their new on base quarters. Confused, he rolled back over and looked at the clock wondering if he had overslept, after all, this new set-up Sam had weaseled for them while they were moving into the townhouse was quite nice and he found himself not dreading sleeping here as he used to.

Squinting as he reached for his glasses he thought he could see the bright green numbers glowing from the clock, numbers reading 6:02 a.m. She must be in the bathroom because Adrienne moving before 7:30, even 8 some mornings either required sirens calling them to the gate room or that she had just stayed up all night, usually working with him or shopping at some insane sale with Vala.

Yawning, he shut off the alarm and grabbed his glasses, wide awake, sitting up in the bed.

"Ad! Did you sleep alright? Are you ok in there?" he called out worried. Adrienne was the kind of person where if she had woken up in the middle of the night, feverish or with a stomach virus she would sit there alone and suffer not wanting to disturb him. He paused, hoping that was not the case right now, and there was no answer, just as he feared.

Daniel sighed out, pinching his nose.

"I wish that you would realize that being in a relationship means that I'm here for you when you're puking, but no, let's go at this alone," he said quietly to himself, preparing his lecture in his head. Throwing back the covers, Daniel tossed his legs over the edge of the army issue bed, two army issued beds, strapped together, Sam's genius, in search of his assistant, his significant other and soon to be his fiancee.

Fiancee provided that he could get on that damn impossible reservation list at MiniBar, the most amazing place in the city according to his research, but he was starting to think he needed a plan B in case the maitre'd never called him back.

Yawning again, he approached the door and listened, to see if she was still in or had gotten out yet but he heard no running water.

"Adrienne!" he shouted, concerned, "are you in there?"

There was no answer.

Worried that his initial fear was right, that she was sitting on the floor possibly very ill, he reached for the doorknob, hoping he wouldn't find her sprawled out across it. He peeked his head inside, slowly, opening the door just as slow for fear of hitting her, even though the bathroom in their new set-up was much bigger as well, but the room was empty.

Coast clear, he opened the door the rest of the way, stepping inside the lit bathroom.

Ok, well if the light was on she had to have been here, right, he thought, walking over to the bathtub.

"Ja-wer, are you in here? Where are you?" he asked, pulling back the shower curtain, but the stall was dry, not even a drop of condensation collected on the curtain and Adrienne was certainly not soaking in the tub.

Puzzled, Daniel walked back into the main room, trying to figure out not only where she had gone but how she had gotten out of here without his noticing; he usually felt her absence in his arms. He started to head for the phone to call the infirmary, his next guess being if she was sick she would go to Carson to be checked out when he noticed her satchel wasn't on the desk. Frowning, he walked over to the small wooden piece of furniture, littered with his papers and journals, remembering that for the bigger bed and bathroom, Sam still had only managed so far to get them one dresser and one desk. Adrienne hated how he always took over the desk, forever rearranging his items into different piles or sneaking anything that hadn't been to the lab recently home, shoving them into his office there, but all of her things were gone.

His heart stopped, his thoughts racing, thinking maybe he had pushed her too far last night talking about the future, rushing over to the dresser, opening one of her drawers. Her clothes, however, were still safely tucked inside, her collection of black Victoria's secret underwear laying neatly on top.

"Alright, so I didn't imagine that we live together; where are you?" he said to himself as he shut the drawer, only somewhat calmer, walking over to his phone to dial the lab.

It rang and rang, but there was no answer.

Frustrated he hit the button to hang up, calling down to the gym, his mind going down the list of Adrienne places.

"Gym," the voice answered, some cadet he didn't recognize.

"Good morning," Daniel spoke cordially, trying not to seem upset, however upsetting it was to wake up finding that the love of your life had disappeared into thin air, "Is Dr. Rowan using the workout facilities this morning?"

"Please hold," the voice answered professionally. Biting his lip, Daniel waited, arms crossed, hoping to find out that for some insane reason she had gone running. It not only wasn't like her to leave early, but it was less like her to leave early without a note, even if the note was just something funny, hell, especially if the note was something funny. He heard the young man pick up the phone again, hoping he had news that he wanted to hear.

"No sir, she's not here," he informed him and Daniel let out a breath, his level of concern rising.

'Thank you," he answered and hung up the phone.

He guessed he'd need to start this little expedition on foot.

Walking over to the dresser, he yanked out some jeans and stepped into them, turning to look for footwear as he did. Pulling a shirt over his head as he stepped into his boots, not bothering to lace them, he grabbed his phone, just in case, heading out to find her.

He was both pleased and confused to see that she was in the lab, headphones on and music blasting, loudly, much louder than normal, but explaining perfectly how she'd missed answering the phone. Dancing around at her desk, Adrienne was typing like a mad woman, her fingers flicking around almost as quickly as her brown eyes darted around the screen.

A quick glance of the clock told Daniel that it 7 a.m. On any other day he would be flicking water at her post shower to get her moving while she swore at him in cajun french from her hiding place under the covers. Now, though, here she was standing before him like she'd been awake for hours. Confused, he reached out and placed his hand lightly on her shoulder...

The next thing he knew, Daniel was slammed to the floor. There was a whirlwind of moment in front of his face as he fell, her brown locks flying around her cheeks as she pinned him down with her knee to hold him in place, her iPod flying off of her desk and crashing to the floor. She looked scary, deadly serious for just a moment, like she was deciding whether or not to crush his windpipe when suddenly she smiled and leaped up, reaching down her hand to help him to his feet.

"Daniel, sha, I'm sorry, you scared me," she apologized, pulling her headphones to her neck and him to his feet, forcefully.

It was too early in the morning for this insanity.

Grabbing for his throat, Daniel rubbed where she had slammed into it, glancing back at her carefully, seeing that she had finally realized that she'd hurt him. Her face changing, from surprise to genuine concerned, Adrienne leaned up to kiss his neck sweetly and slowly, working her way down sensually before stopping and pulling back, screwing up her face.

"You need to shave handsome," she declared, pecking his cheek, and returning to her desk.

"I need to shower, but when I wake up and you've disappeared without a trace; I tend to worry," he said, looking down at her, his crystal blue eyes scolding. Smiling she stood again from her desk, more like dashed from her desk, to walk over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and entrapping him with those dark brown eyes of hers.

Damn distracting Adrienne.

"It's so sweet how you worry about me so much. It makes me feel loved," she smiled at him, with that mischievous look in her eyes. Daniel frowned at her, unsure if she was trying to be sweet or messing with him, which with Adrienne, either was possible.

"Considering the kinds of things that happen on this base and in my life, I think I have a right to worry," he answered, looking into her eyes, sternly, so she understood that he wasn't playing, but she laughed, grabbing his face lightly and pushing him away.

"Stop that, I'm sorry ok. I should have left a note," Adrienne apologized, backing away and walking over to her desk chair. It was then Daniel noticed that she was in full SGC uniform, minus jacket. That was unusual too, Adrienne did everything she could to come to work in yoga pants if possible, even more so now that they were an item and he had a hard time saying no to her.

This is not normal, he thought, Adrienne wasn't suddenly going to become a morning person, dress in what she referred to as an impractical piece of bureaucratic bullshit and be zipping around here having a grand old time, without him. Sure, she loved their work, but it had been a very long time since she had a "geek out" moment without him, now usually they had those kind of moments together.

His brow still furrowed, he approached her desk, resting his hand on her shoulder as he peered over into her face.

"What's going on with you this morning?" he asked, "Not only are you awake before eight, but without a fight, fully dressed, showered and happy." Not making eye contact, Adrienne shook her head, pulling away from his gentle touch.

"I couldn't sleep," she answered, still typing, fast, eerily fast, her eyes focused on the screen. That didn't seem likely, Daniel thought to himself, if Adrienne was unable to sleep she'd be dragging, not this awake. His mind clicking into action, he scanned her desk but there was not a coffee cup to be found, also very odd. Frowning again, he pulled over a chair and sat down beside her, reaching out gently for her face, turning her gaze to him.

"I'm fine, really, just a little antsy today that's all. Stop worrying," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. He let her, still worried about her odd behavior this morning, kissing her slowly, sweetly, before she backed away quickly, dashing to the printer. Grabbing a piece of paper from the tray, she hurried back over to him, passing it to him proudly, smiling in satisfaction.

"Here is the section for this week, the part you wanted me to skip ahead for, do you want me to rework the calendar so we can squeeze in some of our stuff in between everything else this week?" she asked.

There's no way, Daniel thought, that list was more like a dream, the more Anubis poked around the less they got to work on their own items, much less get to some silly out of the blue request from Rodney, but it was finished, every section, every line of DNA worked out, every fragment of lineage mapped and correlated to the corresponding DNA, everything he could have possibly requested.

How in the hell did she get this done?

"No, you can run this to Rodney so he can cross it with the cloning information," Daniel answered her standing.

Maybe she was just on a roll today; she had moments like this when she would work furiously, through the night, usually after a big break or if she was injured and felt behind. That was one thing he could say about Adrienne, her dedication to her work was admirable and just one of the many reasons he loved her. Nodding, she took the paper back from him and stood, heading for the door when she paused, turning and rushing back over to him, kissing his still sore windpipe.

"Sorry sha, I'm really sorry. I hope it doesn't hurt. I love you. I'll be right back," she spat out, her words so quick they just seemed like one long word and dashed out of the room.

Still concerned but with no evidence that there was anything wrong, Daniel returned to his own desk, wondering if she had managed to do his work for the week as well, forgetting about his shower.

Adrienne was back faster than he expected.

He looked down at what he needed to accomplish, a myriad of tasks Sam had assigned to him and was trying to debate if he should hand any of them off to her since she was working at lightning speed but decided against it; she just didn't seem herself today.

Instead, he decided to take a different approach to get to her and see what was really going on.

Standing from his desk, Daniel walked over to where she was standing at hers, not sitting, again, just bent over her chair, typing frantically.

"Ja-wer," he whispered, slipping his arms around her waist. Affection would get her attention; it always did. As expected, she whipped around fast as lightening, tossing her arms up on his shoulders, smiling evilly.

"Yes..." she asked, that tone in her voice, as she leaned up, starting to kiss his neck, slowly, letting her lips linger, falling right into his trap. He played along for just a second, not totally playing, the softness of her lips against his skin was too much to ignore, letting his hands glide from her waist and down just a bit lower, squeezing her backside before forcing himself to focus.

Stop Daniel, he told himself, you need to get her to chill not get yourself started.

"Go do anything else you needed to do today. Run, go to the store, anything that you needed to do before we go back home..." he whispered softly in her ear, teasingly, letting the words linger in her mind. She giggled a bit, pulling back from him, or trying to, since he wouldn't let go.

"Why is that?" she asked coyly.

"Because since you got so much done today I was thinking we could leave here early and spend some time together, alone, at home," he answered, lightly kissing her neck, feeling her giggle under his lips.

It's working, he thought, continuing carefully, hoping he was out of the line of sight of the camera.

"I might have to get up early more often," she replied and backed up to pack up her things.

Bingo, Daniel thought to himself, this worked way better than him acting like her keeper, worrying about her and subsequently pissing her off. Suggesting that she go run now in order to get home faster would let her go to the gym, blow off some steam and maybe she would be normal again by lunch.

Pleased with the idea apparently, she grabbed her gym bag from her locker and walked back over to him, leaning up to kiss him passionately, again and he stopped her before he could get carried away, again.

"Message me when you're done and I'll wrap things up here," he smiled and watched her leave, relieved that this strange morning would soon be over.

At 12:05 his phone was ringing.

"Daniel," the voice on the other line said, cautiously. It was Carolyn Lam, dammit he swore, and he could only guess what was wrong.

"Hi Carolyn, what's up?" he should have just asked what has Adrienne done now be he figured he would let her get whatever rant she had about his assistant out of her system.

Adrienne drove Carolyn insane, not because she did anything wrong in particular, but because Adrienne was as accident prone as he was, if that was possible. Dr. Lam often reminded Daniel that he was enough to deal with, but with two of him running around base she was going to drive herself crazy keeping up with their mishaps.

"I need you to come get her," the doctor replied, no tone or anything, which was odd, at the very least he expected her to be annoyed. Sensing that his little plan from this morning had backfired, Daniel let out a sigh, making a mark in his work for later.

"Where is she?" he asked, shutting the lid to his computer and standing.

"We're in the gym. Everyone's in the gym," Carolyn replied, emphasizing her last words. Dumbfounded, Daniel looked back over at his clock running numbers through his head. Adrienne had left the lab at eight this morning, heading straight for the gym but that was over four hours ago; why was she still there? And everyone? What was going on?

"What do you mean everyone?" he asked.

"Just get down here," Carolyn replied quickly, ending the call. Without hesitation, Daniel ran to the elevators.

When he arrived at the gym he heard loud cheering, loud excited cheering with chants of 'Addy' echoing around the room. He scanned his surrounding and saw that everyone in the gym had stopped what they were doing, every single person, all eyes looking upward toward the overhang track.

There, all alone, was Adrienne, running, full force, that look of determination on her face.

As she ran under the time clock the crowd cheered again, some people yelling "Only one more!' Before he could ask one of the spectators one more what, he felt a tap on his shoulder and there was Carolyn, trailed by Ronon Dex.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked and shaking his head, Ronon pointed up to Adrienne.

"Caught her this morning, going for a run. Said she was pretty wound up, asked me if I would join her. We decided to run 10K, which I thought was a lot for eight in the morning on a Monday, but she seemed to really need it. We ran 10K and she just kept running," Ronon explained.

"Alright, so she wanted to do a big run, so?" Daniel asked, not finding it that surprising; Adrienne had been upping her mileage for a few months now.

"So," Carolyn intervened, "Ronon called me because once she hit ten miles and hadn't even broken a sweat, he was fairly certain something was wrong with her. By the time I was able to get down here she was at fifteen miles. In a few more laps she will have completed a marathon."

Jaw dropping, Daniel looked up at Adrienne, who didn't even look tired. She was a distance runner, sure, had been for years, hell, she'd gotten him running here and there but half-marathon was usually as far as she took it, in fact they had just recently only talked about getting with Carolyn to create a safe training schedule for a full.

The most frightening part, however, wasn't the mileage, it was that she was pumping away as if she just started the run. Stepping forward, Carolyn pulled Daniel aside, away from Ronon and the others, leaning into his ear.

"Is she taking her meds?" she asked. Daniel wasn't sure to be honest, he didn't check up on her; she was an adult and took care of her body like it was a temple. He looked over at the doctor and shrugged, not sure what to say.

"I honestly have no idea. I've seen her take them but it's not as if I watch her," he admitted but Carolyn huffed out in annoyance, evidently having decided that as her boyfriend he was also her keeper. She looked at Daniel harshly, a true Carolyn expression now appearing.

"You need to go up there and get her to stop. I've tried, Ronon's tried, but she won't stop running. You get her down here because I'm going to run a full blood work-up on her to make sure she is taking the medication and nothing else," she declared and Daniel just nodded, deciding not to argue that Adrienne would take nothing other than one hundred percent organic fare, and started to head for the stairs but Carolyn grabbed his arm, halting his advance.

'You need to bring her down to reality. She's a good person, a good team member, but she's not a super hero, no matter how bad she wants to be one," Carolyn said kindly, letting go and turning to leave, to prepare to poke and prod his significant other Daniel assumed as he turned for the stairs once more.

When he got to the top she was apparently on the final lap to completing a full marathon, the significance to the rally of 'one more.' Her name was still being chanted below and she was running around the turn smiling, not smug, but proud, relishing in the support of her friends. Pausing, Daniel hoped she would stop once she got to the finish line, now only a few feet away from both him and her, but she didn't, she just kept running. Fed up, he stepped to stand in her way, holding his hands out in front of his chest.

"Indy!," she shouted, "I feel so much better. I think you're right about getting up in the morning, this is amazing!" Daniel, though, didn't reply just caught her as she was passing and she let him, crawling into his arms, very Vala like and not like Adrienne at all, kissing his neck seductively in front of everyone, as he pried her away embarrassed.

"Adrienne, dammit, what is wrong with you! Come on, we're going to the infirmary," he ordered, grabbing her hand to lead her away but she pulled back, glaring at him viciously.

"Why?" she inquired, "I feel fine, great even. Did Carolyn have some crap to say?"

"No, she's just worried. Dex is worried. I'm worried. You're not yourself, please, ja-wer. Let's go down there, just humor me," Daniel tried to plea with her, going back to his fail safe approach, affection, wrapping his palm behind her neck drawing her close.

"Trust me Daniel, I really feel great," she argued, not buying it this time, pulling away. Dammit, he thought, going back into scolding mode.

"People don't just run marathons," he stated.

"I've been training for one, starting to, it's really not that surprising, is it?" she retorted, sweetly, smiling slightly. This was true, they hadn't agreed to let her push herself to a twenty six, the thirteen being hard enough on her as it is, but she had been doing ten mile runs once a week now. Maybe he shouldn't be surprised, but as he looked at her he could see what Ronon was talking about, not a drop of sweat on her head, not a dash of red in her face.

Daniel didn't feel like arguing anymore, she wasn't going to listen.

Leaning over he picked her up into his arms, heading for the elevator to the main floor of the gym.

"Ok, so it's not a lack of medication," Carolyn said looking at Adrienne, Adrienne who was currently making a face at her, a face Daniel would have told her to stop making were he not standing at the foot of the bed right by the doctor.

"I told you I was taking the meds; why would I lie? I don't try to hurt myself," Adrienne said, nicely, reading Daniel's thoughts and wiping the face away.

"Everything looks normal, I honestly have no idea what in the world is going on. She's just having a really good day," Carolyn explained, looking at Daniel, not Adrienne, who was back to making the face.

"Can I go then?" she asked, leaning over, in a gesture that Daniel could tell meant 'talk to me and not him' and thankfully Dr. Lam glanced back to acknowledge the frustrated cajun.

"I have no reason to keep you, a scan isn't going to show anything else and the bacterial cultures are going to take a few hours to run. However, Adrienne, I'd like for you to stay on base tonight? Just in case that changes? Let's have you come check back in with me in about two hours," Carolyn requested, kindly, as Daniel stood back and watched the two of them be cordial to one another. Today, at least, wonders never ceased. She nodded in agreement, not even an argument in her face, so he escorted his assistant carefully out of the infirmary, that face coming back as soon as they were in the hall.

"So much for a romantic evening at home," she said, disappointed, Daniel paused, forgetting for a moment how he had gotten her running in the first place. Remembering, he reached out and clasped her hand in his, hoping to get that off of her mind, because that was the last thing she needed to be worried about.

"Let's go get something to eat first," he said to her, and she rolled her eyes but followed, still lightly clasping his fingers.

Adrienne ate, and ate, and ate and to be honest, it creeped Daniel out. He kept having flashbacks of the Atanik armbands, terrible flashbacks that made no sense as Adrienne, wasn't wearing a cuff; she wasn't wearing anything unusual, she wasn't exhibiting any unusual behavior like they had other than this burst of energy. He was looking, Carolyn pulling him aside to tell him to watch for a plethora of other symptoms including dilated pupils, seizures, chills, anything and everything he could look for but rather than helping him figure out what was going on, she wasn't exhibiting any of these symptoms.

To be honest, that was making him panic that much worse.

Frowning, his own eyes locked on her pupils, just in case, he made a face as he watched her down her fifth apple.

"Did you ask Carolyn if this could be a side effect of the cocktail?" he said, now placing the blame on himself. Adrienne wouldn't be taking that strange Clozapine cocktail if it weren't for him, and he still felt guilty about it, even though he would never let her know. Nodding while she chewed, Adrienne whirled her fork around, swallowing before answering.

"Yep, when you went out to take that call. No go, that's not it," she replied quickly.

Back to the drawing board, Daniel thought, leaning his hands over onto the table lost in thought. Maybe there wasn't anything wrong with her, maybe she was just really energetic today.

Sighing, he reached and clasped her hands, running his thumbs on the top of hers gently and she looked up at him with a half-smile.

"Look, sha, I know this is all weird, but I feel just fine. Really. Even the doc says that I'm fine. Why don't we just go back to the lab, get some work done and then we can just hang out here, watch some movies or something," Adrienne offered. Her eyes widened at the last word as if she was remembering his kisses earlier.

She stood quickly from the table, abandoning her tray, grabbing his hand to drag him out of the commissary, Daniel looking at her confused until she paused, leaning into him, her lips gently brushing his ear.

"Or something..." she repeated slowly and Daniel pulled back, staring at her dumbfounded.

"Adrienne, do you think that's such a good idea? I mean, all things considered, one of us might get hurt..." he started to argue but she just pulled him along, forcefully, he wasn't going to get away from her tight grip.

"Like me," he squeaked out as he followed, trying to run through his head a way to get out of this.

He hadn't thought of a way out of it by the time they reached their door, Daniel pausing as he coded in their numbers slowly, deliberately, trying to stall the inevitable. Adrienne's advance on him in the elevator made her intentions clear, in front of the cameras no less, that she wanted only one thing at this point, the prospect making Daniel's heart race.

"Stop teasing me," she whispered in his ear, slipping her hand to the front of his pants, squeezing him strongly.

Dear god, he thought, and she hasn't had a single shot to numb her normally demure behavior, Adrienne hated showing anything this overtly sexual publicly.

_What is going on with her?_

Shrugging her away, giving her the 'let's not get caught look' just so she wouldn't fly off the handle, Daniel typed the numbers in faster, preferring to deal with this alone in their quarters than out here in the open, hearing a few chuckles of passersby as her hand was once again between his legs.

"Please open now," he ordered the door, the green light his salvation, as he reached for the knob, turning the door and rushing into the room, Adrienne close on his heels, slamming the door shut behind them.

"Ad, ja-wer, let's try to relax for a while, find something on..." Daniel started but suddenly she was there, in front of him, on the floor, ripping his pants open and yanking his boxers to the floor. He wanted to tell her to stop, his heart racing in a panic, but his body was not cooperating either and suddenly she was on her knees, on him.

_Stop Adrienne stop..._

A wave of pleasure flooded over him, she was so aggressive, that he almost just relented and let her finish, but it was wrong, this was wrong, and he needed her to stop.

"Adrienne, stop," he tried nicely, but she ignored him, bringing him closer to the brink and as aggressive as she was today, he was honestly afraid to push her away physically.

_Something is so wrong..._

He started to panic, this was too much, his heart was racing, she needed to...

"Adrienne I said no!" he shouted, trying to pull away and she relented, sitting back on her heels, her sorrowful eyes looking back up at him.

"Oh my God, Indy, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she realized, standing, starting to apologize, reaching out, tears in her eyes. Shaking his head, he quickly pulled his boxers to his hips, toeing off his boots and decimated pants, taking her hands into his.

"It's ok, Ad, see, something's happening to you. I need you to calm down ok, or I'm taking you back to Carolyn. How about a bath? Let's get in the bath and just relax," he offered, hoping she knew that it was alright, he wasn't thinking what he knew she was, her face streaked red with tears.

Nodding, she let him lead her to the bathroom, her heart racing, her soul ridden with guilt.

Adrienne couldn't sleep that night either. She lay there in bed, staring at the clock, staring at the ceiling, staring at Daniel and the freckles on his bare shoulders, freckles she had noticed before, but right at this moment they just seemed to stand out much more than normal. She lay there looking, thinking how much more handsome they made him, how she wasn't sure if he could be more perfect.

He'd gotten her into the tub, slipping out to call Carolyn before joining her. Sitting there, waiting for him to return, she worried about what he might be telling Dr. Lam, worried about what she had done to him, but he came back, smiling sweetly, stripping down and getting in with her. He sat there with her for the better part of an hour, rubbing her shoulders, holding her in his arms, kissing her softly, even washing her hair.

He loves me so much, she had thought then and thought now, leaning over impulsively, kissing his shoulders before crawling over him and out of the bed.

Scurrying over to the dresser, she pulled out some clothes, dressing quickly and grabbing her shoes, figuring if she couldn't sleep, she might as well work. She knew that they had quit early for the day, Daniel refusing to leave Adrienne's side, so she also knew he must have left a considerable amount of work unfinished.

That work, she decided as she rode the elevator, alone, down from their quarters, would be her first task.

Sure enough, on his desk was a stack of files, various preliminary reports and photographs from pre-visit surveys for Daniel to go through and recommend whether or not to send a second MALP or a human team. Most of the reports contained photos of things the powers that be preferred that Daniel translate or look over before any major decisions were made, but basically they just wanted to know if anything on the planet's would help them blow up Anubis rather than find anything of academic interest, so Adrienne knew he was probably happy to blow them off. She could translate almost as well as Daniel at this point, thanks to his careful training, so after him wasting his entire day worrying about her, she felt she owed him.

Sitting at his desk, she cued up her iPod and opened the first folder, prepared to make it up to him.

A small part of Daniel hoped when he awoke Adrienne would be laying there, cuddled close to him, begging him to let her sleep for just five more minutes, however, he felt her absence in bed before he opened his eyes. That familiar feeling of worrying creeping up yet again, he rolled over to check the time.

6:45 a.m.

Sitting up, he listened for the shower, but heard nothing. Ok, he thought, she did take a bath last night, so she might have gone to work. Standing, glad he had joined her in the tub last night, Daniel got dressed, heading for the lab in a hurry.

He had expected a repeat of the day before, Adrienne working away, headphones on and dancing at her seat, but instead, when he turned to enter the lab, he saw nothing.

"Ad?" Daniel called out, his stomach sinking. Her desk hadn't been touched, so he walked over to his own thinking maybe she decided to help out with his things since yesterday had been such a debacle; trying to make up for something she felt was her fault was a very Adrienne thing to do. His laptop was open as if it had been used recently and his files had been sorted and set into the different stacks, one labeled MALP, another labeled TEAM and a third labeled DON'T BOTHER.

Not exactly my system, but it would do, he thought, smiling at the third pile in particular.

It looked as if she finished all of his work, god he loved that woman, but where was she? She hadn't come back to bed to disturb him; she would have if she was bored, even if she just wanted to be held and nothing more. Standing by his desk, Daniel scanned the room trying to decide whether to check the gym or the commissary first when he heard a faint noise that sounded like rap music, so weak that he would not have noticed it had he not been concentrating so hard on where she might be. He held his breath and listened close noting that the sound was muffled but echoing off of something, something stone. A thought flashed in his head and he ran around his desk and into the small bathroom adjacent to the lab.

Adrienne was laying on the floor, unconscious, headphones pulled to her neck and her body positioned as though she tried to make it to the toilet to vomit before collapsing.

"Adrienne!" Daniel shouted, dashing over and pulling her into his arms. He turned her head to look at him and it rolled over to the side, weak, loose, and he felt something wet drop onto his arm. Looking down he saw a silver fluid on his skin, metallic, shiny, rolling down the muscle and trickling off the elbow, to the ground. Confused, his heart racing, Daniel followed the source of the droplet all the way up to Adrienne, her lips to be exact, to see a grayish silver fluid welling up in her mouth and dripping out of the side.

Scanning frantically, Daniel saw a pool of the same metallic fluid on the floor beside the toilet and he didn't bother taking her pulse, didn't bother to try to rouse her again, he just lifted her up and ran with her in his arms to the infirmary.

Carson made him stay outside despite his insisting otherwise, citing that they were not married, and he almost fought him, explaining that if that idiot maitre'd would just call him back they would be light-years ahead on that step, but he didn't, just slipped into the doctor's office and called Sam.

He didn't know who else to call and Sam was the closest thing he had to family; he just felt he needed someone to fall apart to. Fortunately, she wasn't in any meeting and the next team wasn't due back for at least two hours so she had hung up on him mid explanation, rushing out of her own office and in his direction.

He heard her heels clacking on the hard floor before he saw her, so he stepped out in the hallway fully to meet her, needing to see her face, any face, needing to hear her tell him that it was going to be alright.

"What happened?" Sam shouted as she hurried and Daniel shook his head, trying desperately to hold it together.

"I have no idea; yesterday she woke up Supergirl, literally, but Carolyn said she was fine. Got up at some point this morning, went to work early and by the time I came down she was unconscious and oozing some silver substance," Daniel explained letting his words take him away from the situation, allowing his brain to easily slip into work mode, problem solving mode, out of Adrienne mode.

"It's trinium," Daniel heard Carson's voice behind him, the infirmary door slapping back and forth loosely on the flexible hinges. He turned around stunned; that was the last thing he would have expected to hear.

"Trinium?" Daniel clarified. He hadn't heard that in a long time, the name bringing back a surge of memories of a kind, simple people, animal spirits and a considerable amount of problems with bureaucrats. Sam slipped up beside him, her hand resting gently on his arm, staring at Carson in surprise.

"Carson, Adrienne has never been to PXY-887," she stated looking at Daniel, "Has she?" Daniel shook his head no.

"Never, in fact I haven't been there in years myself. They buried the gate but I know we've used the Odyssey to check in on them a few times," he responded looking back at Carson who was shaking his head, evidently not caring about the visit.

"No, this has nothing to do with that. It's all coming from her spinal column," Carson said, pulling some scans out of a folder. He showed them to Daniel who pulled down his glasses peering over them trying to read the information, Sam looking over his shoulder while Carson explained.

"Adrienne's leaking this from her spinal column, the same area where the magnetic connection was established well, now, well over a year ago. I had no idea trinium could work in that way, but apparently it does and it's not meant to remain in the human body for long, it's my guess that Anubis or whoever was trying to take her before had every expectation that she would die shortly after providing the needed information, or they planned to kill her. The substance must have reached its expiration because it's leaking and the rest of her body is absorbing it. Since her kidneys can't process it, her stomach is trying to and just expel it through vomiting," the doctor continued, Daniel's head shooting up.

"So, she's awake and vomiting again?" he asked but Carson shook his head, a look of concern on his face.

"No Daniel, she's not awake. I have her hooked up and am pumping her stomach as we speak but it doesn't look good. I've tried chelton treatment, common for heavy metal poisoning, and while I just started it a few moments ago there is typically an initial spike that the body recognizes as the serum is injected and then it levels out as the treatment continues. I haven't gotten a spike yet, I haven't gotten anything yet. We can wait, but the lack of an initial reading is troublesome, and her lack of consciousness...Daniel, I'm sorry, but we've had to put her on life support," Carson continued, slowing at the end, knowing that the archaeologist's reaction was not going to be a pleasant one but Daniel didn't speak, he didn't say a word, he just stood there, looking at him in disbelief trying not to drop the folder. Reaching out to take it away, Carson squeezed his friend's hand, tucking the file under his arm and letting Daniel process it all for a moment.

"Alright, what can we do? What do we need to do next?" Daniel asked, wanting to hear something else come from Carson than what he was thinking but Dr. Beckett again put his hand on Daniel's arm, taking a breath before he spoke.

"Daniel, I need to know what Adrienne's last wishes were, if you knew. At what level of neurological damage does she deem her life over?" Carson said gently and Daniel ripped his arm away, his breath labored, his chest pounding, his emotions out of control.

"Adrienne would never deem her life over, ever, as long as something was possible. No, we never talked about that, we don't need to talk about that, that's not an option, never an option, because you're going to fix her and she and I are gonna walk out of that infirmary together and go home, to our home, our new home," Daniel started to ramble, his voice cracking, his hands shaking. Reaching for his arms, Sam held Daniel from behind, looking over at Carson.

"I have that in her personnel file; I'll send you the information as soon as I can lay my hands on it," she answered for him, glancing at Daniel who spun around to face her, rage and panic in his eyes.

"You need to come with me," she ordered, not letting him speak, not letting him scream, not letting him cry, grabbing his arm to pull him down the hallway.

"I can't leave her Sam," Daniel responded, almost begging but Sam shook her head.

"Daniel, come with me, now, " she emphasized, pulling him along. He paused, only for a moment to peek back at Carson's sad face once more, looking for any sign that this was going to be alright, a sign he didn't get and followed.

Sam didn't take him back to her office or his lab, instead, she headed straight for the elevator, hitting the button to go up as Daniel watched on, puzzled. The door opened and she ushered him in behind her. As soon as the door closed Sam quickly pressed the emergency stop button, rushing over to the cameras clicking them off as well. Scanning the booth a final time, she glanced at Daniel, her face serious.

"I want to you take John Sheppard, Ronon and a puddle jumper. I'll give you a set of coordinates and you'll need to follow my instructions very carefully otherwise this'll blow up in a our faces and Adrienne'll die," Sam began to instruct as Daniel looked at her even more confused.

"Some of our allies, old allies, I've been able to re-establish contact with, not check ins, but actual contact, me, as Samantha Carter, member of SG-1, not as a representative of the program or the IOA," she continued and Daniel nodded for her to keep talking.

"I have ways to get a hold of them if I need them, for emergencies like this. Some we can reach by gate, others by coded transmissions over the Odyssey or Daedalus and others like what I'm going to have you do, gate into open space and send out the distress call," she explained. Daniel seemed to understand, his eyes widening, his breath now calm, hope spreading across his face.

"So, I'm going to pay Tonane a little visit?" Daniel asked and Sam shrugged, nodding slightly and confusing Daniel.

"If he's still the elder, or alive. Our last recorded contact was about five years ago, but Tonane isn't who's going to help us. We need to talk to X'els. They pull the trinium out of the ground for the Salish and they pull illness out of people. It might be a stretch, but they seem to know enough about them both to hopefully work out the two together," Sam concluded.

"If we haven't had contact in five years how do we know they will answer?" Daniel asked, now worried.

"Recorded contact, I said recorded," Sam clarified, "I've found putting out a few messages in some bottles, so to speak, with the right wording can make for some surprising pen pals."

John met Daniel at the hanger, Rodney fussing with the oldest jumper in the small fleet.

"You two can take this one for your little joy ride, even though I don't understand where in the hell you're going, especially you Daniel. Carson told me about Adrienne and I fail to see how any mission can be so important when your girlfriend is about to have the plug pulled on her," Rodney fussed as he checked the controls and Daniel started to speak, to explain something that Sam told him he wasn't allowed to discuss, but John shook his head, stopping him before he could start.

"Better to let Rodney get it out of his system," John whispered and Daniel calmed himself, taking a moment to consider that Rodney was actually caring what happened to Adrienne rather than the reverse.

"Well, I mean, unless of course you two are going after a cure for her?" Rodney inquired, peeking over his computer, knowing something was up, especially since Sam had kept the entire operation very quiet to keep her secret contact list just that, secret. All Rodney knew was that Daniel needed some reading on this particular gate located at these coordinates, a gate that was just floating in space. He'd been told to prepare a jumper as soon as possible to gate into open space for an operation. He was annoyed to be out of the loop and as much as Daniel wanted to include him, given his legitimate concern for Adrienne's well-being, he answered with Sam's lame story.

"No Rodney, Carson's going to give the treatment a little more time to work before I have to make any decisions, so Sam is sending me on this errand to take my mind off of it, you're not missing anything," he said and Rodney shrugged.

"Well, then, for the record, I wouldn't leave Jennifer's side. For a second," Rodney admonished, tapping the vessel on the side as he glanced over at John.

"Ready to go. Ronon should be down here with the equipment shortly and you guys can go sit in open space for a few hours," he concluded but the men didn't answer him, not even a thank you, just boarded the vessel.

Daniel was plugging Sam's coordinates into the system when there was a banging on the back of the jumper and John stood from the pilot's chair, walking back to the hatch. Glancing back quickly, Daniel confirmed that it was indeed Ronon, with the cargo, he just wasn't prepared for how the cargo would be packed.

In his arms, barely able to balance it for it's size and most likely weight, Ronon was awkwardly carrying a large black plastic box that looked like it would normally house staff weapons. Shocked, Daniel ran over to him, reaching for the container clasped in the Sateadan's grip.

"You mean she's trapped inside!" he shouted at Ronon, trying to pull the box to the ground but Ronon used the sheer size of the container to push him aside.

"Yes, she's inside. She's all hooked up to everything so she's fine. Sam and Dr. Beckett said to leave her inside until it was time to meet with those people Sam is sending us to," Ronon informed him as he set the box gently down on the floor of the cargo hold.

Willing himself not to hyperventilate, Daniel just looked down at the box, trying not to imagine her in there, lifeless and still, so sick, unable to hold her, to comfort her, to touch her skin. He was about to kneel down and at least try to talk to her, when John came up, tapping him on the shoulder.

"You should take a picture. It looks just close enough to Carbonite that she would be thoroughly amused," John tried to joke and Daniel appreciated the effort, just didn't have the energy to laugh. Taking a deep breath as John patted his shoulder and walked away, Daniel gazed down at the container, the large piece of plastic that was now holding the most important person in his entire life as Ronon secured the rear door.

Daniel didn't even notice that John had given the signal to take off.

Hours later they sat, waiting in space.

Daniel had done just as Sam instructed and sent the 'message in a bottle', a simple code on simple radio waves, sent out into empty space, a desperate cry into the black. He sat in the navigator's chair, awaiting a response, a sign, anything, but none came.

Eventually he stood from his seat, not saying a word to John, walking back to the box that was both containing Adrienne and keeping her alive, so cold and lifeless, as lifeless as he knew that she lay inside. Ronon had been sitting there, guarding her as any good friend would, but he stood as soon as Daniel approached, putting his hand on his shoulder.

Daniel just sunk down beside the case.

"You know Ad, Carolyn's right, you are a walking disaster," he said looking at the box pretending she could see him, hear him, understand his words," which means that I guess we're meant for each other."

Taking in a breath, Daniel leaned his arms across the plastic, resting his head as close as he could get to the silent person inside.

More time passed with no contact.

Daniel tried to act like he hadn't been keeping track, but he had, knowing that Sam had allowed them a six hour window and not a moment more, since this part of space was controlled by the Lucians now and that a puddlejumper, cloaked or not, was no match for a stolen mothership. That, and sitting out here relatively powerless was asking for Anubis to come and wipe out four very important members of Stargate Command.

Reading the same numbers on the clock, numbers that meant he was about to lose one friend to death and another to despair, John walked over to Daniel and sat down looking over at him.

"Listen, I'll do whatever I can to stall, but in about an hour Sam'll have no choice but to recall us, so you just tell me if I need to start setting the stage to make a break for it," John offered, willing to jump further into space, to hide, to do what it would take to keep Adrienne alive but, surprisingly, Daniel shook his head.

"I can't ask you and Ronon to do that and I can't put Sam in that position," Daniel answered, "it's not fair and even if we got her awake and she found out that we threw away our lives for her she would never forgive us. Or herself."

John nodded his head. They all knew Adrienne, she would hate herself for causing this much trouble and Daniel was right, to make a break for it would cost them all everything, especially Sam for allowing them to go.

Not having much else to say, Daniel just stared ahead, swallowing hard, praying to a god he had never really believed in. Understanding, John stood to walk away, pausing to gaze down once more.

"We all love her Daniel. Just say the word," he reiterated, forcing a smile of support before walking back to the pilot's seat. Silent, Daniel sat forward and turned, looking down at the box, the coffin, it looked too much like a coffin to him, making his insides tighten. Frowning, he ran his hands along the sides of it and found the clasps that were locking it tight, popping them loose and prying away the metal loops to carefully open the lid, peering curiously inside.

Adrienne lay there so very still, a tight squeeze, as her broad cajun hips pushed right to the edges of the edges of the container. There were tubes in every part of her body, pumping her stomach, helping her breath, running fluids into her arms, and catheter for anything that might come out. He resisted the urge to both vomit and scream out but since neither would do him any good, he just gazed in horror at the way she looked right now. Sitting back on his knees, he glanced at the monitor that was tracking her vital signs, signs that were present, but very weak, barely enough to be alive.

He was losing her...

"Adrienne listen to me, if you can hear me you've got to give me some sort of sign. I lied to Carson, Ad, and Sam. I know what you told me, I know you said to never let you suffer like this, and as it is now I'm treading pretty damn close to getting screamed at by you as it is. I just can't, Ad, don't you understand. I can't do it again, sit by and watch. I can't pull the plug, I can't. Please Adrienne, please wake up, please," he pleaded, tears in his eyes, but she didn't move, not one statistic on the monitor changing. Tears streaming down his face, Daniel stood, enraged, glaring down at the box.

"Fuck you Adrienne Margaret Rowan! You said NEVER! You said you'd always be there! And now, you broke that promise and you're just going to lay here and make me decide for you. FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU AD! FUCK ME FOR LOVING YOU!"

He was screaming, so loudly that Ronon began to approach in an effort to calm him but Daniel just threw his hands up, pulling his hair and screaming a string of obscenities in a rage that even Ronon was hesitant to control. Still swearing, even a few cajun words thrown in, Daniel kicked the box and there was a beep, a change, and he fell to his knees, frantically reading all of the scanners.

The brainwaves went flat.

"No!" he screamed louder, repeating the word over and over, shaking the box and reaching over for the monitor. The wavelength didn't change, just that flat foreboding line, Daniel climbing into the box pulling at the various controls, determined to do CPR or something, anything, even though the tiny rational part of his brain was telling him that CPR wouldn't bring her brain back.

"Adrienne, please, why, Adrienne..." he cried, feeling arms around him vaguely aware of Ronon pulling him away. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, he just watched her fade away in front of him, his body convulsing, his face soaked in tears.

"Where is Samantha Carter?" he heard a voice behind him, "And what has happened to Dr. Jackson?"

His heart racing, Daniel broke free from Ronon's grasp to see a tall, gray skinned man standing in front of him wearing a full length shimmering silver robe, a face full of gills. Daniel tried to speak but couldn't find the words, the sound of the monitors in the box with Adrienne were penetrating his skull, making his head throb, until John reached over and turned them off, returning his attention to their visitor.

"Xe'ls, my name is John and this is Ronon. We're good friends of Sam's. This lady in the box here, she's our friend Adrienne and she is Dr. Jackson's -" John paused wondering if the concept of girlfriend would make sense to this strange creature but Daniel pushed his way forward, finally finding words.

"My wife, Xe'ls, she's my wife!" Daniel choked out, shouting, trying to pull himself together as Ronon and John both looked at him confused, wondering if they had missed something, some ceremony to which they had not be privy. Nodding, Xe'ls walked over to the box, his hands clasped and tucked into his robes as he made his graceful stride.

"Of course, that explains your demeanor," the alien said calmly, so matter of factly, kneeling carefully beside the box. Turning his head from side to side, he ran his hand over Adrienne slowly a few times, the gills moving as he breathed, his eyes closing, his mind analyzing before finally looking back at Daniel, his expression unchanged.

"There is trinium in her body, poisoning her. How did this happen?" he asked, confused.

"The Goa'uld," Daniel answered, catching his breath enough, finally, calming himself, straightening his uniform as he knelt beside him.

"I thought you and your friends conquered the Goa'uld?" Xe'ls questioned, running his hands over Adrienne again as Daniel shook his head.

"We got a bit ahead of ourselves and there was someone we didn't take into account. She's had it in her body for a while, we just didn't know what it was or how to get rid of it and then yesterday she began to act strangely," Daniel started to explain and Xe'ls nodded continuing his manual scan.

"Yes, made her seem to be a great warrior. That is common with the poisoning; it is why we began to limit and more strongly control what we gave the Salish," he answered, finally making a face, bringing his eyes back to Daniel's as he rested his palms onto his thighs.

"She is near gone Dr. Jackson," Xe'ls confirmed, Daniel trying to hold it together.

"I know, and her brainwaves seem to have disappeared. I was just going to take her off of these machines and let her go in peace," Daniel said it aloud, admitting it, the acceptance of what was to come destroying him inside but Xe'ls shook his head and he paused his hands over her face, reaching down to place his fingertips onto her temples. He touched her forehead lightly and looked up at Daniel, his face puzzled.

"Enough remains if we hurry, there is something else here in her, something we have not seen before, something very old. I believe we can still save her," he said and stood, closing his eyes.

There was a shimmer and four others just like him appeared out thin air. He spoke to them, in that strange raspy language Daniel barely remembered and they approached the box, moving him aside. The five of them stood, taking various positions around Adrienne and began to chant and move their hands as Daniel remembered them doing over Xe'ls so many years ago.

The chanting grew louder, an energy created by the words, pulsing around them, causing a painful vibrating in his skull but he watched on as a glow came from her body and Xe'ls himself broke the trance to lean forward and pull the tube from her throat. Daniel saw Adrienne's body convulse and put his hand to his face, trying to keep it together, it was one of the most horrifying things he had ever witnessed simply because of who it was happening too, to the one thing in his life he just couldn't bear to lose.

The glow intensified and the box itself shook as the chanting grew louder, a thin steam at first, followed by a thick, silver smoky trail began to rise from Adrienne's body, funneling out of her mouth, some even seeming to come from her eye sockets. He could smell charred flesh, knowing that it was hers, but willed himself still, repeating over and over in his head that this was the only way, the only way that he would have her back.

As the mist dissipated Daniel could see a silver substance hovering over her, liquid and malleable, yet suspended in the air, the energy in their song holding it in space. It was working; they were pulling the metal out of her body, freeing her of the poison, when suddenly they silenced and Xe'ls reached out, grabbing the blob with his hand and grasping it as though it were a sword. The others dropped their hands and looked down as their leader deftly brought the now solid object to his side, staring it down, glaring at it as he squeezed before it turned to dust in his hands, scattering onto the ground before disappearing completely. Bowing his head, Xe'ls approached Daniel, holding out his hand so the human could see the remains on his own silver palm.

"The sickness is gone, she is free of poison. The damage has been repaired," he declared. Choking on air, Daniel rushed past him and over to Adrienne who was still unconscious, reaching for her face, bringing his palm to her cheek to feel it was warm, peering back at Xe'ls.

"Will she wake up?" he asked and Xe'ls shrugged, his gills now moving even slower.

"She was badly poisoned; we have seen it before in the Salish. Trinuim never leaves the body completely, she will always have some inside of her, but not enough to poison her. With this much sometimes Salish would live, sometimes Salish would die. We have no way of knowing," he said as Daniel stood, calming himself again and nodding.

"Thank you. Thank you for trying," he replied, Xe'ls bowing his head.

"You are welcome and we thank you and Samantha Carter for letting us live in peace but still caring enough to contact us from time to time. May we meet again and may your wife awaken," the alien answered and then just shimmered away, the four remaining companions fading away as well.

No one said a word as Ronon took the co-pilot's seat by John and Daniel leaned into the box, starting to remove the various machines from Adrienne that were still attached.

Adrienne shivered, reaching around herself in search of Daniel, to curl into his warmth. Feeling his bicep under her palm, she rolled over to nuzzle close to him.

"Warm me up," she requested, reaching her legs to intertwine them with his, expecting skin, hair, warmth, but rather felt the rough fabric of uniform pants.

"Sha, why are you sleeping in your uniform?" she asked, opening her eyes to see what time it was but the lights were blinding so she kept her eyes closed.

"Daniel, can you please shut the lights off?" Adrienne asked, reaching out to bury her face in his chest.

"I take it she's feeling better?"

Adrienne heard a voice beside her say, not Daniel's voice, but a woman's voice, making her freeze mid cuddle. She opened her eyes to see Carolyn Lam looking down at her smirking and sat up quickly, almost knocking into Daniel who was sitting up beside her. Confused, she looked around and saw that she was in the corner of the infirmary where it looked like two beds had been shoved together against the wall, two beds that they were in together, Adrienne in a hospital gown under a thin blanket, Daniel lying with her, in his BDU pants and t-shirt.

"What happened? Why am I here? I know I got up early because I couldn't sleep but I don't remember anything else," Adrienne looked down and saw IV tracks on her arm, her deep cocoa eyes looking to Daniel for an explanation, who blushing, tossed his legs over the side, glancing back at the doctor.

"I'll get out of your way. Can you explain, while you look her over," he requested, leaning back to kiss Adrienne's head as the doctor nodded, ignoring Carolyn's presence for one more moment before scurrying away.

"Don't scare me like that again?" he whispered, taking in the sight of her, flushing cheeks, that beautiful smile and those intelligent eyes.

"Like what sha, I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied, still completely confused. Smiling, he leaned forward again, wrapping his arms around her shoulders to hug her tightly and kiss her cheek one final time.

"I love you so very much," he added, letting go and standing from the bed, grabbing Carolyn's hand as he walked by, "thanks." She shook her head.

"I let you two get away with way too much," Carolyn replied with a smile, turning to Adrienne.

"You're getting close to his record you know. That's not something that you should be proud of," she stated. Still thoroughly confused, Adrienne just laid back and let herself be examined, hoping that someone would explain things to her, and soon.


	47. Chapter 46 - Joie de Vivre

_This chapter is mostly just silliness and YES it is my own personal little fantasy. While Adrienne herself has been carefully crafted and is not anything like me by any stretch of the imagination, this little snippet is just a wee bit me but I ask that you indulge me. _

_It is, however, included in the main storyline because of a few important details that were I to skip and put this in the side stories would leave you confused in later chapters. _

_Again, thanks for reading. _

"I'm not a runner!" Daniel shouted from what seemed to be miles away rather than feet, Adrienne so far ahead now there was no way he was going to catch up, especially since he knew she would take the stairs and not the elevator.

"And I'm not a sprinter, so you shouldn't be so far behind," she continued her advance to the door, the stairwell in sight, her feet pounding the cement

"Ad, dammit, this isn't funny!" Daniel continued to scream, running full force...

...right into General Jack O'Neill.

"Christ Daniel, did I miss some sirens!?" Jack asked, throwing up his hands looking back at Colonel Telford to see if there really was something he had missed. There was a shout down the passageway, Daniel holding Jack by the shoulders to peer around and see how far ahead his assistant was now.

"Sorry, my, I've, I've gotta go!" Daniel stammered out, racing back down the hallway, both Jack and David Telford watching him dash to the stairwell door, slamming shut into his face, the archaeologist swearing before opening it, running down the stairwell.

"What was that?" the colonel asked, shaking his head in confusion, but Jack was laughing, rubbing his face with his hand.

"That my friend is what happens when Daniel's getting laid," the general responded, laughing, leading his comrade to his wife's office to start discussing the latest Tok'ra intelligence report.

"Ad, really, I want to get that finished. You know Rodney is gonna steal you away for more blood work and then I'm going to be stuck alone. This is the first week in months we've been left alone for database work..." Daniel whined, stopping at the platform to level K, two full floors below their new quarters.

Adrienne was nowhere in sight, not a sound, but he could have sworn he heard her footsteps come to a halt right here. Frowning, he scanned the landing when he felt a hand at his shoulder, a force jerking him around forcefully and lips pressed to his.

Found her, he thought, submitting to the roughhousing, Adrienne's mouth working its way feverishly across his before taking his lower lip between her teeth, nipping at it gently.

"Do we need to go upstairs?" he asked, relenting, knowing that as much as he wanted to make some headway in the database he could also never say no to this, to her tempting offer. He had to admit that he had never felt this way before, never cared that much about any person in his life to toss it all aside, but Adrienne?

Adrienne was different.

She was perfect, she was so much like him, she was the other half of his soul.

It sounded so ridiculous and sappy, but every time he stood there, staring into her eyes, he thought back to that night in the hotel room in Nebraska when she had showed him that tattoo on her hip, the unfinished tree, the moment his entire opinion of her changed. Before he thought of her as a pest, albeit a talented one, but standing at the doorway to the bathroom of that seedy motel he realized that inside of that strange and unique individual was a kind and loving heart, one that he had never given a chance.

More than that, though, he now realized that he was the other half of the tree.

"No," she laughed, pecking him lightly a second time before pulling away, "I just needed to burn some energy and wanted to talk to you, sans cameras and possible interruptions."

Shrugging, she handed him back the folder, taking a seat on the metal stairs, Daniel sitting quickly to join her.

"What's wrong ja-wer? Are you feeling...?" he paused, not wanting to bring it up again, her brush with death, how Anubis had almost taken her away from him without even knowing how important she was to him.

It had been hard, not the physical recovery per se, but the emotional one, where she had to come to terms yet again with the dangers that this life had brought her, the dangers life with him brought her. He leaned over, trying to gauge the look on her face when her fingers were at his, intertwining with them tenderly.

"Daniel I need a break," she said quietly, her eyes darting down to the folder in guilt.

Daniel's heart stopped; what did she mean a break?

He was meeting with the maitre'd tonight, tonight, did she mean a break from them?

A break from this?

Was she reconsidering?

She had just given him the magazine; he had narrowed down his ring choices, his top choice needed to be ordered...

He started to speak stammer for words when she shook her head, laughing lightly.

"Oh no sha, not that kind of break. I need a vacation. Badly. I need to not think about dead aliens, bureaucratic paperwork, or jackal headed assholes that want to kill my boyfriend. I need that kind of break," she correct, leaning over to kiss him softly for emphasis.

Whew, he thought, way to panic.

"I wasn't thinking that," he covered quickly, smiling.

"You're a bad liar Indy. Always have been," she teased, picking up his arm so she could cozy under it, letting it drape around her, Daniel pulling her close.

"You're lucky no one uses the back stairs," he whispered, kissing her temple as he held her tightly to him.

"Which I think says a lot about the overall health and fitness choices my colleagues are making, but I shall refrain from comment," she joked and he laughed, shaking his head against hers.

"Give me two days to go through the database, two, also gives Rodney time to play with your blood and remaining trinium. That will make it Thursday, and we can take off and stay at home for a long weekend," Daniel offered, pulling back just a touch to let her answer.

"Daniel, I don't wanna stay home. I want a vacation. Remember, those things we used to take when we were friends and we didn't think the end of the world was coming?" she clarified, hoping he wouldn't take it the wrong way.

It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with him; it was that she wanted a real escape, something that made her forget the realities and hardships that they faced together each day and reminded them of the joys of just that, being together. There was a pause, as though he was considering her words in true Daniel fashion, over analyzing, trying to determine if he had done something to offend her.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked instead, taking no offense and Adrienne smiled, nodding her head.

"Something fun, something different. I've got an idea, but, Indy, can we, really? Can we leave Wednesday night? I can arrange everything; I'm gonna be waiting around Rodney's lab for at least the rest of today, if not tomorrow, I'll have plenty of time. Please?" She made a sad face, that fake Vala sad face she liked to throw at him when she wanted something.

"I should say no just for this display, but fine, ok, I'll scrap a few days of uninterrupted research just to appease you. Why not?" he mocked back, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Her face aglow, yep, that look alone was worth scrapping the work, she leapt from their cold metal seat, rushing into his arms again, kissing him softly.

"This is gonna be great. Trust me," she promised as she pulled back, locking her eyes on his.

"Go before I change my mind ja-wer," he noted, shaking the retrieved folder. Biting her lip and wrinkling her nose, Adrienne darted from the stairwell, headed up the flights that would take her to their quarters.

"Damn distracting Adrienne," he said aloud, smiling as he jogged back down the stairs to M-level, heading back for the lab.

"Thank God you're here!" Adrienne exclaimed as Vala opened the door to her office, confused by her friend pushing past her and marching over to her desk.

"Thank God what, of course I'm here. I'm here listening to what other idiots have recorded, stolen, picked up, useless shit rather than getting it myself, but no, I'm here at your disposal, what do you need?" Vala ranted, hands on her hips as she watched Addy take a seat in her chair, tossing her satchel on top of the desk and pulling out her laptop, firing up the machine like she was just supposed to be there.

"I need, mon ami, for you to keep Daniel away from me," Adrienne replied, typing furiously, her eyes darting back and forth along the screen.

"What did he do now? Do I need to punch him again?" Vala inquired her interest peaked as she sauntered over to the desk, finally finding something more interesting than poor intelligence.

"I'm planning a trip, a real trip, a trip I want to go on. I don't want him trying to come in here and influence me and sweet talk his way into what he wants to do," the Cajun responded, clicking feverishly when her eyes widened, glancing up at Vala.

"Does your phone have long distance?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" Vala answered but Adrienne didn't reply, just picked up the receiver dialing, covering up the mouthpiece for just a moment.

"Rodney too. I feel like a maple tree. Tell him I'm tapped out," Adrienne ordered, holding up her finger to shush her friend, "Hi, my name is Dr. Adrienne Rowan and I'm a researcher with the United States Air Force how are you?"

Well that was rude, Vala thought, watching her friend switch right into that sweet mode she got into when she wanted something. I've taught her well, Vala thought, walking to the door to heed her friend's request.

The gadget buzzed in her pocket, breaking her concentration yet again. Growling, Vala hit stop on the recording, pulling the headphones from her head to look up at Adrienne.

"That is the sixth time he's called me. If you're not answering and I'm not answering he is gonna put things together," she stated, reaching into her pants for the phone, waving it at Adrienne who was shaking her head.

"One more call Vala and I have everything set, just one more," she pleaded, reaching for Vala's desk phone one final time.

"Why are you using my phone anyway? You have a cell phone," she stated as Adrienne dialed, checking the number again on the computer screen.

"Daniel's nosey. Once he figures out I'm not gonna tell him what we're doing, he'll wait until I'm asleep and search my phone," she answered simply, her tone changing as she said hello into the phone.

"I think that's creepy Addy," Vala replied, pocketing her phone again as Adrienne shook her head, mouthing something about him being nosey again.

"Yes, I know that we don't have enough people to get a group discount, but I was calling to see if you offered a military discount. Yes, I'll hold," Adrienne sighed out, on hold yet again.

"How many people is a group?" Vala asked, now even more curious.

"Fifteen according to the website," Adrienne replied, tapping her pen nervously at the desk.

"Wait? How many people are you thinking about going?" she now asked, thinking that Adrienne had been planning a romantic getting away with Daniel but apparently not.

"Five I guess. I was thinking SG-1, me and Indy, you, Cam, T. There is no way Sam can get away, Teyla couldn't find a sitter so fast, the docs are still in clone land and playing with my spinal fluid and John won't go without Teyla, trust me, they are like me and Daniel minus sex," Adrienne answered, now bopping her head to what Vala could only imagine was horrible elevator music judging by her friend's face. She smiled, understanding that she was welcome on this adventure when her face furrowed, realizing that Adrienne had forgotten someone.

"Addy, what about Ronon?" Vala asked.

"What about him?" Adrienne replied.

"Why didn't you list him?" she continued as Adrienne held up a finger, speaking into the phone again.

"Yes, Airforce. That's right we're all active military. Thank you," Adrienne answered the person on the other line, looking back at Vala.

"It makes me feel bad, I mean, I know we're well over things, but I feel like I can't even hold Daniel's hand without being a complete tchew," she stated, making a face that Vala knew meant she was telling the truth.

To be honest, Vala had completely forgotten about all of that, a surge of jealously rocketing through her, making her wonder what in the hell all the boys on base saw in her small chested Cajun friend, but shooed the thought away, not wanting to be that hateful to someone she had begun to think of as a sister.

"Adrienne, can we invite him? Can I invite him?" Vala asked, quietly, waiting for her friend to explode but she didn't instead sighing out as the salesperson came back on the phone.

"Six tickets I think, I think we'll need six. Yes, yes I'll have ID. Thank you," Adrienne said, hanging up the receiver.

"Well I ordered six tickets mon ami, but as soon as you ask him you meet me at our room, because I want DETAILS," Adrienne requested as Vala raced for the door, heading out into the hallway toward the gym, the first place she would check. She had gotten about five steps from the room when she paused, peering over her shoulder.

"Wait!? That's MY office! And I never got any damn details!"

Daniel finished drying his hair, tossing the towel into the hamper as he left the bathroom to see Adrienne sitting cross legged on the bed, hidden behind the satin canopy reading intently.

"What's that?" he asked, noting the absence of blond vampires and blood, in fact, it looked like a kid's book, a teenager riding a Pegasus on the cover.

"Percy Jackson," she replied without looking up.

"Which is...?" he asked, walking over to bed, their bed, pulling back the curtain to crawl in beside her, underneath of the unnecessary blankets in the August heat, air conditioning or not.

"Teen demigods of the ancient Greeks," she responded, her eyes racing back and forth across the page.

"Must be good if I'm not even getting a kiss goodnight," he joked as he scooted down on the pillow, playfully turning his back to her, feeling a light swat at his head.

"Let me finish this chapter o' master of patience and I'm right behind you," she played back, racing to finish. There were only a few pages left, and Adrienne found herself speed reading, even more so as he pretended to snore beside her.

"Ya such a damn cooyon," she teased, laughing at the poor attempt as the acting grew louder.

"Dammit," she swore, tossing the book on her night stand, "sa c'est bette," she fussed, rolling him onto his back and crawling on top of him as he laughed hysterically.

"I am not stupid," he laughed, throwing her off and over to her side, pinning down her arms playfully, cautiously, walking the fine line he always walked when they chose to rough house. Seeing her smile, he leaned down kissing her gently before pulling away, gazing down in her eyes.

"You're silly," she corrected his Cajun, reaching her hand to his face, letting her fingertips trace his cheek, jawline and full lips.

"Only due to your terrible influence," he answered, kissing her fingers and laying on his back, pulling her to his chest as he reached back to shut off the light. Sighing, she snuggled close to him, wrapping her arm around his waist and draping her legs across his, silently listening to his heartbeat, letting its soothing rhythm carry her to sleep.

"Where are we going?" he asked, Adrienne outright impressed that he waited until after work, dinner, cleaning and showers before asking. Well, asking after his repeated phone calls all day, but this was Daniel and his patience once they were face to face again was something to be commended. Giggling, she rubbed his chest softly, leaning up to peer into his azure eyes, sparkling in the moonlight that was peeking through their window.

"Nice try Indy. My vacation, remember? And what if I was trying to surprise you? It's not fair to make me ruin a surprise," she responded, smiling softly.

"Is it? Is it a surprise?" he asked, confused. The only thing she did tell him about the trip was that it included six people, that it wasn't just to two of them, which he didn't mind, it just made him that much more curious.

"Actually, yes. Parts of it yes, have been carefully planned. See I have this problem. I fell in love with you and it seems to put a kink into everything," she replied, leaning forward to peck his lips ever so gently, so much so he breathed in, chills rushing down his spine. Hugging him close, she settled down again against him, her arm back where it usually rested, her head the same.

"Ad?" he whispered into dark.

"What sha?"

"Did you ever think you'd be sleeping with the guy who wore a cone of foil on his head?" he asked, withholding laughter.

"Go to sleep Indy or I leave you at home."

Wednesday didn't fly by, nor did it drag, although to Adrienne it felt like a hundred years had passed, spending most of the day lying face down on Rodney's table while he scanned and checked her spine a billion times. Throughout the process, he kept rambling on about incompetence, how this was missed before when she sustained the original injury and how annoyed he was that Sam could not get in contact with Xe'ls for more information. At one point he went as far as to suggest that they inject a little trinium back into Adrienne to see if she reacted, but she put a stop to before he could even try to persuade her to agree.

Released from McKay's evil clutches, Adrienne texted Daniel to let him know that she was going to head home and pack for both of them, knowing that her beloved would use the packing as an excuse to pry for further details. Not even giving him time to respond, she left base, taking the first train home to get started.

At five he really wasn't where he wanted to be and with Adrienne having sent him a text well over three hours ago, not a peep since, he was worried. Despite his hints over breakfast, the metro ride into work and the entire ride down the elevator, she hadn't budged, hadn't told him a thing other than they were riding separate from the others and he needed to be home by seven.

He walked in their front door at six.

"I knew you'd be early," she teased as he came in, making his way quickly to the office to toss his work bag, having been forewarned over coffee that no work was allowed. In the past he would have been upset, but now he was more intrigued than anything.

"I figured you shouldn't be left to do all the packing," he answered, walking straight for where she had apparently finished packing already, reaching for his suitcase.

"Touch that case and die sha," she warned, not moving an inch toward him. Stopping in his tracks he turned to face her, trying to give her that look, that innocent clueless look she claimed he gave her that made her melt, but she just shook her head and pointed to the door.

"Bags to Jeep. Don't open anything and get in the passenger side," she ordered, smiling. Doing as he was told, honestly excited about the possible surprise, Daniel grabbed the suitcases, taking them out to his car.

Daniel was waiting patiently when Adrienne finally locked the front door, smiling as she skipped down the walk. Curiosity burning inside of him, Daniel scanned her from top to bottom, trying to see if her attire gave away anything, but other than choosing to wear a light peach summer blouse with her jeans rather than a T-shirt there was no difference.

As expected, she crawled over the door to the Jeep, the top having been long since stowed in the garage, reaching into her pocket before making herself comfortable in the seat.

"Relax sha," she ordered, pushing him back by his chest into the seat. Playing along, for now, he saw that what she had in her hand was one of his bandanas, folded like a blindfold.

"Adrienne, come on, a blindfold?" he asked, starting to change his opinion fast, thinking maybe this was a surprise he didn't want.

_Wait, she's not gonna take me somewhere to ask me, is she?_

"Please Indy, please, for me," she pleaded, leaning forward to kiss his lips softly, so softly, now it was his turn to melt.

"Fine," he gave in as she pulled away, "but it's not fair to use that to get your way."

"I still find it funny that it works so easily on you," she joked, sitting back in the driver's seat and starting the ignition. Deciding not to comment, Daniel pulled the bandana to his eyes, covering them as requested and leaned back into the seat, closing his eyes to nap until they arrived at their destination.

It was her lips that brought him to, smooth and tender against his own, making him reach out to take her in his arms when there was a pulling, and she was gone, leaving Daniel confused.

"Dammit, haven't you two been together long enough to be sick of that yet?" he heard a voice, Vala's voice, realizing that they weren't at home, this wasn't morning and they must have arrived at their destination.

He reached for the back of his head, the blindfold still tightly in place, when smaller hands, her hands, beat him to it, untying while another voice spoke.

"Ma'am, can I get your keys?" it asked, the hands leaving the back of his head, a clang of keys shaking her response. Anxious, Daniel returned his hands to the fabric, ripping it off, bright lights shining in his face, making him squint. Eyes closed, he grabbed his glasses from where he had set them in the console, slipping them onto his face and trying to open his eyes a second time.

"Adrienne what have you done?" he asked in amazement, realizing where he was. She had booked them a room, booked them all rooms at the Jefferson Hotel, the most exclusive hotel in Richmond. She'd booked them a room at the hotel where he had first realized that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, a fact that was going to be quite public now that he had had his meeting with the maitre'd...

"I hopefully read your mind," she whispered in his ear, his thoughts no longer on the proposal, ushering him out with her hands so the valet could park the car. Scanning he could see their friends standing at the entrance, Teal'c carefully examining a large bronze alligator gracing the hotel patio.

"Ad, this place isn't cheap," Daniel scolded, stepping out of the Jeep and reaching for their bags, but she was shaking her head already.

"First, I only paid for our room, so no worries there and second you bought me a house Daniel, a house. Don't lecture me about expensive," she pointed out.

Point for Adrienne, he thought, deciding not to argue and followed the group inside.

Adrienne turned around from the check in stand, handing him the key card with a sad look on her face.

"I tried to get the same room, but it was booked, and I was holding out that they canceled, but they didn't. I'm sorry," she apologized, looking genuinely upset. Smiling, he reached forward, grabbing her hand and interlocking their fingers.

"I'm here with you that's all that matters," he whispered, leaning in for a kiss.

"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop," Vala shouted as embarrassingly loud as she could in the middle of the mezzanine, forcing her way between them, "you promised adventure and not a love fest. We get it, we all get it, you're so in love, soul mates, blah, blah, blah."

Red in the face, with Cam shaking his head at the two of them as well, Adrienne led the way down the hall, to their respective rooms and away from the embarrassment.

It had taken the better part of two hours to get from D.C. to Richmond, two hours that was exhausting after a full day's worth of work. By the time they were checked in and settled, only Vala wanted to go out, insisting that it was boring just going to bed early like old people. Adrienne tried not to give too much away, knowing they needed to be rested for tomorrow, but Ronon saved the day, volunteering to take Vala downstairs to the bar for drinks, while both Teal'c and Cam decided to turn in for the night.

Adrienne didn't mind in the least.

It wasn't the reason for the vacation, not by far, she really wanted a getaway, but Adrienne didn't argue when Daniel had taken her by the hand, leading her gently to the bed, laying her down tenderly. Smiling he crawled on slowly beside her, pausing as she pulled his glasses off of his face, continuing his advance once she had set them aside on the night stand.

There were no impediments, no possible sirens and he had tossed both of their cell phones into his suitcase, refusing to answer them as well.

Tonight it was just he and the woman of his dreams, with no interruptions.

Bringing his hand to her face, he kissed her slowly, deliberately, the wine she had poured while they were unpacking still fresh on her soft lips, sweetening the kiss. She returned his advance, pulling her body closer to his, her hands moving down his hips, grabbing his backside to force his pelvis to her own. Chuckling, he reached down to her waist, gripping the hem of her fragile blouse gently, raising it over her head, past her arms to discard it to the floor, returning his lips to her collarbone rather than her face. He knew that drove her wild, wilder than kissing her neck, but he wanted to take this slowly, so he pulled away, leaning up to remove his own T-shirt from his torso.

"I wanted to do that," she joked just as he was leaning to pull it over his head, stopping and holding his hands up like she had taken him captive. Giggling, she finished the job, pulling the shirt over his head to bring her nose quickly to his chest, nuzzling him, tickling him, making him laugh, until he pushed her away, smiling.

Returning his attention to her, where he wanted it to be, he let his fingers glide gently up her shoulder to her bra strap, pulling it down to the side, kissing, teasing his way down, moving to the other side when the first strap was hanging at her bicep. She breathed in slowly, loving that he was taking his time and hating it all the same, pushing him onto his back and climbing slowly on top of him. Pausing, Daniel gazed up at her, resting his hands on her hips as he let himself get lost in her beauty.

"I really should wear my contacts," he whispered, running his hands lightly and softly down her toned waist.

"Why is that sha?" she asked, her index finger working its way slowly down his stomach, to the top of his pants, where she was already undoing the button.

"Because I feel like I miss so much, that if I just give in and wear the damn things, I can see how magnificent you really are," he admitted, reaching his hands up her back to pull her into an embrace. He held her for a moment, so very close, like he didn't want to let go, before she sat up, pulling away, to look down at him, her hands back at his pants, pulling down the zipper. Taking her hand away for a moment to kiss her fingers, he let go, reaching to unclasp her bra and remove the garment, tossing it to the ground and turning to the side, forcing her to lay beside him on the bed.

"Let me," he requested quietly and she nodded, lying on her back to allow him to pull the jeans from her hips, kicking his own to the floor...

"Hello?" Daniel answered, reluctantly unwrapping himself from Adrienne, mostly, as he couldn't quite undo their legs.

"Good morning sir. You asked for a seven thirty a.m. wake-up call?" the voice replied, Daniel vaguely remembering the request. Adrienne had said something about needing to leave here by quarter to nine.

"Yes, thank you," he replied, hanging up the phone and reaching to wrap his arms around her shoulders, kissing her cheek, and nuzzling her ear.

"Wake up ja-wer, that was your call," he whispered, expecting her to argue, beg him to stay in bed, which he was fully prepared to do if she only said the word.

"I heard," she answered, to his amazement, rolling over, her face cuddling into his neck. So funny, he thought, the thought striking him as the memories of where they were and what might have come to be sooner registering, that he had never thought she'd be a cuddler.

"What?" she asked, giggling, pulling away, looking at him strangely.

"Just never imagined this; I never imagined I'd be happy and I get to keep you, for the rest of my life," he admitted, feelings racing through him, wanting to take her into his arms again and repeat the slow love making from the night before when she sat up quickly, staring down at him and shaking her head.

"Nuh uh, you're not doing it now. This is my weekend, there will be no marriage proposals during my silliness," she clarified, frowning at him.

"I'm starting to think that you think I can't do this," he teased, remembering the meeting on Tuesday night, the plans he and the maitre'd had carefully laid when she started to giggle again, thankfully, flashing her left hand.

"It's still empty, need I say more," she taunted, and he knew full well that she didn't care about a ring, a ceremony, anything else like a normal woman would want. Adrienne just wanted to hear the words, she just wanted him to say forever, but he could never resist a good tease.

"Ok, Vala, I'll get right on the diamond. Would you care for a matching crown?" he joked back, Adrienne playfully pushing him, untangling their legs and crawling on top of him.

"Let's get in the shower," she requested, tugging at his arms to pull him upright, "we're meeting everyone at the restaurant in an hour. Daniel started to argue, this was supposed to be a vacation, he could just eat a Powerbar, leave later, skip the restaurant, when he registered her words: let's.

"Yes ma'am," he said, standing and following her to the bathroom.

"Really Ad? A theme park?" Daniel was unable to control his shock as she drove right into the parking lot behind Cameron's rental car, containing the rest of the group.

"Come on Indy, it'll be fun," Adrienne reasoned, knowing that he wasn't afraid of heights per se, but he didn't have a strong liking of them either.

"Define fun," was his response, as he looked over at her, the Daniel frown plastered across his face.

"Fun is planning a last minute trip to a romantic hotel then being able to get up with your friends and act like a kid again. I promise sha, it'll be great," Adrienne assured him, pulling up to the booth to pay for their parking. Sitting back in the seat, Daniel let his eyes wander to the spread in front of him, the entrance, a large yellow roller coaster right at the main gates, a brown boat turning upside down and then he spotted it in the distance.

It was red, tall and something that no one should ever find fun.

Sure he'd jumped out of planes now, for work, for the sake of the world, but he knew why she had dragged him here.

Suck it up Daniel, he willed himself, remember you want this woman to marry you; you will ride the damn coaster.

"Earth to Indy, we're here," Adrienne informed him, woke him, evidently he'd been staring out into space, staring at the ride. He started to sit forward when he felt her hand on his, squeezing it.

"That's the Intimidator. It is a three hundred foot drop straight down. Tallest and fastest in the country. It is supposed to be amazing, some people even black out due to the G-force," she explained, following his gaze.

"So that's why we are here? Not because you wanted to have a romantic getaway at the Jefferson, but to ride that?" he asked a question for which he really didn't want the answer and she was beaming already.

"Pretty much," she replied, leaping from the Jeep.

Taking a breath, Daniel followed, telling himself that this was going to be fun.

About an hour into their adventure, he had to admit that it was indeed fun. Adrienne had decided that he needed a warm up, stopping him at the first ride, which was, as he thought, the yellow roller coaster. He'd been a bit apprehensive, but watching her leap onto the ride in glee he just towed behind, seeing the excitement blaze in her eyes.

She's just so full of life, he thought, that's why this is so perfect.

Standing in line, he listened to her and Vala giggle about their silly vampire show, which now Ronon was apparently watching, making Daniel start to wonder if the Sateadan had interests of his own. He watched her laugh, Vala tease, and Ronon try to figure out for himself why everyone on the show was in love with that stupid waitress. He eyed as Cam studied the park map, reading the captions explaining the history of each of the rides to Teal'c, who was leaning over to examine the structure of the rides.

This is it, he thought, this is my dysfunctional family, the part that was present, his beautiful wife to be sitting on the top rail of the line corral without a care in the world.

He'd made the reservation for two weeks from tomorrow, Friday, and had spent over an hour planning the perfect menu. The restaurant itself was more Spanish in style, but he wanted some Greek food there as well, and once he had explained everything, at least everything he could to the chef, the man was more than happy to oblige. That did make this weekend trip a little problematic, but he'd already texted Jack that he needed help next week, serious help buying a ring, especially given that his first choice was going to have to be ordered and probably wouldn't make it in time. He hadn't heard back, but he was certain that Jack would step in, after all, even he had agreed that they were perfect for one another.

"Daniel, are you feeling ok? You keep spacing," Adrienne was in his face again, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, wanna ride in the front?" he asked, hoping that would strike her fancy and she smiled taking him by the hand and leading him to the gates.

She even got him to switch to his contacts after two rides, because of course she had brought them in her pack, popping them in for him herself after he had decided that the restrooms left much to be desired.

"You two make me sick," Vala hissed as Adrienne carefully held his eyelids open, the small piece of corrective plastic balanced on her fingertip.

"You realize I did this before we were together right mon ami?" Adrienne pointed out, blinking at Daniel so he would mimic her which he did, adjusting the lenses.

"You made me sick then too," she replied, her face changing as Ronon came out of the restroom himself, walking straight for her.

"Ad, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Daniel asked, pulling her aside before Cam and Teal'c rejoined them.

"Sure Brain, but where we gonna find rubber pants in our size?" Adrienne answered smiling, making Daniel shake his head.

"No sha, I am. I didn't invite him. She did, and he hasn't left her side," she added, reaching up to wipe a tear escaping the corner of his eye caused by his newest ocular accessories.

"That's good," Daniel answered quickly, seeing Cam making a beeline in their direction, "she deserves to be happy. Dex is a good guy."

"He is," Adrienne agreed quietly, peering over her shoulder at the hand now rested there.

"Next is the Volcano and that sounds insane!" Cam declared, pointing to a very large fake mountain in the near distance.

"Cho! It's called that?" Adrienne exclaimed, ripping the map from his hands and reading the description.

"AdrienneRowan, Colonel Mitchell says that you erupt from the volcano in the same fashion as molten lava," Teal'c explained, excitement in the old Jaffa's face.

"It uses a variation of a jet propulsion system rather than the traditional hill. You're literally shot up into the volcano," he said to Daniel, who lacked the privilege of a park map. Adrienne was already rushing ahead to inform Vala and Ronon, the latter who seemed to be as equally as excited as Addy.

"Hey honey!" Adrienne screamed out, using a new moniker he noted.

"Yes!"

"You're gonna wanna close your eyes on this one. I only brought one pair of contacts!" she continued.

"What do you say to that?" Daniel asked Cam, who was already laughing as they approached the ride.

Adrienne insisted that they not ride the "Coaster of the Gods" as she was calling it, until last, explaining that if you ride the best ride too early on everything else just doesn't seem as good. To be honest, Daniel didn't see how anything could be better than that crazy volcano ride that ended up being much more fun that he had imagined.

Yes, he screamed, he shouted and lifted Adrienne from the ground like some cheesy movie once they were down the exit platform.

She was right, this was so exhilarating, and he hadn't once thought about work, about things that they still needed to take care of at the townhouse, about the proposal, about Anubis. He'd almost completely forgotten about that until they walked by a stone structure covered in carvings representing different gods from different cultures and there he was, the jackal, on display in the dead center.

Forcing himself to remember that it had been months now, months since they last had any sort of real contact, Daniel walked on, hand in hand with the woman he loved.

They roamed around the Congo area, rode a few more coasters, surprising Cam and Adrienne that this place had that many roller coasters, making their way down the midway through the games and various places to eat. They settled on pizza for lunch, Adrienne of course getting salad, laughing and talking like there was no life or death struggle to return home to.

There were those thoughts again, that worry, but Daniel just stood from the table, going to refill his soda.

After lunched they strolled down the midway, turning into an older part of the park, taking in a show at the main theatre, some teenagers singing and dancing to a selection of modern pop music, music of course Adrienne knew by heart. He sat there in the dark with his arm around her just like they were one of those teens themselves, enjoying the show and the closeness.

The show wasn't, however, everyone's cup of tea, Teal'c, Cameron and Ronon deciding that they wanted to go back and do some 'bungee jumping experience', an experience Daniel refused to participate in. He came to this decision very quickly after watching one group of teens nearly vomit when they were unstrapped; that was about the limit of his thrill seeking for the day. Adrienne passed, not wanting to abandon Daniel, leaving Vala who didn't seem interested in the least.

Agreeing to meet back in thirty minutes, the three grown men dashed off, looking very much like three young boys.

"Ok, so you guys wanna go hit the water rides?" Adrienne asked, eyeballing the map Cam had left her.

"Can we ride that?" Vala questioned in reply, pointing to the one type of ride Adrienne had managed to avoid, stationary circles, knowing full well that she would have the major headache to deal with if she chose to ride.

"Be my guest," the Cajun responded, walking to take a seat on a nearby bench to wait.

"But I don't want to ride it alone, that's boring," Vala responded, looking over at Daniel.

"Nuh uh," he spoke up quickly, trying to come up with an excuse, "I'd like to keep down my lunch." Making at face at both of them, Vala crossed her arms, staring them down.

"You two will ride that crazy loop the loop shit and won't do that! There's a five year old on that ride for crying out loud!? One ride will not kill you," she argued, making a pitiful face. Dammit, Adrienne thought, I wonder if she's hurt that Ronon didn't stay behind with her.

Trying to convey that thought to Daniel with her eyes, she glanced at him quickly, but it looked as though he was already reading her mind, turning to face her.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" he suggested, playing off her obvious mood. Smiling, thankful he was so intuitive, Adrienne brought her fist to her hand, nodding to start the count off.

"My count, one, two, three, throw," she ordered, opening her hand for paper while Daniel had gone with rock. Disappointed, he looked right at her, his eyes pleading.

"You don't love me," he whispered, standing to follow his now skipping friend.

Adrienne let him get about five feet away when she stood, cupping her face.

"Yes I do! I love you Daniel! Madly and passionately!"

"Why haven't you asked her yet?" Vala started in the moment the "Soaring Eagle" as it was called, left the ground.

"Why is it any of your business?" he retorted, not wanting to have this conversation with her.

Forget Vala being Adrienne's bodyguard, she'd become Adrienne's pitbull.

"Because she's my friend and I'm not gonna let you break her heart, again," she explained, turning the "beak" on the carriage, jerking their seats higher into the air, forcing Daniel to hold on lest he go slamming into his companion.

"I'm not gonna break her heart. I have everything under control," he replied, taking the opportunity to check on said girlfriend, who was typing away furiously at her phone, not even looking in their direction.

"You'd better not. You bought her a damn house, she's shacking up with you and you can't go buy a lousy rock?" she continued, jerking the handle in another direction sending Daniel flying to the opposite side of the car.

"I didn't buy her a house, I bought us a house. We're not shacking up, we have moved in together, which I personally think is a smart thing to do before committing yourself to a lifetime with someone else. Sometimes there can be chemistry but when you put it to test in the real world, it doesn't work," he spat, cutting his eyes as she slammed the handle a third time, sending him flying into her.

"Alright, but I don't ever want to see her crying like that again, understand?" Vala hissed, turning the beak to slam him back, but he caught himself this time, keeping his glare on her.

"Crystal clear Vala, crystal. By the way, does Dex know you've dedicated your life to nosing in mine and Adrienne's relationship? You'd think he'd like to know that that much of your attention was dedicated elsewhere," Daniel growled, not liking her tone.

He knew what he had done was wrong; he knew how much it had hurt Adrienne and he would never forgive himself. He didn't need Vala reminding him on a daily basis how much of an asshole he could be, he did that enough himself.

They rode in silence for the rest of the ride, not speaking as they exited, heading straight for Adrienne, who was looking at them smiling.

"Fun?" she asked, looking to Vala.

"Loads. Glasses is such a good time. Can we go find the boys?" she asked, walking back in the direction of the bungee jump and leaving her friends behind.

"What got into her?" Adrienne asked, peeking back at Daniel confused.

"Reality," he responded, gripping her hand to pull her to follow.

By the time they were back at the diner Cam had texted them about, the three were sitting at a table, laughing happily about their little adventure, drinking milkshakes. Seeing them enter, well seeing Vala enter as she had stormed in front of them the entire time, Cam waved to a cute little teenaged girl in skates who smiled and nodded, heading for the kitchen.

"Chocolate ok?" Ronon asked, looking to Vala to see that is was alright.

Good, Daniel thought, keep her the hell out of my future marriage.

"Perfect, so what now Cam? What does your stupid map say we do next?" she spat as she took the seat beside Ronon, leaving one chair left at the end of the table. Noticing, Teal'c stood, offering his seat to Adrienne, but she refused, sitting quietly on Daniel's lap as he reached out for her.

"My stupid map," he started, answering smartly, "says that we only have the big one to ride and then fireworks at dark. After that, I suggest we head back. I feel like a lobster."

Taking a second look at the colonel, Adrienne noted his fair complexion was looking pink, pausing to look at her own pale Cajun skin which was as equally flushed.

"No wonder I got the faiblesse," she said, hoping Daniel didn't know that meant to faint, otherwise he would kick into worry overdrive, but he must not have, since he only rubbed her leg lightly. She heard Teal'c telling someone thank you and glanced up to see the young girl on skates again, three milkshakes on a tray, each in a paper cup.

"The line's long, so I got these to go," the colonel explained, standing to lead the group to their final destination.

She barely made it through the first thirty minutes of the movie Daniel ordered to the room but he was glad. Adrienne might have been in ridiculously good shape, but she was sunburnt and dehydrated from today and needed sleep. He decided since he'd paid for it, he would leave the movie on, holding her in his arms while he did.

The Intimidator had been a blast and while he didn't black out on the turn like she swore he would, it did give him a bit of a rush, so much so that he rode it with her two more times. It was dark by the end of the third time, thankfully, his body reminding him that he was not twenty years old anymore, so they headed to the fireworks, sitting on a bench together, Adrienne wrapped in his arms like she was right now.

He'd honestly lost track of what was happening in the film, his thoughts on his dinner plans in two weeks. He had a place, he was going to buy a ring next week, he just needed a way to ask.

Should he put it in a glass of champagne?

Nah, too cliche, he thought.

Maybe he could have it brought out in some elaborate display?

A dessert perhaps?

Should he just pocket it and get down on one knee at the table?

"I don't even know what to say," he admitted out loud, gazing down at her as she slept in his arms, her chest moving gently as she lightly snored. Smiling, he sat up a bit, laying her carefully onto her side, covering her, adjusting her, making sure she was comfortable.

"Adrienne Rowan, will you marry me?" he whispered, analyzing his own words.

"No, it's got to be better than that," he sighed, laying down and turning off the TV, hoping something would come to him in his sleep, or tomorrow, during Adrienne's planned shopping adventure.

"Sir, we are approaching our destination," the voice behind him stated, making him look up from the diagrams on his monitor. Glancing at the time keeper at the top of the screen he noted that they were ahead of schedule, giving him plenty of time to get things in order.

"Excellent, take us into a low orbit around their moon," he ordered, tapping the display to bring up the image of the planet ahead, closing his graphs, charts and notes.

"Almost time to play," he hissed, using his fingers to zero in on a large green land mass.


	48. Chapter 47 - Silver Lining

"Go back to bed!" Daniel ordered from the doorway as he watched Adrienne fumble with the coffee maker at the kitchen counter.

"I'm fine sha, really, if I just brew this strong enough I'll be able to make it through the day," she argued, putting the pieces of the machine together as if she had never seen a coffee maker before. If he tried to stop her she would just fly off the handle, so he just walked into the kitchen and stood, leaning on the counters, letting her struggle until she gave up and asked for help.

It was easier to just handle her that way.

"How much sleep DID you get last night?" he asked, needing to get her to admit for herself that she was in no condition to be going to work, must less to be making herself breakfast.

"What do you mean how much sleep? You were right there! You know how much sleep I got!" she hissed, now struggling to unfold the filter, her face furrowed in deep concentration.

"Exactly," he answered, not moving from the counters, "which is why I'm asking you. Whether or not you're fine is determinant on how much of an effort you make in lying to me right now."

Reaching for her head, appearing dizzy, she stopped fumbling with the filter, clasping the counter tightly, tossing the paper cone aside before turning to face him, a slight smile spreading across her lips.

"It was much easier to lie to you before we were together 24/7," she grimaced, giving him the silent signal that he had won.

Shaking his head, he walked over to the machine, and fixed the filter, walking to the freezer to get the coffee.

"You're a grown woman, so I'll only say this once more before we switch from home mode to work mode. Would you please go back to bed?" he requested, sweetly, closing the freezer door and walking back over to where she was standing, no longer grasping the counter for support. Instead of heading to bed, though, she took a step forward, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head on his chest. He sighed and put down the coffee beans he had pulled from the freezer, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and laying his cheek on her head.

"I'm taking this as a 'Yes Daniel, I'm going back to bed RIGHT NOW," he said. She didn't lift her head but he heard her mumble into him.

"Yes Daniel, I'm going back to bed right now," she repeated, but didn't move, kissing him softly and holding on tighter.

"Then why are you still here?" he pushed, frowning down at her.

"Because you're comfortable," she replied laughing. Smiling at her playfulness, a clear sign that she couldn't be so badly ill, he kissed her head and she pulled back, gazing up at him, those dark of hers so weak and tired.

She really needed to go back to bed.

"Are you gonna be alright if I go to work?" he asked, still unsure if he should leave her.

She was fine yesterday when they got home but had complained of stomach cramping since, even getting up a few times to throw up last night. She insisted it was the food, that she had cheated on her healthy diet during their little escape to Richmond and it was just catching up to her, but he didn't believe her. To him, it looked more like a stomach virus.

"Yeah, I'll be bored and lonely, but I have Netflix so I'll live," she answered, taking his hands in her own and squeezing them.

Dammit, he thought, she is not gonna let me stay; she's going to make me go and worry about her all damn day long but he didn't argue, not wanting to cause a fight. She didn't have a fever, in fact she wasn't showing any signs of being really truly ill; maybe it was the French pastries she had purchased yesterday in the little boutique shop before they left like she kept insisting.

"Is there a Zombie book I can go pick up to entertain you?" Daniel checked, hoping to stall, maybe a trip to the bookstores and back would be long enough away where she would decide that she needed him to stay here after all.

"No, I'm all up to date, but thank you. I love you Daniel," she answering, smiling, although it did appear to be a bit forced. Letting go of his hands, she stood on her toes, leaning up to kiss him.

"No germs," he said quickly, putting his hand over her face and she giggled, knowing he was kidding "and I love you too ja-wer. Which is precisely the reason I want you BACK in the bed."

This time he wasn't taking no for an answer; if she had stopped throwing up she needed to go back to sleep just in case this was a virus and not just a junk food overload. Leaning over, he picked her up from the ground, heading back for their bedroom. He carried her through the doorway and over to the bed while she laughed and struggled to be put down, but he wasn't going to let her go. Lifting her into his arms was one of the things he relished doing, it made him feel like he would never lose her, made him feel that for as strong as she was she needed him in her life, needing him to do the saving once in a while. Laughing now himself, he put her down onto the bed and she crawled up to her spot, glaring back over her shoulder at him.

"I can call Sam," he offered, yet again, knowing her response but feeling like he had to ask, he had to try.

"No Indy, go to work. I did have a life before you, you know, one where I had to deal with my own poor choices," she teased.

Frowning at her again, he crawled into the bed with her for a moment, tempted to kiss her despite knowing where her mouth had been all night, positioned over the toilet.

"Yes, but it was far less exciting," he replied, kissing her cheek instead.

"I hate being sick," she whined, "for a myriad of reasons." Crawling underneath of the covers she winked, reaching her hand to run it slowly up his thigh.

"Just go to sleep," he chuckled, pushing her way, "I'll call and check in with you later."

"No you won't," she said, "You'll get to working and forget, like you always do."

"Hey hey, I have done a pretty good job so far, you've even said so yourself!" he defended, tucking her in, knowing he wouldn't forget Adrienne, he could never forget Adrienne.

He shook his head and kissed her forehead once more, heading back to the kitchen to straighten up.

As it was now he was late for work, so he decided to grab some coffee and a danish at the commissary.

He was, indeed late for work, by his standards at least, it being a few minutes after nine when he stepped out of the elevators, bag strapped across his chest as he hurried down the hall, Sam waiting for him when he arrived.

"Adrienne's a bad influence on you," she joked, noticing that he was practically sprinting down the hall.

"Oh, sorry, she's sick and I wanted to make sure she was alright before I came," he apologized, slowing his step as he was caught, guilty as charged.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, looking concerned as she stood behind him, watching as he coded himself into his lab.

"Just a stomach thing, I think she went a little too crazy on the funnel cakes this weekend," he answered, thinking back to her tears last night as she cursed junk food for eternity, "but if she wants to go off world on Thursday, she needs to rest. I can't take her like she is now."

The light flashed and Daniel opened the door, walking over to his desk and tossing his bag to the chair, leaning over to cue up his computer. Sam smiled as she watched him, visibly distracted, preparing for his work day. It was nice not to be the only person on base now with an awkward personal relationship, one where you worked so close with your significant other.

"Well, this was for her, but I guess you'll need to do the prep work. Let me know if you need anything else," Sam said, setting a file on his desk and turning to leave.

"Will do," Daniel shouted behind him, pulling up his schedule on the computer, seeing he had a ten o'clock meeting with Rodney and the IOA official to discuss their progress in cloning and among other things his girlfriend's, correction in less than two weeks fiancee's, spine.

"The fun continues," he said aloud, taking a seat to prep himself for the meeting.

He was scanning his phone quickly as he hid it on the top of his leg, trying to see if Adrienne had called or texted but there was nothing, no indication that she had tried to get in touch with him at all. It was marching on to noon, the meeting offering him no new information and no real excitement other than his very stern refusal to Rodney and the present officials to allow a very intrusive experimental spinal tap be performed on Adrienne.

"Dr. Jackson are we boring you?" Rodney spat, Daniel peeking up to see that all eyes were on him. Clicking the phone's home button, Daniel shoved it quickly into his pocket, bringing his hands onto the desk and clasping them in front of him.

"No, I was just checking the time Dr. McKay. I have other meetings to attend today so I was wondering how much longer you will be?" Daniel replied, trying to remain as professional as possible.

"I'm terribly sorry that we are keeping you from your lineage but I feel as does the IOA understanding what Anubis is doing and what he might be able to do given the latest developments is very important to aide in the protection of our planet," he declared, his tone nastier than normal.

Daniel was half tempted to get up and storm out of the meeting then and there considering how much help Adrienne had given him, voluntarily, these past few weeks for him to sit here and want to treat her like a lab rat, but he didn't he just slunk back in his seat and listened.

"As I was saying, you will find the changes in Dr. Rowan's blood work when combined with what we know about the clone we secured from Anubis..."

Rolling his eyes, Daniel slipped his phone from his pocket, wondering how Adrienne was doing.

By the time he was finished with the meeting with Rodney, dragged down to Jack's office three times to look over some material from Area 51 and sent down to the gate room to try to help reconfigure the manual dialing on the gate, it was 2 p.m, with not a word from Adrienne and not a chance yet to call her himself.

"Dammit," he swore, jogging ahead and calling for some personnel to hold the elevator doors. Racing down the hall as soon as the doors opened, he held onto the door jam as he swung himself into the lab, making a mad dash to his desk. He picked up the receiver and dialed home, listening as it began to ring, and ring and ring, but there was no answer.

It rang once more and their voicemail picked up, Adrienne's cheery greeting for their absence.

Sighing, he decided to leave a message just in case she remembered to check them.

"Ad, I'm sorry, I've been trapped in one thing after another all day. I guess you're taking a nap, I'm so sorry I missed you. When you get this call me before six if you need anything. I hope to be home by seven," he paused, "I love you," he added, hanging up, hoping that she really was asleep and not in the bathroom again.

His stomach informing him that he needed to put something in it, and soon, he closed the lid to his laptop and went to the commissary.

When he returned from lunch, he checked his computer first, having not received a single phone call while he ate. It was so unlike her to not call him back, not that she was the needy type but primarily because she would probably get bored or find something insane on TV and want to call him to make fun of it, but there were no messages.

Very concerned, Daniel logged into his email to see if she was online, maybe working on her novel, but she wasn't listed in his contact list. He almost logged out but decided to keep it open, just in case, knowing that Adrienne really couldn't make it through the day without checking her email at least seven times.

By four, however, he had still heard nothing, and his nerves were to the point where he was completely unable to concentrate. Reaching for the receiver, he almost dialed home again, but stopped, fearing her wrath. If she thought he wasn't working, not doing his job when she really wasn't sick, she would be very upset, being that this was the exact type of distraction that the IOA was watching them for.

Frowning, he grabbed the receiver again, dialing another extension.

"Sam," he said, skipping the pleasantries.

"Hey Daniel, what's going on?" she asked, curious by his tone.

"I'm gonna go home. I haven't heard from Adrienne all day and that's worrying me. It's not like her," he replied sheepishly, knowing he was sounding like the overprotective boyfriend, especially after telling Sam that it was just a junk food hangover.

"Sure, Daniel, if she was that sick you should have just taken the day off," she scolded, as he expected but he wasn't going to explain.

"I really didn't think she was, but regardless, I'm gonna get going. Just call my cell if something important comes up," he answered, not thanking her, although he should, hanging up the receiver and packing up his things.

He unlocked the front door and came inside quietly. If she was that sick, she needed sleep, but he at least needed to check to see if she was running a fever or was worse off than she had led him to believe because after all, this might not be junk food. He was still subscribing to the virus theory himself.

Slipping off his shoes, Daniel walked quietly to the bedroom, pitch black, not a light on and it looked like she had drawn the curtains. Tiptoeing to the bed through the darkness, planning to crawl in and feel her head, he got in onto his side and reached for her, planning to roll her onto her back gently and hope she didn't awaken.

She wasn't there.

She was gone.

Sitting up quickly, Daniel clicked on the lamp on his nightstand, turning back to her side.

Nothing.

"Adrienne!" he shouted out and dashed from the bedroom, heading straight for the bathroom, fearing finding her unconscious on the floor, memories flashing through his head, but she wasn't there, the bathroom light on and the entire area appearing to be untouched.

His heart racing, he ran to her office, thinking she might be plugged into something, reading, but nothing; it looked like her computer hadn't been touched all day. He dashed to his office, thinking maybe she was feeling better and had her headphones on, tuning out the world, attempting to get him organized like she was always threatening to do but again she was not there.

He searched every room in their townhouse, the kitchen, living room, the bathroom in his office, the hall bathroom, the attic but she wasn't in any of them.

His chest tight, his mind racing, he ran back to the bedroom, hoping to find a note or something any indication as to where she might be but there was nothing on her nightstand, nothing anywhere.

It was then he saw a black bag sitting in the corner of the room, her satchel, the one he had bought her, the home to her computer, her iPad, her composition books, her entire life. She would never leave without that stupid messenger bag, ever, it was like a purse was to a normal woman.

Shaking now, he rushed over, falling to his knees, opening the bag and digging around, trying to see if there was anything that would give him any idea as to where she had gone finding her cell phone tucked in right beside her computer.

"Fuck," he said out loud, now panicking, his heart racing, his breathing labored, sweat pouring down his back. Trying to hold it together, he kept digging through her bag, looking for one final thing and found them, his heart sinking as he sat back on his heels.

In his hands he held the keys to her beetle.

If she had gone herself to the drugstore or somewhere, she would have taken the beetle, the metro didn't stop anywhere near the drugstore she preferred and if she was going to get something, a supplement, there was only one specific kind she would get.

Adrienne was gone.

Grabbing her cell phone from the floor, Daniel called the only place he could think of.

"Why didn't you call the police?" Sam asked as personnel milled around the townhouse, searching each and every door and window as Daniel already had while awaiting their arrival.

"I panicked, I didn't know what else to do," Daniel was trying hard to maintain his composure, "Sam where in the hell is she?"

"I don't know, I don't -" Sam was beginning to answer when a man, some guy in BDU's, Daniel didn't know who he was, came over to her, tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

"Excuse me General," he spoke, "we found this."

Nodding professionally, he handed Sam a strip of leather, a piece of fabric that both Sam and Daniel recognized immediately.

It was a leather strip from an Ori Jaffa weapon gauntlet, used to strap those bastardized guns to their legs, the clones' legs, Anubis' clones.

His heart stopped, and unable to breath, Daniel sunk to the floor.

Vala was the last to arrive and Sam shut the door behind her, following her quickly to where everyone else was assembled in her living room.

"Why are we meeting at your house?" Vala asked as she went to sit on the sofa beside Cameron, who had a look of concern on his face.

"I'm trying not to start a panic, so I want to thank you all for coming," Sam began, not bothering to answer Vala as Jack came out of the kitchen, a six pack of beer in hand. Not saying a word, no joke, nothing, he handed them out among the group, even Sam, who normally drank nothing but wine. Opening his own can, Jack sat down in the recliner behind Sam, reaching to run his hand lightly down her leg, a sign of affection between the two that none of the team was used to seeing.

"All?" Vala questioned, "Where's Daniel? And what about Addy?"

Jack raised his eyebrows and turned his head, but he remained silent deferring to Sam.

"He's in the guest room, sedated," Sam told the group.

"Why? And that still doesn't explain where Adrienne is?" Cameron said as he was opening the beer, bringing it to his lips. Sam stood in silence for a moment, gazing at the group, trying to figure out how to form the words she needed to speak.

"She's been kidnapped," Sam finally answered, sitting on the arm of the recliner.

Sighing, Jack put his arm around her waist and she took his hand, taking a deep breath.

"Dear god," Cam whispered, setting the beer on the coffee table in front of him, looking over at Vala who was sitting beside him in complete shock, her eyes wide and her head shaking.

"And DanielJackson?" Teal'c questioned, his eyes looking down the hall, remembering what Sam had said earlier.

"Like I said, we had to sedate him; he completely fell apart. Blames himself for leaving her alone," Sam explained remembering what happened earlier this evening.

When he hit the floor, Sam was certain that he fainted, but when she leaned over she saw that he was on his knees, convulsing, sobbing, going on and on about Anubis and how he knew, he knew about he and Addy, something that Sam herself had not been aware of.

"Poor Daniel," Vala said quietly, taking a swig of the beer, worried for both of her friends, the one that was missing and the one that would never forgive himself if anything happened to her, "Do we know who took her?"

Sam tried to answer but couldn't, choking on the words, choking up completely, the desperation of the situation finally sinking in for her now that she was admitting it out loud.

"Anubis," Jack said what his wife could not, Sam's head falling into her hands.

The group looked at each other in silence not knowing what to say. They had been waiting so long, waiting and knowing that an attack was imminent, but this was totally unexpected, although it should have been.

More than universal domination, more than anything, Anubis wanted to destroy Daniel Jackson and this was how to destroy him, to take from him the person he loved the most.

Finally, unable to sit and silence, Vala spoke, determination in her eyes.

"How do we get her back?" she asked, sitting forward on the sofa as she scanned her friends, "I'm ready to blast some cloned fuckers into space."

Cam and Teal'c sat forward as well, awaiting instructions but Sam was shaking her head, no longer trying to hide her tears.

"We don't. Vala, she's gone without a trace. I've contacted every ally we have and no one has heard a thing, no one. There is evidence that he was in Earth's orbit for a few days, but he's gone now, as if he were never here. I think we're going to have to wait to see if he contacts us, he's bound to contact us, try to use her as leverage for whatever he wants, but until then..." Sam was trying to speak, to offer some condolence to the group, explain to them that she was going to form a team to start gating to every allied planet to broaden the search when there was a loud crash from down the hall as Daniel came tearing, in a rage, towards them. His face red, from both tears and anger, he was screaming at Sam before he even got close to her.

"What the hell do you mean we don't! We load up that goddam spaceship and start looking. I sat around waiting before goddammit, waiting, and I will NOT wait for Adrienne to be made somebody's mate, or somebody's pawn to get to us. I will quit this program first; I refuse to let her die!" he was screaming hysterically, as had made his way over to Sam, standing and screaming at her, when Jack leapt up, shoving his wife aside standing to face his old friend.

"Daniel, chill out, do NOT talk to Sam like that, she's doing the best she can," Jack warned, calmly, holding out his hands in front of him.

"Or what? You'll fire me? Hit me? You're fine, right? You got what you wanted in the end? And you two have your highly respected jobs, you can just go on living happily ever after, can't you? Well, what about MY life? What about MY happily ever after? I don't care about anything but her! Why the FUCK aren't you looking for her?" Daniel screamed in Jack's face and shoved him backwards, clearly looking for a fight.

He was surprised and stumbled for a moment, pulling his fist back and moving to punch the archaeologist in the face when Teal'c stepped between the two men, grabbing them by their shirts and separating them.

"DanielJackson, O'Neill, stop this now! We will find AdrienneRowan and SamanthaO'Neill will do everything in her power to find her. This will not bring her back to us," the Jaffa declared.

Sam, Cameron and Vala stood in awe, watching the entire scene unfold in front of them. Both men calmed, somewhat, at least enough where it appeared it was not going to come to blows, so Teal'c let Jack go first, holding Daniel back until the general was seated.

Daniel was still red in the face, shaking, clearly unstable so Teal'c continued to hold on to him when suddenly he crumbled to the floor. Relieved, the Jaffa pulled him onto the sofa beside Cam and Vala, looking up to see Dr. Cassandra Frasier standing behind where Daniel had been, needle in hand.

"Sorry Sam, he got away from me," she apologized, walking over to the now unconscious Daniel, running her fingers down his neck to check his pulse, worried about the dosage of medication.

"No Cassie, it's alright, I was hoping we wouldn't have to do that again," Sam replied as she stood and walked over to Daniel, glancing back at Cam and Teal'c who were still standing there speechless.

"Can you guys help me get him back to the guest room?" she asked and without question Cameron stood and walked over to where Teal'c was still standing, gazing down at Daniel. They reached up, Teal'c taking his head and Cameron holding his feet, lifting him from the love seat and carrying him back down the hallway, the young doctor following close behind.

Shaking her head, Sam slunk to the sofa beside Vala finally opening her beer.

"I have no idea what else to do," Sam told Vala, "I think this is literally his breaking point. If we don't find her, I believe we're going to lose him too. He can't live without her."

"What can I do to help?" Vala asked, concerned. Despite the history there was between her and Daniel, the two archaeologists were just perfect for one another, like those fairy tale movies she liked to watch when the rest of the team wasn't around. She teased Adrienne about it, often, but that silly tattoo, the soulmate one, Adrienne had found him.

Daniel was her soulmate, in a way that even Vala herself never thought was possible.

Not only that, but she wanted her friend back badly, a woman that she considered to be a sister.

"Can you stay here? I can't tie up a quarter of my medical staff babysitting Daniel. There's a recliner in the guest room, just keep watch and if he flips out or starts to yell, Jack and I can hold him down while you sedate him, or I sedate him. We can each take three or four hour shifts so no one has to stay up all night with him," Sam asked, explaining the best plan she could come up with to Vala.

Nodding, Vala set her hand on Sam's leg, squeezing it lightly.

"Of course I'll stay. I'll stay up all night if you need me to," Vala told her sincerely, glad to have a task, something to take her mind off of where Adrienne could be.

"Thanks," Sam said in quiet reply, standing and cleaning up, heading for the kitchen. Vala looked over at Jack, who just gave her a half smile, and stood himself, following his wife in silence.

Daniel was lying in a cold dark room on a hard floor, so pitch black that he couldn't see what was in front of his face. He tried to sit up quickly but every inch of his body was in agony, pain ripping through his head, his spine and his stomach. Rolling to his side, he forced himself to fight through, to figure out where he was, what was going on, sitting up slowly.

He looked around him in the darkness for any source of light but could find none, crawling painfully to his knees, reaching his palms out, rubbing the floor, beginning to feel around. The surface was damp, as if it was wet, and cold, just not cold enough to form ice.

Hoping to find some sort of break in the chilled smoothness, he ran his hands along the floor slowly when there was a scream in the distance, a voice he knew almost as well as his own.

"ADRIENNE!" he shouted out, his heart stopping, remembering that she was gone, that she had been taken. The scream repeated, chilling and painful, a scream he hadn't heard since he had watched her on the edge of that broken ravine, watched her scream and reach for him as he fell away into the deep. Her shriek sounded again, echoing as if it were very close but very far away.

She was in pain, excruciating pain; someone was hurting her and he couldn't figure out where her cries for help for coming from.

"Now, Dr. Jackson, I think I have your attention," he heard a familiar voice boom around him.

Daniel sat up in the bed, screaming, terrifying Vala who leapt from the recliner and rushed over to him.

"Calm down, calm down," she tried to talk him down keeping the needle in her sights the entire time, just in case this was just the beginning of something much worse.

"Ja-wer, what's going on?" he asked, turning to face her as she realized he was still partially asleep.

"Daniel, it's not Addy, it's me, it's Vala. Just take a deep breath," she whispered gently, taking a seat beside him, slowly moving closer.

"Vala!?" he exclaimed, clearly still confused, "What are you doing in my bed? Where's Adrienne?"

Taking a breath, Vala reached out to him, pretending to comfort him when in reality she was trying to find the easiest way to put him into a choke hold should he flip out and attack her. Confident she could pin him quickly she nodded, answering him calmly.

"Anubis has her Daniel. We're doing everything we can but you can't seem to calm down long enough to help us. Right now though, it's the middle of the night, we can't do anything until morning, so I just need you to go back to sleep," Vala reasoned with him, hoping he wouldn't leap up and demand to be taken to the gate to beam himself to wherever in the galaxy.

He didn't however, he just sat there, staring at her, realizing that he was in Sam and Jack's guest room, still in his work clothes, the events of the day rushing through his head.

Adrienne was gone, taken, and they had been unable to find her, the Tok'ra knew nothing. Sam said that she was going to assemble an intelligence team lead by Vala to search, but Daniel had lost control after the Tok'ra message, after they provided evidence that Anubis had been here, in Earth's orbit, waiting to take her, to take her from him. He wanted to cry again, but it just wasn't possible to shed anymore tears, she was gone, he had her.

He had her.

He had her in that place, screaming, and he wanted to talk.

"Drug me," he said plainly, calmly, seeing the needle on the dresser and knowing it was meant to be used on him, were he to lose control.

"What?" Vala asked, tensing, unsure of how to handle this eerie calmness, a drastic change from earlier.

"I don't think that what I was having was a nightmare. Drug me. They've been drugging me, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, Cassie stuck you earlier before you attacked Jack. But, if you're calm now should you really be asking for drugs?" Vala sounded concerned and she was. She didn't know a lot about medicine but she did know that too much of one thing was dangerous, especially something that could knock down a man as big as Daniel that quickly.

Not only that, but Sam had instructed her to only use the sedative if he got out of control but the Daniel sitting before her seemed quite rational.

"Look, I need deep sleep, fast," Daniel requested again, standing from the bed, heading for the dresser. Determined, he grabbed the needle from the table and turned, handing it to Vala.

"You do it or I do it. Just tell Sam I attacked you," Daniel pushed his shirt sleeve up his arm, exposing his bicep to her. She stood there for a moment, unable to say anything, just gazing into his eyes, so full of hurt and worry.

He really was losing it, Sam wasn't kidding and Vala had been right all along; Adrienne was his breaking point.

"I'm not sure about this, what are you doing?" Vala questioned, but was beginning to pull the protective cover off of the needle point, something about his words making her trust him, making her ready to believe whatever he was about to say.

"I'm going to save Adrienne," he replied sincerely.

Vala nodded, walking him over to the bed and leaned over him, sticking the medicine into his arm. She withdrew the needle as he collapsed backwards, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"I hope you know what you're doing," she whispered into the darkness, lying down beside him instead of returning to the chair.

"You're back, so nice of you to join me," the voice boomed out as Daniel opened his eyes seeing that he was in a familiar cafe, albeit empty except for himself and the source of the voice.

"Anubis, what do you want with Adrienne?" Daniel demanded, standing from his chair to face the portly man that was sitting in front of him casually at the other side of the diner table.

"Her, bah, nothing. She's worthless, damaged goods. You, on the other hand, you have something I need," he spoke, smiling, staring Daniel right in the eyes, but he didn't flinch, determined not to let the evil ancient see him weak.

"Then let her go, and we can talk," Daniel offered not sitting but remaining standing strong in front of the man, spirit, whatever you could call Anubis, at this point even Daniel wasn't sure.

"Now Dr. Jackson, do you think I believe you would ever honor such an agreement? What kind of fool do you take me for?" the fat man replied, laughing, sipping a cup of coffee that was sitting in front of him and turning away from Daniel to read a newspaper, the cover of which had a woman, bound in chains, scared, staring straight at Daniel, seeming to move on the page.

At that very moment a screamed echoed through the cafe, the face on the cover of the paper clear, Adrienne, terrified, looking right at him through the black and white image, trying to tell him something, mouth him something he couldn't understand before slamming her head back, frustrated, screaming again.

Unfazed, Anubis sipped the coffee, returning the cup to its saucer, peering around the page at his guest.

"She's rather loud though, and annoying, in fact, I'm not sure what you see in her, especially now," he declared, smirking.

"What do you want?" Daniel asked through his teeth.

"Information, simply information, not too high a price for your little woman and, well, never mind. I don't need weapons Dr. Jackson, or ships, I have everything I need, just a wee bit of information," Anubis explained, vaguely, reaching to sip the coffee, slowly turning the page of the paper, Adrienne still chained in the picture on the cover, speaking to him, trying to tell him something he couldn't understand.

A flash of an idea in his head, Daniel smacked the paper out of his hand, grabbing it, holding it to the side, trying to get a better look at Adrienne while still focusing on Anubis.

"I don't have time for your games!" Daniel shouted out, slamming the paper to the table, glancing down quickly at Adrienne, who was mouthing something, her mouth in an O shape, then shaking her head, reforming her words, F, FR it looked like...

Daniel awoke to a white ceiling, the sun was gleaming through the window and he saw Vala lying asleep beside him. Adjusting to this reality, the world of awake, he reached over, shaking her forcefully.

"WAKE UP!" he hissed, shoving her into the bed, impatient as she swatted him away. Rubbing her eyes, she rolled over slowly, facing him, a sly smile moving across her lips.

"Um, Daniel, nice to be waking up to you this morning, I hope you enjoyed last night," she tried to kid, seeing that manic in his face again, but he was having none of that right now.

"More," was all he said, standing to look for a needle, knowing that Cassie must have left more than one, it would make no sense to just leave one dose and hope for the best.

"Daniel, I don't think you should take anymore. You look awful," Vala said as she sat up, her tone changing quickly.

Stopping, Daniel looked at himself in the mirror over the dresser. He did look horrible, his eyes were shadowed, large dark circles underneath of them in contrast with how much he had been sleeping and his face was reddish as though he had a fever. His eyes were bloodshot, weak, his mouth dry and lips cracked. He was falling apart, rapidly wasting away, but he didn't care, just shook his head, turning to face Vala.

"Please, Vala, please. I'm talking to Anubis, he wants something, some information. I need to see what he wants, please Vala, let me try, help me try," Daniel pleaded, walking over to the table in search of another needle since there wasn't a second on the dresser.

"Daniel, I'm not sure if there is anymore, Cassie only left me the one, and what do you mean you're talking to Anubis?" Vala asked puzzled, standing to approach him as he looked so ragged that he might just fall into the floor, medicated or not.

"Look, there's no time to explain, just find me something, fast, Vala, I can't lose her, please, she's my, Vala... I just need to get back!" he started to shout when heard Jack's voice down the hallway and footsteps approaching, noting that of course it was morning, of course they would be awake. Heart pounding, he looked back at Vala, frantic.

"Knock me out," he requested, calmly.

"What!? Daniel you're crazy, what do you mean knock you out? I'm going to get Sam let her talk some sense into you," Vala replied, starting to leave, her feet taking her slowly to the door, hoping that he wouldn't do anything insane.

No, Daniel thought, she can't leave, Jack and Sam won't believe me, they won't let me, they'll think it is too dangerous. Feeling there was no other choice, Daniel grabbed her wrist, holding it forcefully, looking her straight in the eye.

"If you ever loved me, you will knock me out, right now," he begging, hating to do this, hating to say that to her, even more as he saw the crushed look on her face. It was too much, he had crossed the line but he was desperate unable to think of any other option.

Glancing behind her to see if Jack had reached them, Vala spun quickly to face Daniel, punching him directly in the throat.

"This is just going to take forever at this rate," Anubis remarked, looking down the sand dune at Daniel as his body came to a rolling stop, granules spraying around his face. Squinting, Daniel sat, rubbing his face, trying to adjust himself to his surroundings.

It took a moment, the sun bright and beaming, but he quickly ascertained where he was but the laugh that was echoing behind him only confirmed his first thought.

He was on Abydoys.

"Where is Adrienne?" he demanded, turning to gaze upward, into the sun, only the outline of his host visible in the glare.

"She's alive, for now, waiting for you to give me what I want so you can whisk her back to that little hovel you call a home," he answered, the head of the hooded figure cocked as if he were waiting for something.

Puzzled Daniel tried to follow his gaze, however there was nothing to see, only hear, two screams this time reverberating through the sky, Adrienne's and ...

"Impossible," Daniel spoke, "she's dead and not ascended. No one can hurt Shar'e any longer."

"Just thought I'd give you a friendly reminder of things that have passed, others things over which you had no control, like you have no control now. I am much more powerful than Apophis, I can assure you of that," Anubis warned, walking down the hill, approaching him, wearing black robes this time, black robes that made Daniel think of movies, cuddled on the sofa with her, the memory giving him strength.

Drawing on that strength, Daniel looked up at his captor as he advanced, laughing.

"You dare to mock me!?" Anubis roared.

"Adrienne would ask you when you planned on shooting lightening out of your fingertips. What exactly are you trying to prove?" Daniel asked, trying to be brave, trying to act like Adrienne, to think like Adrienne, to think of Adrienne.

He knew that wherever she was she was only screaming for him to hear her, she was too strong to give Anubis the satisfaction of anything else and he knew that she was trying to tell him something before, something that started with FR.

The shriek echoed again, this time louder and not just a scream, but a word, ick, or eek, what was she screaming?

"I can hurt you worse than you ever imagined. EVER imagined," Anubis threatened, coming to a halt just feet away, raising his hands, her screaming now changing from that odd word to a scream of pain, intense pain.

"What do you want?!" Daniel demanded, "You know I'll wake up soon and yet you stretch this out. Tell me what you want! Stop hurting her!"

The screaming stopped as quickly as it started, the hood staring down toward him, red eyes piercing through the black.

"Information is all, like I said before, simply information. I want to know how to get to the Pegasus Galaxy."

Daniel sat up and grabbed his throat. He tried to speak but couldn't, the pain too intense for him to do anything, even swallow.

"Christ Vala, you coulda killed him," Jack shouted, leaning over Daniel as Sam gently applied an ice pack to his neck.

"Well, I was out of meds and he came at me with that crazy look in his eyes, what was I supposed to do!?" she replied quickly to Jack, winking at Daniel, letting him know his secret was safe and he closed his eyes once, quickly, to thank her.

There was a knock at the door and Sam pointed at Vala to take over holding the ice pack to Daniel's throat as she stood, hurrying to open it and let in their visitor. Jack sat back in the recliner, clearing a path and Daniel could see Dr. Carson Beckett enter the room, needle in hand.

Good, he thought to himself, let's get this show rolling, but was quickly disappointed as Carson was only showing the needle to Sam in case something were to happen, the look on his face indicating that he no intention to use it.

Realizing that he would have to do this himself, he cut his eyes at Vala, blinking once slowly, running his eyes over in the doctor's direction. She didn't miss a beat, understanding his request and nodded, only enough so he knew that she understood.

Pulling back from him she shrieked as he reached for her throat, starting to squeeze.

As he had hoped, Jack was on him in an instant, his arms pinned to his side, and he felt Carson stick the needle into his skin, the world slowly fading to black.

"ANUBIS!" Daniel shouted out across an ocean, as he sat floating in a small yellow boat, alone in a blue mass, under blue sky, not any land in sight. There was complete silence, the water around him not even making the expected sound of lapping up on the side when a bubble appeared in the sky above him, floating slowly in his direction.

"This is growing old and I am annoyed by your female," the bubble spoke and Daniel heard more screaming, more words, pirogue and no, words Daniel tried to listen to, to understand, but it made no sense.

"I will tell you, but you have to let her go," Daniel replied, not wanting Anubis to know that he was understanding any of her screams.

"Then speak, I'm listening," the bubble uttered bobbing up and down as the voice came from it.

The boat began to rock a little more forcefully and Daniel saw a storm in the distance across the water, the silence breaking as a low rumble beat across the sky, the sound penetrating his ear drums. A bad feeling washing over him, apparent dream or not, Daniel reached to grab the ropes on either side of the vessel to hold on.

"How will I know if you let her go?" Daniel asked.

"You don't, but I can assure you my old friend, she doesn't have much time," the bubble spoke, floating away slightly as if it were threatening escape.

The storm in the distance was causing a disturbance in the water, the raft shaking violently and Daniel held on for dear life debating what to do.

All of those innocent people in the Pegasus Galaxy, now Wraith controlled or not would be at the mercy of Anubis, or would the Wraith be too much for him?

They were too much for Earth, at least for now, but, if Anubis could recruit the Wraith, what would he be able to do then?

The Wraith knew secrets, they knew things about how Atlantis operated, about the ZPM's, about Stargate command, things Anubis could exploit in order to come back to the Milky Way.

That is what this was all about, Daniel thought, the weapons, the ships, Pegasus.

_Anubis wants to broker with our enemies, bring them down, and his cloning, if he is able to perfect it, not only gives him an army but gives him a bargaining chip, a technology he might be able to use to gain their trust._

All of this their worst enemy could gain with just one dialing sequence.

There was another scream, no message this time, but a blood curdling cry, of pain, of misery, the love of his life trapped somewhere, alone, dying if Anubis was correct while he sat here, floating in the abyss with the solution to her freedom.

The choice was his.

And he couldn't see life as worth living without Adrienne.

"Bring me a DHD, I'll show you the sequence," he shouted at the bubble as the storm began to tip the boat.

Suddenly everything dropped to silence and the water stopped.

Daniel looked up to see Teal'c leaning over him.

"No," he sat up and shouted, "no, no, no, I've got to go back!"

"DanielJackson, you have been unconscious for two days, Dr. Lam will be happy that you have awakened," Teal'c answered as Daniel saw Carolyn Lam rushing over to him, shouting over her shoulder for Carson to come as well.

"Carolyn, please, one more time, please knock me out!" he pleaded, reaching out for her white jacket, pawing her sides looking for a needle, something, anything to send him back.

_She doesn't have much time..._

The words echoed in his head, that tightness in his chest setting in, knowing he had to get back, get back to her, she couldn't die, she was alone, so alone and it was his fault, he left her, his let her down, he promised he would always take care of her...

"Daniel, you need to calm down, you're overmedicated and you need to relax for just a moment," she said as she started to lean behind her to summon orderlies over to assist her. Daniel sat up frantic and looked at Teal'c, who was standing back a little ways, his face showing clear concern.

An idea popping into his head, he scanned the Jaffa up and down, motioning for him to come to his bedside.

"Teal'c," Daniel whispered as if he was very ill, "come here please."

Turning his head, wondering what was wrong, Teal'c did as requested, walking to his friend's side, leaning over him so he could hear what he had to say.

"DanielJackson, is there something you wish to tell me?" he asked, Daniel pulling himself upright to the best of his ability, nearer to him. He wrapped his one arm around Teal'c 's back bringing him closer and reached the other down his leg, pulling his Zat gun. Lying back quickly, he pointed the weapon at his own chest and fired.

He was in a white room, full of bright, florescent type light, light so bright that it should have hurt his eyes but it didn't. The room was completely empty save for one object, in front of him, a DHD, as he had requested.

Approaching it cautiously, Daniel looked around, scanning the room, surprised there was no one there.

"Where are you Anubis? I'm ready!" Daniel shouted out receiving no answer, nothing at all.

"Show yourself! Show Adrienne, or you don't get anything!" he demanded.

"I am here," a familiar voice answered, Daniel turning around, chills down his spine.

Standing in front of him was Skaara, looking just as he did the day he died and Daniel's stomach churned at the sight of his bother in law and the knowledge of what was really standing there.

"I like this body," Anubis/Skaara answered, "it has more vitality than my others. I think I shall keep it."

"Oma protects my family," Daniel countered, hoping that was still true, knowing that he hadn't heard from Oma or his family since Kasuf had first warned him about Anubis.

"In theory," Anubis answered and changed forms from Skaara to Adria, the Oriaci, yet another figure that haunted his past, "I could use this body as well..."

Adria/Anubis slinked over to Daniel, poking him in the stomach and running her/its finger up to his face stopping at his lips. He smacked it away but the digit could move any further, the memories of her sickening him.

"Adrienne for the sequence. No more games," Daniel said as he looked his enemy directly in the eyes, unrelenting.

Hold on, Daniel willed himself, just keep it together.

"Then dial, and I will let you have your precious Dr. Rowan," Adria/Anubis spat, walking around him to allow him access to the panel, caressing his back sensually as it/she passed. Ignoring the touch, focusing only on Adrienne, her face, her eyes, her laugh, the touch of her skin, Daniel marched his way to the DHD and began to dial, carefully the nine chevron sequence. There was a buzzing and Daniel glanced up, expecting something to happen, an unforeseen gate to open, but the symbols instead glowed in the air in front of him, each of the nine symbols in perfect order.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned, looking back at Adria/Anubis.

"Where is Adrienne?" he asked, the room growing dark as Anubis faded away. He heard a scream in the distance, Adrienne's screaming no and saw a flash of light.

Daniel sat up screaming in the infirmary and Jack, who was sitting at the side of his bed stood quickly.

"Daniel, Daniel, calm down, doc, he's up!" Jack shouted behind him, reaching for his friend's shoulders, his wild eyes looking far worse now than they have seen in days.

"He, Anubis, he wants, At, Atlantis, he wants Atlantis, the Pegasus," Daniel spoke in broken speech, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, trying to stand but forgetting that he hadn't walked for day, crumbling to the ground, Jack rushing to his side.

"Daniel, you've been out for fifteen hours this time alone, please, take it easy," Jack requested, as he helped him to his feet but once he was standing, Daniel whipped his arm around, freeing himself from Jack's grip. He took another unsteady step forward and another, moving slowly but moving, walking over to the table where he could see his jeans and t-shirt laying folded.

"I know, I know, I know, where she is," Daniel stammered, grabbing his clothes, turning to stagger toward the door of the infirmary.

"What do you mean where she is?" Jack asked, standing back, giving Dr. Lam space to get to Daniel as she was shouting behind him, rushing after him, telling him to stop.

Daniel, however, just kept walking, clothes in hand, right out into the hallway, headed for elevators to take him to Sam's office. He heard her heels clicked the ground before he saw her and finally let himself collapse to the floor, knowing Sam would help him, she had to help him. Sprinting to him, she dropped to the floor, pulling him up the best she could as he was babbling on incoherently.

"Adrienne's in Antarctica, she told me, she said she's freezing, she said she was here, she said no ship, I think he took her to Antarctica, he wants her to die, slowly, to suffer, to destroy me and he wanted, Sam, he wants the Pegasus, he's heading to the Pegasus..." Daniel gasped out to Sam, holding onto her legs.

Sam looked up as Jack and Dr. Lam came running out of the infirmary staring at her holding Daniel in the hallway.

"Honey, you heard him, she's in Antarctica. Help Daniel get dressed, I'll radio the Daedalus," she ordered, not letting go of her friend but Jack looked at his wife as if she had gone mad.

Marriage, however, had taught him not to question so he walked over, helping Daniel up yet again, leading him back to the infirmary.

"I'm not going back to bed Jack," Daniel spat, pulling away from him.

"Fine, put your damn drawers on in the hallway for all I care," Jack said, starting to let go, but understanding, Daniel nodded and let Jack take him back to get out of this gown.

"So, Dr. Jackson, do you have an idea where we should start looking?" Colonel Laval asked from the helm of the ship.

"No, can you do a life sign scan?" Daniel stood, armed crossed, his hand to his mouth.

"We can sir, we can, however there are a lot of other things down there, penguins for one," the Colonel replied, trying to be realistic and supportive.

"Daniel," Cameron asked, "was there anything else you remember? Anything at all?"

"Just ice, lots and lots of ice. There was this image, on a newspaper, and she was sitting there with a huge sheet of ice behind her, just ice and she just kept mouthing that she was freezing," Daniel explained, trying to remember if there was anything else in that photo, anything else she was trying to tell him.

"Sir," a young man spoke from behind them, "if Dr. Jackson saw ice only and no other signs of life, there are two major ice shelves in Antarctica, the Ronne Ice shelf and the Ross Ice shelf. It could be one of those."

"I DON'T KNOW!" Daniel snapped, "I just saw her, leaning against a wall of ice, like she was huddled along some pathway!"

"Colonel Laval, I think we should focus our scan on the Ross ice shelf then. It is more likely that someone would be sitting against an ice wall there," the young man, a cadet Daniel was noticing, suggested.

"Start your scan," the colonel ordered and looked ahead, the images of the ice sheet beginning to pop up on his screen.

"So, you think Anubis is gonna try your sequence? Find out that nine chevrons will just blow shit up?" Cameron asked, trying to calm Daniel.

"That's what I'm worried about; that he'll try it before we get to Adrienne," Daniel answered.

He had lied to Anubis; he have given him the dialing sequence for the Destiny, which would be impossible to dial, even for him. In the best case scenario, it would blow up any of Anubis lackeys that were trying to dial, hopefully blowing up Anubis himself in the process, however, in the worst case, he would end up on Destiny where the crew was either hibernating or dead.

It was a sacrifice, possibly of the entire contingent of Colonel Young's crew, but knowing Anubis would never stop until he could get what he wanted, he felt it was a risk he needed to take, not only to get Adrienne back, but to protect the people of Earth and of the Pegasus Galaxy.

"Sir," the cadet spoke again, addressing Daniel more so than the captain, " I might have something."

Redirecting his attention to the display, he saw a heat image appear on the screen, faint, but it was a living creature, alone, not in a group like you would expect other antarctic mammals. Nodding, Daniel zipped up his parka and looked over at Laval.

"Beam me down," he ordered.

"Doctor, we're not even sure if that's her, I need to send a MALP down there first," the colonel argued, but Daniel didn't bother, simply walked over to the Asgard control panel, beaming himself down.

There was snow all over the ground, not powdery and beautiful like a Colorado winter, but compact and slick. It was colder here than he remembered from years past, too cold, much too cold for a person to survive.

"Ja-wer!" he screamed out, "ADRIENNE!" but to no avail. He went to step forward, walking toward where the ice seemed to thin, when he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned quickly, prepared to fight.

"You couldn't wait just one damn sec for me to get a coat, could you?" Cameron asked, Daniel dropping his guard and trying to smile.

"ADDY! Girl you KNOW I am NOT running that damn track everyday with Ronon! He is NO WHERE NEAR AS GOOD LOOKING!" Cameron shouted out into the snow, motioning for Daniel to follow. Pulling their coats around their faces, they kept walking, Cam leading the way with a small gadget, a faint blip on the screen.

They had walked for quite a while when Daniel saw something moving in the distance. He didn't think, he didn't hesitate, he simply tore off into the snow, running as fast as he could when he saw her. She was wearing a thin white robe, much too thin, thin enough that she should be dead, she had to be dead, she wasn't moving and she had shoved her body against the wall of ice and pulled her knees to her chest. Bluish and devoid of any other color, she sat there motionless, frozen, not even looking up to acknowledge him as he raced toward her.

Completely disregarding the sub-zero temperatures and his own safety, Daniel began to unzip his parka, pulling it from his shoulders.

"Adrienne, dear god, please, please don't be dead," he fell to his knees, taking her into his arms as he could feel his own tears freezing on his cheeks. Quickly and carefully, he wrapped the parka around her and held her to him rocking back and forth, repeating over and over for her not to die, that he loved her, that she was his soul, his life, kissing her frozen hair, sobbing into it, not even noticing that Cameron had caught up to him and was radioing back to the ship to beam them all aboard.

Dr. Lam made him stay outside, disregarding his arguments that she was practically his wife, yet again, but a part of him knew it was because of his earlier actions. Nervously he paced back and forth outside of the double doors, wanting some sign that she was alright, some sign that hypothermia or something worse wasn't take her away from him. As he walked, he saw her again, sitting there in that thin robe in the snow, floating somewhere between life and death, her lips blue, and he started to tremble and lose it again, when felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he peered behind and there were Vala, Sam, Teal'c, Cameron and Jack, his friends, his family and he completely lost control.

"It's alright, let it out. We're going to wait right here with you, all of us," Vala whispered softly as she reached out to hold him, Sam walking over to the other side to lead him over to the chair Carson had brought out for him when he was forced to leave. She made him sit and he did and she knelt down, rubbing his back while the others took seats on the floor.

"I just can't. I can't live without her, she's.." and he erupted into tears again. Not saying a word, Vala stood, walking to a nearby office and got another chair to bring it up beside him so she could hold him again and he didn't argue or fight, just laid across her lap sobbing uncontrollably. The men just stayed back, letting Sam and Vala handle him, Jack especially unsure as to what he could say as he watched one of his best friends facing the possibility of losing the most important thing in his life.

They hoped he would fall asleep, pass out of something, but he didn't, so they sat together, all of the members of SG-1, past and present for nearly two hours, Daniel alternating between hysterics and rage, his friends taking turns calming him down.

No one was sure as to what time it was when Dr. Lam finally came out, a solemn look on her face as she looked down at them, sitting in a collective on the floor, Daniel upright again, holding Sam's hand tightly.

"I need to talk to Daniel, alone," she said, simply, the archaeologist's eyes widening at her words.

"NO!" he screamed, crashing to the ground and no one moved as Daniel began to slam his fists violently to the ground, too shocked at his behavior.

"No! After everything no! Why!? Why did you take her from me?!" he was screaming, falling into the ground again, Sam racing to the ground, tears in her own eyes, trying to stop him. Evidently not expecting that reaction, Dr. Lam rushed to him as well, kneeling down onto the ground and grabbing his face, looking him in the eyes.

"Daniel, listen to me, she's alive, she's going to be alright. Are you hearing me?" Carolyn frantically explained, Daniel stopping his screaming instantly, trying to calm his breathing.

"She is?" he clarified, tears streaming down his face.

"Yes, she is, but I still need to talk to you, alone," Carolyn rose, reaching out for him. Wiping his face, he nodded, taking her hand and stood, adjusting himself and breathing in deeply Sam stood as well, starting to follow, but Carolyn put up her hand.

"I'll speak with you in a moment general, but I need to talk to Daniel first," she said and Sam backed away, worried, looking back at Jack, who was now standing as well.

Willing himself to be strong, for her especially, Daniel followed Dr. Lam into the infirmary and to the back where they had been working on Adrienne when he was removed. She lay there, so helpless before and devoid of color, but now there was pink in her cheeks and she looked like she could wake-up any second and demand coffee.

He smiled slightly, thinking she would do just that, but she didn't, just lay there, so still and so quiet.

"See, she's fine," Carolyn indicated pointing to the machines monitoring her vitals, all readings looking normal, "she has your little gift to thank for that."

"When will she wake up?" Daniel asked, for the first time thankful of the trouble he had caused her biologically.

"Probably soon, sooner than I would like considering what she's been through," Dr. Lam explained, reaching for the chart at the foot of the bed.

"Why is that? If she needs to sleep longer can't you give her something?" Daniel asked, confused. He didn't understand; they had been drugging him for days, why not do the same for Adrienne? In his mind, anything was worth ensuring her recovery.

"We can't give her any more medications Daniel, it's not safe in her condition," she continued, handed him a folder she had pulled out of the chart. Taking it, Daniel made a puzzled look, running his gaze between Adrienne and the doctor.

"I don't understand," he said, "what condition," but the doctor didn't answer, just pointed at the folder. Frowning he opened it, scanning the chart inside, a look of horror creeping across his face.

"No," he started to yell, "No! First Shar'e and now Adrienne! No, you have to kill the thing. Adrienne will not carry the child of that monster!"

He slammed the folder shut, terror in his eyes and tears creeping up once more, but Dr. Lam shook her head, reaching for the folder to open it again, glancing up at him with a smile.

"Daniel, Adrienne's not carrying Anubis' child. It's yours. She's carrying yours."


	49. Chapter 48 - Preparations

"He did WHAT?!" Jack exclaimed as Sam pulled him into a side hallway, away from the curious eyes of the others. Once safely out of earshot, in her opinion at least, her husband just stood there, shaking his head, a look of complete and total shock on his face.

"He didn't do anything Jack, Daniel's a grown man. And keep your voice down, she doesn't even know yet," Sam scolded, checking behind her shoulder to see if anyone had heard, but the group was still sitting there, waiting as they had been for hours, everyone except for Vala who was standing off to the side with Ronon, explaining to him and the Atlantis crew what they knew. At this point that wasn't much; Carolyn had come out and said that Adrienne was alive, whisking Daniel away to tell him what Sam had just learned herself.

"She's pregnant, Sam, pregnant. Jackson's managed to knock up his assistant! This is a new level of disaster, and that's saying a lot for Daniel!" the general hissed, thankfully not screaming, although he did draw looks from the Atlantis crew, Teyla in particular picking up on his mood and approaching them. The blood vessel in his neck was bulging as he looked at his wife in disbelief at how calm she was given everything that had just happened and the shit storm that was to come.

"She's a little more than just his assistant Jack; stop acting like this is the end of the world. They live together. They bought a home together. He's going to propose to her and yes, this is a little sudden but I think it's more than just knocking up his assistant. Can't you be happy for him?" Sam spat, slamming her hands to her hips, refusing to back down. Daniel deserved this, he deserved a chance at a family and Sam needed her husband's support when the IOA found out and went hysterical, in fact, Sam was still trying to assure Woolsey that their living together was not going to affect day to day operations.

Now they were going to have a kid.

That was gonna be a fun meeting.

"Alright, well, I guess they're both doing well, they're ok? Adrienne and the baby?" Jack finally asked, shaking his head, giving in.

Sam smiled, she knew he would, he liked Adrienne and he seemed to like them together, so she really just needed him to calm down and look at the bigger picture.

"Yes, Carolyn says so, everything looks normal and stable. Daniel won't leave her side though; she still hasn't woken up and he just keeps holding the folder and looking at it and then her," Sam answered, the vision of Daniel at Adrienne's bedside coming back to her. He must have asked Dr. Lam to tell Sam and she came right in afterwards to speak with him but he hadn't said a word, glancing up at her with a look of worry on his face, worry that she couldn't explain.

"What does he think? You know, about... it?" Jack continued.

"The baby hun, not it, and I'm not sure, I really didn't talk to him, Carolyn pulled me into her office and told me and said to tell you but not to say anything to anyone else until Adrienne wakes up, but he's there, and quiet," she replied hoping her husband would read between the lines.

_Go get your ass in there and talk to him..._

Nodding, Jack crossed his arms and then uncrossed them with a huff, unbuttoning the dress uniform jacket his position required that he wear. He undid the last fastener and pulled the annoying garment off of his shoulders, handing it over to Sam.

"Ok, take this stupid thing, please. I'm gonna go talk to him," Jack stated, much to Sam's relief, heading back for the infirmary right past the large contingent of friends and teammates who were waiting outside.

"General, can you tell us what's going on?" Cam stepped forward and asked, John falling in behind him for an answer.

"Nope," Jack replied, soldiering on.

"O'Neill, will AdrienneRowan awaken?" Teal'c asked, thinking that was a better question leaving Jack only a yes or no option.

"Yep," Jack answered, pushing open the infirmary door.

"Is she horribly scarred?" Vala chimed in from Ronon's side, everyone stopping and staring in her direction.

"What?! Daniel's been in there for a while, I just thought that maybe she was horribly..." she stopped talking, realizing that every last one of her friends, Ronon included, was glaring at her.

"Look, everything's gonna be fine, Adrienne's going to be fine, la dee da and kum ba yah. Daniel's in there dealing with post-mission nonsense, debriefing and other shit. Go back to your quarters, the gym, where ever you came from or where ever you can go and I'll let you know when I know something," Jack declared, standing at the open door.

Eyes peeking at one another in confusion, the group stood, seeming to have no intentions of leaving.

"Get!" he ordered, shooing them away with his hands, turning to push the entrance again, the sounds of combat boots on tile scurrying in every direction. Looking ahead, Jack continued through the door, not needing direction, walking right back to where he saw Daniel, sitting beside Adrienne holding her hand, a lost look on his face.

"Any sign?" Jack asked, staring down at the Cajun, thinking that this was the quietest he'd ever seen the woman in the two years he had known her.

"She stirred a bit an hour ago, but she's still asleep. Carolyn says that's actually a good sign, a sign that her body knows what to do to repair itself," Daniel answered, staring up at Jack. He could see that his friend had been crying, again, but Jack decided now was not the time to harass him about that. There were other things that needed to be discussed and Daniel's tendency lately to actually show emotion again was not one of them.

"Congratulations," Jack said, pulling a chair over to sit beside him as Daniel looked back at Adrienne rubbing his thumb along her palm.

"It's funny. I never thought about having kids, ever. Kasuf would harass Shar'e and I on a daily basis, but the thought just never really appealed to me. It just doesn't seem real," Daniel answered honestly, not taking his gaze from his love for one moment, his hands squeezing her lightly.

"It doesn't. Not even when they hand you the screaming bloody thing for the first time," Jack joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Taking his eyes off of Adrienne, Daniel glanced over at his old friend, remembering. The general never talked about his son, the one he lost, the one that made him agree to go on the original suicide mission to kill Ra. Daniel didn't know what to say, feeling he should say something, but there was nothing he could think to say, sitting there, starting to stammer wordlessly until Jack read his mind, shaking his head and reaching out for his friend.

"We can't change the past Daniel, it's alright. We just have to look forward. When she wakes up you two are gonna have a lot of talking to do," Jack continued, pulling his hand back as he offered a smile of comfort he hoped, the lost expression on the archaeologist's face speaking volumes.

Nodding, Daniel finally pulled away from his assistant, removing his glasses and setting them over on the side table, rubbing his eyes. Jack went to stand, sensing that he might not really want to talk until he had spoken to Adrienne, which Jack could understand, things didn't get more private than 'Surprise, I got you pregnant' when he felt a hand at his arm, looking down to see Daniel, eyes pleading, halting his exit.

"Jack?" he asked, his voice trembling. Sliding his hand away, O'Neill sat back down, leaning forward onto his knees.

"What if she doesn't want it?" Daniel asked, his words breaking, cracking, the fear apparent as he spoke.

"She might not want it? You two have never talked about that?" Jack questioned, not understanding Daniel's concern, after all, the girl was crazy and punky, but he really didn't see her as the type of terminate a pregnancy, but apparently there was something that Daniel knew that he didn't.

"Not really. I thought we were pretty careful, she was careful, she's been taking, well, never mind. Jack, it's not that I'm upset or anything, I'm not, quite the opposite, but I don't want to get my hopes up, I'm just, I'm, I'm just terrified," Daniel rambled, confused, obviously at a complete and total loss as to what he should do and Jack smiled, understanding, a part of him still so shocked to see his friend behaving in this way.

What had this woman done to him?

The general had to admit that it was endearing to see Daniel so smitten, so concerned and, for once, over something that was good in his life.

"Daniel, honestly, I've never in my life met two people that were more made for each other than you and Dr. Perky, but don't you tell Sam that I said that. I think you're gonna find her reaction when she wakes up to be pretty much what you're thinking right now, the happy part I mean," Jack assured him, standing again.

"Thanks," Daniel said quietly, not looking up any longer, his attention directed back at Adrienne.

"Let me know when she wakes up," Jack added, turning and silently leaving the infirmary.

Alone again, Daniel scooted his chair closer so he could lay his head on her chest, holding her hand tightly in his own as he cuddled into her, relishing in her warmth and the smooth rhythm of her heartbeat. Closing his eyes, he tried to sleep, his only solution to passing the time, the horrible endless waiting until he could hear her voice again, the reassurance that he so desperately wanted that she was alright.

He must have fallen asleep, as he was awakened to shaking under his head, violent trembling, and his head darted up, his eyes adjusting, seeing Adrienne trying to sit, shivering, her teeth chattering, but awake...

She was awake.

"It's so cold," he heard her say through clacking teeth, her fingers reaching for his hair.

"Carolyn!" he yelled and sat up quickly, looking for a blanket, holding her hand, not letting go for a moment. Scanning the room, he found one folded on a cart in the corner, squeezing her hand to tell her that he wasn't leaving her, that he was just going to fulfill her request, racing over to grab it and hurriedly cover Adrienne. Finally able to make eye contact, locking his own blue eyes on her deep perfect brown, he brought his face to hers, kissing her cheek, holding her and the blanket to her.

"Back up," Dr. Lam ordered and Daniel did reluctantly as a medical team flurried over Adrienne. Pushed aside, he stood back, his arms crossed in worry, standing on his toes to see if he could see what was going on. He couldn't make out anything in particular very well, so he scooted over and grabbed his glasses from the small side table, slipping them back on, craning his neck to see what they were doing. As he did though, the medical staff slowed their work, backing up and heading back to their tasks.

Smiling, his heart leaping in his chest, Carolyn turned to face Daniel, tilting her head at Adrienne.

"She's awake, and cold. Just be gentle," she said, placing her hand on his arm, leaving herself to attend to other matters and the couple alone. The area cleared and there was Adrienne, awake and smiling at him the best she could.

"I guess gettin' in here to keep me warm is out of the question?" she joked, of course she was joking, he would expect no less.

"No, not if you want me to," he answered, quickly leaning over to remove his boots and Adrienne laughed, that sparkle thankfully back in her eyes.

"I'm just kidding sha, it's ok," she said sweetly, holding up her hand to stop him, but her voice, it killed him, it was so calm and quiet, so unlike her.

"Can I get you anything ja-wer?" he sat back down as requested, asking, grabbing her hand again to hold it in his own, gazing in her eyes.

"Food, I'm starving," she answered, smiling, "real food, please."

"Anything," he replied, standing, but her face changed, Adrienne changing her mind, pulling him back to her.

"No, don't go, don't leave me," she said, that confidence in her face breaking, in her weakened state no longer able to be strong. He reached his other hand over to hers, squeezing tightly as she started to cry.

"Please don't leave me, ever again, please, I didn't know if you'd find me, if he'd kill me, if he'd kill you. Next time I promise, I'll let you take a sick day, I won't be stubborn and stupid, just don't leave me," the words tumbled out of her mouth, Adrienne now sobbing.

Disregarding her earlier protest, Daniel stood and lifting her slightly so he could get into the hospital bed with her. He crawled in, sitting himself behind her, pulling her gently into his arms so that he was completely wrapped around her, holding her to him as she requested.

"Never, Adrienne, I'll never leave you again," he said as he kissed her head, Sam's words going through his own, how it was a fluke, how could any of them had ever known that Anubis would strike in such a way. It was logical though, but Daniel had tossed logic out the window days ago, apologizing for something that wasn't even his fault.

"I'm so sorry."

She didn't answer; she was shivering again, turning her body slightly to rest her head on his chest. She lay there quietly for a moment, listening to his breath, his heartbeat, feeling better already lying in his arms when the urge hit her and she started to heave.

Sitting up quickly, Daniel reached forward to grab a small tray for her to throw up into, knowing what this was, Carolyn confirming the entire reason she had stayed home that day, a reason he now had to discuss with her after everything else that had happened.

She took it quickly and sat it between her legs, her body convulsing, but nothing came up, which didn't surprise him as there was nothing in her stomach to expel. Breathing in, she let herself calm, her eyes making contact with his own, pitifully, searching for answers.

"What did Carolyn say that he did to me?" she asked, calling her Carolyn and not Dr. Grumpypants. She was concerned, he could tell, at the distinct difference between this and her earlier sickness, this fit feeling much stronger.

_What's she gonna say..._

"Nothing, he didn't do anything, it hurts more because you haven't eaten anything, but he didn't do anything to you that we can tell. You were just the prize of a sick giant treasure hunt," Daniel answered, remembering the ordeal once more, deciding to leave out how Anubis had essentially left her to die a slow painful death in a place he never thought Daniel would find her.

_He left both of you to die, both, and somehow that is tearing me up even more..._

"Well, there's got to be something wrong with me. I thought it was just the junk food, but that's all gone now, I know that's out of my system but my head is killing me and now I feel like I'm gonna vomit but I'm so hungry. What tests did she run on me?" Adrienne asked, not yet putting the pieces together. He took a breath and looked over at the folder on the desk with his eyes only, so that Adrienne wouldn't notice, his heart racing, trying to figure out how he would tell her. They had never mentioned the word baby, other than a misunderstanding with Chaka, since they had gotten together and the times she mentioned it when they were friends being a parent was something she was dead set against.

_She's not gonna want it..._

Adrienne had also, however, been dead set against marriage and now she was quite literally waiting for a ring, so maybe everything would be alright...

"Daniel," she whispered, looking him straight in the eyes, no Indy, no 'sha' but his name, noticing his pause, his silence, "what's wrong with me?" she asked, scared, lightly trembling in his arms. Turning his body so that she was not craning back so much to see him, Daniel leaned in, kissing her gently on the lips and backed up again, breathing out slowly.

_Tell her...and tell her that you want this... _

"Daniel, you're scaring me," she added, her bottom lip quivering as she tried to bite it still. Swallowing, he reached around her again, pulling her tightly into his arms, kissing her head.

"Adrienne, I love you, more than I have ever loved someone before," he started, stopping to take another deep breath. She looked at him terrified but didn't say a word, just let him speak, or try to, holding her even closer before bringing his lips to her ear.

"Adrienne, you're pregnant," he paused in his whisper, thinking he needed to clarify lest she come to the same conclusion as he had originally himself, "we're pregnant," he kissed her lightly, awaiting her response, but she didn't say anything at first, just pulled away, turning to face him.

"How long?" she asked, no emotion in her face, nothing, making Daniel almost lose it right then and there.

_She doesn't want it; she wants to... _

"Carolyn said probably around ten weeks, not enough to show any weight gain or anything else that might have been missed," Daniel tried to explain, forcing himself to keep talking, hoping that she wouldn't say what he was terrified to hear. Not saying another word Adrienne looked down at her stomach mesmerized, touching it lightly before gazing back up at Daniel.

"Did Anubis hurt, it?" she asked, Daniel's emotions a conflicting mess. She was asking about its well-being but then again she called it, well, 'it' and not the baby, what could that mean?

"Not that we can tell, no, everything looks perfect," Daniel replied, trying to convey his excitement, hoping she could see in his eyes that he wanted this, he never knew before but he wanted this more than anything.

"I'm sorry," she said, though, confusing him completely, leaning forward, starting to cry.

"Ad, why are you sorry?" Daniel turned her face to his, wiping the tears from her eyes, confused when it hit him.

_She doesn't want it; dear god, she doesn't want it. _

"Because, I mean, you had this entire life, this career, and I've just come in and messed it up, I messed everything up. I guess we need to decide what to do, and, I, Daniel, I wa," she rambled a bit more, sobbing, shaking her head, trembling in fear.

"Ja-wer, look at me, look at me," he grabbed her face, bringing it to his own, ordering that she open her eyes, "What do you want to do?" he asked, holding his breath for the answer.

_It's her body; it's her choice..._

"Daniel, I," she cried harder, "I'm sorry, but," now he began to shake, "I want it. I wanna keep it."

_Wait?_

Shocked, he looked up at her, a smile spreading across his face.

"You want it?" he asked, hoping he heard her right, his heart already leaping, his mind replaying the words over and over in his head.

_I wanna keep it..._

"Yea," she sniffed in, "I'm sorry, but I love you so much, more than I ever thought I could love someone and we made this life, this person, together. I just can't throw that away."

Breathing out, he drew her back into her arms and kissed her head again, holding her tightly to his chest.

"I want it too," he whispered in her ear.

"You do?" she said, pulling away yet again so she could peer into his eyes, read them, for some reason not believing his words as they crossed his lips.

"Yea, I do. I think we can do this," he assured her, tears streaming down her face, leaning back to let him hold her, when she started to laugh, quietly at first, only to grow to full on hysteria.

"What?" he asked, puzzled, but nonetheless wrapping his arms around her and kissing her cheek softly.

"We're gonna be someone's parents," she replied, tilting her head back smiling.

"That poor child."

Daniel was knocking on Sam's door quietly, trying not to let his friends and teammates know that he had finally left the infirmary. He had every right to show the emotion that he had, he had almost lost the love of his life, yet somehow he still didn't feel comfortable just yet with all of them having seen him weep for so long.

"It's open," he heard her shout, so he let himself in, carefully peering around the corner. Appearing very busy, she turned to greet her visitor and saw it was Daniel, instantly putting down the folder. Leaping from her seat, Sam ran over, not even letting him get through the door before she was hugging him tightly.

"I don't know what to say, but you're smiling so I assume congratulations is just fine," she looked at him with a smile herself from ear to ear.

"Thanks, yea, which is why I need to talk to you, if you have a sec," he said.

"Always," she replied, returning to her desk, indicating that Daniel take a seat in the chair as she sat on the corner.

"This is all happening so fast," he said and Sam giggled, "In nine months, wow, less than that, I'm going to be someone's father."

"Yes you are," Sam assured.

"Well, we have the townhouse, so I think we'll just have to share an office like we do here at work, which won't be any big deal," Daniel continued, but seemed to be talking to himself, planning, going over everything in his head, Sam trying her hardest not to tease him as he went into that zone that he went into when he was working on something.

"I'd be happy to help with the nursery," Sam offered instead, knowing what he was thinking, how all of this was so completely out of order and unplanned.

"Nursery, god it's like an entire new language," Daniel laughed, reaching under his glasses to pinch his nose.

"It is...I remember my brother and his wife going through this exact same thing. In fact, they might still have some things they would be willing to let go of; I'd be happy to ask," Sam replied.

"Thanks, yes, because I'm totally lost right now. But furnishing aside, there's something else I wanted to talk with you about..." he trailed a bit at the end, Sam closing the lid to her laptop so he would know that he had her full attention.

"I'm listening."

"At the risk of completely setting Adrienne down a course of "I am not a 1950's woman rant", which I do realize is a hundred percent possible, I think considering that we have purchased a home together and she's gonna be the mother of my child, oh wow that sounds odd coming out of my mouth, my child, I think I should probably just scrap my plans from earlier, and I did have plans, I did, well, I think I need to," he paused his awkward ramble, Sam repressing a chuckle, her hand to her mouth for a moment.

"Propose?" she finished for him as she slipped her palm down from her face.

"Yeah..."

"And you mean now, today," Sam clarified, Daniel nodding.

"Yes, well, as soon as possible," he replied, trembling.

_Dear god Daniel, this is it; no more stalling, no more over planning. You're gonna do this and do it now._

"What do you need? I thought you had been making plans, but I'm happy to help," Sam asked, vaguely remembering something from Jack about having to help Daniel shop for a ring but with the kidnapping and everything not a word had been spoken since.

"I had, I did, but that's still over two weeks away and it just seems wrong to wait, considering, well, considering the baby. It's typical us, completely screwed up, out of order, but I need to make this right," he stated, embarrassed, as Sam smiled sweetly yet again at his nervous reaction.

"Well, I think her saying yes is pretty much a definite, fancy proposal or not. She loves you very much," Sam answered and Daniel nodded, taking another breath.

"I know."

Neither said a word for a moment, Daniel glancing down, picking his nails just like Adrienne before realizing what he was doing, flexing his fingers before looking up at one of his closest friends, the sister he had never had.

"I still want to make it special, so I guess I need to go shopping. I don't want to rush her, but I know her well enough where if she's "fat" in a wedding dress, well, let's just say it won't be pleasant to live with that for the rest of my life," he joked, hearing her words in his head.

"Go then! Mandatory week rest after a mission like that anyway," she ordered, laughing, standing to pull him from the chair and send him on his way.

Smiling, decision made, feeling confident, finally, he stood and then sat again, gazing up at Sam.

"Ok so time to be honest. I made a dinner reservation, but that's it, I don't have a ring, I really don't know what kind of ring I want, what kind she wants, how to ask, I just have no idea," he sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"I think we can fix that," Sam replied, picking up her phone.

"We just got back to normal, Addy almost died, I broke three nails in the gym this morning, what in the world could you possibly need!?" Vala demanded as she entered Sam's office, slamming the opening door into the wall. Grinning, Sam pointed at Daniel who was still seated, sitting sheepishly in the chair at the other side of her desk.

"Daniel needs your help," Sam stated, trying to offer their latest arrival a seat as well, one that was silently refused.

"Since when?" Vala retorted, shoving her hands to her hips.

"Since I know nothing about jewelry," Daniel answered, trying to be nice, especially after telling her only a little over a week ago that she needed to stay out of their relationship.

"Barf, I don't wanna help you do something sweet. You can crash and burn all by yourself," Vala spat, evidently remembering that conversation as well, Adrienne lying in the infirmary or not.

Annoyed, Daniel looked over at Sam and rolled his eyes, getting ready to beg her to call Jack again, get him out of that stupid meeting that he was in, when Sam stood and walked over to Vala, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"Vala, have you talked to Adrienne yet?" she asked, removing her hand but not her eyes, the tall woman shrugging.

"Yeah, but she didn't have a lot to say and she was puking and I can't take that," Vala answered, "He should be taking care of that," she shot at Daniel, "And anyway, why aren't you in there if she's sick?"

"She's not sick Vala," Daniel replied curtly, willing himself not to just start screaming at her stupid little act.

"I think vomiting is a clear indication of sick Daniel," Vala retorted.

Seeking support, Daniel looked over at Sam, who was cutting her eyes at him.

Ok thanks for the back-up Sam, he thought, taking a breath and peering back at Vala.

"Vala," Daniel started, "Adrienne's pregnant. It's morning sickness."

"You got her pregnant!" she shouted. Sighing, Daniel put his head in his hands and moved them down to his mouth, rubbing his face quickly before looking back up at her.

"Yes Vala, I got her pregnant, you want to put it that way, fine," he looked over at Sam, "Are you sure you can't help? Jack can't get out of whatever he is in right now?" Daniel pleaded with the general, his eyes doing as much begging as his words.

"I would love to, you all can call me if you get stuck, I'll do my best to answer, but Vala is better at this sort of thing," Sam replied, smiling.

Better at what, driving me insane, Daniel wanted to ask but refrained.

"Better at what?" she asked as if she was reading his mind, crossing her arms now, not as snotty, but intrigued.

Nothing about this is ever gonna go my way, he thought, shaking his head and giving up.

"Vala, I need you to help me pick out an engagement ring for Adrienne, today. I need one today," Daniel explained, breathing out deeply as he did, waiting her reaction.

"Really?" she clarified, dropping her arms, her tone changing completely, in fact, she actually seemed flattered.

"Yes, you and Adrienne go shopping together a lot and you know more about things like that, so, yes, will you come and help me? I know it might be awkward but I would really appreciate it," Daniel told her sincerely, hoping she would agree because he wasn't sure he could do this alone.

Contemplating for a moment, Vala stood there running her gaze between Sam and Daniel. Yeah, he'd screwed this up royally, screwed up everything royally, she wasn't quite sure how her friend dealt with him. If anything, Addy needed her to step in and save all of this before it became a complete and total mess.

"Let's go Blue Eyes," she answered, smiling, reaching over and dragging him out of the office.

When they arrived at the jewelry store, Vala already had a plan, which really shouldn't have surprised Daniel.

"Is this one better than the others?" he asked having noted that they had passed by at least five jewelry stores to get here, each of which seemed to be a carbon copy of the last.

"Of course; this is my favorite!" she replied as he pulled the Jeep into a free spot, Vala leaping out excitedly, dashing inside, leaving him behind, gaping at her. Daniel, considerably more nervous, shut off the car, locked his doors and followed, his thoughts a mile a minute.

What would Adrienne think?

He couldn't believe that she actually wanted to keep the baby, that she actually wanted to have a child with him, that she wanted to raise a child with him, but this however was different. Proposing, after this, would accelerate the process, speed up the engagement, the wedding, everything and he wasn't exactly sure how she would react.

Doubts racing through his head, he stopped at the front door, seeing that Vala was already at the counter talking to a small over-friendly blond woman who was acting as if she knew Vala very well.

What have I gotten myself into, Daniel thought, pulling the handle and letting himself in.

"There he is, slowpoke," Vala said to the giggling woman as Daniel entered the door, a giggling woman who was now looking in his direction.

"And he's your friend?" the woman asked with a tone of uncertainty in her voice and a glimmer in her eye.

"Yes, and he's going to propose to another friend. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride," Vala answered, rolling her eyes playfully. She sounded different too, she hadn't made one sexual joke and oddly, that made Daniel feel very uncomfortable.

"Hi," he said as he approached the counter, looking down into the case, a distinct difference in the distance he had put between himself and real rings hiding in the lab and scouring websites.

There had to have been close to two hundred diamond rings, each laid out carefully in its own little display, waiting for some lucky guy like himself to come in and declare that it was the one. They were all shapes, sizes and colors, which surprised him since he had no idea that diamonds came in any other color than clear, he hadn't seen anything other than clear online. He laughed to himself seeing that there were brown diamonds called 'chocolate' considering that for a moment, just to see Adrienne's reaction. The blond woman must have noticed, because he felt a light touch on his hand and heard another giggle in his direction.

"Ahh... he must have seen something he likes," she said, looking over at Vala.

"Oh, no," Daniel answered, "just saw something that reminded me of, well, it's funny, nevermind," he added, because joke or not, that wasn't the ring, none of those were.

He'd know it when he saw it.

Feeling that this was an invitation to proceed, the woman leaned over the counter at him, smiling brightly, trying to get his attention. Noticing, Daniel stood upright, reaching for the outstretched hand being offered.

"Well, let's get to know each other better, I'm Holly and you are?" she asked happily. Holly seemed to want to make this an event and not just let him select a ring but he guessed this was just all part of the process.

"Daniel," he answered and took her hand, shaking it quickly and letting go, returning his gaze to the sea of diamonds in front of him.

"Overwhelming isn't it?' she asked, standing up from the counter and backing up as if she wanted to overwhelm him further by the contents of the case, all the while Vala was just looking at him with that stupid huge goofy grin on her face.

"Just a bit," he joked, eliminating another row, labeled 'Princess' cut. If Adrienne took the time to look up rings, which considering the magazine he now had stowed in his bag she probably did, anything that made her a 'Princess' was out.

"Alright," Holly said, sensing it was time to begin, "Do you know what you're looking for?"

"An engagement ring," Daniel answered quickly, both women erupting into laughter. He cursed Sam for not coming with him, why were they laughing, how in the world would he have any idea what he was doing, it's not like he'd done this before, what man had done this before? He should have called Jack himself, begged, Jack had done this twice, ok yeah some men did this multiple times, not that he hadn't himself it was just, well, different, but...

Daniel stopped, calming his nerves, taking a deep breath before looking back up at the nice sales woman, the confusion on his face something he was unable to hide.

"Let's back up a bit, tell me about her," Holly suggested, leaning forward onto her elbows on the counter in a rather flirtatious manner.

No wonder Vala liked this place, Daniel thought, if this woman is any indication of the rest of the sales staff, these people are right up her alley.

Pausing for a moment, he tried to figure out where to begin. Should he talk about her Southern roots? Her love of Ancient Cultures? The way her eyes sparkled when she discovered something new or the way she would tap her tongue ring to her teeth when she was nervous? Or the way that she thought about everybody first above herself, right down to each and everyone's special celebrations in their lives? There was so much about Adrienne that made her the most unique and special individual that he had ever met, but he had no idea what this woman was looking for, so he decided to start at the beginning.

"Her name is Adrienne. Adrienne Margaret, but she hates Margaret, she never even met the relative that came from, so I only call her that to annoy her. Not that I like to annoy her, I mean I do, but in a playful way, we sort of live to torment one another..."

Daniel didn't notice but Vala was smiling, his eyes instead gazing ahead at the woman as he continued his speech.

"She's about five foot eight, but for our friend circle that's actually short, so everyone refers to her as little, or girlie, but she really isn't which is just kind of ironic. She has dark brown hair, shoulder length that she won't dye anymore, but she tells me all of the time that she kept it blue and green and god only knows what other colors for years, but I've never seen a picture so I'm not sure how colorful it really was, she could just be teasing me, like I said, she does that a lot..." he rambled on, Holly now grinning as she started to scan the glass case.

"She has brown eyes, really dark brown eyes, but not plain like a lot of women with darker eyes, their color is so rich it looks manufactured. I used to think it was her contact lenses, but no, they're really that color, they're, well, mesmerizing and her skin is pale, like the traditional French Cajuns, she's Cajun, from New Orleans too, you should hear her talk when she is mad, it's hysterical..."

"Her favorite color is yellow or neon orange, she says they are both too perfect to choose between. It would be black according to her, but black's not a color, it's the combination of all other colors, so the others work by default. Her bug is yellow, it's a 1965, and it's her child, literally, she takes care of it like it's a person. She loves it more than anything, sometimes I worry more than me to be honest..."

This time both women laughed lightly as Daniel, continued, on a roll, doing what he did best: talk.

"She's really active, so I can't get anything too big because she wouldn't wear it and she'd lecture me on practically and starving children. She runs, around 2-5 miles a day and participates in races, half marathons and training to do a full marathon, even though it makes no sense for a person to run that much. Oh, and she fights, Martial Arts fighting I mean, not bar brawling but real talent, trained. She can take me in about two minutes, which is a bit disconcerting I can assure you, but she's not masculine, not at all. She' s just beautiful and her strength just makes her more beautiful..."

You found her Daniel, he thought, his heart surging, you've found the most perfect person in the universe for you and this is real, this is more real than the house, you're buying a ring, she's gonna have your child, this is really happening...

"She has a PhD in Hellenistic Cultures, Classics, but style wise she loves Greece over Rome. She calls Rome the New Jersey of the Ancient World, sorry I hope you're not from New Jersey, she just hates that place for some reason..." he trailed again, trying to think if there was anything else that he needed to add all the while Vala was trying not to laugh.

"Anything else?" Holly asking, smiling brightly, her cheeks a tad flushed from the explosion of personal information that had just been poured out to her by this very handsome and very nervous man.

"Not that I can think of," Daniel replied, finally out of words.

"Ok, I think we're ready to begin," Holly giggled, taking the key from her wrist and unlocking the cabinet.

Two hours later, they left the store, Daniel exceedingly more nervous than before, climbing carefully into the Jeep, a small bag tightly clenched in his right hand. Swallowing, he paused, glancing over at Vala as she climbed into the passenger side.

"I can't do this," he said, his hand holding the key in place, unable to slip it into the ignition, shaking just enough to cause a jingle.

"Why not?" Vala asked, making a face at him completely confused after his two hour analysis of diamond cuts and contrasts how he could be sitting here claiming he couldn't do it.

"Because this is supposed to be romantic and perfect, like I'd planned. I made reservations, at a place that's damn near impossible to get reservations at, I was trying to make this so perfect for her, everything she could have never expected, but, I can't do any of that now. She almost died Vala, Carolyn said that only reason she didn't was because of, well, because of my 'contribution' and she's too concerned about the baby's safety to discharge Adrienne for at least a week, if not longer. That ruins everything, and after all that she's been through, despite what she really deserves, I get to go offer her a piece of jewelry in a hospital bed," he sighed, still not starting the car.

"Then don't," Vala said simply, blowing off his entire rant.

"Don't ask her!?" Daniel asked incredulously, angry, trying to figure out what insanity Vala was suggesting now.

"No you moron, you just spent a small fortune on an engagement ring for her," Vala retorted, rolling her eyes, "I mean, don't ask her in the infirmary."

"Were you listening to me? Carolyn is making her remain on bed rest for at least a week, maybe more, and this can't wait, it's just not right, considering our situation. I need to show her that I'm committed to this, one hundred percent," Daniel tried to explain delicately, his own mind racing as he started to prepare for the possible adverse reaction that Adrienne might have at this proposal.

"Oh, big deal, she's preggo, who cares? Half the base can't understand why you two took so long to get together anyway, but, if you're impatient to ask, then you need to be creative. She can't leave base, fine, can she leave the infirmary?" Vala asked.

"Maybe, I guess I need to find that out," Daniel muttered as he finally started the car, committing to his decision.

He was going to do this.

"You're impossible," Vala responded, watching Daniel chew his lips nervously, backing up the car, frowning.

This is why he and Addy are perfect for one another, she thought, for as smart as they both are they are complete and total idiots.

Grunting, she reached over for his pocket, slipping her hand into his jeans.

"What are you doing?" he jumped back from her grasp, nearly veering the car into the other lane.

"Getting your damn phone; you can't just march up in there and ask out loud, it'll ruin everything!" Vala pulled her hand back but displayed her palm open, silently requesting the phone. Frowning, he really needs a new expression Vala thought, he reached into his pocket, passing it over to her, readjusting himself in the seat and on the road. Still laughing at him, she started to search through the contacts to find the SGC number, tapping the screen lightly and bringing the phone to her ear.

"Dr. Lam's office please. Thank you," Vala requested, looking over at Daniel, "Get in the left lane."

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked but did as requested, relieved that at least one of them had a plan.

"You'll find out, it's about three blocks away, just stay in this lane until I tell you otherwise," she ordered, speaking again into the phone.

When they pulled into the Pentagon parking lot, Vala was so proud of Daniel she could burst. It took him a while, some scolding and one slap on the back of the head, but like his rambling at the ring counter, once he started thinking about what to do and how to do it, it was perfect, absolutely perfect. Considering everything she should have been jealous, but he was so happy and he was so fixated on Addy being happy as well that that made the day worth it; it made everything worth it.

"Did we forget anything?" he asked her as he turned the engine off, glancing over at her for a final reassurance. She paused herself, thinking for a moment, running his plan through her head again, making sure he hadn't missed anything. Smiling and nodding, she looked back over at him.

"No, we just need to get ready. Now, tomorrow at six, Daniel your part is just as important as mine, you've got to be ready by tomorrow at six. You can't get distracted by any work crap, you have to focus," Vala warned him, reaching into the floor for the bags.

He wouldn't forget, he would never forget Addy, but Vala was afraid of him panicking.

For as happy as he was, he seemed to be so terrified that this was happening, so scared of what it meant. He'd said a few things during their shopping, things about being a parent, being a husband and he seemed to be unsure if he could actually do it.

"Alright, alright," Daniel laughed, thankfully, some of his uncertainty from earlier seemingly passed, grabbing the smallest bag from the console.

"Fine, then I'll come down to your quarters at eleven tonight to make sure and then I'll start getting everything ready at five," she said as she opened the door.

Chewing his lip again, or so it appeared to Vala as she scanned him carefully, Daniel got out on his side, walking over to help her with the bags. Clearly nervous, his eyes gazing at the ground, he took them from her hands and set them down, looking up suddenly to reach out and hug her, surprising her so much that she hesitated to wrap her arms around him and then he was gone, pulling away.

"I just can't - " he started to say but he didn't need to. She had read his face, his actions all day and she knew what he was thinking. Smiling, she put her finger to his mouth.

"Yes, you can. You have. That was another life Daniel, another life but this is the one that counts. What was meant to be, happened, Addy is your meant to be, and I think this was the better outcome," she whispered, reaching out for his hand.

"Will you hate me if I agree?" he asked, carefully, realizing that he was having a conversation that he never wanted to have.

"I did just help you prepare to ask this woman to marry you didn't I?" she retorted, laughing just enough to make him feel better. He smiled, not just at her words but at the closure, closure that they had never had.

"Ok, eleven, my quarters. And I don't need to do anything else?" he asked, checking once more.

"Not a thing, I've got it covered," she replied, whisking herself through the side entrance, as Daniel nervously made his way back to the infirmary to check on Adrienne.

At 5:30 p.m. the next day, Daniel showed up in the infirmary looking like he had trouble on his mind, his mischievous grin peeping up over the latest edition of The Walking Dead, which he had brought to her yesterday. Adrienne didn't trust that look, not much more than she trusted his visit yesterday when he brought her iPod, the comic book and some organic dark chocolate, but she sat up cutting her dark eyes at him.

"Hi Indy," she greeted, noting that the face that was now backing away from the top of the book was grinning even brighter.

"Come on, we're gonna go on a little field trip," he said offering no other explanation.

"To where sha?" she asked, frowning as she sat up a bit, wincing, "I've been puking all day, it's jus gah damn zeerahb."

Thinking that she could never be disgusting, especially if the source of said puking was his child, their child, that wonderful little person growing inside of her, Daniel walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, pushing her hair behind her ear.

"Did you take the medicine that Dr. Grumpypants gave you?' he teased, kissing her on the head gently as she frowned at him.

"No, I donna care wha she says. I'm scared dat it'll 'urt da baby," she answered, apparently tired as her accent slipped and she leaned forward, trying to creep into his arms. Pulling her close to him, he wrapped himself around her, kissing her cheek and running his fingers through the back of her hair.

"Is there something more natural you can do ja-wer? That I can get you?" he whispered.

"I think Imma gonna try ginger root. Get Cam ta bring me some from da GNC. Dat might work," she answered as she cuddled closer, "You're gonna owe me after dis sha. I 'ate puking."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise," Daniel assured her, standing from the bed and leaning over to lift her into his arms, setting her tenderly into the wheelchair.

"So where we going?" she asked, gazing up, despite the progress she had made in the past twenty four hours looking so weak, so unlike Adrienne.

"Just to dinner. I wanted to get you out of this gloomy place. Trust me, I know how gloomy it can be," he answered, chuckling, pushing her over to the doorway.

When they arrived at the commissary, Teal'c saw the pair, waving them over to their usual table. Cocking his head in recognition, Daniel pushed Adrienne over to the table where Cameron, Teal'c and John were sitting and excused himself to get her something to eat, trying to remember what Carolyn said she could and could not try to eat when Vala came up behind him.

"You ready?" she asked in a whisper, peeking over in Adrienne's direction.

"No," he answered honestly, raising his eyebrows behind his glasses as he set a few crackers on the tray.

"Well tough because I made every damn change that you asked for last night, so either you're gonna ask her to marry you right damn now or I'm gonna do it for you!" she spat in warning, watching him slowly place a plate of cooked carrots on the tray.

"Tell me this isn't gonna blow up in my face?" he asked quietly, that fear from earlier back.

"It's not, just get her some food and get back over there," Vala whispered, squeezing his hand and turning to slip out of the side door.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel filled the tray with the rest of Adrienne's garden bar assortment and returned to the table, setting the tray in front of her and taking the seat beside her wheelchair. They were talking about the mission that had been postponed, one that Adrienne was supposed to lead on while he was trapped in meetings and he was worried for a moment that the conversation would upset her, but it didn't; she just went into work mode as though she wasn't going due to some normal circumstance like an IOA visit or a sprained ankle. Feeling better, for a moment forgetting that his love was sitting in a wheelchair and in a hospital gown, Daniel tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at the tray.

"Thank you sha," she responded, kissing him lightly on the cheek. Looking back at their friends, she reached for fork and her carrots and began to eat slowly, trying to keep things as normal as possible.

At six o'clock on the dot nothing happened and Daniel's heart began to race.

_Where is Vala!? _

He was starting to panic, trying not to let Adrienne see the worry in his face when he heard a faint squeaking noise. Peering over his shoulder, he saw it, just like they had set it up the night before, Vala mouthing something like "I'm sorry," because apparently she didn't know that the cart would be that noisy. Looking back to the table, Daniel noted that Adrienne was staring right a Vala as she approached, an expression of confusion on her face.

"Sha, what's that?" she asked, as Vala brought the glowing Cyprus tree to the table, the plant covered in white lights like a Christmas tree and likewise decorated with small trinkets. Adrienne glanced at Vala, looking for answers, but she just smiled at her, cocking her head at Daniel as she continued to push the cart.

"Indy, I love Christmas, but sha, it's not even winter and it's a Cyprus, what is that?" she asked him, but he just shook his head, pointing at the creation that was approaching. Bewildered, Adrienne peered back at the tree, trying to figure out what mischief he was obviously up to when she noticed that very much like a Christmas tree it was decorated with items, various familiar items.

On a branch about midway down the tree there was a K-Bar, tied tightly so it wouldn't fall or weigh down the tree too much though the branches looked strained. Adrienne made a face, trying to figure out why in the world Daniel had tied a knife to a tree when saw that hanging above it was a knotted cord that look suspiciously like Quipu, Incan Quipu. Adrienne's eyes widened, they were reminders, mementos, and she looked at Daniel for confirmation but he just smiled, pointing at the tree again. To the right was a Matchbox car, a truck actually, a Uhaul truck, hanging right beside a small die cast Volkswagen beetle, that looked like her Apollo. Adrienne started to tear up as she carefully leaned forward in the wheelchair, examining the other items there, hollowed coconuts, a nerf dart, a question card from that stupid board game that she, Vala and Sam had played, a small bottle of bubble bath, a computer cord, a CD case of some collection of nineties rap music. There were more small items all over the tree, reminders of their entire life together, from that horrible first interview to the night they had finally told one another the truth about how they felt to the trip they had taken just days before he had almost lost her. Touched at the detail, the care put into this but still completely puzzled, Adrienne glanced at Daniel, looking for an answer.

"What is this? What are you doing?" she asked, but he just pointed at the top where there was a small velvet box.

Oh my god, she thought, this is it, this is really happening, her heart pounding in her chest, her hands shaking, but she did as he was silently requesting, reaching out for the small box, now noticing a note tied to the top. Carefully, she set the box into her lap, opening the slip of paper gently.

_You know how I am about needles but I'd still like to sweep you off into the sunset. _

Shaking, remembering what she had told him so long ago now it seemed, her words, he had remembered her words, she clasped the box in her lap, carefully opening the lid. Inside, was a beautiful clear diamond, cut round, not too big and not too small, set in a simple white gold band, a band that was patterned with the greek key. It was the most perfect piece of jewelry she had ever seen, this was all just too amazing, and unable to contain herself any longer, Adrienne started to cry.

Taking that has his signal, she wasn't upset, she wasn't going to scream and beg for him not to trap her, Daniel stood from his chair, getting down on one knee.

"Adrienne Margaret Rowan, you're the one person I never thought could ever exist. I can't imagine living a moment let alone a lifetime if you're not a part of it. I had this all planned, I promise you, I didn't want to do this here but I can't wait anymore. Adrienne, my behserta, my soulmate, will you marry me?"

The entire commissary was dead silent, everyone looking at them, each of their friends and colleagues awaiting her response. Daniel couldn't breathe, a flicker of doubt starting to creep up into his stomach as Adrienne was sobbing, thinking maybe he shouldn't have done it like this, but she started to nod, holding her hand to her mouth.

"YES! Yes, of course I'll marry you; right now if you want to!" she answered, reaching for him from her wheelchair, she said yes his heart was screaming, she said yes and he rushed into her arms, holding her tightly.

"Never," he whispered into her ear, holding her impossibly tight, "I will never let you go, I promise."

The entire room erupted into applause.

"Dammit Daniel, you had to screw me over again didn't you?" Jack demanded as he stormed into the lab, the pounding of his boots on the tile floor echoing through Daniel's head. He hadn't slept much last night with the excitement of everything and he'd hoped some quiet sorting and some Advil would ease the throb in his skull. Peeking up from the box he was digging through, the idea of peace and relaxation out the window completely, he noted that Jack was wearing SGC clothes instead of his general's dress uniform. Adrienne's absence on the team would continue for at least two weeks, as per doctor's orders, allowing Jack to slip in to take her place, not that he could really replace an archaeologist, but was delighted to have this excuse to take a vacation from his desk.

"What did I do wrong this time?" Daniel asked, sighing, peering back into the dusty contents of the box.

"Your little stunt in the cafeteria last night. Every female on this base is gushing about it, including MY WIFE. Do you realize what things like that can do to guys like me?" Jack played angry but eventually broke out into a smile, laughing as he was shaking his head.

"Sorry," Daniel answered as he unloaded the contents of the box, small stone tools carefully onto the table, laughing to himself. It was nice to be the talk of the base and not for causing massive destruction for once.

"Well, I just came down here to offer my services, despite my better judgement," Jack explained, pulling up a chair and dragging it over beside the table where Daniel was still sorting artifacts before looking up, puzzled.

"Services?" Daniel questioned, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes, services, among the various bullshit I had to go through on my climb to the top I'm a legal justice of the peace, don't ask, they need my fingers in all sorts of useless crap around here to get shit done," Jack continued, his eyes rolling at the admission of being a part of said bureaucracy.

"Seriously?" Daniel clarified, Jack rolling his eyes.

"Yes, seriously," Jack answered, "And I'm sure you'll need to ask Dr. Perky, but I just wanted to offer, you know, considering everything."

Offer extended, Jack made quick work toward the door as Daniel stood there for a moment, wondering if he had thought of this himself or if this was Sam's doing. Either way, however, he was flattered.

"We'd love you to do it," Daniel answered, smiling, watching Jack stop in his tracks, turning around quickly.

"No need to ask the little woman?" the general replied, cutting his eyes at Daniel in doubt.

"No, I'm sure she'll be thrilled you offered. She thinks of you all as her family," Daniel added, Jack smiling at the comment.

"Great, I'll tell Sam, oh and speaking of," Jack walked over to the door where an old paper box was sitting on the floor, a paper box Daniel must have missed him bringing in. Hoisting it up into the air, Jack brought it over to the table, slamming it down in front of him.

"This is for the future Dr. Jackson, from Sam," Jack explained, lifting the lid of the box. Inside was a large collection of magazines with wedding gowns on the covers and an assortment of white binders, the archaeologist's friend smiling slyly at as he peered down into the box, his eyes widening.

"See why I eloped? Have fun," Jack joked, slapping him on the back leaving Daniel Jackson staring, mouth open, at the reality in front of him.


	50. Chapter 49 - Greener Grasses

_This chapter really doesn't have much of the "big bad" and they're not married yet, but the entire thing came to me based on a Daniel line about half-way through. (See if you can find it). It does mention things, however, that come into play later, so I am including it in the regular storyline. _

_I hope you enjoy._

"So, since this planet seems to be uninhabited, I think it's safe to take the entire team," Sam addressed the group looking specifically at Daniel, who was already frowning, avoiding eye contact with his fiancee.

"Told you," Adrienne said, not bothering to hide her satisfaction from their friends, as she leaned back in her chair pleased with herself. Grumbling, like he had been for days since this mission was first announced, Daniel shot a look at Adrienne and then back at Sam, clearly not in agreement.

"I've got plenty that needs to be done here Sam, plenty, we're way behind in our database work. I think that just me, Teal'c, Cameron and Vala will be sufficient," Daniel tried once more, an elbow violently jabbing his stomach from his left not deterring his argument for a moment.

"Daniel, there are a lot of ruins to be covered, so I want to send the entire team, of which Adrienne is a part. Jack's going as well; it's all hands on deck so to speak. That way we have plenty of muscle and you have plenty of help," Sam declared confidently, resting her case and closing the folder symbolically.

_Thanks for the support Sam..._

Scanning the room, Daniel tried to read the faces of his comrades, desperately, searching for an ally, but no one wanted to take a side either way. What Adrienne could and could not do while pregnant was the new feud on M-level, one that had begun the day Adrienne was released from the infirmary. It was too early in Daniel's opinion, and continued, daily, as they adjusted to their new reality, a reality in which they were engaged and Adrienne was the current holding facility of Daniel's future offspring.

The collective group remained silent, as Adrienne knew they would, giving her a window to stand from the table and take her leave, a bright smile across her face. Pausing at the door, she glanced over at Sam winking at her, the rest of the team slipping out behind her in awkward silence.

Daniel waited to scold her until they were back in the lab. Shutting the door behind them, he clicked the remote to the cameras, not wanting Woolsey or any other curious eyes to have access to their private conversations.

"Ad, I'm not trying to start a fight here, I'm not," Daniel started, carefully, as he approached, gently pulling her into an embrace, "I just don't feel comfortable with you going off world in your condition." She'd come right into his arms, as always, but the words 'your condition' made Adrienne pull back a little, giving him the same face as she had given him in the briefing.

It was her new pet peeve, referring to her pregnancy as her 'condition' so for a moment he thought she was going to rage out in that strange swamp speak he barely understood, but she didn't. Instead she took a breath and looked him in the eyes, the eyes that always melted her heart, reaching her palm to his face, kissing him softly.

"Sha I don't want us, the baby, anything to stand in the way of what I want to do. I love you so much but please don't make me sacrifice myself in the process," she whispered, resting her arms around his shoulders, "I'm not even showing yet. If Anubis hadn't -" she continued but Daniel made a face at the name so she paused to rephrase, throwing her hands in front of her face and shaking them, halting his protest.

"Were it not for that we wouldn't even have known, why would I have taken a test? I barely have a normal cycle, you know that," Adrienne said, letting go of him and he sighed, looking to the floor to break their eye contact.

"I know, I know. Ad, I just worry, I, I don't want anything to happen to either of you," he whispered, reaching out again for her waist, setting his hand lightly where he knew his child to be. She let him stand like that for a moment, knowing he couldn't feel anything but that emotionally it made him better, before trying to step away as he quickly ran his hand down her arm, halting her exit by clasping her hand.

"Cameras are off," he whispered.

"You're awful," she replied but didn't escape, letting his lips work their way slowly down her neck, "and I'd like to point out that Dr. Lam said I could go on the mission in the very same conversation in which she said we could safely have sex."

"You made me that way," he retorted, his hands slipping to her waist, "and you just said that you didn't want the baby to interfere with what we normally do," he moved his fingers to the top of her pants, "and this is something we normally do..."

_I win. _

_Not surprised. You're his weakness. Let me guess how..._

_No, not me ;). But he's gonna hover. That I don't think I can prevent._

_Which will be annoying. At least that's normal. _

_I can't help it. He cares, I should probably be happy for that. _

_Ugh, I can't believe you're carrying his baby. You know you're just reproducing boring, right?_

_Shut up, see you at the gate. _

Adrienne had waited until Daniel left to text Vala her victory, trying to avoid yet another tiff they had from time to time: Vala's interference in their relationship. Granted, their dear friend had moved on, showing up in their room to whine to Adrienne about Ronon at least every other day, but Daniel still glared at her when she was around and discussing anything with Adrienne that he couldn't hear.

Adrienne knew he was still a little upset about getting punched in the face, but that was months ago now, he should be over it.

To top it off, while her friends had remained silent in the briefing room there was a clear divide amongst them when it came to Adrienne leaving the base. The men had taken Daniel's side, thinking that with the Anubis threat and Adrienne's pregnancy, she should stay in the lab, especially since there had been no evidence one way or the other that Anubis had tried Daniel's dialing sequence. The women, including Sam had fallen in behind her, claiming that as long as Carolyn cleared her for duty that Adrienne was fit to continue; her danger on a mission no more perilous then a morning commute in D.C..

In the end, however, there was really only one person whose opinion really mattered: Sam, who also kept Woolsey in check, reminding him how long Teyla had been allowed to participate in operational activities while pregnant. Still smiling that her little 'seduce your significant other' plan had worked, Adrienne set her cell phone onto her desk and began to pack up her things in preparation for the mission.

Daniel knocked at the door to Jack's office opening it when there was no answer to find that the general was on the phone, standing, rolling his eyes pointing to the seat in front of his desk once he noticed his visitor. Shaking his head, Daniel walked over, remaining standing.

"Yes, I know, the Joint Chiefs. It's just a short mission, and if the President wants me to keep up with what's going on down there I need to be more involved especially if we're gonna have to deal with Anubis all over again. My thoughts exactly. As soon as I get back," Jack said, semi-professionally Daniel noted, hanging up the phone before glancing at his friend, a look of sheer annoyance on his face.

"Just somebody's little assistant worried that I'm going to embarrass somebody else in front of the powers that be. Me going along on missions with you guys hasn't been received very well, only slightly better than you giving out nine chevron codes to that jackal headed asshole," Jack answered, taking his seat, Daniel mimicking his movement from across the desk.

"Something about assistants huh?" he joked, raising his eyebrows. Daniel opened his mouth to speak, feeling that was the perfect segway to his request, but Jack put up his hand, leaning over the desk onto his elbows.

"Don't even try; I'm not going against Sam on this. If she thinks Dr. Perky's fine to go then Dr. Perky's fine to go. One thing you'll learn about marriage my friend, you have to figure out how to pick your battles. This is not one you can win," Jack explained, Daniel screwing up his face as this was not what he wanted to hear.

"It's my child too and Adrienne has removed me entirely from the equation," Daniel whined, crossing his arms across his chest as he leaned back in the chair, clearly pouting. Jack smiled, wondering if his friend had any idea how ridiculous he looked pouting right now like a child himself.

"Stop enjoying this so much," Daniel added, cutting his eyes as Jack leaned back into his desk chair laughing.

"What's not to enjoy? I was right about Dr. Perky, you fell for that little girl hook, line and sinker. And then you knocked her up and had to slap a ring on her. I have enough material to harass you with until the day I die," Jack teased, still laughing.

"I was gonna ask her to marry me Jack, you know that, I was just working out the details," Daniel defended, Jack laughing even harder.

"Well now that female Daniel is all preggo you've had to speed things up so you don't look like a total ass, I get that. Alright, if you've only come down here to bitch about women, Christ is that funny to say to you, I've got things to do before our little adventure," Jack said, reaching over to grab the phone once more. Frowning, Daniel stood and began to leave when Jack set the receiver down, clearing his throat.

"Did you try...?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows and tilting his head downward.

"Yeah," Daniel answered, "It didn't work."

"Poor technique my friend, poor technique," Jack choked out between laughter, grabbing the phone and bringing it to his ear before Daniel could reply.

Adrienne stood in front of the mirror, naked, staring at her stomach. There was still no sign that she was pregnant at all, no protrusion, no bump, nothing. In fact if it weren't for the confirmation from the doctor and the light wiggle deep inside, one would have never known that Dr. Adrienne Rowan would soon be the mother to Dr. Daniel Jackson's child.

It was all so weird, so strange, to think there was a person inside, a person that she had felt move. It had been just a few days since she noticed the fluttering, vibrating and tickling from the inside. Surreal, that was the best way to describe it; after everything that they had been through, both together and on their life's journey to find one another, not only were she and Daniel engaged, but his baby, a part of him, was growing inside of her.

They hadn't been careless, she had been on birth control since she was sixteen, but it hadn't worked, probably because of him as well, and here she was, pregnant, unmarried, everything she had been expected to be.

At least her clothes still fit...

and he loved her...

and she did have a ring.

She reached down to grab her travel uniform and panties to slip them on, stepping into each carefully, the pants last, dragging the waistband to her hips, her gaze back at the mirror.

"At least my boobs'll get bigger," she joked to her reflection, sighing as she continued to get dressed.

The entire contingent of SG1, past and present, was there, waiting at the base of the gate: Jack O'Neill, Samantha Carter-O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, Cameron Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran and Adrienne Rowan, soon to be Adrienne Jackson or so Daniel hoped.

She was still holding out, arguing that she wanted to use the name she had used for publishing her dissertation among other papers, but Daniel knew this was more fear of becoming like her family, so he decided not to fight. Armed with iPad and ready to go, Adrienne cued up the information needed, looking to Daniel as the leader of the expedition, her eyes bright for all of their darkness with a hint of warning that he had better not treat her like his cute little pregnant woman.

Smiling, reading the slight tension between the couple, Sam turned to her husband before she could be caught giggling at Daniel.

"Now that you've mastered the fine art of escaping your desk I have to worry about you all over again," she said sweetly and he wrapped his arms around her, bringing their foreheads together.

"You could come. You have before. You just don't like to relinquish control," he teased, starting to pull away when Vala marched up to both of them, ripping them apart.

"I have to watch you two get all goopy and now I have to watch those two," she said, pointing to Daniel and Adrienne, who were standing side by side but making no contact, "blah blah gross cut it the fuck out." Laughing, Cam looked behind himself to order Walter to dial the gate while Jack kissed Sam goodbye and turned to join his old team.

"Have I mentioned today that I hate heat and what's it called when it's wet too?" Vala started complaining about twenty five feet from the gate, as per normal, cocking her head back to whine over her shoulder.

"Humidity," Cameron offered as she nodded her head, pulling uncomfortably at her uniform and continuing to whine.

"Yeah, humidity. I think Addy seeks out planets that are hot just because she can't handle the cold," she added, glaring evilly at her friend.

"I plead the fifth," Adrienne answered, walking and reading at the same time, nearly walking into Cam who caught her, directing her to step to her left and walk in a straight line. Daniel, however, who was leading the group, glanced over his shoulder directly at Vala.

"Actually, I picked this one myself. The entire temple complex is amazingly intact for its age and I really think that this might give us some more insight into the motives the Ancients had for not only their colonization methods but their true dispute with the Ori as well. We still have a lot of questions that have yet to be answered on both fronts," Daniel explained, pausing to allow Adrienne to catch up.

"In other words, don't mess with my woman," Jack declared, not even trying to hide his laughter.

"Indeed," Teal'c concurred as the group marched on.

The temple, which looked eerily like the Parthenon, was about a four hour hike away at the base of a volcano, a rather large volcano, reminding Jack of evil Latin teachers from middle school.

"I know that this isn't your normal area of expertise Daniel, but are you sure that damn thing isn't gonna blow up?" Jack questioned smartly, yelling so that Daniel and Dr. Perky would stop their damn sprint forward and take a moment to consider this important observation.

"DanielJackson would have refused to let AdrienneRowan go if the chance remained for the volcano to erupt," Teal'c replied and Jack made a face, noting that Daniel hadn't even slowed down.

"Yeah, we don't matter a damn bit but insert cute assistant and future nerd spawn and suddenly all precautions are taken," he declared, walking to help Cameron set up camp, muttering along the way about not being a damn boy scout.

Adrienne, the cute assistant in question, proceeded straight for the temple, her dark eyes scanning the iPad, her own personal mini-computer, when she felt a gentle grab to her wrist. Laughing, she spoke without looking back.

"There was a time in our relationship where I would be pinning your ass to the ground right about now sha," she said in jest, Daniel pulling her back and against him, bringing his cheek to hers and pecking her lightly.

"Why the hurry ja-wer?" he asked.

"I want to see what's in there; we've been worrying about the scarier aspects of work for a while; I've missed this," she replied but leaned back into him letting him hold her. It was easier to get him to give in this way and to be honest being pregnant only made her hunger for his touch more, despite his initial protests.

That had been a funny conversation.

Sensing her need, he went to kiss her again and reply with something smart when they were both pushed forward by Vala, folder and legal pad in hand with a pen tucked at her ear.

"Gross, nasty, stop it. Didn't you already cause enough trouble with that kind of behavior," she said, pointing the folder at Adrienne's abdomen, turning and heading for the temple.

"When did she get to be so work oriented?" Adrienne asked, half joking as Daniel stepped away, realizing he had forgotten himself.

"The moment she realized you won," he replied, following Vala into the building, cutting his eyes over his shoulder at his fiancee who just giggled, her eyes back on the iPad.

"Hey Indy, come here a sec!" Adrienne shouted across the main entry hall, peering back at the scribbles of Ancient written on the wall, rereading the section over again.

So odd, she thought to herself, this was the last thing they had expected to find.

Noting that he hadn't joined her, quite honestly she was shocked he wasn't physically attached to her person the moment that she said Indy, she looked back over her shoulder to see that Daniel wasn't in the same room anymore, Vala herself having moved farther away as well. Teal'c, who had joined them about an hour ago, was nowhere to be seen leaving Adrienne alone in the main chamber. Surprised, pleasantly, not to be hovered over, Adrienne squeezed her radio button at her shoulder, holding a finger in place on the wall to mark her spot.

"Hey, sha, could you come take a look at this?" she asked, but heard nothing but static in reply. Frustrated, of course he's no where to be found when she really found something, she gazed back again in the direction of the other rooms, clearing her throat.

"DANIEL!" Adrienne screamed at the top of her lungs, not wanting to lose her place in the translation going to find him. She heard something drop in the distance and running in her direction, looking over her shoulder again to see Daniel racing toward her a panicked look on his face. Sliding to a halt beside her, he reached for her shoulders, turning her, scanning her from head to toe, his focus right at her middle.

"Ad, are you alright? Do you feel ok? Are you in pain? I knew I should have made you work right with me," he started to grill her, his hand sliding up her bicep and rising to her cheek but she pushed him back laughing.

"Chill Indy, I just wanted you to read this, it's odd, it reminds me of that dream machine. I'm fine, trust me, I'm not going to let anything happen to either of us, ok?" Adrienne replied, reaching out to squeeze his arms seeing that he was already frowning at her.

"Fine, but for future reference, screaming my name as loud as you can is usually reserved for emergencies, especially when my kid is concerned," he fussed.

"Whatever, read this," she said, returning her attention to the wall, disregarding his reference to the baby as **_his_** kid. Calmer, Daniel leaned over her shoulder scanning along with her finger as she ran it lightly across the stone.

"_And through the prayers to the gods and total loyalty to their wisdom and teachings are we able to achieve our greatest dreams and desires_," Daniel read the line as Adrienne tracked for him, peering back to gauge his reaction.

"Is that what you needed me to read?" he asked and Adrienne nodded, seeing that he clearly was not having the same thoughts as she.

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Adrienne led and Daniel looked at the wall once more, bending forward and resting his chin on her shoulder as he wrapped his

right arm around her, dragging his finger along the carved text.

"Yes, it sounds like every other religion we encounter ja-wer," he whispered in her ear moments later, pecking her cheek lightly but she pushed him away, her cajun eyes glaring at him in warning.

"Stop patronizing me because I'm pregnant," she fussed, turning and pointing again. Standing, Daniel humored her, reading the line a third time, slowly, clearly and out loud so she knew that he was really considering her comment.

"Ja-wer, I see what you're talking about, it does sound like the dream machine, but there are no instructions to do anything other than believe. I'm not patronizing you, but we, well lately Vala, usually finds a button of some sort..." he replied, Adrienne scoffing at the simplicity of his argument.

"Oh, since the Ori needed a button," she retorted, throwing up her hands in frustration. Shrugging Daniel scanned the text yet again, peeking over the top of his glasses at her scowl.

"Touché," he admitted, "make a note and take some pictures. We can look at it side by side with the previous images when we get back."

Pleased to be listened to, and that he wasn't clinging onto her like he had been earlier, Adrienne nodded, holding the iPad up to take the requested pictures.

After three hours Daniel decided to call it quits for dinner giving him time to go over the diagrams with Adrienne for creating a better plan of attack in the morning. Other than her discovery, there had been nothing there that they didn't already know, which as Adrienne had said, was disappointing given that this was their first mission of genuine exploration in a long time. His mismatched team of aliens plus future wife didn't complain, especially Adrienne who he knew was starving.

She ate pretty much all of the time now and he found it funny.

As they left the temple Daniel saw that Jack and Cam had set up a small camp area, no tents, but bags out in the open around a fire, noting that despite Jack's constant jokes about how they had all become boy scouts he had set them up in a pattern of just that.

"Mitchell, what's to eat?" Jack asked seeing Cameron reach into his bag, pulling out something and popping it into his mouth as Daniel and Adrienne took a seat on two sleeping bags doing much the same.

"Powerbars, some beef jerky and I think Addy's got some real food," Cameron responded, cocking his head at Adrienne, who in turn was making a face of concern.

"Cough it up Dr. Perky," Jack requested, leaning over to reach for her satchel, which she jerked away, scowling, her foot defensively in the air.

"Nuh uh, mine. Did you forget whose child I'm carrying? I'm eating for five not two," she replied, shaking her head and laughing as Daniel glared at her over his glasses, an open PowerBar in hand.

"Why doesn't anyone think of food for these things," Jack complained, deciding his best course of action was to not argue with a pregnant woman, reaching out for the jerky Cameron was offering. Annoyed, and starving, he chewed it slowly, trying to imagine it was a roast beef sandwich with all the trimmings, lettuce, tomato, Au jois, warm bread. He opened his mouth to pull off another chunk of jerky, actually tasting the warm meat as it caressed his tongue lightly, the flavor of roast beef, an MGM Roast Beef, those fantastic horrible for you sandwiches he hid from Sam on his days off. Proud he was able to conjure such a fantasy Jack savored it slowly, pretending he wasn't sitting here listening to his comrades chew on Powerbars or Daniel's offspring oven nibble her way through her rabbit food.

"O'Neill, where in the hell did you get that sandwich?!" he heard Cameron demanding from beside him. About to open his mouth to swear at the colonel for disturbing his daydream, he cut his eyes and saw as he was turning to look at Cameron the exact sandwich he had visualized in his hand. His jaw dropped as he held it in front of himself, completely mystified.

"O'neill," Teal'c bellowed, "Where did you get real food?" Mouth still ajar, Jack took his gaze slowly to his large Jaffa friend, shaking his head.

"Ya got me. I was just sitting here thinking how you weirdoes don't bother with food other than Dr. Health Nut over there and poof, sandwich," Jack answered as he looked up to see everyone staring at him. Muttering in French, Adrienne glanced over at Daniel a panicked look on her face who responded likewise, reaching back behind where the couple was seated.

"If you two are speaking French that's not a good sign," Jack choked out, spitting the food to the ground, grimacing, a worried look on his face as he held the sandwich at a distance like a dirty sock. Still yammering on to his equally annoying geek sweetheart, Daniel pulled the bag into his lap, opening it and pulling out Adrienne's little tech gadget, quickly running his finger along the screen.

"Put the sandwich down Jack," the archaeologist ordered seriously, his eyes wide behind his glasses as he pointed at the mysterious food item, Adrienne reaching over into his lap and grabbing the iPad.

"Uh, shug, he's not kidding," Adrienne agreed, peeking up to join Daniel in his gaze, the two of them looking eerily alike at that very second. Creeped out even more by the glare the two archaeologists were giving him, Jack slowly set his surprise roast beef sandwich onto the ground in front of him as Daniel looked back at Adrienne before scanning the group.

"Nobody wish for anything, nobody. No matter how bad you want something to eat, drink, sleep, nothing, is that clear?" Daniel ordered, getting a flood of nods in the affirmative except for Vala who was already rolling her eyes.

"What's going on Glasses? Did you and Addy release a Genie?" she inquired, her face back to that serious look she had today making Adrienne really question what had gotten into her.

"Not exactly, but I think I just figured out why this world in uninhabited," he replied standing from their bag and walking the iPad over to Jack.

"That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard come out of your mouth!" Jack yelled as Daniel tried to explain, "You mean to tell me that these bastards just wished themselves away!?" Daniel opened his mouth to respond when Teal'c stepped up for him, understanding what the archaeologist was trying to say.

"O'Neill, DanielJackson is saying that the people let their heart's desire consume them," the Jaffa restated, Jack turning to make a face at him.

"Thank you oh wise scholar," he retorted sarcastically, his head whipping back to Daniel, "so you think I just poisoned myself?" he asked, smart remarks turning into genuine concern as he was quickly regretting his decision to tag along on yet another mission.

"I have no idea what you did, but I think we need to get you and that sandwich back to the SGC and get off of this planet before anyone else can wish for anything less manageable," he answered, peeking back to see if Adrienne had anticipated his next request and indeed she had, holding up a specimen bag at him, full of Roast Beef Sandwich.

"Bagged and tagged my love!" she announced cheerily, shaking the bag and tossing it into her satchel.

"Alright people, you heard Jackson, it wouldn't be an SG-1 mission without something going to hell. Strike camp! I don't want any more weird wishes coming true that we can't just toss into a Ziploc bag!" Cam hastily ordered, not a soul questioning the bloodless look on General O'Neill's possibly poisoned face.

"So, do you think Daniel's right?" Vala hung back, whispering to Adrienne who was walking at the back of the group, her stomach starting to regret trying to down the rest of her dinner as they were packing up camp. Jack, Daniel and Cameron were in the lead, Daniel trying to explain to Jack exactly what he and Adrienne had found in an effort convince him that the chances of him being poisoned by his juicy wish were low, that it probably was just what it seemed to be, a roast beef sandwich. Cameron, on the other hand, had already moved onto the other possible repercussions of the situation, asking Daniel if this was an area that needed to be guarded and possibly re-examined via satellite, images of Anubis in one piece coming down and wishing himself an army of clones with a longer expiration date.

Stopping to fake a dry heave, although it wasn't going to take much to fake considering the way she was feeling right now, Adrienne pulled her back a bit so even Teal'c couldn't hear, peeking up to check once more to insure that they were somewhat alone.

"Yeah, and that's what's freakin' me out. I mean, think about it mon ami, we send the wrong team through here and they wish for dinosaurs and poof, we're all of a sudden in Jurassic Park," Adrienne whispered, Vala nodding emphatically.

"That's a scary damn movie. But how in the hell does this work? I mean, I want a Porsche so bad I can taste it but here we are walking to the gate rather than blasting by the boys," she added.

"There's got to be more than that, like maybe you think it's a need or something, you have convinced yourself you have to have it. I mean, you want that Porsche, but you don't need it enough that it consumes your thoughts, emotionally at least. Maybe you really don't even want it at all. Plus, there were a lot of equations on the wall, things we were just too tired to go over, it was too overwhelming, we didn't get a chance to look like we would have liked, I had the beginnings of it catalogued for later. Maybe it takes a certain amount of true desire to conjure up a car," Adrienne offered, Vala laughing, hoping to hide the fear that was crawling through her insides, the fear that she would think the wrong thing, desire something that would cause more harm than good, or worse, send Ronon hurdling through the wormhole into this mess.

"Then I better get to wishing because I really want that damn car!" she joked as they continued to walk on, trying to dispel that final thought.

The pop made Daniel turn around. It was a strange noise, surrounding them, encapsulating them, sounding only seconds before a flash of light that seemed to come from the sun itself. Cam came to a halt dead in his tracks, his heart skipping a beat, feeling a presence behind him and hot breath at his neck. Knowing in that very instant what had happened the colonel turned slowly, staring shocked beside himself up at a large quarter horse ready and waiting for his commands.

"I think that one's on me!" he shouted, reaching up the grab the mane of the surprisingly tame beast, as Adrienne and Teal'c, the two team members closest to him, back slowly away.

"If I don't get to eat that sandwich then Mitchell doesn't get to ride Silver over there," Jack pointed out, showing concern in his own way Daniel knew. Walking over to his co-leader, Daniel moved to examine the docile animal closer as Cam automatically took a defensive position, wanting to explain before he was told that he screwed up.

"Look man, I tried, but I just got this overwhelming image of myself riding on horseback back to the gate, it's been a long hike, a rough week, it just popped into my head," Cameron explained but Daniel didn't argue, simply shaking his head and sighing, circling to gain attention of the group.

"Seems we can't even let our minds wander for a moment," he said to himself as much as the others, "it's that image, you can't imagine yourself doing or having anything," he cautioned, an idea popping into his head

"Try willing it away; imagine it gone," Daniel suggested, wondering if the terror in the colonel's expression would give him what he need to imagine the animal gone and send the horse from whence it came. Nodding, Cameron closed his eyes, Daniel almost stopping him to point out that really wasn't how it had been done before, but he figured the effort was the same, the colonel opening his eyes and groaning that his steed was still standing, staring down at him.

"Was it supposed to do something?" Vala asked, striding up behind Daniel and throwing her arm on his shoulder, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Shut up," Daniel replied, frowning, trying to recall what Adrienne had made him read on that wall and the similar passage he had found in his own section. Internally, he cursed himself for not taking a larger selection of pictures rather than simply making a note, but they had no idea that today they would be heading back.

"Well genius, what now? You can't expect us to just shut off our damn brains and we've still got another two hours of hiking ahead of us," Jack inquired, Daniel scanning the group, looking to see if anyone else appeared different, dragging, maybe having some predetermined reason for their particular wishes to come true.

"Ok, it seems to fixate on a desire that is just close enough to be a need so far, Jack's hunger, Cam's exhaustion and something we can easily imagine. Let's try another approach. As soon as you get an image in your head like Cameron, think of something else, something so unimportant that it could never be misconstrued as a true desire, something you could not even imagine happening," Daniel instructed, but Adrienne, iPad in hand with the photos they had both taken, raised her hand.

"Excuse me, sha, do you think that's such a great idea? What if it's not the actual object upon which we are fixating but the emotional tie that we attach to it? In that case, we would be simply displacing our desire for one logical item for one significantly less appropriate," she argued, trying to find the exact line about desire, Jack glaring at her as she spoke.

"What the hell, can I get a translation for that?" he shouted looking at the two of them.

"What Adrienne is saying is that she thinks anything we fixate on could be fair game," Daniel explained to Jack, turning back to Adrienne ignoring Jack's further muttering, "but we're not zen masters ja-wer. Don't you think it's going to be difficult to clear our minds, especially in a non-meditative position?"

"Ok, fine, we'll go with your plan, but when Teal'c thinks up da gah damn Death Star, donna come cryin' tah me," she said, letting her accent slip and her hormones take over, walking carefully around Cameron's newly arrived steed. Continuing her pursuit of the gate, Adrienne soldiered on despite the ache in her head and her stomach, waves a nausea racing over her. She wanted to get back sooner than later especially with the sun beginning to set, but more importantly to her own bed, even if it was their on base contraption.

Adrienne found out that between the heat, humidity, anxiety and crazy mood swings she was unable to play Zen master herself for very long, especially now that the sun had set. It had gone down well over thirty minutes ago, sinking teasingly in the distance right behind where she knew the gate lay ahead, just out of reach. She was getting tired, she got tired more easily now, and she wanted to sleep, but the thought scared her.

What if sleep meant a coma or something that could harm the baby?

What if wishing to feel better herself meant that the baby was taken away from her?

For all of the years that she hadn't wanted to be a mother, to have her own family, the thought of losing this precious gift that she would share with Daniel was more than she could bare. Quickly, panicking, she tried to think of something ridiculous, anything stupid that would not be something she could emotionally attach herself to, something she could never imagine to be true.

"Who in the fuck are you people?" Adrienne heard a voice behind her the moment the pop and light subsided, a very familiar voice, and the sound of Zat guns being activated. She spun around to see all of her teammates pointing the guns at a figure in the near distance, a tall figure, a tall blond figure, a tall blond Viking figure.

Quick as lightening he dashed and grabbed Vala, bringing his fangs to her neck as he looked up growling before biting.

"Talk or I eat," he demanded, bringing the teeth closer to her pale throat but unfazed, at least by the vampire currently threatening Vala, Daniel glared at his fiancee, his face drawn into a scowl.

"Are you kidding me Ad? You're pregnant with my child, MY child, and HE is what you think up!?" Daniel screamed, Vala still trapped, painfully, Eric Northman's arms.

"Little help over here, please," she requested as Daniel and Adrienne continued to ignore her.

"I was trying to think of something absurd to protect your child asshole!" Adrienne shouted back, Eric looking up confused at all of them.

"Stop bickering! How did I get here!? Who are you people!?" he shouted, pulling Vala up forcefully, "I will suck her dry, I swear!"

Fuming, Daniel shot a glare over at him and closed his eyes, making the same ridiculous face he had seem Cameron make earlier. The vampire didn't disappear, in fact, instead a blond waitress appeared behind where Eric was holding Vala. The very instant the light dimmed enough for Adrienne to comfortably open her eyes once more, opening her mouth to force a yawn in an effort to pop her ears, she heard some swears, this time from their latest guest.

"Wha en da 'ell?!" she shouted, her thick Louisiana drawl sounding much like when Adrienne got angry, creepily so, Adrienne really had been dead on with their little nicknames, and Eric looked back at her, dropping Vala to the ground.

"Sookie!" he rushed to the woman, pulling her into his arms, arms she curled into without hesitation, a happy couple, unlike the future Jackson's standing in front of them, Adrienne glaring at Daniel.

"What the hell Daniel!?" she spat, pointing her finger at Sookie, the very beautiful, very single, ver un-pregnant star of her favorite show.

"THAT was intentional, to protect my child!" he shouted back, glancing at the two cable TV characters, "Now if two will go run off and find some snow covered bed in the woods, we'd appreciate it," Daniel suggested but the Eric character just stepped in front of Sookie.

"Who are you people?" he asked again and surprisingly, in a way that despite her anger at him just seconds before was really starting to turn Adrienne on, damn hormones, Daniel stared the tall fierce immortal down, intent on defending his family.

"We're the people that are supposed to be here; you're not. We don't know how you got here or how to send you back where you came from," Daniel explained, tempering his voice at the end, not wanting to enrage their visitor but simply explain their situation. Disregarding Daniel's suggestion, the blond man grabbed his companion's arm, dragging her protectively closer.

"Then we stay with you; if you brought us here then you're going to have to find a way to send us back," Eric declared. Resigning himself to the fact that he was going to have to spend at least until they figured this out with the only other man that his fiancee would easily leave him for, Daniel turned back to look at Jack and Cameron, hoping that either of them had some sort of epiphany, when the pop, the light, the ominous signal of another wish granted shook their world and he heard a loud joyous shout before he could even asked what had happened.

"Addy it works!" Vala was shouting, jumping up and down in front of a large brown headed man rippled in muscles, "Apparently I wanted a real man more than a Porsche!" Recognizing Vala's wish in an instant, Eric bared his fangs, pulling Sookie to his body.

"Werewolf!" he declared.

"Put your damn teeth back I thought we were over that by now," the man declared in a thick southern accent, it occurring to Daniel for the first time why Adrienne liked this show so much; they talked like her. Fed up, his body language making that quite clear, his fists balled, storming over to Daniel, Jack threw up his hands in frustration, coming to a halt in front of the archaeologist.

"Didn't we do this before? Didn't you guys already live in Dr. Perky TV Land?" he asked, looking over at Cameron who was about to speak when the sound of a laser activating erupted behind him, so loud that one could just barely make out the familiar pop preceding the flash of light. Unsure of what could have drowned out that noise, everyone took some sort of defensive position, all of their fears the same:

This was Anubis and Daniel had been wrong, the dialing sequence did not rid them of him forever.

Sookie, that idiot blond, ran right over to Eric, whining and begging for help as the group scanned around them, looking for their attacker. His first concern her safety, Daniel grabbed Adrienne and pulled her to the ground.

"You, who thinks that almost all programming degrades women, emulate her!?" he hissed, bewildered by his normally rational significant other.

"No, I actually like Pam better," she replied, flatly, frowning right back, inching upward as the sound stopped.

"What is this place?" a robotic, metallic voice boomed from the same direction as the laser sound, a question of confusion rather than confrontation. It was voice that Adrienne easily recognized as should her very annoyed and annoyingly overprotective lover, who was nearly pinning her to the ground.

"AdrienneRowan, I have not conjured the Death Star but have succeeded in doing better!" Teal'c declared happily, and the Cajun had to laugh, she shouldn't have, Daniel's glare confirming that instantly, but she really didn't think there was a way that this situation could get any more ridiculous.

"T, what in the hell is wrong with you? That's fuckin' Darth Vader!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yes O'Neill, but since he is truly AnakinSkywalker I shall convince him that there is still good in him," Teal'c declared, approaching the sword wielding villain, a man on a mission.

Fuming, terror quickly replaced with fiery rage, Jack stood now facing Daniel.

"Ok, remember when I said you were crazy earlier, about how these people died? Well, you're not. Dr. Perky and Vala are wishing for fictional men, Teal'c wants to save Darth Vader's goddam soul and Cameron wants to play Lone Ranger. All I wanted was a god damn sandwich!? Can we make it stop?!" Jack screamed, storming up to Daniel as if he could do anything about it at all, another loud pop and flash causing Daniel to turn around in a panic out of concern for Adrienne rather than explain to Jack yet again that he had no idea what was happening.

When the brightness faded Adrienne was just standing there, a smile of pure satisfaction plastered across her face as she pointed at Jack, raising her eyebrows. Slowly, hoping he wasn't reading her face correctly, even though he knew Adrienne better than Adrienne knew Adrienne, Daniel turned to see Jack standing there, his breath heaving with rage, the blood vessel in his forehead throbbing, duct tape over his mouth.

"See why we Southerners keep that around? Works for everything. Now that that's taken care of, any ideas Indy?" she asked, crossing her arms. Frustrated that no one seemed to be taking this seriously, including his supposed life partner, Daniel grabbed her arm, continuing their march to the gate, not bothering to see if anyone was following.

"Ow Indy! What gives?" she asked, jerking away and rubbing her wrist, her feelings hurt more than the slightly stronger than normal twist of skin.

"What gives is that everyone has lost their damn mind AND I have no clue what is going on AND that's my kid in there!" he shouted, pointing at her stomach but she made a face at him, daring him with those voodoo, yes that was the word for when she got like this, voodoo eyes of hers.

"Fine! Fine! Let's go to the gate, I'll go back and crawl into bed and leave my future husband here to figure this out on his own ahn just 'ope ta Gawd dat 'ee doesn't get killed en da process. Alhors pas, dat'll be gud fa mah, aye cahn jus mouter foux!" she shouted back, Daniel not even bothering to translate that not French made up nonsense that she spoke, reaching out again and pulling his future wife to the gate.

"Jason!" they both heard Sookie shout, after yet another pop and flash, stopping their argument and turning around slowly to see Vala standing smiling to greet a buff blond headed redneck boy who was staring, blankly, yet very confused at his imaginary sister.

"I can see what Pam's issue with her is, I can't even get Alcide in my fantasy and my boobs are much better!" Vala declared, sashaying over to Jason, the old Vala back, the one Adrienne had thought long since abandoned.

"You two finished? In case you've forgotten we've got a bit of a situation here! That goes for all of you! We're going to head to the gate, send Addy through to see if Carolyn, Jen or somebody can figure out what in the hell is going on while the rest of us stay here and wait. THAT is the plan, that, so stop conjuring shit up!" Cameron declared to the group, forgetting about this co-leader bullshit that occasionally put Daniel in charge.

"Are we clear?!" he shouted, not receiving an answer from any of his teammates, not even so much as a glance in his direction, "We're going back to the gate and we're going to try to get all of you back where you belong!"

That, however, got everyone's attention, each member of SG-1 and each of their surprise visitors turning to face him, Cameron's face breaking out into a strange and confusing grin.

"Words cannot express how cool it is that Darth Vader just took an order from me," he joked, the absurdity of it all taking over, and Adrienne smiled, her temper cooling again, grateful for the joke. Not amused, Daniel just started walking to the gate, grabbing Adrienne's arm again.

"Come on, he says that you're going through too, let's go," he pointed out as he pulled, and this time Adrienne didn't argue.

Vala and Jason Stackhouse hit it off instantly, so much so that Cameron had to keep going back to make sure they didn't deviate from the path, Adrienne clearly warning him what kind of person that Jason was, on the show at least. Somehow Teal'c had convinced Darth Vader that there were other options than following the Emperor and began to explain to him how the Jaffa had rejected the Goa'uld, the large Sith Lord following behind appearing to be listening intently. Adrienne had removed Jack's tape, happily ripping it from his mouth, but surprisingly he didn't lash out at her, as Daniel had prepared for, fearing he'd have to jump in, but rather stewed in silence for most of the walk back. Sookie and Eric remained close together most of the walk with Daniel shooting evil glances in the vampire's direction still angry over him being Adrienne's conjuring. Adrienne, angry with Daniel for treating her like an invalid had chosen to walk behind with Alcide, who was obviously upset at Sookie's clinging to Eric. They seemed to be having a nice conversation about the southern part of the US and that wasn't doing much for Daniel's mood either.

It was such an uncomfortable disaster that Cameron was relieved when the gate came into sight.

Grinning, he started to turn to address the group when that now familiar boom echoed around them, the light flashing around his face, illuminating it for the group like a scene from a horror film. There was a loud thud, much too loud and much to close, the colonel spinning on his heels.

The gate was on its side, completely upended, the base ripped entirely from the ground. Cameron's eyes widened, furious, he had had it and he turned to face the group, his cheeks flushed with rage.

"Who in the HELL did that!" he screamed at the group and they all froze not a one of them moving. The boom echoed again, the flash momentarily blinding the silent crowd, and a Hatak appeared from thin air, floating itself carefully to the ground. Smiling, Teal'c looked over at Darth Vader.

"Since you are such a talented pilot already I am sure you will find the flying of the Hatak to be quite simple," Teal'c explained as the two men approached the vessel, without another word to the group. Throwing up his hands, having no idea why everyone had just completely lost their minds, Cam moved to stop them, shouting as he walked.

"Teal'c, do not tell me that you crashed the gate to give Darth Vader flying lessons!?" the colonel demanded, Teal'c cocking his head thoughtfully.

"I did no such thing CameronMitchell. However until the gate is repaired I plan to pass the time with my new ally," Teal'c answered calmly as he ushered Darth Vader past their glaring leader.

Trying to frantically figure out what to do, Cameron scanned the group.

Daniel and Jack were standing at the overturned gate, arguing loudly about how to handle fixing it, Daniel pointing back every so often at Adrienne, who was sitting on the ground with Alcide completely disregarding Daniel's existence. The other two TV show characters seemed to be in an argument of their own and Vala had disappeared completely, Cameron fairly certain he knew why as her little conjuring was gone as well. He felt a nuzzle behind him and turned, feeling his horse at his side, shaking his head as he turned.

"I just thought you up buddy and you're behaving better than my friends," he sighed as he pet the animal, walking back toward the gate, figuring that maybe the general and Daniel could come up with something.

"Just think of a goddam crane Daniel! It shouldn't be that fuckin hard!" Jack was swearing at him, evidently not as calm as Cameron had hoped. Standing back, he watched as Daniel closed his eyes but nothing appeared, the archaeologist's eyes shooting open and cutting through the lens of his glasses back at his friend.

"I have no idea what a crane looks like Jack, it has to been something you can visualize!" he shouted back.

"So what you're telling me is that you can't and all I'm getting out of you are some fuckin books!?" Jack shouted again, closing his own eyes tightly, but nothing happened.

"I thought you knew so much about the more masculine side of life Jack," Daniel spat the moment that the general opened his eyes.

"Go to hell Daniel," Jack replied, Cam turning to find help elsewhere.

"I think he's just trying to show that he cares," Alcide said gently as Adrienne sighed, reaching for her abdomen as the flutters began, a little wilder than before.

"I know he is, I know, and he's pretty amazing, but I spent so long just trying to prove to him that I was a capable individual that knew what I was doing and now that I'm pregnant I'm just having to do that all over again. He hovers, acts like I have no idea what I'm doing, like I'm not competent enough to make an intelligent decision when it comes to our baby," Adrienne admitted, quietly, letting out another breath of desperation. Trying to be supportive, the Were reached over and put his arm around her shoulder.

"You're probably misinterpreting it. He seems a bit, well, riled up, maybe that's just his personality. I think he's lucky to have a woman with her head on her shoulders like you agreeing to marry him in the first place," Alcide continued as Adrienne looked up at her fiancee, screaming away at Jack and beating at the gate.

"Oh yeah," she replied, "Very lucky..."

"These people are insane. And what in the hell is that rock circle that fell down that they're all bitchin about?" Sookie inquired, glancing over at Eric.

"I don't know and I have no cell service here at all. Does this look like fairyland to you?" Eric asked, searching for answers, scanning the screaming people standing beside that very large rock circle, noting that Alcide was comforting someone who seemed to be the focal point of the younger of the two screaming men.

"Are you hungry?" Sookie continued, her eyes darting around the area while her mind tried to shut out the loud screaming thoughts of these strange individuals.

"Only for you," he replied smoothly, bringing his lips perilously close to her neck, his fangs erect.

"Then we're not in fairy land. And Jesus, tell me Jason is not trying to fuck that woman!?" Sookie spat, pulling away and standing to start hunting around for her brother.

Cam gave up trying to talk to Jack and Daniel. They just kept blaming each other for being unable to get the gate upright again and after Jack's insistence that Daniel could not conjure up one tool if he tried Daniel did just that.

He conjured up a catapult and threatened to shoot Jack off into the distance.

Sighing, Cam walked over to Adrienne, who seemed to be having some major crisis about the status of she and Daniel's relationship with a man who seemed very willing to listen. As he approached he heard her talking about how Daniel didn't even think she should be working at all and that he seemed more concerned now about his offspring than her. Not wanting to be anywhere near that conversation, Cameron changed direction in search of Vala, who he found easily and decided just as easily that she was in no position to talk, just not in the way he expected. Vala was sprawled across the blonde's lap, whining loudly about Ronon Dex and how he didn't even notice that she was alive. Teal'c was gone, or at least not on the ground, the Hatak with he and his hero zooming around the sky. His friends, his team falling apart around him, Cameron just sank to the ground, the horse walking up to join him.

"I think I've figured out Jackson's little theory. If you can make every wish or desire come to life, why bother with anything else? The perfect meal, done. Man of your dreams, right before your eyes. Your idol, welcome aboard. Why leave, just stay until your every desire consumes you completely..." Cameron sighed, realizing that he was talking to a horse, pulling up the grass and reaching behind his shoulder, feeding his companion. He wished he could figure out a way out of this, it seemed that all of his friends had gone crazy in one way or the other, the larger the wishes the crazier the behavior.

Glancing back over at the gate, the colonel noted that Jack had now conjured up what looked like part of the Odyssey transporter system and Daniel was standing beside some clear casing with Adrienne locked inside of it, screaming at him, her werewolf friend now reaching for Daniel's throat. The Hatak swooped overhead just barely drowning out the sound of Adrienne pounding on the side of the box, Cam now noticing that her entire torso was wrapped in bubble wrap.

"Adrienne calm down, please," Daniel was pleading, "I can't control it; my brain is coming up with insanity, it's overpowering, and I just don't wanna hurt the baby." His eyes were frantic as Adrienne fell to her knees inside her prison, crying softly into her hands while Alcide, no longer worrying with Daniel, was trying to pry apart the back walls of the container.

"I wonder what in the hell that temple said, exactly, what those damn pictures that Addy took had in them," Cam stood, scanning the ground looking for Adrienne's satchel and finding it instantly, lying on the floor of the case, the cajun archaeologist digging through it frantically. He started to approach, wanting her to take it out and hold it up for he and Daniel to read, but when she removed a marker scrawling on the inside of the glass as she cried, a message that read "Why don't you trust me?" Cam froze.

Standing there is disbelief, Jack now having conjured a rocket launcher, the Goa'uld ship soaring, Vala still missing, Daniel was now on his knees, palms and face to the glass, plastic, whatever it was, the floor of the container gone, replaced by a feather bed and padding on three of the four walls.

"There has got to be a way out of this," Cameron said aloud, trying to remember if he had overhead Daniel and Adrienne talking about anything in English. All he could remember was them babbling on in French like they did, sitting there on their sleeping bags in front of that temple, that one that made Adrienne scream like a little girl in delight because it looked so much like the one in Greece. He stood there, trying to ignore the swoop of the ship, the swears from Jack, the insane screaming of Daniel, the banging of Adrienne and Alcide's fist on the walls when there was a pop and a flash. Dreading what he was going to see when he looked up, Cam directed his gaze slowly, relief washing over him as he caught sight of the latest incarnation.

Right in front of him was the temple, or a replica, or something, he wasn't sure what, but he leapt to his feet.

"Daniel, you think you can stop freaking out over there, come back here and read this again?" Cam yelled, hoping that this version had something like the two were reading before. Shaking his head, Daniel looked away from his fiancee and the werewolf, his face brightening at the sight. Without a word, he ran over to Cameron, so quickly he was out of breath when he arrived.

"That's the first good thing anyone has come up with since this whole fiasco began," Daniel complimented, holding his head and grunting.

"Cam, I need you to go stand by Adrienne, watch her, make sure nothing happens to her please," he added, standing by the doorway, squinting and squeezing his temple. His friend stood there confused, Daniel throwing up his hands to shoo him on, talking as he headed inside.

"Less rational, it makes you less rational, the bigger or greater the wish the more of your common sense it takes. I need to focus, please watch Adrienne," he pleaded, his eyes wide with fear, 'I'm afraid of what I'll think up next..."

Nodding, Cameron dashed back to Adrienne while Daniel rushed to where she had been before, his finger frantically tracking the text.

"And through the prayers to the gods and total loyalty to their wisdom and teachings are we able to achieve our greatest dreams and desires," he began, going into the part that he had not read himself, what he had Adrienne photograph, thinking of Adrienne again, was she hurt, she was crying, was the baby alright, what if she lost the baby...

"Focus dammit!" he screamed, forcing his eyes closed and reaching under his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose before continuing.

"The gods have gifted those who have given their hearts fully and granted them what they have desired, to join us," Daniel read, speaking out loud as if Adrienne was right there.

"It's looks like this simpler group figured out how to take this little wishing gift and use it to ascend themselves. My guess is my old friends weren't too thrilled with that little development and probably annihilated the society," Daniel explained to no one, noticing the silence, remembering that Adrienne was not right beside him, he needed her beside him, he needed her beside him forever, he should have gotten a preacher then and there, or called Jack, he should have married her right there in that cafeteria...

"DANIEL!" he heard screaming from outside, "THERE IS A VERY CONFUSED PREIST OUT HERE AND JACK IS TRYING TO TAKE A BIBLE FROM HIM!

"Come on Daniel, do this, do this for her, for your friends. For you," he spoke to his unborn child, leaning back over his shoulder.

"CAM!" he screamed, "I need your help!" There was noise outside, apologies, and running, the colonel racing to his side.

"Please tell me that you've figured out a way out of this?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder, hoots and other noises coming from the outside.

"What was that?" Daniel asked, Cam swallowing.

"The Amazons, like those crazy Greek ladies. Addy seems to think they need to teach you a lesson on women's rights..." he answered, Daniel peering around his shoulder and closing his eyes. Again with the pop and the flash and Cam checked behind him to see two large bronze skinned women encased in ice.

"Alright, I think it was an experiment; the Goa'uld weren't the only ones to toy with humans. Give them this power, tell them if they were good little children that it would work and see what happens. As far as leaving it turned on, which it seems that they did, I have no idea, maybe something else came up or maybe they were waiting for a group like us to stumble upon it and see how we'd react," he said the last word as he looked back over his shoulder but Cam didn't need a visual to remember what was happening. As he had dashed inside he had finally caught sight of Vala who was leaning into her fictional boy toy's lap and he sat back against a tree, chatting to Eric and Sookie like they were old friends. He had left Jack conjuring up all manner of things, looking like he was just testing his ability to do so, that was until the priest came when he began to argue with the man about performing Daniel and Adrienne's wedding. The woman in question was still inside her box, he knew, adding to her wish for the large warrior women an array of weapons which she was setting up to blast the sides down while her new friend was trying to pry her out from the bottom. All the while Teal'c and his hero had not touched down for one moment, still swooping around them.

"I think we failed," Daniel admitted, a pop, flash and clang directing both men's gazes to the ground, a pair of wedding rings bouncing lightly on the stone.

"Ya think?" Cameron retorted, "Ok, so a solution?" Daniel looked back at the wall and mouthed some things to himself, Cam hearing a blast from outside, fearing the worst.

"It reads like we can just wish all of this away. But I tried, especially with the gate. As long as even one of us desires one of these things more than what they really have, then we're, well, screwed," he replied. Frowning, Cam, stormed out of the temple, determination on his face.

Since this entire mess started with Jack, the colonel approached him first, collecting himself before he spoke.

"General, look, next mission you can pack the food. MRE's, Subway sandwiches, hell I will hunt and cook you fresh frickkin meat myself. Is it worth all of this insanity? Just wish for this damn Powerbar," he pulled one out of his jacket, "and no more food, no more stupid things you're trying to conjure up just to screw with Jackson. Don't you want to get home to Sam?" Cameron asked, Jack scowling the entire speech.

"I'm not a child Mitchell, of course I want to get home to my wife. At this point I'd eat dirt just to get to her," Jack countered, the first rational desire he had had all day.

The words crossed his lips, believable words, everything around him disappearing. From the corner of his eye, Cam could hear Adrienne beating on the case waving an empty plastic baggie, her head bobbing up and down with excitement. Smiling, Daniel was right, it was the difference between wanting something and understanding what you already had, Cam jogged up to the plastic pressing his face close so that Adrienne could hear him.

"Addy, you alright?" he shouted and Adrienne nodded her head yes opening her mouth to speak, but between the case itself and the padding surround the cajun, he couldn't hear one word that was coming out of her mouth.

"Fine then just listen? Now, I heard your bullshit excuse about conjuring that man over there. Really? You want to give Daniel reasons to be neurotic?" Cameron demanded and Adrienne just looked down, a part of her knowing that a real alternate wish would have been for something stupid, not her fictional crush. Glancing behind him to make sure they were as alone as they could be, the werewolf having ventured back over to his company, the priest sitting quietly by the DHD. Solemn, Cam leaned closer, making eye contact with his friend.

"Girl, I feel ya, ok, I do. You and Daniel dating, fine, but now you're stuck with him, baby, marriage and you can't just be you anymore, be on your own. I get that. No one says you have to marry him just because you're having his kid, you two are good enough friends that you could make it work if you're not ready," Cameron said but Adrienne shook her head, speaking words that he couldn't hear. Instead, what he did hear was a pop and a shriek and looked behind him to discover that Eric the vampire was gone, the blocks of ice containing the pair of women vanished, the weapons at her feet gone. There was a beating on the side of the case, Adrienne holding up her left hand, pointing to her engagement ring.

"I love Daniel," she mouthed slowly, "more than anything. I DO want to marry him."

"That's what I thought," he answered, turning his back to her and grabbing his radio.

"T, hey buddy, you 'bout done up there? Daniel's figured out how to solve this mess. Just say good-bye to Darth Vader, wish yourself right back down here. It's a story T, a story, and as shitty as things are right now on the council, Darth Vader's not Ry'ac or your granddaughter. Is it worth never seeing them again? Come on down, we can head home and go get some beers or something," Cameron said and clicked off the radio, hoping this strategy would continue to work. There was a pop, the flash and Cameron felt a hand on his shoulder.

"I expect you shall buy the beers CameronMitchell," Teal'c said smiling.

"As many as you want," he replied, feeling considerably more confident as he walked over to Vala, who was trying to calm the blond waitress with the stupid name. Crossing his arms across his chest, he decided to take a different approach with the most unique of his friends.

"Vala, I'm not pleading with you. You wanted friends, you got us. Period. Are these people better than us? Are we that bad? Are you that pissed that Addy and Daniel ended up together? Hell, ya got a mystery man to let you lay all over him and what did you do? I heard you, you laid there whining about Ronon. So, just pick your poison, who are the important people in your life, because I just need to know whether or not you're coming back with us," Cameron lectured, refusing to uncross his arms or look away. Lips pursed, Vala glanced back at her TV fantasy group, scanning each of them carefully, before glancing back at Cameron, defeat in her face.

"I really hate you guys sometimes, especially you," she admitted in her own way that he was exactly right, Alcide and Jason disappearing into thin air leaving the tall woman smiling slightly. Leaning over, Cam kissed her cheek, bringing his lips to her ear.

"You should tell Dex, I'm pretty damn sure he has no clue," he assured her, squeezing her bicep. The end in sight, Cam spun confidently on his heels, starting back for Daniel and the temple. Halfway there he heard his trusty steed approach him, having forgotten about the horse, only one of two wishes he had. Sighing, Cameron stopped and put his hand on the beast's neck, scratching underneath its mane.

"Buddy, if I could keep you and take you through that gate I would. You can't buy a horse this good at home. But at the same time, I'd like a home to go back to, and I kinda love the life I have there," Cam spoke to the horse as if it understood him, lifting his hand away, light flashing, the beast disappearing with a pop. Noting that he really needed to look into getting a horse he could stable nearby as soon as he was home, he trudged on, finding Daniel sitting in the doorway of the temple, staring out toward where his fiancee was sitting on the white feather bed in the very protected, padded case.

"Everyone else is clear except for you Daniel. It's your turn," the colonel urged, the temple, his own last wish, disappearing from behind his friend. Standing, Daniel dusted off his pants and closed his eyes, a pop, a flash and Cam heard Vala scream something like 'Later bitch' so he assumed that the waitress was gone. Turning back to the gate, he saw that it was still laying over on its side, Adrienne waiting quietly in her clear prison, a confused holy man sitting nearby. Daniel looked over at it, at Adrienne, at everything he had conjured, concentrating but nothing happened. Understanding, seeing it in his friend's desperate gaze, Cameron took a step forward, placing his hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Daniel you can't keep her locked away. If you're gonna marry her you'll have to trust her judgement, not just in the lab but in your family as well. She's a smart and capable woman and you need to lay off of her a bit," the words came across, hopefully, as non-confrontational as possible.

"I've lost too much already," his friend answered, not looking at the colonel, just staring away at the woman he loved.

"I think you've finally hit the jackpot. Just sit back and enjoy life for once instead of worrying what it'll bring next," Cam continued, Daniel pulling away, striking up the hill, breaking into a run, quickly making it to the box and to Adrienne.

Kneeling so he was at her level, Daniel knocked on the glass making her look up to meet his gaze, holding nothing back, for all of the times lately he wanted her to not read him as she was so good at doing, right now, more than ever he was hoping that she could do just that.

"Adrienne, I love you and I'd die without you, but I love our child too and if anything happened to him or her, it would tear me apart. So, I love you both, and I just want to protect you. I never thought you couldn't do this, actually, I think you're going to be an amazing mother," Daniel admitted, reaching his palm to the barrier, "but I can't lock you away. I trust you Ad, I trust us and I want you here with me, not locked away."

It seemed simultaneous this time, the pop, the flash and he felt her warmth, her arms wrapped around him, her lips on his own, kissing him slowly.

Daniel didn't even notice when the wormhole formed behind them, the gate upright, Jack dialing home, as he had no intention of removing himself from Adrienne's lips.

"Why aren't you packed?" Daniel asked as he entered the lab after his meeting with Sam, the hunt for ZPMs resuming with the Anubis front still quiet.

"It's just a simple scouting mission, right? If there's a ZPM there great, if not head back home? I think I'll sit this one out, go chill with Sam while I wait for you to get back," she answered, no tone in her voice, a slight smile on her face as she walked over to her desk, grabbing her satchel to toss across her chest.

"Ad, I told you I was going to lay off. Please don't punish me," he pleaded, turning her by her shoulders to face him, bringing his palm to her cheek but she shook her head, leaning to peck him lightly.

"I'm not punishing you silly, I'm listening to you. I'm looking out for the baby and not just myself. I was a little sick this morning and there's fluttering like crazy; I can't concentrate with that," she admitted, Daniel's eye lighting up as he reached gently for her abdomen.

"Strong enough for me to feel yet?" he asked, excited, but she shook her head, yet again, her smile turning into a frown.

"Sorry sha, not yet, maybe when you get back," she answered, leaning up to kiss him passionately.

"Have fun and come back to me," she requested as they broke away from a kiss neither of them wanted to end.

"I always do," he replied, grabbing his bag from where he had set it beside the door. Tossing it over his shoulder, he started to walk toward the exit, pausing to look back over his shoulder.

"I love you ja-wer, and you too little one," he said from the doorway, a tender smile across his face.

"We love you too daddy," she teased, resting her hand on her stomach.

Smiling, her words lingering in his mind, Daniel left, for the first time in a long time, without her.


	51. Chapter 50 - Fears and Realities

_Just remember that being a genius doesn't make you perfect and that being clueless goes both ways. _

_Oh, and detail alert..._

Daniel was just putting the dishes from dinner into the dishwasher when the phone rang. Hands dirty, or at least dirty enough where he didn't want to touch anything, he turned his head and shouted over his shoulder, hoping that she was closer to a line than he was.

"Ad," he yelled, "ja-wer, can you get that?"

She didn't answer him, the phone ringing again, not one peep coming from down the hall. Adrienne had excused herself to the bedroom after dinner, weakly, having eaten very little, Daniel not questioning considering what she had been through this week. She was throwing up a lot more, blaming it on the fluttering, which he still couldn't feel, so Daniel hadn't followed her to the bedroom, giving her space until she asked for him.

She hadn't, and he had assumed that she was fine, but she must not have been considering it was too early to go to bed and the phone was still ringing.

Quickly, Daniel wiped his hands on the dish towel hanging lightly on his shoulder, racing across the kitchen to answer the phone.

"Hello?" he said and there was a pause on the other line but no answer.

"Hello?" Daniel repeated, hearing breathing through the receiver, knowing that someone was there. He heard a throat clear, a swallowing and the voice finally spoke.

"Imma surry; I dink I'avhe got da wrung numba," a woman's voice, thickly, accented, said on the other line. Shrugging, Daniel hit the button on the cordless phone, hanging up, continuing his rinsing of the forks and spoons.

The phone rang again moments later.

Sighing, Daniel wiped his hands, having given up on Adrienne answering at all.

"Hello?" he said, tucking the phone into his shoulder so he could continue what he was doing, tired, wanting to get in the bed himself and read or at least relax before going to sleep. There was a pause once more, the person on the other line choosing not to answer.

"Hello?" he repeated, and again, he could hear that breathing on the other line. As before, there was a pause, followed by a delayed response.

"Imma sorry shug. I musta dailed da wrung numba. Be dis 202-555-6173?" the voice asked. Still getting used to the new phone number, Daniel ran the digits through his head, confirming everything including the DC area code since his cell phone was technically still a Colorado number.

Yep, he thought, that's our phone number.

"Yes ma'am," he responded, "this is 202-555-6173." She didn't sound like an elderly woman, maybe in her mid-sixties, but she did sound confused. There was shuffling on the other end of the line and a voice, that thickly accented voice reading his phone number back as if she had written it down. Waiting patiently, Daniel adjusted his shoulder higher, holding the phone in place while he dried the silverware, the woman on the other end taking a breath and shouting.

"Rae, do ya 'ave Addy's cell phone numba, dis be da wrung numba for da 'ouse!" the voice yelled, a younger also accented voice shouting something about being sure, well sho, that the number was correct. Daniel was about to hang up the phone when it occurred to him.

Rae?

Addy?

Wait a minute, Daniel thought to himself, this isn't a wrong number call.

"Mrs. Verdin?" he asked into the phone, the voice on the other end stopping her shouting the instant he said the name.

"'Ow ya be knowing my name?" it asked, Daniel chuckling quietly to himself as he put it all together. It was Adrienne's Aunt Barbara. The poor woman must be trying to be getting a hold of Adrienne and had expected her to answer.

Adjusting the phone and putting down the dishes, Daniel grabbed the towel to walk the phone over to Adrienne, chatting along the way.

"Mrs. Verdin, it's Daniel, you've got the right number. Let me go get Adrienne for you," he clarified heading for the bedroom in the hopes that Adrienne wasn't violently ill and could talk to her aunt.

Maybe she could even ask about this 'not-just-in-the-morning' sickness his fiancee had been suffering for over a week now.

"Daniel?" the woman asked, "Addy's bahss?"

Daniel laughed, wondering why she put it that way but dismissing the thought, figuring that she was simply teasing him.

"Doesn't really feel that way anymore though. Hang on just a moment, she's in the bathroom, I need to make sure that she's alright," Daniel said, holding the phone away from his mouth so the poor woman wouldn't have him screaming in her ear.

"Ad, your aunt's on the phone," Daniel yelled from outside the door, that loud cajun voice on the receiver in his hand yelling back to Adrienne's cousin. Hoping she simply hadn't heard him, he waited for Adrienne to respond, knowing in his heart what she was really doing on the other side. She didn't, however, not a peep from her end, so he knocked a second time.

"Ja-wer, do you want me to tell her that you'll call her back?" Daniel shouted again at the bathroom door this time getting a response, although not verbal one; Adrienne was throwing up in the toilet, just as he feared.

"It's gonna be a LONG night," Daniel said aloud to himself, bringing the phone back to his ear.

"Mrs. Verdin, Adrienne's not feeling well right now but I'm happy to have her call you back as soon as she's better or first thing tomorrow morning," he stated politely, after all, this woman was going to be the closest thing to a mother-in-law he would ever have and he needed to be nice.

"Why ya be at 'er 'ouse dis late?" Barbara responded to Daniel's complete confusion.

"I live here," he replied, not thinking, not playful, wondering why in the world she was asking him that question when he heard the woman on the other end gasp.

"Whatcha mean ya live der? Addy lives wit 'er bahss?" the woman continued, Daniel, at this point, totally lost.

What did she mean did Addy live with her boss?

Daniel was trying to figure out what to say to that when he heard a flush and the bathroom door opened behind him, Adrienne standing there, clearly spent. Covering up the phone with his hand, he glanced at his fiancee, now doubly concerned.

"It's your aunt on the phone. She seems a bit confused, can't figure out why I'm here," Daniel explained, worried something was wrong with Aunt Barbara, maybe she was ill, but Adrienne's face turned white, her cocoa eyes widening and her jaw dropping.

"Aunt Barbara?" she asked and Daniel nodded.

"Yes, Aunt Barbara; is everything alright?" he continued, but Adrienne snatched the phone from his hand, not saying another word to him.

"Hi Aunt Barbara. Yea, I'm fine. Daniel, oh, he was just over here for dinner. Live here? He was just playing with you Aunt Barbara, I told you how he is. Cameron? He's doing great, really well," Adrienne started right in, talking to her aunt, walking down the hall heading to her office.

Frozen in place, Daniel stood in the bedroom, unable to believe what he was hearing.

She hadn't told her; her family didn't know about them...

Confused, crushed, not sure exactly what he was feeling, Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose and returned to the kitchen to finish what he'd been doing.

Fifteen minutes later, Adrienne came into the kitchen, her eyes cast down toward the floor. Not speaking, she placed the phone into its base and went to sit on a bar stool at the kitchen counter, resting her forearms on the surface. Daniel turned, hearing the wood of the stool drag across their tile floor, leaning back against the sink, his sparkling blue eyes brimming with emotion.

"Go ahead," Adrienne started, the expression on her own face not much better than his, "Yell, scream, call me a coward. Let's just get it over with. I'll start prepping the I'm sorrys."

"Does she know you're pregnant?" he asked quietly, his voice even and calm.

"No," Adrienne replied, her cheeks getting red, her eyes looking for an escape.

"Does she know we're engaged?" he tried, going down the list in his head, knowing her answer, knowing what her answer was going to be to all of them, but he just needed to hear it for himself.

"No," she replied, flushing further, her hands now on the counter as she frantically picked at her fingernails.

"Does she know that we live together?' he ventured, this question eliciting a glance downward.

"No," Adrienne replied, sounding a bit like she was choking up, but Daniel didn't approach her, keeping his calm and shaking his head.

"Does she know we're seeing one another?" he asked a fourth question, a question that Adrienne didn't answer.

Daniel took a deep breath; he hadn't misinterpreted her conversation, it was clear what her family thought. For as often as Adrienne talked about how much they annoyed her, he knew that she talked to her aunt and cousin at least once a week and he couldn't believe that he hadn't come up once.

"Does she know Cameron's not your boyfriend?" Daniel finally asked, remembering the story of what happened at her cousin's wedding, the actual words tearing him up inside as he spoke them.

Her eyes still downcast, Adrienne mumbled her reply, inaudibly.

"Ad?" Daniel inquired, stepping away from the sink, approaching where she was sitting at their island, leaning closer to his fiancee. Adrienne looked up, sensing his presence, the brown trembling in her eyes which were filled with tears, sitting at wait to be shed.

"Not exactly," she muttered. Nodding, biting his lip, Daniel stood back upright, averting his gaze away from her.

"Daniel, I'm sorry, really, I am, I just, well, she's so hung up on marrying me off and I didn't want to say anything about us until I knew for sure we were serious," Adrienne started, stammering, trying to apologize, to explain, but Daniel threw up his hands whipping his head around to answer.

"Serious?! Until you knew we were serious? Adrienne, we practically moved in with one another the night we got together. I cleared dresser drawers for you two weeks into our relationship. Ad, you;re wearing my ring and carrying my child and looking for a wedding venue! At what point do you deem us serious?" he shouted, despite trying not to raise his voice.

Adrienne looked up like she was going to answer, tears streaming down her face, but shoved her hand to her face before she could speak, running back in the direction of the bedroom.

"Please make it to the toilet," Daniel said to himself and followed behind, her words still lingering in his mind.

Adrienne sat on the bed, sipping a clear soda and breathing slowly, Daniel seated across from her, trashcan ready beside him on the off chance she had anything else left in her stomach to throw up.

"I was gonna tell her," Adrienne finally said but Daniel stared at her, unmoved.

"When?" he asked calmer now, his concern equally divided between this latest revelation and the continued illness.

"When we picked a date. I was gonna tell her everything. Well, almost everything," Adrienne replied, peering down at her abdomen.

"Except for the baby part," Daniel guessed, conversations of old surfacing in his memory, jokes and comments she had made about relatives getting pregnant out of wedlock.

"Yeah, that," Adrienne confirmed, still not looking up, her left index finger now bleeding from being picked down past the first few layers of skin.

Sighing, Daniel uncrossed his legs and scooted over closer to her. She didn't seem very affectionate right now, so he just sat back, crossing his legs and holding onto her knees.

"I'm not mad," he finally said, Adrienne glancing up confused.

"You're a liar," she smiled, trying to lighten the mood, ward off her tears and thankfully, Daniel laughed slightly.

"Ok, so I'm really mad and really hurt, but I understand why you did it. I just want to know if you're planning on telling her now and when?" Daniel asked.

Adrienne, however, just shrugged, resuming her nail picking.

"Soon, you do realize that you only proposed three weeks ago, right? And I've been sick because of YOUR baby, nearly every day and we've had a missions. I honestly haven't had the time to think of what to say," Adrienne explained honestly, looking up at him again.

"Think of what to say? Adrienne, you call her and say Aunt Barbara, I have great news, I've fallen in love, we're getting married and we're expecting. I don't see how that is so hard," he replied.

Sighing out, knowing he was right, Adrienne sat up, crawling over into his lap. He didn't push her away, just uncrossed his legs and took her into his arms, wanting to hold her close.

"I'm sorry Indy," she whispered, nuzzling closer and Daniel laughed, kissing her head lightly.

"You used to call me Indy to mess with me, then it was my nickname when we were just friends, and now you call me that to get yourself out of trouble," he teased.

Smiling, Adrienne pulled her head up from his chest and gazed into his eyes, running her fingers lightly down his jaw.

"I love you," she said, pushing him onto his back and cuddling near him, instinctively kissing his neck. He tried to hold back, but he just couldn't, hissing in breath and turning his head to give her access to what he wanted her lips to touch. He had to take advantage of this now when he could, considering her condition and after the events of this evening, he just wanted to be close to her, to know that she needed him and loved him.

They could worry about telling her family tomorrow.

Damn distracting Adrienne.

Adrienne awoke the next morning, her stomach rumbling strongly. She sat up slowly, peeling away the warm blanket that Daniel had tucked around her last night after they made love, thankful to be hungry at last. Slipping from the bed, she removed his arm from around her and left him sleeping to go to the kitchen. Her robe was tossed over a chair, so she secured that, shivering as she stepped onto the cold hardwood floor, making her way out of the bedroom. He hadn't moved, which was odd, but Adrienne was thankful. She needed some time alone to think, she needed to think about what she was going to say to her family that wouldn't make her look like a complete and total tchew.

After years of mocking the girls that fell at the feet of boys, ran off, got pregnant, and then were shamed into marriage, she had gone and done the exact same thing. Except for the shame; marrying Daniel wasn't something she was ashamed of in the least, in fact, it was her second happiest thought each day, second only to the fluttering inside her middle.

The door pulled carefully behind her, but not closed all the way, Adrienne tiptoed to the kitchen, running dozens of calling home scenarios through her head.

There was an iced coffee in the fridge, but despite her burning desire to have at least one cup of something caffeinated, Adrienne grabbed the jug of juice and shut the door to the fridge, turning to grab a glass from their cupboards. She smiled looking at the door to the cabinet, realizing that it wasn't until she was pregnant and awake all night that she had really begun to appreciate what a nice home Daniel had bought for them, for her really. Even the cabinets were beautiful and detailed, the care and love that he put into this making her feel like she had never felt before.

How could she have done this to him?

This man loved her more than anything and here she was all concerned with her pride.

Pulling a bowl from the cupboard to get herself some cereal, she stood and thought about, obsessing really, over what she had just done to him, after all of the wonderful things he had done for her.

She couldn't imagine what he was feeling.

This wasn't like hiding their relationship from their friends, from Woolsey, who could use it as justification to hand her a pink slip; Aunt Barbara wouldn't be anything but overjoyed at the news. Adrienne stood staring at the cereal boxes, lambasting herself for her poor choices rather than taking care of the rumbling in her stomach. Without thinking, she reached up and grabbed a random box from the shelf and took it, the bowl and the juice out to the table, setting it down robotically. Adrienne was turning to get a spoon when their house phone rang and she looked up at the clock, surprised, noting that it was six in the morning.

"Who in the hell is calling at 6 a.m.?" she asked herself, reaching for the receiver, punching the button clumsily.

"Hello?" she answered groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey Preggo, get your love toy out of bed. We need to go on a trip," it was Vala and she sounded very annoyed to be up this early herself. She'd probably volunteered to call them, wanting someone to wallow with her in early bird misery, misery she was indeed sharing as Adrienne sighed.

"Trip where Vala? I puked most of the night," Adrienne lied, truth be told there were other reasons that she wasn't asleep and vomiting wasn't one of them. That memory made Adrienne smile.

"To Langara. Elections didn't go so well, some sort of uprising. Jonas says we need to put in a neutral appearance since our connection to them is part of the problem," her friend explained as Adrienne groaned.

These diplomatic missions were getting old; she missed exploring or hunting down ZPM's.

Vala let her get her moaning out of her system before she continued.

"Really, they only need Daniel, but since the two of you can't seem to go five minutes without being physically attached to one another, you get to come too," she explained, Adrienne's heart stopping, not at Vala's stupid jab, but at something entirely different.

Oh no, she thought, not Langara, not after last night.

What in the hell else could go wrong?

"Ah nah, mon ami, nah, ya canna do dis ta me," Adrienne hissed into the phone, her panic and lack of sleep taking over her words.

"Addy I'm nonna doing anything to you or whatever the hell you say when you slip like that, you have to go. Sam's orders. She wants every last yappity nerd to go and yap to these people," Vala replied, mocking Adrienne's early morning accent.

Standing and peering in the direction of the door, wondering if Daniel was awake, Adrienne tiptoed her way down the hall and back to her office, slipping inside and closing the door behind her.

"Vala listen to me. Get me out of this. I can't look at Jonas right now ok? I just can't!" Adrienne whispered, frantically, her eyes keeping close watch at the door.

"Seriously Addy, it was one dinner. ONE dinner. Unless you fucked him... wait...did you fuck him?!" she asked, her curiosity burning.

"Gah no Vala I didn't fuck him," Adrienne spat.

I did kiss him though, she thought, or he kissed me or ugh, I can't go to Langara.

"I don't believe you," she replied, laughing, Adrienne reaching to cover the phone with her hand hissing into it.

"I did not sleep with Jonas. I did not sleep with Ronon. I have not even seen anyone but Daniel naked in forever. Now shut up, be a good friend and get me out of this!" Adrienne continued, her voice more of a growl than a voice.

"Look Addy, Sam says you have to go. Sam is your boss. Sam makes sure you get paid. Unless you want to let Daniel make all of the money and you just stay home and have sex with him. But we know what that will make you," her friend mocked evilly.

"I'll get him up. We will be there shortly," Adrienne replied and hung up, not wanting to discuss it further. Vala floated back and forth between support of their current status and all out jealous rage and it was just too damn early for Adrienne to try to decipher which she was experiencing right now.

Abandoning her breakfast, she turned to head for the bedroom, pushing the door open lightly when she heard the shower running. She should have figured the phone would wake him; Daniel never slept as it was anyway, she just hoped he hadn't heard any of the more interesting parts of their conversation. Walking toward the bathroom, she pushed the door ajar, peeping around the corner.

"Daniel, that was Vala. Duty calls," Adrienne tried to shout over the water. There was a shuffle from the other side and Daniel pulled the curtain back, sticking his head out.

"I figured. How could I ever think I would get more than a few days at home? Let's disregard the fact that my fiancée has been sick all week long and we just got back from a mission," he complained from the stall, shaking his head and reaching out his hand.

"Come on, get in. We can grab breakfast on the way," he offered, wanting one last chance to be close to her before heading off world.

Smiling slightly, Adrienne took off her robe, tossing it onto the toilet and letting him lead her into the shower.

Heading into work solely based on the information gleaned from a whiny call from Vala wasn't exactly what he had in mind, but a return text from Sam that she was dealing with Lucian intelligence not only explained why Vala was the one calling from her office but also the lack of information. In addition, the general had made sure to add that she needed Daniel back on base and meeting with Jonas as soon as possible, so he hurried through getting dressed, not saying much to Adrienne.

Last night hadn't helped, the physical intimacy that they had shared really only made him feel worse. He wasn't an idiot, he understood that she was a proud woman and had become exactly what she had feared she would become were she to stay in New Orleans in the clutches of her family. A small part of him felt bad, felt guilty as if it were his fault, but he couldn't help falling in love with her any more than she could have helped falling in love with him.

She had fallen asleep after, thankfully, since the illness had prevented her from sleeping much lately, while he had laid there with her in his arms staring at the ceiling.

Ok, baby part fine, he thought, that embarrassed him even, but the rest? She was marrying a fellow professional, one that she worked closely with, they had a very nice home in D.C. and were hoping to plan a real wedding not some shotgun ceremony in Vegas. True, she might be going down a path that she hadn't intended, but it clearly wasn't the path her plethora of trailer park cousins, as she so delicately like to put it, had taken for themselves.

And it's with me, he thought, shouldn't that count for something?

Shaking his head, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand, Daniel picked up his pace down the hallway toward where his Langaran friend was waiting.

Jonas Quinn was sitting alone at the briefing table when Daniel entered. Hearing footsteps in an otherwise quiet room, he looked up, smiling.

"I hate that it seems I only get to see you guys when something goes wrong," Jonas admitted as he stood from his chair, stepping forward to shake Daniel's hand.

"Kinda the way things work around here; what's going on?" Daniel asked, wanting the details from Jonas himself, shaking his hand quickly, and pulling out the iPad. Searching for the correct icon, Daniel frowned, determined to do this without Adrienne, Jonas letting out a sigh and waiting for Daniel to figure out the gadget.

"I hear a congratulations are in order," Jonas said just as Daniel found the right picturecoolly for "records" tapping it without looking up.

"Thanks, yeah, it's been an interesting," Daniel replied cooly, bringing up the record on Langara. Leaning carefully over his shoulder, in an attempt to see what was on the screen, Jonas recognizing instantly Addy's careful script on the notepad of the touch screen.

"Well, I think after everything you've been through you deserve to be happy. You know, considering," Jonas offered, the statement making Daniel look up.

"I am, and really, thank you. It's just a tad overwhelming is all. But I'm very happy," Daniel replied.

"Where is Addy? I thought she was coming?" Jonas inquired, noting her absence.

"She is, they're coming in a few hours, Cam and Adrienne," he answered, reading over the election information, Jonas smiling and nodding.

"Good, I'd hate to think she was avoiding me. I really didn't mean anything by it," the Langaran man added nervously, thinking that might not be a wise choice of words considering to whom he was speaking them, but Daniel didn't turn around or lash out at him, just cocked his head up, staring in confusion.

"Didn't mean anything by what?" the archaeologist asked in return, his eyebrows raised, the action making Jonas' heart skip a beat.

Oh no, Jonas thought, he doesn't know.

His mind racing, he tried to come up with something, anything to cover, not wanting to give this man another reason to dislike him as he sometimes appeared to do.

"When I called her a tough guy," Jonas sputtered out, remembering the conversation from their dinner, "she was talking about training and I didn't want her to think I thought of her as a man."

Ok Jonas, that was lame and unbelievable, you most certainly did NOT think of her as a man, but it worked, Daniel was laughing, his attention back at the screen.

"I call her that or a variation of at least once a week. You should see the way she acts pregnant. When she's not crying or throwing up she's about ten times tougher," Daniel joked, his eyes finally reaching the end of the page. Jonas watched to see if there was any indication that he didn't believe it, and there wasn't, but something was clearly wrong, he just didn't seem, well, like Daniel.

"So, WE were the key issue in the elections?" Daniel finally asked, Jonas nodding slowly.

"We're still recovering from the Lucian attack. The winning candidate, Jonathan Tulra, said the best way to avoid further attacks is to maintain contact with you all in order to be kept abreast on the latest intelligence. The loser, Gilman Edmenton, believes you are the cause of all of the problems in the first place. He threatened to cause an uprising should Tulra win, which of course he did. President-elect Tulra is hoping that if you come and address the people, on the open air, to assure them that our friendship is in their best interest that it might avert civil unrest," Jonas explained.

Not pleased by the prospect, Daniel raised his eyebrows, furrowing his brow. Speaking on the Langaran equivalent of TV wasn't something he was keen on doing, he had thought it was going to be he and Adrienne mediating negotiations. He tapped his pencil on the table and thought for a moment. Addressing an entire nation was something that most definitely constituted extreme intervention, and while Daniel didn't want to tell Jonas this just yet, he didn't plan on addressing any nation or planet for that matter; it just wasn't his place to do so.

"Alright, let me get a better handle on things when we get there. I'll head back to quarters, go tell Cam and Addy that they need to get moving a little faster, and I'll meet you back at the gate," Daniel said, standing again, the expression of worry still on his face.

Not liking the reaction, but not sure what else could be done, Jonas just nodded, fearing for his people as he watched Daniel leave the briefing room.

"His mind isn't on this, at all," Jonas said to himself as he pushed the chair under, turning and heading to Sam's office.

Adrienne was in the lab packing up when she heard Daniel come in and turned to see what news he had.

"How bad?" she asked as Daniel shrugged, walking over to his desk.

"Bad enough. The information Sam sent to my email says there are fifteen confirmed deaths in less than twenty hours," he replied, sitting the iPad beside him, beginning to gather his things, not saying much else to Adrienne. Noting his quiet demeanor she walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

"Ya ok sha?" she asked sweetly, leaning in to rest her head against him. Breathing out lightly, Daniel turned his head to kiss her forehead gently and moved her away, continuing to pack.

"I'm fine," he answered quietly. Unconvinced, Adrienne reached for his hands.

"No you're not, how bad of a situation are we walking into over there?" she asked, now worried about going on this mission, one where there were apparent riots, pregnant no less.

She trembled slightly in fear, Daniel sensing her apprehension, squeezing her hands lightly and letting go, continuing to pack.

"It's nothing to be nervous about, we won't be leaving the main government facility, I won't risk you or the baby. It's just going to take maybe a few days to clear up, if we can clear it up," he answered her, not himself, quiet, gloomy.

Since when was Daniel upset about being gone for a few days? Adrienne thought, looking him in the eyes, studying his face when it hit her. Leaning up to kiss his forehead quickly, she marched over to her desk and grabbed her cell phone, scrolling down the list of numbers. She found the one she was looking for and walked back over to her husband to be, staring him straight in the eyes.

"I'll call her right now Daniel, right now. Before we go and before we can have this looming over our heads," Adrienne said, turning the phone to show him that she was about to dial her aunt but he didn't agree, instead reaching out for the phone and shook his head, pulling it down.

"No, let's wait until we get back," he said, "I don't want you just doing that to appease me."

He took the phone from her hands and slipped it back into her pocket and continued to pack, his last words lingering between them.

Adrienne didn't want to start a fight, so she just walked back over to what she was doing resisting the urge to cry.

The gate was already activated by the time they arrived, Jonas standing and talking to Cameron about the situation. Without speaking much to one another, Daniel and Adrienne had managed to get ready and come down to the gate room, but Adrienne was so preoccupied with her fiancee's mood that she didn't even notice Jonas running over to hug her once she was in his sights.

"Addy!" he shouted as he approached, "Congrats!" He hugged her once he was close enough and Adrienne returned the action, shocked, butterflies racing in her stomach, and stepped back, forcing a smile.

"Thanks Jonas," she choked out, her stomach a complete disaster, for once not baby related.

"Are you excited?" he asked and Adrienne just kept smiling, that stupid fake smile that was covering her internal screaming, screaming that was repeating over and over _JUST GET ME OUT OF HERE!_

"Actually, yea, a little scared but I'm just chalking it up as my next adventure," Adrienne responded, trying to make sure her response was loud enough so Daniel would hear, and calm enough so Jonas would not sense her apprehension. She glanced over to her left to see if she could judge his reaction but there was none; he was talking to Cameron as though Adrienne had said nothing.

Sighing, wondering if he was ever really going to forgive her for this, Adrienne started to approach the waiting platform when there was a hand at her shoulder and she turned back around, thinking Daniel may have slipped in behind her when she wasn't paying attention.

"Well, I'm really happy for you guys, truly I am," Jonas, not Daniel, but Jonas was there, squeezing her shoulder before heading up the ramp. Adrienne stood there, a flurries of mixed emotions coursing through her insides as Cameron and Daniel went to follow, Daniel stopping and looking behind.

"Let's go ja-wer," he said, sweetly, reaching out his hand.

Thankful for some normalcy, Adrienne took his offering, smiling, and following him through the gate.

The last time Adrienne had gone through the Stargate to Langara, she had been trying to save Daniel's life. She remembered making it about ten steps down the very same platform before armed men had shoved her face first onto the ramp, bruising the inside of her mouth painfully. Those memories came flooding back just as Adrienne passed through the event horizon and she flinched, her muscle memory expecting it once more, but instead of the slam she felt the gentle squeeze of her hand and felt herself being pulled slightly onward. Glancing up, she saw the love of her life smiling at her, looking like everything was ok, so she breathed in and followed.

We'll be alright, she told herself, I'll call and fix everything as soon as we return home.

He squeezed her hand once more and let go, proceeding more quickly down the ramp to meet the officials.

"Dr. Jackson I presume," a tall graying man dressed as Jonas, only slightly better, his black suit neatly pressed, his shoes a perfect match, was at the base awaiting him. Taking a few steps further, Daniel extended his hand, receiving a similar gesture in return.

"President-elect Tulra, it is an honor to meet you. We're sorry to hear of your troubles," Daniel apologized, the man retracting his hand, offering him a solemn grin.

"We are as well, but are hoping that your presence here can solidify my position that the Taur'i are our friends and allies in our quest to further our world's position in the galaxy," he answered.

Daniel kept on his most professional face at his obviously rehearsed speech. One thing he loved about Adrienne was her appreciation for the truth, no matter how awful it may be. She wasn't blunt or rude, like some around the SGC thought, but direct, at least, that was what Adrienne used to believe.

Trying not to recall the events of the night before yet again, he forced himself to focus on the mission at hand.

"Likewise. This is Lt. Colonel Cameron Mitchell, who will be serving as our military liaison and my assistant Dr. Adrienne Rowan," Daniel introduced, immediately regretting that introduction. If Jonas hadn't prepped their quarters, thinking Adrienne was merely his assistant some other government official might place her into another room.

What if she got sick, what if she needed him?

Daniel forced himself to focus again; he needed to stop this unprofessional behavior as Adrienne was quickly going back to being a distraction again. Smiling cordially at the other two team members, the president elect stepped forward, offering his hand to both Cam and Adrienne before quickly returning his attention to Daniel.

"Dr. Jackson, if you will come with me, I'd like to meet with you about the current state of affairs, things that Representative Quinn did not choose to take to Earth. He will take your team to their quarters," the president said, looking at Jonas, who nodded at Daniel, giving him the sign that everything was alright. Cutting his eyes quickly at Adrienne to make sure she was feeling alright, Daniel saw her flush, noting his concern and turned to leave, allowing him to continue with the mission a little less worried.

Jonas, after all, wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"You guys can follow me. You're staying at my residence and I can brief you on the way. I thought that would be best," Jonas said, leading them the other direction.

Yep, Adrienne thought, that false smile still plastered across her face, it could get worse and it did.

The president talked the entire way to his private meeting quarters mostly about what Jonas and Sam had already presented him with, just in greater detail. The opposing candidate had been against allowing the SGC and Rodney to use the gate in the first place, and had spoken against it publicly, so the attack on Langara had given him the boost he needed to be elevated to a status in which he could pursue political office. He was quickly elected as a representative in the public council and was encouraged to run for a higher position. His entire platform was based on the idea of Isolationism, something Daniel and any Earth historian knew was not the best choice and the more disturbances from the Lucians, the more fuel to the fire.

By the time they arrived at the council chambers, Daniel was honestly at a loss as to what exactly he was expected to do. Pausing at the large wooden double doors, Tulra entered a code into a keypad and they swung open automatically.

Evidently, Daniel noted, they were not going to be alone. Inside of the chambers was an entire council who looked like they had been waiting sometime for Daniel's arrival. Tulra entered quickly with Daniel following, wondering what information the Langarans had withheld from he, Sam and the rest of the SGC. He seemed to be surrounded this week by people withholding information, like Adrienne.

Damn Adrienne.

Why couldn't she have at least told him what was going on and they could have worked through it together?

Taking his seat, Daniel tried to ignore the thoughts that were running through his head, thoughts about how the woman that he loved more than anyone else in this world didn't feel that telling her family about their life together was very important.

"Dr. Jackson, we are pleased that you have been able to join us," a dark skinned man in a red sweater spoke, the tight neck at his collar appearing very uncomfortable, choking him even.

"I'm not sure how much help I can be, but I'm willing to try," Daniel answered honestly, still trying to figure out how exactly they expected him to fix the problems of their planet with just one speech.

"You will be a great help," a women spoke next, tall, broad shouldered, brown hair that were it not so short she would have reminded him of an older Adrienne.

Damn Adrienne.

"Yes," the president spoke this time, tapping a few buttons on the table, some sort built in control panel, and an opening appearing in front of the archaeologist, a presentation folder inside.

"Dr. Jackson, with Representative Quinn's assistance, we have located the surveillance cameras from the incident on our planet in which you were involved," the man began, a screen popping out from a side wall. Daniel's stomach sank, he didn't want to see this, but there it was, grainy and black and white, a shot taken clearly from the far corner on the room, himself, bursting through the glass and heading to the device. Breathing in, he had to look away, someone apparently noticing and switching off the feed.

"Our plan," the man in the sweater continued, "is to show this to the people and then introduce you, have you speak to them, assure them that the sacrifice that you made for our people is representative of the sacrifice that your people will make to our planet."

Frowning, Daniel stared over his glasses at the three government officials, trying to figure out what they expected him to say. To begin with, he had never been the kind of person to ever seek out credit for doing things, and making a decision that had cost him his life was something that he not only didn't want to brag about but didn't want to discuss.

"What would you expect me to say? I have to admit that while I've given my share of briefings and lectures, a television address, and a non-academic one at that, well, that's..." Daniel started to explain, not quite sure how to say 'no' in a non-confrontational manner. This is why I need Adrienne in my life, his thoughts wandered, Adrienne would be able to inform all three of them that they were idiots, that they should destroy that video and there would be no speech, all the while with a smile on her face.

Stop thinking about Adrienne Daniel, he scolded himself.

"We've taken care of that, the folder, there, in front of you. We have taken the liberty to write a simple speech to insure that we are not asking you to take care of that as well," the woman explained, indicating with a long varnished nail that he take the folder from the open slot in front of him. Pushing his glasses up his face, Daniel reached in carefully, pulling out the red plastic file, opening it slowly quickly scanning the first line.

_People of Langara. My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson of the planet Earth, the man who you just witnessed in the prior presentation..._

Daniel didn't need to read anymore. They planned to show the video, to the entire planet, before he was to speak and he was to start right away claiming glory for saving the planet.

How in the hell was he gonna get out of this?

"You do realize that Jonas it about fifteen feet ahead of us Addy, right?" Cam asked as he adjusted both of their packs on his back, puzzled by her behavior. At first he thought she was ill, Daniel said the other day at work she was throwing up practically everything, but her coloring now was good so he wasn't quite sure what her problem was.

"Oh, yea, sorry," she whispered, looking ahead and picking up the pace. Cam frowned at her, starting to speak when he saw Jonas stop, waiting for them.

"I'm sorry guys, we aren't big on cars here, environmental initiative but it really isn't that much further. Addy, are you feeling ok? Sam said that you'd been sick and we really appreciate you coming because I know they want to speak to you tomorrow as well," Jonas began, walking briskly back towards them.

"No, thank you Jonas, really, I'm fine, just hungry," Adrienne replied, a somewhat honest response as her stomach rumbly strongly.

"It's just around the corner and I can get you two settled and head back out for some food. It's just me, so I don't have a lot at home, but what I have you're welcome to," he said, making Adrienne feel even worse.

He is seriously the nicest guy ever, she thought, feeling just horrible about what had happened.

"Sounds good Jonas," Cam answered for them, glaring back at Adrienne.

"Remember girl, you're a shitty actress. We're gonna talk," he whispered, beckoning her to pick up her step.

Jonas was right when he said his house was around the corner, a small simple structure that served as a further reminder, to Adrienne at least, how much Langara looked like mid twentieth century England. It was a brown townhouse type layout, the homes attached to one another in a line. There was no key, despite their outward appearance the Langarans were very advanced, and Jonas walked up to a plate beside the door, pressing his palm lightly.

"Addy come here," he motioned from the small stoop, Adrienne hesitating for a moment.

He's an adult Ad, she scolded, he is over this; YOU are the child.

_Get your big ass up those stairs. _

Smiling, a little less forced, Adrienne strode up the stairs to see what their host wanted.

"Quinn, Jonas 34602. Request guest access. Prepare for imprint," he spoke into a small speaker, a light by the panel turning purple.

"Press here, gently," he instructed, taking her hand and placing it in the center. Fascinated by the technology, Adrienne did as he asked, the smooth surface warming under her palms and then cooling suddenly, the violet light fading away. Nodding, Jonas looked down at Adrienne to explain.

"Alright, this gives you access to the entire house, whether I'm here or not. Cam," he turned to look at the colonel, "I can code you in too if you like, but I figured Addy would be best given the baby and all."

"That's fine, I'll either be with her or Daniel, so I'm good," he answered from the bottom of the stairs. Understanding, Jonas, reached for the doorknob, opening it to let them in, looking back at Adrienne before stepping in the home.

"Please Adrienne, treat this as your home while you're here, and if there is anything I can do don't hesitate to let me know," he added, turning back to step inside.

_Two alien men Ad, two kind, caring, sweet men and you end up with Daniel. _

Oh how life just LOVES to screw with me, she thought, laughing, wondering what her grumpy significant other was doing right now.

"I can't do this," Daniel finally said, taking the Adrienne approach, albeit missing the fluffy professor speak of which she was quite proud.

"Dr. Jackson, we need you. We need this to unite our people, to understand that the incident with Dr. McKay was isolated and that you will protect us from the Lucians," the president insisted, standing from the chair he had taken and approaching Daniel.

"Mr. Tulra, with all due respect, this isn't how we do things on Earth. Standing in front of an entire populace proclaiming oneself a hero and then using that very deed as leverage is not something I would feel comfortable with, nor would my superiors be comfortable," Daniel argued, shaking his head and closing the folder. They had spun the story enough, sure, made sure to leave out details he was certain Jonas had given them, his death and how he came back to rejoin mankind, but either way the document in his hands was not something he felt comfortable saying, ever, much less in front of a planet full of people.

The president however, didn't seem convinced, shaking his head.

"Dr. Jackson, Representative Quinn told us that this technique is used very much on Earth, especially during your elections. We are not asking you to lie or persuade anyone to do anything malicious. We simply want a non-violent solution to our current state of civil unrest," he argued, politely.

Jonas told them way too much about me, Daniel thought, and way too much about his perception of Earth.

"Like I said, I'm very willing to help, but I'm not comfortable with this approach," he reiterated, opening the folder again and scanning the text for at least the third time, the following sentences discussing how he had made the decision to do what he did for Langara without thinking, which he had, but that wasn't something people just went around saying. Tulra walked over slowly, his face solemn, not threatening but sad, placing his hand gently on the table.

"I don't know how else to put this without begging doctor. This isn't just about who won or lost an election. This is about innocent people dying and frankly we don't know where else to turn," the man explained, the most honest and non-political answer he could have given. Not responding verbally, Daniel's sapphire eyes worked their way back to the folder in his hands, the words they wanted him to say, thinking to himself yet again about the truths people choose to tell, all for the supposed sake of others.

"So, I don't know how long Langaran take-out takes but girlie you 'd better get to talking if you know something that's gonna blow up in our faces. I don't like where this is going," Cam started in on her the minute Jonas closed the door, his face making it clear that he meant business.

"Oh shug, it's not like that," she answered quickly, "I've got about as much info as you do. It's something personal."

Rolling his eyes, Cam sat, guessing this was probably related to the crazy hormonal mood swings that she had been experiencing, making him feel for Daniel every day he witnessed them.

"Personal how? The baby ok, you and Daniel at each other's throats again?" Cam pushed, hoping that if he was to get an extreme reaction from her that it would be anger rather than tears.

"No, we're not at each other's throats," Adrienne replied, growling, "I screwed up yet again, a prime reason why I don't belong in any kind of relationship," she added, tears brimming up in her eyes.

Oh no, Cam thought, damn hormones, don't cry.

"What happened? Do I need to bust him in the face for you? I have no problem laying him out," Cam joked, smiling, leaning over in her face. Thankfully, Adrienne smiled, looking back over at him before turning to walk to the table that was set up in what looked like the kitchen area.

She noticed that Jonas' house was set up very much like a home on earth, entryway, living room with a large rectangular sofa like object positioned around the fire which opened up into a small kitchen and dining area. She wondered if every Langaran did it like that or if it was just Jonas' Taur'i influences. Sighing she pulled out a chair, indicating Cam take a seat beside her.

"So...remember our little trip to the Bayou?" Adrienne led, her dear friend and running buddy nodding his head.

"Yeah...where I learned that you were dropped off by the stork because there's no way you came from those people," he teased, getting a glare in return.

"Ok, so, remember how they thought we were together, those cute little notes and gifts in my care packages..." Adrienne continued carefully.

"Yeah..." Cam replied, starting to put this together in his head.

"They still do," she spat out quickly, closing her eyes and screwing up her face.

"They still do what?" Cam clarified.

"Think we're together..." she answered through gritted teeth.

Shaking his head and looking away for a moment Cam waited to compose himself. He understood the ruse, he'd suggested it in fact, but the fact that she had kept it up after she and Daniel became public, after they had moved in together, after he had gotten her pregnant, that he couldn't understand.

"Let me guess, Jackson's pissy mood?" and mine now, he added internally, trying to remember the difficult situation she was in.

"Bingo," she answered, smartly, trying to blow off what he was sure was going on in that crazy head of hers.

Ok, Addy, ok, he thought, looking at this mess that was his friend sitting before him. He couldn't be mad at her, damn the poor woman had been through enough growing up like she did and then dealing with her dad only to end up here and with Daniel no less. Taking a deep breath he reached across the table, gripping her hands lightly.

"One question," Cam finally said, leaning over for her to make eye contact.

"Yeah," she replied, a little worried as to what that question might be.

"If Aunt Barb still thinks we are together; where are the rest of my gifts?" he teased, pulling back and laughing.

"Pic tee koi," she spat, kicking him under the table, "Come on Cam, he's really hurt..."

Shit, the colonel thought, back to whiney.

"Well I'd think so. You're walking around with his kid in ya and not even so much as one acknowledgement to your family that it's his. Were you planning on ever telling them?" he asked, starting to wonder what kind of role he was going to play in this.

"Yes, I was. I just needed to figure out how. Anyway, he's distracted, I'm distracted and of all the damn places we end up, we end up on Langara," she added, letting her head hit the table.

"Why the hell does that matter?" Cam asked quickly, back to worrying about the three of them walking into a ticking time bomb.

"Please don't ask..." Adrienne replied, her head on the table a second time.

"Addy, listen, I'm not gonna sugar coat this. It was shitty what you did to him, real shitty, and I hope you two can fix it, but we've got to focus here, Jackson family drama or not. Now is there something you need to tell me about Langara, something that can affect the mission, you have to let me know,"

"I kissed Jonas," Adrienne mumbled from the table, her voice echoing off of the wood, "Daniel doesn't know that either."

Daniel sat at the desk, the red file folder at his left hand and a legal pad waiting underneath his right. There was no way that he was reading that speech no matter how much begging and pleading they did and no matter how long he sat in Jonas' office, where they had sent him to work on his own version, what he felt was the best compromise at the moment. He still didn't want to give the speech at all, but agreeing to give a speech given that it was his own would at least buy him enough time to think of a way out of this.

"Daniel?" he heard a familiar voice at the door and a light knock, looking up to see Jonas entering, that unsure smile of his on his face.

"Hey," Daniel answered flatly, glancing up only to acknowledge the man's arrival, his eyes quickly diverting back to the empty note pad, save for a few scribbles on the margins.

"I just wanted to stop by, let you know I've got Cam and Addy settled, got them some dinner and brought you some by," he explained, indicating a small brown box in his hands. Looking up again, Daniel smiled, the smell of something that had the faint resemblance of chicken wafting up as the box making his stomach rumble.

"Thanks," Daniel said, setting the pen aside and reaching for the box, noting it was still hot. Opening the container he saw that it contained what did look like some sort of chicken tenders, a piece of bread and a small blue piece of fruit.

"No problem, I knew this wasn't gonna be easy. Like I said before, I hate that we only seem to see one another when there's a problem," Jonas apologized, walking over to the corner of his office and grabbing a chair, pulling it over to Daniel.

"It makes all of those negotiations and meeting with government officials much less awful though," Daniel replied, raising his eyebrows at the Langaran man.

Jonas froze.

It had been a long time since the last planned meeting, a long long time, the last time was only a few weeks before he had brought a head in a bag through the Stargate. The last time it was he that had come through, a follow up to Daniel visiting a few months before, nothing special except for retooling the trade agreements, nothing special except for dinner.

_Why would he mention that? _

_He must know..._

"Listen Daniel, before this gets any further, I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry, I didn't know, I didn't know that you and Addy were..." Jonas began, his palms sweating slightly.

"Were what? Is everything alright? Did something happen?" Daniel asked quickly, looking up, wondering if she was ill again, if she alright, if the baby alright.

"No, no, no, not for a moment no, nothing happened," Jonas answered, the words spilling out of his mouth, "I just read the signals wrong and nothing happened, absolutely nothing. Why? Did she say something happened?"

"Who? Addy? Wait, she's ok? What do you mean did she say something happened?" Daniel replied, confused, his food forgotten as he stared at Jonas, "What are you talking about?"

"Addy, I really hope that isn't why she is acting a little distant, I didn't mean for her to think anything inappropriate," Jonas continued, even more panicked as he watched Daniel's expression change.

"Wait, Jonas, stop. I'm completely lost. What are you babbling on about inappropriate? What are you afraid that Adrienne thinks?" Daniel turned the questions back on Jonas, his eyebrows raised, peering up at him over his glasses.

"Oh..." the other man whispered.

"Oh what," Daniel countered.

"Addy didn't tell you..." Jonas mumbled, the state of his nerves moving from slightly shaky to full blown convulsions.

"Tell me what?" the archaeologist led, worry of his own creeping up into his gut.

"Um, well, see, Adrienne and I kind of went, well, out," Jonas started carefully watching Daniel's face, his expressionless face, was he angry, upset, indifferent, what in the hell was going on in his head, "it was just one dinner, one dinner on my last visit, well my last official visit, but nothing happened, Daniel, I swear nothing happened, nothing, and I thought that you knew and that's why you were so, well, distracted," he paused, taking a breath, watching his friend carefully.

Daniel paused himself for a moment, considering his words. Jonas' last visit was well before they were together, granted not before Daniel realized he had feelings for her, but well before either of them had been brave enough to act on it.

So Adrienne had gone on a date with Jonas?

Peering up over his glasses at his very nervous host, Daniel did the only thing he could think of doing.

He laughed.

"It was a long long time ago, long before I knew that you two were involved, I mean not that Addy would ever do that to you I know but, Daniel if I had known I would have never..." Jonas just continued to blather on, Daniel holding up his hands, waving them, unable to control his cackling to get him to stop. He chuckled for a few moments longer, partially due to his own lack of sleep from this night before, but this was just too ridiculous. Yes, the family thing, that was hurtful, that was something they would need to work through, but this?

This was hilarious.

"Ok, ok, so let me get this straight. You went on a date with Adrienne? That apparently didn't go well?" Daniel pushed, his curiosity getting the best of him. After all, he had gotten a blow by blow account of Adrienne's failed attempt at seeing Ronon Dex, but she hadn't said a peep about Jonas and for a moment he wondered why, suddenly remembering when she had said she was in love with him, her date with Ronon, that she never wanted to go on a date again.

According to Jonas' timeline, this had happened after...

"Well, I mean I thought it did, it was fine until I went to ki-," Jonas started, shaking his head and screwing up his face, "this is, ugh, I mean she's carrying your child, this is, just, so, awkward..." he fumbled over his words, but Daniel got enough to understand, laughing again, resting his forehead into his hand, shaking his head.

He'd tried to kiss her and Daniel knew Adrienne, better than anyone. She'd gone out with Jonas probably to try not to think about falling in love with him, she'd told him that she tried so hard not to let them be together, so he could only imagine her reaction if Jonas tried to kiss her.

That alone made him laugh louder.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Jonas asked, this not being the reaction he expected.

"No, no, trust me, you wouldn't understand, but I'm fine, it's this speech that's bothering me, a date you had with Adrienne before we were ever together is not why I'm distracted, it's alright really," Daniel answered, laughing some more. Somehow, after everything he'd been through in the past twenty four hours this insanely stupid revelation just made it all better.

He couldn't wait to torture her.

Grinning, he shoved the legal pad aside, reaching for the box of food again.

"I hope you brought enough for you too. Join me. Let's eat and then we have a speech to write," Daniel offered, pushing the box of food at a very puzzled Jonas Quinn.

Considering that it was only about three o'clock back home regardless of the time it was here on Langara, it was strange that Adrienne was tired, but she just chalked it up to the baby, hormones and her later than normal night before.

The guest bed was comfortable enough, but small, not that she minded, it just meant that she and Daniel would have to sleep close and with her sickness it felt like forever since they had slept, their legs entangled, their bodies close even if it was just last night.

He hadn't returned yet so she hoped he was alright, but she was comfortable, tired, the room was dark and without any reason to stay awake Adrienne let herself fall gently asleep.

It was very late, by Langaran standards, Jonas trying to hide his yawn as they walked, so Daniel kept their chatting to a minimum. Once he had realized that Daniel didn't think twice about he and Adrienne's one dinner, Jonas had lightened up considerably, helping Daniel the best that he could in editing and altering the speech. He still wasn't happy with it, but there was a chance that at the scheduled meeting in the morning, the one in which they wanted Adrienne to attend as well, given her surprise introduction to the Langarans as further evidence of the bravery of the Taur'i, that Daniel could talk his way out of this. Turning one final corner, Jonas pointed ahead, yawning openly this time at a simple but very nice looking brown townhouse.

"I don't want to be rude, but I'm exhausted, so I'm gonna head to bed. I put you and Addy in the last room at the end of the hall and Cam on the couch. I hope that's alright," Jonas said weakly, reaching for the black railing as he trudged up the stairs.

"Bed sounds perfect," Daniel replied, "and I'd like to thank you again for putting us up."

"Anytime. I still feel bad about the position we're putting you in but I thank you for not dashing out of here the moment you found out what we were asking of you," Jonas added as he placed his hand over the lock, the purple light indicating that he could enter.

"Not at all, I just hope we can talk some sense into someone tomorrow," Daniel replied, stepping into the home behind him and closing the door.

"Sleep well," Jonas said as he smiled, heading up a side staircase to the second level.

Glancing at his watch, it would have been only four in the afternoon were they on Earth, Daniel noted the lights were out all over the house, Cameron clearly asleep on the sofa. Knowing that Adrienne most likely was asleep herself, the baby taking more out of her than she cared to admit, Daniel tossed his bag beside the sofa type piece of furniture heading down the hall.

When he opened the door to the bedroom, he saw Adrienne was curled in the bed in the center of the room, closer to the middle of the bed than one side. She looked so sweet and innocent laying there, not the kind of woman that lied to her family or to him, about stupid things like well, Jonas. He wasn't mad anymore or hurt, honestly, at this point he just found it all so amusing. Closing the door behind him, he reached for his waistband, stripping down to his boxers before crawling into bed. He pulled back the covers, slipping into the bed, leaning to wrap his arms around his love when he paused, bringing his lips to her ear.

"Ja-wer," he whispered lightly, "wake up. I need to ask you something..."

"What time is it?" she questioned, her stock half-asleep answer, rolling onto her back rubbing her eyes.

"That's not important right now Ad, what's important is that I've got to know, you have to tell me," he mumbled, propping his head on his elbow as he gazed down at his beautiful bride-to-be or what he could see of her in the darkness.

"Tell you what sha?" she asked, rolling over to reach out for him, nuzzling close. He paused for suspense, and to breath in before he cracked up too soon.

"Is Jonas a better kisser than me?" he inquired finally, trying his hardest to contain his laughter.

Adrienne's eyes shot open, her head jerking in his direction and that was all it took to send Daniel into a fit of laughter again.

"Wait, how do you know!? Did he tell you!? What did he say?! Nothing happened, not a damn thing!? Wait... Why are you laughing!?" Adrienne began her whirlwind of questions, tripping over her words as she sat up, glaring at him.

"Jonas told me ja-wer," Daniel explained, coughing to stop laughing, "he thinks you and I are upset with him, which is just ridiculous." He peered up at her sitting form, her face screwed in confusion.

"You're still laughing, aren't you supposed to be angry? Jealous? Anything?" she asked, ignoring the fact that she was still a little upset being here and now growing slightly upset at her fiancee laughing hysterically at her expense.

"Hmmm...let's see, you're wearing my ring," he chuckled, reaching for her abdomen and rubbing it lightly, "and that's mine too."

"You're a tchew," she spat laying back down staring up at the ceiling, "it's not funny."

Grinning, Daniel reached to take her into his arms, pulling her close.

"Oh it's very funny, very, very funny. This Ad, this, is what I needed in our relationship, fuel," he laughed some more, holding her close and kissing the top of her head. Adrienne lay there for a moment, in the protection and love of his embrace, bewildered by his reaction, by this turn of events, before turning her head to try to look him in the eye.

"Does this mean you're not mad at me? That we're fine?" she whispered softly, still worried, unsure if he really was better or just overwhelmed by everything that had been thrown at him in the past day or so.

Letting go, he sat up, reaching for her hands to take them into his own.

"Yes Adrienne, we're fine. Look, regardless of anything that happened in our pasts, we're both really new at this. I understand why you did what you did, I really do. And yes I was hurt, I guess I thought because it was me that everything would be different for you, that you would realize this isn't like one of your cousins getting knocked up in high school and living in a trailer park," he tried to joke, tried to turn her words against her, but the hurt in his voice was unmistakable.

"I do, I really do. I don't know why I'm so frightened," she answered, looking down at her hands, picking her nails.

"Do you think they won't like me?" Daniel questioned as the idea creeped up into his head.

"No, no, trust me, they're going to LOVE you, I mean they loved Cam and he's a great guy, but you, us, oh just wait..." she smiled, finally, the scene playing out in her head.

Trying to imagine it himself, from the few pictures he had seen in her apartment of her family, pictures that were now in her office, he stretched his arms forward once more, pulling her back to his body.

"I'm not so sure I can get out of this speech," he finally spoke, moments later, hoping she was still awake and hadn't fallen asleep in his embrace.

"Jonas told us about that," she answered, evidently still awake, "is it that bad?"

"Yeah, they're letting me rewrite it, but I'm just not comfortable with any of it. They essentially want me to be the face of an entire planet," he muttered softly, his last words unsure.

"Daniel, I don't think there is anyone else that is a better representative of the planet than you," Adrienne replied, wrapping his arms tighter around her waist. He sighed, kissing the back of her head, nuzzling into her hair not wanting to think about what he was expected to do tomorrow, stand in front of a sea of cameras, proclaim himself a hero and start barking orders to millions of people.

But what if he didn't?

People would continue to die and the SGC would lose yet another trade and technology partner and on the off chance that Anubis had lived, had figured out Daniel's ruse, they needed all of the allies that they could get.

"Thank you ja-wer. Good that at least one of us thinks that," he said in return, rolling onto his back to get comfortable, hoping sleep would give him a better perspective in the morning. He felt Adrienne pull away and saw her turn to her side, laying her head on his chest, curling herself close to him and wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Besides, think about how cool it is from my perspective. After tomorrow I'll be sleeping with both a world famous archaeologist AND TV Star," she teased, rubbing his chest.

"You're so awful to me," he laughed, relaxing back and letting himself fall asleep.

It should have been the noise that woke him and the light that woke Adrienne, but it was the reverse. By the time Daniel realized what was happening, Adrienne was up, face pressed against the window, her staff weapon clasped at her side, Jonas rushing in the door.

"We need to leave, it's not safe to stay," the Langaran insisted, Cam racing in behind him, in full SG gear. Nodding and jumping from the bed, Daniel peered back at Adrienne who was already tossing her jacket over her tank top. Satisfied that she was alright, he should know better, she can take care of herself, Daniel reaching into the floor, grabbing his pants to pull them over, tossing the jacket over his bare chest.

"What's going on?" he finally asked, Jonas reaching for their things and stuffing them into their bag.

"Take these. I'm going to secure the house but just in case we need to get you to the gate, I'd rather you have them," Jonas instructed, handing Daniel the bags. He took them, a loud boom echoing out into the street the moment his hand made contact, shaking the house to its foundation.

"It's Forces Unite, Edmenton's group, they're trying to attack the government buildings," Jonas explained, his face furrowed in concern as he approached the window.

"Jonas," Cam started, his gun at the ready, "how are we gonna get out of here if they're attacking where we need to go?" he asked, concerned about being trapped on what was supposed to be an allied planet. Turning around slowly, his eyes scanning his friends, Jonas was taking a breath when his expression changed and he looked up at them.

"Back stairs," he said, grabbing Adrienne's hand and pulling her along, out of the guest room and into the hall, "the back stairs lead to an alleyway. No one ever uses it and we can make our way through the alleys to the side entrance. I can get us in and gate you guys home."

There were so many flawed things in the plan, the idea that no one would use a back alley, the fact that they were leaving shelter during a bombing, Jonas more concerned with getting them home than for himself, but Daniel didn't care about any of that right now.

Right now, more than anything, he wanted to get his future wife and child out of here.

The back stairs were narrow leading to basement that Jonas had clearly set up as a research facility, a large metal door at the back of the room. Their Langaran friend didn't say much as he led the way, dodging research tables and stacks of books, only looking over his shoulder to make sure they had followed. Halting at the door, he glanced back before placing his hand on the security lock.

"Alright this leads straight into the alleyway. When we get out there, turn left and just walk straight. It's gonna get really narrow, we'll have to walk single file, but it will open up by the composters and we can use the path that the trash machines take all the way to the capital," he instructed carefully, his friends nodding.

The was another explosion, one that this time they couldn't see, but the house shook once more, Daniel instinctively grabbing Adrienne's hand.

"Don't leave my sight," he whispered in her ear, getting a squeeze in return as the door opened in front of them, Jonas dashing out, hanging an immediate left.

He wasn't kidding, the passage was narrow, so much so that in places Daniel had to turn to the side to make it through. He forced Adrienne in front of him, between himself and Jonas, Cam bringing up the rear, walking backwards, his P-90 drawn. Glancing at the sky above Daniel could see the fireworks of bombs and explosions, hearing the screams of innocent people as soon as the light subsided.

This was awful, this was a disaster, this was civil war, and he had no idea how one little speech could make any of this better, in fact, he was starting to wonder that if this was the result, if the alliance with Earth was worth keeping at all.

He was lost in his thoughts when he felt a tug at his hand, looking up to see Adrienne glancing back at him, her face stoic and strong, determined to get her family out of this mess. Drawing on her strength he soldiered on, thinking of her, of their child and not of the chaos around him that he couldn't stop.

"We're almost at the depot!" Jonas shouted back, Daniel feeling his hand squeezed and being pulled along faster.

It seemed like a million steps but finally there was a light ahead rather than simply lights above. He heard Jonas yell something like here, but he wasn't paying attention to Jonas any longer, nor Adrienne surprisingly, it was the people that caught his eye, the throng of people spread out before them.

By a quick glance ahead it was clear that Jonas wasn't the only person that thought of using the service alleys, in fact it seemed that every man, woman and child in the area were gathered here, pushing and shoving their way out of similar openings into the center area and toward a somewhat larger passageway which Daniel assumed led to the capital. There were screams, cries, fighting, and Daniel stepped back, shielding Adrienne with his body, scanning the crowd for an escape.

"We can't get through!" Cam shouted from behind, holding his gun low for fear of shooting into the crowd. Daniel turned back to look at the colonel, hoping that with his training he had a plan but instead caught sight of even more people flooding out of an alley to his left. He tensed, fearing what would or could happen in a mob, turning to pull Adrienne to him, both to protect her and the precious being that she was carrying inside.

"I think we should go back to the house, or away from here. Someone's going to see these people down here on the heat sensors, that's going to make us more of a target," Jonas tried to shout, Daniel catching only bits and pieces but understood enough that he wanted to head back.

"Adrienne, now, in front, between Cam and I," he ordered, and she complied, her arm nervously holding her stomach, protectively. He watched as the colonel disappeared into the relative darkness of the alley, Adrienne running close behind when there was a flight of light, bright blue and orange, so bright it made him close his eyes for fear of being blinded. There were screams, horrible screams, but not in front of him, in front of him were words, his name being called, by Adrienne, ordering him forward, swearing at him in cajun, telling him not to turn around and look behind himself, Jonas yelling run but he couldn't, he just couldn't.

The world seemed to slow to a crawl as he turned, seeing Jonas reaching for him, pushing him forward, telling him to go and take Adrienne to safety that he would catch up, a woman behind him screaming for help, help me, I need a doctor help me please...

"Jonas take Adrienne back," he growled, pushing his friend aside and walking to the woman, dropping to his knees, realizing that he hadn't worn a tac vest on this mission at all, he had no first aid supplies, there was so much blood, but she wasn't injured, she was now on her knees as well screaming, huddled over something, over a pool of blood.

"Please...no..." she was wailing, reaching down again, Daniel pushing her away to see what she was talking about.

There, on the cobblestones, so wet with red ooze it looked like it had been raining blood, was a girl, maybe ten years old, screaming and crying in pain. He was about to ask what was wrong, where did it hurt, scanning her unscathed torso for wounds...

Her unscathed torso...

Her legs were gone...

As he looked up at the despondent mother, unsure of what to say, he could hear Adrienne behind him, throwing up.

"Dr. Jackson, I am glad that you have finally seen how badly we need your help. Now, as we discussed yesterday - " Tulra began, Daniel shaking his head, not making eye contact.

"No video," he said simply, looking ahead at the curtain, the only thing that separated him from the sound stage, if that was even what they called it, the protected area where he would speak and address a planet at war.

"I do think it would be best if -" the man argued a second time but Daniel was not to be persuaded.

"No video," he repeated, taking in a deep yet strong breath.

"If you insist," Tulra relented, "I will inform them that you are ready to begin."

He said nothing further; Daniel would hear nothing further. Reaching for the curtain, he pushed the fabric aside, stepping himself out in front of the cameras.

"You don't have to do this," Adrienne pleaded, grabbing hold of Daniel's arm to turn him to face her, touching his cheek lightly. He hadn't said much since last night, leading her back to the house by the hand, his own covered in blood, back to what he felt was the safest place for his family.

"No, I don't, but I am. I'm gonna have my say and then gate directly home to inform Sam and Jack of what is going on," he stated sternly, strongly, his voice alone reassuring her that he was alright. Sighing, knowing by the expression on his face that there was no talking him out of this she instead wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

"I'll be right here waiting for you," she whispered, peering up at him, "I love you."

"I love you," he responded, kissing her head and pulling back, pushing his way through the curtain. She waited until the flap closed behind him before turning from where she had been standing, walking over to Jonas to watch the broadcast. He forced a smile, crossing his hands in front of himself as he gazed at the small black and white screen.

"You should come back with us," Adrienne finally said, breaking the silence. Grimacing, Jonas let out a breath, glancing back at the ground.

"I can't just leave my people Addy, not with all of this," he replied, appreciating her concern.

"No, I understand. Felt like I should offer," she whispered.

"I appreciate it, really," he answered, dropping to silence as Daniel's face appeared on the screen.

"Hello. My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson and I am speaking to you on behalf of the Taur'i, the people of Earth. I am addressing you today to..."

He's pausing, she thought, why is he pausing? He had the legal pad, it was right there in his hands, but he's lost and staring out into space. He'd seemed so strong last night, so determined, leading her back to the house, sitting her at the table with Jonas and Cam before taking himself down the hall...

Looking away for just a moment, Daniel shook his head, glancing back at the camera, continuing.

"I understand that you're going through a tough time right now, that there's a divide between your people. Don't think for a moment that my planet is perfect and has all of the answers, because trust me, we have problems like this on my world all of the time."

Adrienne cut her eyes at Jonas as he nodded, knowing that he might have come to get Daniel, to bring him here, but he knew, he knew better than any of these bureaucrats standing here that statement was the truth. It was the truth, not the speech he had read to them last night at Jonas' table, not the one he'd rehearsed; it was the truth and Daniel was just choosing to speak it.

But your leaders, they're worried, on all sides, they're worried about you as a people. This isn't about who won or lost an election, this is about whether or not you're going to choose to allow people to get hurt, innocent people. Women, children."

Adrienne bit her lip carefully remembering last night, as he had held the bleeding little girl in his arms, the girl he could do nothing for as she lay dying, her mother's heart breaking. Reactively, she touched her abdomen, knowing his thoughts from last night, knowing his pain.

"There are a lot of things that happen in life, in your individual lives, on a global scale, and sometimes those things are awful and can shape and change our opinion. However, while history can repeat itself, it doesn't have to, we should learn from our mistakes not live in fear of repeating them.

Mistakes, Adrienne thought, her mind going back home, selfishly, which it shouldn't after everything she had witnessed, but it did, her hormones taking over her good sense.

_I screwed up, I always screw up, why do I keep screwing up?_

Yes, our worlds have had our problems, but I know, at least on our end that we've learned a lot from those experiences. But we can't be fearful of everything that might happen because what kind of life is that? Fine, an alliance with my world doesn't benefit you, then cut ties, end our relationship, but don't end what could be and in my opinion still is a mutually beneficial relationship because of the possibility that something bad could happen. Is that the existence you want? Living in fear? Fear that remaining friends with us will cost your further? Fear that closing the gate will leave you vulnerable? Fear that disagreeing with your neighbor will cost you your life? Either way it doesn't seem that you're really living at all."

I'm not, Adrienne thought, they're not. Daniel's right, you can't spend you entire existence in fear, you have to enjoy what you have and work your hardest to make the world, to make everything better. I can't be afraid of what they'll say and why should I care. I found my place in this world, my home, my soulmate...

"I'm not going to stand here and tell you what to do, it's not my place, it's not anybody's place. I will say that your planet is one of our closest allies and your friendship will be missed by many should you choose to terminate our relationship."

"Jonas," Adrienne said, reaching for his hand.

"Addy are you alright?" he asked, noting the sudden change in her demeanor.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, can you tell Daniel I had to go home, everything's ok, that I just needed to gate back. Can you tell him to meet me at home as soon as he can?" she asked quickly, knowing what she needed to do. She couldn't stop a war, Daniel couldn't stop a war, but there was something for him that she could fix.

"Of course, but are you sure everything's alright?" he repeated, worried.

"Yes, I'm sure," she answered, squeezing his hand and turning to rush out of the door, pausing before she could twist the knob.

"Jonas?" she asked, looking back one more time, "I'm sorry about everything. About the dinner, about acting funny, about, well. You're a wonderful person and I want you to know that you've been missed on Earth, missed on the team, even by Daniel. If this gets bad, gets worse than we can help, please know that our door, that my door, is always open."

Touched, not knowing what to say, Jonas nodded, watching her leave quickly and then peering back at the screen as Daniel began to describe the horror from the night before.

The meeting he had just had with Sam, a good three hours in length, was easily one of the hardest meetings of his entire life. After describing the events he had witnessed in that alleyway behind Jonas' home in Langara to the people of the planet on live TV, he hadn't had much else to say, leaving the stage, bidding farewell to his friend and collecting Cameron before gating home. He hadn't really been shocked that Adrienne left, between the attack and her continual vomiting for hours afterwards he was quite surprised that she hadn't begged to be sent home the minute that the military envoy had arrived at Jonas' door to provide safe escort to the capital. He knew why she hadn't, she had wanted to be there for him regardless of how she was feeling, support him, just one of the many reasons that he loved her.

He thought about everything that had happened, everything that he had seen back on the planet the entire metro ride to the station, almost missing the stop for home. He shouldn't beat himself up about it, he couldn't fix an entire world, and it seemed that the people of Langara had been fighting each other in one way or another the entire time he had known them.

Maybe he should give up, maybe it just wasn't meant for that world to properly function.

Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, Daniel grabbed his house keys, fumbling with them for a moment, exhausted, both mentally and emotionally, finally slipping the metal sliver into the lock. He turned till the click, reaching for the knob and opening the door.

Stepping through the entryway, Daniel walked quickly down the hall, peeling off his leather jacket and walking past the coat closet, wanting nothing more than to come home, take Adrienne into his arms and pretend that just for a moment, that there was nothing else in this world but her, their love and their future.

So, needless to say, Daniel was surprised to see his beautiful fiancee sitting on the sofa, two suitcases at her feet.

"Put your coat back on sha," she requested, smiling brightly. Confused, he frowned, walking over to her and tossing his jacket on the sofa.

"Ja-wer, please, I just can't go on any sort of adventure now, you understand..." he started, Adrienne leaping up from the sofa and taking his hands.

"This isn't an adventure," she said, reaching for his face, "it's wedding planning. We need to pick a date and start planning before I get too big."

"Wedding planning, Adrienne, please, I -" he started to protest, her finger hushing him.

"I called my aunt. She's expecting us in an hour. She wants to meet the man I'm gonna marry."

Sam had gotten the call from Adrienne what seemed like mere moments after Daniel had left her office requesting a few days so she could take him home to meet her family. Of course had been her answer, they needed time off after that experience and she couldn't think of a better place for the two of them than with family thinking of happier things like weddings and babies and not worlds falling apart.

Quietly sitting at her desk, Sam looked at the report she and Daniel hacked out, anxious for her husband to return her call, having left a message for his secretary over an hour ago. She didn't want to take any action without him, this was too hostile a situation to ignore, and she wanted to put their heads together before calling in the IOA and the other paper pushers.

"Attention. Incoming Traveler. Unauthorized. Planet Code P2S -4C3."

Recognizing the code as Langara, Sam leapt from her desk, racing through the briefing room straight to the observation deck where Walter was standing not sitting as the iris opened, the wormhole blasting into the room.

"General, it was a distress call, from Jonas Quinn," he explained, needing only to say that and nothing more, Sam already running out of the door and down the staircase.

The event horizon stabilized only for a second before a flood of people came cascading through it, men, women, children, in various stages of disarray and injury, carrying nothing but the clothes on their back. SGC personnel flooded the gate room, weapons raised, pointing them at the growing crowd.

"Weapons down!" Sam ordered, "They're civilians!" The guards did as they were told, looking to their superior confused, as she pushed her way through the people, men holding bleeding children in their arms, women coming through pulling their husbands.

"Where is Jonas!?" Sam shouted, searching frantically for her friend, her friend who had been fine and in her office less than forty eight hours ago.

"Sam!" she heard a weak shout from ahead, his hand reaching up from the back and then him standing, staggering, waving both arms now at Walter.

"Kill the gate! Walter kill the gate!" he was screaming, jumping, suddenly falling to the ground. Her heart stopped and she pushed her way through the crowd, finding Jonas on his knees trying to catch his breath.

"Jonas, what happened!? Who are these people!?" she asked, resting her hand on his back. He took a few deep breaths, rapidly, calmly himself before looking up at her.

"They attacked, the capital, bombs, aerial attacks, I got who I could and came to the gate to come here, but, they, I was the last that made it through, they blew up the DHD, I thought the wormhole was going to close behind me but I just made it, the others, I don't know, Sam, we didn't even know they were coming, we had no idea..." he rambled, pausing and breathing heavily in between.

"Who attacked Jonas? Edmenton's people? The Lucians?" Sam questioned as Jonas looked her in the eyes shaking his head, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"No," Jonas took another breath, "it was the clones..."


	52. Chapter 51 - When Worlds Collide

One could never say that Daniel Jackson was a 'touchy' person. It wasn't that he shrugged away from physical touch or outward affection per se; it was more like he was often the unwilling recipient of said contact. It was a habit from youth, his parents never being that tactile and his foster parents not at all. It wasn't until he met, became friends with and fell in love with Adrienne Rowan that he reached out himself to lay his hands onto another person in the way that he did with her, the way he had been somewhat reluctant to do in past relationships.

Barbara Verdin, on the other hand, was 'touchy' and not just Southern 'touchy', but in your face, full on bear hug touchy. So much so that despite Adrienne's warnings the entire car ride from where the Daedalus has dropped them off outside of the airport to the small house on the outskirts of New Orleans proper, he could have never prepared for the football like tackle that was thrust upon him by this loud and boisterous woman. He had to take a step back to support himself as this rather portly lady, clad in a purple New Orleans Saints t-shirt and gray sweatpants enveloped him in her large arms, thrusting herself upon him, hugging him so tightly that he was certain he would pass out any second from lack of air.

"Gar ici Addy luk ah 'im, ya neva said dat Daniel be so 'andsome," she exclaimed, making Adrienne blush.

Of course she had noticed he was handsome, she'd noticed on day one when she still thought he was a jackass, but even once they became friends that wasn't exactly something she would have told her aunt, Rae maybe, but not her aunt. Still clinging tightly to Daniel, her happy declarations quickly took a turn; the older woman's face screwing up and her head shaking at her niece.

"I dought I taught ya bedda doe, givin' me an 'our, only an 'our I donna 'ave any time ta get anyting made, anyting done. Der be no cahke, no frittas, I'va jus 'ad time ta re'eat an apple pie ahn put awn some cafe," the woman fussed, Daniel's eyes cutting at Adrienne, pleading for help as she mouthed the words 'I told you so.'

"Mumma, let go ov 'im," a voice spoke from the doorway, as an tall thin women, with straight auburn hair and green eyes stepped out onto the porch, "Ah dink Addy wants ta keep 'im in one piece."

Relieved to be released from her embrace, Daniel took a breath, starting to reach out for Adrienne when he felt a hand in his own, pulling him forward. He smiled, stepping forward to see where his love was leading him when he noted the absence of the ring on her finger, glancing up to see that it was Aunt Barbara holding tight to his hand, pulling him into the house.

"Told ya sha," Adrienne giggled, repeating, out loud this time, following behind her fiancee and ridiculously excited aunt.

"Nah hug fa me?" the tall woman asked, stepping forward to catch Adrienne, reaching out her arms.

"Rae, I dinna expect ya ta be 'ere," Adrienne responded, not bothering to hide her accent much here at home, among her family, hugging the woman as asked, squeezing her tightly.

"Ya dink mumma wonna gonna call me? Addy, da supa hero of da family, da one who say dat she neva gonna get married, calls da 'ouse ta say she in da Bayou, wit a man, and wants 'im da meet us. Like Ida eva missed dat," she whispered, kissing her cousin's cheek and pulling away.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I know dat I'm neva gonna 'ear da end ah it, eva, so jus keep walkin'," Adrienne admitted, clasping her cousin's hand, dragging her into the house worried about what in the world her aunt was doing or saying to Daniel.

"So who be dat?" Rae inquired, curious, having never heard Adrienne mention anyone on the phone who she might have been dating, even though it seemed that her cousin had made a lot of male friends in D.C. There had been one man she had been interested in, but Rae specifically remembered Adrienne saying he was dark-skinned, from the islands, but this man was pale, Caucasian with striking blue eyes. Rae had met Adrienne's friend Cameron, the man they thought she was seeing, and this definitely wasn't him. Based on the name alone, her friend T-dog had to be African-American, Rae thought, although felt bad about the assumption and again, this man was white.

That only left one person, at least one person of the male persuasion.

"Nevamind, dat be ya bahss," Rae answered herself before Adrienne could speak, would speak, her eyes locked on her aunt dragging her fiancee into the kitchen.

"Uh huh," Adrienne replied flatly, "dat's Daniel." Unsatisfied, the taller cajun woman stopped dead in her tracks, holding her cousin back and turning to look her in the eye.

"Addy, dat be ya bahss. Ya donna dink dat's a bad idea?" Rae questioned, her face full of concern and worry, Adrienne ripping her wrist from her clasp annoyed.

"Ah cahss it wasn't a gud idea, but da ya dink I planned it? Da ya dink I say hey letsa get a great new jahb ahn fall in luv wit mah employa?," she paused her rant, clearing her throat and her head, speaking carefully so her words would be understood, "But I did, Rae, I did fall in love with him and he's, well, trust me, he's worth it," Adrienne answered, her eyes full of honesty.

Rae was going to speak, going to protest, but she had never seen her cousin like this before, even with Joshua; Adrienne was happy, truly happy. They talked on the phone once a week at least, and Adrienne had become a different person, she'd noticed the change. She'd always been happy and optimistic, but distant, even with family, but the person standing in front of her right now was anything but distant. Shaking her head, Rae glanced at the floor before looking up at Adrienne again.

"I neva dought I'd see ya like this, ya know, especially becaz of ah man," she whispered, a small smile on her face.

"I didn't either," Adrienne admitted quietly, "now come on, we have more to tell ya, and I'm kind of scared as to what Aunt Barbara is doing ta 'im."

Laughing, Rae followed, in sheer amazement, as her sometimes snotty, sometimes arrogant, and always viciously independent cousin made a mad dash for the back of the house, acting like the love struck woman they had always hoped was inside.

"You're lucky, the shrapnel only grazed your leg and other than these superficial cuts in your face, you're fine," Carolyn Lam explained as she secured the bandage to Jonas' upper thigh, the Langaran man wincing in pain.

"Thanks, it felt like a lot worse," he answered, slowly, reaching to rub the wound as if that would make it better before pausing, deciding that wasn't such a good idea. He shivered, it had been late spring on his planet and here it was clearly at the early stages of winter, so sitting in the infirmary in only a hospital gown wasn't exactly the warmest of situations.

"What about the people I brought through? How are they?" he redirected his concern, noting that only he himself had been brought to the infirmary, catching a few snippets of conversation between Carolyn and the other newer doctors he had only met in passing, conversation concerning the remaining contingent of Langaran escapees being taken to the gym. He expected a smile, had hoped for a smile, but the doctor was stoic, serious, looking up at him professionally.

"I haven't gotten the final counts of anything, but, Jonas, I know that at least two didn't make it," she replied, quietly, Jonas nodding as he swallowed, taking his gaze to Sam, who had been waiting patiently at his bedside.

"Thank you for taking us in. I didn't know where else to go, I, I left so many people behind," he answered, the shock abating, reality setting in, but Sam was already shaking her head.

"Jonas, there's nothing else you could have done. You can't stop the actions of an entire planet," she replied, reaching out for his knee as he put his head down, shaking it, in disappointment more than anything.

"There was no way we could have known. It was so fast. Daniel left and Edmenton himself called, called Tulra and asked for a truce, said he was calling off all of his forces," Jonas choked, coughing, Dr. Lam passing over a cup of water.

"Jonas, you said it was the clones, you mean Anubis' clones? But they've never been to Langara that we know, are you sure?" Sam asked now, knowing she should wait for Jack to arrive, for Jonas to be well enough to brief them but she had to know.

She had to know if this was just the beginning.

"Pretty sure. They were wearing leathers, like Lucians, but they all looked alike, every last one of them, they -" Jonas started to explain when he was interrupted by a loud yelling from across the room.

"Dammit Jonas, didn't we just leave your place? I thought Daniel said everything was all hunky dorey over in your neck of the galaxy and you show up here all blown to shit and Walter says he can't even dial into your planet!" he was shouting as he approached, waving his cell phone at Sam.

Clearly, he had gotten her text.

"No, sir, and he won't be able to. They blew up the DHD, or disabled it in the very least. Once I saw flames I didn't bother to stick around to figure out which," Jonas replied quickly.

"Jack, Jonas says he saw clones leading the attack..." Sam added carefully, trailing at the end, her husband taking a breath before releasing a world of swears, calming himself after a moment and looking back at her.

"So, what you're tellin' me is that Daniel's little rescue Dr. Perky plan did nothing but rescue Dr. Perky?" Jack started, Sam opening her mouth to defend Daniel's actions. Yes, it had been a long shot, giving Anubis the dialing sequence to the Destiny in the hopes that he would blow himself up, but given the circumstances it was an excellent plan when suddenly her husband's expression changed, as she watched his soft brown eyes scan the room.

"Speaking of, where is the dynamic duo?" he added, interrupting her train of thought.

"They're in New Orleans, family business," she answered simply.

"Uh, honey, last I checked a member of SG-1 came tearing through the gate with about a hundred folks, injured, his planet's all gone to shit, we can't dial back to send help and Daniel and his baby mamma have gone to play with the in-laws!?" he exclaimed.

"Really Jack, baby mamma?" Sam retorted, ignoring the rest of his remark.

"Yeah Sam, it's what all the cool kids are saying, you need to spend more time with the cadets," he snapped back, turning his phone in his hand to search for a number.

"Who are you calling?" Jonas asked now, feeling a little lost in their strange conversation but very flattered that Jack still considered him a member of SG1.

"Daniel, obviously his little speech of peace didn't work," Jack answered, not looking up, scrolling further down the numbers, Sam swiftly swiping the phone from his grasp.

"No, you're not. Jonas hasn't even been discharged yet, I just started talking to him and it's eleven at night. Let me call Woolsey, let Dr. Lam give me the okay that Jonas can leave, let me get a hold of everyone and then we can call Daniel," Sam spat back, daring Jack to reach for the phone.

"Sam, dammit, what in the hell could be so god damn important that we can't call Daniel out of a little romantic get-away with his assistant!?" Jack questioned, his voice raising, Sam noting his choice of the word assistant.

She'd discuss that, again, with him later.

"Jack, keep it down," she hissed, pulling him over to the side and away from a confused Jonas, "she's taking him to meet her family Jack. Daniel's never met her family."

His eyes widening, Jack started to laugh, momentarily forgetting the plight of the Langarans.

"Wait, he's never met her family!? Dr. Perky's shacking up with him, he knocked her up and he's never met her family!? Look at our little space monkey, all grown up and becoming reality TV fodder..." he joked, reaching for his phone.

"No Jack. At least let Jonas get the ok and then we can call them. Give them that long, please," Sam added the last part quietly, Jack taking the phone from her palm and shoving it into his pocket.

"Fine, for Jonas' sake. I'm not worried about Plant Boy trying make good with the Rowan family," Jack agreed, walking back over to Jonas to inquire about his well-being.

"Mrs. Verdin, this pie is amazing," Daniel complimented, honestly Adrienne could tell, as he dove into his second piece.

Yep you're gonna love him, he's an eater, Adrienne thought, watching Aunt Barbara smile with delight.

"Call me Aunt Barb, ya gonna marry my Addy den ya need not be callin' me Miz Verdin," she quickly corrected, the carafe in her hand as she refilled his coffee cup, moving to refill Adrienne's when she shook her hand.

One cup won't hurt the baby, she thought, two wouldn't either, but at this rate she was going to probably be up all night anyway.

"Aunt Barbara, this is just, well, excellent, thank you so much," Daniel amended, sticking another forkful into his face. Smiling, the robust Cajun woman set the container back on the stove, walking over to join her guests at the kitchen table.

"Mais, Addy tell me dat ya two jus be gettin' engaged propa," she started right in, the interrogation Adrienne had expected. Aunt Barbara already knew who he was, she had given Adrienne the third degree about Daniel's entire background when Adrienne took the job. Aunt Barbara believed it was a government job, working with archaeologists around the world to preserve and analyze ancient treasures that were being lost in the throes of war. It had been an easy sell, given that many young men in her area had been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and the media often talked about the vast array of artifacts being lost. Adrienne just decided to work that, explaining why she wasn't at the Smithsonian but rather had an extension at the Pentagon.

"Oh right, I'm supposed to be flashing this, aren't I?" Adrienne said quickly, pulling her hand from the coffee cup displaying her ring proudly to her aunt and cousin, both women cooing in delight. Cutting a quick glance at Daniel, Adrienne saw that he was smiling himself, proud, as he should be; he had done an excellent job.

"So den when be da date?" the inquiry continued, surprisingly though, not annoying to Adrienne in the least. She thought she'd hate this, but instead, it was all very exciting.

_I'm getting married, to Daniel..._

"Actually, Aunt Barbara, we haven't picked a date yet..." Adrienne admitted quietly.

"Well," the stout woman set right in, standing from the table, "spring is nice, dat's give us a 'lil ova a year. We culd time it 'round Mardi Gras o da firss ah March o da April Fish.." she started listing every New Orleans holiday during the spring she could think of. Adrienne, however, was shaking her head, preparing for surprise number two, Daniel reading her mind, his fork down, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

"What be wrong Addy?" Barbara questioned, seeing the faces of the couple, "ya nah wanna do da spring? We cahn do da summa but it be mighty hawt en da Bayou.."

"No, Aunt Barbara, we'd actually like to do it sooner than later, very soon," Adrienne started slowly, carefully, feeling out the situation Daniel could tell.

"Co faire Addy? Do ya know how long it takes ta plahn a weddin'? It tawk a gud year ta plan ya cousin's..." she asked puzzled, reaching for the back of the chair. Knowing that she couldn't do this by herself, Adrienne stretched out her hand, searching for Daniel's blindly, needing his support.

"Aunt Barbara," she started slowly, fearing the words, the reaction.

Her family had never been a 'good' Catholic family, but they had been enough, Ash Wednesday, Easter, Christmas, enough for Adrienne to fear what they would say to her being pregnant and unmarried. Yes, it happened here, but not in this family, probably part of the reason Adrienne was so critical of others when it did. Curious, Barbara leaned closer waiting for her response, but she just couldn't, she couldn't bring herself to say the words...

"Aunt Barbara, we're expecting. Not too soon, late May early June it looks like, but we're having a baby. I want you to know, to understand that I'm not marrying Adrienne because of that. I was planning to ask anyway, planning poorly, but planning, when we found out. I love your niece so much, more than words could ever express and I want to spend the rest of my life with her and to raise this child, my child with her. I'm sorry if we've disappointed you in anyway," Daniel spoke for her instead, biting his lip slightly at the end of his speech hoping that everything Adrienne had ever warned him about wouldn't come true, that this seemingly kind woman wouldn't explode.

The Verdin family matriarch paused, staring at the two of them for just a moment, glancing at Rae and then back at the pair.

Adrienne took a deep breath, holding it, dreading her words, when she saw her aunt break into a smile, racing up to the both of them, hugging Adrienne tightly while reaching out frantically for Daniel's hand.

"Addy gonna have a bébé! Addy! My Addy! A bébé, ya best not be foolin' me, Addy nah, be it verite!? A bébé!" she was rambling, shouting, screaming, jumping back and forth between hugging them both.

Shocked, that was the only way she could describe it, Adrienne was shocked. She expected anything but happiness, anger, something like an I told you so, that this was what you got for being so arrogant, but that wasn't what was happening at all, in fact, even her cousin was beaming with excitement.

"Buddy!" her aunt screamed as she finally stood, stopping her crazy hugging spree and racing from the kitchen, Adrienne now remembering that her poor uncle was probably in the bed already, "Addy gonna 'ave a bébé!"

_They're so happy, it's like a dream. _

_I'm getting married, to Daniel, and we're gonna have a baby and EVERYONE is so happy..._

Adrienne started to look over at Daniel, to hug him herself, this was so perfect, so absolutely perfect when she heard laughing beside her, peering over her shoulder to see Rae, still seated chuckling into her hand.

"Wha?" Adrienne asked, confused, but Rae just laughed harder, her long fingers reaching to wipe a stray tear from her eye.

"I just rememba why I taught it was so funny dat ya ended up wit ya bahss," Rae sputtered in between giggles, shaking her head.

"Why?" she lead, looking back at Daniel, who seemed completely bewildered by her cousin's behavior.

"Becuz a da blog. Ya blog. I recognize da picture ahn da name. See Addy, I lissen ta ya. Ya said he dought ET built da peeramids ahn he was a mahran ahn nah ya let 'em knock ya up," Rae explained, Adrienne blushing furiously as she remembered showing her cousin that exact entry. It took everything she had to not crawl into the floor as Daniel peered over at her smiling.

"C'est la vie Addy," Rae added with a smile, leaning back into her chair, "c'est la vie."

Jonas took a deep breath before beginning, his nervous eyes scanning the room. His old team, no his team Jack had said, Jonas Quinn was still a member of SG-1, was sitting here before him, Sam, Jack, Teal'c along with the newer additions of Vala and Cameron as well as John Sheppard of Atlantis and the IOA liaison Robert Woolsey. The only members not present were Daniel and Adrienne, both of whom Sam said were meeting her family. Everyone was staring at him, looking for answers that he wasn't sure that he had, Jonas trying to find someone to look at for comfort, deciding on Teal'c as his focus. The Jaffa had been his ally before, and he hoped he could be his support now.

"Ok Jonas, let's start with right after Daniel left, unless there was something else concerning his speech?" Sam began, wanting him to talk to her and her directly, sensing his apprehension. He shook his head, still looking at Teal'c who was nodding slowly, grimacing, running the speech through his head again to try and recall if he missed anything.

"No, there's nothing else. I watched with Addy until she left and then Daniel finished shortly after," Jonas answered, "it was then that the calls came in."

There was a clearing of a throat, the Langaran looking over to see Mr. Woolsey holding up a finger to halt him.

"Please, Mr. Quinn, if you could wait just a moment, I'd like to record this," he stated, not asking if Jonas wished to be recorded, just declaring that it would be done. Heeding his request, Jonas nodded, waiting, looking back to Teal'c for strength, taking a sip of water as Woolsey gave him the signal to continue.

"I was asked by an aide to President Tulra to escort Daniel back to the gate and we went straight there, he & Adrienne had packed their things the night before after the attack," he started, pausing at the word attack, feeling the need to clarify, "the first attack, the one that..." he trailed, remembering ushering Adrienne away as she screamed, throwing up, Daniel holding a dead bleeding child, Cameron shooting bullets at assaulting aircraft in the sky.

"The one we were in, I gave y'all the run down on that," Cam stepped in, glaring over at Woolsey. Jonas was a scientist and a bureaucrat, not a soldier and there was no need in having him relive two bloodbaths; the way the Langaran was fixating on Teal'c, Cam didn't need a neon glowing sign to tell him that this was more than Jonas Quinn could handle.

"Yes," Jonas said, the relief in not having to live that again apparent, "Daniel gated back, the tech ordered the shutdown of the gate and I returned immediately to my office."

Sam was nodding that he continue, so he reached over, taking another sip of water.

"At what would be approximately ten in the morning on Langara, I received a phone call from the President's aide asking that I return to the President's office immediately, that he had received a call from Edmenton's representative. He gave me no further details at that time so I went to the office as requested," Jonas stated, glancing over at Woolsey to make sure he could continue. Receiving a nod, he swallowed and continued, speaking a bit easier this time, able to look at someone other than Teal'c.

"When I arrived at the office there was a rather large gathering of representatives there, some I knew, some I didn't, I can give you the names if needed," he offered.

"No, that's not necessary at this point, don't you agree Robert?" Sam replied, checking with her husband with her eyes while her words were asking the bureaucrat. Silently, Jack nodded in agreement.

"Not now, no, continue Mr. Quinn," he answered.

"We waited about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, a few other people arrived when the phone rang again, this time the president himself taking the call. He asked the caller if he could put him on speaker phone and he did, it was Edmenton. He talked about how he was moved by the speech, that the Taur'i man was right and that he was going to address the people himself. He asked permission to use the sound studio, the national broadcast network like Daniel had to make his speech. He said he would like to do it as soon as possible, so Tulra told him to arrive in two hours," Jonas explained, Sam now halting him.

"That made it, twelve thirty your time, twenty one thirty ours," Sam noted, everyone checking their watches and phones to compare to the time right now.

"Correct," Jonas answered, eyeing the group to see if he could continue. No one said anything, Sam writing in the file, Jack staring right through him as his blue eyes scanned the faces around the table, getting a small smile from Vala. Taking another sip of water, he swallowed quickly and continued.

"I wasn't required to attend, but since I had brought Daniel there and the President was quite pleased with this turn of events he invited me down, invited me to come and witness history, what kind of history I wasn't sure, averting civil war, ending a war that already started, but I just felt like I should be there, like I needed to go, maybe it was fate or a higher power, but I went and met with the camera men again and waited, chatting with the president, just waiting. Everything seemed alright, everything was fine, and then Edmenton arrived with his people and he was smiling..." he rambled, trailing, his hands trembling slightly, eyes back at Teal'c.

"Take your time Jonas, take your time," Sam assured him, setting her pen down on the folder to reach out for his hand, grasping it tightly.

"It's a blur from here, I'm sorry. I remember Edmenton entering, walking in and falling, he'd been shot from the rear, some sort of blast pistol, and there were screams, people shouting to take cover. I was standing right by the president, I don't know how I didn't get shot, I was standing right there, but I pulled him down beside me, what was left of him. He'd been hit already, a blast straight through his throat, there was blood everywhere. There was an explosion beside me, that must have been how I was hit, and when I looked up there was screaming and shrieking and all I could think of was to dial the gate. So I ran, I grabbed whoever was near me, various government officials, children, people had brought their children to the capital, government workers thinking they would be safer there, so I was grabbing them, screaming for the older ones to grab the younger ones, grabbing law clerks, anyone, just running to the gate," he continued, pausing, breathing slowly.

"And the clones Mr. Quinn? You said it was the clones?" Woolsey lead, treading lightly as Jack's eyes warned him that was the only course of action that would be acceptable.

"Yes. I stopped, trying to send them ahead, once the gate was in view, screaming for the tech to dial here, to dial the last address hoping that wouldn't give anything away. I waited, trying to send through anyone I could when I saw them charging. They looked just like the intruders from before, in dress at least, but their faces, they were all identical, all pale, black eyes, black hair, each one exactly alike and their faces were distorted, misshapen, almost like they had been harvested or something before they were fully grown. They looked just like the photos that Daniel brought the last time he came to speak with the senate, exactly like them and I knew instantly that is what they were."

"Jonas, was it Anubis?" Sam asked gently.

"I don't know. They were just running, shooting, didn't really seem to have any sort of plan except for destroying the DHD. There was one screaming about shoot the dialer and I saw something explode behind me as I jumped through," he concluded, unable to control the shiver coursing through his body. Looking down, he tried to grab his cup of water but was unable to, the liquid splashing over the edges.

"It's okay," Sam started, looking back at Woolsey, "that's all we need. Vala would you mind taking Jonas down to the housing wing, get him a place to stay and some clothes."

"No problem," she answered softly, standing and directing him to follow. The group sat in silence until they left, Vala closing the door behind them.

"Now we call Daniel?" Jack asked the moment that they were clear, giving his wife a look.

"Yeah," she nodded slowly, a sigh escaping her lips, "call Daniel."

"Where are we going?" Daniel asked, trailing his beaming assistant, his best friend, his fiancee, his soon to be wife as she dragged him lightly by his fingers out the back door and past an old bench, into the darkness beyond. She had only a small flashlight in her hands, illuminating their way down a well-trodden pathway at the back of the yard.

"To the gazebo, you'll see..." she replied, giggling, so happy, so very happy. He had to admit, he was too, he had expected to have to defend Adrienne, especially when the news of the baby came out, but he hadn't. Her entire family, including her uncle, were absolutely delighted and they had spent the better part of the following hour calling every Verdin and Rowan in Orleans parish and scouring the calendar for wedding dates, choosing a date, mid-January, Aunt Barbara assuring them that Adrienne wouldn't be showing very much.

"It's just ahead," she added, dropping his hand to lead the way to the edge of the water. Aunt Barbara technically lived in New Orleans, but this large patch of land off of Paris Avenue backed up to the preserve, and according to Adrienne, was one of the few rural areas left in the parish.

"It's amazing out here," he whispered after her, the glow of the city to the east bright but not enough to fade the sparkle of the stars, the winter constellations clearly painted overhead.

"Told you," she answered, still laughing as they arrived at a small white gazebo, Adrienne ducking inside.

"Come on," she ordered, "It's quiet, good view of the stars." Doing as requested, Daniel stepped in behind her, taking a seat next to where she sat, not looking at him but gazing up to the sky.

"I used to come out here as a kid. Daydream. Write stories in my head. I'd pretend that Han Solo was gonna land the Millennium Falcon right there," she said, pointing to a solid patch in the swamp ahead, "and take me away to fight for the Rebel Alliance."

She choked up at the memory, a part of Daniel wanting to joke or tease, but he didn't, just reached his arm around her waist, pulling her to him. He wasn't the leader of the Rebel Alliance, or Han Solo for that matter, but he'd like to think that the world they shared together was close enough.

"You know, I had my first kiss in this gazebo," she continued, as she laid her head on his shoulder, sniffing in.

"Oh really?" he answered, keeping it simple and letting her talk, she seemed to want to talk, to share, to open up to his about this past of hers that she never had avoided talking about per se but had never really offered up.

"Yeah, I was eleven. His name was Ryan, he was my first boyfriend, which pretty much meant he walked me to class and carried my backpack," she said, giggling, happy again, so wonderful, this was all just so wonderful, that work or not, fate of the world or not, he wanted this to never end. He wanted to sit here forever, holding her hand, holding her close and talk, just looking out at the stars.

"Did he have a great opening line or did he just go in for the kill?" he teased finally, turning his head to kiss the top of hers.

"No, actually, for eleven it was pretty good. He said he liked how my hyper color t-shirt was neon green when most of the girls wore pink," she laughed, squeezing his hand, "it made me different and he liked that I was different."

"Very creative," he mocked, laughing himself, a tiny part of him thinking that young Ryan had a point; Adrienne was different and was just another reason he loved her.

"Hush you..." she whispered back, not angry in the least. Paradise, he thought, this is what paradise feels like.

"Hey Ad?" he asked in the dark, sitting up from where he had rested his head onto hers.

"What cooyon?" she giggled back.

"I like how your running shoes are yellow and not purple and pink like the other girls..." he joked, unable to resist, wanting to hear her perfect laugh right now, wanting her to share in his happiness.

"Oh really?" she asked, giving him what he wanted, that laugh, that sheer delight.

"Yeah, it's cool," he replied, trying to do his best tough guy voice, receiving riotous laughter in return.

"Even though I have big man feet?" she countered quickly, looking over at him, cocking her head and raising her eyebrows.

"They look even better because of your big man feet," he tried, failing miserably and laughing at his own poor attempt.

"Not a good line back Indy," she laughed, looking back over at him, his kind face slightly lit in the moonlight.

"Yeah, I know not even close," he said quickly, reaching over to take her into his arms, kissing her slowly, holding her face in his hands. They kissed gently in the strangely warm winter Bayou air, Adrienne pulling back laughing.

"So, we decided just to go in for the kill?" she asked, running her fingers lightly down his jaw.

"Yeah because it's clear that no one will ever have a better pick-up line than Ryan," he retorted, expecting her to laugh, tease, but she didn't, instead she leaned over, taking his face in her hands kissing him again, with more passion than before, pulling herself to her knees and running her fingers through his hair.

"Ad, what are you doing?" he asked, pulling away lightly as she crawled slowly into his lap.

"I'm kissing my future husband, in the gazebo," she whispered back, moving her lips to his cheekbone, working her velvety skin ever so slowly to his neck. He lifted his head slightly, letting her peck and tease for a moment, feeling himself tighten in his pants before again realizing where he was, pushing her back gently.

"Adrienne, stop, we can't we're, well," he stammered, nervous more so by the fact his body was considering this an option more than anything else.

"Outside?" she teased, "Or at my aunt's house?" she added, continuing her advance down his neck as she reached between them, backing up to undo the top button of his jeans.

"Both," he choked out, peeking over his shoulder at the lights of the house in the distance, noting the lantern that Adrienne had brought and set at their feet was really the only light near them. She was pulling down his zipper now, slowly, reaching her fingers inside the fly, rubbing lightly. Peering herself back at the house, she pulled her hands away only long enough to shove the lantern aside, changing the shapes of the shadows cast on the walls.

"There, no one can see now," she assured him, resuming her touching. She wanted to be close to him, so very close, and he was hissing in like he would do, seeming to want the same, so she let her fingers toy, wanting to tease him longer.

Breathing in, Daniel looked behind a second time, seeing that the side two window lights had gone out, presumably her aunt going to bed and returned his gaze to Adrienne, resting his palms on her hips.

"You've ruined me," he joked as he walked his fingers to undo her pants, laughing lightly as he did so.

"Pretty much," she replied, standing slightly to allow him access to the zipper, watching him pull it down slowly. Tenderly, he inched his digits back to her hips, reaching inside of the waistband, grabbing and guiding her pants to the floor of the structure...

**_(For the full love scene please see the erotic alternates page :) ) _**

..."You do realize that we just made love at your aunt's house, in her gazebo," she heard him finally whisper, pecking her collar bone lightly. Adrienne giggled and hugged him tighter, kissing his head.

"Are you afraid of what she would say? You already got me pregnant and we just picked a wedding date, with her. I think we're safe sha," she joked, running her palms down his back. She pecked his lips one more time, a part of her sad as she always was when the intimate moment was over, standing to reach for her jeans, but he held her in place in his lap.

"Are you ok?" he whispered, running his hands down her bare hips, gazing into her eyes. Giggling, Adrienne reached for his face, running her palm down his cheek.

"Yes, I'm fine. It was amazing, as always, stop worrying," she assured him softly.

"It's not that; you know what I mean. I just don't want to hurt him or her, I know Dr. Lam said it's fine but I still worry," he whispered, Adrienne giggling. This had become their new ritual afterward, Daniel concerned that he had done something wrong, something to endanger either her or the baby even though his rational brain knew better.

"Trust me Daniel, you're not gonna hurt anything, I promise. In fact, it's good for me, it's good for the baby. You should feel it right now - " Adrienne started, stopping herself before he freaked out. She probably shouldn't have mentioned how sometimes after they had made love the fluttering increased. It was going to scare him, he would panic like he did, but he didn't, just reached in between them, resting his hand on her abdomen.

"Now?" he asked, gazing back up at her. Adrienne paused, concentrating, feeling the flutter to her left, moving to guide his hand and press gently.

"There, but I'm only thirteen weeks sha, it's possible to feel but not probab-" she began to apologize, when his eyes lit up and she felt him press harder.

"Oh my god," he choked out, his jaw dropping, shaking his head, "oh my god."

Adrienne didn't need an explanation, between his expression and the wild motion inside, she knew.

"That's my child...mine...I've never. That's my baby," he stammered, smiling, the look on his face just as excited as when she had told him she would keep the baby, that she wanted to do this together.

She didn't answer, just nodded, smiling, watching his azure eyes sparkle in the dim light of the bayou moon.

"It is Daniel. That's your child. That's our child. Is it more real now?" she finally said as he moved his hand gently around her lower abdomen.

"Very. I might have to reconsider that box and bubble wrap."

There were times that Daniel had to curse himself for thinking that he lived a normal life: townhouse, soulmate, child on the way, everything but a white picket fence.

The look on Rae Verdin Lafont's face was one of those times.

"Y'all left ya phones," she said simply, shaking the object in front of her face, Daniel's phone, the screen lacking a picture for the background as Adrienne's had.

"Because we didn't want to be disturbed," Adrienne giggled, playing, Daniel's face flushing with embarrassment but Rae didn't smile, just took a step forward toward Daniel, carefully handing him the device.

"I neva ansa someone else's phone, but his be bouncin', den yours, den his, for a gud twenty minutes, both of dem sayin' da same name," she explained, the sinking feeling starting deep in Daniel's stomach.

_What's happened..._

"Who Rae?" Adrienne asked, cutting her eyes at her fiancee, worried, reading his face just as he was reading her own.

"Be it a man named Jack. He say, who be dis ahn I tell 'em ahn he say tell Danny-boy ahn Docta Perky dat dey need to get der asses 'ome pronto. He say ta tell ya dat Jonas be der, der be an emergency, and dat ya both need ta 'ead back," she said, passing the phone to Daniel, whose heart skipped a beat the moment he heard the name.

_Jonas? _

_An emergency? _

_What had happened?_

"Thank you Rae, I, well, Ad, I'm gonna call work, see when we need to get back and call the airport, arrange a flight," Daniel stammered, taking the phone, hurrying over to the bench, walking out toward the darkness.

Her own face showing an expression of worry, Adrienne tried to divert her eyes, push past her cousin into the house, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place.

"Dat man not be some historian like ya be Addy," she started, cautiously, Adrienne shaking her head smiling.

"Daniel? Yea he is Rae, you've seen the blog, he wrote that book, he's an archaeologist," she defended, trying to play stupid but her cousin just wouldn't let go.

"Nawt him, but dat udda man. Dat man on da phone. Educated folks donna be talkin' like dat," she continued.

Strange reason, Adrienne thought, Jack was unconventional, but he was a general, so Dr. Perky jokes or not, there shouldn't be a reason as to why Rae would be suspicious. Adrienne had given her cousin the same story, so for all she knew it could some insurgents in some unstable country attacking, the US military racing to save the treasures of history, but she wasn't finished.

"Addy, one day, befa dah weddin' I needed ya, needed ta talk and I called ya cell and no one answered. So I called da Pentagon, jus like ya say, askin' 'bout da Historical Preservation depahament. Addy der be no such ding," she accused, Adrienne frozen at the doorway.

"I donna know whatcha do Addy, no one be knowing who ya be and be askin' me fa clearance codes. What ah know is dat no archaeologist be dashing out a 'ere in da middle ah da nigh ta look at sometin. I donna know why ya nah be tellin' us, but whateva ya and 'em do, whateva it is, ya gots a baby comin' naw. Ya need ta keep dat in mind. Bot ah ya," she concluded, her green eyes boring into Adrienne's own much the same as she did to Daniel.

"Ja-wer, I've got us a flight, it leaves in a little over an hour, I'm sorry, we've got to get going right away," Daniel lied, starting to wish he and Adrienne had some way to communicate telepathically as he could sense something was very wrong right now between her and her cousin.

"Alright Indy," she answered quietly, ducking into the house.

Without a word, but rather a look of warning, Rae followed, leaving Daniel confused and quiet on the porch.

"Everything go ok? Did Daniel win over the family?" the first words he heard were Jack's sarcastic ones of course, as the beams of light dissipated around them. Frowning as his old friend came into view, Daniel scanned the room, noting the entire team was present along with John Sheppard, each and every one of them with a face of concern.

"What happened?" he asked, walking to take a seat, pulling out the first chair for Adrienne before going to sit in his own.

"Anubis attacked Langara. Jonas didn't know much more than it was an attack led by men that were clearly Anubis' clones, but we surmise that the entire uprising might have been orchestrated from the inside, unbeknownst to even Edmenton," Sam explained, Daniel already shaking his head.

"Where's Jonas?" Adrienne asked immediately, her head darting from side to side in search of her friend, Daniel having explained what little information Jack had given him on their way to return the rental car.

"I took him down to the barracks, your old room," Vala answered, Adrienne directing her gaze to Daniel, not bothering to take the chair he had offered.

"I'm gonna -"

"Go," he answered, not letting her finish. Nodding she kissed him lightly, leaving behind their bags and dashing out of the briefing room to check on the man in question.

"Alright, good, he's here," Jack said, pointing for Daniel to sit, "what in the hell did you say to those people?!"

"Jack, it's Anubis, it's not an uprising," Cam interjected having witnessed the entire speech.

"I know it is. I'm trying to pretend that it's not. We're not ready for this. We weren't ready when he showed his ugly mug in Daniel's dreams and we're sure as hell not ready for him now," Jack conceded, tapping his pen on the folder.

"Well, aren't we at least gonna help the Langarans?" Daniel asked, "send the Odyssey, the Daedalus, maybe both, try to at the very least to distract him?"

Sam, however, was already shaking her head.

"IOA vetoed it, on any account. They said with only two ships we can't risk either of them being damaged, or worse, taken," she answered, her disagreement clear on her face.

"Because that's all they fuckin' care about," Vala spat, her glare directed at Jack although Daniel knew it was in vain. There was no way that Jack could overrule the IOA without the president's agreement for starters, not to mention the other allied nations. Their primary directive, a position he could somewhat understand, was protect the people of Earth, not meddle in the affairs of other planets.

"What I don't understand is why Anubis wants Langara? They've got some cool tech gadgets, sure, but if he's gonna start attacking the Milky Way why not just come here? He's got to know that we're in no position to defend ourselves," Cam added, looking at his teammates for approval.

"DanielJackson has said that he wants the coordinates to the Pegasus galaxy. He would also need a gate. The internal problems on Langara would allow him to easily work his way onto the planet, into a position of power and gain the gate as well as millions of hostages," Teal'c surmised, correctly, Daniel was thinking.

"So we don't think he tried to dial the Destiny?" John asked, looking around the room for answers.

"Either that or he did, realized it was going to take a lot more power than he had, like the power of a planet and went and found himself one," Daniel answered, thinking, racking his brain for a solution.

"What I think is safe to say is that we know Anubis, or someone acting as him, has taken over Langara. We no longer have gate access and the DHD has either been destroyed or disabled. Anubis wants access to the Pegasus, again we can all speculate as to why, and we lack the firepower to remove him," Sam summarized, frowning, defeat like she didn't want to admit.

There was a silence in the room, the collective members of SG-1 looking at one another, except for Daniel who was staring out into space, thinking...

"No, we don't," Daniel said quickly, glancing up and over at John, nodding his head.

"No, we don't," he repeated, "in the Bay. We have Atlantis. Anubis is just hopping from power vacuum to power vacuum. Without the presence of Atlantis and the Wraith weakened, he thinks that next he can just hop over to the Pegasus take over, maybe even bring the Wraith to join his cause and then head here, two galaxies for one with proper planning. But we have Atlantis, we have the master weapon, and I'm not sure if he even knows we have it."

"Daniel, we have the entire base operating on minimal power with the one ZPM we have. It takes two to turn anything on like a shield and three to fly the damn thing and launch weapons. We don't have the power to even fly past the bridge," John argued, the admission of the true state of his base more disturbing coming across his lips than just in thought.

"No, we don't," the archaeologist agreed, "not yet. But we could. Give me Jonas. Keep me and Adrienne on world. Hell, I'll take Rodney. Let us scour that Asgard database, send every ancient document to us from Area 51. It's not gonna be simple, but we aren't gonna get lucky this time, one smart idea or final battle. It's going to be a war. Anubis has been preparing while we've sat here and waited for the galaxy to inform us as to what we needed to be doing. Well we just got our memo, the moment a hundred people came pouring through that gate, for the what second, third time? I don't think we have any other choice," he concluded, his stomach sinking.

Just a few short hours ago Daniel Jackson felt the movement of his child, cradled safely in its mother's womb. Now, he sat here, amongst his friends admitting that no one was safe, that one evil being's desire and revenge threatened his life, his happiness, everyone's, more than anything else had done before.

The room sat silent each and every soul weighing, debating, feeling his words.

"I'll call Mr. Woolsey. Daniel, go get Jonas, get him set up, I'll have another desk moved into your lab. John, call your team, explain the situation, I want Rodney and Radek to re-examine, map and mark every inch of that base, give me a list of every repair, even if it doesn't seem necessary. Cameron, you and Teal'c are heading to Area 51, start with the catalogues. I want you in constant contact with Daniel, anything he might need anything that you two, especially you Teal'c, think might give us a lead. This is our objective, not finding new ways for the bureaucrats to make money," Sam declared, standing, her hands on the table in front of her, looking over at Daniel who was nodding in agreement.

"Let's move people," she announced to the room, "We're gonna wake up Atlantis."


	53. Chapter 52 - The Other Side

"Adrienne, you'd better get up and get going; I left the shower running for you," she heard a voice calling out to her as she floated lightly between the world of dreams and reality.

Damn Daniel, she thought to herself, always making me get up so damn early.

She could use the baby as an excuse, that was a sure fire way to get out of anything lately, so she lay there, debating it, finally rolling over to cover her head with the blanket when she hit her hand on a table, the pain jolting her awake.

"Wha in da 'ell?" she said aloud, opening her eyes, trying to figure out how in her tossing and turning she managed to roll herself onto his side and slam her hand into his monster of an oak side table. Daniel had removed to canopy to their bed weeks ago to allow her to jet from the bed to the bathroom without killing herself. He had moved her nightstand back at well, but not his gigantic piece of furniture.

"Come on!" the voice shouted again, louder. There was no turning back now, she was up, and giving up. Trying to look over to see how bad she had destroyed the sheets the sunlight was beaming into the room so brightly that she couldn't even open her eyes fully.

"Daniel, dammit, I get da point," she screamed, "shut the gah damn curtains."

No sooner than she uttered the words, however, did she hear laughing from behind her.

"Damn girl, you must have had one hell of a nightmare if you're waking up yelling at Daniel," the voice said between bouts of laughter.

A voice that was not her fiancee.

Swallowing, hoping that she was still asleep, Adrienne sat up and turned to see Cameron, standing in front of her, toweling off his hair, wearing nothing but a huge grin on his face.

Panicked, not knowing what else to do, Adrienne turned back around quickly, covering her eyes with her hand, shocked, embarrassed and completely confused.

"Christ Addy, are you alright, you look like you've seen a ghost," he said, approaching, dear god he is walking over here, sitting down beside her on the bed. Her stomach in her throat, she scooted away from him, forcing her eyes in the opposite direction.

"Honey, what's wrong?" he said, moving even closer, wrapping his damp arm around her shoulder but Adrienne pulled away, her heart racing, pounding, threatening to escape her chest.

"Cam, why are you calling me that and where's Daniel?" she asked, pulling her knees up to her chest, realizing that she was wearing a very thin silk nightgown, virtually transparent, something she would never normally wear. She ducked underneath the blankets still averting her eyes.

"Daniel? I don't know, in his hole, acting miserable like always. What happened yesterday when you guys were on that planet? I thought Vala said everything went alright, but it looks like it scared you good," Cameron was now inching towards her again, reaching over, pulling her into his arms to hold her, but she pushed him away shaking her head.

"Why are you hugging me? Why are you naked? Why am I in your BED!?" Adrienne shouted, leaping from the bed, looking for clothes, while Cam stood staring at her, dear god he is still naked, completely lost.

"Sweetie, I don't know what's gotten into you but I'm calling Carson and have him send someone over here," Cam said, his own face furrowed in bewilderment, making his way over to the cordless phone on the nightstand as Adrienne was searching the floor, looking for something, anything, a pair of sweats even, when she heard Cameron talking, freezing at his words.

"Carson, hey it's Cam. Listen, Addy woke up this morning flipping out over something. Yeah. No, I know Jenn gave them the look over but she's not herself. Can you send someone over here? Alright, thanks," he said and hung up the receiver.

Trying to act like she hadn't been listening, Adrienne continued frantically crawling around the floor, searching for clothes, dammit where were her clothes, Daniel threw them off of her last night, well she had thrown his as well, as Cameron walked over to her, finally wrapping a towel around his waist, extending his hand to help her up.

"Adrienne, are you looking for clothes? Your clothes are in the closet, I cleaned up last night when you went to sleep. I'm gonna shut off the water and then I want you to sit down and calm down until Kar'yn gets here," Cameron said gently, pulling her into his arms and holding onto her.

Adrienne was shaking, her dark cajun eyes darting around the room, examining her surroundings. There was no canopy bed with a missing canopy, no greek art, no tacky dresser, nothing, this was not her bedroom.

Where was she?

Cam's place?

She couldn't be at his place; she and Daniel had been there tons of times, she even crashed there once when Daniel was off world and this wasn't his apartment either.

"Where's Daniel? Can you call Daniel? Please," she begged, her eyes flooding with tears, the trembling worsening.

Shaking his head, Cam walked over to the phone, grabbing it and dialing again.

Daniel was in the lab when the phone rang. He wished Woolsey would leave him the hell alone, there were no damn bombs in the database to make the IOA happy and he didn't give a shit about what Adrienne thought she might have found.

She was just a younger and better educated version of Vala and he wanted to keep her quiet and as far away from himself as possible, regardless of what Robert Woolsey wanted. If he thought she was so perfect and wonderful, then he needed to just give her Daniel's lab and stop toying with the entire operation like it was his own personal chess game.

Ignoring the phone at first, Daniel continued working his way through the Asgard royal lineage, but as soon as the ringing stopped it would start up again thirty seconds later. Apparently whoever wanted to get a hold of him wasn't going to give up. He slammed his pen down onto his desk in frustration, standing and making his way over to the phone.

"Jackson," he growled into the receiver. He'd gotten here early this morning for a reason and if this was how the morning was going to go there was just no point.

"Hey man, it's me, listen, I've got something funky going on over here," the voice on the other end was Cameron.

Daniel had nothing to say to him; since Cam and Adrienne had become an item, it was clear where his loyalties lay. Every time Daniel had to fix something Adrienne had screwed up, Cam would come storming in here like her great defender to tell him off and not to talk to his girlfriend like that. It disgusted him, but more than that it disgusted him how SG-1 had been reduced to that tramp Vala, Teal'c's irresponsible's son Ry'ac, Adrienne and Cameron. He had asked to leave the team over six months ago and Woolsey agreed thinking it would give Daniel more time to research. It did, it just didn't yield the outcome that they wanted, resulting in weekly required progress reports where Daniel would have to demonstrate to an IOA committee what exactly he had discovered each week and each week it was never enough.

Daniel was so over this place he would be tempted to leave in a heartbeat, that is, if he had a place to go.

"What kind of funky Cameron; I'm in the middle of something," Daniel replied, looking over at the clock noting that it was almost nine.

Never mind, he knew the funky; Cam was going to make an excuse for Adrienne's lateness.

One more late and Daniel was going to write her up and make her answer to Woolsey, pet or not; that was behavior that he was hoping even Woolsey wouldn't excuse.

"Adrienne funky," he replied, as expected, Daniel sighing into the phone.

"Cam, look, I don't care what god damn excuse she has this time, I don't. I said the next time I was going to write her up and I meant it. I don't give a shit that you two are sleeping together or not," Daniel answered and started to hang up the receiver when he heard the two of them shouting at each other and Adrienne's voice on the other line.

"Daniel, sha, please come over here. I have no idea what's happening and Cam's acting like we're together," she begged.

Sha?

Wasn't that some cajun pet name, meant 'love', 'dear' or something?

Why was she calling him that?

"Nice try Dr. Rowan, but it isn't going to work this time. If you're not here in 15 minutes you can explain to Robert why you can't get to work when the rest of us can," he replied, hoping that would spur her on, she hated to disappoint Woolsey, starting to hang up again when he heard what sounded like crying.

Crying?

Adrienne?

Why in the hell was she crying?

"Indy, please, what's happening to me? Where are you? I'm so scared, please, why aren't you here," Adrienne was crying, really crying by the sound of it. He was now thoroughly annoyed; how dare she try something like this to make him crack because either way he was going to look like a complete asshole, yet again, because of her.

He hated her more than words could express.

"Dr. Rowan, what do you expect me to do?" he asked but got no reply, hearing instead her wailing in the background 'Why is he calling me that?'

Daniel was about to hang up when Cameron came to the phone again, his own voice begging her to calm down and go sit on the bed.

"She's a mess and keeps crying and asking for you. Carson's sending Kar'yn over but she's completely hysterical, begging for you. Look, I know you and her don't see eye to eye but can you just come down here. For old times' sake?" Cameron asked, hoping that would strike a chord. They'd been friends for a long time, Adrienne or not, and at the very least he hoped that it would be enough to get him down here.

Truth of the matter was, Cam still couldn't get the thought out of his head that something had gone wrong on the mission, something that perhaps Adrienne could only discuss with Daniel, whom she'd dragged along at Jack's request since Cam himself was sent with Ry'ac to meet with the Jaffa council.

He hated when they were split up on missions, he worried about her and despite how bad both Daniel and Adrienne claimed to hate one another there was just something about them that never sat right with the colonel...

"Fine; I'll be there shortly," Daniel gave in, rolling his eyes and slamming the phone into its cradle, turning to see Vala entering the lab.

"Here are the reports you asked for from the mission yesterday," she said professionally handing some folders over and he took them, rudely, throwing them onto his desk as he began to pack things up, a sinking feeling in his stomach that he would be dealing with this all day.

"Did your little buddy mess with anything I told her not to?" Daniel demanded, angrily shoving his computer and legal pad into his bag.

"No, we did just as we were told, like always sir," she answered curtly. She was always curt with him since he had turned her down, like some idiotic act of depression on the Odyssey had any bearing on real life.

He didn't care, she could hate him too; the SGC wasn't a dating service and he had no interest in her or anyone else.

"Well apparently she did, because now she's flipping out and asking for me and I have to go over to her and Cam's love nest to deal with her latest episode of bullshit," Daniel spat, tossing the strap of his bag across his chest before heading to the door.

"Why in the hell would she ask for you?" Vala wondered, thinking about the time Adrienne had choke slammed Daniel for grabbing her arm. She tried not to smile thinking about it in front of him but he'd deserved it, if not for anything else but for all of the times he had grabbed her like she was his property.

How could I have ever cared for him, she thought, he might have been intriguing before but look what he became.

"I have no idea, but I'm going to go over there, see what in the hell her problem is and head back here. In the meantime, I need you to sort those files into the cabinets," he ordered her, pointing to a rather large stack of Adrienne's shit that had been left on the a stack of boxes, shit he refused to deal with. She nodded her head, not making eye contact.

"Yes sir," she said, heading for her assigned task.

"Dr. Rowan please hold still," Kar'yn said as she tried to examine Adrienne's pupils, but the archaeologist kept pushing her away, shaking her head in protest.

"Kar'yn, why are you here? Shouldn't you be on Chulac with Nia'lyn?" Adrienne asked confused but Kar'yn was shaking her head sadly.

"Dr. Rowan, Ry'ac and I lost the baby after the Lucian attack on the Odyssey. Don't you remember?" she said gently, Adrienne now, shaking her head. She didn't remember any Lucian attack on the Odyssey, they hadn't dealt with the Lucians in a while. In fact, Vala was off world right now trying to negotiate with those very same Lucians to enlist them in the hunt for ZPMs and the fight against Anubis.

Taking the opportunity while she was distracted, Kar'yn reached over to continue but Adrienne opened her mouth again to refuse the exam, when her eyes widened, a new panic moving across her face.

"The baby!" she screamed out, reaching for her abdomen, pulling the sweatpants to her ankles, "where's my baby!?"

"Baby? What baby Addy? You're pregnant?" Cam asked, confused, stepping forward now to reach out for her arms, but she was swatting him away, backing up, running her hands across her stomach, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Where's my baby?! I haven't felt anything, my stomach, it's flat, where's my baby!?" she was shrieking, falling to her knees, sobbing, screaming, begging for Daniel.

Confused, Kar'yn knelt to her side, resting her palm lightly on the clearly disturbed Cajun woman's back.

"Dr. Rowan, how far along are you?" she asking gently, holding back her own personal pain.

"Fifteen weeks," Adrienne choked out, reaching for her stomach again, "we're fifteen weeks."

Kar'yn nodded, reaching for Adrienne's hand to pull her upright to lead her back to the bed, cutting her eyes at Cam who was shaking his head no in bewilderment.

"Where's Cassie? Or Jennifer? Or Carolyn? Carolyn has my records, she's been monitoring my entire pregnancy," Adrienne whimpered, her puffy red eyes gazing at the Jaffa woman in complete despair.

Hearing what Adrienne was asking now, what she was claiming now, Cam walked over to her, sitting beside her on the bed, wrapping his arm around her and this time, she didn't shrug him away, letting him hold her as she wept onto his shoulder.

"I want Daniel..." she cried, Kar'

"Honey, Carolyn died in the attack too and, Cassie, are you talking about Cassie Frasier? She moved with Sam to Nevada last year when Sam took over Area 51," Cameron explained but Adrienne was shaking her head, her hands still firmly planted on her abdomen, over a child that was not there.

"No, no, Sam runs the SGC, and Carolyn's dead? That's not possible..." she trailed off a bit, "what about Jennifer?" Adrienne continued; trying to understand this strange world around her, find at least one of her friends, one of her friends that was a doctor who could confirm her story.

But where was Daniel?

Did something happen?

Had she lost the baby?

Had they lost the baby and it was too much to bear, sending Adrienne into a spiral that only the man she considered her bother could bring her out of?

Then why she lying in his bed, nearly naked, with him acting as if he was her lover?

Shaking, tears continuously streaking down her face, Adrienne glanced up at Cam, searching for answers.

"Jenn's fine, just has the day off. After all she and Rodney are expecting any day now," he replied, regretting his words the moment he spoke them. She started to breath heavy again, on the verge of a panic attack, reaching for her middle, muttering 'my baby' under her breath. Confused, Cam just held her tightly, hoping there wasn't something going on that she wasn't telling him.

"If I find out that this is some elaborate ruse to get out of work Adrienne, I swear I will have you shipped to Area 51 immediately and don't think I'm above calling Jack to get it done either," Daniel stormed into the room grumbling, a frown across his face, having let himself in by way of the door left unlocked by Kar'yn.

Paying no attention to his words at all, Adrienne pulled away from the comfort of the colonel's embrace, racing over to Daniel and throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, burying her face into him. He was so shocked, he just stood there letting her hold on to him, his arms out to the sides not touching her for a second, his heart regardless beginning to beat inside his chest.

"Daniel, thank gawd, thank gawd you're 'ere. I woke up dis morning ahn ya weren't dere ahn everyding makes no sense ahn da bebe, da bebe gone, did I lose da bebe, I'm so scared, please, please tell me what's going on," she started to pull away, running her hand down his cheek, trembling, her Cajun words barely intelligible, pulling his forehead to hers when he finally registered what was happening, jerking his back from her embrace.

"Adrienne, what in the world do you think you're doing?" Daniel shouted, pushing her back, looking down at her in shock.

"What are ya sayin'? Daniel, please, what happened? Did I lose da baby? Please tell me, we can work drough dis together but jus don't lie ta me," she pleaded, all rational thought completely gone. Shoving past her, Daniel marched up to Cameron, pointing behind himself at the sobbing mess of an assistant that was currently sinking to her knees on the floor.

"THIS is why you called me? Your girlfriend is having an emotional breakdown and this is why you dragged me out here. Cameron, I know you don't seem to think that I do anything, but I have important things that I'm trying to accomplish, and babysitting Adrienne is not one of them, in fact, I'm pretty sure that's YOUR job," Daniel spat at him seeing out of the corner of his eye that Adrienne had just crumpled to the floor, Kar'yn rushing over to her, realizing that she had fainted dead away.

"Gentlemen," she said, "could you please help me get her to the bed?"

Not even acknowledging Daniel's rant, Cam dashed over to Adrienne's side, leaning over and taking her into his arms. Tenderly, he lifted her up and carried her to the bed, Daniel standing cross armed behind him.

"Come on sweetheart, everything's gonna be alright," Cameron whispered to her, adjusting her to a more comfortable position. Satisfied, he whipped his head around to glare at Daniel.

"Does this look like a breakdown to you!? Something's wrong with her and the last thing she did was go on a mission with you! How do I know that you didn't send her into something you were too scared to deal with yourself!" Cameron shouted, standing, stomping over to his colleague.

Kar'yn just let the men argue, returning to Adrienne, checking her blood pressure, pulse, and a few other vitals. She had just started taking blood samples, her first thought to run a pregnancy test, when the men seemed to quiet down and suddenly, Cameron was right there, holding her gently, rubbing her arm. The prick of the needle must have startled her, because she was stirring, ever so slightly, her eyes fluttering open weakly.

"Cam?" she asked, the colonel breathing out a sigh of relief.

"I'm here Addy, I'm here," he said, leaning in to kiss her tenderly, his lips brushing hers lightly and she started to kiss him back. Rolling his eyes, Daniel turned to leave, figuring this fiasco was over when he heard her speak, shout more like, peering over his shoulder to see her pulling away.

"Cam, why are you kissing me?" she asked, glancing over at Kar'yn, the look on her face exactly the same confusion as before.

"Wha da fuck is goin' on?!" she demanded now, the tears from earlier replaced now with anger. Letting out a groan, Daniel walked out to the kitchen to grab a chair, why he wasn't sure.

She's going insane, a small part of his brain thought, let her; then you can be rid of her for good.

_But I can't leave her..._

_Why..._

He didn't stop though, just grabbed the wooden backing, dragging his seat back into the bedroom, setting it by the door. If he was going to stay, he might as well get comfortable.

Calmer, or so Adrienne seemed, Kar'yn leaned in to take the blood a second time, Cam again joining her on the bed, taking her by the hand.

"Addy, why don't you tell Kar'yn what you remember after the mission? Maybe you came in contact with something," Cam requested, his accusing eyes cutting back at Daniel.

Oh sure, Daniel thought, blame me, let's just forget that she can't seem to keep her hands to herself; that's why she lives in the infirmary.

"Ok, so last night Daniel, Jonas and I got back from a mission, late, we had gone to go for what we thought was a ZPM, but it was a dead end," Adrienne started, taking a deep breath seeing that every last one of her companions in the room was completely confused.

"Jonas Quinn?" Daniel asked, puzzled, "What are you talking about Jonas, you and I?"

"Yeah, we've been looking for ZPMs, to power Atlantis. You thought you found one on PX, something, I can't remember, when the Asgard had arrived at that planet the people there had mentioned something like gods and angels; you said it sounded like the ancients," she replied, noting the complete lack of any expression on Daniel's face.

Where was she?

This wasn't her Daniel and she couldn't read this man's face at all; there wasn't so much as a frown to interpret, so she just continued.

"We were tired, I didn't want to sleep on base, so we went home. We stopped by the Indian restaurant for take-out because I had a craving, ate, showered and went to bed," Adrienne explained, to Daniel, only to Daniel, Cam and Kar'yn sitting back, staring at one another utterly lost.

No one spoke in response, no one having any idea what to say, especially Daniel who couldn't believe that he was sitting here, listening to one of the most conniving people he had ever met concoct some insane story in which they were together, having a baby, apparently not at one another's throats.

Remaining silent as well, the young dark-skinned woman leaned back over carefully, inserting the needle to draw blood. This time Adrienne didn't fight, extending her arm to allow the doctor to obtain the needed vials, her cajun eyes down at the floor, peering up meekly every so often at, again, Daniel and Daniel alone.

"I'm going to take these back to Carson and see what he thinks. Keep her in bed and calm. Her blood pressure is little touchy right now; I don't want her too excited," she ordered gently, Daniel noting that at least Kar'yn was speaking to Cameron, who everyone should be talking to in the first place.

The colonel nodded his head and stood, walking to see her out, most likely to ask more questions she couldn't answer Daniel was sure. Taking it as his cue to leave, Daniel himself stood to follow them out, planning to accompany the doctor to the infirmary for a similar set of tests, just knowing that this was something she stirred up yesterday and the effects were probably going to hit him as well any moment.

"Please stay," Adrienne whispered quietly. Stopping right in front of Daniel, causing him to slam into his comrade, Cameron turned around, pushed past really, heading back to the bed when Adrienne shook her head, those tears of hers welling up again.

How was she just crying on cue, Daniel thought, knowing he should just walk away, but he couldn't; for some unexplainable reason Daniel was frozen in place just staring at this beautiful mess on Cameron's bed.

"No, not you, Daniel, can you please stay," she asked, leaning around her boyfriend, which to her he clearly wasn't, her dark mysterious eyes locked on his. Time slowed, eerily, or at least it felt that way to Daniel as he watched Cam pause on his approach to Adrienne, staring back and forth between the two of them before putting his head down and leaving the room.

_And yet I stay..._

_Why am I staying..._

"You're killing him you know," Daniel said, barely a whisper, the image of Cam as he slunk into the kitchen unmistakeable, crushed, trying himself to hold it together.

"I don't mean to," she answered softly, "it's just too weird otherwise. I feel more comfortable with you around."

"I don't understand why," he replied curtly, remaining at the door his arms still crossed, waiting for an answer. There was none to be had, though; Adrienne just put her head down, Daniel seeing a few sparkling droplets fall onto her hands.

Sighing, seeing this wasn't going to end any time soon it seemed, Daniel went back to the corner of the room, taking his seat in the chair once more.

"So, let me get this straight," he continued, "yesterday you went to bed, with me and woke up this morning with Cameron, is that about right?"

"Yea," she replied, breathing out, "Like I said, last night, we got take out, ate dinner and went to bed, in OUR bed, in OUR townhouse and I woke up this morning to Cameron shouting at me to get in the shower."

"Our bed? Our townhouse?" Daniel repeated, a tone in his voice of annoyance.

"Is that so hard to believe?" she tossed back at him, unable to imagine a world in which they weren't together, in which they weren't soul mates.

This isn't my home, she thought, I don't know where I am but this isn't home.

"I find it hard to believe that WE have a home together," he responded, "WE can't stand being in the same room with one another."

_But we used to, until..._

"But we do," Adrienne countered, her voice a little stronger, her problem solving mode kicking in, wanting an explanation, answers, solutions, "You bought us a townhouse. It's about five minutes from the SGC. It has three bedrooms and -"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he interrupted her, "I'm sure it's really great, really lovely."

_Stop Daniel, stop..._

"You don't believe me, do you?" she finally admitted out loud.

No one believed her.

She was alone in this strange cold world with only Cameron, her running buddy, her dear friend, who apparently was practically her husband in this place.

"It's kinda hard to believe, don't you think," Daniel answered, more curious now than annoyed, but not wanting her to see weakness.

He had let that happen before with her, shown weakness, and he vowed to never let it happen again.

_Because you were my friend..._

"No, not really. In my reality I guess we got over the hating each other phase and we became friends and then..." Adrienne stalled, starting to feel this was pointless. This man hated her, with a passion she had never seen in Daniel before.

What had happened?

What was so different here that they didn't end up together and happy?

"And then what? We hopped in the sack?" Daniel finished, his stomach fluttering at the thought of being intimate with her, being so open and vulnerable like that wasn't arousing in the least, in fact it was utterly terrifying.

Never again, never again would he let his guard down.

Sucking in more tears, Adrienne peered back up at the man sitting across the room in the plain kitchen chair. This was a Daniel that Adrienne didn't know; this man was cold, bitter, hateful, just down right mean. Not even in her memories of when she was first hired was he ever this mean to her so she had no idea what in the world could have possibly happened to create the horror that she was sitting in right now.

"No, not exactly," she answered, her heart breaking as she remembered the first time she was able to tell him that she loved him, the first time they made love, their first everything, "I mean, it just, we're together, that's all, should anything else matter?"

Daniel, however, remained quiet.

"You're not gonna believe me," Adrienne sighed, finally giving up. Talking to him wasn't going to work; she was going to have to think of something else.

She shut up, he thought, watching her head sink down again, no tears this time, but acting exhausted. This was getting to be pretty elaborate, his mind raced, even for Adrienne. He decided to push a little further, both his curiosity and something else, something he couldn't explain, driving him to continue.

"You have no proof. You wake up here with some cockamamy story that you expect me to believe. For all I know this could just be your final desperate attempt to get out of my service or take my job for good," he hissed, the memory flooding back to that briefing, Dr. Rowan recounting what had happened, telling everyone what he had told her in confidence because he thought that they were friends...

But he was wrong, and Woolsey had believed her, as Daniel knew he would.

"Get out of your service? Really?" she asked, lost, annoyed; here she was giving him all sorts of answers and she had no idea why anything here was like it was. He didn't seem to be offering any information himself, so she decided to take another approach, lead him with curiosity. That worked before they were friends and maybe if they could see eye to eye on this she could try to find a way home, back to his arms, back to the flutter in her belly.

She tried not to cry again at the thought, I will get my family back, she vowed, shaking her head and drawing it up to make eye contact.

"We love working together in my reality. We talk in about six different languages, all of the time, and we finish each other's sentences..." Adrienne looked down at her feet trying to come up with some way, any way he would believe her.

How could this be a reality at all?

Not that she didn't care about Cameron, in fact it was a comfort that this Adrienne was with one of her dearest friends, but how in this reality could so many of her friends be dead and gone, separated from one another and how could the love of her life be standing across from her glaring at her with total hatred.

_That's the worst part, he hates me; my best friend hates me..._

"I know things," she said, looking back up, pushing away those terrible thoughts, "things that you told me that you never told anyone else."

Daniel snorted out loud at that comment, thinking of all people, Dr. Adrienne Rowan was the last person he would confide in.

_Anymore, I tried that once..._

"Ok, so in this alternate reality of yours I'm suddenly Mr. Sensitive?" he spat, angry, forcing himself to not stare at her eyes, her snow white skin, her athletic form...

Yeah, she thought to herself, actually, you are, but she decided not to respond to that comment and continue.

"I know things, uh, like your favorite color is red," she tried, starting simple, trying to gauge his reaction, but Daniel just rolled his eyes.

"Anyone could have guessed that," was his response.

_That wasn't a guess..._

"Well, I know you were embarrassed, because of what red means, I remember when we stayed at the SG-7 dig, when they found that tablet you thought would lead us to... never mind," she interrupted herself, not wanting to dredge up that sad memory for him, dropping quiet again, searching through her memory archives for more.

"Your middle name is Anthony," she tried again and this time he looked over at her, frowning slightly, peering at her carefully through his glasses.

"You're not supposed to know that, but you could have found that out with a little digging," he retorted, but his voice didn't sound so sure, it was a stupid trivial thing to look up for such a well-planned act...

_She knows Daniel, look at her eyes, how does she know..._

_What else does she know?_

"Alright fine, but how would I know that you hate it because it makes you sound like a mob boss, those were YOUR words, not mine," she added, noticing his head turn as he stared at the wall for a moment.

"That still doesn't prove anything," he replied quickly, his heart beginning to race, never remembering telling anyone but Jack that before, and Jack hated his assistant almost as much as he did.

Adrienne let out a sigh. What would it take? She needed to remember something that no one else knew, something not even Teal'c knew and before she came along it seemed that Teal'c was the only person Daniel talked to. She wasn't about to give intimate details about his body, that would be too awkward, when she had a thought, glancing back over to him.

"Shar'e gave you a bracelet, a leather bracelet. Women in the tribe don't normally give gifts, but she said you two weren't normal," Adrienne choked out, the memory of his pain making her emotional again, even more so as Daniel's eyes widened and he sat forward in his seat.

"How do you know that!?" he demanded, his lips trembling slightly. She had him, she could tell by the look in his eyes that she had him, so she nodded and kept talking.

"It's in a box, in your apartment, underneath some journals and things from Abydoys that you won't look at," he added, watching his expression change from anger to panic, sheer panic, his nervous ticks setting in as he played with his hands and rubbed his face. She couldn't tell if he was surprised or infuriated, but it was a reaction, something she hadn't gotten from him just yet.

"How do you know that?" he repeated, calmer, as if he were trying to contain himself, leaning forward onto his knees. He looked upset now, were this her Daniel she would race over and crawl into his lap, kiss him, apologize for bringing up a painful memory, but he wasn't, so she didn't, swallowing before she spoke again.

"We went through it, the box, together one night. You told me about it; you told me the story," she paused, looking down at her hands, picking her fingernails, "it was the night I realized I loved you," she said quietly, swallowing again.

Daniel looked down at the floor, at a loss for words.

Loved him?

Sure, that was assumed from the townhouse tale, this crazy idea that she would ever carry his baby, but to actually hear her say it, that she loved him?

..._it was the night I realized I loved you..._

It was too much to bear, he needed to leave, he needed to get out of here fast, his heart back to racing for a reason that he couldn't explain.

"Ok, so you know ONE thing," he stopped as if he realized he was admitting she was right, she had be right, a story was one thing, but 'I love you'?

Maybe this wasn't his Adrienne Rowan.

Or maybe it was and he shouldn't have ignored her calls...

Furrowing his face and pinching the bridge of his nose underneath his glasses, Daniel peered back at her, still inquiring, but changing his tone, "Teal'c could have told you; that doesn't prove anything," but Adrienne was shaking her head, reading him, is she reading me, does she know that I am starting to believe her?

_Daniel stop, you're letting her make you crazy again..._

"No, you would have stashed it away long before Teal'c was a member of SG1, remember, his men took her," Adrienne tried to reason with him, "No one could have known about that other than you, Shar'e and ME," she stressed the last word.

Biting his lip, Daniel glared straight at her, not having a clue as to what he could say.

How in the world did she know about that?

She's right, he thought, no one knows about that, not even Teal'c.

His mind began to race, filled with a million questions, all starting with why and how?

"How did we get together?" he inquired, unable to hold back, "What happened?"

"Um," it was Adrienne's turn to be the owner of a racing heart, trying to figure out how to explain to him that in reality they had always been together, before they even knew it was happening, they just fought it for so long until neither of them could deny it.

_Because somethings are just too strong to deny..._

"We were on a mission, a bad one, you almost died," she explained, pausing for his reaction, but he was stoic and silent listening, "I made a decision that I needed to tell you how I felt about you, you were my best friend, you had the right to know. And you told me, you told me a lot of things that night, but you told me that you loved me too," she stopped, deciding not to mention how much they had really shared that night and the weeks that came immediately after, the pain already in his eyes at the mention of the bracelet being all that she wanted to inflict.

Never, he said inside, never again.

_Look what she's doing Daniel, she using this, she knows, you should have never told her anything, it was a mistake._

"I'm outta here, but point to Dr. Rowan, that was truly Oscar worthy. You really shouldn't knock your acting abilities because I tell you, you get better and better each day," he said as he stood, flying up from the seat, heading over to the door.

Adrienne's jaw dropped, she thought he had believed her, it was working and she sat there racking her brain, trying to figure out what else to do when there was a knock at the door. Glancing up she saw Cam peering around the door jam, his eyes darting between she and Daniel.

"Can I come in?" he asked rather sheepishly. Her mind a complete blank, Adrienne drew her knees up to her chest and nodded, Cameron slipping in, inching his way over to the bed and sitting beside her. Still confused, he looked over at Daniel and back to Adrienne, the archaeologist shoving his hands in his pockets and shaking his head.

"I'm going back to base. Could someone call me when she comes to her senses?" he requested, not really caring, or did he, why did he care, this could rid him of her for good...

_I hope she'll be alright..._

Silent, Adrienne put her head down, fighting back the tears that were forming in her eyes. She didn't want Daniel to leave, she wanted him to stay and make it all better, but this man sitting by the door was not her Daniel.

_Yes he is..._

She didn't look up as she heard him storming away and not even when Cameron leaned closer once he was gone.

"Did he say something to upset you?" her dear friend asked.

Poor thing, Adrienne thought, he must be feeling exactly what I'm feeling, ripped from someone he loved.

She wasn't going to placate him, but she did want to make him feel better so she leaned over against his shoulder, like she would have done back at home. Quietly, he reached his arm up and put it around her, hugging her tightly and this time he didn't try to kiss her.

"You're not my Addy, are you?" he asked as she lay there, clearly upset. Surprised, Adrienne sat up and looked at him, driving her eyes into him.

"You believe me?" she asked, confused. She had spent the past thirty minutes trying to convince Daniel, not even thinking to try to prove her case to Cam and he just nodded, not a glimmer of doubt in his own blue orbs.

"Yeah, I do," he said, smiling that Cameron smile, "I mean, you were all over Jackson and you hate that man," he said and Adrienne laughed, imagining that from his point of view that was probably just as shocking as her screaming about being pregnant. Tearing up again, she reached for her abdomen, incapable of controlling her weeping.

"You said there was a baby?" he questioned, reaching for her again as she leaned over, gasping for air.

"Yeah, almost four months along," she mumbled, feeling him hugging her tightly.

"I take it that your Daniel isn't quite as..." he lead, not wanting to say what he was thinking, a jaded cold asshole.

"No, he's not. And he's so excited too; he has a countdown until Carolyn can tell us what gender it is. He wants to start setting up the nursery..." Adrienne started, halting her words, seeing that Daniel, well this Daniel, was exactly right.

She was killing Cam.

Shaking her head, she gazed over at her dear friend, placing her hand on his face.

"Cameron, I adore you, I do. In my reality so many things are different but even there we're still close," she sighed out, "Thank you for believing me. It really does mean a lot." She looked him in the eyes and saw a sadness, the exact same sadness she was feeling inside. It hurt her profoundly, Cam even in this nightmare was exactly the same person he was back home, and she reached out, pulling him to her and kissing his cheek lightly, hugging him once more and standing.

"Where ya going girl?" he questioned, noting the look of determination on her face.

"I'm gonna go to work," she answered as Cam looked at her dumbfounded.

"Really? Didn't you hear Kar'yn, you need to stay here, see if there's anything wrong. Addy, no one has any idea what's going on with you?" he argued, standing, following her as she headed for the door.

"Which is why I need to get to work. There has got to be something, something I did, somebody did, yesterday that caused this," Adrienne replied, grabbing a black backpack that she was certain was hers.

"Cam, shug, I need to get my family back."

When she arrived at the lab it was the layout that shocked her first.

Daniel's desk was still in the far corner, but her area was actually a cubicle, a literal separation of their spaces and of course, as Daniel had mentioned this morning, Jonas was nowhere to be found. She had gotten used to his desk right across from hers, him helping her tease Daniel on stressful days when she thought her love might be coming unraveled and she needed Jonas to ground her and keep her focused on saving his people.

There was no central work table, the table they had used to solve so many problems, together, and the room wasn't hooked up with any of her gadgets: no white board, no projector, nothing. She shivered as she stepped through the door, it felt so cold here too, the temperature at least ten degree cooler than she was used too.

That was something else, even when they were friends, Daniel kept it warmer in here, just for her.

What was most curious, however, was Vala, standing quietly in the back sorting files into the wall of cabinets, Daniel not in sight.

Excited to see another friendly face, someone who she had really come to count on, someone who wasn't dead or shipped off to bureaucratic hell, Adrienne ran up to her friend, hugging her tightly.

"Oh god, am I glad to see you!" she exclaimed, nearly shouting, as Vala turned around, looking at her like she was insane.

"Wow, Daniel wasn't kidding," she said, pushing Adrienne away, turning back to the cabinets to resume her sorting.

"Vala, oh no, not you too," Adrienne said turning to slam her head against the wall.

"Me too what? Oh wait, not only in your fantasy land are you with Glasses but we're friends too. You must have hit your head hard," Vala stated, continuing to work.

Puzzled, Adrienne huffed, throwing her hands up at a loss.

"But, if Daniel and I aren't together than this just makes no damn sense. THAT would be the reason we're not friends, unless you guys are..." Adrienne trailed off, wondering how alternate this world really was when Vala shot her a look, an evil look, a look full of anger and hurt.

"Don't even play like that! You know what happened! I don't care what in the hell you are trying to do to him, I'm sure that he deserves every bit of it, but don't fuck with me!" Vala screamed at her, Adrienne backing up, grabbing her waist out of instinct, it's not there, the baby's not there, starting to panic again when her rational brain took back over.

Answers Ad, it coached, we're looking for answers, keep calm and start trying to paint the picture.

"No, I don't Vala. I'm not making this up, this isn't my reality and I'm trying to figure out why. What happened?" she said. Slamming the folders on the top of the metal case, Vala growled, glaring at her viciously for a second before breathing out.

"He embarrassed me; in front of everyone. Everyone knows what happened! After Teal'c finally broke down about what happened on the Odyssey, I tried, we tried, but it didn't work, it wasn't working and he lost it, raging at me in the mess hall. After I sent Tomin away. After I had nowhere else to go. He stood there, in front of everyone, said I was a traitor and this might be MY only option, but I wasn't his. So I get to stay here and be reminded every day of it, that no one wants me, that I'm not worth anything. And you didn't help. Telling me he wasn't worth it, an asshole. Told me we didn't need men to be happy and then ran off with Cameron to be happily ever after," Vala hissed at her, using her anger to hide her pain.

Adrienne wanted to run away.

What was this place?

A place where people hurt and hated one another?

What was going on?

She knew what had happened to Daniel and Vala in her reality, it was somewhat amicable, but more like it just faded away, both of them realizing that what happened on the Odyssey was more a set of friends coming together under the circumstances. Hell, even Vala agreed that Daniel and Adrienne were made for each other.

But this?

Daniel would have never done that to her, would he?

"Then why do you work here?" Adrienne asked tentatively, Vala whipping around, tears in her eyes, screaming.

"Because I have no other goddamn place to go. No one trusts me here except for Daniel, who hates me, so we all just coexist. It's a roof over my head and I've been in worse!" she shouted, turning yet again to rest her head onto the top of the file cabinet, sobbing.

Adrienne was frozen for a moment, staring at her friend, the lab, her lab, her home, this nightmare, this is a nightmare, she decided, this is my worst nightmare.

She left without comment.

After searching the base, Adrienne quickly learned that a lot of things had changed. As Cameron had told her, Sam was in charge of Area 51 and wasn't even married to Jack. The Atlantis crew had been remanded to the Atlantis base, despite it being only half functioning and in San Francisco. Teal'c no longer lived on Earth, but instead at his house on Chulac, serving as a Jaffa governor while Ry'ac and Kar'yn had made themselves a part of the SGC. She knew the status of the medical staff, but as she made her way around base she saw more unfamiliar faces, more strange people. No one could tell her anything, Kar'yn was still running blood tests, Daniel was in a meeting like there was nothing wrong, the world was continuing on without her as if getting her back home didn't matter to a single person here, even Cameron, who had yet to show his face either.

She felt lost, a stranger in her own home and like a child, she sank to the floor and started to cry.

"Dammit Dr. Perky, why are you crying in the hallway," she heard a voice over her and peeked up, wiping tears from her eyes to see Jack O'Neill standing over her. She stood quickly, adjusting her uniform, remembering Daniel's warning from this morning, that if she wanted to keep her job, which she needed to stay here and figure out what was going on, she needed to stay on the general's good side.

"Sorry, Jack, sorry," she apologized quickly, sniffing in quickly.

"Jack?" he questioned, "Daniel was right. You're off your rocker!" But he didn't walk off after he said that, he just kept standing right there, looking at her.

"I guess I'll be going, J - I mean sir," she continued, wiping her face, deciding that she should go back to the lab and see what her, the other Adrienne, had been working on last. She started to turn when Jack grabbed her arm, not harshly, but holding her gently in place, giving her a look of his own.

"Come with me," he ordered, pulling her along, a look of determination on his face. Again, as was beginning to become her permanent state, Adrienne was confused, but followed, a small part of her hoping that he wasn't going to fire her like Daniel had threatened, that he was actually going to help her.

"Why?" she asked, Jack stopping with a grunt to glare back at her.

"Because, if you're sobbing in the hallway you must at least think your nonsense is true. And if there is another reality, one where this place doesn't operate like a shit-hole and I'm married to Carter, I'd like to cue that up as soon as possible," he answered bluntly and Adrienne hesitated for a second, considering his words and how his love for Sam seemed to be his biggest concern.

"Jack, sorry, sir," she started but he interrupted her.

"Stop with the sir crap. If alter-Dr. Perky calls me Jack, you can call me Jack. What do I call you anyway?" he turned it on her.

"Dr. Perky," Adrienne said with a smile.

"See, you can't mess with perfection. Let's go try to play geek," Jack replied confidently, directing with his hand that she follow behind.

He took her to his office, using a large but sorely outdated projection screen to call Sam, the equally as dated system nothing like the newer items that Adrienne herself had instigated being installed.

Apparently, alter me is a bitch and lazy, she was thinking as the general's, was she even a general here, face popped up on the screen. She had blond hair instead of the brown Adrienne had grown used to, dressed in SG BDU's and she looked at them both strangely from what looked to be like a small concrete walled lab.

"Hey Carter! How's it going?" Jack greeted her happily and she smiled, still with that strange look on her face.

"Fine sir, how can I help you and Dr. Rowan?" Sam asked, very professional, not at all the warm caring tone that Adrienne had grown used to. Grinning from ear to ear, Jack leaned back in his chair, cocking his head at Adrienne.

"Well apparently, our little friend here isn't from here. Or we're not supposed to be here or something, the typical fucked up scenario. Dr. Perky here is claiming that you're my wife, that she's pretty much Daniel's and the SGC operates like it supposed to, so I was thinking this might be worth a call..." he explained, Sam staring at him like he was insane.

Sitting up again, resting his arms on his desk, he began to recount what he understood from Daniel, looking to Adrienne to fill in the gaps...

It took nearly an hour, but when they were finished Sam just stared at the screen shocked, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed.

"I run the SGC?" she finally said, having confirmed to Adrienne that she had not been responsible for her Adrienne's hire; that had been Robert Woolsey as well, pouring over Smithsonian applications, looking for someone he thought he could easily get his clutches into.

"Yeah," Adrienne answered, "and it's a lot nicer than this." Sam smiled, her face lit up, as if part of her knew that she had more to offer, that running Stargate Command was where she belonged. It was a face that she was familiar with, Sam with a purpose, and she stood, racing back to a cabinet behind her to get down to business.

"Alright, Dr. Rowan," she started, Adrienne waving her to stop with her hands.

"Adrienne, or Addy, not Dr. Rowan," Adrienne corrected with a smile.

"Alright, Adrienne, since yesterday was the last day you remember your reality, let's begin there. Go step by step," Sam instructed.

"Yesterday was pretty routine," she began, "You sent Daniel, me and Jonas to check out some ruins, no inhabitants, but Daniel had a lead on some ZPMs, we're collecting them to re-power Atlantis. We went through about ten in the morning and were back by eleven at night. Nothing unusual happened there, just looked at some things, took some pictures and came home, lots of interesting cultural data but nothing at all like we were looking for, no ZPM. Daniel and I were exhausted so we went and got take out, went home, ate, watched one of my shows he makes fun of and we went to bed, just like any other normal night. Then I woke up here," Adrienne recounted.

"Are you sure you didn't walk through anything?" Sam inquired, running similar past scenarios through her head, but Adrienne frowned, shrugging her shoulders..

"No, no mirror, nothing. There was nothing in the temple but some fancy decor with writing on it, Daniel took some pictures and Jonas even did a rubbing of the glyphs, but no nothing like that," Adrienne said.

"Adrienne do you remember the planet call sign by chance, maybe you and Daniel here have visited it before?" she asked, Adrienne letting out a frustrated sigh.

"Not totally, it was PX something, it was the first thing that I tried to remember, but with the baby, my hormones are so out of whack that I can't remember anything without writing it down," the archaeologist apologized, rambling, Sam's eyes widening as she cut her eyes over at Jack.

"Baby?" she questioned.

"Yep, Daniel knocked her up. You should have seen him in here explaining that one too," Jack laughed, comforting Adrienne much to her surprise.

Something about this Jack also harassing a Daniel about their little out-of-wedlock indiscretion made her feel a little better even though Sam still seemed to be making a face.

"Sir, the first thing that I would do is have her go through the files in Daniel's lab, one by one looking for something familiar. But, and Dr. Rowan I'm truly sorry, General how do we even know that what she's saying is true; that her reality is the correct reality?" Sam asked, slowly, like she knew what Jack's reaction would be, but felt the need to ask anyway.

"Carter, I'm gonna be honest with you, at this point I don't care if it's real. It is a hell of a lot better than what we have going on right now," Jack replied, Sam smiling lightly.

At least they still love each other, Adrienne thought, something else that's the same.

_Because you love that man that stormed out today, despite it all..._

"Alright, let me call Daniel and tell him what we're doing, let him throw his tantrum and get this started," Jack declared. Lightly waving goodbye, Adrienne thought she could see Sam mouthing a 'good luck' to Jack. It gave her even more reason to make this work; it wasn't only she and Daniel that had been ripped apart, two of their closest friends were living the life they had never meant to lead either.

There was a pop and the screen went blank, Jack glancing back over at Adrienne.

"Thanks," she said.

"Don't thank me until we fix this," he replied, reaching for his phone to call Daniel.

"I don't care what the blood tests say!" Daniel was screaming into the phone, "Why in the hell is she on base?! Why are you listening to her? Don't you see what she's trying to do and she's now sucked you in too!"

Sitting back in his desk, the phone away from his ear and his hand over the receiver, Jack let him rant just like he knew he would. Ever since PSF-293, since the accident, Jack knew that it was taking everything in Daniel's power to not just walk out of here and never come back, all because of this woman that was currently sitting beside him, picking at her fingernails nervously.

"There's nothing medically wrong with her Daniel, nothing. Look, stranger things have happened and you've got to admit the picture she paints is a lot prettier than the one we are living in. Can you just humor me?" he requested, getting only silence on the other end of the line.

"Fine," Daniel relented after the long pause, "send her down. I guess MY work can just be pushed aside for later, because of one of Dr. Rowan's brilliant ideas," he said, slamming the phone into the cradle.

Shaking his head, Jack peered at Adrienne, a smirk planted across his face.

"He's waiting for you," he announced and Adrienne stood, biting her lip and shoving her hands into the pockets of her BDUs, eerily Daniel-like.

"Really, you and him?" he clarified, noting her actions, as if she had really been dating his old friend, so long that she had picked up a few of his nervous ticks. Shrugging, again like Daniel, Adrienne nodded, sheepishly.

"Damn, I bet that's interesting," he said.

"My Daniel's a lot happier; he's fun," Adrienne explained, feeling bad. She didn't even know the man downstairs but evidently Jack did, as he looked at her in disbelief.

Focus Ad, focus on getting the hell out of here, she ordered herself, scurrying quickly out the door to face Daniel.

When she got there Daniel was already digging through the cabinet, throwing folders onto the table. He looked up when she entered, pointing in the direction of the mess.

"There," he said, 'there are your precious files," he stated as he kept throwing.

Sighing, she walked over to the small temporary table it looked like he had set up; right where their center table normally went, peering back over at him.

"Thank you," she muttered, quietly, starting to stack them again.

"What about where you and your Adrienne were yesterday? Where's that file?" she asked, wondering why Jack hadn't suggested that in the first place.

"Weren't you sitting there in his office? Eavesdropping? He said you were in a cave. Yesterday we went to an aquatic based planet. No caves," he replied curtly.

Choosing not to answer, she went back to her task, trying to make some sense of the mess but just as she'd gotten the first pile arranged, he threw some more in her direction, her careful organization destroyed in seconds. Frustrated, unable to understand how either of them worked in these conditions, she glared up at him, frowning.

"What did I ever do to you? To make you hate me so bad?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest, but he didn't look up at her, just threw more files in her direction.

"You exist," he answered, so harshly so cold, so heartbreaking.

_But I love you..._

Adrienne started to well up again, how could anything have happened that could have reduced them to this? This time he turned around, hearing her sniff in, trying to hide her tears.

"Wow, what is it with you and all the waterworks? I guess you're not as tough and bitchy as our version is," Daniel spat, but Adrienne just continued to cry, he called her a bitch, he'd only called her that once before, in the elevator, after their huge blow up and he had apologized immediately after...

_Daniel, I love you.._

There she goes again, he thought, groaning out, walking over to her, feeling bad, actually feeling bad for what he said.

Dammit Daniel, now you're falling for it all over again.

_Didn't you learn..._

As he approached, she leaned onto the table, placing her head in her hands, still sobbing.

"Stop crying," he ordered, but she didn't, she didn't even look up.

"Stop crying. I can't think with all of this crying," he repeated but that just made her cry harder.

"Dammit, alright, we don't get along because you seemed to think I was some arrogant prick and made it your life's mission every day after that to embarrass me publicly, make me look like a failure professionally. You've tried to ruin me," he hissed, glaring at her as she looked up at him, droplets streaking down her red face, she was crying, really crying, this wasn't an act and he wanted to reach out and take her into his arms, he wasn't sure why, why was he even considering this...

_Hold her, kiss her, this is not how it's supposed to be..._

"Ruin you? I don't understand," she questioned, puzzled, watching his blue eyes, so full of anger and hurt.

Do I tell her, he thought, do I try again?

_Maybe she's right, maybe this isn't how things are supposed to be..._

"There was a mission, to a nomadic world," he started, seeing her nod in confirmation, "I screwed up, translated something that I should have had you double check, sent an all-female team into a male dominated society. When we went to rescue them you insisted that you come along, but I told you I was scared, that I was unsure, that I didn't want to see you hurt, but you told me you trusted me, you'd never told me that before, so you went but I was wrong, I couldn't protect you and someone died..."

"Who?" she asked, reached out her hand carefully for his, laying it lightly on top and he didn't shrug away, just breathed in and continued.

_Her skin is so soft..._

"Ann. Ann Mardsen. You didn't think I could get you out of it so you tried yourself to escape, you and Ann. They beat her to death and when we got back, you made sure that it was pinned on me. You told Woolsey that I lacked confidence in my abilities as a team member, that I had confided in you and you were fearful of working with someone under those conditions," he choked out, the memory hitting him like a freight train.

He'd tried so hard with her, after the feuding and he thought that opening up to her, sharing that with her would make her open up as well, make them a better team, looking out for one another.

"I did that?" she asked, pulling away, remembering what had really happened, remembered telling Ann that she trusted Daniel more than anyone, "but that happened in my reality, but not like that. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault, we were swamped..."

"Yes, you did that. Among other things," he responded, every little thing she had done since creeping into his memory.

"I'm not like that," she said, sniffing in and stepped forward, her hand lightly working its way up his arm, but he didn't flinch away like his mind was telling him to, he stood there, gazing right into her dark eyes and he raised his eyebrows a bit, staring right back down at her.

_Kiss her, she's yours, she was always meant to be yours, it was always Adrienne..._

"Well, you might not be like that, but SHE is," he replied, suddenly realizing he was agreeing with her, that she didn't belong here.

She was looking at him and he could tell that she had made the same connection.

"I'm sorry," she said, "For whatever she, whatever I did, I'm sorry. Jack says that Woolsey hired me, her, and if that's the case then if she's anything like me she was scared of losing it all and you must have gotten the blow back from that. I'm not defending her, but I just can't see why, well, how I could do that to you, to anyone. You're the most wonderful person I've ever met and I'm sorry that she, I, apparently never took the time to discover that," she concluded, reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, hugging him, holding him, close, like a lover and not a friend, her lips lightly caressing his cheek.

Who was this woman?

_Your soulmate Daniel, this is wrong..._

This was not Dr. Adrienne Rowan, arrogant, know it all, feminazi Adrienne Rowan.

_Yes it is, see through it, it is her..._

This woman was kind, sweet, caring and this woman loved him, deeply.

_And you love her..._

Could it all be so very different where she was from? Then why did he care so much? Why had he never had her transferred if she was so awful? Why was he so desperately sick each and every time he saw her wrap her arms around Cameron's neck?

Pushing her away, gently, as to not offend her, he turned to face the table, a new goal before him. He still wanted to get rid of her, get her out of here and back to her reality.

She deserved that, and to be honest, so did he.

_You can't ever give up. You never give up on anything, don't give up on us..._

"Ok, so you don't remember the planet name, but do you remember the terrain? That way we can start to eliminate some places fast," he said, unsure as to why he was hearing her voice say that in his head, and she smiled, realizing that he wanted to help.

"It was a forest planet, with hills and caves," she started. Nodding, Daniel began to flip through the files setting various ones aside, trying to sort when she walked over to help him, something his Adrienne would never do.

_Yes she does. She helps all of the time..._

"This might take a while," he said peering up at her, the nicest thing he had said to her since this nightmare began.

"Anything to get back home," she replied and side by side they continued to dig.

A few hours later they found their folder. Adrienne dove into it, searching through the photos for anything, any tiny little clue as to what had happened when she noticed the date, scratched haphazardly at the top of the page in Daniel's script.

"We were there three months ago?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, nothing there but an abandoned temple with some early Egyptian writing and it seemed to be looted except for - " he started to explained when she interrupted him.

"Except for the gold circles stuck in the wall!" she shouted, "I remember."

Daniel nodded.

"Couldn't get them to budge, so we photographed them and left. Nothing else of value on the planet, so we marked the gate useless and to keep the planet on the list as an evacuation site," he explained.

Adrienne remembered her and her Daniel having this same conversation last night, cuddled in bed, how it would make a perfectly good evacuation site if needed, should Anubis decide to move on from Langara before they were ready.

Her computer like eyes scanned the file, photo after photos, a visual recreation of her memories, oddly identical to her last night minus Jonas' name on the mission report. That wasn't getting them anywhere but she had to get home, get back to her life, continuing to stare at the photos when she felt a presence over her shoulder and peered behind to see he was standing at her shoulder.

"They say 'May Tutu keep us from hostile foreigners,' " he read, Adrienne screwing up her face at him in bewilderment at his translation.

"Does your Adrienne not read Abydonian?" she asked and he shook his head, slowly, sadly.

"No, my Adrienne said it's a dead language of a dead people. She thinks it's useless; a waste of time for more than one person to learn it," he answered, doubting his own words.

_Had she really said that?_

More proof alter me is a moron, Adrienne thought, any archaeologist knows that you should learn as many languages as you can, spoke or not, but it was more than that, much more than that to Daniel.

Setting down the file she turned to face him, reaching her hand out to softly caress his cheek.

"I don't think it's useless. And even if it was, it was the language of Shar'e's people, so that makes it important," she told him and he gazed at her, into her eyes, getting lost in them for a moment.

Why was he feeling this way?

Standing there, lost in her stare, he wanted to kiss her for a moment, to whisk her away to his quarters and make love to her, be vulnerable to her, with her, but he couldn't understand why.

_Because she's yours and your heart isn't giving up..._

Yes, this Adrienne was nicer, kinder, but these feelings were so intense that he was having a hard time focusing.

_Ja-wer..._

Just kiss her, his heart whispered and he started to lean forward to do just that when her eyes widened and she whipped back around, grabbing the folder in one hand, the other flailing in excitement.

"Indy, help me, Tutu, god of what!?" she asked, a thought popping into her head Daniel snapping back into reality.

"Tutu, uh, right, um, Middle Egyptian, related by our best estimates to Sekhmet and Mut, technically a protector against demons, dreams, yeah, you said that before, on the planet, it seems the ancients and the Goa'uld by association both went through a period when they were obsessed with dreaming. But there was no machine, nothing, and even you yourself have to admit that you woke up to this, not the other way around," he answered, puzzled, but trusting her completely, for the first time since he'd known her, watching her flail around and mutter in cajun.

It was so strange, his Adrienne never acted like that before, and he couldn't help it, starting to laugh.

"Wha?" she asked, stopping, looking at him strangely.

"My Adrienne doesn't act like that either," he admitted, throwing his arms in the air and muttering mock cajun.

_Yes she does, remember..._

Putting down her head and shaking it, she laughed herself.

"Sorry, I tend ta do dat when I get excited, and this, I think that this is like a waking dream, a living nightmare, a scenario of what if's, maybe to turn back time and correct mistakes, and, I..." she replied, blushing, watching a smile spread across his handsome face, his eyes sparkle.

I want him back so badly, she thought, I want to go back home...

And then it hit her.

"Oh shit," she said, her eyes widen and her heart racing.

"Oh shit what?" he asked, puzzled. She looked at him, her eyes bright, like she'd figured it out, her hands flailing again.

"Ok, in my reality, the picture wasn't as clear, the rings, we kept joking and calling them 'five golden rings'," she sang for a moment and saw he wasn't laughing, just shaking his head in confusion "never mind, Jonas thought it was funny. Anyway, they were filthy, covered in something. We couldn't read them so you got out your brush and a rag and started to clean one off so I could read it. It slipped a bit, shifted, like it was going to come out of the wall, but it didn't move anymore..." she trailed off but he was nodding.

"Alright, that sounds like me, and my luck. So you think your Daniel activated something by mistake?" he asked and now it was Adrienne who was nodding, emphatically.

"But why only you," he continued, "Why not me and you? Or Jonas for that matter? It was the team of us there in that cave."

"I think this is me and you, and even Jonas. We don't know what hell he is living through, stuck on Langara, no contact with us at all, Jack told me that much. And us, not only are we not together, but we hate each other and maybe the result of us not working out led to the rest of this mess, but that doesn't explain some stuff, I don't know. Look Indy, I dig and translate and leave the science up to Sam and Rodney, I'm just guessing here," she said, Daniel laughing at her ramblings.

"Indy?" he asked.

"Yeah, Indy," she replied, remembering.

"Definitely different," he answered, turning to head for the phone when he stopped dead in his tracks, peering over his shoulder at her.

"What's it like?" he asked quietly.

_Perfection Daniel, remember..._

"What?" Adrienne responded, confused.

"Us," he said, his heart racing in his chest. He had to know, he just had to know what stupid mistake led to him living in this hell, with not so much as a friend to share it with. Her eyes at the floor again, Adrienne breathed in slowly, her hand resting on her abdomen.

"It's absolutely wonderful. We're very happy, very very happy. I just can't imagine a better situation, I'm in love with my best friend, and we're starting a family together," she answered him, feeling the tears start to form again, her words failing.

"It's strange, not just you, a baby, but imagining being happy again. I had forgotten what that was," he said, so quiet it was almost a whisper.

_No you haven't Daniel, happy is standing right in front of you. _

Adrienne didn't have a response.

Smiling, biting his lip slightly, he walked over to his desk and picked up the phone without another word.

Jack didn't hesitate to approve the mission, overriding Woolsey's full team directive, even coming down himself just to make sure that everything was in order and ready to go.

"Alright, so you two are just going to go turn these golden circles and poof! I get rid of Woolsey, I get the girl, the SGC isn't a depressing mess and you two go back to whatever little mess you had created between the two of you, correct?" Jack checked, his eyes on Adrienne, ignoring Daniel completely.

"Well, you don't get rid of Woolsey totally," she admitted with a shrug.

"Does he run the SGC?" Jack asked.

"No, Sam does. Woolsey just fills in when he's told," Adrienne answered.

"Close enough!" Jack declared and ordered the dialing of the gate. The man, not Walter, some other stranger, stood in the observation room, cueing the sequence of some scarily old computer system as Daniel walked up behind Adrienne, bringing his lips to her ear.

"This is for real, right? This isn't just some ploy to completely destroy me?" he asked, a small part of him still fearing inside that it was.

_Never give up on us..._

Shaking her head, Adrienne turned back to face him, her expression honest.

"I would never lie to you Daniel, ever," she assured him, "I love you too much." He almost choked up hearing the words, hoping she was telling the truth, wanting this reality more than anything. He held out his hand for her, to his amazement, and she took, without hesitation, holding onto him tightly as they walked through the gate.

"A townhouse huh?" Daniel asked once they were on the other side and heading in the direction the both of them thought to be familiar.

"Yeah, we were cramming ourselves into your quarters on base and with both of us living so far away from the SGC it was just getting ridiculous," Adrienne explained as Daniel laughed.

"I can't imagine myself asking someone to move in with me," he said.

"You didn't, you just called a realtor and informed me of what was happening," she teased, giggling.

"Yeah, that sounds more like me," he responded as Adrienne hoisted her backpack, nervous by his questions. This man seemed so much like her Daniel in so many ways but was so different at the same time, so jaded.

"And we're having a baby..." he continued his questioning, eyes darting over to her periodically, "you said fifteen weeks?"

"Yea, fifteen weeks yesterday. You have a countdown. You've informed Carolyn that she will be telling us the gender the day I turn twenty weeks," Adrienne laughed, her memory flashing to her check-up, check-ups that were more frequent considering the medication and Daniel's descended contribution to the equation, and Daniel's reaction.

He had asked about gender then, Carolyn giving him 'the look', informing him that he would need to wait until twenty weeks.

That had been the very next calendar he created in his office.

"A countdown?" he asked, his stomach fluttering. This other him seemed to be very excited about becoming a father but to him the idea just caused a flurry of worry and panic.

"Yep, and the great name debate, as I have begun to refer to it, is not to begin until we have said gender knowledge," she added, chuckling at yet another declaration of her Daniel.

"It's just so funny, so strange, all of this," he choked out, getting quiet, Adrienne nodding, looking ahead for the caves.

"Why was I that awful to you; as awful as you said I was?" she asked, curious about her alternative self. There had to be a reason, something that had happened to make her that way.

"Dr. Rowan, as she, you, nightmare you, like to be called, is ambitious, or at least that's how it seemed. Ambitious enough, at least, to try to push me aside when I messed up," Daniel answered.

_That's not what happened Daniel, never give up on me..._

Adrienne stopped in her tracks and stared at him, seeing her Daniel there, his heart broken.

She knew now, years later, that he had tried when she was hired, tried in his own way and she had just been too stubborn to listen for such a long time, but this Daniel had tried even harder only to have his world destroyed. It made her tear up, she wanted to cry, that even in a nightmare scenario, even if the demons of Tutu or whatever scientific insanity explained why so much of their timeline had been changed, that one thing remained constant: Daniel's loving heart.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping to look back at her, "It's not you right? My Adrienne experience, it's your worst nightmare, so it's a ghost, it's everything you never wanted to be."

"No, you're right," she said quietly, walking on.

The cave was just as she remembered it the night before, even the rock she had sat on when the baby had gotten a little rambunctious was positioned carefully at the entrance. Glancing over at Daniel, she could tell by the look on his face that he recognized it as well, although probably not for the same reasons.

"This is it," she said, flicking on her flashlight to head inside.

"Yeah," he agreed, his own memories of the mission coming back, her attitude, her arrogance. Not her, thank god that is really not her.

_That wasn't either, don't you remember Jonas standing right there..._

Soldering on, Adrienne flashed the light into the caves, Daniel pointing, racing ahead. The rings in the temple were right where they were before, Adrienne rushing to them, reaching for the third one, the one her Daniel had cleaned off to try to read when she paused, looking back at him over her shoulder.

"I wish Sam were here. Or Rodney even. Someone who knows how this thing works," she sighed, adding that to the list of horror, that apparently in this mess she and Daniel just made guesses and hoped for the best.

Not exactly the best practice, she thought.

"Well, if this works, you can go and tell the correct Sam about it and have her send a team to investigate," Daniel offered, emphasizing his words, the correct Sam, the way things were supposed to be.

Drawing up her courage, Adrienne nodded, reaching up to mimic the opposite motion she had seen done only a day earlier. The ring shifted just a bit and stopped, refusing to move any further, just as before, that ever so slight movement that had completely destroyed her world. Her heart racing, she peeked back behind her at Daniel who was just staring at her, waiting it seemed.

"What's my favorite TV show?" she asked.

"How in the hell am I supposed to know?" he answered.

"Ok, I guess it's not instant, but it wasn't instant yesterday, so, I just need to remain calm," she said quietly, sadly, clearly having expected for this to all reset in an instant.

Reading her face, so odd, he'd never done that before, Daniel grabbed her arm, pulling her over to the wall behind them.

"What are you doing?" she asked, pulling away.

"Let's sit and wait and see for a while," he said, see if something happens. Without further explanation, he sat down himself, trying to show her that he meant no ill will, indicating for her to join him.

Nodding, slowly, she went over and sat beside him, her dark gorgeous eyes just staring at the rings.

For a while they just sat in silence, but it was more than she could bear.

Finally, Adrienne asked the one question that had been bothering her the entire time.

"What happened to the SGC?" she said, looking over at Daniel. There were so very many things that were different, and she knew this was more than just she and Daniel the fates, the gods, whatever had chosen to mess with her and her life.

Sighing, Daniel looked down, grabbing a rock from the floor of the cave, beginning to roll it in his hands.

"There was no one defining event, more like a series of bad luck. Various attacks we weren't prepared for, bad decisions like the IOA deciding that it needed civilian leadership and put Woolsey in charge. He contracted things out to various private groups that didn't communicate with one another. Jack became more of a figurehead and intelligence no longer prevailed," he said thinking back to how the entire experience jaded him, that the SGC that remained was after all hope for the Destiny was lost was a world that he really had no desire to live in any more.

Adrienne, on the other hand, was quiet.

How had one little turn screwed all of that up?

_It didn't._

There was no way she could figure out what had happened before she was hired, to get Sam shipped away, to destroy Vala emotionally, to make Teal'c leave completely, but she had to know about Daniel, she had to know at what point they had fallen apart, what would have caused her to be so awful to the one person she loved more than anyone else in the world.

_This is wrong. I told you to never give up on me._

"Did we ever have a footrace?" she asked after a bit, getting a smile at the question. Sitting forward, he reached for her face, pulling it down to the light of their flashlights, and frowning.

"Yea, but she had a scar, on her lip. You don't," he stated, Adrienne's face flushing.

She'd forgotten about that and this probably wasn't the best time to explain it.

"I did, but, uh, it got better," she joked, throwing in a little Monty Python humor with her last statement moving on to another question, "Did we broker a deal with that Incan civilization?" she asked and Daniel nodded.

"Yeah, and I actually thought that we were going to get along; you talked us out of a mess when Woolsey he came down to blame me, yet again, for doing my job," he answered, Adrienne remembering that as well, how much of a turning point that had been in their professional relationship.

Alright, then what was she missing...

"Wait, San Fran! Did I come with you to San Francisco?" she asked and this time Daniel frowned, cocking his head to the side.

_Yes you did, and you read me poetry and showed me your tattoos and I think I fell in love with you then and my heart just didn't know it._

"No, Teal'c came with me," he replied, what his rational mind knew was the correct answer.

And there she had it. The point where their personal timeline was changed, the trigger to at least their part of the saga.

"That's when we became friends. In my reality, you took me on that trip, and we've been friends ever since," she whispered, tears filling her eyes yet again.

_I'll never give up on you..._

He didn't respond, however, just reached his arm around her, holding her closer, resting his cheek on her head.

"If this doesn't work, I want you to know that I think we should maybe start over. I like the idea of working with someone that doesn't hate me," he said, feeling her convulse underneath of him.

Would that be so bad?

_Yes, this is not how it was supposed to be..._

She's made everyone aware of what could be, what was supposed to be and maybe she was here to fix it.

_No Daniel, you have to fix it._

_It was always Adrienne._

Leaning over, he turned her body to see what was wrong, why she was crying so hard when he saw her holding her stomach.

The baby, he thought, I forgot about the baby, our baby.

_You want a son, remember, you told her as she slept one night that you want a son..._

The regret coursed through him and he actually felt himself begin to tear up, reaching for her again, holding her, bringing his face to hers.

"It'll work, I promise. If it doesn't, I'll find a way to go to area 51 myself, get Sam, fix this, send you back to him, to me, to your child. I'm so sorry, I just don't know what else to do," he apologized, begging, moisture filling his eyes as he looked down at her, feeling it, that connection, that spark that he'd never felt before, but he felt it now, so strong, controlling him and before his rational brain could tell him otherwise, he reached down for her face, bringing his lips to hers, kissing so slowly, so gently, wanting to take all of the pain away...

"Ja-wer, you'd better get up and get going; I left the shower running for you," Adrienne heard a voice calling out to her.

Damn Daniel, she thought to herself, always making me get up so damn early.

Groaning, she rolled over to cover her head with the blanket when that very blanket was suddenly pulled off of her head, sunlight flooding into the room.

She gasped out, remembering, panicking, hoping, sitting up in the bed, rubbing her eyes to clear the haze of her contacts.

"That has to be a world record; I've never seen you get up so fast. Didn't have to throw a wet towel on you or anything," the voice said jokingly, and Adrienne opened her eyes to Daniel, standing there half dressed, toweling off his hair. She didn't say a word, just reached down for her stomach, her eyes widening at the small tight bulge there.

She was pregnant.

There was Daniel.

And at that moment, nothing else mattered.

Too excited to cry, Adrienne stood on the bed, grabbing him, tackling him down beside her, crawling on top of him. He was surprised, but smiled, leaning up to kiss her passionately, misinterpreting her actions. She let his mouth move against hers, enjoying the feel of his skin against her own, letting herself get carried away in his kiss and his embrace, when she had a thought that she might want to check to see if everything else was ok. Giggling, she pushed him back, not letting him go for a minute.

"Who's our boss?" she asked, running her fingers down his face, a face which was screwing up in bewilderment.

"Uh Sam," he answered, confused, kissing her fingers.

"Who's Cameron dating?" she inquired, knowing that everything was alright but just wanting to hear him confirm.

"Dr. Lam in his dreams," Daniel joked, cuddling his head onto her shoulder.

"Can Jonas and I order Mexican for lunch?"

"I think you and Jonas eat way too much Mexican ja-wer."

"How far along am I?"

"Fifteen weeks yesterday..."

"Why aren't you and Vala together?" she tried.

"Because she's annoying and I love you?" he sat back looking at her strangely, "Are you feeling alright?"

Smiling, nodding, everything was alright, maybe it was just a nightmare, but regardless her first task was to go see Sam as soon as she arrived at work, Adrienne leapt from the bed, dashing to the bathroom.

"I'm fantastic, sha, just fantastic," she said, "can you make me breakfast while I'm in the shower?"

Frowning, he stood from the bed, staring at her like she had lost her mind.

"I always do..." he said as he headed for the kitchen, still peering over his shoulder at her, still in his towel, still confused. She watched him leave, relief washing over her as she held onto the door jam.

"I love you Indy," she whispered quickly, running her fingers across her stomach one more time before shutting the bathroom door.

The snapping of a neck echoed around the bridge of the ship, a large booted foot kicking the body as it fell.

"Is this entire planet full of idiots?!" the garbled weak voice screamed, each and every scientist still standing not speaking a word.

"Sir, the device was not meant to be modified-"

Another slap, the speaker cowering to the floor, peering up to see the end of a weapon pointed in his face.

"You, if you know so much about Ancient devices, you will come with me next."

Jerked upright, the man followed as their tormentor turned, limping down the passageway.


	54. Chapter 53 - Refocus

_Again, I am asking your forgiveness. _

_This probably could be a side story, but I thought after everything we just went through together that we all needed this. _

_Granted, this might not have happened given an Anubis attack, but for me, suspend your disbelief for a few pages and enjoy..._

"Sam, do you really think this is such a good idea?" Daniel asked, turning the memo carefully in his hands, a little apprehensive about the entire notion, given their current situation.

"I do Daniel, I do. All of you, the entire team, SG-14, SG-7, the Atlantis crew, all of you are working virtually around the clock, including your future wife. In fact, I honestly don't understand how she's getting away with keeping those hours," Sam accused, gently, hoping he understood her point, but he was frowning, and not in that playful way that he did, but in the way that meant he was just going to continue to argue with her.

"Do you live with Adrienne?" he answered, rhetorically, setting the paper down onto the desk before continuing, "Unless she's physically ill and vomiting violently, which has subsided during this trimester thankfully, she won't sit down. She won't quit, she won't stop, she's far worse than me. I at least make it over to the cot or our bed once in a while. Two nights ago Jonas and I came back from getting coffee to find her asleep at the desk."

It wasn't funny, she shouldn't have laughed, but Sam just couldn't help herself; there were just times where it seemed that Daniel and Adrienne were interchangeable.

"Again, I ask, do you live with Adrienne?" Daniel repeated, ignoring her giggles, "she's not going to agree to this anymore than I am."

Frowning, no longer laughing, Sam reached across the desk, grabbing the memo to set it aside.

"Daniel, this isn't a request. It's an order. It's been weeks since we began looking for ZPMs, with no break. Did you and Adrienne even have a Thanksgiving Dinner, because Jack and I sure as hell didn't. Yes, we need to keep working, help the Langarans, find a way to defend the world against Anubis, but at what cost? We need to understand that life is worth living if we're expected to work our hardest to preserve it," she stated, plainly, folding her hands in front of her.

Letting his head fall back Daniel shook it slowly, bringing it back down and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I should make you tell her," he said, not looking up, knowing full well that she wasn't going to relent.

"Oh no Daniel. Marriage lesson number one: learn to deliver bad news," Sam replied, sliding the paper back over, "Can you post this in the mess on your way back or grab a cadet?"

Taking the paper Daniel stood, rolling his eyes, turning his back on Sam without a word.

"Christmas Break! What is this, high school? Are we gonna get a prom next?" Adrienne shouted, as he expected, looking to Jonas for support, but he just stood there, watching one friend rage at another.

As much as he was enjoying working with both Daniel and Adrienne what he wasn't enjoying was being caught in the middle of soon-to-be-marital disputes, which seemed to happened in front of him far more often than he would like.

"No Adrienne, it's four days, four, that's all. It's not Woolsey's mandatory weeks off, it's just four days," Daniel responded, calmly, debating whether or not he should have even said that.

"My eye! Fo fuckin' days, dink ah wha we cud miss in fo days?!" the Cajun continued to shriek, shout, her face reddening, her accent shining through.

"Addy, she has a point, I think we all need a break," Jonas stepped forward, offering carefully, but evidently not carefully enough, as she whipped around, her ebony eyes boring into him.

"Wha be ya sayin'? Dese be YA people we talkin' 'bout, YA people!" she now directed her anger at Jonas, Daniel shaking his head and moving in, taking her into his arms.

"Ja-wer listen to me. Vala said herself that the spies confirm he isn't doing anything to harm the people of Langara, he's just using it as a base. It's like Teal'c said, he has his gate and his hostages so the only thing we need to worry about is exactly how far he is going to go with his research," Daniel explained, holding her, trying to roll his eyes so that Jonas might feel less uncomfortable.

Dealing with his fiancee's mood swings were enough; he didn't want Jonas to have to witness the affection he found that she needed when she was having said mood swings.

"I know sha, I know, I just feel, so, useless," she whined into his chest, burying her face there.

"Uh, I think I'm going to get, uh, an early dinner, so we can come back and make the most of our time," Jonas stammered, pointing to the door as he saw himself out.

"I don't have a tree," Adrienne whined from his chest.

"I don't either," Daniel replied, kissing the top of her head.

"I don't have any ornaments," she added, turning her head to the side, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"I kinda figured that without the tree," he joked, Adrienne reaching around to his sides to tickle him.

"I still don't want to do this," she said as she backed up, not letting go, gazing into his eyes.

"She signs your paycheck," he retorted, his love simply rolling her eyes.

"I think Jonas is right," Adrienne said quickly, changing the subject, "we should get food."

That was one thing he had to give hormones, wild bout of anger one second and a calm hungry animal another, in fact, all he really had to do now, about four months in by his best estimate, was mention food.

She still ate like a health freak, so far, but she ate all of the time, and gave in at the very mention.

"So we can take a break for food, just not to celebrate an international holiday?" he teased as she walked over to her desk, carefully closing the lid to her laptop.

"You'd bedda watch it sha," Adrienne smiled as she sauntered over to him, still gorgeous despite the full roundness starting to push through her pants, "I know where ya sleep."

"Didya hear?" Cam asked as soon as Adrienne crossed the threshold of the cafeteria, Daniel in tow, buried in a file folder.

"Yep," she answered for him, knowing he wasn't going to answer himself. The only thing that would bring Daniel out of a zone like he was in was if something was wrong with Adrienne or the baby, and right now the only thing Adrienne needed was food, fast.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I felt kinda bad until Jonas showed up," Cam continued, pointing at the scientist who was sitting at the table with Vala, Ronon and Shepard, "but he said he agrees with Sam, that without time off people get tired and sloppy. He thinks the rest will make everyone sharp again."

Adrienne, however, rolled her eyes.

Maybe they needed to refuel, but she and Daniel hadn't felt better. True, they hadn't found any ZPMs yet, but as they had discussed last night, before they went to sleep, the cultural information they had gleaned was invaluable. Granted, they were missing out on the actual excavation of the sites, but as Adrienne so plainly put it, the teams brought all of the cool stuff back to them.

"So I take it you're going home," she inquired, a slight tone in her voice that she wasn't trying to hide.

"Yeah," Can answered instantly, "you can't be telling me that you don't want to go home. After all of the crazy things you've told me about them, and what I've seen of them, you don't want to be a part of that, if not for any other reason than to have more crazy stories?"

Maybe after the wedding, Adrienne thought, a small part of her still concerned that if Daniel was with her family for more than a few hours he would run for the hills.

"Ha," Adrienne replied, grabbing a tray from the stack and setting it on the rack, trying to figure out exactly what food item would calm the maniacal fluttering in her abdomen.

"Damn mini Jackson," she cursed her unborn child as her eyes fell right to cheeseburger and fries, breaking her health streak for the first time since this tiny human invaded her body.

"John are you certain? I would not wish to intrude," Teyla argued, gently, Adrienne noticing that she had joined her other friends for dinner, John already shaking his head.

"I'm sure. I've told him all about you, about Kanaan, Torrin, trust me, he wants to meet everyone and my brother told me to bring you back too Ronon," John explained, happily, Adrienne rolling her eyes. She was about to ask John the very same thing she had asked Cam not a few seconds ago, where there was breath at her ear.

"A cheeseburger? Good boy," Daniel whispered lightly, laughing.

"No bad girl," Adrienne teased back, although she didn't care about the gender one way or the other, "this is all your fault you know."

"I'm pretty sure that you were a willing participant," he teased as he took the seat beside her.

"Daniel," Adrienne hissed out, shocked, but he just laughed, reaching for his own fries.

"Well, you're going to get finish that family trip I interrupted," she heard Jonas say from the other side of her, with a much healthier meal, she noted, to her disgust. She frowned at him, starting to give her lecture, yet again, when she noticed that no one was paying attention to her enough to listen.

"We're not going," she whispered instead, cutting her eyes at Daniel who did not seem to mind this required vacation at all.

"Your not? But Sam said..." Jonas started to ask, Adrienne glaring at him.

"Jonas I can't, after everything, I just can't go home and have fun and be happy, it's just not fair it's foolish, irresponsible, selfish, it's it's i - ," Adrienne started to protest, wildly, angrily, so much so that Daniel reached out for her, concerned.

She was really working herself up today, she needed to calm down, when without warning, she fell over onto the floor, unconscious.

Daniel's heart stopped.

"I feel like at this point in our doctor patient relationship I don't even need to tell you what she's done," Adrienne heard a voice, hazy, distant, a familiar voice, one that liked to yell at her.

"I didn't do anything," she muttered, her eyes still closed, feeling a hand on her own, a larger hand with long fingers, belonging to yet another person that like to yell at her.

"But they're alright, both of them?" he asked, in that tone, that tone in his voice she hated to hear, the one where he made her feel like she was incapable of anything on her own anymore.

"Yes, perfectly fine, all except for the fact that Adrienne's iron is low and she's not sleeping enough. I understand what you three are trying to do down there, but Daniel, she's a pregnant woman, she needs more rest than normal," Carolyn scolded, him, thankfully, although Adrienne was fearing already what her dear love's next course of action would be.

"No, you're exactly right and it's my fault. But I'm taking care of that; we're going to take the four days off, go spend Christmas with her family," he started, Adrienne's eyes and contacts adjusting so that she could now see him, his expression daring her to argue, "and relax."

She wasn't going to win, that was clear.

"Fine," she spat out, turning her head to look at the door.

"Good," she heard his reply, "because your aunt called me too, remember, she likes me. I'm going to call her back. Right. Now."

"Daniel..." Adrienne whined from the bed, Carolyn already rolling her eyes, "Come on, I'd love to go down there too but with everything, can't we just stay home..."

"We don't have a tree," he answered, dialing the number, right in front of her.

"You said that didn't matter," she argued, receiving a finger pressed to his lips in return as he turned around to speak into the receiver.

"Aunt Barbara, hi, it's Daniel. Yes, I got your message, and Adrienne and I have great news..." he started, leaving the infirmary.

"I hate him," the Cajun frowned, looking at the doctor.

"Um hmm," she answered, handing over a vial, "now here are some iron tablets that I know that you're not going to take, so, the cheeseburger that was in your hand when you fell? More of that."

Again, Adrienne just frowned, taking the pills and sitting up, knowing that was Carolyn code for 'leave and let the real sick and injured people recover in peace.'

"Are you ok?" a head peeped around the corner asking, sheepishly.

"Yeah, low iron, need more sleep, but I'm ok," she answered as Jonas approached the bedside, reaching out his hand to help her upright.

"Can you go? Where's Daniel? I can get you to your quarters if you need help," he offered, pulling her to a standing position.

"Yea, I can leave, and Daniel's on the phone plotting ways to make me relax," she grumbled, reaching for her head as she took a step forward.

First order of business when she got back to their quarters: Advil.

"Addy, he's right you know. You need to relax," Jonas offered, reaching behind her back to support her.

"I know, I know, it's just that I feel so, well, useless. You know until I came here there really wasn't a problem that either I couldn't solve or at least find someone who could, but now, not so much. I just want to help," she said, quietly, sadness in her face.

"Adrienne, you are helping. Everyone is helping, but we need a break, all of us. Honestly I could use a break myself," he added, shrugging, helping her along.

She nodded, stepping slowly, reaching for pills to toss them back on the bed when she paused, smiling, glancing back at Jonas.

"Come with us," she said, quickly, excitedly, her eyes lighting up.

"To see your family?" he asked confused.

"Yeah, it'll be fun. There's music, and dancing and more food than you can imagine. Come with us," she repeated, nodding her head, racing out of the infirmary.

"Indy!" she yelled down the hall as Daniel talked into the phone by the stairwell, his finger in his ear to keep out the noise.

"Dammit, well, what do ya say? It only takes a sec ta add ya," Adrienne offered, smiling, starting to walk backwards like she would often do, shaking her head quickly, realizing that pregnancy had taken away that balance, stopping in her tracks again, shaking her head.

"Sure," he agreed before thinking, the invitation itself taking him off guard.

Suddenly it sunk in that he was going to be intruding on a family holiday with his two friends, his two friends that were together, a couple, he'd be a third wheel and he raised his hand to argue but Adrienne was just so very excited that he withdrew his hand slowly. Standing in the hallway, feeling awkward and unsure, Jonas watched his friend and colleague rip the cell phone from Daniel's hand, yammering into it in that quick cajun speak he would hear her do, delighted at their guest.

Laughing, and shrugging, Daniel looked in his direction as if he was trying to make sure.

It was going to be an interesting Christmas.

"That's your second cheeseburger," Vala joked, seeing Adrienne set the sandwich onto her tray followed by a cold glare in her direction.

"No, it's my first. Remember, I had a hot date with the cafeteria floor," Adrienne retorted, tossing two bananas on her tray.

"How I can forget? I thought Glasses peed himself, but then I realized he just spilt water, but it was still funny," she replied, laughing, watching Adrienne grab a salad.

"Why are you looking at my fiancee's crotch?" Adrienne teased, "don't you have your own to stare at now?"

"Yes, and my own is not going to John Sheppard's for Christmas. He is taking me to New York," she announced proudly, reaching past Adrienne for an apple.

"No way," her friend exclaimed.

"Oh yes, and I'm trusting you'll keep your trap shut. No one knows but you and Sam. No one. So no yammering on in bed with Daniel either, you two seem to talk as much as you screw," Vala added, watching Adrienne now grab two rolls, and turn headed to the table, their usual spot oddly vacant.

"If there was ever a doubt as to whose child you were carrying, that buffet you have going on there quells that immediately," Vala joked, taking a seat, deciding to join her friend for a while.

"I say dat ta him all of the time; it's a cocain amount of food. Don't tell him, but I think it's a boy, like he's claiming," Adrienne admitted, quietly, looking around herself as though there were secret Daniel spies watching for her to agree with him.

"You've been sick, really sick, you eat like a boy, aren't those signs?" her friend continued, serious now, for once, Adrienne shaking her head.

"Nah, 'ole wives tales, medically there is really no way to know until Carolyn tells us and even then she could be mistaken," she answered, Vala shrugging, "but I've got a hunch."

It was odd, but the woman seemed to be very excited about the baby, making jokes that often led to serious conversations. Adrienne of course knew about Adria, from a file, like so many other things, but she hadn't really thought Vala to be the kind of person excited about babies. This Vala however, seemed tickled that Adrienne was pregnant, in a very sweet, older sister kind of way.

"So where are you and Glasses going? Anywhere exciting?" she changed the subject instantly, as if she could sense Adrienne picking up on her having actual emotions.

"To the Bayou. It'll be interesting and I'm hoping that he doesn't go running for the hills now that we will have actual time to really let him get to know them," Adrienne muttered, quietly, embarrassed to be doubting him, yet again.

"No, he's not going anywhere, trust me. Make fun of you till the end of time, that's another story," she smiled, popping a fry into her mouth.

"We're taking Jonas too," Adrienne added, "I was gonna invite you, balance it out, but I think NYC with hot Sateadan men beats a Bayou Christmas any day."

"Unless you are going to let me have my way with your man, no, a Bayou Christmas is not better," she joked.

"You'll never let up will you?" Adrienne asked, smiling.

"No. Good looks or not, it's too much fun to make him squirm, and now that you've had that, a lot, makes you get all red-cheeked with him," she answered.

"You're a bad friend," Adrienne replied.

"Only when I try."

"Ahn dis must be ya friend from ova seas!" Aunt Barbara exclaimed, tackling Jonas at the door as he glanced over at both Daniel and Adrienne panicked.

"Told ya," Daniel said smiling, standing and waiting his turn. The large cajun woman, dressed in a very festive Christmas sweater, huge, red, covered in ornaments and candy canes, hugged their Langaran friend tightly, swinging him around. One more final squeeze and she let go, of his entire body at least, still clasping his shoulders as she made her loud declarations for all to hear.

"Naw ya see Addy dis be 'ow we bring in people ta mah 'ome. When I be dresst ahn 'ad time ta make food," she started right in with her scolding, praising, Jonas wasn't sure, but either way Adrienne approached her very excited relation, pulling her hands from him.

"Well, ya look wonderful and it's fantastic ta see ya," Adrienne greeted, pulling her aunt into her arms, hugging her with love. It was heart-warming to see Adrienne and her closest relation, so much so there was a pang of pain in his stomach, wondering what had become of those he had left behind, but it was quickly interrupted when he saw the woman backing away from Adrienne, glancing behind her.

"Ahn der he be! Der be dah mahn dat put some sense en mah Addy!" she greeted, shouted really, at Daniel, racing up to him and throwing herself in his arms. Jonas had to smile seeing someone he had always thought of as just a bit uptight laughing and hugging this large woman, stepping back from her and taking Adrienne by the hand.

"Der be propa food en da kitchen. Buddy be cookin' da chicken ahn der be mashed patate en da stove," Aunt Barbara informed him, Jonas' stomach rumbling at the mention of food, heavy hearty food no less, but he froze unsure as to what to do. Daniel, however, seemed comfortable enough, making a beeline into the house, Adrienne laughing happily.

"Ya've known him three weeks, three weeks, met him in person once, and have already figured out how to win him ova," she laughed, reaching out her hand for Jonas.

"He ba ah man Addy, dat be 'ow ya win all of dem," she answered, now looking at Jonas herself, "go 'on, I know ya be dinkin wit ya stomach already."

He wasn't sure what it was, hunger, nerves, homesickness, or the lure of the barbecue sauce, but for once he didn't hesitate, dashing in this strange house right behind Daniel.

She had to admit that the hormones were part of it, but regardless there was something special about sitting here, in her aunt's kitchen, eating a simple southern dinner with her family. It was just her aunt and uncle at home tonight, Rae staying in until Christmas Eve with Marc, having preparations of her own. They ate, laughing and talking, Daniel acting like he had just been a part of the family all along, Jonas even lightening up after a while.

The meal was good, barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and greens, with ice tea to drink, a quintessential Southern meal so Adrienne wasn't surprised when her uncle stood from the table, heading over to the fridge to get some 'juice'.

"Be ya comin' fils. Da women gonna be vay yay 'bout da weddin' ahn I nah care fo yappin' 'bout dresses ahn flowas," he invited cocking his head for Daniel to join him as he made it to the screen door, Daniel who was now looking over at Adrienne concerned.

"Go sha, y'all didn't get ta chat last time," she said through a smile, Daniel's eyes growing wider.

"Non possum bibere," he pleaded in quick Latin, hoping Adrienne would knowing that drinking with her and with this man were two totally different things.

"Potes ac vis. Tolle Ionae," she ordered, cutting her eyes at Jonas who spoke enough Ancient to understand this broken Latin, that now he too was being ordered to drink with the boys.

"He nah gonna break ya boy, nah git! I gotta speak wit Addy about dings ya boys nah need ta be parts af," Aunt Barbara scolded.

Sighing, looking at Adrienne one last time, Daniel stood from the table motioning for Jonas to join him. A quiet apprehension to be sure, the two men exited the house out of the back door, leaving the women behind to talk.

"He's gonna behave, right?" Adrienne asked the moment the screen door slapped shut.

"Ah yea," Barbara responded, "he be dinkin' dat Daniel be da second comin' since he's gots ya all playin' da Madame," she added, chuckling.

"We're not playing house Aunt Barbara. We both are in the same boat of cluelessness which we're trying to wade through together," Adrienne defended, making a face as she started to clear away this dishes, refraining from comment how in her household she and Daniel shared the chores; he didn't get to go drink on the back porch while she cleaned.

"I know dat Addy, I jus be pain pee po. I know dat ya two fa sho," she amended, running the water in the sink.

"We are, don't worry about that," Adrienne replied, quietly, waiting for the next barrage of questions.

"Ya kno ya be breakin' everee bodies' 'arts not havin' da ceremony 'ere," she continued, right on cue it seemed, as Adrienne went back to wipe down the table.

"Really Aunt Barbara? Dad never talked to anybody but you, and sometimes Uncle Buddy. Half of the family thought I was a lesbian for crying out loud. They just want an excuse to drink," Adrienne retorted, not wanting to argue, but wanting to put this entire mess to rest. Even Cam had noted when he came that she was a bit of a black sheep among the crowd, only her aunt and cousin really talking to her more than just a quick hello.

"Dis be da verite honeychile, ya speak da turht," her aunt replied, scrubbing in a way that Adrienne was just now realizing was more therapeutic than subordinate, her slow methodical hands working the scouring pad across the plates, "but ya donna wanna try? Ya know how ya be, mayhaps da famlee dink ya dink ya bedda den us?"

Ok, Adrienne thought, she had a point, memories of being told pretty much the same in an elevator by a man that she was marrying in a few weeks did validate her aunt's point. On the other hand, transporting her strange brood of alien friends, here, to the Bayou, where she would have to keep track over everyone and keep a wedding from falling apart wasn't exactly her idea of a good time.

"I'm not tryin' to hurt you Barb, it's just that DC is where my life is now, my friends. Everything..." she explained, tempering her tone, watching her aunt thankfully nod in response.

" 'ave ya picked a place yet?" she continued, apparently accepting this excuse, much to Adrienne's relief.

"No, it's too late to do anything conventionally so we are having to use Daniel's connections and try to find a place that hasn't already been taken," Adrienne lied, having really only called one place so far in DC, a cathedral, getting a no strictly because of her religious persuasion.

"Whacha be wearin'? Didya find ah dress?" she moved right along, peeking over her shoulder at her niece who was now sitting back down at the clean table, frowning.

"No, not yet. I want that to be last so I don't look too disgusting," she explained, truthfully this time, the fear of waking up one morning to a basketball size eruption at her abdomen, an eruption that would rip through her dress like a horror movie nightmare, haunting her every thought.

"Wha 'bout da flowas, cahlas, cake?" she rolled on, Adrienne's stomach sinking at the answer she would have to give, her acting skills even worse pregnant and hormonal.

"No, aunt Barbara not yet," omission, she added in her mind, just don't give her any more information, but it didn't matter. Barbara Verdin was like a voodoo woman of her own, turning around to face her niece, dishes down, Cajun glare at full power.

"Addy 'ave ya done anyding fa da weddin?" she asked, plainly, her entire attention focus on the young woman sitting before her.

"Yes actually," she replied, remembering something, "our friend Jack is a Justice of the Peace, he's a general at the Pentagon, he's going to marry us."

"Dat's it?" Barbara clarified.

_Ok Ad, not enough evidently..._

"Is that bad?" Adrienne inquired, feigning ignorance.

"Adrienne Mahgret, be ya serious 'bout dis weddin'? Do Dahniel kno dat ya 'aven't started anyding? Whathca got da paresse?" she fussed, louder than normal, her face back to what she was used to growing up: Addy scold. She almost laughed for a moment, Adrienne realizing why she kind of liked Dr. Grumpypants after all; she fussed like her aunt.

"No, he doesn't and yes I am. Things have been really busy at work and I haven't had a lot of free time," Adrienne answered again, honestly. Truth was, she felt guilty about doing anything normal now, even more so with a daily reminder sitting across from her desk of their new, and nowhere near as fun as before, mission.

"Addy, pleez tell me dat ya nah be backin outta dis?" she inquired, seriously, her look stern.

"Why would I back out of this? I love him, so much, there's no worry about that, trust me. It's the wedding I'm not too excited about..." Adrienne responded, trailing, sad that she didn't have a better answer. She didn't; she wished that her insistence on having a wedding for everyone since Jack and Sam eloped had been a suggestion that Daniel hadn't taken seriously.

Instead, he had agreed, thinking it was a great idea.

Not speaking at first, her aunt turned back to the sink, washing a few more dishes, slowly, methodically once again, the scrub scrub of sponge on pot almost lulling Adrienne into a meditation of her own.

"Maybe I see dat. Ya folks be da same way, jus got mahried at da church, a few folk, sum of da professas from da University fo ya fada, me ahn mine, ya mommas podnas from wahk, dat be all," she mumbled, from the sink, her back still turned to her niece. Shrugging, realizing it was a pointless gesture as soon as she did it, Adrienne stood, walking over to the fridge to try to find something cool to drink.

"Why donna ya 'ire ah planner, like en da cine? I sho 'round DC dere be lots ah dose," she offered, Adrienne shaking her head at the door. Daniel had suggested the same exact thing not two nights ago, as he stood on the other side of the shower curtain trying to discuss a wedding when all she wanted to do was bathe.

"Aunt Barbara there're starving children in Africa, starving, and you're suggesting that I waste money on a wedding planner?" she answered, or a wedding she added in her head.

_I think I'm gonna just ask Daniel if Jack can come down to the lab the day after we get back, have this stop hanging over our heads. _

Again, her aunt didn't respond at first, kept washing, when she stopped suddenly, setting the forks down and looking over her shoulder.

"Wha 'bout dat gaienne? Dat wun dat likes ta shop all ah da time? Da wun dat bough dat diamond crown?"

Of course, Adrienne thought, her eyes widening. Why didn't she think of Vala? She would love this, picking every last stupid little detail that she didn't even want to think about...

"Aunt Barbara you're a GENUIS!" she shouted, racing over to her aunt.

"Ahn all dat time ya be dinkin' I be sum vielle, sum cooyon. Wun day ya learn ta lissen' ta me Addy," she laughed, turning back to her dishes.

"Nah dis be da apple pie, but Barb dinna 'ave any cinnamon sah is mah like apple cream," Buddy apologized, pouring the brackish liquid into three juice glasses, passing them out carefully to his guests. Daniel took his first, having experience's Uncle Buddy's brew before, nodding for Jonas to do the same.

Honestly, Jonas thought, if this is half as good as the food, he can just keep on pouring.

He sipped slowly, judging the strength of the liquor, discovering quickly that Adrienne's second warning had been correct, knowing that he needed to pace himself, at least more than Daniel, who was nervously eyeing his future in-law, quickly chugging his glass.

"Ya like?" the man asked the archaeologist, curiosity on his face.

_So apparently I'm not the only person to notice Daniel downing the alcohol. _

"Yeah, it's good. Thanks," he replied, passing his glass over for a refill. Taking another sip himself, Jonas peered down into his glass debating a refill but deciding against it just in case Daniel needed some help later.

"Like I say, da women be vay yay 'bout weddins' ahn dings," the man smiled, heeding Daniel's request and filling the glass almost to the top.

"There's not much to talk about," Daniel started, taking a large swig from the glass before continuing, "Adrienne hasn't done anything to prepare."

Uh oh, Jonas thought, this might not just be a nerve fueled binge drink; for two people who seem to have so much together their personal life always seems to be a bit of a train wreck.

"She hasn't?" Jonas decided to clarify, knowing that Adrienne must have done something. She was very excited to be marrying Daniel, he knew that much, he would often catch her staring at her engagement ring during the day, so he knew she wasn't chickening out.

"Nope. Don't expect her to either. She'll panic a week before, drag me to the mall, not sleep and throw it all together, and I'll just laugh at her," he joked, drinking a little bit more.

Ok, not a big deal apparently, Jonas amended, figuring he should keep the conversation flowing.

"Daniel do you really think she'll do that?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, taking a swig himself.

"Oh yeah, and she'll come whining to you I promise Jonas, find a good place to hide. No disrespect Mr. Verdin, but Adrienne, just, well, she's..." Daniel amended, drinking again, eyeing the overall clad man in the lawn chair across from him.

This was kind of funny, Daniel seemed so unsure of himself right now, so awkward, Jonas just taking another drink to see how his friend talked himself out of this.

"Neva wun fa da frills dat girl, I know. I canna believe she 'greed ta a weddin' a'tall, verite. Aye still canna believe she done foun ah man she'd mahry," he joked, reaching out to offer refills, Jonas this time extending his glass, peering over at Daniel. He looked relieved, but his hand was extended again, for more, even though his cup wasn't even half empty.

Maybe he's just being polite now, the Langaran thought, nodding his head in thanks before drinking more.

"I'd have asked sooner, before the baby, honestly, the thought crossed my mind even when we were just friends, we work well together, but I was deathly afraid of her saying no," Daniel answered, honesty in his voice.

That Jonas could believe, Adrienne never struck him as the marriage and children type, she was too tough, too macho, in fact, he hadn't really thought of her even having a softer side until they had gone out to dinner.

Wait, he thought, dinner?

If Daniel was thinking about asking her to marry him before they were dating, how did that fit into his own timeline?

"Wait, when when you were friends?" he asked, his words slightly slurred and spilling out.

Wow, his mind was racing, this stuff is strong, shut up Jonas, shut up, "When exactly when you were just friends? Was this before or after the, uh, first, uh," he stammered, remembering their company, trying to figure out how to word it, "before we had to talk about those illegals we had crossing the border," that should do it.

It must have, Daniel's eyes widening, he was just as intoxicated as he was, yammering on, because at that moment Jonas was fairly certain Daniel didn't mean to declare that he had considered proposing to Adrienne long before they were together.

"Well I mean, of course, then I wasn't thinking romantically, no, Mr. Verdin, I don't want you to get the wrong idea, Jonas, I, sir, can I get another?" Daniel stammered, finishing his glass, reaching forward, Jonas drinking down his to match him. Maybe it was the alcohol, but this was too funny to watch Daniel squirm; this must be what Vala enjoyed so much.

"I know you said that you two weren't bothered by, well, but when?" Jonas asked, suddenly fearing what her uncle would think of him if he knew that his niece had gone out with him as well. He caught the older man gazing in his direction, so he did the only thing he could think of doing.

He took another drink.

"Before your dinner Jonas, I'm sorry. I think, well, it was a distraction, a failed attempt, hence her reaction," Daniel explained, Jonas almost laughing at his drunken pronunciation of the word hence, it coming out lacking the 'h' like Adrienne's family would do.

"That explains a lot," Jonas admitted, sipping, sitting back in his chair, peeking over at Adrienne's uncle, who was slapping his knee laughing.

"Shut da door! Ya gone out wit Addy too! I dunno wha ya'll did ta my Addy up der but she done come ow ah 'er shell!"

"I find the idea of my wife ever in any kind of shell pretty damn funny myself," Daniel added, Jonas noting his word choice.

"I like 'ow ya call 'er wife alreadee. Ya know when her dad defan, ah, when 'ee knew 'ee was dyin', 'ee made us promise ta take cahr ah 'er. Said we 'ad ta take cahr ah 'er, dat dings 'ad been 'arder fah 'er dan we knew. We neva axed, dey be in ah mal pris afta da break in at da 'otel ahn Addy finally agreed ta come live 'ere. Barb 'as always tried ta look afta 'er as much as she'd letta," the man rambled on, maybe a few too many himself, searching Daniel's face for understanding, getting a nod in return.

Granted, it had been one dinner, but Jonas had considered her a friend, chatting with her on his more diplomatic missions and they had become pretty close in his opinion since the attack on his world. Right now, however, he had no idea what the men were talking about, and by the look on Daniel's face told him there was something far worse than just living in a hotel.

"I will Mr. Verdin, I promise. She's my entire universe," Daniel said, quietly, his face despondent.

"Ok, I don't know about you guys, but I need another drink. It's not every day a man finds out the cute girl used him to make his friend jealous," Jonas declared, happily, reaching out his glass.

Thankfully, Daniel smiled, doing the same.

She was just drifting off to sleep, the comfort of food and family and her aunt's brilliant epiphany making her relax when she felt hot breath at her cheek and then at her neck, lips softly kissing behind her ear.

"Heading to bed," she giggled, rolling to kiss his lips, flavored now with apple pie moonshine, so sweet she wanted to lick them were it not alcohol she would be licking.

"Not ta sleep," he muttered against her, inebriated, sounding almost Cajun with his words. Laughing, Adrienne pushing him back slightly, looking at him in shock.

"You're drunk," she accused, pulling him beside her, where he flopped onto the bed heavily, a big goofy grin on his face. Shaking her head, Adrienne crawled onto her knees to undress him, seeing as how he was in no state to do it himself.

"No, I'm nah, I'm...relaxed," he whispered, not fighting her as she slipped off his glasses and pulled his shirt over his head, letting his head roll groggily to the side.

"Uh huh," she laughed, reaching for his jeans, "how many times did Uncle Buddy refill your juice glass?" Frowning, Daniel held his hands in front of his face, counting his fingers silently, one, two, three, one, four, before finally glaring at Adrienne.

"I forgot," he answered, laughing again, letting his head fall over to the other side.

Shaking hers, Adrienne reached carefully, undoing the top button of his jeans and pulling down the zipper, surprised at the reaction beneath.

"Come here," he begged, reaching out for her, his intentions clear although his aim was not, his palms slipping down her forearms. Laughing, she was tempted to get her phone to film this and were it not for the fact that he was very ready to be intimate, physically ready, she would have.

Grabbing the fabric on his thighs, Adrienne yanked his pants to the floor, pulling off his boots and socks and stripping him the rest of the way down to his boxers.

"Pass out Indy," she ordered, trying to be stern as she watched him fumble with the blankets, reach for her, and then fumble again.

"I wanna be close," he whispered, Daniel code for 'I want to get laid', but Adrienne knew there was no way that he could actually do anything, tempting as it was just to take advantage of him right then and there.

"We will be, this is a full size bed. Pass out Romeo," Adrienne teased, covering him up sweetly, standing to toss his clothes into the hamper.

"I wuv you ja-wer," he mumbled, the sleep in his voice obvious.

"I love you too. Go to sleep," she answered.

He was out before she could get under the covers.

"I thought you said you drank that before," Jonas grumbled, glaring at Daniel as he watched his friend stagger into the kitchen, his hand at his head.

"Not that much; I think he was trying to kill me," was his reply, eyes closing as he pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses.

"You're so gah damn dramatic, here," Adrienne intervened as both men, friend and fiancee stumbled their way to kitchen table, pulling out chairs and sitting side by side, Daniel closing his eyes to force away a headache, Jonas letting his head fall onto his folded arms. The Langaran looked up when she shoved the mug into his arm, taking it into his hand, hugging the warmth.

"Does it work?" he asked, pitifully, peering down into the contents.

"Yeah, it works," Daniel answered for him, reaching to take his mug.

"Experience?" Jonas joked, eyeing his equally miserable friend.

"Do you see what I am marrying? Yes, experience," Daniel replied, laughing, regretting that the instant the pain surged through his head again.

"Serves you right, would you like me to tell Jonas about last night?" she teased, raising her eyebrows a touch before turning back to the counter to get her own cup of tea. She might not have had anything to drink last night like the two hung-over fools here, but blackberry tea was always good, no matter what.

"What about last night?" Daniel asked, screwing up his face at her in confusion.

He doesn't remember, she thought, this is great...

"Never mind, lets jus say I have more fuel for da fire," she replied, smiling, holding back a chuckle that had him automatically rolling his eyes.

"What else is new? Did you get to bed alright?" he answered, redirecting his attention to Jonas, who was quietly nursing the mug in his grasp.

"Yeah. Addy's aunt said I was the cutest lil thing and she wanted to introduce me to Adele, whoever that is, tonight at dinner," he replied, remembering the large kind woman escorting him to his room as he had watched Daniel try to navigate the stairs.

"Shut the door! She's got me almost married off to Daniel and now she's turned her sights on Adele!? No offense Jonas, you're adorable, but Aunt Barbara has a one track mind and that track is weddings. Period," Adrienne exclaimed, shaking her head and crossing her arms trying to think of a way to get Jonas out of meeting Adele.

""ow be everya one feelin dis morning. I see dat Addy gots out da fruit tea..." the focus of Adrienne's current mood sauntered in, happy, smiling, the way she got with a house full.

I hate her, Adrienne thought, it is physically impossible to be mad at her.

"Yeah, and it's not morning Barb, it's noon. Don't lie ta da boys," Adrienne laughed, cutting her eyes over at her fiancee to gauge his reaction.

"What? Noon?" Daniel questioned, reaching into his pants for a phone that wasn't there before grabbing Jonas' wrist to turn it to face him.

"Yea, sha, like I said you were OUT last night. We've been up for a while," she answered, pulling out the chair beside him, lightly resting her hand on his arm.

"Ya gots ta lie ta dem sometimes Addy, makes 'em feel bedda ah at least break it ta dem gently," her aunt joked, firing up more coffee, reminding Adrienne the source of her addiction. Only in the Bayou, other than their lab and home, did coffee brew all day.

Damn, she thought, I miss coffee, damn mini-Jackson.

"Never again," Daniel mumbled, letting his head fall onto the table.

"You said that the last time handsome," Adrienne taunted, mussing his hair.

"Being with you is just like one lifelong fraternity hazing isn't it," he picked, turning his head to the side, as she playfully pushed his face.

"Jonas, chile, can I getcha someding ta eat? Dahniel can ya eat?" their hostess asked, reaching into the cabinets to get what Adrienne knew was pancake mix, keeping it simple and absorptive.

"Ha! That's the million dollar question," Adrienne shouted, laughing, sipping some more tea.

"Hush Mrs. Cheeseburger. Yes ma'am, but it's late, I can get it myself," Daniel replied, standing, starting to very slowly, very very slowly Adrienne noted, make his way over to the counter.

"Nonsense, ya boys jus sit dere ahn I be makin' ya somedin'" she insisted, walking over pushing Daniel, carefully Adrienne noted, back to his seat.

"Addy your family is seriously great; they're so nice. Why were you so worried?" Jonas asked in a whisper, remembering the car ride from the airport, Adrienne's long explanation of insanity this visit would bring, Daniel laughing and nodding his head.

Honestly, if it was the accents and country behavior she was worried about he thought the food canceled that out completely.

"No they are, they're just different, not like me at all," she stressed, laughing, watching her aunt prepare something from scratch that were Adrienne herself could cook would definitely need a recipe and a reason.

Like Daniel.

He'd been the reason she turned on a stove for something other than a chicken breast in years.

Damn distracting man.

"She lies. Get a little shine en 'er ahn she shows dat she's from da Island," Daniel joked, unable to pull off the accent, but just enough to send Jonas into a fit of laughter.

"Indy, it's just weird when you speak Cajun, weird and wrong," Adrienne replied, rubbing her face.

"What's she making, not that I'm picky, just curious," Jonas asked, leaning around trying to figure out what in the world was going on at the busy stove, his stomach telling him that food of some sort may or may not be a good idea, depending on the food.

"If you're lucky grits and pancakes. It's simple, inoffensive and you guys need it, trust me," she answered.

"And if we're not?" Jonas continued, worried.

"If we're not it might involve feet," Daniel responded for her laughing as he did.

"Indy you have never been served feet here, nor have I ever mentioned feet. Stop referencing the internet," she fussed, frowning.

"Ja-wer sometimes, with you, the internet is the only reference that I have, although I think there needs to be an in depth archaeological study of your people, given that I have the time in the future," he added, Adrienne walking in his direction, laughing, headed to do exactly what Jonas wasn't too sure.

Evidently this wasn't an act for work; they quite literally went back and forth like this all of the time, but not in a mean way.

They just seemed to be having fun, and for a moment Jonas was envious of their relationship.

"Come on, ah tree ah ya gonna eat. Addy ya need ta be eatin' mo too; ya be a skinny mullet fah dat baby," Aunt Barbara ordered, a bowl of grits in one hand and a plate of pancakes in another. Smiling, Jonas' eyes widened and he forgot his earlier thought, deciding to just eat his way through the next two days.

"Can we keep her? I used to think that the commissary was good but this is amazing," Jonas teased not seconds after Aunt Barbara had cleaned up breakfast, a breakfast the three of them, Adrienne included much to Daniel's smart ass delight, had torn though.

"Amazing and a heart attack waiting to happen. Most of the health statistics involving death before age FORTY are skewed the way they are because of MY home state," Adrienne admitted with a sigh, holding her belly, cursing a mini-Jackson in her mind as she instantly regretted her choice to eat yet again.

"Ignore her," Daniel defended, pleased to have a few days of non-rabbit food, "it's amazing, it's Christmas and it's a nice break from the usual. Besides, Adrienne's just mad that it's not a cheeseburger," he continued, laughing as he looked over at her.

"I'm gonna start taking those iron pills just so I don't have to hear about cheeseburgers anymore," she spat, shoving his leg, making a face.

"I'm just playing with you, come here," Daniel apologized, seeing in her face he had offended her; her uncontrollable eating habits being something that she was a little upset by. She came, sitting on his legs, letting him wrap his arms around her and rest his head onto her back.

"Addy, is there a place where I can shower, I feel like I'm sweating out alcohol," Jonas asked, wanting more of an escape than anything as his friends sat cuddled at the kitchen table.

Third wheel, Jonas, you're back to being the third wheel.

"That's da shine clean, yeah, let me show ya, it's right down here," Adrienne said, standing, urging her friend to follow her down the hall.

Daniel, on the other hand, just lay his head on the table, still tired, hungover, and insanely full.

"So...," Adrienne started, slowly, having debated the words down the hallway once Jonas got himself situated and seemed to be alright, "I've been thinking about the wedding."

"Really?" Daniel replied, surprised, especially since he really had thought that she would just panic a week before and throw something together. Not that he would mind that, he wouldn't and she'd still make it look like it took her a year, but honestly he just wanted to get married.

"Yes, really, smartass," she answered, noting his tone, "I'm gonna let Vala plan it."

"WHY!?" he asked after a pause, letting the words sink in, because there was no way in the world that he was hearing her correctly.

"Because I hate things like that. I like to shop on occasion, big sales, but you know me, usually I have a goal, go get it and leave. I don't want to go and browse through flowers and cakes," Adrienne explained, thinking to herself nor did she want to deal with the ten thousand other details that had been racing through her head since she had tried to watch one of those TV shows on wedding planning.

"Again, WHY!? Why do you insist on letting her nose her way into our relationship?" Daniel demanded, sitting straighter in his chair.

Dear god, he thought, if I was never able to get rid of her before...

"I dunno, she's like the sister I never had," Adrienne answered honestly, her face screwing up at the realization of how strange that really was, especially for Daniel.

"Which is not a bad thing, the never, not the sister," he replied.

"Can't you be nice?" she shot back.

"Ad, just for a moment can you consider how strange it is for me to have you be so close to someone who spent most of the time I knew her trying to get into my pants?" he asked, Adrienne thinking to herself, yes, I did think that, nearly word for word, but refraining from comment.

"Why does that matter? I'm the only one allowed in there now, right?" she teased, biting her lower lip coyly.

"That's not the point," he said quickly.

Noting his discomfort, Adrienne tried to come with another reason, anything to assure him that Vala would not be "measuring" him for a tux any time soon.

"She's dating Dex," Adrienne spat out before she could think not to.

"What!?" Daniel questioned, frowning.

"She said not to tell you, well, tell you in bed, but we're not in bed. We're sitting at the kitchen table. She is dating Dex and he took her to New York for Christmas," Adrienne explained, slowly, watching Daniel's face change from general disapproval to amusement.

"That poor man," he finally said, as dramatically as possible.

"Stop it Indy. You're impossible. Just hear me out. I'm not gonna give her free reign. I will give her restrictions, very clear guidelines. Do you still have that magazine I gave you? I will use that, make her a large to DO NOT EVER EVER do list and make her check in with me," Adrienne offered, seeing her window, the window in which he would give in and cave at any moment.

"You do realize that we're never going to get anything done, ever again. She'll be at the lab every second with one stupid question or another, useless nonsense like do you prefer lilac or lavender?" Daniel added his final argument, hoping that with Adrienne's near obsession with finding ZPMs that she would reconsider this insane idea.

"Do YOU know the difference between lilac and lavender, because if so I think I've picked the wrong planner," she joked, knowing she had won.

"Fine," he answered, rolling his eyes, "Do what you want, but don't think though that I'm just going to let her shut down the lab and cease all intelligence operations," he warned.

"Since when did Sam die and leave you in charge of the SGC?" she retorted smugly.

"Cute Ad, very cute," he chuckled, reaching out for her to stand and come sit with him again like they were before, wanting more than anything to rest his aching head against her skin.

"I know and you're almost stuck with me forever. Now go change. Dinner's business casual and as much as I can stare at your ass in jeans all day we need to look nice. People are gonna start arriving in a few hours," she teased, not standing, just squeezing his hands and cocking her head upstairs.

"Yes master," he relented, standing, alone, heading for the stairs.

"I don't find you funny," she said, smiling.

"Yes you do. That's why you're marrying me, I have this whole dry sardonic comedy thing you can't get enough of," he said over his shoulder, laughing as he trudged to their room.

"I thought you said never again," he heard from behind and felt arms around his waist. There she was, he hadn't seen her in a good half an hour, maybe longer, since the rest of the Bayou had converged on the Verdin home. Ushered proudly by Aunt Barbara, Daniel had been introduced to more cousins and kin than he could have ever imagined, each with that same thick accent as the last and to be honest, it was all very overwhelming.

"I thought you said that we're here we might as well enjoy," he defended, leaning back into her, enjoying, literally every moment of this.

"Ok, but," she leaned forward, her lips softly at his ear, "I kinda wanted to fulfill your request from last night..."

"I had a request?" he whispered, confused, tilting his head back.

"Yeah Indy," she started, pausing for effect, "you were very ready to be close..."

"What!?," he hissed, pulling to turn to face her, "I missed that!?"

"No," she giggled, reaching for his waist again, pulling him into a loving embrace that he let himself melt into without hesitation, "I didn't fulfill that. You couldn't even talk right."

Why did she have to bring that up, he thought, feeling the tinge of arousal inside his abdomen, but it wasn't just that, it really was the closeness, the intimacy.

He just longed to share that trust and love with her again.

"Ok, I'll control myself. I didn't mean to overdo it last night; your uncle's persuasive and he was lecturing me on taking care of you. I got nervous," Daniel admitted, feeling bad for an event that he didn't remember.

"He did?" Adrienne questioned, pulling back and ignoring his apology.

"Yea, but it's alright. Everything's just fine. He actually told me good luck dealing with you for the rest of my life," Daniel replied, smiling, reaching for her to take her into his arms once more.

"He really doesn't know you," Adrienne joked, laying her head onto his chest and closing her eyes.

"Save me," Daniel heard Jonas' plea, lifting his head from Adrienne's to find his friend frowning, nervous, peeking back over his shoulder.

"From?" Adrienne asked, stepping back from Daniel fully aware that this had something to do with her family.

"Your aunt. I met Adele, and, well, she's ..." Jonas started, stopping, stammering, feeling horribly awkward and terribly rude all at once.

"Loud, pushy and obnoxious?" Adrienne guessed, laughing.

"She IS a relative of yours," Daniel teased, taking her lightly by the fingers, not wanting to lose contact with her for a second.

"Requests..." she reminded him quietly, smiling, winking her eye and squeezing his fingers.

"Shutting up," he answered, noting the lost expression on Jonas' face.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Adrienne offered, pulling Daniel along behind her.

"No, just, uh, I'm such a bad liar," Jonas answered honestly, not wanting to offend anyone nor break up what seemed to be a tender moment between his friends. He was so glad that they came, so glad that Sam forced this upon them if not for any other reason than to see two people who had given their entire life and focus to helping him, enjoy time together without worry.

"Hang on, let me think," the Cajun shushed him, her eyes scanning nothing but she was in her zone, that impossible zone that she would go into, a zone he never believed existed as Daniel had said until he had seen it himself.

"Fast Addy please, because she is headed over here," he begged not wanting to be more of an intrusion but unable to think of any other excuses himself. It hadn't even been a conversation, it had been a lecture, one in which Adele had talked to him about the evils of the federal government, the heat of the Bayou, the role of a man in a relationship, and much much more, but he had tuned her out once she starting listing the duties of a husband.

"Who Adele or Aunt Barb?" Adrienne said as she looked up, her eyes still a million miles away trying to solve this tiny problem as though it were some large scale tragedy.

"Does it really matter?!" Jonas hissed, looking to Daniel for help now getting a shoulder shrug in return.

"Got it!," she exclaimed, loudly, that glazed over look gone, but her voice continuing at the same volume, "Doesn't Uncle Buddy make the best shine!? Come on, I'm sure I can find you boys some..." she led, suggesting with her eyes that they follow, seeking out her uncle for a second round.

"Ad, requests..." Daniel cleared his throat, trying to be discrete.

"Oh come on, Jonas's being Vala-ed here. I'll double owe you," she whispered back.

"I never forget. Anything," he promised, both to her and to himself inside that he was going to keep it to a minimum, after all it was only four in the afternoon, so he could be close with her tonight.

He was imagining her skin, her touch, when he noticed he was being pulled away, back from the living area where the family had gathered and into the kitchen where her uncle buddy was standing at the fridge, evidently having heard Adrienne's announcement.

"Ya boys want some mah!? Gar ici I be impressed!" he greeted the men with open arms, literally, a fistful of juice glasses and a jar of shine. Daniel shot one final desperate look at Adrienne who simply mouthed "Go help Jonas" before turned to head out of the house.

"Adele! it is so good to see you shug! And Aunt Barbara, thank you so much for letting Jonas come, really, poor Daniel having to deal with me and hormones and whew, he needed some guy time. He just snapped up Jonas just now to go have a few with him and Uncle Buddy," Adrienne lied, deftly, reaching her arms around her relations to lead them back into the living room.

Daniel Anthony Jackson, you'd better not drink too much, she thought as she walked away.

"Mais, Jonas, dat be ya name righ?" Constance, Buddy's youngest sister started right in, grinning at her eldest, Adele, who was back to pursuing Jonas full tilt now that it was time for dinner and 'the boys' could no longer hide on the back porch, "Addy say ya be from Sweden, but ya donna 'ave an accent."

"No ma'am, I don't, but it has taken years of practice. You see, since I work for the government and we have to deal with so many different nations, English is a universal language and I try to keep a neutral accent," Jonas answered, perfectly, just as he and Adrienne had rehearsed.

"He's a better actor than you are. You should get HIM to teach YOU," Daniel hissed from behind his napkin, his mouth still partially full of Jalapeño Cranberry Sauce. Adrienne, however, didn't answer, frowning at him and elbowing him in the side. He swallowed and reached for her thigh, squeezing it, wondering if this entire charade that Jonas and Adrienne had concocted the night before they left would work. It was so stupid, if Adrienne had just said something easy, like he was from New England or Canada, they wouldn't question, but no, she had to say that he was from the same damn country as that damn stupid actor.

_In fact, they didn't need to come up with anything at all..._

"Dat make sense, people no be liken' accents, dat be why Addy vay yay like she nah wun ah us," Aunt Barbara interjected, shooting a glance over at Adrienne, "'Ow be ya Christmas?"

_Ok Adrienne, the two of you sat in the kitchen till nearly two in the morning eating cheesecake and reading websites about Swedish Christmas, let's see if you can pull this off. _

"Well, actually, we begin celebrating on the thirteenth of December, with the festival of Santa Lucia. The girls dress up in robes and serve their parents, it is sometimes celebrated in cathedrals as well, but my family is not religious," he started, carefully, sounding like an encyclopedia entry. They call me a nerd, Daniel thought, they spent their evening concocting this crap while I went to bed.

"Wha do ya eat?" Adele chimed in, her fork running slowly, seductively, grossly in his opinion through a perfectly edible dirty rice.

If you're gonna just play with that while you try to hit on my friend, I'm happy to take that off of your hands, Daniel added inside, his stomach still rumbling.

"Ham, pigs feet, codfish, lots of sweets, but nothing as good as this," Jonas complimented, taking a large forkful of cajun spiced turkey breast, salivating over it as much as he was.

He should have dared Jonas to say blood, but apparently Adrienne had moved onto real information after her Skarsgard gush session.

"We be eatin' feet tah, just like turkey bedda at dah big dinnas," Uncle Buddy responded, a heavily spiced turkey leg in his own hand.

"Aint nutin' wrong wit da feet," Constance added quickly, her eyes telling Daniel that feet of some persuasion must be a personal speciality.

That I wouldn't eat, he thought, reaching for the plate of roast pig, his soon to be wife eyeing him with contempt.

"Wha ya fav food?" Adele continued, completely ignoring her meal with a dreamy, bedroom like stare at Jonas, who was trying hard not to meet her gaze.

Poor guy, Daniel laughed inside, the man just wants to eat before his food gets cold and avoid being betrothed to a swamp monster.

"To be honest, it's not served at Christmas, but, well it's moose stew," Jonas answered Daniel almost losing complete control right then and there. Moose stew was Mr. Alexander Skarsgard's favorite dish, so evidently they didn't deviate very far from the fan websites.

Wait, Daniel thought, why do I know what that man's favorite food is!?

Damn Adrienne.

"Eewww ya be eatin' moose!?" a small child spoke up, Daniel unable to remember his name, but his face was cute enough, making Daniel start to wonder who their baby would resemble more, he or Adrienne.

"We be eatin' gata, same ding," a slightly older girl responded, Jonas taking the opportunity at the children's argument to eat a few more bites, clearly savoring the food.

I hope the baby has those eyes, Addy's dark mysterious eyes, Daniel couldn't help but wish as he watched the little Cajun plea her case.

"Wha 'bout da sweets?" Adele continued, stressing the final word, so much so Rae even rolled her eyes, having been, Daniel noticed, very quiet throughout this entire affair.

"They make a lot of different cookies, with honey, but I usually just want vanilla ice cream, but I have to admit, the gingerbread biscuits are pretty good," Jonas swallowed quickly, answering, joking, Daniel laughing along just not at the same thing.

Daniel was already plotting their Valentine's Day meal, a Skarsgard special, Moose Stew and Vanilla Ice Cream.

"I'd love ta get one ah ya momma recipes, just nah da moose stew. We canna get nah moose," Barbara spoke, Daniel cutting his eyes at his fiancee.

_Ok, ja-wer, how are you gonna pull this one off? Dear Alex's favorite meal? Oh my love, one hug and a photo does not a best friend make._

"Aunt Barb, he's a boy, ya think he's got recipes? Besides, if it be his favorite den his momma probably hide it like ya hide ya recipe fo Key Lime Pie," Adrienne replied, quickly, her acting skills better than normal.

Nice save ja-wer, Daniel thought, you never cease to amaze me.

"I be gettin' da dessert ahn ya need ta meet at da fire for da lighten'" Barbara stood, heading out in search of said secret pie, Daniel hoped, leaning back to whisper to his companions.

"You're both serious nerds. I've got nothing on the two of you, nothing," he joked, watching both Adrienne and Jonas suppress laughter.

Dessert hadn't been Key Lime pie, but there were Pralines in various stages of candied, Gingerbread, Chocolate pie and Fruitcake, which he had always been too scared to try until tonight, and he was glad he did. There was more drinking, eating and talking, Jonas still going on and on about Sweden until Daniel finally had to excuse himself to the bathroom, not to pee, but to laugh hysterically.

By the time he had returned to the table, his "Uncle" Buddy asking him, loudly, in front of everyone if he had fallen in, the table was nearly clear and Adele and Rae were organizing people into cars, vans, various vehicles outside all headed to what Adrienne called "the lighting."

"Where are we going?" he asked Adrienne quietly, not wanting to look stupid.

"It is the annual bonfire lighting. We head into town, closer to Algiers and participate in the lighting on either someone's property or maybe the lanterns on the rivers themselves," Jonas answered in that encyclopedic way he did, smiling at this knowledge.

'Let me guess, more research?" Daniel asked his friend, grinning.

"Considering this is your girlfriend's family you would think that you would have looked it up too," he joked back.

Daniel started to respond, or at least try to, racking his brain for a witty response, when he heard his name being called, his, Jonas's, Addy's and looked up to see Rae, her striking auburn hair sparkling in the light, signaling them to join the group.

That had been about two hours ago, after a surprisingly long and boisterous van ride in a vehicle driven by Rae's husband Marc. Now, though, as they sat on the edge of the Mississippi, a bonfire to their right and a sea of floating candles ahead, Daniel could think of nothing else but Adrienne as he watched her eyes glisten softly in the firelight.

"Come here," he requested, reaching out his arms, feeling that she was too far away even though she was sitting beside him. Smiling, she turned to face him, scooting back into his welcoming embrace and he pulled her tightly to his body, nuzzling her close, smelling her hair.

"I hope you didn't drink too much so I can honor my agreement," she giggled, leaning back to peck his lips.

"Adrienne, I don't care about you honoring any agreement, you know that," he scolding gently, running his lips softly at her forehead.

"I know, I just like to tease you. I've never been able to tease anyone like that before," she whispered, turning back around to cuddle into his arms. He knew, she had told him so many times that it was so much more than making love to him, that it was feeling safe again, feeling like it was alright to be this way with another person.

"I know, remember, I know," he answered, squeezing her tighter, "I like it from you, makes me feel, wanted," he admitted so quietly, a truth he was unsure that he ever told her. She did make him feel wanted, important, and not because she needed him to fix her, to take care of her, to do anything else that every other woman in his life had expected him to do.

Adrienne just loved him, as he was, every quirk, wrinkle and flaw and all she wanted from him was his love.

"And only you Daniel, only you," she whispered back, feeling a flutter in her stomach, as if the baby were responding.

Laughing lightly, she reached for his hand, sliding it to her abdomen, holding it there so he could feel. They sat there in silence, together, feeling their child move until it finally ceased, the small human evidently drifting off to sleep.

"It's so beautiful I just had no idea. You do this every Christmas?" he asked as he pulled his hands back, adjusting her where she had slipped down, not wanting to hurt her back.

"No, I haven't done this in, well, three years," she replied, hesitation in her voice.

"Didn't you come home last Christmas? I thought you did, you left for a few days," he asked, sitting up, reaching for her chin to make her face him, soft tears sparkling in the light of the flames.

"I did. I went to see dad's and stayed in the French Quarter for a night, had a good meal and then went back to my apartment, I, I didn't come here," she explained, blinking the moisture away from her eyes.

"Adrienne, why didn't you tell me!? We could have gone to dinner, something. You could have spent Christmas with me; I didn't know," Daniel reached for her shoulder, apologizing, counting back time, knowing that they had been friends then, close, dear friends and somewhat hurt that she hadn't come to him.

"Daniel, love, you're the only person I've told anything to in years, other than dad. Aunt Barbara was great, she tried to make up for being mom, but I even kept her at a distance. I kept everyone at a distance, everyone, until you," she whispered, a tear loosening itself from her eye, trailing down her face, a tear Daniel quickly brushed as aside, taking her face into his hands.

"I'm honored, more than you can know," Daniel said, gazing into her eyes, pulling her back into his arms to watch the show again.

"You know ja-wer, next year, when we come back, we won't be alone," he added once he could tell that she was watching again, no longer trying to hide her tears.

"You want to come back?" she asked surprised, leaning back and cocking her head to see if he was joking.

"Of course I do. This is amazing and your family, believe it or not, is pretty spectacular. I'd hate for our son to miss this," he replied, smiling, hoping to quell the second set of tears welling in her eyes, which it did, as she was now turning to face him.

"Is there something you know that I don't?" she inquired, her playful eyes cutting at him.

"We're having a boy," he stated simply.

"How do you know?" she asked, sitting up again, frowning, curious.

"More of those ascended leftovers. I can also read minds and light fires with my touch of my index finger," he joked, finally allowing himself to laugh.

"You're so stupid Indy," she laughed, leaning back once more into his arms.

It was late, maybe even as late as two in the morning, when they arrived back at the Verdin house, most of Adrienne's younger relatives carried into the home or back to their own in their parents arms. She was tired herself, but not enough to go to sleep, in fact, she just wanted to go to bed with Daniel, to hold him, caress him, kiss him.

Jonas lumbered sleepily ahead of her, seemingly drunk with food this evening, waving goodnight and heading upstairs himself, to his room down the hall.

"Aunt Barbara, I'm tired and my back hurts. I think we're gonna head to bed, fais do do," she lied, hoping Daniel would catch the excuse, reaching for his hands and rubbing the inside of his palm with her index finger.

"Ya be hurtin' Addy. Iva got some tielaynahl if ya be needin' it," she offered, worried and for a moment Adrienne felt bad for her fib.

Damn Daniel, making her have to color the truth and making her feel bad about doing it.

"I have some Advil and some meds from her doctor in our bag upstairs but thank you," Daniel covered, squeezing her fingers twice to tell her that he understood.

Nodding, the kind woman came and embraced them both, kissing Adrienne lightly on her cheek, watching the couple as they trekked upstairs behind their friend.

Daniel was closing the door behind them when he felt her hands at his waist, his body being turned to face her. She was smiling, like she had at the lighting, letting her hands trail down his arm to clench his fingers.

"Adrienne I told you...," he started, feeling guilty, not wanting for a second for her to feel obligated to do anything.

"Hush, lock the door. I wanna be close," she teased, using his own line, reaching for his face to bring him into a slow kiss, his lips again sweet and tempting. Fumbling behind himself slightly, Daniel did as she requested, locking the door, and returning his hand to hold her, letting his tongue carefully explore her mouth, pulling away to peck her cheek, high on her face, down to her neck.

"I love you," she whispered quietly, her fingers tracing the top of his slacks ever so slightly, coming to rest at the button. Pulling gently, she undid the clasp, gliding the zipper to the base as he reached for her side, pulling her dress upward. She shook her head, guiding him by his open pants to the bed, still giggling, teasing, wanting to pull him on top of her when they arrived at their destination, but afraid, as she remembered the bulge in her stomach.

"Let me, I don't want to hurt him," he offered, smiling, Adrienne shaking her head.

"SHE," Adrienne replied smartly, "appreciates the gesture."

Laughing now, Daniel laid down onto his side on the bed, pulling Adrienne to him, his hand sliding down to the base of her dress, guiding the gold fabric up her thigh deliberately, letting his fingers caress her skin on the way up. She giggled at his touch and then gasped out, Daniel noticing that her senses had been heightened lately and wanting very much to take advantage.

Quickly, he changed his mind, deciding not to remove the flowing golden garment, instead reaching for her panties and pulling them to her knees, letting her kick them off the rest of the way while he returned his digits to her thigh, touchy softly. She hissed in again, reaching for him herself this time, pushing his khakis down, boxers along with them, and he shifted his hips, wanting to feel her hands on him as well.

Losing his breath for a moment, like he did every time she touched him, Daniel tried his best to refocus on Adrienne as she continued to explore him slowly.

"You're driving me crazy," he admitted, his heart racing.

"Then my work here is done," she joked, pulling away as he laughed, rolling onto him playfully and taking her into his arms.

"I love you ja-wer," he whispered softly as she scooted forward onto him, letting him take over her completely...

"Addy! Papa Noel he CAME! Ya ahn Daniel get up ahn wake ya friend!" the scream came up the stairs bringing Adrienne slowly to reality, that it was Christmas morning and she was actually being expected to move.

"Seriously Aunt Barbara, I'm thirty two years old. I haven't believed in Santa since I was six. Let me sleep!" Adrienne screamed back, rolling over, burying her face into Daniel's bare chest, the touch of his skin making her thankful that he had chosen to only put back on his underwear to sleep.

"You know, if Papa Noel DID come, I think Jonas might enjoy that," Daniel whispered, holding her anyway and kissing her head, "And it's good practice," he added.

"Wait," she said, pulling away, adjusting her tank top, "are you gonna be one of those parents?"

"Define THOSE parents..." he requested with a smile.

"The one up at four to make a hot breakfast and cocoa and waiting with the camera," she explained.

"Oh THOSE parents," he clarified, laughing, his brilliant blue eyes sparkling with life, happiness, everything she always wanted and just never bothered to look for, "Most definitely."

"There needed to be more disclosure before I said yes," she teased, nuzzling back into him.

"ADDY!" the voice from downstairs repeated.

"I'M UP! FAIT PAS UNE ESQUANDALE!" she screamed back, Daniel wishing his wife to be hadn't chosen to make her own racket right in his ear. Frowning, Adrienne stood from the bed, her usually too large pj pants finally fitting her swollen middle, practically stomping to the door.

"You're gonna get Jonas? I can, if you'd prefer," he offered, sitting up, watching the performance unfold in front of him.

"No, I'm upright, might as well stay that way," Adrienne replied, turning the door knob to trudge down the hall.

It only took a few steps to get there and his door was open, making Adrienne worry for a moment if he had heard anything last night, but she pushed the thought away, certain they had been quiet.

Or was she...

Pushing the wooden slab into the room, she saw that Jonas was still asleep, laying quietly on his side, his back to her, when suddenly she had an idea. She smiled, rushing forward, crawling into the covers beside him, nudging him with her elbow. There was a groan, his hands came to his face and he rolled over confused, his eyes widening at his new guest.

"Addy! What are you doing?" starting to sit up confused.

"Aunt Barbara is insisting on acting like she had a house of ten year olds, so you're going to get up and play the delighted child on Christmas morning and I'm going to stay right here. Oh, and take my husband with you, although the food might have already incited him down the stairs," she declared, turning her back to him and closing her eyes.

"Wait? She bought presents? When did she have time? We don't have any presents? Do we?" he was sitting now, frantic, worried about offending his hosts.

"We do, I put them under the tree when you and Daniel had your first binge drinking spell. And for her, I have no idea what's she done, so don't rule out a tacky Christmas sweater that she will make you wear," Adrienne joked, not turning around.

Jonas made a face, a mental image of a male version of Mrs. Verdin's attire the night before creeping into his head.

"Jonas?" Adrienne asked.

"Yeah?" he answered, shaking his head to break the trance looking over at her.

"You're still in the bed, with an almost married and very pregnant woman," she teased, rolling over to laugh at him.

"You use me Addy, I've figured you out," he joked as he stood, heading over to the dresser.

"Only because I adore you shug."

_December 26th_

_So as much as I kid Adrienne about her rabbit food, I don't think I could eat like that for the rest of my life and I'm not sure how her family does. I hurt, or at least my stomach hurts, and I did sneak a few of her ginger root pills when she wasn't looking, but I am sure she knows I do that by now. _

_The only reason I thought to go really was for her, I'm worried, she's driving herself to the edge of this Langaran mess and I have every paranoid thought possible all of which involve her miscarrying or something else that I just don't even want to put into words. I guess I'm just surprised how much fun it all was. _

_We got presents, good presents too, not that anything would have been bad, but to hear Adrienne talk you would think that all she got her entire life from these people were gator skin purses and boots. Her aunt gave Adrienne a very nice folio, leather, an A embossed on the front, for her iPad and some very cute cajun themed seat covers for the beetle, Apollo as Adrienne is now calling it, claiming that Eric having a name will hurt its feelings. The woman managed to include Jonas too, getting him a USA sweatshirt and a Cajun cookbook, both of which he loved but has given me the sinking feeling that he's going to be spending a lot of time at our place. Doesn't bother me, he's a great guy and he needs his friends now, and Adrienne is the best friend a person could have. _

_Barbara got me a wallet, with a little note inside listing all of Adrienne's favorite things, colors, gemstones, etc., most of which I already knew except for the favorite song, "Somewhere Out There," some song from some children's movie when she was a kid. She doesn't know, but I looked it up as soon as we got home and, well, I had to take a moment. _

_Because there was no way I could have known that any of this would happen, no way, and there was a part of me that was, wondering, thinking that maybe there was someone out there who was, well, just more like me, someone I wouldn't have to explain myself to, prove myself to, someone I could just be myself with. _

_There was, there is, and she's snoring right beside me (That's a new addition with pregnancy, I promise). Adrienne said that once, before either of us knew what was happening, that Vala told her God had to make her go through things, horrible things to get her ready for me. I feel foolish even remembering that, but what if she's right? Not about religion, or anything like that, but what if I had to go through everything I had to go through just to get to this point, to find her? _

_We're going back next year, even Adrienne agreed, and taking our son, who is probably the only person reading this. See? I knew all along you were a boy, remember THIS entry to rub in your mother's face, but remember this too. _

_I loved you the moment I knew you existed, just like I loved your mother the moment I let her in. Everyone has someone and even though it may not always seem that way, I can promise you, it's true. Never forget that. _


	55. Chapter 54 - Just Know You're Not Alone

"Considering my condition Vala, don't you think that white is, well, a bit inappropriate," Adrienne asked as Vala stood in front of a huge row of dresses at their fifth dress shop of the day. The holiday had passed, the mandatory break had passed and things were back to normal, the hunt for ZPMs being at the top of the daily agenda for everyone, well almost everyone.

With the wedding just two weeks away, it wasn't at the top of the agenda for Adrienne, much to her dismay, nor was it at the top of Vala's, who had taken her appointment as wedding planner very seriously.

"Do you really think anyone makes it to their wedding day deserving white anymore? Really Addy?" she replied, not looking back. Rolling her eyes, Adrienne looked at her watch, checking the time. Daniel and Jonas would be leading the briefing for SG-2 right now, following another ZPM lead, using slides she created for a meeting she could not attend and a planet she could not go to.

Langara was being held hostage, Anubis wanted to take over the universe, her entire workplace had been turned upside down and here she was in a damn dress shop.

"How many more of these do we have to look at? What was wrong with the last place? I kinda liked one of those..." Adrienne lied, unable to really remember anything at all other than disgusting piles of lace and tulle. It wasn't that Adrienne didn't appreciate what Vala why trying to do, it was just that in the grand scheme of everything this just seemed, so, pointless.

"Addy, how many of these am I gonna get? Can't you just humor me?" Vala pleaded.

Adrienne started to make a face, plopping herself dramatically into the chair when she realized her words and it saddened her. Vala and Ronon had been dating, quietly, for at least two months now by her knowledge, but her friend's words and tone made it sound as if she still didn't believe she would get her happy ending.

"I'm missing my meeting Vala, for a dress. And I still don't think white is appropriate nor does it make sense. What about something non-traditional, like, I dunno, black," Adrienne offered, trying not to add Ronon and Vala's relationship to her list of obsessions, obsessions which seemed to have been kicked into overdrive with pregnancy.

Vala, however, simply scoffed at her, glaring over her shoulder.

"Maybe if you and Glasses had kept your pants on you'd feel better about the color you are supposed to be wearing at your wedding," Vala replied curtly, holding out another dress for Adrienne, this one long, white, straight and with a feathered bottom. Shaking her head, Adrienne pointed back at the rack, refusing to stand.

"No feathers; it reminds me of home," she replied, leaning back into the chair.

Why is this so hard, Adrienne thought, checking her phone again to see how long they had been at it when there was a faint tinkle behind her.

"Miss Rowan?" the sales assistant asked and Adrienne turned around to see the nice lady pulling back the gaudy pink curtain to the bridal dressing room, Sam walking in behind her.

"Thank God," Adrienne said out loud, thankful to see that the general had made it. Granted, it had only taken seventeen, yes she had counted, seventeen text messages begging for help, but here she was, thanking the saleswoman and slipping into the small curtained room. It seemed like ages ago, rather than only thirty minutes, when the same saleswoman had brought in that array of dresses Vala was picking through right now.

Smiling, that soft comforting look she always had, Sam came over and sat down beside Adrienne in an adjacent chair, eyeing the SGC's lead spy as she dug through an explosion of satin.

"Any luck?" Sam asked and Adrienne shook her head, desperation in her eyes.

"Over the top?" Sam whispered.

"The last one looked like a dozen swans gave their lives for its creation," Adrienne replied, Sam chuckling as she glanced back over to try to locate said dress.

"Glad I came then, allow me," Sam declared, standing again, walking over to Vala. Adrienne heard her whisper something about Greece when her phone buzzed in her pocket and she sighed, pulling the device out into the open.

_Apparently we are supposed to have colors..._

It was Daniel, who was supposed to be leading a meeting. True, Vala had ordered him to go to the tuxedo shop when he was finished, but she knew that presentation had at least thirty five slides since based on the local lore the ZPM, if there, could have been in one of seven different places. That meeting should have taken a lot longer, and Adrienne's nerves started up again, as she wondering if the mission had been scrapped, an entire week's worth of restless work tossed aside. Nervously, Adrienne hit reply.

_Why are you texting me? That's a Vala question. _

Hitting send, Adrienne looked up to see what Vala was doing, hoping Daniel didn't read through her bullshit message, which she wanted to say: _Why are you texting me? Aren't you supposed to be saving the world and not worrying about formalwear?_

The voices grew louder, maybe an argument even, and Adrienne peeked up to see that her wedding planner and one of her bosses were digging through the back of the large row of dresses pulling out things and arguing, yep that's an argument, over which they should have Adrienne try on first. She sighed, annoyed, bored, restless, trapped, when she felt the phone buzz again.

_Please don't make me. Just declare something so I can get out of here. _

_Please._

Reading the message Adrienne groaned.

This all would have been so much simpler if they had just let Jack do it in the lab like he had suggested at first. Instead, to make everyone feel included, everyone who had felt slighted when Jack and Sam ran off to Vegas, they decided to have a small ceremony at some place called Westwood Sanctuary. It was supposed to be some very posh location, but Adrienne had never heard of it, not that she had really looked, but Vala's jewelry guru had suggested it. She'd also suggested getting a preacher, which Adrienne shot down immediately, reminding her that Daniel had promised Jack the honors, and was honestly scared of what kind of preacher Vala may find.

Knowing that Daniel would just continue to text, endlessly, until he got his reply, she peeked up at her wedding planner.

"Vala, what are the colors?" she asked, her friend spinning around, looking annoyed.

"Caramel and Rust, Adrienne I've told you this a million times," she replied, rolling her eyes and turning back to Sam. Adrienne laughed, now remembering, deciding to have a little fun with Daniel to amuse herself.

_caramel and rust_

She texted back, waiting, laughing quietly in the chair, wondering if her soon to be husband really knew the difference between lilac and lavender. The phone buzzed seconds later, Adrienne savoring the buzz for a moment before peeking at the screen.

_Nice try ja-wer. Fortunately for you I know that means gold and red._

Adrienne smiled. She loved him, so much, more than she had ever dreamed that she could love another person, but the wedding planning, not so much. She was sitting trying to think of something clever to message him back when she heard Vala shriek, loudly, the Cajun looking up to see what all the squealing was about.

Standing there, a huge goofy grin across her face was Vala, holding up a white gown, floor length that was gathered just slightly in the middle. It was straight, no poofs, no thrills, just simple elegant satin, all held together at the top by a round Grecian style collar in gold. It was simple, elegant and looked like a statue of Aphrodite making Adrienne stands from her chair, mouth open and eyes wide.

"It's perfect..." she breathed, tossing her phone aside to approach the dress.

"Told you I would find it," Vala replied smugly, yet smiling, very proud of this feat, "Now go put it on so we can make sure that junior isn't poking through too much."

Laughing, although her eyes were scanning the archaeologist's waist as well, Sam took the dress out of her hand, passing it to Adrienne.

"Ignore her. Go try it on," Sam said but Adrienne didn't even bother going into the second curtained area, she just shucked her jeans and t-shirt quickly, throwing the dress over her head, pulling it to adjust, carefully around her swollen middle. Stepping forward, Sam pulled her loose hair away from the collar and Adrienne stood back, looking at herself in the mirror, barely recognizing the person standing there.

She looked like every day dream she had ever had, her fantasy self standing right in front of her looking back and she felt the flutter in her stomach, not of nerves, but of the baby inside. Here she was, her entire world was changing and after fighting her family for so long, she was going to be someone's mother, someone's wife.

Without warning, hormonally induced she was sure, she started to cry.

"No, stop it, we get it, it's pretty, don't get tears on the satin," Vala came over fussing, trying to wipe Adrienne's face before getting the gown off of her while at the same time trying not to smile.

Touched, Sam walked over, pushing her away and grabbing Adrienne's hands, gazing in her dark mysterious eyes.

He deserves this, she thought, after everything he deserves someone that really does love him this much.

"Come on, let's get this off, then we can go buy it and go get some lunch or something. It is beautiful; he'll love it," she added at the end, knowing that is exactly what Adrienne was thinking.

Blushing, already imagining his face, she let her friends pull the dress off of her head and walked back over to get her clothes, not another thought in her head other than sheer disbelief that this was all happening.

As she was pulling her shirt back over her head she felt that flutter again, that damn insistent flutter and the resulting hunger she knew would come.

It has GOT to be a boy, she thought, all I want to do is eat.

Sighing, cursing her future husband in her head, she walked over to grab her phone and satchel, looking over at her friends.

"Vala, you got this? I just need some air," Adrienne said, lying, not wanting to hear her pick on her drastic change in eating habits, and she nodded, thankfully.

"Yes, I've got this, don't want you to puke in here anyway. Go feed the little monster," she replied, Adrienne rolling her eyes and grabbing her stomach.

Oh well, she thought, at least she didn't start right in with the junk food mocking, leaving the dressing room heading straight for the door, glad the saleslady didn't stop her as the baby flipped and turned wildly in her middle.

"You're about as patient as your father too," she joked, pushing the glass door open.

The sunshine hit her face and warmed her instantly as she took a deep breath of fresh air despite the chill of the DC afternoon. Exhaling, the rush of vitamin D regenerating her instantly, she looked back at the bridal shop taking it all in. She saw Vala talking to the sales woman at the curtain and the sales woman leading her over to the bridesmaid dress area, shaking her head in amazement at the sight.

I specifically said no bridesmaids, Adrienne thought, letting out a groan and turning, walking down the sidewalk when she saw a street vendor selling some hot chocolate and pastries ahead letting her hunger guide her.

She had just paid and sat down at a public bench when she heard footsteps approach her, barely having time to look up before the voice spoke.

"See why we eloped," it said as Adrienne glanced up happy to see Sam standing over her as she used her hand holding a cheese danish to block the sun.

"Yeah, I just needed to get out of there," she replied, looking down to protect her eyes, Sam taking a seat on the bench beside her.

"Vala is inside deciding whether or not to have a bridal party solely based on the fact that she wants to be a bridesmaid and wear the dress that matches yours," Sam informed her as Adrienne sighed again, the general reaching over to steal some of her friend's sweet indulgence.

"You know if you really tell her to stop, she will," Sam continued, ripping her chunk into smaller pieces which she popped carefully into her mouth.

"No, she's having fun; it doesn't bother me," Adrienne admitted, shoving the rest of the pastry into her mouth, her stomach fluttering yet again. She ate the piece hoping it would calm her little intruder down a bit even though her brain was already moving on to cheeseburgers. Growling just a tad, Adrienne chugged some hot cocoa, mentally scolding her unborn child.

"Do you feel alright? I know you said the movement has become more frequent," Sam asked, reaching for more, noting quickly that there was none left.

Yep, that Daniel's kid, she thought with a smile as Adrienne swallowed her beverage, nodding.

"A little sick at times, little nauseous around certain foods, little ravenous around others, but I'm alright," Adrienne replied, quietly, reaching into her pocket and taking out her phone. Noting that the Cajun was staring at the home screen, which only had a large digital time readout over a Renaissance painting of Dionysus, Sam made a face at her, leaning over to make eye contact.

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" she asked but Adrienne shrugged not even trying to open her mouth to answer.

Oh no, Sam thought, peering over at her, you can't do this to him...

"Adrienne, please talk to me. What's going on?," Sam pushed further, Adrienne wincing a touch, fighting back tears as she sipped her cocoa. Sighing, Sam took out her phone and stood, turning her back to Adrienne.

"What? I'm busy," Vala hissed as she answered, the saleslady in the back going on and on about color contrasts.

"Hey, I'm gonna take Addy to my place; she's looking pretty green. Did you need her anymore?" Sam asked, shooting a glance back at Adrienne who was still sitting on the bench, fortunately. There was a groan on the other end, Vala clearly not pleased.

"I guess not. She just had to get knocked up didn't she? Fine, I will do all of this myself," she spat, speaking kindly to the other woman about shades of red.

"Ok, just don't go overboard, alright?" Sam requested, however certain that she had been ignored as Vala hung up, presumably to further discuss the color red.

First problem down, Sam shot off a quick message to Jack, asking him to see off SG-2 this afternoon that she was needed elsewhere, before turning back to Adrienne.

"Come on Addy," she said, extending her hand, "Let's get out of here and escape dresses and flowers for a bit." Smiling, a better sign indeed, Adrienne stood, Sam pointing in direction of her Volvo, the cajun downing the rest of her hot cocoa.

Adrienne waited until they were safely in the car before she said a word.

"At this very moment a Langaran could be being tortured to within an inch of their life or Anubis could be creating some super mutant that makes the Kull look like wimps and here I am, here we are, debating dress style and bridesmaids," she said simply.

Breathing in, now seeing where this was going, Sam started the car and began to carefully back out of her street parking spot. She had reached the open road and went to respond when she heard a buzz to her side, Adrienne pulling her phone out of her pocket, dark eyes scanning the screen.

_I'm quite proud of myself and wanted to share. Are you finished yet? _

Sam could tell by the look on Adrienne's face that it was Daniel that messaged her.

"Are you going to answer him?" Sam asked, Adrienne sighing as she let the phone drop down into her lap.

"I do love him, more than anyone else ever. It's not that," she replied, "it's just everything. I feel like I'm riding a speeding train headed straight off of a cliff with nothing to do but hold on."

"Tell him I'm taking you to my house to look over some things and you'll call him in a while," Sam suggested and nodding, Adrienne looked down, tapping at her the screen before looking back up at her very kind friend and boss.

"Done," Adrienne replied, "but he's gonna worry."

"That's nothing unusual," she responded with a smile, turning onto a side street headed to her house, the two women remaining silent for the rest of the trip.

Sam pulled the car into the driveway and clicked off the engine looking once more at her very nervous friend. She didn't try to get out, just sat back in the driver's seat and waited for Adrienne to move first, although it seemed as though she had no intention of doing so, having quietly picked the skin on her fingers for at least a good fifteen minutes.

Deciding not to push her, to just let her sit here and feel like her life wasn't spinning out of control, Sam clicked the keys to turn on the battery, reaching for the radio to find some music. The general was flipping through trying to find an acceptable station when Adrienne finally stopped picked her nails, swallowing loudly.

"I feel so selfish. I feel selfish for a part of me wanting a romantic memorable wedding while the galaxy is under attack but I feel selfish for even opening my mouth because everyone, Daniel, my family, hell, you guys, want this all so bad. Either way I'm the bad guy; I'm either the whiney martyr or I'm the jerk turning a blind eye to reality," she sighed out, rubbing her face in her hands.

Nodding, Sam reaching out her hand, taking her friend's into her own, squeezing them.

"Adrienne, you're the furthest thing from selfish. You're still working, more hours than Daniel and I like, and you helped with the prep work for today's mission," Sam started, Adrienne already shaking her head.

"Right, and are Daniel and I going on that mission? No, we're buying formal wear," she retorted, personal disgust clear in her voice.

"No, and you weren't going on that mission anyway. There was nothing to read, nothing to translate, and it's nothing that SG-2 can't handle alone. Were the two of you not purchasing formal wear you would just be going through MALP videos or more database, moving onto the next world," the general answered quickly, Adrienne sighing looking back at her phone in her hands.

Sam was right, everyone's role in this had been made very clear, even Vala, who was to stay at command and lead intelligence, her real job in the first place, rather than go traipsing around the galaxy, a leadership she claimed could be maintained via a smartphone.

"Do you think it will change me?" she asked Sam before her rational brain could stop her, that hormonal flux taking over her sense. There was fear in her eyes, a fear she knew she couldn't hide as her other concern in all of this came rushing out.

"Do you feel it's changed you so far?" Sam countered, Adrienne peering at her fingers, noticeably redder from her anxious scourge.

"A little. I used to just silently worry and wonder about him. Now, I do it out in the open and drive myself insane in the process. You're not supposed to love your boss, much less date him, let him get you pregnant and then marry him. I'm afraid our entire relationship has made me soft and that the baby will just make me softer," Adrienne explained, reaching for her stomach, but Sam shook her head, smiling again, feeling better that these were concerns she could easily address.

"Technically, I'm your boss, and I haven't seen anything to indicate a decline in your performance. I think Vala even told me that you two were together when you went on that Undercover mission. That seemed to go well, however, I do understand now why he was so insistent to go. Vala said you took three men out yourself," Sam continue and Adrienne smiled.

It was true; she had taken out three men herself while Daniel waited back on the ship.

"But pretty soon I'm not gonna be able to do things like that," Adrienne replied but Sam shook her head again.

"What, a few months? A year at most? I plan on using you until Carolyn says I can't and putting you back into action as soon as you can afterwards. If that's alright with you; unless you and Daniel have discussed something otherwise," Sam replied while Adrienne just looked back at her nails.

"We haven't discussed it at all," she admitted quietly, Sam reaching across squeezed her arm for a second time, offering support and hopefully guidance, not that she had expertise with babies and things but she did have experience with pregnant women in the field and certain overprotective male reactions.

"I think that's an important conversation to have Addy don't you?" she added but Adrienne didn't answer, just started to pick at her fingers again, biting her lip nervously like Daniel did. So many little things, the general thought as she awaited a response.

"It is. I'm just scared of what he's gonna say," Adrienne asked.

"What he says out fear and what he means by it are two totally different things, you know him better than that," Sam continued.

"He locked me in a box," Adrienne noted, "in bubble wrap," she tossed in to make her point.

"You conjured up Eric Northman," Sam retorted, Adrienne blushing. She had, accidentally trying to protect the baby, but her point was still the same. If she survived this wedding and if things on Langara or anywhere else in the galaxy went to hell, the bigger she got, the closer the birth came, her husband to be was going to get overprotective, hell, he was even protective of her when he supposedly hated her, which now seemed so very very long ago.

"Look, you're stressed, upset, overworked, planning a wedding, pregnant, need I say more. Let's go inside before either of us are summoned away and not think about anything important. I've got some cheesecake in the fridge that I've hidden from Jack," Sam said with a wink, pulling the key from the ignition.

Laughing, thinking cheesecake and no stress sounded like a fantastic idea, Adrienne grabbed her things, heading into Sam's house.

Daniel awoke, realizing that he had, in his sleep, almost rolled himself off of the bed. He shivered, having completely worked his way out of the blanket, his leg hanging precariously over the edge. Pulling himself back onto the sheets, he rolled over again, eyes closed and arms out, blindly in search of Adrienne. Yawning, he reached his arm out trying to pull close to her, take her into his arms before returning to sound sleep, his hand dropping to the cool cotton.

She was gone.

His heart stopped and he sat up in bed, fumbling for his glasses and scanning the room nervously, his eyes resting on the soft glow of the bathroom light shone under the door.

Poor Adrienne, he thought as he stood from the bed, peeking over at the clock as he made his way to assist her, the soft green digital glow reading 3:05 a.m. Shaking his head, he yawned again, dragging himself to the bathroom door, knocking softly.

"Ja-wer, are you alright?" he inquired, wanting to ask first just in case she was in the bathtub in an attempt to relax, alone and quiet, but he got no response. Concerned, he grabbed the doorknob and turned, opening the door slowly to find his love positioned over toilet bowl, a towel draped on her arm, holding her finger up. He disregarded her warning, entering the room sitting right behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder. She heaved a bit, so he pulled her hair back just in case, but there was nothing and she sat back, huffing in frustration.

"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked, pushing her hair behind her ears but she shook her head, sucking in tears from the efforts and leaning back against him.

"Because when the urge hits it's a bit hard to wake you up and still make it to the bathroom," Adrienne answered. She started to relax when the urge must have hit her again and she pulled herself quickly toward the toilet, beginning to heave, like she had the first trimester. Hoping this was just an isolated incident and not the start of another three months of illness, Daniel rubbed her back tenderly, waiting for her to finish, but again, there was nothing. Near tears, she sat back grabbing the towel, wiping the saliva from her face before slamming it to the floor, when he caught a glimpse of deep dark circles underneath her beautiful brown eyes.

"Did you throw up at all?" he questioned and Adrienne nodded, reaching to wipe more moisture from her eyes.

"Yeah, for about the first five to ten minutes or so. It's been like this since," she replied quietly, Daniel taking her into his arms, holding her close.

"When did you come in here? Your side of the bed was cold," he added and Adrienne shrugged her shoulders, cold also since she was just wearing a tank top and underwear.

"I just ran; I didn't look," she responded, quiet, weak, she must have been very ill, glancing down as she answered, "but it's been a while." Hugging her quickly, Daniel leaned over and kissed her cheek, standing while Adrienne just repositioned herself at the toilet. He left the bathroom without a word, walking to his nightstand and grabbing his phone hurrying back to her side to discover her head in the bowl, once more, dry heaving.

"Sam, hey it's me," Daniel said into the phone, "I'm sorry to bother you so early but Adrienne and I aren't coming in today. No, everything's alright, she's had a rough night and I don't want to leave her. Oh, nothing like that just stomach issues. Alright. Yes, I promise to call if we need anything and please tell Jonas to do the same, I'll shoot him a message. Thanks. Bye," he finished, hanging up to see Adrienne was looking back at him.

"You didn't need to do that. What do you think I do when you're off world? What about when Jonas goes back to Langara? I can take care of myself," she argued, but Daniel just shook his head.

"Well, I'm NOT off world right now, Jonas IS still here and perfectly capable and I WANT TO stay and take care of you. Come back to bed. I'll get some ginger ale, crackers, get the bucket and we'll try to get you to sleep some," he replied, reaching to help her up and she took his hand, secretly grateful that he was staying and stood, holding her stomach as she glared downward.

"Damn mini-Jackson. Pic kee toi," she hissed, Daniel laughing as he sat her down, handing her a trashcan while he got ready. Taking a play from her book, Daniel grabbed the bucket and the same sorts of things she had gotten when she took care of him that time, which now seemed so long ago.

He remembered like it was yesterday, when he wanted to tell her how much he loved her but just lacked the courage and he smiled, not only because he no longer had to worry about that anymore but because in just two weeks she was going to be his wife.

His wife, he thought, pausing at the fridge, and although he had been referring to her as just that for a while now, admitting it to himself was just magical.

"Dr. Adrienne Jackson," he said out loud to no one but himself but quickly his smile turned into a frown.

That had been a sore subject with Adrienne, the name change. She had given him an entire speech about how she had fought so hard to be seen as more than just his assistant, worked so hard to become a member of the team in her own right, and had taken a lot of heat when they had gotten together. He understood, remembering that night she came stumbling into his apartment, some staff member having accused Adrienne of sleeping her way into that coveted SG-1 spot, a spot that she earned long before he even realized that he had fallen in love with her.

Regardless, it did hurt his feelings just a bit, not that he was old fashioned, that he felt a woman should necessarily have to take her husband's name but he had just hoped that Adrienne would. In fact, he wasn't sure why it meant so much to him, but it just did.

"Indy," he heard Adrienne shout weakly, realizing suddenly why he was standing at the fridge in the first place. Shaking himself back to reality, he grabbed a small bottle of ginger ale from the fridge, saltines from the cabinet and the bucket from underneath the kitchen sink, dashing back to the bedroom to find Adrienne with her head over the trashcan dry heaving. He walked the drink and crackers over to the nightstand and reached over to her back, rubbing lightly, waiting for her to finish. Tears in her eyes, wiping saliva from her face, she pulled her head up and looked over at him, desperate.

"Nothing, again," she stated, " I thought I was over this," she cried, painfully.

Wishing there was something he could do, Daniel leaned over and kissed her head, pulling the trashcan from her hands, switching it for the bucket. She took it, nodding, glancing over at him, and Daniel could see the tears that had escaped her eyes streaking down her face in long unforgiving red paths. Tenderly, he wiped them away and urged her forward, slipping himself behind her, pulling her back between his legs and holding her in his arms. Content with this position, he really didn't care if he slept at all tonight, but he wanted to make sure that she was alright, he reached over to the nightstand to grab the crackers when he saw a stack of pictures, pictures he hadn't noticed before, with things that looked like advertisements for flowers. Peeking back at Adrienne, who looked paler than normal, he grabbed a few crackers and opened the ginger ale, forgetting the pictures for just a moment.

"Alright Ad, one at a time and a swig and we'll go from there," he said, ordering her as if she didn't know her own remedy, but she didn't argue or even tease, simply took the cracker from his hand and started to nibble lightly.

His fiancee otherwise occupied, Daniel took the opportunity to reach over and grab the stack of photos, thumbing through. They were bouquets of flowers, bridal bouquets, with little pictures in the corners showing options for aisle runners and bridesmaid bouquets, a plethora of assortments that he could have never imagined.

"What are these?" he asked, knowing what they were, but wondering why Adrienne had them and why they were on her nightstand, especially considering her insistence to everyone that she and Daniel were keeping it simple. Frowning, Adrienne reached for another cracker, rolling her eyes.

"Stupid shit Vala brought over after Sam dropped me off," Adrienne answered, "She wants to do the entire fucking thing." There was a tone of disgust in her voice, one that made Daniel feel bad instantly at how much work she was putting into this while he himself had very little to do.

"Not into the flowers?" Daniel inquired, somewhat jokingly but secretly not surprised. Hell, he didn't even give her flowers on Valentine's Day, but he had done sundaes. Maybe he should suggest an ice cream truck, but just as he was about to kid, Adrienne grabbed the bucket again quickly, heaving, although this time a little less forceful. She was able to take a few deep breaths and control herself, nothing coming out and her expression less pained. Daniel was pleased that his little treatment was working, especially when she passed the bucket back to him empty, and took the ginger ale he was offering gratefully, sipping a little, before handing him back the bottle.

"Nah into flowas, dresses, music, culas or fuckin' food," Adrienne swore, leaning back into his chest, miserable. Not having a response, he smoothed her hair and kissed her head, holding her close to him.

"I just can't take it anymore. I feel like shit, I have to make ten thousand different decisions, I still have work to do, shit to do around here," Adrienne started to rant, tearing up again, her head falling into her hands.

"And I have a splitting headache!" she added, mumbling, Daniel holding her tighter.

'Why don't you take off work for the rest of the week, next if you have to, to get everything together?" Daniel offered. She didn't need to be worrying about everything else that she was worrying about, especially things that really were out of their hands while she was trying to plan their wedding; it wasn't fair, and he and Jonas could do just fine for two weeks without her. Kissing her again, he leaned over to hear her reply, hoping that she would take his suggestion, take time to finish this task and then return back to their lives like normal, but she didn't respond.

And so it begins, Adrienne thought, I'm the little woman.

_Marry me, plan the wedding, have my child, take off work honey it's too much to handle. _

What's happening to me, she cried inside, I can't handle this and I can't even help my friend or those people; I'm falling apart.

"I'm gonna try to sleep," was all she said to him, the crackers working; she no longer had the urge to vomit.

"Alright, I'll stay up for a while in case you need me," he replied and stood, letting her lay back down on her side of the bed and as she scooted down, he reached over to cover her gently. It was strange, she looked like something was terribly wrong and it wasn't like Adrienne to hide something from him, but she was sick, hormonal and just a mess right now, so he let it go, planning on talking to her when she was better.

"I love you ja-wer," he whispered, kissing her softly.

"I love you too," she answered weak, tired, closing her eyes.

Sighing, Daniel stood, walking out to the kitchen to get something to drink so his movements would not disturb her much needed rest. He went to the fridge for the second time that night and grabbed the milk, pouring himself a glass which he took it over to the dining room table and sat, staring at it. It had all seemed like such a good idea having a wedding, including everyone, celebrating something in a place that lately seemed to need a LOT of celebration. True, things had been different before, different when they were just exploring like the old days, Anubis only an occasional bother. They'd lay in bed together, naked, close, whispering about forever and making plans for the future, a future that was supposed to be this fairytale they had both hoped for.

Now here she was, however, having nothing in this relationship seem to go right, and she was miserable pregnant, miserable planning a wedding, miserable working, miserable at home, just plain miserable and most importantly, not Adrienne. His Adrienne was optimistic and fun, so much like him but so much his foil in so many ways but the Adrienne that lay in their bed was not; she was depressed and hopeless, she was, well, him before she had walked into his life.

Frowning, Daniel reached across the table to her computer that she always left lying around, opening the lid carefully.

_Safari requests passcode_

The familiar message appeared on the screen and he typed in his birthday, what she had changed it to once they had gotten together and the screen opened in front of him and his jaw dropped.

Her desktop was a complete and total disaster, documents all over the screen with planet codes, notes beside them linking them to both Asgard and Earth mythology, a list of all of the names and current residences of each and every Langaran that had come through with Jonas including notes on their condition and how they were related to one another. There were blueprints at the tool bar for every ZPM that was in their possession, even the broken and drained ones, with notes made in pink text on how she thought she could piece meal them together like a computer. Her web browser had at least ten tabs open including the wedding venue, three caterers, some website just dedicated to colors and two calendars, one that seemed to combine it with honeymoon ideas and another that had every meeting and mission that had been planned for the next six months, June 7th circled with the words "DUE DATE" typed carefully underneath.

"Adrienne, my god, you're killing yourself," Daniel whispered, peering back down the hall.

This was complete and total insanity; how in the world was she even functioning?

"No," he said a little louder, "I'm putting a stop to this," he declared, standing, walking to the bedroom. He checked on Adrienne first, who was fine, shutting off every light near her, unplugging anything that might cause an electronic glow of any type and drawing the curtains together tightly. He took her phone, her alarm, anything that might possibly disturb her and headed to the closet to grab a blanket, closing the bedroom door tightly behind him.

For the first time since he had kissed her that night in his quarters, he slept apart from her, alone on the couch.

Adrienne woke up in bed alone, in darkness and confused. She wasn't sick, if anything she was well rested, but the room was pitch black and silent. Sitting up, Adrienne reached for her nightstand, fumbling for the clock to discover it was unplugged, in fact, she suddenly got the sinking feeling that everything was unplugged.

"Asshole," Adrienne swore under her breath, knowing this was his doing, her phone was gone, her back-up watch not in her nightstand; this was his way of getting her to relax. Swearing, every foul cajun word she had ever learned racing across her lips, she trudged her way to the kitchen, angrily grabbing the handle to the fridge when she noticed a note taped to the door.

_I made you some iced coffee if you are feeling up to it, decaf. Call me if you need me. Vala called and said she'd be by around lunch. _

_Daniel_

Adrienne let out a sigh, slipped the half sheet of paper from the textured surface, setting it aside on the counter.

That was sweet, she thought, opening the fridge door to obtain her peace offering when she saw that there was the promised mug of iced coffee and a plate with crackers, cheese sticks and peanut butter. He had laid out her entire breakfast for her, exactly what Dr. Lam said she should be eating.

"Dammit Daniel, you do shit like this and I can't be mad at you anymore," Adrienne muttered, laughing, a part of her appreciating this spoiling more than truly being angry. A soft smile on her face, she grabbed her plate, walking back to the dining room table, noting that according to the clock on the stove it was a little past eleven.

She'd slept another seven and a half hours, no wonder she felt so great.

Fluttering in her stomach reminding her that she needed to eat soon, Adrienne took a seat at the table; her computer was right where she left it, so she opened the lid and cueing up her email as she sipped her coffee. As she was looking at some email offers for FREE SHIPPING from her favorite store her chat box popped up, the tiny bing startling her in the unusual silence of the house.

_Good, you're up. We have to get going ASAP!_

It was Vala, the never-sleeping wedding planner and as she read the message a second time, Adrienne almost went back to bed right then and there. Instead, knowing that hiding in the bed from her imminent matrimonial fate wasn't an option, she responded as bluntly as possible.

_What now? _

Frowning, she sat back in her chair, nibbling her cracker and preparing for the worst.

_The flowers you wanted, that Bear's mess from Greece, no way we can get it in time, or those laurels. You've got to pick something else. _

Ugh, Adrienne thought, what in the hell else. Vala made her pick a theme, so she had picked a theme, Ancient Greece, much to her fiancee's eye rolling. Now, the flowers that would perfectly compliment that dress, which she had to admit she did really like, weren't available and Adrienne didn't want the cliche wedding crap on the cards that Vala had made her take home, just in case. Sipping her coffee, wishing it were caffeinated, Adrienne leaned forward again anxiously wiggling her fingers over the keys.

_Fine, we can go to the shop and see what they have? When do you want to come by? _

Anticipating her answer, Adrienne began to down her breakfast a bit faster, much to her little passenger's delight, the reply she expected came as she popped the last cracker into her mouth.

_Right now and that's not our only problem. _

"I really should go back to bed," Adrienne said out loud this time but touched her fingers to the keys trying to focus on solving a problem rather than prolong it.

_What else could possibly go wrong?_

The response came back instantly, too fast, as if Vala was typing before she asked, Adrienne afraid to look.

_The cake. No way to get it finished in time. We need to go to plan B. _

Adrienne wasn't even aware they had a plan B when it came to the cake, in fact, she wasn't even sure if Daniel had tried the samples in the lab fridge; she was actually fairly certain that he had just eaten them, he AND Jonas, telling her almond because it was alphabetically first on the list when she asked for his choice.

Letting her head fall to the keys, she decided just to give in, not even try to go to work today and fix this insanity before moving on to insanity on base. Planning to take her computer with her so she could work on her myth/possible ZPM list on the road, Adrienne typed back that she needed to shower and change before Vala arrived. Her friend wasn't happy, but gave in, citing Adrienne only had the thirty minutes it took for Vala to requisition a car, an activity she relished now that Sam allowed her a license, and drive to the townhouse. Adrienne knew that would give her no time for hair and she would have to do her make-up in the car, but she just gave up on that, heading for the bathroom. Figuring she needed to check in and at least thank him for being so considerate, she called Daniel as she walked down the hall to the bedroom. The phone rang and rang until she heard the familiar greeting that she had made for the voicemail, her voice stating he was out of the office, and apparently Jonas was a well since it had gone to voicemail. Sighing, she tried his cell, which he wasn't answering either, so she shot off a quick text as she warmed up the water.

_Thanks for breakfast. Vala and I are on damage control. Will keep you posted. Love you. _

Mentally telling herself that there was no way that one, well, another afternoon of wedding mess would cause the implosion of the Milky Way, she tossed the phone to the bed and got in the shower.

He hadn't answered by the time she got out, which made her start to worry.

Had SG-2 come back early?

Had they found a ZPM?

Were they ambushed?

Did he and Jonas find some secret cache of ZPMs and had decided to go off world to secure them and were under attack by some crazy Anubis stronger-than-Kull enhanced clones while she worried about wedding cake!?

"Dear God Ad, you've GOT to get a grip!" she shouted, pulling at her hair and taking a breath. She guessed he was in meetings or something, but she couldn't for the life of her remember any on his schedule, or hers, but maybe he and Jonas were locked into something with headphones and had forgotten that things like phones existed, which was a definite possibility.

Forcing herself to focus, she could reward a cake and flower selection with a run and begging Rodney to let her take apart a drained ZPM, Adrienne tossed on some jeans and a t-shirt, rushing back to the bathroom to try to make herself look human. She had just gotten her makeup finished when she heard her doorbell, peeking at her phone to check the time. Thirty minutes, like clockwork and still no response from Daniel. Brushing out her hair quickly, Adrienne grabbed her things and shut out the lights, heading down the hall to the front door

"Are you ready to go?" Vala asked, smugly, standing at the door hands on her hips. Adrienne saw a red Miata parked in the driveway, her alternate to that Porche she wanted, trying hard not to laugh that the SGC even had a red sports car as an option. Adrienne nodded without verbal response, stepping through the doorway but Vala caught her by her shoulder, shoving her face into her friend's.

"What did he do?" she asked, knowing Daniel and his smart mouth well enough to know he might have said something stupid but Adrienne shook her head.

"Nothing, shug, calm your attack. He made me breakfast and took care of me last night. Can we just go?" Adrienne said, pulling the door closed behind her and walking toward the car but Vala didn't move, just stood on her stoop, her arms crossed at her chest.

"Then why do you have that 'Daniel did something stupid' look on your face?" she continued, Adrienne rolling her eyes at Vala, both the big sister and big mean 'I will cream your boyfriend' brother that she never had.

"He hasn't texted me back, that's all and that's unusual. It worries me," Adrienne replied, every stupid time he had gotten himself shot or otherwise hurt flashing through her memory as Vala shook her head, walking to the driver's side.

"Don't worry, when I saw him last he and Jonas were plugged into something," she assured her, relief washing over Adrienne.

See silly, she scolded herself, he was plugged in; he's not dead, shot, or otherwise infirmed and they are still working away without you.

Feeling much better, Adrienne pulled her computer bag strap from across her chest, climbing into the car.

By the time they arrived back to the townhouse, it was almost nine and Adrienne was exhausted. Vala had screamed at the owners of three floral shops to try to get Adrienne greek looking flowers and it seemed a generic cake was the best she was going to get with the ceremony less than two weeks away, but it was taken care of, for the most part, Vala vowing to call the shops every day until the actual wedding to insure they kept their word.

Glad it was over, but disappointed that she had not gotten anything else accomplished, Adrienne just thanked Vala and went inside, noticing that Daniel's Jeep was not there. Upset, worried and confused, Adrienne unlocked the door, the smell of Mexican food filling the air. She rushed into the kitchen, excited to see him when she saw only a plate of food, one of her portable plastic plates with the clear lid, on the table and a note folded carefully beside it.

_Sorry I missed your messages, long day. I got this and ran it over, hoping you would be back, but since you aren't, here's dinner. I'm crashing on base tonight, trying to get things done so you don't need to stress about it but if there is a problem CALL ME! DO NOT SIT ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR AND SUFFER. Relax, try to keep some food in your stomach for my son ok? I may not get to eat like this anymore but at least give him that joy. _

_Indy _

"I hate that I love him so much," Adrienne muttered as she eagerly sat down to eat.

"Come on Vala, it fit, why do we have to do this again!?" Adrienne whined officially fed up with all of the planning. The phone rang at six a.m., a time which her body was not at all happy about, Vala insisting that she come to base for another dress fitting. She was mumbling something about matching colors and a few other things that needed the entire morning, only to then spend the afternoon at the venue to finalize plans. There might have been something about the caterer too, but Adrienne really wasn't listening.

She was frustrated.

She hadn't gotten any work done all week and she had barely seen Daniel, who she secretly knew was doing both of their jobs in order to give her time to deal with this.

She hadn't slept more than for a few hours spurts for days since the one day Daniel tricked her into sleeping in and had thrown up so much this week Carolyn prescribed chemotherapy medication this morning.

She felt disgusting, useless, restless and more than anything she didn't want to put that dress on again.

"Look, if we need alterations I need to know now so Teyla can get that started and in case you forgot Teyla lives HERE!" Vala shouted at her, handing her the dress which Adrienne yanked from her hand with a growl.

Too lazy to walk to the locker rooms, she carried herself upstairs to Sam's office, seeing the door ajar and hearing the general's voice carrying down the stairs. It didn't seem like she was in a meeting, just chatting, so she hoped her friend wouldn't mind the intrusion, or a good rant for that matter. Reaching the top of the stairs, she didn't knock, just opened the door to find Daniel sitting in the chair talking to Sam.

"I'm really concerned Sam, I think she's- " he was saying but stopped as soon as he saw Adrienne.

"Ja-wer, I was just talking to Sam about maybe you taking a break, at least until the wedding is over," he explained, glancing back at Sam.

"A BREAK!?," Adrienne screamed, her emotions taking over her rational mind, it was one thing to suggest it at home, but to go to Sam, "Be I da only person on dis base dat understands dat the pic toi dat KEEDNAPPED me, dat be tryin' ta kill ya ahn 'as got Jonas' entire plahnet unda 'is dumb be jussa doin' as 'ee please while ah gotta take off wahk fo fuckin' flowas ahn cake."

"I just came in here to talk to Sam, my friend and our boss. Adrienne, if you keep up at the pace you're going Carolyn's gonna put you on bed rest, or worse," he replied, trying to keep an even tone.

"Bed rest? Worse? What in da 'ell could be worse dan BED REST!?" she screamed back, her face reddening, sweat appearing on her brow.

"Adrienne, I'm worried about you, and the baby, you're not taking care of yourself, you're spread too thin," he answered, standing and reaching out for her, but she swatted his hand away.

"Worried? 'Bout wedda ah nah dah dresses be mahchin' da aisle runnas! WHY DOES ANY OF DIS MATTA!" she shouted as she stepped away from him.

"Ja-wer, I'm not having a screaming match with you. We need to talk, you need to calm down, we can go to our quarters and really look at everything that you have on your plate," Daniel tried to remain calm but Adrienne was too far gone for that, she was crying, face flushed, hands shaking.

"Talk!? NAW ya wanna vay yay!? Naw dat I'm pregnant ahn playin da madam ahn losin' my entire existence NAW ya wanna talk!" she raged, unable to keep it inside, that where she should be, at his side, solving problems, facing dangers, sending Anubis into the furthest depths of universe was not where she was.

Where she was stuck at home, picking through catalogs, feeding a demanding intruder that insisting on eating all day only to make her throw everything up moments later, alone, she was alone, actually wanting to just lay in bed.

"I thought you said you wanted the baby?" Daniel said quietly, his heart breaking, that one silent fear he thought he had banished creeping back into his stomach.

"Maybe I changed my mind!" she screamed loudly,"Maybe I changed my mind 'bout everyding!"

This was just what he had been afraid of, she didn't mean it, he hoped she didn't mean it, but here it was, the breakdown, right here in Sam's office. Daniel started to say something else, hoping that Sam would read his mind and call Carolyn when they were cut off by sirens and a voice over the PA.

"Incoming team, SG-2, coming in hot, all available units report to the gate," the voice began to repeat loudly, the voice in perfect rhythm.

Sam, Adrienne and Daniel looked at each other confused, panicked given that the team wasn't due back for another day and certainly not due back from and uninhabited planet, hot. Fearing the worst, the three ran for the stairs leading down to see Vala, rushing up the gate to help a man that collapsed there. It seemed they had beat the medical team in arriving and Daniel's instincts kicked in as he raced up the ramp, catching the team leader, who was staggering through, shouting for three more teammates who had yet to arrive. Shots were coming through the gate, small capsules of death heading straight for anyone in their path, and Adrienne screamed, those nightmare scenarios and memories coursing through her head.

"Daniel watch out!" she shrieked, bullets continuing to pour through. Daniel was now bent over a man who had come staggering through, not the team leader who was over with Vala, tending to the first man, and Adrienne could see two women running in behind him. More bullets flooded the gate, the last woman falling to the ground shot in the back, blood oozing bright against her green jacket. Hearing her cries, Daniel turned to help her as Dr. Keller was running in with a stretcher and some nurses shouting out orders, calling for more help. There was a shout, a man's shout, a familiar shout, the cajun whipping around to see her fiancee, his body pressed close to the ramp holding his arm, bleeding; he was bleeding.

Without thinking Adrienne rushed to him, crawling frantically on her knees, tears mixed with anger and determination.

"Ad, what are you doing?" he scolded as the leader was shouting, demanding the gate remain open for his last two team members, which apparently were not the two woman who had come barreling through, they were from the science department, dear god, and it looked as if the one Daniel had tried to help may be dead, but he couldn't help, he had to help Adrienne, turning to crawl back to her. Bullets were still flying all around them, his fiancee desperately reaching for his leg, pulling him back, selfishly refusing to let him die.

"Getting your stupid ass to stay down," she hissed, reaching for his heavily bleeding arm that he was ignoring, "please, you're a father now, please." It was bleeding pretty heavy, but it looked to be a gash rather than a direct shot, but nonetheless Adrienne pulled him to her, helping him keep pressure on it.

Bullets sprayed, shouts going on all around them and as if everything was in slow motion Adrienne glanced up to see a bullet coming through the air, straight at Daniel's head. She wasn't sure how she saw it, how she did it, but she pulled him onto her body forcefully as it darted by, the sound of the small metal bit crashing into the wall echoing to one side and the sound of the iris slamming shut echoed on the other. Realizing where he had landed, Daniel sat up quickly, looking down at Adrienne, panicked.

"Are you ok?" he asked reaching for her abdomen, pushing clothing out of the way and Adrienne held her breath, her heart stopping with worry as well when there was a flutter inside, as if the small person she was carrying was trying to answer his father's question.

"Adrienne plus one are good to go," she reported but Daniel was still looking at her with an expression of shock on his face. Confused, Adrienne scanned herself, wondering if in her concern for Daniel and then their child that she missed a superficial injury, to discover that the entire front of her body was covered in blood. There was no wound though; the blood obviously from the spill pattern had come from the gash in Daniel's arm, blood that was all over the long white dress Adrienne had tossed over her shoulder to put on in Sam's office.

Daniel's blood was all over her wedding dress.

Tears starting to well as she gazed down at it, her eyes floating slowly over to Vala who was standing there shocked and then back to Daniel who just looked so lost and sad. Standing, she pulled the dress from her shoulder, walking it over and handing it to Vala.

"I'm sorry mon ami. I know you tried. I think that maybe some things just aren't meant to be," she said, tears streaking down her face as she turned to face Daniel.

"I love you Indy, so much. I'm gonna go home; we can talk after Jenn fixes you up," she said, leaning up to kiss his lips gently as he stood in silence, watching her turn and walk away.

"I'm so sorry ja-wer," Daniel whispered, feeling himself being pulled away, Dr. Frasier giving commands to orderlies and his jacket pulled from his shoulders. He didn't even notice the flurry of action around him, that the woman who had been shot was alive, conscious, being tended to by Jennifer Keller, he only saw Vala and the dress, that perfect dress.

It was so amazingly beautiful, it looked like something a goddess would wear, his goddess, his goddess who had just left.

"I've got to go Cassie," he said, pulling his arm, but the small woman held fast.

"No Daniel, you need stitches," she retorted, "no arguments, we're going to the infirmary."

"I can fix this," Vala said the moment Daniel was unwillingly escorted out of the gateroom. Sighing, Sam put her hand on her shoulder.

"Vala, it's not the dress. There is a lot more going on with the two of them that they're going to have to fix themselves," Sam replied but Vala shook her head.

"No, Sam, there is nothing with them to fix. Daniel and Addy are FINE, but they just think they're not because everything keeps going wrong. They can't get married like everyday people, they're being expected to save the damn galaxy and you know as well as I do that kid's not gonna be normal. I can fix this, let me fix this," she pleaded.

Glancing back at the doorway, the memory of her two heartbroken friends still fresh in her head, Sam nodded in agreement. A smile across her face, Vala threw the dress over her shoulder, dashing up to give Walter some coordinates, pulling her phone from her pocket on the way up the stairs.

"Mistress Qetesh! You have come back to us!" the small man at the gate shouted at Vala as she came through but she was shaking her head, powering her way down the ramp, waving her hands in front of her body.

"We've been over this, I'm not Qetesh, you were lied too, blah blah, blah, but regardless I need your help," she said flatly, looking around him for anyone else. She hadn't been to P8X-412 in years and she just hoped they had kept the things Daniel hadn't let her bring her home.

"Anything Mistress Qetesh," the man responded, bowing low to the ground, Vala rolling her eyes.

"Whatever, just tell me you still have those things hidden that I left behind. The things the annoying bossy man didn't let me take with me the last time I visited?" she asked, hoping that in the short time the Ori had taken control of the planet no one had gotten into her little hidden stores. They had checked in on them after the fall of the Ori, but Vala hadn't had the opportunity herself to go back to check a few of her secret places, secret places that she needed right now.

"Yes ma'am, we hid them as you requested," he answered from the ground.

"Fantastic!" Vala exclaimed as the man rose from his kneeling position, leading the way, Vala gleefully following him into an adjacent room.

At Vala's request, Sam was on the phone with her husband, who had left a meeting to take her call.

"Come on Jack, you're all for using government resources for personal gain," Sam teased, not exactly pleading because she knew he'd give in.

"That place gives me the creeps Sam," Jack countered, tapping his pencil onto his desk, loud enough where she could hear it on the other line.

"YOU don't have to go back to Argos Jack, but think of what it would mean to Adrienne. She's never even seen it, even on a return check-in, could you just imagine her face for one moment," Sam added, trying not to laugh at his reaction to the mere suggestion; she loved anything that gave her husband the creeps.

"I'm not in the business of pleasing Dr. Perky," he replied, "That's Daniel's job."

"Well this is for Daniel too, it's just a few days. They deserve this..." Sam smiled into the phone as Jack groaned.

"I'm sure that they'll be thrilled, especially Dr. Tantrum, with more time away from work... Hey, I just realized that getting married, they can both be Dr. Tantrum," Jack responded, pausing for a laugh that Sam wasn't going to give.

"Fine, dial it up."

Grinning, Sam gave Walter a thumbs up as he leaned in from the doorway, relieved.

"I love you sir," Sam teased, standing, getting ready to hang up the phone and see to her arrangements.

"Yeah, yeah. You're opening a can of worms here; I hope you know that," he replied, hanging up and staring at the phone wondering when exactly had his life become a three ringed circus.

"Uh, yes, hi, I'm Dr. Quinn, from the Pentagon here to see Mr. Boruen," Jonas stammered at the desk, trying not to giggle at the joke Adrienne made when he called himself Dr. Quinn as he was mostly certainly not a 'Medicine Woman'. He didn't even think that show was that good, but he wasn't a big fan of her vampire stuff either.

"Do you have an appointment sir?" the receptionist asked, thumbing through the pages of the book.

"No, not exactly. My employer, General Samantha O'Neill, she called, I'm supposed to be following up on a bit of an emergency situation..." he trailed a little stunned this was all happening, wondering what his friends' reaction would be and hoping they could pull this off, although he couldn't understand for the life of him why here. Glancing at his watch, he noted it had only been a few hours since he had driven his crying mess of a friend and colleague home, her shirt covered in what she swore was Daniel's blood. He was going to stay, at least get her calmed down a bit since Daniel had messaged him that he was currently being stitched up, but then Sam had called with this crazy idea.

"I don't see your name here, let me call down to him," she answered, reaching for her phone, "you can take a seat over there." Seeing a row of red, theater looking chairs lining the wall, Jonas went to take a seat, hoping this would work, grabbing a magazine, and noting the cover story.

_"The Top 10 Animal Superpowers" _

"Addy would LOVE this, I wonder if there's a copy in the gift shop," Jonas mumbled under his breath as he peeked back up at the young woman, hoping Sam's call had worked.

"CameronMitchell, this is not a bakery. ValaMalDoran said we needed a cake," Teal'c pointed out, glaring over at Cameron confused as they pulled up into the parking lot of a restaurant. Grinning, that look of mischief on his face, he popped the car into park and looked over at Teal'c, an expression of confidence on his face.

"Look T, Adrienne loves cheesecake and well, Daniel, he just likes food. Vala wasn't specific and trust me, I know my girl better than anyone," Cameron replied, opening the Cherokee door, hoping in this odd time between lunch and dinner, the normally popular eatery wouldn't be packed, the cars in the parking lot not a good indicator with a metro station nearby. The hostess at the counter greeted him and his Jaffa friend as they rushed into the warmth of the building. Laughing, ok it did sound crazy coming out, he explained what he needed and was led over to a large counter.

"May I help you?" the girl asked on the other side asked, her small stature exaggerated by the giant glass case of sweets positioned in front of her.

"Yeah, I hope so. So I need to build a wedding cake," Cameron started and pulled out a pen, doodling onto a napkin.

"Teyla, we got the rings, why are we going to the toy store?" John asked as he checked the bag one last time, fearful of forgetting anything on their errand. Vala had called them in a panic a few hours ago saying that she wouldn't be able to make it to the jewelry store before they closed and that they needed to go and pick them up, the jeweler not too keen on having to engrave quickly, two weeks early no less. Task successfully completed, with only a few extra fees and Teyla's kind 'thank you's' John thought they were heading back to base to see how else they were needed, but apparently he was wrong.

"Cameron called me and said he needs a miniature representation of both Daniel and Adrienne to go on top of the cake. He called it a topper. I am going to get a cake topper," Teyla replied, pulling Torrin along, not that it took much pulling to get the excited child to enter, and opened the door to the small shop, a bell tinkling as she entered. Still bewildered, John reached out and got the door for her, holding it open for the pair.

"At a toy store?" he clarified and Teyla smiled, giggling that she would have to explain an Earth concept to John.

"Actually, I believe Adrienne calls this a comic book shop and yes, we are going to find a topper here. I have an idea," she smiled, walking with her son to the man at the counter.

"Ah choo!" Rodney sneezed loudly as Jennifer hurried around the store, tossing bundles of various flora into the basket she had grabbed as she rushed in the door.

"Cover your face!" she scolded over her shoulder, looking back to the pile of flowers in her arms, counting and frowning.

"Why did you bring me here, I'm dying!" he complained, emphasizing each word dramatically making Jennifer stop, glaring back at him.

"I was hoping that you would enjoy this, an excuse to do something romantic together," Jennifer, her tone a strange combination of annoyance and hurt. Reading between the lines, which he was getting better at the longer they tried this, thing, they had, Rodney began to smile when he backed up, throwing his hand in front of his face, violently sneezing again.

"Why couldn't we have gone to get the cake?" he asked, "that would have been just as romantic," and Jennifer laughed, rushing to the counter.

"Hi, I need every red rose and magnolia that you have, not just what's out on display," Jennifer ordered politely.

"Carson, toss up another box," Ronon ordered from atop the ladder, wishing there was an easier way to hang lights on marble other than tape. Nodding, Dr. Beckett reached into the box of decorations and tossed another upward, the Sateadan catching it easily.

"I thought the wedding was in two weeks, at some house?" he asked as Ronon tore the box open, pulling out a string of white lights and tossing the box back down.

"It was, but Vala said they had to move everything to tonight. I didn't ask, she sounded kinda pissy on the phone," Ronon replied, "I've learned."

"Dex, are you following the diagram?" Carolyn asked from where she was hanging some tulle around the center piece of the atrium, a part of her thinking that only a wedding for Daniel and Adrienne would result in something as insane as this. He looked down at her, puzzled, tossing the lights back over the ledge.

"They're little lights. Why do I need a diagram for little lights?" he asked but the doctor made a face, sitting back on her heels.

"Because they're supposed to look like constellations, like the DHD," she said, reaching for the diagram on the floor beside her. Chuckling at Ronon's confusion and Carolyn's frustration, Cassie walked over from across the room and took the diagram from her.

"I'll fix it," she said, approaching the ladder.

Adrienne was sitting in the bed staring at her computer screen. She had been watching some old bad movies trying not to think about her life falling apart, about how she was losing control over everything. Jonas had volunteered to stay before he got a text from Sam urging him back to base, him, not Adrienne, which left her feeling even more frustrated and depressed.

Was she considered so inept now that she wasn't needed to help with the situation?

Did her outburst of frustration seal her fate?

She hadn't meant it; she was just so frustrated and confused that it was just easy to lash out at Daniel, after all, he loved her no matter what, right?

It was ten this morning when Jonas had pulled into their drive and about ten thirty when Sam had whisked him away. She had been alone since not one word from the man that was supposed to become her husband.

It was nearly three now, the ridiculous B movie ended, something bad about bee swarms but the lead actor was hot so Adrienne had suffered through it, when she heard a knock at the bedroom door, looking up to see Daniel peering around the corner.

"Can I come in?" he asked, but not opening the door the rest of the way.

"Yeah, I'm just tryin' to amuse myself," she answered, her stomach rumbling, the little growing person reminding her that she had forgotten to eat. Smiling softly, cautiously, he opened the door the rest of the way.

"I brought you a late lunch," he said, holding a bag in his hands. It was a plain paper bag, but she knew that smell, Mexican, as did the mini-Jackson in her gut.

"Thanks," she stood, smiling, shutting the computer lid and walking over to him. He grabbed her hand and led her into the dining room, leaving the large bag there and walking into the kitchen to get some plates. Adrienne didn't wait, diving straight into the chips and salsa, Daniel laughing as he came out, Adrienne nibbling away.

"Hungry?" he teased, setting the plate down in front of her.

"If I was ever unsure as to whether or not this was your child, that appetite would have taken away all doubt," she joked. Daniel smiled, starting to unload the bag and make her a plate.

"Are you alright? I was worried," she asked, quietly as he made her meal, sweetly, like nothing happened.

"Yeah, three stitches, but nothing major. She bandaged it well; I'll show you when I clean it tonight," he answered, tossing on some rice, salad and a few enchiladas for Adrienne before passing it over to her. He started to make his plate when he looked up at her, peering carefully over his glasses.

"Are you alright?" he inquired carefully, noting that she was eating heartily and no longer crying.

"Yeah, bit of a headache but I'm ok," she replied quietly.

"I think we need to talk, really talk," he said, making his plate finally, treading lightly to avoid a repeat of this morning.

"I figured that bringing home Mexican was truce food," she answered, smiling, reaching for the bottle of tea he had opened for her.

"Adrienne we don't have to do this, get married I mean. Don't get me wrong, I want to marry you, I do, but if you aren't ready we don't need to. We can raise the child together without getting married, if that's what you want, but please don't terminate. Please. I'll do whatever you need me to get you through the rest of your pregnancy, through work, through anything, just please don't kill my child," Daniel started with talking and ended with pleading, distress apparent in his face.

"Your son," she corrected, Daniel's mood instantly changing as he looked at Adrienne with shock.

"My son? Son? It's a boy; how do you know?" he stammered, puzzled, Adrienne trying to hold back a smile.

"Carolyn slipped this morning when she looked me over to give me the meds," she answered, dragging her fork through her food, biting her lip.

That had actually made her day.

Carolyn said that they could find out at twenty weeks but when she said, HE looks fine and HE is determined to keep you sick, Adrienne asked, just to be sure. That had been her plan when she was summoned to meet Vala right outside the entrance to Sam's office, not trying on dresses, having a nervous break-down or getting shot at but to find Daniel and tell him that they were having a boy.

"Isn't it too early to tell?" Daniel asked, forgetting his speech from earlier, having the exact same reaction as Adrienne had, Adrienne who was laughing at his excitement. She knew he said he didn't care, but he was just so happy; he really wanted this, he really wanted to be a dad.

"Apparently not," she said smiling, beginning to cut the enchilada with her fork.

"I KNEW IT!" he shouted out, pacing around the kitchen, "I TOLD YOU SO! I KNEW IT WAS A BOY! I just had this feeling, I just knew, and, and, Ad, I've already got a name, Carter, Carter Howard, it's perfect, it's..."

"The dude that discovered Tut's tomb, backwards at least, and Sam's maiden name too. Uh, no," Adrienne started, shaking her head, "and Howard was a Duck."

"And you have a better suggestion?" he asked, Adrienne peeking up with a smile.

"Eric William," she responded as her fiancee finally took a seat, rolling his eyes.

"Nothing from True Blood. Nothing. And I don't care if Alcide is a common Bayou name," Daniel started, seeing her begin to protest, shaking his fork in front of his face, " but for now, we gonna have to put this battle on the back burner."

"I'm wasn't gonna to kill our baby cooyon," Adrienne scolded, cutting her eyes at him.

"I'm not gonna lie, you had me worried this morning," he replied, picking at his food some more.

"But I'm not quitting the program either. I'm not saying that I want our son to spend his life at a sitter, but we're two intelligent, creative and capable people who can figure something out and I know that Teyla would be very willing to help," Adrienne continued when Daniel put up his hand.

"No one's asking you to quit the program, do you seriously think at this point I could survive without you, Jonas or not? You've spoiled me, in more ways than one," Daniel answered, finally eating his meal.

"Can we just go to the Justice of the Peace tomorrow? Please?" she pleaded, Daniel nodding immediately, "I don't want to offend Jack, but I'm just finished with it all."

"Yea, they open at nine, I already looked," he answered, "we just go and get a number and wait to be called. I was gonna call Jack too, but if we have the ceremony here or at the lab, it's just gonna be more headache. Let's just go alone, use the court witnesses."

"I love you," she said quietly.

"I love you too. I just want you to be happy again," he said.

"Can I just blame it on hormones?" she asked.

"That'll only work until he's born," he responded, swallowing a mouthful of food.

'That's fair," Adrienne smiled back, going to eat more when she heard a ringing from the bedroom. Remembering her phone on her nightstand, she stood to retrieve it, seeing it was Vala, her eyes rolling already.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving Daniel. No one's breaking up, it was just stress, I'm trying to do too much, but don't worry, we're fine," Adrienne said instead of hello.

"Good, I need you here by six," Vala ordered and Adrienne frowned, confused, walking to the dining room again.

"Six? Why?" she asked, mouthing to Daniel that it was Vala on the phone, his reaction much the same as her own.

"Because I've fixed things so I'm glad that you and Glasses are all hunky dorey again, you just need to get here," she explained.

"Vala, thank you and I appreciate everything that you've done, but I'm not worrying about getting a dress, solving the cake or the flower problem. We're going to the courthouse the morning, sign the papers and be done," Adrienne replied as Daniel continued to eat.

"Whatever, just shower, brush your teeth and whatnot and drag your man down here by six," Vala replied.

"I don't want to," Adrienne answered, Daniel peering in her direction, cocking his head in curiosity, trying to eavesdrop.

"I don't care what you WANT to do, get moving or I'm coming to get you," Vala responded, hanging up before Adrienne could argue further.

"We're being summoned, by six, showered etc.," she informed him, but Daniel just shrugged.

"They're probably just having a party for us. Sam came down to check on me when I was looking up the courthouse hours so I think she's probably talked to Vala and everyone, gotten things under control. We should go down there," Daniel replied pointing his fork at her plate, "so eat. We'll put in enough of an appearance and then leave."

Groaning, but figuring she at least owed her friend that, Adrienne sat back down to finish her plate.

By 5:30 both Daniel and Adrienne were showered and ready to leave. Adrienne put on a dress just in case Sam had made it a nice party and Daniel a button up shirt over some dress pants. They locked up and headed out to the Jeep, deciding to drive there instead of take the metro in case they wanted to go somewhere afterwards, cheesecake Adrienne's craving of the evening.

They were just pulling into the parking lot when Vala called again, Adrienne laughing as she answered the phone.

"No worries mon ami, we're here ok," she chuckled sweetly into the receiver, the knowledge that at least one good chunk of the insanity in her life would soon be over and she could refocus her attention on finding ZPMs and kicking Anubis' ass.

"Great, you need to get down to the lab and Daniel needs to stay put. Teal'c'll be up there in a second," Vala replied.

"Why is Teal'c coming up - " Adrienne started to ask but Vala just hung up and she looked over at Daniel, phone in her hand, puzzled.

"Huh," she said out loud as Daniel walked over from the side of the car to join her.

"Huh what?" he asked. Adrienne held up the phone, shaking it, her face screwed in confusion.

"That was Vala. I'm supposed to come down to the lab and you're supposed to stay here and wait for Teal'c," Adrienne explained, Daniel's turn now to look completely bewildered.

"Yeah," Adrienne continued, "that was my thought. What's she up to?"

"Just humor her. It must be a surprise party or something," he answered, not really believing his own words, but nonetheless, walking up and pulling her into his arms. Gazing down at her, relishing her touch and kissing her lips softly, he backed away, their foreheads still touching, "Just a little over fifteen hours."

Her heart singing at the best countdown she could ever hear, Adrienne nodded and pulled away, heading down to the lab.

The door to her workspace was closed, oddly, especially since she had been asked to come here specifically. Frowning, Adrienne typed in her code, the green light flashing and she opened the door to Vala sitting on top of the center table waiting for her.

"No Daniel?" she checked, looking behind Adrienne who shook her head.

"Nope, he's waiting for Teal'c like you requested," Adrienne answered and Vala smiled, leaping from the table and rushing over to the lockers.

It was then that Adrienne saw it.

On a hanger was a gown, a reddish colored gown with gold, silver and copper accents. It looked as if it had been smaller, more revealing, but there had been fabric added underneath to make the dress larger, shimmering white satin sewn on the inside, a familiar fabric.

Adrienne eyes widened as Vala grabbed it from the locker, waltzing over to her.

"Now, provided those damn huge hips of yours fit, this should match the color scheme," Vala stated, handed it over, letting Adrienne get a better look. It was her dress, well, part of it was her dress, even the collar which has been carefully affixed to the top. Vala had taken out her Qetesh dress, her favorite as she had described it to Adrienne, letting it out using the satin from Adrienne's own wedding dress as a sort of underlay and replacing the Egyptian style collar with the Greek. She knew that Vala had learned to sew, she picked on her about it often, but this?

This was amazing.

"What did you do?" Adrienne asked, turning the fabric over in her hands. Better, she thought, it is better than the dress, this is like a combination of a lady and a warrior, this is perfect.

"Raided my stash and salvaged your dress; just don't tell Daniel I still have that stash. Go put it on," she ordered, pointing to the bathroom but Adrienne shook her head, still confused, more questions flying into her head.

"Why? I mean, it's gorgeous but why?" she continued. Vala, however, just turned her body, pushing her toward the bathroom.

"Your wedding; and it's not white, well, not totally white, so you should be happy," Vala replied, continuing her advance, but Adrienne stopped in her tracks, peering back over her shoulder.

"Vala, Daniel and I are going to the courthouse tomorrow, the ceremony's off," Adrienne explained. Smiling Vala shook her head.

"Nope, everything's ready and waiting. The cake, the flowers, the venue, Jack, your guests, including Aunt Barbara and the rest of your clan, well, in a little bit, Sam had to get them on a rush military flight but they're due to land any time now. Everything is waiting for you two," Vala responded.

Jaw dropping, Adrienne's eyes filled with tears, she stood there stammering, shaking, not really understanding what was happening.

"What about Daniel?" she questioned, her mind racing, so many questions, so much that had to be taken care of, but she just couldn't say anything else.

"Teal'c and Cameron picked up the tux today. Cam's working on the cake so Muscles is getting your man ready, aright? So, go put that thing on so we can get you married," Vala said.

Crying now, not bothering to hide her tears, Adrienne rushed to her friend, hugging her tightly, sobbing into her shoulder.

"Thank you Vala. Thank you so much," she whispered in her ear and the taller woman hugged her back, pushing her away.

"You can thank me by putting on that dress and stopping making your face so damn red because I would like to have your make-up not look like a clown. Now go!" she shouted, pushing Adrienne again, who rushed into the bathroom, wiping the tears of joy from her face.

Daniel stood at the foot of the careful stone scene, his feet tapping nervously at the marble. Trying to will himself not to shake, he started to rationalize. He had been married before, he knew how this went, how it worked to be someone's husband, but he had figured that out after the fact and hadn't really been married that long.

This was totally different.

This was a real wedding, one where he would have to say things and promise things in front of his friends to then go home and start a real life together, as parents no less. Those thoughts making him more nervous, he turned his attention to the rest of the Rotunda, the grand entrance to the Museum of Natural History.

White lights, Christmas lights, had been strung all along the careful marble and iron balconies, lighted shapes to looked constellations, constellations from the DHD, the order of the shapes to show the dialing sequence for Earth. Her family, Aunt Barbara smiling at him from the front row of small white chairs, wouldn't understand, but it didn't matter, it was the symbol of the gate itself that was touching.

The gate that had made Adrienne take the job despite their argument in the interview and the gate that had been the central part of his life for so many years had literally brought him the love of his life.

It choked him up to think about it and he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Jack, in full general regalia.

"Ya ready?" he asked, and Daniel nodded.

"It's perfect. I can't believe you guys did all of this," Daniel responded, now noting the red roses all around the rotunda, the state flower of New York, where he was born. He continued to scan and caught out of the corner of his eye a cake, a giant cheesecake with two toys on top, Daniel squinting to see what they were.

"Teyla found those and she's pretty proud of herself. It's Indiana Jones and the waitress from her vampire fad," he answered, his face telling Daniel his opinion on the matter. Daniel, however, shook his head and laughed, wishing Adrienne was standing right there to see it.

"Well, Daniel I hope you're ready," Jack patted his shoulder, breaking him from his trance, "cause here she comes."

Daniel wasn't quite sure what exactly his face must have looked like to the crowd, but it must have been some expression of shock since he heard Adrienne's cousin and Sam laughing lightly.

Standing on a burgundy carpet, he was just now noticing there was a burgundy carpet set between the chairs, was Adrienne wearing a gown Daniel recognized, one he had seen Vala wearing on P8X-412. What looked to be the collar of the dress Adrienne had draped over her shoulder this morning was attached to a gold bodice with red skirts flowing all around it, white satin sewn in underneath. It shimmered, red, gold, white, eerily mesmerizing as Adrienne stepped out of the doorway and onto her path to him.

She was breathtaking, absolutely, breathtaking, even more so that he could see the slight push of their son poking through the front of the dress.

In her hands she carried a bouquet that was nothing fancy, just a collection of Magnolias, the flower of Louisiana, but to him that didn't matter, she was the real flower of Louisiana. Music started around them, something slow and classical, something he should have known the name of, but for him there was nothing else, no one else in this room other than the woman that was slowly walking forward to approach him. Daniel couldn't take his eyes off of her as she walked past their small assembly of family and friends, taking time to smile to each side, even reaching down to squeeze Torrin's hand.

It was a short walk, but it seemed to take a lifetime when all of a sudden Adrienne was standing beside him, facing him. She turned and reached behind herself handing Sam the bundle of flowers, before looking back at him, a bright smile across her face.

"I'm here," she joked.

"I can see that," he responded, "You look amazing." He felt tears begin to well up in his eyes and she laughed, shaking her head.

"Stop that Indy, you're gonna make me start," she said, her eyes filling as well. Breathing in, he reached out and took her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs lightly across the top of her hand.

"I'd like to welcome everyone and thank you for coming on such short notice," Jack started, making sure to give a nod at the Verdin family, who seemed delighted even though they had spent four hours shoved in the cargo hold of an Air Force transport plane.

"Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today in front of, well, a huge ass elephant. Really Jonas? An elephant? Isn't there some famous rock here or something we could have done this at?" Jack continued, deviating his speech to scold Jonas, who Daniel noticed was sitting beside Sam, Teal'c, Cam and Vala, his team, his family.

"Sir, you said columns, Sam said museum, and Vala said today," Jonas defended, sheepishly, glancing over at Daniel and Adrienne in silent apology.

"They're arguing, at our wedding," Daniel whispered to Adrienne.

"Would you expect anything else?" she replied, giggling.

"This is true," he admitted, as Jack cleared his throat, signaling they needed to shut up.

"Ok, fine, so here we are, gathered blah blah, with a giant stuffed pachyderm to bear witness," he spoke again to the crowd, Sam mouthing for him to cut it out.

"Do you think they'll let us get on the elephant for pictures," Adrienne muttered under her breath.

"Can you behave?" Daniel laughed lightly, his eyes locked on her enchanting Cajun brown.

"Me behave? But it's not too late to back out Indy," she offered with a sly grin.

"Never," Daniel answered quickly.

"Are you two finished? Can I continue?" Jack questioned, the quiet conversation evidently not that private.

"Carry on," Daniel replied, squeezing Adrienne's fingers.

Clearing his throat again, Jack folded his hands in front of his body, taking that stance the reminded Daniel for all of the craziness that was Jonathan O'Neill, that he was an intelligent and respectable man who was here to perform a task that he was taking seriously.

"Sometimes in life things can happen that we can't expect, could have never possibly imagined. We work so hard to reach this goal, this plan, this layout that we've had for our lives when sometimes what was meant is right in front of you," he paused, glancing over at Sam, who Daniel could see was crying already at her husband's words.

"Some people, though, are hard headed, and it takes them a little bit longer," he added, cutting his eyes at Daniel and Adrienne, both of whom were blushing furiously.

"But you two finally clued in and here we are, in front of Dumbo, about to make this permanent, so is there anything that you two would like to say to one another?" he asked, unsure as Sam had cautioned whether or not they had vows already or would be able to come up with something on the spot.

Wait, he thought, pausing, this is Daniel and Adrienne; they can always talk.

"I still can't believe I fell for you Indy," Adrienne spoke first, the crowd laughing again and Aunt Barbara already wiping away tears. Daniel smiled, shaking his head but let her continue, holding her hands tightly.

"I never really thought that this, any of this, was for me, that I wasn't meant to be happy. And then this comes along, you came along and every rule I had ever made for myself just flew out the window. You just had to mess up everything, didn't you Daniel?" Adrienne tried to joke but she was already in tears, Daniel reaching out for her arms.

"I had something written out, on my computer, which is obviously not here, so I'm just gonna have to wing it. Daniel, I love you, more than I could have ever imagined was possible to love another person. I promise to never leave you, to try to behave myself and stay out of trouble and to make you not have to worry so much," she and everyone laughed again, except for Carolyn Lam, who was smiling, biting her lip and shaking her head.

"I'm in this, forever, so there's no more calling Sam to get rid of me or screaming at me in an elevator so I quit. In about five minutes sha you're stuck," she concluded, unable to hold back her tears any longer but Daniel wiped them away, holding her face in his hands, gazing down at her.

"I wrote something too, and it wasn't in English," he said, chuckles passing over the crowd, Jack rolling his eyes where he stood.

"Adrienne, where did you come from? You just blew in here like a storm and swept me away," he touched his forehead to hers, lightly, just for a moment, and backed away, taking his hands from her face to clasp her fingers.

"I know I'm supposed to stand here and promise that I'll never leave and that we'll never be apart, but knowing my track record I think that we can both agree I probably shouldn't try my luck," he said, peeking quickly over at Adrienne's family, who definitely would not get the joke.

Laughing, Adrienne wiped her face, sucking in invisible tears.

"But what I can promise you is this. I promise you me, all of me, my heart, my soul, and my life and until it's impossible for even my spirit to be with you, I will be with you and I will love you till my dying breath and beyond if I can. And I will do anything in my power to honor you as you have honored me agreeing to be my wife," Daniel finished, starting to turn so Jack knew he was finished when Adrienne leapt up into his arms, kissing him on the mouth.

"Wait!" Jack shouted out, everyone laughing again, "I'm supposed to say when it's time to do that and I haven't said a damn thing!" Adrienne back up embarrassed, wiping lipstick from Daniel's lips as Jack shook his head.

"Anyone have anything else to add?" he asked the crowd, scanning and tossing up his hands.

"No one? Good. My turn. Daniel," he started, making sure he had everyone's attention, "I told you so!" he declared loudly, pointing out into the crowd, "and so did Cam, and Vala, and Teal'c and MY WIFE and Carolyn, do you see a pattern here, this was all about damn time!"

"Are you finished?" Daniel inquired, raising his eyebrows.

"Yep! By the power given to me by some confused judge's very poor judgment, I now pronounce you husband and wife. NOW you can kiss him Dr. Perky," Jack announced but it wasn't Adrienne that moved, it was Daniel, grabbing her, pulling her into his arms, kissing her like it was the first time, and it was, the first time as his wife.

Smiling, Jack walked back over to join Sam, who grabbed his hand, pulling his ear to her lips.

"I told him he would meet his match someday," she whispered, and Jack wrapped his arm around her smiling.

Adrienne had sent Daniel to get her some coffee under the guise of her stomach hurt too much to walk to the commissary. It was a ruse; she needed to get to the uniform room, swearing Jonas to secrecy as she dashed off. Shrugging, Jonas grabbed a file, saying he had to take something down to Rodney wanting to leave before whatever Adrienne had up her sleeve came to pass. She returned quickly, setting up at her desk, peeking back at every footstep she heard behind her.

When Daniel arrived back she was sitting at her desk wearing her SG-1 uniform jacket, trying not to smile. He looked her over carefully, trying to figure out the reason for her mischievous grin, placing the coffee at her desk, decaf of course for the baby, pulling his black t-shirt away from his back again.

"That aloe is sticky," he whined turning so she could help him and so he could investigate without her computer like eyes scanning him as well.

"You're the one who decided it was a good idea to forego sunscreen," she scolded but stood, peeling the fabric from his burnt and aloed torso, as he frowned at her.

"I've been to Argos before; I didn't remember it being that, sunny," he replied.

"You were on a mission in gear, not on your honeymoon in swimming trunks, cooyon" she retorted. Daniel turned, making a fake angry face at her before reaching out to take her into his arms slowly, pulling her chin upward to meet his face, kissed her softly and slowly.

"Completely worth it; even if it was only a few days," he whispered as he pulled away, turning and grabbing his cup of coffee to return to his desk. Sitting back at her own, Adrienne was disappointed, sad he hadn't noticed. Not a further word to be said to her, Daniel just sat down and picked up the old desk phone, dialing someone, she didn't know, she didn't care, simply sighing, looking back at her computer.

"Jack, hey, I win. Nope, you can come down and see for yourself. I didn't say a word, she must have had it in the works without my knowing it. Yep. No, it was hundred bucks, Jack, don't try to weasel your way out of it," Daniel said, delighted, hanging up the phone to see his wife, standing there, arms crossed across her chest.

"Ya a dammed tchew," she said, trying not to laugh.

"No, I'm not. I'm just smart enough to take advantage of the less skilled. You, of anyone, should be able to appreciate that Dr. Jackson," he replied, slowing his final words, as he ran his finger across the patch on the chest of her jacket, the new patch on the chest of her jacket.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," she retorted as sat in his lap, pecking his lips lightly.

"Then when Jack comes tearing down with the hundred bucks you can surprise me with where we're going to dinner," he teased and started to kiss her again when sirens went off all around them.

"Incoming travelers, P3X-888, scheduled check-in, Drs. Jackson and Rowan to the gateroom," Walter's voice echoed through the room, Adrienne resting her head on her husband's shoulder.

"Back to reality sha," Adrienne moaned, standing, sighing loudly.

"Yep, but you go ahead, visit with Chaka. I need to go correct Walter. It's Drs. Jackson and Jackson now," he smiled, racing ahead to the observation room.

_In case anyone cares, I had a wedding song for them: _

_Home by Phillip Phillips, because they really did finally find one in each other._

_ watch?v=HoRkntoHkIE_


	56. Chapter 55 - Taken

The base shook subtly, but it was enough to wake Daniel from his slumber. Not that he slept that well anyway, but it was better in the past year or so, much better, for reasons that were laying right there beside him, snoring lightly. Groggily, he opened his eyes, scanning the room before he sat up and carefully unwrapped his arms from around Adrienne, slipping out from under the blanket. He saw her shiver at the sudden loss of his warmth, scooting back for his embrace, so he grabbed another blanket from the foot of the bed, pulling it over her slowly. Despite the shaking and his exit, she hadn't awoken, which was odd as of late. Her pregnancy had completely changed her sleeping habits; she now slept more like him, her stillness only proving how exhausted she really was.

When they came home from the mission last night, drained and frustrated, Adrienne was strangely quiet. Equally as frustrated, he had followed her to bed right after they showered, neither of them in the mood to return to the lab and move on to their next ZPM possibility. The desert planet had taken everything out of them, mostly Adrienne who had become dizzy on the walk back, Teal'c insisting on carrying her the rest of the way, much to her protest. Smiling, reassured by her slumber, a rest he knew she needed, he leaned over, kissing her head before tiptoeing over to his desk.

The room shook again, slightly stronger as Daniel approached the workstation, forcing him to grab the corner to remain upright. He heard stirring from the bed, much to his chagrin, especially since he knew that she needed more sleep.

"Indy?" Adrienne whispered into the dark, "where ah ya? Waz going on? Why be da room shaking?"

"I'm not sure," he answered, noting by her speech she wasn't fully awake and might possibly be able to return to sleep, "just stay there. I was gonna call down to the gate room and see what's going on."

Snatching the phone from the base, Daniel dialed '0' knowing it would connect him to Walter and hopefully some answers.

"Gateroom," his familiar voice greeted, no sign of tension or any problem for that matter and that troubled Daniel more than anything.

"Walter, it's Dr. Jackson. What is going on?" he asked wondering why the background was silent; if the base was under attack or otherwise compromised there should be a flurry of activity in the observation deck not Walter's happy reply.

"Sir?" the man responded confused as the room shook again.

"You don't feel that?" Daniel spoke into the receiver irritated holding onto the desk, a flurry of Cajun swears from his bed.

"Feel what sir?" Walter answered honestly yet another tremor rocking the room. This one, was slightly more violent, making Daniel stumble, grabbing the chair to keep standing. Adrienne was grumbling something about 'un transport' as the lamp on the desk hit the floor, breaking into a thousand pieces and Daniel swore under his breath, the shaking passing, gripping the phone tightly.

"Walter, I'm standing in a pile of glass right now and you mean to tell me you felt NOTHING!?" he demanded, feeling a shard already poking into his bare foot.

"No sir, not a thing," Walter responded, confusion in his voice. A cracking sound preceded yet another tremor, the fiercest thus far. Daniel heard a bookshelf fall over behind him, books crashing at his feet, forcing more pieces of glass and ceramic under the arch.

"Daniel?" he heard Adrienne call out from the bed again, not frightened but curious, worrying him further, especially since she was no longer swearing.

"Are you ok?" he asked her, straining to see her in the darkness.

"I'm fine sir," the gate operator answered.

"Not you Walter," Daniel clarified, holding the phone away from his ear.

"Yea sha, I'm fine. But I think ya need to come ova 'ere. RIGH naw."

There was urgency in her voice, not panic or fear but that tone she got when she had found something big, really big.

What in the world was going on?

"Walter, send someone down here to our quarters, and wake Sam," Daniel ordered, trusting only his wife's tone and placing the phone back into the receiver. Hurrying back to her side, Daniel hadn't taken more than three steps when the room shook again forcing him to lunge forward, tumbling to the floor. There was a grab at his arm in the darkness, pulling him onto the bed, where he landing in her lap, her arms wrapped protectively around him.

"Thanks," he whispered, steadying himself again when he felt her hands on either side of his head.

"Look sha" she said in his ear, turning his head to face the back wall. In blurry vision, he could see a dim blue light, not very well, so he reached over to his nightstand for his glasses, only to discover that there was nothing there.

"I can't see, and my glasses are somewhere in this mess." he told her, removing her hands from his head to kneel and search.

"I told you to wear your contacts," she replied, pulling back the covers to get up and investigate herself, seeing the light clearly, a thin azure shimmer in their otherwise bare cinderblock wall.

"Fine, just add that to the list of things I should listen to you about," he grumbled from the floor, unable to find his glasses. Sighing in frustration, he stood, noting that the shaking had stopped as the hazy glow in front of him intensified. Curious, still no sirens, no sign of anyone coming to their assistance. Daniel stepped forward to make his way carefully to the source of the light, hearing Adrienne stand up behind him.

"I said to stay there," he scolded, reaching his hand behind him to hold her back.

"Do I ever listen to you?" she retorted, tossing the rest of the blankets aside, but standing close behind him, her now significantly larger belly pressing against his back. Knowing she wasn't going to let him go it alone, he grabbed her arm to steady her as the shaking started suddenly, his theory of the shaking leaving with the appearance of the light apparently incorrect.

"This is why Sam says we're made for each other, forever stubborn," was how he answered the question, nevertheless letting her win. Holding onto one another, they stepped through mess and broken pieces to the blue luminescence that lie ahead, the light pulsating with more intensity at each step. The closer they got Daniel felt a change in temperature, realizing that there was warmth coming from the glow, almost as if it was a fire except for that glasses or not he could tell that was not a flame.

"Ja-wer, do you feel that?" he asked, stopping, shielding her with his body, his curiosity now being over taken by concern for his wife and unborn child.

"The heat, yeah, and the light's flickering can you see it?" she asked back urging him forward.

"Barely," he squinted, "stay back Ad, something's wrong."

"It's jus a ligh cooyon, da east coast's been gettin' a lot more quakes lately, it looks like dere's a crack in da wall..."

Daniel awoke laying in hot sand, the noise of the ocean behind him. He laid there, feeling the heat of the sun on his body, wondering if Adrienne was going to come back soon from their honeymoon bungalow when he realized that this wasn't his honeymoon, this wasn't Argos, remembering the light.

Panicking, he sat up.

"Adrienne!?" he shouted, looking left and right, but without his glasses he couldn't see anything but the glowing blur of the sun in the distance.

"Daniel?!" he heard her voice in front of him and glanced up, seeing her form, in black yoga pants and an orange tank running toward him down large sand dunes.

"I told you not to go closer to that light," he scolded, not really meaning it, just fearful of what had happened and where exactly they were.

"I didn't..." Adrienne replied, "It was more like pulling me toward it." Daniel nodding, reaching out for her hand to help him up, confirming that he had felt the same. The moment she had called him a fool, playfully, in cajun like she would, he had felt the pull as well, just too fast to step away or push her to safety.

"I'm gonna need your help," he admitted, "I can't see a thing." Refraining from starting in on the contact lens lecture again, Adrienne grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet.

'Where in the hell are we?" she asked, hoping he had some sort of idea of, well, anything. Daniel squinted his eyes and looked around, trying to find anything familiar in the area, some sign this was a planet that they had visited before, but there was nothing. Shrugging, he peered back at her.

"I have no idea," he said, but kept scanning the more immediate surroundings in case he could change that opinion.

"At least it's warm," she offered. Frowning, Daniel held his hand over his eyes staring out into the horizon, looking for any sign of inhabitants.

"We need to find a city, a town, some sign of civilization. If this was a break in a wormhole or a transporter, there must be some sort of technology that brought us here. I think our first priority is to see if whoever is responsible for that technology can help us," he said. Without a word of argument, his thoughts mirroring her own, Adrienne ran her fingers around his and took his hand, leading him to what looked like buildings in the distance.

Hours later, or at least it seemed like hours to his aching bare feet, the city was still in the distance. Daniel couldn't tell whether they weren't moving or if the lack of his glasses was making the distance distorted. Adrienne hadn't said much the entire walk, but he knew her well enough to know that she was starting to worry herself, probably aching as much as he was, if not worse, and a quick peek over his shoulder confirmed this. Beginning to feel hopeless Daniel stopped, Adrienne peering over at him.

"We haven't gotten any closer," she confirmed. Daniel just nodded, looking around for somewhere to sit, noting Adrienne's hand holding onto her lower back, pain in her face that she couldn't hide. There was a small flat rock a few steps away, tall enough and large enough to be some sort of a seat where she could relax, so he walked over to it motioning for Adrienne to follow. Sitting first himself, he reached for her, pulling her in between his legs so he could rub her back before the pain got worse.

"We need a plan B," he informed her as he rubbed, squeezing firmly the muscles of her lower back, Adrienne sighing loudly in physical relief and frustration.

"I got nothing sha," she replied, grunting as she felt the tension being released from her lower spinal column.

"Better?" he asked, reaching for her shoulders and pulling her close to his body.

"Yea, and Alex's is really going wild right now," she responded, leaning back into him.

"Nice try, no Alex," Daniel breathed out, shaking his head, "Well, we can't sit here all day ja-wer, I'm sorry but you're going to have to keep walking," he apologized, squeezing her arm tenderly.

"Maybe we should stay put? I mean, don't you think everyone's gonna start looking for us?" Adrienne asked hopefully but Daniel shook his head slowly, his face no where as confident.

"Even if Sam did send the team or a few people through the hole, portal, whatever the hell that was in our room, it would just strand them here as well with no way back. That is even if the portal is still open," Daniel concluded.

Turning her body to lean against him, Adrienne closed her eyes lightly, trying to relish in his embrace and the ability to relax for a moment, not wanting to tell her husband how tired she was already, how the newest set of changes in her body were far harder on her then she expected.

It could be worse, she was telling herself, at least we're together.

Pushing Adrienne away just for a moment, Daniel sat down on the ground, leaning against the rock this time, reaching out for her again. He knew she was tired, they both had slept maybe two hours before they were interrupted, and even if she wasn't verbalizing it, Adrienne was in pain. Happy he was listening to her, she crawled back into his arms and he held her, kissing her head.

"We'll wait a little longer. Get some sleep," he ordered gently, his gaze catching the city in the distance that seemed much further away now than when they started.

"I'm not tired," she replied, lying. He knew her, she wanted a chance to try to think their way out of this, but the circles under her eyes were so dark, she looked simply exhausted, that he shook his head in the negative, squeezing her tighter, reaching his hand down to rub her stomach.

"Just try, little Jack needs his rest. I'll think of something," he said, smiling into her hair.

"Not funny Daniel Anthony, not funny," she argued, laughing anyway at his suggestion.

"Sleep Ad," he repeated, and Adrienne leaned back again into his embrace, closing her eyes.

Sitting there holding Adrienne made him feel a little better, but the truth of the matter was that he was at a loss. He had no weapons, no tac vest, no backpack with anything he could read over. He didn't even have his glasses. He couldn't tell if she was really asleep or just pacifying him, but she lay still as he ran his hand down her arm tenderly. He was starting to run the entire sequence of events through his head again when he felt that familiar rumbling once more, under his feet this time and held tight to Adrienne scanning their area, squinting to see if he could ascertain what was happening. Stirring in his arms, Adrienne sat up, rubbing her eyes, she must have been asleep, he thought, her head now darting from side to side, confused.

"What's happening now Indy?" she asked weakly, her voice so tired, this wasn't fair, she needed sleep, but Daniel let her go, holding fast to her arm in an effort to keep her near him and safe.

"I have no idea, it's that shaking again," he answered, helping her to her feet, steadying her clumsy rise, however, no sooner had he made sure his wife was alright did he sense a presence behind him.

"Daniel..." Adrienne was whispering, evidently sensing it too as he slowly turned to see who had joined them, the sun and his poor vision blinding him.

"I am pleased that you are here," a voice said, coming from a black figure that Daniel could not make out. He felt Adrienne squeeze his arm and proceeded with caution, wondering if she was able to make out something that he could not.

"I'm not quite sure where here is," Daniel answered, treading the fine line between politeness to a new people and an expression of frustration for being brought here against his will. The host didn't move from its spot, no sigh of breath or movement in the light ocean breeze, in fact the figure didn't make an effort to move out of the sun at all, as if it were trying to conceal it's identity.

"That is of no matter. It only matters that you are here and you are ready," the form replied, thoroughly confusing Daniel.

"Ready for what?" he asked, glancing back at Adrienne to see if she, with contacts in her eyes, could see something he could not, but she shook her head subtly, her initial response presumably more out of fear than knowledge. Daniel looked back at the figure, trying one final time to make out any face of some sort, but to no avail.

"The trails, the labors," was the answer, the last word triggering fear inside, maybe he had been with Adrienne too long that he was automatically jumping to that conclusion, but long enough, Daniel starting to stand in protest.

"I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding. I'm just a historian, I study things. I'm not sure what kind of labors you had in mind, but that isn't exactly my area of expertise. And, well, I'm not dressed for any such labors," he said as he stood, feeling a hand on his back as his wife stood to join him.

"That has been taken into account," the thing, there was really no other word for it, answered as the ground shook again.

Daniel felt a change in the air around his body, extreme cold and then a heat, scanning himself in fear and curiosity. He was wearing a leather loincloth and sandals that wrapped up his legs with nothing else, his chest bare, making him feel very vulnerable. Strangely, he could see as well, but as he reached for his face, he realized that his glasses were not there, he could just see as if he never needed the corrective lenses. Puzzled, he peeked over at Adrienne, who was also in different garb, with similar sandals and a long straight orange dress, a chiton he thought it was called, her pregnant belly pushing the dyed linen forward. She, however, wasn't empty handed, standing with her eyes wide, holding a large club in her hand.

"What am I supposed to do? And why? Who are you?" Daniel demanded of the figure, looking back, but it remained deathly still.

"If you are able to finish your tasks all shall be revealed," it responded, dissipating into thin air. Giggling, why was she giggling at a time like this, Adrienne placed her hand softly on his shoulder.

'If we get out of this I request that you get to keep that costume for, uh, being close," she joked, Daniel rolling his eyes, turning to face her, reading between the lines in her request.

"This is exactly what I think it is, isn't it?" he asked, fearing the worst but wanting the verdict from his live expert on Greece and Rome, and as he suspected, his wife lifted her eyebrows, sighing deeply.

"Without a little more evidence it's is difficult to say that I'm a hundred percent sure but," Adrienne began when she heard a roar, her face furrowing into a frown.

"Scratch that sha, one hundred percent," she replied, Daniel shaking his head.

"I'm assuming that's my Olive Wood club?" he asked pointing to the weapon in Adrienne's hand, which she passed over slowly.

"I think that's a fair assumption," she said as he took the club, turning to face the lion, a large magnificent beast, its fur so golden it seemed to shine in the sun, save for the streaks of black throughout his mane.

"I'm gonna die fighting the Nemean Lion," he stated but Adrienne was unable to determine whether he was joking or serious, "You do know Ad that I CANNOT strangle that thing," Daniel added as the beast approached him, Adrienne already looking around frantically for something, a rope, a vine, anything to help.

"On it," she shouted, climbing a small rise to where it looked like some plants were growing, pausing to face him again, her left arm carefully cradling her stomach.

"For what it's worth, you make a sexy Hercules!" she yelled back with a smile, quickly returning to her task.

"That's a nice final thought, my wife likes me to play dress up," he mumbled, redirecting his attention back at the lion.

"Alright, let's pretend for a moment that you can understand me. I'm supposed to kill you. You don't want to die, do you?" Daniel tried, in true Daniel fashion, reasoning with the beast, who disregarded his words, even if it understood them, taking another step closer. Breathing in, Daniel grasped the club tightly.

"Ja-wer, where are you?" he shouted without looking, hoping that she had a better plan or at least had taken herself and their son to safety. There was no verbal response at first as the lion took another step closer, when he heard heavy, labored running behind him.

"Ok, nothing. But you can do this sha, I've got foi in ya. After all, ya lift me up like it's nothing, Anakin and all, " Adrienne offered over his shoulder, Daniel glaring at her.

"Never Anakin, Star Wars is off limits too," he replied, shaking his head.

"Dammit Indy, stop arguing kid names with me and just club the freakin thing. It doesn't look like another solution is gonna present itself any damn time soon," she retorted as the lion moved even closer to them, seemingly angered by their talking. Rolling his shoulders, cracking his back thinking that descended gifts or not that he was too old for this, Daniel gripped the club tightly, peering back once more at his wife.

"I love you," he said over his shoulder quietly, like he was saying goodbye.

"Yeah, yeah, just whack it," Adrienne pushed him forward, "Imma nah gonna let you die."

Summoning up all of his strength, knowing there was no way out of this and he had to protect Adrienne and the baby, Daniel took a brave step forward and as if shocked into action, the lion charged, large flaxen paws pounding the sand.

In a split second the creature was upon him, and Daniel swung the club, missing completely and lunging forward, struggling to keep himself upright. The lion's tail brushed his leg so he turned quickly, knowing a cat would attack from behind, fearful of how close the animal might be. He worried momentarily about Adrienne, but the lion was clearly focused on him entirely, as he turned, backing away like a bull taunting a matador. It swat a him, toying with him, seeing him as no real threat, and he stepped back, trying not to fall, losing his footing in the sandals.

"Back of the head Indy, at the base of the neck!" she directed, trying to point at what seemed to be a weakness in the large animal, one that might now not have the best control over its own body. Listening to her instructions, Daniel scanned the animal frantically, trying to find a way to reach the suggested point of contact, looking back up at Adrienne for a split second while the beast circled him.

"How am I supposed to get it to move where I need it?" he asked, beginning to circle the beast as well, crouching over, club held out in front of him. Huffing, Adrienne scanned the immediate area again, spying some rocks on the beach that looked like they had been washed up on the shore, racing over to the pile.

"Heya!" she shouted at the lion, throwing a rock that landed at its feet, swearing under her breath at her poor aim. The lion ignored her, of course, she couldn't hit the side of a house.

"Pretend it's a knife Ad ya coo yon," she scolded, "why in the hell I can't complete simple damn tasks is beyond me." Pulling back her arm, she grabbed another and tried again, chucking the rock at the animal, hitting it square in the head. Swinging its head around, the lion turned to face Adrienne, roaring.

"Sha there is no way in 'ell Imma gonna be able to do dat again!" Adrienne cautioned, Daniel taking his chance, bringing the club around his head and swinging, wincing as he did, slamming it into the neck of the animal. Instead of bringing it down, however, the lion just reared its head back at Daniel, swatting at him, forcing him to stagger back.

"Ad, I am NOT a greek hero, this is NOT going to work!" Daniel shouted, trying to ward off the lion's advance with the club, poking it out in front, but that didn't seem to deter it very much. Holding her belly with one hand, wincing in pain, a pain that was worrying Daniel, Adrienne cocked her arm back, throwing another rock, a large one this time, not making contact with the creature, but it stopped nonetheless, looking back at her.

"Hit it again!" she shouted, but Daniel was already on it, slamming the lion in the head with the club once more and this time, the beast faltered slightly, kneeling to the ground.

"Again sha!" Adrienne screamed excitedly as Daniel pulled up the club up over his head, hesitating, looking back up at her.

"I don't want to kill it Ad!" he said, shaking his head while Adrienne threw her hands up shaking her head.

"I don't either, but if you don't it is going to EAT us Daniel!" she yelled back, pointing at the lion who was crawling to his feet, shaking his head, angry. Closing his eyes, Daniel willed himself to do it, to bring their attacker down, pulling the club into the air as the animal began to approach him once more. He slammed the club into the large yellow neck and the animal went down, heavier this time, hurt, out cold, possibly dead, he wasn't sure.

Drained, both emotionally and physically, Daniel dropped the club onto the sand, glancing up at Adrienne, who was running towards him.

"I don't know who in the hell thinks this is entertaining, but I'm not going to strangle this thing," he said, directing his fury into the distance, now seeing the animal breathing "I'm not gonna KILL it! Do you hear me!"

Out of breath herself, Adrienne finally reached him, stepping her way around the beast and was about to speak when a wax tablet appeared at her feet. Confused, she made a face, bending slowly to pick it up, standing, holding her abdomen as she read over the lines, a simple message in carved Greek lettering.

"It says that you've completed the first of the twelve labors and you will now get your reward," Adrienne explained, handing Daniel the tablet so he could read it himself.

"A reward, I don't want a reward! I want to go home!" he shouted at the top of his lungs feeling the change in the air around him, the cold and the heat again. The lion disappeared and in its place was its skin, cleaned, processed and made into a cloak, a cloak that Adrienne looked down at, disgusted.

"That we shall not save," she stated, "gross not sexy." Daniel looked at her rolling his eyes.

"Can you stop talking like Vala?" he asked, bending to pick up the cape, deciding to take it in case rejecting it was not an option if they wanted to get of this situation.

"I use humor so I don't flip the fuck out sha, you know that. You do realize if whoever the hell is having fun with us is going to make you perform all twelve labors, that this was the easy one," she said, showing for the first time real fear in her voice as Daniel nodded.

"I know the stories, just not as well as you ja-wer. The Hydra's next right?" he asked, Adrienne sighing with a nod.

"Yep, you get to slice and I get to torch," she replied, holding her belly, "which is gonna be oh so much fun with Obi-Wan here."

"I said no Star Wars," Daniel replied, throwing the cloak over his shoulders, "Let's get moving, I'd like to get this all over with," he grabbed her hand, holding it fast, beginning to walk toward a city that somehow he knew they would never reach.

Time passed again, and as Daniel expected, they were no closer to their salvation, however, strangely enough the beach eventually gave way to a swamp area, overgrown with large exotic plants and surrounded by mushy ground. Ahead lay a huge lake, gigantic trees overhanging it, their vine-like branches tickling the mucky water underneath. A motion in the lake forced Daniel to halt his advance, and he put out his right arm, stopping Adrienne.

"We need fire, right?" he asked, running the myth through his head, starting to step back, "fire and a sword. Why didn't I get a sword?"

Daniel began to look around, remembering, wondering what liberties his captors were going to take with this myth to prove their point when there was a rumble again, Adrienne tapping Daniel on the shoulder.

"Here's your sword my Grecian God," she joked, Daniel making a face at her title.

"It shouldn't be funny Indy, I'm sorry, but you as a Greek hero, it's just a nice little fantasy I've had," she said sheepishly, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Really?" he asked and Adrienne nodded.

"Really," she answered, blushing, Daniel finally laughing as he started walking back toward a small cluster of plants.

That might be fun if we ever get out of this, he thought, eyeing the fauna at his feet.

"Let's try and start a fire because it looks like we aren't getting a torch," he replied, leaning down to start collecting any bits of dry wood. He grabbed a few pieces, his mind not at all on the task it should be, instead eyeing his wife, pregnant or not in that amazing orange dress.

Pausing, he looked back at Adrienne.

"Really?" he asked again, a small part of him inappropriately tempted.

"Focus Daniel," Adrienne replied, lifting her chiton to kneel beside him, piling the brush into a stack.

The task of collecting the wood taken on by his partner in crime, Daniel grabbed some sticks and began to try to rub two drier sticks together in an effort to ignite a spark. It looked like he was getting some smoke, slow grey tendrils drifting up from the point of friction, so Adrienne leaned in, blowing on the smoldering lightly. There was more smoke, Adrienne reaching for some dry leaves to catch, continuing to blow lightly again, watching the small fire catch. She took the flame to their pile of brush and the fire grew, Daniel sitting back on his knees peering over at her. Sensing his gaze, Adrienne looked over, puzzled by the grin on his face.

"What?" she asked him. Smiling brighter, Daniel just leaned over, kissing her softly on the lips.

"We just do everything well together, that's all. Ready to tackle the Hydra?" he asked, Adrienne steps ahead of him.

Reaching to a pile beside her calf, she wrapped some sticks together with vine, quickly constructing a make-shift torch, wrapping and stuffing the end with any dried plant life she could find. Chewing her lip as she worked, he watched her construct the item with ease, making a note to ask her how exactly she knew how to do this, but before he could even praise her, the end was flaming and ready.

"Let's do this Indy," Adrienne declared, standing, taking her warrior's stance despite how silly she looked doing so pregnant. Grabbing his sword, he joined her, leading her to the edge of the lake, but there was nothing, the ripple from earlier gone.

"While I'm glad whoever is doing this has missed some of the details of the myth, like the poison air, they did forget the bow and arrow so you can summon the beast," Adrienne stated, scanning her surroundings, expecting the quakes and radical temperature changes to begin once more but nothing happened.

"Don't worry; I don't think they'll let us wait for long," he assured her, "I'm starting to think this isn't just some elaborate ploy to kill us."

Hoping he was right, Adrienne looked up at the torch, concerned that her flames would extinguish before she had a chance to seal any neck wounds, when the water finally began to bubble, foam, move as something sizable approached the surface, its shadow so large the lake seemed to disappear in the darkness.

"Here we go," she said, holding the torch in front of her body.

"Do you think they'll care if we cheat?" he joked, trying to hide his apprehension as the first dragon-like head broke the surface of the water.

"Cheat how?" she inquired, peering over at him confused.

"Kinda thinking karate girl should do the cutting," he replied, not meaning it, there was no way he would let either his wife or child go near that thing anymore than she already had to.

"They're testing ya mon amour, not me and in case ya forgot, I'm crazy big over here with YOUR son," she answered, placing her free hand on his shoulder, squeezing, her contact giving him the assurance he needed.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel looked ahead as the rest of monster arouse slowly from its prison. Unclasping the cloak at his neck, Daniel did something he never thought he'd do.

Half naked, without anyone to back him up other than his pregnant wife, Daniel Jackson charged the mythical beast.

Surprisingly, this task turned out to be relatively simple, with the person or person's responsible leaving out certain important things about the Hydra, namely the poisonous breath and blood. Daniel was also surprised how easy it was to actually cut through the head of the beast, but Adrienne was just happy that he wasn't trying to reason with the creature or come up with an excuse as to why they shouldn't kill it.

She loved him, she did, but even as hippie like as Adrienne was herself she would do what she had to do to survive and protect her family.

Watching in sheer amazement, and completely impressed, Adrienne stood dumbfounded as Daniel cut off the last head, the monster's body dropping down onto the shore.

"Indy!" Adrienne shouted out, rushing to cauterize the final wound.

"Yea," he answered, wiping sweat from his brow.

"You're DEFINITELY keeping that outfit," she teased, applying torch to skin, the putrid smell of it making her heave a little, the child inside of her wriggling in disapproval.

"I know little guy, we're trying to get you out of here," she assured him, extinguishing the flame in the moist swamp mud, her dark eyes looking to her husband, "you get to keep the sword, it's kinda like the reward for the second task, go dip it in the blood."

Nodding, Daniel let her lead, walking over to take the blade and rub it carefully in what blood hadn't sunk into the depths of the swamps, the air around him cooling then warming, the body of the beast replaced by a downed evergreen tree at his feet.

"Hind or Boar next?" he stood, turning to ask Adrienne, who was holding the lion skin cloak on her hands.

"In order, Hind, but both are running and capture tasks, maybe they'll combine them?" she offered hopefully, Daniel looking at her in annoyance.

"Running task? I think they've picked the wrong Jackson," he offered, reattaching the cloak to his back, searching for a place to sheath his sword.

"Well, don't expect this Jackson to do any running. I'm still mastering walking with this," she reminded, holding her hands at her stomach. She was exactly right, there was no way in the world either of them would be able to catch an oversized angry pig much less a stag like creature blessed by the gods when the air around them cooled and heated, Daniel feeling tightness at his feet, gazing down at them confused.

"Hermes," Adrienne uttered, racing to him, falling to her knees clumsily, "the gift of Hermes," she explained, confirmed what Daniel thought as he noticed his sandals from before had been replaced with a smaller pair, one that did not go up his legs as before, but stopped at the ankles, two flapping golden wings affixed to each side.

"I don't remember Hermes in this at all, wasn't it Artemis? And much later?" Daniel asked, Adrienne standing and shaking her head.

"They don't know the myths," she started, smiling, her eyes doing that thing they did when she got in her zone, her arms already matching their frantic action.

"They're not anyone that would know the myth, they are using me, using my brain my knowledge to fuel this, taking just enough to test whatever they are trying to test, not enough to kill us and not enough to harm the baby. Hercules was able to withstand the poison air in the Hydra's swamp because he was half divine, but as we approached my first thought was how it would affect the baby, and the gas wasn't there. When you said I should be the one completing the next two tasks my first thought was with the wings of Hermes you could, but it was a damn shame that it was the wrong myth and poof, sandals. You're right, they're not trying to kill us and they're following my lead," Adrienne explained, excited.

"Wait, so if they're taking your cue, do you feel it's possible to confuse them, mislead them on the labors?" Daniel inquired, but Adrienne shook her head.

"No, I don't think so. They know there are twelve and I've already run all twelve through my head, sorry sha, you know how I am, but I think they will let us alter slightly. When I thought of Hermes I was specifically recalling how Hercules chased the hind for a full year and that would not only not be possible, but I would go into labor and you would abandon the quest, sorry, selfish I know, but it was almost as if they agreed," she said, sadly, regretting not thinking of this before.

"This is still good, then we need you a step ahead, Think of the next task and what will make it doable for two geeks," he requested, turning to a shuffle behind him.

"Speak for yourself sha, one geek, this geek can kick ass," Adrienne started, as a large silver stag with solid gold antlers leapt out of the surrounding forest, "get to running Indy, I'll move on to the pig."

Deciding his best option was not to argue, Daniel dashed after the hind, hoping his wife was correct.

Which she was, of course she was, Daniel vowing that he really needed to heed Jack's advice when it came to listening to one's spouse. The moment he wrapped his arms around the neck of the stag, not even tired thanks to the sandals, the world gave way to the rumbling and temperature fluctuations, the animal disappearing, himself being transported back to Adrienne's side instantly. She started to caution, her mouth opening to give him an overview of the myth and her bright idea when the boar appeared baring its teeth at the both of them.

"I don't see Chiron, so just snow?" Daniel clarified, holding his sword in front of him, adjusting his uncomfortable feet in the third gift.

"Yes, but we're still in a forest, this planet doesn't seem to have snow and I've been thinking of it, I'm not totally sure if they know what it is," she answered, hurrying to join him. Examining the area, she seemed to be right, unless of course the boar would give chase, leading them into a more mountainous terrain.

"Demeter," Daniel spoke up, glancing over at Adrienne, "she had a torch or something, she's the goddess of seasons, think about her."

"Indy, I tried, it didn't work, that's what I am trying to - look out!" she shouted as the boar charged, Daniel reaching to throw her out of the way, taking a stance to catch the beast who was far too smart for that. It dodged left, right and then zipped under his feet, knocking him painfully onto the forest floor, turning to face him, angry and grunting. Adrienne wanted to race over to him but she couldn't; she was stuck between her desire to protect him and her equal desire to protect their child. In awestruck fear Adrienne watched as the large beast charged forward again, racing at Daniel, who looked so different now, so much stronger in a way she had never looked at him before, watching him dodge and grab at the pig.

"Adrienne, think about losing the baby!" Daniel screamed as he backed up, reaching behind himself for any obstruction that may slow his advance.

"What!? Are you insane!?" she screamed back, her heart racing, trying not to have the thought, the thought of no longer being pregnant, of losing their precious child, the pain coursing through her body already.

"Trust me!" he screamed, however, rather than waiting this time he raced forward, grabbing at the beast, which was slower, seemed to be moving so much slower. Holding her stomach tightly and protectively, Adrienne let the sadness overtake her, trusting in his words that he knew what he was doing, feeling the temperature drop, this time however not followed by heat. She closed her eyes, a vision of her baby being ripped from her, a baby she had not yet seen when she suddenly understood what Daniel was doing.

Changing her vision Adrienne didn't imagine a son, but a daughter, not their baby, but a beautiful young woman, using one of her cousin's as a point of reference, watching in her mind the youth being led down a spiral staircase deep within the bowels of the Earth.

"It's working!" he screamed, his voice followed by the squeal of a pig she didn't want to open her eyes to look at, but she refused to lose focus, watching in her mind the beautiful linen clad woman descend into the abyss. There was shouting behind her, his shouting, and her skin tingled and tickled as tiny droplets of cold and ice touched them, soft at first and melting away from the warmth of her skin.

"Snow," she gasped, opening her eyes as it flurried all around her, a substance she had never seen growing up, that she hadn't seen until she was at least twelve and had yet to experience this much in D.C. It fell, faster than she could have imagined, collecting on the ground on a most unnatural manner, even higher in the near distance.

"Move!" Daniel screamed, at the beast, swinging the sword to drive it in the direction of the snow, urging it onward. The boar drove its tusks upward at him, threatening, but as Adrienne took a step forward to help, Daniel shot her a glare, ordering with his eyes to remain where she stood. Her heart racing, she watched him force the animal forward, toward the growing piles of snow, the boar frantic, looking from side to side for an escape that didn't end at the point of Daniel's sword. It stepped, slowly, further and further into the drift when it stopped, giving up, sinking into the white. Breathing a sigh of relief, Adrienne rushed to Daniel's side, wrapping her arms around him as they watched the beast disappear together.

"No reward on this one, and to be honest, as the labors passed there were and are going to be fewer," Adrienne said, looking up, rubbing his bare skin softly.

"Well, you only seem to care about the loincloth, so I don't need anything else do I?" he teased, "Next stop, stables," he continued with a sigh, pulling away and turning to walk into the forest.

"Since when did you become an expert on the classics?" Adrienne asked, still impressed by his having her impersonate Demeter's sorrow at the loss of Persephone each fall.

"Since whoever in the hell this is thinks it's cute and clever to live out the fantasies of my wife," he spat, not at her but at the sky, talking to whatever forces might be listening.

"Just consider the next task practice sha; you'll be changing diapers soon," she teased, trying to relieve his tension, which it did a touch, Daniel pausing to reach his hand behind him.

"Somehow, though, I don't think Jean Francois will poop that much," Daniel answered quickly, Adrienne stopping in her tracks confused, jerking him back. She frowned, scanning the ground, trying to place the name, when she rolled her eyes looking back up at him.

"Nope, and not Rashid either. The history of the Rosetta Stone is not a basis for child naming," she retorted.

"Worth a try anyway," he responded, starting for what looked like a clearing in the trees.

Surprisingly Daniel wasn't too worried about the stables. He simply asked Adrienne to reference a children's film she had forced him to endure, allowing her to play one of her favorite characters in fiction. Standing in the center of the path between the great replica rivers, Adrienne focused on the water, on Poseidon and willed the liquid to them, reaching her hands to Daniel's shoulders to transfers the idea to him, allowing him to complete the labors. Rushing cool waters rocketed upward at his command, powering into the massive structures, the waste washing away as if it was nothing.

"Percy," Adrienne offered as she pulled her hands away.

"As in Percy Jackson?" Daniel clarified, willing the waters away with his fingertips.

"Yep, just like Percy Jackson. Short for Perseus, and we already know that it goes well with Jackson," she added, smiling, her hand on her abdomen. Cutting his eyes over at the now pristinely clean ancient style stables, he smiled looking over at Adrienne.

"Closer, but no," he answered, laughing.

"Note to self," she said aloud, "spouse is somewhat ok with Greek heroes as long as their names do no coincide with hot Swedish actors."

"Arrows ja-wer, we're onto arrows, correct," Daniel responded instead, moving her along.

"Yep, and my love, I've got this one covered," she replied with a grin, pushing him away and standing back, and the surrounding air cooled, then warmed, the loud unmistakable sound of birds screeching and metaling clacking echoing through the air. Daniel spun around; gauging the size of the flock, a flock that he was horrified to see was so massive the blackness of their wings had completely overtaken the earth.

"Dear God," he whispered, seeing there was no escape, that whatever Adrienne was thinking had to work. He started to step back, closer to where she was standing in some meditative state when he tripped over something long, glancing down to see a bow and a quiver of arrows at his feet.

"Ja-wer, are you planning on doing this?" he asked, confused, Adrienne still in deep concentration. The light rustling of the mob intensified, wings beating in air but none taking off, Daniel having no idea how with this small collection of arrows he could kill them all as the myth expected.

"No, you are," Adrienne replied, turning around her eyes glowing strangely. His heart stopped, Daniel backed away from her but she was smiling, delighted by what was happening to her, "Can I just say that of all the crazy things that have happened to me during the course of being your fearless sidekick, this is by far the coolest."

Confused, Daniel watched as she reached out her hands in front of her, holding out a large golden staff, the head bejeweled in such a way he could only imagine.

"Take it," she instructed, eerily not in her own southern voice, "shake it and take the longest arrow from your quiver. Shoot it into the sky, into the center of the swarm."

"Adrienne, are you alright?" he asked, however, doing as she requested, take the large staff, rattle rather, holding it to the sky.

"Just channeling an idol sha, get ta shakin'," she continued, holding her hands to the sky, summoning power. Daniel started to do as she did, raising his arm to shake the staff when he caught a glow out of the corner of his eye, coming from her arm.

"Ad..." he began, trailing, watching the owl on her wrist wriggle against her skin.

"Like I said cool. Even cooler than using Vala DNA to shoot stuff, and you know how much I like to do that," Adrienne answered, her cocoa eyes darting over to the birds, "now Indy you do remember they eat people so in case you forgot, well, we're people. Can we get this show rolling?"

"Right," he replied, shaking his head to refocus, holding the large rattle over his head, moving it back and forth. There was no sound at first, which was troubling, yet the rattle became harder and harder to move as he felt something larger inside of it, rolling at first then turning to a loud clang, the ball or whatever smaller item inside slamming to the walls of its prison. He shook it harder and harder, the clanging changing to a long ding, almost like a bell, long and mysterious, enchanting even, summoning the birds to the sky.

"It's working," he shouted over to Adrienne over the thundering beating of thousands of tiny wings, and she nodded, pulling her hands to her sides and rushing to the box, drawing out a single arrow.

"Shoot one, dead center, that should work," she said quickly, reaching for the mallet in his hands, swapping it for the bow.

"One arrow?" he inquired, Adrienne glaring at him sharply.

"Oh course sha, there's the poison of the Hydra on that arrow, strong poison, very strong, it will kill birds the moment it's near them..." she uttered slowly, calmly, Daniel getting the message that she was trying to fool their captors in the best way she knew how. Drawing back the arrow, Daniel pointed the tip the best he could to the center of the flock, releasing, the long stick racing for the black.

And then there was nothing, except for sand and ocean waves.

"I think we passed," Adrienne offered, hopefully, Daniel not so eager to agree.

"We're still not home," he responded, standing looking around, noting that they were still both in their Grecian garb.

"You have passed the first part of the test," a voice echoed from the heavens, no figure this time just loud, damning and omniscient.

"First six tests, but yeah, hey, who's counting," Daniel replied smartly, Adrienne smacking his arm.

"In the first six tasks we tested your strength, intelligence and ability to foresee circumstances. You have done well," it praised, although the tone did not indicate pleasure one way or the other.

"Thanks, can we go home?" he now changed his own tune, standing, speaking straight into the sky, his head darting back and forth looking for what in the world had taken them, "in case you didn't notice, my wife is pregnant and running around fighting monsters isn't exactly what the doctor is recommending!"

"In the next six tasks we will test your worth," the voice continued, disregarding his pleas.

"Our worth?" Adrienne now stood, screaming, aggravated, "what do you mean test our worth!?"

"Why in the hell do I get the feeling I'm gonna have to watch Addy play Russell Crow all over again?" the voice behind them asked, Daniel and Adrienne turning around to see their team, their complete team, Cam, Vala, Teal'c, Jonas and Sam, standing before them.

"Where's Jack?" Daniel asked instinctively noticing that while their captors did take Sam they had left a second O'Neill behind.

"Thankfully not in a leather strap but hello Glasses..." Vala said immediately, approaching the couple, Adrienne stepping up.

"Nuh uh mon ami, mine, you have your own," Adrienne replied quickly, flashing her wedding band, making Daniel flush with embarrassment.

He really loved when she did that...

"Where are we Daniel?" Sam asked, pulling at the sides of her purple chiton, lifting her feet to examine them carefully.

"I have no idea, but we're part of some test, and for some reason they, whoever they are, have deemed the labors of Hercules to be the test," he answered, Adrienne shrugging and nodding in agreement.

"Have you successfully completed any labors DanielJackson or has the test yet to begin," Teal'c inquired, thinking back to what movies on the topic he had seen.

"Six, the first six," was the archaeologist's answer, Vala laughing in response.

"How many of those did Addy have to salvage?" she asked, crossing her arm across her own blood red dress.

"I was just about to say that Adrienne and I have completed six of the labors, together," Daniel amended quickly, peeking over at his wife.

"Sure Indy," she teased, looking over to Teal'c as she continued to explain, "at this point we have completed the labors Hercules was able to complete alone, at least without additional humans. Starting with the next, the Cretan bull, mythologists argue whether or not Hercules had acquired a following, youth, looking to prove themselves or at the very least sail his ship and it appears as if you're the crew."

"Well, I don't see a ship around here," Cam offered, Jonas walking to the edge of the shore, staring into the distance. It was then that Adrienne noticed for the first time since their friends arrived that her husband and only her husband was clad in the sparse loincloth, the other men in off white chitons of their own. She felt childishly possessive for a moment, wanting to cover him from the eyes of the others, but she kept her mouth shut, chocking it up to hormones.

"That's because this is just turning into the island of Crete, no transportation required," Jonas noted, pointing out into the distance as the world began to take shape around them.

"That's odd," Adrienne spoke, stepping up beside her Langaran friend, "there was a temperature shift before, like we were in some elaborate self-contained environment."

"The Truman Show, like we're in the Truman Show, just add monsters and stupid clothes," Cam hypothesized, Adrienne nodding in agreement.

"Something like that," she replied, turning back to Daniel, "ok if they're staying true to form then we're supposed to offer to help you, but you turn us down out of pride and go get the bull."

"How big of a bull are we talking about?" Daniel asked, curious, worried, looking around.

"Roughly the size of a mastage," Teal'c answered, Daniel gazing out in the same direction as the Jaffa his jaw dropping at the sheer size of the animal standing on the ridge in the horizon.

"I'm NOT proud. I want help," Daniel said quickly, turning to face the group, Sam directing everyone forward when Adrienne began to shake her head, waving her hands in front of her.

"No, Indy, you can't, remember, they're testing our worth. Maybe they brought everyone else here before the mares to see if you would cheat given the chance, the team is both like your reward, gift, whatever AND another part of the test. I don't think it's an issue of pride, I think it's a test of bravery," Adrienne suggested, making a face.

"But you were with me before and last I read Hercules killed his pregnant wife, didn't tote her around while he completed the labors given as punishment for murder of said wife and six sons," Daniel countered pointing at the bull, "that thing's the size of a house!"

"Daniel at this point in the myth though, Hercules has proven his strength and the bull was a fairly simple task. If I'm not mistaken I think he just jumped on its back and choked it," Jonas said, walking to join them as they were gathered.

"So Daniel's supposed to jump up on that thing and knock it out?" Vala asked, unconvinced.

"Yes," Jonas replied, his eyes looking to Adrienne for confirmation.

"He's right sha, you just hop on up there and down it goes," Adrienne said, forcing a smile.

"Excuse me everyone, I need to have a word, with my WIFE," Daniel hissed, grabbing Adrienne gently, very gently, by the arm and giving her the 'please honey come over with me right now so we can talk in private' look. Grimacing, she followed, leaning in as he began to mutter.

"No God powers here?" he asked, Adrienne shaking her head.

"The bull is the animal of Poseidon, but other than that, no. This was a simple labor, just like Jonas said, very little about the account itself, nothing I can think to alter and virtually no historic dispute," she answered, reaching her palm to his face, turning it and taking it in her hands.

"I know that you can do this my love, I know you can. Apollo and I are counting on you," she said sweetly, leaning to kiss his lips slowly and softly, sliding her tongue gently into his mouth as she wrapped her hand behind his neck.

"Wait," he said as he pulled back, "Apollo's the car. Not a chance ja-wer."

"That's the attitude I'm looking for, now go and kick some bull ass," she replied, unclasping the cloak, taking his sword and cocking her head at the roaring beast.

Taking a breath, he dashed off for the cliff, Adrienne standing back and watching him go.

"Jonas!" Adrienne yelled, signaling him over. Puzzled he jogged to stand beside her, following her gaze to Daniel's form running up the hill.

"Medic trained right? Last time you were here?" she questioned, not taking her eyes off of her husband.

"Yeah, went back and studied some on Langara as well afterwards, why?" he responded, staring at her in concern.

"Stay right here. I'm probably going to need help putting my husband back together again," Adrienne muttered, biting her lip, holding her belly.

"I'll make a deal with you," Daniel spoke, to the second animal today, feeling foolish in his blabbering desperation, "if you just fall over and let me hold on for a sec, I'll..." he racked his brain, trying to think of something to offer the Jurassic sized animal standing before him, "I'll, well, I won't choke you."

The bull, however, didn't move.

"I can't do this," Daniel sighed out, staring up at the creature. It was at least ten feet tall, at least, there was no way that he was going to get on top of it, let alone choke it. Frowning, he looked back down the rise, his friends and family waiting for him to complete this impossible task, alone, with no weapons.

"Whoever you are, I'm the geek, not the jock," he said to the sky, breathing out and looking forward at the beast.

"You know, the funny part about this whole thing is that after you, I get to face man-eating horses. Man-eating, carnivorous teeth and all. And they may or may not breath fire. And unless my wife has come up with anything clever, the horses are only going to be part of the problem," Daniel continued talking to the bull, really talking and for some strange reason it seemed as if the creature was listening.

"Honestly, I'm only up here because of her, because she told me to do this. Before her I'd probably be back whining to Sam trying to find a way out of this, but, well, Adrienne thinks I can do it, why I have no idea, but she thinks I can and she's counting on me to get her out of here. See, she's pregnant with our son, and she tries to play tough, but she needs me more now and it's nice, I like being needed," he rambled on, the beast standing completely still gazing right at him.

"I've really only killed what I've had to here, I swear, I don't want to hurt you, you seem to be an intelligent creature, so I'm sorry, I really am, and please don't kill me," he concluded, looking back to her once more.

"Please don't have lied to me," he begged in a whisper, turning to the bull, dashing behind it and leaping into the air, hoping he could grab the hide and pull himself up.

The world around him moved, swiftly, and he reached out, wiry fur in between his fingers, preparing for impact when he landed face first on soft meadow grass.

"Sha YOU DID IT!" he heard Adrienne's screams and felt her hands resting on his back.

"Apparently," he replied, spitting dirt from his mouth as he rolled over, feeling Adrienne adjusting his sparse clothing.

"How did you do it?" she asked, excitedly, too excitedly, evidently not having as much faith in him as he thought.

"Just like the myth," he stretched, taking Cam's offered hand to bring him to his feet.

"T says that next is dragon horses, probably in those stables down there," Cam said, pointing to some structures in the distance, eerily similar to the stables from before.

"Yea, we need to corner them, bind their mouths and lead them to, well, I'm not sure who provided that -" Daniel started, interrupted by breath at his neck, familiar breath.

"You get past me," the voice hissed, a woman's voice, a familiar terrible woman's voice and he froze unable to speak. He didn't want to stand there, appear weak in front of his friends, in front of Sam who he had assured so many times that everything was alright, he'd even joked about it, but he just couldn't face her, couldn't say one word.

"Sword Jonas," Adrienne demanded, speaking for him, reaching out her hand blindly as she watched her husband stand slowly across from her petrified in fear, not turning around to face the demon.

"Addy, uh, first it's Heracles kills that Diomedes and secondly, isn't Hathor already dead?" he asked, handing the weapon over to his friend at her request.

"Yep, and yep," she replied, moving Daniel away with her hand, and he let her, his eyes still gazing forward.

"Addy, thirdly, you're pregnant," Jonas added, throwing up his hand.

"Ahh...my dear, something we have in common," the goddess sneered, pushing past Daniel herself, willing a sword out of thin air, "he offers good genetic material, I speak from experience."

"Someone hold back my husband so he doesn't stop me while I cut dis cocotte inta 'orse food," Adrienne declared stepping forward, bringing the sword into the air. It had taken him a moment to take it all in, realize what was happening, that Hathor was here, or at least some sick version of her and his wife, his pregnant wife was storming over to her, madder den 'ell as she would say, with every intent to slice her into pieces.

"Ad no!" he screamed, Sam grabbing his arm first.

"I think she has this under control," she whispered, pulling him back, looking to Cam and Teal'c in case he tried to break away.

Pregnant or not, there was a part of Sam that believed this test really wasn't for Daniel, that it was for Adrienne, who, pregnant or not, was sure to take this specter down.

"Look at her! I have to rub her back to get her to walk right, she doesn't stand a chance," Daniel said, realizing that at this moment he had about as much faith in her in this as she had in him with the bull.

He shut up quickly, trusting her judgement.

"Husband? He married? Shame really, I could have used him," the red head taunted, rolling the sword over in her hand, "and you, of all people? Do you realize the greatness he has been offered over the years and he settled for you?"

"Keep ya vay yay bitch, it jus gives me more time to plahn wha Imma gonna do ta ya," Adrienne responded, halting her advance, changing the sword from hand to hand, testing its weight.

"I hope you know that hand to hand combat was something that the Goa'uld excelled in," she noted, letting her eyes flare yellow and orange.

"I 'ope ya know dat protectin da people ah love is sumtin AH excel in," the Cajun spat back, wriggled her fingers as she let the blade settle comfortably in her right hand, "nah ya ready ta get ya ass whipped?"

"This is going to quite delightful," the goddess replied, smiling, swinging the sword behind her back, making a circle over her head, straight at Adrienne...

Who had her blade up in time, her leg up, dear God Daniel thought, she's kicking her, her left foot forcefully slamming her attacker directly in the solar plexus. Hathor didn't fall, staggering back, catching herself with her right leg, swinging the sword quickly to the side, aiming at Adrienne's protruding abdomen.

"Adrienne watch out!" Daniel screamed, racing forward to break up the bout, a horrible nightmare image of his child being cut from the womb racing through his head, but Adrienne didn't jump back, scream, flinch, just stepped back casually, laughing.

"AdrienneJackson, remember the lessons of Kheb," Teal'c coached from the sidelines, earning a glare from Daniel.

"AdrienneJackson is a capable warrior, whether or not she is with child," the Jaffa continued but before he could counter there was another clang and he saw swords meeting in the air, Hathor pushing down against Adrienne, seeming to have the advantage, pushing her down further, deeper, into a stance she wasn't sure she could get out of without his help given her current center of balance when there was swift movement, a foot darting out, sweeping the false god, or at this reincarnated representation of her, knocking her painfully onto the ground. Leaping to her feet, Daniel unable to believe she could still move like that, that she was moving like that, Adrienne raced forward, kicking her blade aside, dropping to her knees and pressing the sharpness to her throat.

"Resign," Adrienne requested politely but sternly, remembering her training, all of her training, and while she wanted to kill this, whatever this was, it was not the nature of Karate, nor was it the way of the Jaffa to slaughter an opponent without giving them the option for surrender. Hathor, however, did not share this opinion, spitting in her face.

"He was fantastic," she spat instead. Adrienne unable to contain her anger at that remark, tossed Daniel's sword aside and brought up her fist, punching the woman square in the mouth, breaking her lip against her teeth, a thin trickle of blood oozing out of the side of her mouth.

"Resign," the cajun repeated, pushing harder on her windpipe.

"Addy, Diomedes was supposed to be fed to the horses," she heard Jonas yelling from the sidelines, noting her hesitation. Daniel hadn't wanted to kill the lion, nor face the bull, anymore than she wanted to kill another person, someone who had hurt him so horribly or not, but this was something she had to do. Gazing into her evil eyes, green now, not glowing yellow orange, Adrienne released her throat gently to utter only these words.

"You never broke him. He forgot you. You died. You failed. You're worthless. And you'll never hurt anyone else ever again," she vowed, pushing down to break the esophagus when she fell forward into the sand.

"Ja-wer," Daniel raced to help her up, Adrienne quickly realizing that she was in pain, her back throbbing with a dull but steady ache.

"I told you I'd fuck that bitch up," she whined, letting him and Jonas she noticed, help her gently to her feet.

"You did Ad, you did," Daniel assured her, holding her protectively as he looked over at the Langaran.

"Why do you think we didn't have to face the horses?" he asked confused, Sam face indicating as she approached that she had the very same question.

"Addy's the expert, but the story is more about conquering the deceitful Diomedes than the horses. Once he is fed to his own herd, the horses were easily subdued and taken to Eurystheus," Jonas explained, Adrienne nodding.

"And we've also learned that 'worth' apparently lets us cheat some. Let's just hope my temper tantrum didn't cost us any points," she added pulling from Daniel and stumbling some.

"You honor your training this day AdrienneJackson," Teal'c declared, reaching to sweep her into his arms and carry her, when Daniel extended his hand, staying his motion, pulling her aside.

"Ad, I don't think love will ever be a strong enough word," Daniel said quietly, only so she could hear, wishing he could put into words how touched he was at seeing her true reaction, how amazed he was seeing her essentially fight, for him, defending him.

"Yes it is Indy, it's plenty," she replied, kissing him lightly, returning to Teal'c.

"If it was carrying you're offering shug, I be aching like a gator in a trap," Adrienne requested, the Jaffa taking her into his arms following behind Daniel as he approached the group.

"For the record, anything I ever did to Daniel was in jest and/or before you came along and, well, yeah, don't kick my ass," Vala joked, holding her hands over her head playfully.

"Jus so we be clear mon ami," Adrienne laughed in return, "where mah claim lay naw."

Her tone changed quickly, however, her gaze naturally returning to Sam and Daniel for the upcoming scenario, "the next three are pretty much stealing, the belt of Hippolyta, the cattle of Geryon and the apple of Hesperides."

"I've got those covered," Vala volunteered immediately, reaching for Cam, "Cam can cover me and I can at least sneak in, get the belt and the apple. Not too sure about the cows though, might need Muscles for that one."

"It's a little more complicated than that..." Jonas started, deferring to Adrienne since she wasn't dueling any long dead gods for the moment.

"Post voyage, which they don't seem very interested in giving us a ship at all, two of our guys are killed and then Daniel is supposed to go ape shit and kill two of theirs, then we pick up two more and then Hera steps in, all sorts of madness, and that's just the first one," Adrienne explained, hugging Teal'c with one arm so he knew how grateful she was for his assistance as her back throbbed harder.

"Look, they let you stand in for your man, why can't I slip in, swipe this belt from whomever and slip out. Meanwhile, you and Jonas can figure out the cow problem so I don't have to," Vala argued, looking to Sam.

"She's right," Sam admitted, "they clearly let you and Daniel cheat, twice, what if this is part of the test of worth. They brought us all here, to see if we can work together as a team, to see if possibly we are 'worth' whatever they are talking about as a collective?"

"I think it's worth a try," Daniel said, shrugging.

"Vala, the belt is worn by the queen of the Amazons, Hercules kills her," Adrienne cautioned, instructing Teal'c with a light touch of her fingers that she could be put down.

"Look Addy, if whomever can just conjure up system lords then I'm pretty sure that none of these people are real. We might not even be real, did you ever think of that one," Vala responded quickly, a thought that hadn't occurred to Adrienne or Daniel at all.

Pondering, Adrienne looked back at her husband who seemed to be in deep thought, trying to think of something to prove or disprove their friend's theory. Holding up his hand, he rushed over to Sam, muttering quietly in her ear.

"After, I ended it after," Sam whispered back quietly, Daniel looking to the others.

"Unless they have decided to read two minds, it's them, it's you all. I don't think they could get that specific that fast," Daniel declared, returning to Adrienne.

"What did you ask?" Adrienne whispered, curious more than anything.

"About who came before Jack," he answered quietly, Adrienne's eye widening, not that she had thought Jack was the only man Sam had ever been with but the expression on both she and Daniel's faces was something that said there was more to it.

"Trust me, we're not the only ones with drama," he added, directing his attention to Vala.

"You can try, but I'm still unsure as to whether or not that constitutes teamwork or cheating, like I said, I have no idea who we are being tested by or what for," Daniel reiterated, hoping Vala understood that he truly did not know what was really going on.

"I've got this," she stated, turning her back to the group to march directly into the forest.

"Vala!" Jonas shouted behind her, "Do you know where you are going?" She didn't answer, just kept walking, waving confidently behind herself with a sashay in her step.

"So we wait to see if Vala brings the world crashing down on us?" Cam asked, looking back at Daniel, who didn't seem to think himself that this was a good idea, shaking his head slowly.

"I guess some things never change," he replied, taking Adrienne's hand tenderly and leading her to sit.

"You need to rest ja-wer, you look pale," Daniel cautioned, noting the glaze in her eyes, remembering their scare only a month ago, before Christmas, when she had taken the fall in the commissary.

"But what if Vala..." she said as she sat, trailing, yawning at the mere suggestion of being tired.

"She'll either do it or she won't, but in the meantime, I'm asking you to rest. As your husband and as the father of our child. Please rest," he said simply, sitting beside her and pulling her onto him.

"I hate when you're sweet," she grumbled, leaning back against him.

"No you don't" he answered, holding her tightly in his arms.

"Daniel, it's been two hours. I think Teal'c and I should go and see what kind of disaster she's created," Cameron suggested as he gazed in the sky, guessing at the time by way of old farm tricks he picked up as a boy scout.

"Maybe the last task was considered completed by Adrienne only because she was included in the original six labors, maybe Daniel and Adrienne together were acting as Hercules," Jonas proposed, a look of consideration on both Sam and Daniel's faces taking into account something that they had not considered.

"Or maybe Vala has skill that doesn't include beating people up with swords and talking takes a little longer, Glasses should know THAT," she herself announced from the edge of the woods, twirling around proudly, an intricately woven leather belt tied around her middle, cinching the red linen.

"You did it!" Daniel shouted out, sitting quickly, accidentally startling Adrienne who after a moment's fuss had drifted off to sleep unable to keep her eyes open.

"Wait, she's back?" the Cajun asked confused, rubbing her eyes, looking around herself.

"Of course she's back, you used to have more faith in me before you hooked up with HIM," she spat back at her friend, undoing the belt from her waist.

"Vala the Amazons were some of the most vicious warriors in the world of the Ancient Greeks," Jonas added, standing himself, walking over to examine the belt.

"Yes, but they were women. I just explained everything to them and that Hippo woman handed it over," she replied, passing it to Jonas as she smiled at Daniel.

"They just handed it over?" Daniel clarified, not believing a word that she said.

"Yep," she answered quickly, beaming with pride, "handed it over."

"What did you say?" Daniel now asked, frowning, walking over to Jonas, reaching for the beautiful work of art.

"I said I have this idiot man friend who is supposed to be playing a hero and he sucks at it and I don't care if he dies but his wife might and I kind of like her, they reminded me of her, and she's preggo so she can't walk here herself. She laughed, said that was a typical man and handed it over," Vala responded, crossing her arms across her chest.

"That was it?" Daniel continued, peering over his glasses.

"I promised them Jonas to marry too, but I think that we'll switch to the next task before then," Vala said, straight faced, Jonas looking panicked when ground shook. The thick blanket of dark green forest grass gave way to sand, although this time they were not at the ocean, instead in the center of the desert, the heat of the sun baring down on them.

Looking to Daniel for guidance the group stood, waiting, Adrienne pulling Vala to the side by her arm.

"Don't do that again! What if we didn't pass?" Adrienne hissed, noting Jonas' continued state of panic.

"I didn't, but he's almost as much fun to make squirm as Daniel," she joked, pushing her way back to the center of the group.

"Ok Daniel, what now?" she asked, pushing hair out of her face.

"Kinda hoping my classics professor has thought this through," Daniel said, loudly, hoping that Adrienne would hear and that she had enough sleep to have come up with a plan.

"Yes, ok, the Cattle of Geryon. Alright, basically Hercules raids a farm, pisses off a farmer, kills the farmer, takes the herd back, has a small domestic dispute with Hera and the viola, labor over," she summarized, her hand darting to her forehead so she could eye the distance.

"AdrienneJackson, I do not see any farm and am uncertain as to where one would find a farm in the desert," Teal'c offered, gazing out in the other direction, his dark eyes squinting in the bright sun.

"Well Hercules crosses the Libyan desert on his way to Erytheia, and wait, that's right, I forgot. Indy," she spat excitedly, "where did that bow go? Please tell me we got to keep it."

"Here," he said, unwrapped the string from across his bare chest, Adrienne cursing her pregnancy hormones that now, of all times, were driving her to shoving him into the red sand and taking him right there in front of everyone.

"Ad, you ok?" Daniel asked, noticing her gazing off in the distance. Flushing, a part of her wondering if he could read her mind, she shook her head, opening and closing her eyes quickly to refocus.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You take that and shoot the sun. That's it, just POW, right into the sun," she stammered out, trying to calm her raging hormones and rapidly beating heart.

"Are you sure?" he asked again but did as she requested, nocking the fletch into the string, preparing to shoot the bow into the sky.

"Everything. If we can, we are keeping everything..." she admitted quietly, unable to contain herself.

"Really?" he asked, holding the bow down, arrowhead at the sand.

"Oh yes," she muttered, blushing furiously, walking away.

"You two ok over there?" Cam shouted, powering over.

"Fine," Daniel answered pointing upward once more, peeking over at Adrienne for a quick second before firing, "Really?"

"Like going online to order as soon as we are home really," she answered, biting her lip and stepping away, watching the arrow fly into the sky, disappearing into the blinding light.

"What happens now, I'm assuming that we get some sort of transportation," Sam inquired, the sky going black as she spoke her final words, the group looking at one another in confusion.

"General O'Neill! I would like for someone to explain to me the meaning of this!"

Sam didn't need to look to know who was coming, Richard Woolsey power walking in her direction.

"Richard, it appears that we've been transported," she began, tactfully, her civilian superior throwing up his hands.

"I don't need an explanation Samantha, what I need is for you to get your people out of here, Dr. Jackson in particular before he takes the cattle. He can't have them, I don't care what his reason is!" the man screamed, pointing behind him at a herd, an army more like, of massive long-horn type cattle.

"I shouldn't have to remind you the cost of each of these animals and in your position General you really need to focus more on the big picture and less on the personal pet projects of your friends!" the lecture continued, Woolsey marching right up to Sam, his finger in her face. Angered, Daniel proceeded to intervene when he felt a hand on his arm, pulling him back.

"Sha, I think she has to do this," Adrienne offered quietly, watching Sam stand there and try to reason with her boss in her intelligent, professional fashion, only to be raged at further, talked down to, all the while the man pointing in Daniel's direction.

"Are we clear?!" he hissed in conclusion. She stood in silence for a moment, glancing at him, cutting her eyes to her feet when out of nowhere her expression changed and Samantha Carter O'Neill glared into his weaselly little face and punched him, full force, square in the nose.

"Oh my god," Vala whispered wide eyed, glancing left and right to see her companion's reactions.

"I wonder if now is a good time to ask if I can start getting paid again," Jonas quipped just as Sam turned back around to face them.

"Daniel, go get the cattle," she ordered strongly.

Nodding, there was no way he was going to question her after that, Daniel took a step forward when Cam threw out his hands halting him, a huge grin on his face.

"Oh my friend, allow me," he said with a smile, turning to Teal'c, "wanna go see how WE used to play as kids?"

"With pleasure ColonelMitchell," the Jaffa responded, the two men striding confidently among the animals.

It took a bit of coaxing, but without a horse nor a whip, Cameron managed to corral the animals into a pack of sorts, moving them along in the direction of a temple in the distance when for yet another time they were transported, this time to a meadow, the soft green of an orchard in the distance.

Eleven, Adrienne thought, remembering that it was not Daniel that would have to complete this task, but for the life of her she had no idea who in the world was Atlas.

"Alright, we're almost finished. In the eleventh task Heracles must retrieve the apples but - " Daniel started, Jonas shaking his head, taking a breath and clearing his throat.

"No, he doesn't. He tricks Atlas into taking them for him. He bears the weight of the world while Atlas get a brief time in his place, a brief moment of what could have been, before he hands it all back to Hercules. It's me Daniel. It has to be me," he said quietly. No one spoke, with Jonas being back, it hadn't occurred to anyone to recall how he became a member in the first place and how he had been so easily pushed aside when Daniel returned. Biting his lip slowly, reading the hurt in his friend's face Daniel started to speak again when Teal'c opened his mouth instead.

"There was much to bear among our team as Atlas himself bore. You are correct, it is you JonasQuinn and if you desire I will accompany you to the orchard," he offered but Jonas was already shaking his head.

"Thanks, but it has to be me. I have to go and bring them back to Daniel. It's not hard, unless there's a dragon, but I guess you guys will hear me screaming in that case," he grinned, making his way to the orchard, Daniel grabbing his arm as he passed.

"I was glad I had a world to come back to, one that was so well cared for. I don't know if I ever said thank you," Daniel muttered, hoping only Jonas would hear.

"I don't either, but don't stress about it. I've got some apples to fetch, just come running if you hear screaming," he answered only with those words and a smile, his friends watching him jog to the edges of the orchard.

For all of the times that Daniel had told Adrienne that real life was not like one of her movies it sure as hell looked like it when the world cracked open at her feet, a clear indication to the group that Jonas had gotten the apples. The shifting and pulling of earth continued, each of them grabbing on to the person beside them for balance when the shaking stopped, revealing the top of a long twisted staircase.

"Who gets to go down there?" Vala asked immediately, her eyes scanning the group.

"Me," Daniel answered simply, taking a step forward.

"Us," Adrienne corrected, following, grabbing his hand when he pulled away.

"No, me. Neither of us have any idea how this might end. You need to stay here," he replied, his eyes gazing at her stomach.

"This started as us and it needs to end as us," she insisted, Daniel shaking his head.

"This started as us and now it's all of us. If anything happens who is the one person here that should be navigating Ancient Greece and getting everyone out of here? Cam?" Daniel responded, getting a face in return.

"I hate you Indy," she relented, knowing he was right, that baby or not she was their only shot of surviving as long as this madness continued. Jonas might have read, even somewhat memorized the stories, but he had only a fraction of the knowledge she had of the ancient world and it was her knowledge their captors seemed to be focusing on.

"It's just a gigantic three headed dog right? Didn't that Percy kid in your movies take it down?" Daniel asked, smiling, trying to reassure his wife and friends that he would be fine.

"No Annabeth tricked it with a rubber ball," Adrienne answered, shrugging, "but you've got your dashing good looks maybe you can woo it?"

"Thank you ja-wer, I'll be sure to tell the devil's dog that my wife thinks I'm cute enough that it won't want to eat me," he quipped, taking a breath before descending the staircase.

Hell was colder than he expected, and darker. Chocking it up to his fascination with Dante in college, Daniel tried to focus on the task at hand and not observe his surroundings as he trotted down the cool stone steps. He had attempted to count them since there was nothing else to look at in the black, other than the occasional droplet of water glistening in the unnatural glow that seemed to have no source.

Step, step, after step, Daniel having long since lost count when he finally saw light ahead, fire as his imagination had speculated, jogging faster down the stairs to the soft orange glow.

"Welcome to the Underworld!" the voice declared, not booming or loud but completely monotone, lacking all emotion whatsoever, but there was something in the voice, the words, the tone that shuddered the archaeologist's very soul.

"Thank you," was all he could think to answer, although being welcomed to hell was the last place he wanted to be welcomed to.

"You wish to take Cerebus, to complete your labors," Hades continued, Daniel suddenly realizing that he knew the figure, the same thin figure on the beach, the voice the same as well, even though here the feeling was quite ominous.

"Yes," Daniel answered simply.

"You know what you must do, do you not?" his host inquired, stepping down from the throne, walking slowly down the stairs, snapping his fingers behind him. Like any good pet, the beast came racing around the corner, the three headed dog of Greek nightmares, the heads themselves larger than Daniel's entire body. His heart sank into his stomach; there was no way he could do this, no way he could subdue the beast without help.

He wasn't Hercules.

The creature came to a position at the base of the stairs, joining its master as he set his feet gently onto the cold obsidian floor, the center head cocking back to let out a howl. So sinister was the sound that the room grew colder as the animal moaned, stopping as suddenly as it started, looking back at Hades, if that's who he was, awaiting a command.

Reaching for his face and pinching his nose, Daniel tried to think of something, anything to help, but even Adrienne's quick brain, her strength, what he had come to rely on, that couldn't get him out of this. In the myth, Hercules just conquered the beast, besting him in a wrestling match and swung Cerebus over his shoulder, carrying him back to the king, something Daniel knew he couldn't do.

The dog barked again, this time the three heads fighting amongst one another, the long sharp teeth shining in the light of the fires in the distance. Sighing, Daniel picked up his head, facing the faceless man.

"I didn't take down the bull, I'm sure you know that but I didn't and I couldn't have done any of this without my wife, but I'm not quitting. I'm gonna try and I might fail, but I ask you this. If I'm to die at the final task, I am asking that you let my friends go, all of them. I am asking that if I fail, send them back, and do not harm my wife and child," he requested, taking a step forward and a breath to match.

There was a pause from the god, silence, the dog panting to his right.

"Worthy," Hades said, waving his hand in front of his face, the world around him fading, no parlor tricks or other elements of Greek mythology, just faded away, his team and small family standing right where the throne had been.

"We apologize for the nature of our test, but we were unsure of a better way to find out what we needed to know before making contact. We wanted to use something somewhat familiar while still making the challenge worthwhile. We've been deceived before," he began, still under the cloak.

"Who are you?" Sam asked, no response at first, the ground moving and the city in the distance drawing ever closer.

"We all had our specialities, that is why we prospered so long, but the Alterans felt they needed to leave and I believe that you know better than most the chaos that caused," the figure continued, the cloak dropping away, hitting the ground.

In its place was a small man, slight, dwarf like except for the obvious lack of physical differences associated with dwarfism. He was quite literally a small humanoid, with pupil less red eyes, not sinister but just, very, very red. Smiling softly, the man pushed a tuft of loose black hair from the front of his face, a casual friendly gesture, his mannerism noting that he meant no harm.

"You're the Furlings," Adrienne said instantly, her eyes widening as she looked back and forth between Sam, her husband and the tiny smiling man.

"Ad, ja-wer, FUR-lings, FUR, this man is not a Furling," Daniel assured her, Adrienne frowning in return.

"You let Jack influence your good damn sense sha, think Latin, slow Latin, FUR-lings, who do you think named them? Dollars to doughnuts it was Oma and her buddies," Adrienne added, confidently, peering over at the small man who was smiling brightly. Laughing, as if he was shocked himself that he had never thought of this before, Daniel shook his head, peering back at the man.

"Fur, latin and to an extent Alteran, thief, stealing, I can't believe it. But, wait, that doesn't explain," Daniel started, realizing that she was right but that didn't support what little they knew of them the small man himself smiling and nodding.

"We are borrowers of time, thieves the Alterans named us in jest, but we are a peaceful race, rest assured. Our gifts allow us limited abilities to distort and alter the space time continuum, for short spans, much like the Nox can bend space around their cities," he explained, holding out his hand, a small dinosaur appearing in it.

"This, I believe is from your planet, from at least a hundred million of your years ago. He can visit with us, for a time, but he will return to his own," the man explained, the small creature disappearing again, "when he is needed or we send him back."

"So you can alter time?" Sam asked, fear, curiosity, anger, all three mixed in her eager eyes, demanding answers. They could have used their help so many times, so very many times, and now they decided to show themselves, after so many had died, after so much had been lost.

"No, we are borrowers, we can borrow it and the objects from it, learn from it and then we must return it, unless it belongs to us," the man corrected, summoning up another animal, a Dodo bird, extinct as well, sending it back from where it came as quickly as had arrived.

"But we cannot alter it," he continued, "things must be as they were or could have been. Sometimes we have to borrow things from different places and put them together. Some of the people you encountered were my fellows, borrowing an idea or a form for a time, that we returned when it was no longer needed," he continued, holding his hands to his sides, an Amazon, Woolsey and Hathor, standing before them in those forms for just a moment before shimmering and shrinking to the ground, three miniature humans themselves.

"I am SOOO sorry," Adrienne started immediately realizing she had beaten to a pulp and almost killed someone that was not Hathor, holding her hand apologetically over her mouth, "I had no idea," but the small, blond, not even red headed like Hathor, but blond woman shook her head.

"No need to worry, I cannot be truly hurt in a borrowed state and if someone had done that to my husband, I fear I would not have been able to show your restraint," she assured, smiling, gently clasping the hand of the auburn haired man beside her.

"Dr. Jackson," the leader continued, clearly looking in Daniel's direction, "the rules for bending and borrowing time are complex as I am certain you have learned. Your wife has already encountered one of our mistakes, which I can assure you both has been deactivated and we are grateful that you were able to amend the error on your own," he added, now gazing at Adrienne, who hands were now resting protectively on her middle.

"We need you to come with us. You will be safe, we honor our promises and we will help you defeat the Alteran the best we can," the man said, extending his hand to Daniel, indicating that he join them but he remained still, frozen in time.

"I can't," he answered, shaking his head slowly, "I have different responsibilities now.

I can't leave."

"We understand, but we can show you where you can find crystalline power, or where we knew of the crystalline power last. We know you need them," he replied, peering over at Sam, torn herself, caught between the responsibly of saving a galaxy and letting a strange new race of people take her friend away from his new family.

"Daniel, we," Sam started, Adrienne stepping forward, reaching out for her arm.

"Mon amour, tu dois y aller. Ce sont les informations dont nous avons besoin," Adrienne urged with her eyes as much as her words.

She was correct, Daniel knew this was the exact information that they were looking for and with only the tests as evidence, he still knew in his heart that they were who they said they were. Nonetheless, gazing at his wife, the roundness of their child before him, he just couldn't imagine leaving her behind.

"Venez avec moi," he requested, but she shook her head, sucking in tears and forcing a smile, their new friend stepping to join them.

"We stayed silent for too long. We allowed the Nox to flee. We allowed the Alterans to divide. We allowed the Asgard to die. It was wrong but we are here now," the Furling apologized, heartbreak in his face.

Yes, Daniel wanted to rage, you waited and my friends died and Oma gave up her existence, an existence that he was no longer sure was part of the cosmos any longer.

"Non, je ne peux pas y aller. Je dois rester et continuer à travailler, restez pour le bébé," she refused lightly, gazing down at the red eyed man before reaching out for him.

"Allez," Adrienne whispered, pulling him to her, running her fingers across his palm.

"Bien sûr?" Daniel asked just to be sure for himself, but there was no doubt in her expression, not the slightest and as he stood there, not knowing where or for how long this journey would take him it was the look in her eyes that told him everything was ok.

"Oui, allez. Ana bahabak," she whispered, switching to Egyptian, her declaration of love to match the language of the name he had given her.

"Wa ana kaman bahbek. Je vais revenir à vous," he replied, switching back to French to promise that he would come back to her, that he would return to their life together and their child.

"Je sais. Tu le fais toujours," she answered, leaning to peck his lips lightly because she knew, he always came back, that Daniel was the one person in the galaxy that would never let her down. Her face stoic she pulled away, letting the roughness of his fingertips slip from the smoothness of her hand.

There was a rumble, the earth shaking, and Adrienne felt her shoulders being grabbed by large strong hands, Teal'c, the sky cracking before them, a thin blue light emanating from the center.

And then he was gone, SG1 standing in the Jackson quarters, books scattered around the floor, a lamp shattered to pieces.

Sam quickly counted the group, swallowing when she realized that indeed Daniel had gone, racing over to the phone on the desk.

"Walter, it's Sam. I need you to get Jack up and moving now," she ordered almost instantaneously.

"Addy, I'm sure he..." Cam whispered, joining her and Teal'c, his worried eyes scanning their friends for support.

"He will. I know he will. I guess I just get to annoy Carolyn for a while. She'll love that," Adrienne joked, willing herself to keep it together.

"Adrienne, how do you know?" Sam inquired, her face still bearing the same expression of concern, "how do you know we didn't just hand Daniel over to Anubis." The archaeologist shrugged, trying to smile.

"I guess I can't be a hundred percent sure, but Sam, it's the myth. Of all of the things they could have chosen, and chosen given what their name really means, they chose Hercules," Adrienne explained, Jonas finally nodding in understanding.

"You see, Hercules was the son of Zeus, he was a demi-god, half divine. After he completed the labors, after atoning for the loss of his wife and sons, after everything, they made him a god and showed him the wonders of Olympus," she continued, scanning her friends smiling, "I guess the mythology buff in me just sees it as a sign, ya know, a sign that everything's going to be ok."

*****The rumble made Adrienne sit up in bed, her heart racing, frantically reaching for the lamp to turn it on, falling over to her side onto an empty, cold side of the bed rather than her husband. The bed shook again just as she clicked the light on, the brightness blinding her temporarily. Swearing in cajun, wishing 'aborde' on anyone who may have been present, Adrienne swung her feet over the edge of the bed dropping them onto the cold tile floor of her quarters.

When she opened her eyes she noted no changes in the room, Vala and Teal'c having helped her clean up the mess on her floor before Sam insisted she get some rest, save for a single dresser drawer open, the drawer containing Daniel's uniforms.

Standing, she staggered to the tacky government issued piece of furniture, noting now something leather hanging over the edge.

"Wha in da 'ell?" she mumbled, reaching for the object, discovering that it was a loincloth, the loincloth Daniel had been wearing earlier.

"Indy!" she exclaimed, whipping around, searching for her love, her life's companion when she heard a sound at her feet, the sound of paper hitting the floor. Frowning, she glanced down, stooping carefully to pick up a fallen piece of paper, standing slowly as she opened it.

_Needed our friends to "borrow" me some real clothing but I told them you wanted this._

_That didn't seem to break any rules._

_Je'taime mon amour_

_and little Edward too :) _


	57. Chapter 56 - The Buy More

"Hey, while you're up, can you open his second drawer and get me the Rolaids? They're behind the insanely huge bottle of Advil," Adrienne requested, her head resting pitifully on her desk. Making a face, Jonas set the stack of files gently onto Daniel's desk, kneeling at the drawers, opening the second as requested. He rummaged through, pulling out a large plastic medicine bottle, the label covered in masking tape with Adrienne's careful script written on the label.

"More than three and I kick your ass?" Jonas read, cutting his eyes at Adrienne.

"It used to say something nice and sweet about my concern for his well-being, but then we got together. Didn't need the nice act anymore," the Cajun tried to joke from her desk, groaning as she laughed.

"We could stop ordering Mexican," Jonas offered, feeling weird digging through Daniel's drawer but he really didn't want to have to call down to Carolyn Lam, again, and explain, again, that Adrienne had managed to make herself sick, again.

"Never," she muttered from her keys, throwing her finger up dramatically to the sky. Shaking his head, Jonas rummaged through, his fingers hitting another plastic bottle, equally as large as the Advil bottle, pulling it out into the open.

"Don't tell him I let you see that," Adrienne requested, lifting her head and opening her hands to catch the flying bottle of instant relief, "he has this thing about indigestion being a sign of getting old. I told him it's a sign of eating like shit."

Laughing, Jonas tossed the bottle over to Adrienne, who caught it clumsily, popping open the lid.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, the brownies came back last night," Adrienne said, shaking a handful of tablets into her palm.

"Brownies?" Jonas questioned, carefully fixing the area and gathering his things before returning to his own desk.

"Yeah, I'm calling them brownies, like in Willow, they came back to borrow my iPod of all things. I can't WAIT to harass the hell out of Indy when he gets back. You don't even know how long it took for me to get him to even look at an iPad, I was shocked when he swiped that last week, but the iPod?" Adrienne continued. She paused to stop her laughing, holding her now large, twenty one week large, protruding belly.

"Damn mini-Jackson," she added, chewing the pills in her hand.

"Willow?" Jonas asked, confused further, as was becoming customary this second time on Earth. The first time had been under equally as horrible circumstances and while he had learned a lot about life on Earth, there really hadn't been anyone interested in teaching him much about the culture of this place. Adrienne, on the other hand, was happily treating him as a pallet, to mold and shape into her own personal pop culture encyclopedia, which, considering everything, was kinda fun.

"Yes, mid 1980's fantasy film. Dwarf, quest, baby, magic, Val Kilmer?" she tried, thinking that might spark something, but Jonas shook his head.

"Never heard of it," he answered, taking a seat at his desk.

"Tonight, tonight we watch. My place. I'll cook something, and not Mexican. Anyway, the Brownies are in the movie, littler in the movie, but same idea. Oh! That reminds me, Brownies, it's Girl Scout cookie season, I wonder if anyone has got a girl scout around here..." Adrienne rambled as sirens sounded around them, making her roll her eyes and reach for her headphones.

"I have no idea why we're still sending teams out, Daniel has yet to send back any information," Adrienne grumbled, rolling her eyes, knowing it was Woolsey's doing, and, well partially hers, but mostly Woolsey. She was still enjoying Sam punching the alter-Woolsey square in the nose and was deeply saddened that her friend could not repeat the process now that they were back home.

"I think it just makes everyone feel useful, and who knows? We could actually find something," Jonas began to answer, the phone at Adrienne's desk interrupting his thought. Sighing, she held a finger to pause him, grabbing the aged white receiver and tucking it under her ear.

"Archaeology, this is Adrienne Jackson," she said, still, four weeks into her marriage, glowing like it was still their wedding day.

"Addy, it's Sam. I think you might want to come down here..." her voice was happy, excited even, telling Adrienne without words what she had been waiting to hear for three weeks.

Slamming the phone into the base, Adrienne leapt from her seat, racing for the door the best she could, staggering slightly from the weight of her middle. She was about to cross through the threshold of the doorway when she stopped short, peeking back over her shoulder at Jonas.

"Raincheck on Willow shug, k?" she spat out, turning to jog quickly to the gate room.

The difference in her appearance was more than he expected when he saw her dart around the corner, in yoga pants and her black uniform t-shirt, her larger belly bulging. Given that she should be annoyed by her changing body, he was surprised to see her so happy, racing towards him, reaching out her arms, disregarding completely the people around her.

There he was, not that she had any fear that he wouldn't return, but after weeks in bed alone, missing his warmth, his touch, his voice, Adrienne didn't care about anything other than verifying that it was her husband marching down the ramp. She pushed past a few gate room personnel, their eyes making contact, and seeing his bright smile, his breathtaking eyes twinkling behind his glasses, making her jog even faster.

His foot hit the floor the moment Adrienne made it to his arms, but he didn't waste time hugging her, reaching for her face with his free hand and bringing their lips together, kissing her slowly and passionately right at the base of the ramp. She'd been eating Mexican, the salsa still spicy against her lips, but he didn't care, he didn't want to stop, letting his tongue explore her mouth as if they were completely alone.

She was taken aback as he began to kiss her, well, like that, in front of everyone, but between the hormones raging through her body and the fact she hadn't felt the smoothness of his lips against her own in what seemed like an eternity, most of the time they had been married at this point, Adrienne wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing him as passionately in return.

"Hey, Daniel, good to see you, ya think you can cool it with the little woman here until we chat for a bit," Daniel heard Jack speak, from behind Adrienne it sounded, breaking his concentration for only a moment, but not his kiss, extending the iPad in his hand over Adrienne's shoulder to Jack. Feeling his second hand free, Jack still muttering something about making out in the gate room, Daniel placed the other hand behind Adrienne's neck, pulling her into a deeper kiss.

"Normally I would send you two to your quarters, but there is a lot of shit on here that I can't read, so would the two of you mind stopping until at least after the briefing," Jack requested, his soft brown eyes trying to make sense of the mess of icons on the screen, his own wife approaching out of the corner of his eye.

"Um, guys," Sam said, clearing her throat, her own face flushing at the scene in front of her, "not here..."

Sighing, Daniel pulled away, both from her lips and her embrace, finally letting his eyes gaze upward at his friends.

"Everything's on the iPad, everything, but, Sam, Jack, there is just, there is no way that we could," Daniel started, excitement beaming in his eyes, "can I have a few hours, get settled, try to process this, all of this, but Jack, this isn't just a guide to ZPMs, and there are hundreds of them, well there could be hundreds of them, we still need to look, but there is so much more, I just don't even know where to start -" he stammered until there were soft fingers at his lips, his wife, his beautiful perfect wife, silencing him.

"Calm down Indy, take a breath," Adrienne whispered, turning to wrap her arm around his waist. Smiling, he did as she asked, breathing in deeply, his brain still trying to process everything that had happened to him in the past twenty or so days. Sam peered over at Jack, glancing at the clock on the wall and back to her friends.

"I think we can give you a few hours, let me call Woolsey, the team," Sam offered, Daniel shaking his head emphatically, reaching to take the device from Jack.

"Perfect, that will give Adrienne time to get some of this data onto slides and let me figure out how to begin to explain all of this to you because Sam, I just don't even know where to start, how to tell you what I have seen, Ad I wish you could have been there, some of the places they took me, it was like nothing I've " he started again, Adrienne laughing, shaking her head.

"Calm sha, you can tell me all about it. Let's head back down to the lab and see what you have, ok?" she suggested, grabbing his arm and leading him out into the hallway.

Jack, however, lingered back with Sam, frowning as the two of them walked hand and hand, happily, out of the gate room.

"What in the hell happened to him?" Jack grumbled, reaching into his pocket for his phone to start informing his department of Daniel's return. Laughing, Sam squeezed his arm lightly before dashing up the stairs to call Woolsey.

"Ja-wer, it was amazing. It was so much more than just time jumping, they have a complete catalog system, like a flow chart through time, past, present, future, and there are limitless possibilities. They wouldn't let me see any futures though, said that was against their rules, but the past. Adrienne, they took me to planets, to parts of Earth, Ad, I SAW with my own eyes a Hebrew man construct bricks for the Great Pyramid," Daniel started in as soon as they were in the hallway, letting go of her hand to walk backward as he talked.

"Kinda like the Observers in Fringe," she clarified, smiling, having missed this most of all; she could listen to him ramble on like this forever.

"Yea, very similar actually," he answered, pausing in the hallway to grab her hand, "just like another one of your silly TV shows. I missed you so badly," he said quietly, pulling her into his arms.

"Ya not alone," she said in return, hugging him the best she could, the child inside leaping with delight as if he too understood that his dad was home.

"Oh wow," Daniel exclaimed, pulling back from her, reaching his hands for her stomach, "that was hard." He held his hand there longer, feeling the movements of the small human while Adrienne scowled at him, rolling her eyes.

"Uh huh, just keep that in mind. I'm feeling that on the INSIDE and these past couple of weeks I'm starving round the clock," she added, crossing her arms.

"Good boy, teach her about real eating," he joked, Adrienne reaching for his hand, leading him on to the lab.

"No worries, it's healthy, mostly, and I'm feeding him. I just haven't ever been this hungry, including the marathon training," she said, relishing the feeling of this fingers intertwined with her own. As excited as he was to share all of this information, he really was, there was a small part of him that just wanted to take her home, make them both some hot chocolate, crawl into bed and just talk, cuddle, tell one another every little detail of the past three weeks.

"Indy, ya in there?" she asked, shaking his arm and waving to someone behind him, someone who sounded happy to see him as well.

"Welcome back!" Jonas Quinn was shouting down the hall, Daniel turning to face him, clasping his hand in greeting.

"Worth the trip?" the Langaran asked, noting the excited expression on Daniel's face.

"More than you can imagine, Adrienne and I were just heading to go through some things before I present to everyone, Sam's gonna call down in a few hours," he answered, shaking the iPad in front of himself, peeking back at Adrienne.

"Look Jonas, it's a miracle, Daniel can use modern Earth technology," Adrienne teased, snatching the iPad from her husband's hand.

"Little does she know that I had them take that just to mess with her," Daniel retorted, grabbing the gadget back and powering onto the lab, "you two coming? We have about three hours, tops, and I'd rather brief two people I trust before I have to try to convince a room of bureaucratic morons to let me do my job."

"I mean, I know where we should start but, even at that, where do we start?" Jonas asked, sitting on the center table beside Adrienne, gazing at the Smartboard screen ahead.

"I think that taking this first list here and working out the pictures that I've taken, constellations, flora and fauna, cross referencing that with the Asgard databases should give us some kind of idea, at least give us a list of planets we can gate to and planets we have to take a ship to," Daniel explained, reaching behind to shut off the white display area.

"It's a gah damn shame dat dey didn't use da gates," Adrienne noted, slipping slightly in her speech, Daniel refraining from teasing.

"Yah dat's righ Ah-dee, damn shame dey done did dem like dat," Jonas replied in his stead though, Adrienne promptly flashing him the finger.

Good to know, Jonas had kept her on her toes while he was gone.

Laughing, Daniel stepped over to the projector, unhooking the iPad, walking it over to his wife.

"I think the way we've got it organized right now makes the most sense. Ad, do you think we could run off some paper copies and Jonas, could you head down and see about a projector, some coffee and anything else you can think of. This might be a long meeting," Daniel requested of his staff, weird to have a staff now, getting a nod on both accounts.

"Got it sha," Adrienne answered quickly, taking the gadget over to her laptop.

"Alright and I'll go ahead and get a list of who's coming, try to make sure we have the entire team, at least one member of the Atlantis crew, I'm guessing you want John, maybe Rodney as well, get everything started on that end," Jonas stood from the table, listing as he walked over to his desk. Daniel would have never thought it before, but a staff like this, his brilliant wife and his equally as intelligent friend, that was a staff he could live with.

Tasks assigned, they sprang into action, Adrienne at the printer, Jonas darting out of the lab, Daniel finally making it over to his computer to upload the information to his hard drive before the meeting.

Computer now transferring, Daniel glanced over his shoulder, to tell Adrienne that he was hungry, they should probably get something to eat before the briefing when it hit him, exactly how long they had been apart. Other than the kiss in the gate room, he hadn't touched her, kissed her, been close to her in weeks and meeting or not, he just couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing the remote at his desk he clicked off the security cameras, walking carefully over to the door to lock it tightly.

"What are ya doing sha?" she asked, turning to face him, bewilderment in her expression as she stood at the printer running off the copies.

"Come here," he whispered, reaching out his arms to take her into them. Smiling, confused, she let the machine run its own process, tiptoeing over to him to heed his request.

Without another word, he leaned in, kissing her lips softly as she slipped into his embrace, moving them carefully over to the center table, pushing her back against the furniture.

"I need to return this," he whispered, pulling away slightly, handing her over her music player.

"iPod AND iPad. I'm so turned on right now..." she teased, slyly.

"What can I say, I missed horrible music in my life," he taunted, reaching his lips to hers again, kissing there softy and then slowly across her face.

"Daniel," Adrienne protested without really protesting, her fingers already lightly toying at his belt, pulling the end through the loop as his lips worked their way down her neck. Slowly, tenderly, he worked his lips back up, lingering only enough to peek over her shoulder at the clock seeing that Jonas would be back soon to get them for the briefing. He hated to rush, but he couldn't wait, he needed her and by the way her hands were now roaming all over his body, she couldn't wait either. Sighing, his body a flurry of emotion, Daniel reached gently for her hips, urging her back onto the table.

"Didn't this get us into trouble once before?" she asked, teasing, pushing his pants to his ankles as she adjusted herself onto the table.

"Well, we weren't married before, and we left the cameras on," he replied, his thumbs in the waistband of her yoga pants, yanking those to the floor was well. He didn't allow her to reply, although the mischievous grin across her face was enough, grabbing her hips and pulling her forward...

_(Remember - full love scene is located in Erotics!) _

Nuzzling close for a moment, he backed away, kissing her lightly as he ran his fingers down her jawline.

"I love you, I missed you so badly. I missed everything. I knew you'd be back, but I thought that you wouldn't..." she started, her quiet murmurs turning into soft crying, tears dampening his shirt. He paused for a moment, surprised, wondering what he had done wrong or if he had hurt her.

"Adrienne what are you talking about? Ja-wer, why are you crying?" he asked, pushing her away, dropping to the floor to get her pants, dressing her again gently. Sucking in tears, Adrienne slipped from the table, taking them from him and pulling her own bottoms up.

"I was afraid that when you came back that you would see how much bigger I had gotten, and," she started, the tears flowing again, Daniel reaching quickly for his own pants, fastening them before taking her into his arms, holding her close.

"And what Ad? Stop crying, I'm back, everything's alright, I'm back and you're fine and the baby's fine," Daniel assured, Adrienne shaking her head as more tears fell.

"I thought you wouldn't think I was pretty anymore," she sobbed, "that you wouldn't want to make love to me anymore."

"Of course not," Daniel replied instantly, realizing that this was probably a result of the hormones, holding her closer, "in fact my first thought when you came through the door to the gate room was how beautiful you looked racing in."

"Really?" she asked, pulling back, her eyes puffy. Poor Adrienne, he thought, threw up most of the first trimester that they knew about, well into the second and here they were, not even into her third trimester yet and she was an emotional wreck. He needed to make a note to pop down to see Carolyn, see if there was anything he could do to make it easier for her on his end.

"Yes really. That's my son too, it's not like you went and starting downing junk food and became some gross monster that didn't care about herself anymore. You're carrying my son, you're making a huge sacrifice for Narmer and for me. How could I ever let that change my opinion of you, at least in a negative way?" he answered honestly, Adrienne leaping up into his arms, throwing her own around his neck.

"I love you Daniel, I love you so much. I'm sorry, I'm such a mess, I'm happy one minute, sad the next and ready to punch someone right after," she apologized, pulling away.

"Good, I'll keep that last one in mind during the briefing in case Woolsey says anything stupid. You can punch him and I'll just blame it on hormones," he joked, making her laugh, her smile causing him to feel better already.

_Note to self, she is now possibly going to cry after sex, act accordingly. _

He started to walk back to his desk, realizing that he needed to also visit the restroom or maybe their quarters before the briefing when he felt a grab at his arm.

"I'm not opposed to famous Egyptologists or even a pharaoh's name, but no Narmer and no Edward. The first sounds like Garfield's annoying neighbor and the latter reminds me of sparkly vampires."

Jonas wasn't kidding, not only was Woolsey there, along with Senator Bennett who Daniel wasn't even aware was poking his nose around anymore, but Jack, Sam, John Sheppard, Dr. Rodney McKay, Vala, Cam, Teal'c, Dr. Radek Zalenka, and even Walter.

He had to give the Langaran credit; he was sure as hell thorough.

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming and especially thanks to Adrienne and Jonas for holding down the fort while I was gone," he smiled over at his wife and friend, knowing that the collective of people here, other than Sam, really didn't care about thanking them, but he wanted to say something anyway.

Taking a sip of coffee, Daniel nodded for Adrienne to cut the lights and cue up the slides, mentally preparing himself for the massive amount of knowledge that he was about to dump onto his friends and colleagues.

"I guess we should start with the Furlings, which, I'm sure everyone is aware now, are not 'furry' at all, but are rather named such by the Ancients, the Alterans, deriving from their word fur, which as it does in Latin, means to steal. Instead, they refer to themselves at the Ktaenam," Daniel began to present, a collage of pictures displayed on the screen of the Ktaenam cities and people. They were small, each and every one of them, suddenly reminding Adrienne that she really needed to have Jonas over to show him that movie. The Ktaenam really looked like brownies or elves, so petite in stature, perfectly proportioned humanoids on a lesser scale. Adrienne was about to scribble a note to Jonas, telling him that she would loan him the film to take home when she noticed her husband looking straight at her. Apparently, he wanted her to speak at this as well, so she stood from her position leaning against the wall, clearing her throat to address the group.

"It appears that their language, or what we know of it so far, has some sort of relation to ancient Hebrew, maybe even making the Ktaenam the dwarves Moses warned against in Leviticus," Adrienne added, changing the slide to a picture of her NSRV bible page, the passage highlighted.

"Leviticus seems to be nothing but trouble for us," Cam noted, raising his eyebrows at Adrienne as she smiled, changing the slide.

"Daniel was able to confirm only that there had been some minimal contact with the planet we had visited, uh, let me pull that number again," Adrienne started to answer, fumbling with her smaller iPod, but Daniel was already shaking his head.

"It's fine ja-wer, we can look it up later, can I get the next slide," he requested, and she nodded, cursing her pregnancy brain for making her forget a detail that she would normally remember.

Damn mini-Jackson.

"Now, it seems that the Furlings or Ktaenam, whichever you prefer, they don't seem to mind either, were the first of the great races to go into hiding once the Alterans were split prior to the creation of the Ori faction. There were signs according to Medan, their leader, signs that the Ori were going to split off and just as the Alterans built the Ark for Defense, the Ktaenam took it upon themselves to borrow a few things they felt needed to be kept out of a possible war, among those things being ZPMs," Daniel continued, another image popping up on the screen, an image of a battle, women charging onward toward a group of men, women dressed in torn modified chitons, a glow behind.

Adrienne recognized them as Amazons, letting her eyes wander around the room as she slowly changed the slides on Daniel's cue. The next image, a Japanese-like society by the looks of it, a ZPM carefully hidden behind the form of some god, followed by another Viking society, a group of chatting Celtic priests, Australian aboriginals, Cavemen, a world full of people with pink skin, world after world after world. The room was dead silent in shock, just as his wife had been when he showed her and Jonas the pictures.

It was essentially another Asgard database, another impossible task set before them.

"Dr. Jackson," Woolsey finally interrupted, "are you telling me that these are all ZPMs? Every glowing, well, thing in these pictures? All we have to do is go and get them?" he asked, and to be honest Daniel couldn't blame him. It was a logical assumption, one he had made himself as he watched a group of cat like people paw at the lights as if they had no idea what was sitting right in front of them.

Sighing, Daniel peered over at Adrienne, at his rock, for support, feeling the backlash that was coming in advance.

"Not exactly," he answered, nodding for the next slide to advance, the crude chart he and Adrienne had created popping up onto the screen. Scanning it carefully, Sam sat forward, making quick notes, nudging her own spouse with her elbow.

"To the best of my determination, it seems that the ZPMs I have been shown can be divided into four major categories based on how they were removed from their original Alteran home and how they have been kept, for lack of a better word. Category one are the borrowed modules, the ones taken by the Ktaenam. Due to the rules of their time bending I was allowed to see when they first placed the devices in hiding and where, but we were not allowed to return to the same places in the present time line. Medan says that to do so, in their presence at least, would effectively end the borrowing and send the device back to where it had been when it was taken from the Alterans. For these planets I photographed and cataloged the best I could, especially planets with gates, but there are some that are reachable only by starship," he explained, his finger running down the first column, including a list of about 14 planets.

"That's a good dozen Daniel," Sam noted, also counting, "and they all had ZPMs at some point. ZPMs that were not being utilized?"

"That we know of, but some of these were placed over a thousand years ago, so we have no way of knowing what condition they're in," he answered, moving on to the second column.

"This group here, a list of similar length, represent the ZPMs that were found by the Goa'uld, and in some cases used to power sarcophagi. These are the ones that Ktaenam knew had been taken by the Goa'uld," he added, a forced smile on his face.

"DanielJackson, some of the Jaffa were less disciplined once they had overthrown their masters. Between the rebellion and the Taur'i war with the Goa'uld, there is a chance that many of those ZPMs have been destroyed," Teal'c offered, his face looking almost embarrassed at what his comrades might have done, albeit unknowingly.

"I hadn't discounted that either, but nonetheless I'm recommending that we get this information to the council as soon as possible in case they have come across anything that they have not already told us about or, based on some of what I have seen, something that they were unclear as to its purpose," he replied, making Adrienne smile.

Yeah, miss him didn't really cover it; he was just so intelligent, so well spoken, so, perfect.

Damn stupid hormones, she cursed her body, turning me into a mush mess of a woman.

"How fares our alliance with the Jaffa council?" the senator inquired, directing his question more to Teal'c than the others, who shook his head slowly, his eyes looking to his friends for support.

"There is a divide in the council, and some Jaffa have chosen to leave," Teal'c admitted, his words careful, his gaze at Sam and Jack as if there was something that the archaeology department had either not been privy to or Daniel had missed in his absence, but either way, he decided he needed to ask later.

"So, there's a chance? Maybe me, Teal'c, Dex can start making some visits, ask around, drag Bra'tac and Ishta with us? See what we can find?" John suggested carefully, again everyone deferring to Sam.

What had Daniel missed?

Adrienne had yet to mention anything, but then again they'd spent their alone time together enjoying one another's physical company.

Damn Adrienne heightened libido.

"Yes," Daniel responded, refocusing on the question and his wife's eyes, trying to send him some signal that they needed to talk and she must have chosen to wait until they got home for a reason, "and I think a separate mission is needed, one in which we also enlist Vala's spies to see if any of the rebelling Jaffa have sold ZPMs or other suggested technologies on the black market."

Raising her eyebrows, Vala sat back, Daniel could tell that she was already running scenarios and contacts through her head. The senator was making notes now, frowning, glaring over at Woolsey, making Daniel almost want to stop the presentation altogether but Adrienne was staring right at him, her dark cajun eyes urging him on.

"That brings me to the third grouping, which is really what we've already been working on, the Asgard protected planets. They really didn't have that much more insight than we already have in the database, but Medan was able to confirm that we have been on the right tracking looking into the mythology of the cultures, that was how the Asgard preferred to hide technology," Daniel continued, showing a long, much longer list, seemingly as long as the lists of planets in the database itself.

"But Daniel, you have been able to narrow down our list, considerably, correct?" Jonas clarified, seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, reading their minds, that Daniel had been gone for three weeks and returned with nothing but another set of longer lists.

"Yes, this allows us to skip around the database more, narrow things down a bit, hopefully speed up our research. Then we have the last section," he started before he could get another question, namely from the senator or Woolsey, the latter appearing quite nervous, "The last group would be the ones that remained with the Alterans. There is really only one way to get those, we would need to contact the Ascended..." he trailed, sighing deeply.

He'd tried, he'd meditated, tried a few memory and subconscious enhancing technologies of the Furlings, things Adrienne would have kicked his ass for trying, but to no avail.

"I haven't been able to make contact with Oma, Kasuf, anyone. It's as if they are gone," Daniel admitted quietly, Adrienne taking a step forward in case he needed her. That had been the hardest, she could tell by the look in his eyes when he told them that it seemed on that front all was lost.

"Ok, look, this is a pretty long damn list. You say that they couldn't let you go collect them all, fine. What can we do? What do we need to be doing next?" Jack asked, asked Daniel, as if he weren't just the archaeologist, as if he were, well, in charge. Adrienne saw the surprise in her husband's eyes, sure he had been deferred to on individual missions and things before she came along, but standing here, he might as well have been in Sam's position for all of the attention and respect he was garnering. It made her proud, he deserved this, he deserved to not be treated like the man who dug through old things.

"General O'Neill, you aren't suggesting that we just pack up and go on a wild goose chase?" Woolsey finally spoke, a tone in his voice, one that Daniel couldn't read but really wanted to get out of here and talk to Adrienne about. Quickly, the archaeologist shook his head, the answer already at the forefront of his mind.

"No, I think we stick to protocol, send a MALP ahead, but I think the focus needs to shift from possibilities in the Asgard database to things that we know are at least definite. Keep in mind, some of these ZPMs have been hidden in their current locations for hundreds of years, so like with any expedition we won't be sure what we are walking into. I've compiled a short list of planets that I recommend that we begin with, and we can start there while Teal'c takes this information to the Jaffa council," he answered, making Adrienne beam once more.

"Got one in mind?" Jack continued as if there were no bureaucrats present, his mind already in mission mode.

"Yes, I do, there is no designation for it, but they did use gate travel, Ad please," Daniel requested in response, Adrienne changing the slide, the picture back on an image from a pre-industrial age Japanese like society.

"I would prefer using SG-1 when we could, with Dr. McKay if he would join us, to insure that these operations are carried out quickly and with minimal training. If two teams are needed, I suggest making the Atlantis team the second. Keep the operation small, allow the rest of the teams to continue with normal operations. I'm assuming that we are still going through the artifacts at area 51?" Daniel asked, now realizing in his excitement to share that he hadn't bothered to ask either Jonas or Adrienne what exactly had been going on in his absence.

"Yes Doctor," the senator spoke this time, "we have sent SG-14 there, and Sergeant Mardsen is leading the staff there in cross referencing with your files."

"The senator here has also been very helpful, giving Vala SG-11 to add to her spy team, and we've had SG-6 & 7 going after anything Dr. Per- Adrienne and Jonas have managed to find," Jack added, now his eyes cutting to Daniel.

There really was something going on, something major and he wanted this briefing over fast, not only so he could get to work, but so he could figure out what's going on.

"Alright, well, as you can see, Adrienne has prepared paper files for us to read at our leisure. Please direct all questions to members of the archaeology department and them only to insure that there is no confusion. Let's start with this planet, send through the MALP while we give Daniel a chance to go through the notes further. Adrienne can you bring up that image again?" Sam asked, moving forward, not allowing anyone else to speak.

Nodding, Adrienne cued up the pictures again, the world she had referred to as the Samurai planet, Jack laughing as soon as the picture was on the screen.

"Yeah, we need to send a MALP and let everyone prep because there's no way in hell that Dr. Perky is gonna pass as a geisha with that belly," Jack joked, speaking before he could contain himself, Sam shooting him a glare.

"Yes, we have to take in account Dr. Jackson's condition before allowing her to participate in these missions," Woolsey spoke right up, making Daniel wonder instantly if this was what was wrong with Adrienne.

"Agreed," Sam said, standing quickly, ending the briefing.

I need to talk to you Ad, now, Daniel thought, watching the group, some of his friends, including Rodney and Radek, not having said a word, leave the room quickly.

Frowning, confused, Daniel marched over to Sam to see what he had missed and she was waiting, staring him straight in the eye.

"Daniel, it's been almost a month since you've been home and Adrienne's had a hard time these past few weeks. Why don't you two head back to the townhouse?" she suggested, ordering, puzzling him further.

"Sam, there's a lot of work to be done, I still need to start going through the constellations in the sky, try to come up with some sort of idea of what planet they had taken me to, the Ktaenam do not need to use gate travel and had only a handful of gate addresses, why in the world are you sending me home?" Daniel demanded, starting to get annoyed very quickly at what was happening and how strange it all was.

"Daniel, take your wife home," Sam reiterated strongly, taking the iPad from the table and passing it to Adrienne.

"Come on Indy. I thought of some names and wanted to talk with you about that," Adrienne whispered softly, running her arm through his, pulling him along, squeezing his bicep.

Suddenly it came to him, they couldn't talk there and in order to talk he needed to leave.

"Alright ja-wer. I'm sorry. I've missed you, let's go home and get in the tub," he muttered, letting his wife lead him into the corridor.

"The tub was a nice touch, but you had me worried," Jack said the minute Daniel shut the door to the closet, standing there, beer in hand.

"No worries Jack, I think you've seen my bare ass more times than I care to count, I'm not about to give you another show," Daniel replied, pushing past to see what was going on in his living room.

"Thanks sha, I'm so glad you want to preserve my dignity," Adrienne retorted, following behind, heading straight for her instant coffee maker, Vala already passing over a mug of hot cocoa.

"Merci mon ami," Adrienne thanked, taking the mug gratefully warming her hands with it.

"Found Willow," Jonas announced as he emerged from the office, DVD in hand, waving it at Adrienne, smiling, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"Alright, what in the world is going on?" Daniel asked, noting both Teal'c and Cameron sitting on his love seat, beers in hand as well, looking to Jack for what seemed to be permission to speak.

"Wait for it..." Jack replied, holding up his hand as beams of light lit the center of the room, Sam standing alone right beside their coffee table as the shimmers dissipated.

"Wonderful timing as always my dear," Jack joked, reaching out his hand for his wife, which she took smiling.

"I aim to please, alright, is everyone here?" she asked, glancing as Cam who was swallowing his beer before continuing.

"John thought it would look too questionable if he or any of the rest of his crew came so he said to fill him in. He, Teal'c and I are going to hit the bars tonight, and Rodney, Radek and Dex might be joining us..." Cam trailed, secretively again, Vala rolling her eyes with a huff.

"Look, I've got the Jackson love nest taken care of, no bugs but the ones I've installed," she defended, turning back to machine to make herself a cup of tea.

"Bugs since when?" Daniel asked, curious, "and why is everyone is my house? Sam, what in the hell is going on?"

"All hell broke loose once you left Daniel," she answered, casually, taking a seat beside her husband on the sofa shooing away his offering of a beer.

"How?" he continued, feeling a hand at his back and a coffee thrust into his palm, his wife leading him to sit in a chair over to the side. He did as she requested, sitting, reaching to pull her into his lap worried about the pain in her lower back.

"RichardWoolsey notified the senate oversight committee of the infiltration of the base by the Furlings. The committee has decided that they need to re-evaluate the program as it may no longer be in the best interest of the Tau'ri to continue operations," Teal'c explained, his expression the same as when he had been forced to admit that there was a divide in the Jaffa. Earth had been his safe place, but it seemed that there was a divide even here, causing a great turmoil inside the brave warrior.

"Senator Bennett was sent to oversee operations and make a judgement. He was holding out on making any sort of recommendation until we made contact with you," Sam continued, pausing upon seeing Daniel open his mouth to speak.

"But there was contact; I sent messages to Adrienne at least five times that I can think of," Daniel interjected but Sam was already shaking her head.

"Adrienne came to tell me, the very next morning, when they came to get your uniform. I advised her to keep quiet because by that point I had already been on the phone with nearly every member of the IOA. They demanded that if you make contact that you were to return immediately, that it broke nearly every rule that we had on encountering new cultures," Sam explained, Adrienne nodding in agreement as she reached to wrap her arm around him.

"When you left me a message I only told Sam and Jonas, not even the rest of the team knew we were in contact until last week when you just left a note that you would be back soon. Then, we told everyone," Adrienne affirmed, smiling softly, looking like she wanted to kiss him again.

She had missed him; she had been strong for him and what he needed to do, so disregarding the others for a moment he reached his hand behind her head, pulling her into a quick kiss.

"Go to your bedroom if you're gonna do that," Vala requested, grumbling, sipping her tea.

"Yeah, once again Danny boy you've gotten us into all sorts of trouble. Your buddy came back, your buddy has got Jonas' planet under his thumb and now you've brought us some new buddies who can pop in and out of here whenever they god damn feel like it. We're treading on thin ice here; this entire mess is about one more fuck up away from becoming the seek and destroy military mission it was in the beginning," Jack spoke now, unable to sit and listen to his wife and friends sugar coat this anymore, "we're screwed if this little list of yours doesn't pan out."

"How doable is this Daniel? This Ninja planet Addy was showing pictures of, how easy is it to get there?" Cam asked now, his eyes cutting at Vala for just a moment before returning to Daniel, a look that Daniel easily caught.

"Wait, you guys aren't thinking about sending a team there, no MALP?" Daniel asked, now glancing up at his wife, who was nervously picking at her fingernails.

"Yes Glasses, a team. Ratface doesn't know it and neither does that sexist asshole, but SG-3 has been under my command since you left. They've been infiltrating Langara and taking out a few of Anubis commanders, making it look like an accident," she explained slyly, Adrienne now standing from Daniel's lap.

"So, we've become a secret undercover organization in three weeks!? Ja-wer, please tell me that you haven't been involved in this?" Daniel pleaded, worried about how deep this all was going, given the head of Homeworld Security was sitting in his living room, smiling as if he was James Bond.

"I haven't done anything to risk Daryl, I promise. Jonas and I just tweaked our work a little, waiting for you. We've been sending teams and MALPs after ZPMs," she said, giving air quotes for ZPMs, "and have been making sure that amazing discoveries have been made in other areas of technology, areas that keep them occupied."

Daniel stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, unable to believe what he was hearing. Sure, they'd come close to losing funding before, in fact most of his career here had been spent arguing to maintain funding, it was a scare like that that made him realize how important Adrienne was to him.

This, on the other hand was insanity; his friends had been carrying on as an organization within an organization.

Shaking his head, frowning, he looked over at Sam, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Why?" was all he could say, although his mind was swirling with a million questions, most of which having to do with why exactly this had been the course of action taken by a woman who he knew to be much more calculated. Sighing, Sam finally reached over to the beer offered to her earlier, taking a long swig from the glass bottle, setting it down before glancing up at Daniel.

"Cheyenne's gone Daniel. No more stalling for repairs, chance of moving back there, chance of setting up an auxiliary base there. They're not repairing the facility, they stopped reconstruction over nine months ago. They're tearing it down, as if it never existed. Slowly, and right under our noses, it seems the government is erasing the program," she said slowly, looking over at Jack who was shaking his head, drinking his own beer.

"They don't know we know, that I know, but we suspected it a few months back when the IOA wouldn't let McKay into his lab. He made a few calls, poked around and found out that items were being shipped out of the facility, destroyed without Jack or I's knowledge. Pair this with the personnel cuts and the stipend termination requests I got two weeks ago and it's not hard to figure out what is going on," Sam added.

Daniel sat for a moment, thinking, taking it all in. He wasn't sure about stipend requests she was talking about, but he did know that some staff members had apartments paid for them off base like he and Adrienne used to have, maybe those were being cut as well. Nodding his head, taking it all in as he looked at his friends, his wife, realizing that they were all being targeted in a way that was simply unfathomable, Daniel peered back over at Sam and Jack.

"So what do we do now?" he asked, accepting this new reality.

"We act like this is movie night while you, Jonas and Dr. Perky research this karate planet so we can send Vala and the marines on their little fact finding mission. Oh, and order pizza, because if I have to act like a damn college student and stay up all night doing geek stuff I want the food to match," Jack replied, standing to get his phone.

"I'll call," Adrienne offered, turning for the kitchen to get some take-out menus and start a few pots of coffee rather than brew cup by cup.

"Ad?" Daniel shouted behind her, making her turn on her feet.

"Yea," she asked back over her shoulder, wondering what else it would take to convince him that Sam had tried every other option, that this was what they had to do.

"No Walking Dead characters, comic or show. Daryl is out," he added, smiling at her and receiving one back in return.

"I think living on Earth and having a desk job has made the 'ole girl soft," Cam joked from the end of the sofa, Vala's legs stretched across him, her light snore echoing off of the back of the furniture.

"That and Dex, she's become quite the little woman. It's cute, she wants me to teach her to cook for him," Adrienne replied, standing slowly, painfully, from her position on the floor.

"No comment," Daniel added, peering up at Adrienne to tease only to see her struggle to stand. She winced in pain and he leapt to his feet, grabbing her arm and steadying her.

"Are you alright ja-wer?" he asked, concerned, watching her flush in embarrassment.

"Yea Indy, I'm fine, it's just, the baby," Adrienne answered, regretting it, Daniel holding his finger up as he pulled her aside.

"You need to sleep," he urged, noting that the clock read eleven at night; they had been at this for hours.

"I'm fine," she argued, pulling away, heading back to the kitchen to get herself another vitamin water.

"Adrienne, listen, I'm so sorry that I've been away for so long, left you for so long, but I'm back now. You were almost nineteen weeks along when I left, so what you are twenty two weeks now. Ja-wer, you need rest and sleep. I can't have Abayomi not being cared for," he whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek lightly.

"Joy is a girl's name, nah 'appenin' sha," Adrienne replied, agreeing silently to needing rest, letting him lead her gently to the bedroom.

"I'll be right back, if I don't follow and make sure, she'll come lumbering in here as soon as she thinks I've forgotten," Daniel shouted over his shoulder, Adrienne shoving his arm.

Rolling his eyes, Jack looked back at the print outs from Daniel's office, comparing them to the star charts on the laptop.

"Ten bucks says that they're gonna boink in there. He hasn't been home in weeks," Jack declared reaching for his beer.

"I'll take that bet honey," Sam replied, smiling at him coyly, reaching out to shake his hand in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Look at you Sam, getting ready to waste ten perfectly good dollars that I fully intend to spend on cheap beer," Jack replied laughing.

"Nope, ten bucks for me to get a cheesecake. They already have," she answered smiling, "cameras were shut off in the lab today."

"Excuse me?" Jonas asked, his head popping up Jack erupting into laughter.

"Yep, they like that center table too, so I wouldn't eat there if I were you," Jack added, Sam smacking his arm.

"Jonathan James O'Neill!" she exclaimed, Jack sitting back against the love seat cushions, a smile across his face.

"You brought it up, how do you think we found them out? Daniel forgot to turn off the cameras one time and it was all caught on tape," Jack added, laughing, scanning the crowd to gauge their reactions.

"O'Neill, I am quite certain that DanielJackson would not like his intimate relations with AdrienneJackson discussed so openly," Teal'c cautioned.

"Whatever, they're married, they're getting ready to be parents, it's just funny now," Jack replied, leaning back over the photos and changing the subject, "so, we're thinking of taking in a jumper via the Odyssey?"

"I wouldn't be going asleep like a bébé, but I got da faiblesse, and I'm not sure why," Adrienne apologized as soon as Daniel closed the bedroom door behind them, watching his wife walk carefully to the dresser.

"Adrienne, let me get that please, when did this get so bad?" he asked, worried, that brightness from before seemingly fading away in front of him.

"About a week after you left, when I hit twenty weeks. My hips slide in and out and I'm so tired one day and wired and can't sleep the next. He's restless, he's never still, so the only sleep I'm really getting is just passing out due to exhaustion," she admitted, not wanting to, but having him here in front of her she just couldn't lie. His face changed, his mouth widening and he raced forward to embrace her, holding her head tightly to his chest.

"Ja-wer, I'm so sorry. Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you leave a note, they would have brought it back to me?" he asked, holding her, feeling her cry in his arms.

"Indy, I canna be makin' a bahbin when so much is at stake. It's a lil discomfort, dat's all, and now ya back wit me. Now go on, I got dis, jus let me get some rest," she insisted, pushing him away, but he was having no parts of it, holding on tightly.

"I'm gonna lay down with you until you're asleep. Jonas is very competent. They can live without me for five minutes," he argued back, lying down beside her as she got under the covers.

"Drogo and I thank you for your chivalry," she teased as he wrapped her arms around her waist, holding her so close to him, ever so close. She missed his arms, she missed this, and already as they lay there together, Adrienne could feel herself drifting off to sleep.

"Not that King, Throne, whatever show either, but for the record there was one character on there, Jaime I think. That's not so bad," he whispered in her ear, kissing her head lightly, feeling her giggle in his arms as she slipped into the world of dreams.

"She's asleep," Daniel announced as he re-entered the living room, seeing his friends still gathering around the table, Jonas in particular looking at him strangely.

"Everything alright?" Daniel asked, feeling a vibe in the room from even Sam who was holding out her hand for Jack, her husband slapping a ten dollar bill into it.

"Don't ask Jackson, you don't want to know," Cam answered before the question was posed, standing and walking the folder over.

"Ok," Jonas started in, clearing his throat, "so this planet, the one that looks like ancient Japan, it seems to show the most promise, which is sadly what you said in the briefing, but we can still send a MALP afterward, cover our tracks. According to your notes Medan says it was given to a temple elder, and if their history played out anything like Japan, they would be embracing a pre-industrial culture right about now, including the Bushido way of life or something similar. They have a gate, but Sam thinks it's better to go covertly."

"That I still need to work out, why I would need who I would need, but we can send Vala and another ahead to check on things, see if there is anything we need to know," Sam started, a phone buzzing and bouncing on the coffee table interrupting her thought.

Daniel saw her make a face at the gadget, reaching for it and sliding the bar, bringing it quickly to her ear.

"What's wrong Walter?" was how she answered, not hello, not anything else, revealing to Daniel instantly how far this plot extended.

"Oh no," Sam said to no one person in particular, standing, pacing, her eyes racing, although not making contact with her husband, "good, I had hoped that Carolyn would. Alright, well, yes. Yes, I agree. Jack and I will head in first as to not arouse suspicion. Thank you Walter. No, there's nothing else. Thank you."

She stood in silence for a while, her head down, shaking it slowly before turning around.

"Honey, what's going on?" Jack asked, Sam sighing and approaching the group.

"SG-2 has fallen into a coma, all of them. According to Walter, who was, well, cryptic, it seems the entire team just dropped into a coma in the commissary, simply passed out at dinner. Carolyn's running tests, but so far there is no good reason for this to have happened," Sam responded, both Jack and Daniel's face screwing up in confusion.

"What do you mean dropped into a coma?" Daniel questioned as Sam was already on her phone making another call.

"Just out, and it doesn't seem to be anything she can explain right now. We need to get back," Sam said, answering Jack more than Daniel.

"What about the mission?" Jonas asked, concerned yes about SG-2 but his thoughts now on his people, on how the solution to saving his world was in sight finally, not just something to be pushed aside.

"Like I said, we'll send Vala ahead, see if this is something we can handle, alone without making it an official mission or at least find something that we can use to justify making it a mission if we need to gate in," she replied, Cam turning to nudge Vala, who was already starting to sit up on the sofa.

"On it, I'll take Ronon with me. That way everyone will just think we are having a little fun rather than work," she suggested, reaching for her phone.

"Sam, dear, I'd like to put ten bucks on that one," Jack joked, collecting beer bottles as Daniel shooed him away.

"Look, if this is just medical, I'd like to stay here. Adrienne's not doing well, I didn't know and I'm not sure if she has told any of you, but the baby's just," he started, Jonas shaking his head.

"Don't beat yourself up Daniel, really, don't. She's been trying to play it off, but yeah, we know. You did what you had to and she did what she had to do," he said quickly knowing how he would feel if he were to return to his people, after all of this, to find that someone close to him needed him.

"Stay here. If this is an outbreak, I don't want her anywhere near it if there is a chance that she hasn't already contracted it," Sam answered, turning to face Jonas as well, "and you need to stay here as well. You three are my entire link to the Furling knowledge and I need to keep the three of you as unexposed as possible."

"Which means that my dear Jaffa friend, plus us military types get to skedaddle. Mitchell, stall about thirty minutes or so, make it look like you and T went out bar hopping or something. I don't think I need to say this, but this meeting never happened," Jack made clear, again, looking at Daniel, who suddenly felt as if he had been gone for years rather than a matter of weeks.

Without much else to say Sam and Jack filed out of the townhouse, Cam and Teal'c shortly after, presumably to have a few beers to make their story believable. Jonas hurried to help clean, Daniel noting that he knew where everything was and rather than be jealous that another man knew so much about his home and wife, he was touched that their friend cared enough to step in and take care of her.

"I'm not sure how much sleep you got on your, uh, mission, but if you want to go adn get some sleep I'm ok out here," Jonas offered sheepishly, nodding down the hall.

"It won't be like I'm getting any real sleep, you seem to have crashed here. Have you heard the pregnancy snore? I think the next few months are going to be spent on the sofa," Daniel joked, heading to the kitchen only to stop at the door.

"I'd offer you wine, but since my entire world seems to have turned upside down in my absence I'm thinking we should stay sober," he added, smiling back at his friend.

"Oh yay, more coffee," Jonas laughed back, taking the stack of papers to the dining room to set up there, a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was going to be a long night.

She felt bad, sending Jack away, but he understood without question, that in order to maintain this secret grouping of theirs, a team within a team, having him poke around the lab for no good reason was just as suspicious as all of them gathering at Daniel's house coincidentally as soon as he had returned. Sam had used the baby excuse, but they needed answers fast, because before long Adrienne was going to have that baby and unless the boy was as troublesome as his parents, there would be no need for six or more childless adults to be rushing to the Jackson household.

Stopping by her office, she gave Walter the directive to let Vala and Ronon take the Odyssey and a puddle jumper under the guise of the weekly check on Langara, giving him time to adjust crew schedules and whatnot so their true plan would not be revealed. She had even been stopped by Woolsey in the hallway, demanding to know where Daniel was, demanding to know why Dr. Lam had called for an on base quarantine, but Sam was ready for that too, Carolyn having forwarded her the CDC's latest outbreak list.

"Richard, do you read your memos anymore or do you just trail around Bennett listening to his garbage?" Sam asked, containing herself, bullshit the word she had wanted to use instead.

"Of course, I read my memos," he spat in return, reaching into his pocket for his phone, tapping around. Be there, she thought, Adrienne spent the better part of a day teaching Carolyn and Cam how to back date things so they could cover their lies...

"Oh," he said, his face in a frown, his eyes still at his phone.

"But this outbreak of severe flu is in Colorado Samantha, in case you have forgotten we are now stationed at the nation's capital," he still argued, missing the point.

"Yes Richard, and with mandatory leave, regular leave, and how many personnel went home for the holidays, personnel could have brought back anything that they didn't catch themselves but were happy to spread," she retorted, sticking to the plan as Carolyn had explained, hoping that she wouldn't have to resort to quoting a list of endless statistics that the talented doctor had added to her argument.

"No, no, it's been mild on the East Coast for some time; I guess we should have expected something like this to happen. But what about doctor, I mean the doctors Jackson? The lab's shut down and they aren't answering the phone in their quarters," he continued, Sam wishing that her punching of him in the face could have been reality. Why are you calling a pregnant couple in the middle of the night anyway, she started to answer, instead choosing her words carefully.

"I sent them home. I wanted Adrienne far away from this mess if it was the flu. Daniel's got medic training, and I sent Jonas as well so if there is a problem everything is taken care of. Don't you agree at the very least that the safety of their child is of the utmost concern?" that she had to toss in, because even Richard Woolsey would never agree to injuring Adrienne's unborn child.

"Fine, fine, just, Samantha, I'm trying here, I really am, but the oversight committee is on my ass with everything. Just, can you just make an effort to keep me informed," he asked, smiling, Sam returning the obviously fake gesture.

"I apologize Richard, just a lot going on," she lied deftly, racking her brain for an excuse for her exit.

"Well, I must be off. It's nearly two, and I'm too old to keep these hours," he said for her, walking down the hall as if he wasn't tired at all, heading straight for the elevators.

"Stairs it is," Sam muttered under her breath, jogging down to see what Carolyn had discovered.

"As I'm sure you already know, for the most part coma is caused by the brain going into a shutdown state caused by a trauma. A head injury, for example, can lead to a tearing of some smaller nerves or if the brain itself is slammed into the wall of the skull it can cause swelling, making the brain shut down for repair, hence the coma. However, SG-2 hasn't been off world in nearly a month and after their mandatory R & R they've resumed regular activity, training, briefing and were getting ready to go on Adrienne's next wild goose chase," Dr. Lam explained as she gathered the files, reaching for some test tubes on the table. She coughed and Sam noticed her demeanor change and her eyes dart to the corner of the room. Following the doctor's gaze, Sam saw the camera light was off, Carolyn looking relieved.

"We have had such an issue with that damn thing lately," she said with a smile, leading Sam to Colonel Coburn, appearing to be simply sleeping peacefully on the hospital bed.

"So head injury is out?" Sam inquired, leaning as close as she dared to scan the colonel's body.

"For one of them, I would assume they tried to treat it themselves, like some other more stubborn members of other unnamed SG teams, but all of them simultaneously, no head injury is definitely out. Which brings me to infection," she continued, handing Sam over a folder.

"Infection?" Sam asked, backing up, her eyes widening.

"That was my very next thought, some outbreak; it would have to be something that would affect all three, so things such as diabetes or a stroke, those non-traumatic medical conditions are out. But they tested negative for most of the major causes of this deep of a coma, meningitis, encephalitis," she continued, pausing for the general to read the file herself. She was correct, all major disease types were covered, right down to common flu strains like she had lied to Woolsey about.

"This is a full blown coma, a three on the Glasgow scale, normally we would look next for diminishing brain function, but all vital signs are perfect, they're just completely unconscious and unresponsive," Carolyn concluded, leaning back against the wall, tired, worn, working far too hard on all of this.

"I can order an MRI, but like I said, there is no indicator that this is anything other than well, something we couldn't have expected. Something from the outside," she added the last part carefully, saying what Sam was already thinking, that she was dreading.

This was from the outside.

This was from where she thought it was.

SG-2 had come in from a scouting mission, to check on Langara, to a neighboring planet, but only she and Jack had known that, they hadn't even told Daniel or Teal'c.

Dammit, she thought unable to say the words aloud, this can't be happening.

Daniel had decided to send Jonas to bed once he had a better idea of what this planet, whatever they called themselves, had done with the ZPM. If their theories were correct, and the culture did evolve as expected, chances of the device, unused and stored in a temple were high so he only hoped that Vala and Ronon would come back with some useful information, namely the best way in. He sighed, reaching for his phone to text Vala when he realized that he probably couldn't do that either, not yet understanding the rules of what he had walked in to.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night," Daniel announced, standing from the table, leaving the folders strewn about, too tired to straighten up anything now.

"Couch ok?" Jonas asked, pointing back to the living area.

"Yeah, Ad keeps extra blankets in the hall closet," Daniel replied, hoping Jonas knew where to find them since he was too tired to try to make a suitable bed either.

Thankfully, the Langaran nodded and made his way to the hall closet, opening the door and scanning.

"Keep your phone nearby, in case Sam calls, I will too. Sleep well," Daniel added, dragging himself to his bedroom. The door was closed when he got there, suction or whether Adrienne had gotten up to shut it he was unsure, but he turned the knob quietly and slipped inside, closing it behind him.

Silence enveloped him, she wasn't even snoring, for which he was also thankful, so he tiptoed over to the dresser, stripping down to boxers and a t-shirt. Tossing the clothes on the floor, again, that could wait till morning since apparently the hamper had been moved, Daniel walked around to his side of the bed, the side by the door, lifting the blankets and crawling in carefully.

"Good night ja-wer," he whispered softly in her ear, kissing her cheek, cuddling down beside her.

"I'm not asleep Indy," she muttered, rolling onto her back and then wincing in pain, "your damn baby has decided it wants to spar with my insides."

Frowning he leaned up on his elbow, reaching across her waist to feel for himself, pressing down lightly on her abdomen. She was right, the little guy was going crazy in there; it was no wonder that she couldn't sleep.

"Adrienne I'm so sorry, I wish there was something I could do," he said, feeling terrible; he had no idea that this was all so hard for her.

"It's ok sha, it really is. Almost over, right? Forty less wha, twenty two, equals eighteen. I've got dis," she assured him reaching for his hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Wait, I can do something," he said, sitting up quickly reaching for her hand.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, but let him, sitting up to join him.

"No, ja-wer, lay back, trust me, well, I've read this but never tried it," he amended, laying her hand in his own, rubbing his fingers roughly in the center of her palm.

"The book says that I should move when the baby kicks a lot, I was about to get up," she teased, bringing up the book again, something he hadn't missed in the three weeks he was gone.

"Well, your husband wants to try something else, so can you humor him?" he teased, lifting her hand now, starting to squeeze at the point between the index finger and the thumb. It was odd, she expected to feel nothing, but the sensation was instant, her entire hand relaxing and the feeling spreading down the rest of her arm.

"Ok, so, leave it to you to turn my own tricks on me," she joked, lying back on the pillow, ignoring the baby's kicks.

"Oh you mean the use of non-medical alternatives to treat a problem? Those tricks?" he shot back, moving now down her arm, relaxing that as well, making her feel like she hadn't in nearly a month: calm.

"Yes ya coo-yon," she muttered, letting him work his hands up her arm, feeling him shift on the bed and switch to the other side. There was a pause, she was about to beg him not to stop when she felt a coolness on her skin, moisture and realized that he was now using lotion.

"Cho co, Indy, don't stop," she spat out, hearing him laugh at her feet, where he was now reaching.

"Didn't plan on it, but if your back is as bad as your arms were, I might have to work in shifts," he replied, rubbing her feet now, loosening the muscles, working only the pressure points as in her arms and not the skin as before. Her heart was starting to beat faster at the rush of blood to those areas, enough to calm the jumping child in her womb.

"I think you've knocked out Atreyu," she quipped, holding in laughter.

"It's good to know that Mosi appreciates massage; I'll have to remember that if he is a fussy baby," Daniel replied, without missing a beat, working his way to her calves, one by one, pinching the bottom of her muscle carefully, releasing a surge of comfort through her body.

"My back," she gasped out, surprised really, not at the massage, but at his ability to get it to work.

"I take it that worked?" he inquired, moving up higher to press into the back of her knee.

"More dan dat, gah I be de'pouille, but I feel so much better, gah I love you," she whimpered out, and he could tell in her voice that she meant it, that she wasn't just trying to get him to stop for his sake.

"Did Merlin stop kicking?" he asked sweetly, rubbing the rest of the lotion onto his hands and crawling up beside her.

"That one's not even funny. Makes me think you need to get down and work those man feet of mine some more," she replied, reaching out for him.

"Nuh uh missy, left side," he ordered, rolling her over and away from him.

"Why Daniel?" she whined, acting poorly, hoping he wouldn't notice but he laughed as he curled his body beside hers and pulled himself close.

"Because I read the book, alright. Go to sleep Dr. Jackson," he ordered, preparing himself to do the same.

Leaving Carolyn Lam and Cassie Frasier to tend the strangely sick SG-2 members, Samantha Carter O'Neill dragged herself to bed, opting for their on base quarters as she knew Jack had. She didn't bother with the light and had barely pulled on her pajama pants when her phone was ringing again, loudly, from her desk.

"I take it the coma guys aren't just opting for group meditation," Jack said from the bed, rolling over and sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Stay, I'll take care of it," she assured him, reaching for the phone, Carolyn's name across the screen.

"I'd rather die before I hit retirement age, so let's go play with diseases," Jack continued, standing and peering around her shoulder.

"That's not funny Jack," Sam replied, making a face, bringing the phone to her ear, "please give me some good news Carolyn," she requested, Jack already lumbering to the dresser to get some clothes.

"Hey Sam, it's Cassie. Carolyn told me to call. Five of the night shift crew, gate repair and electrical workers, just collapsed, same as the SG-2 guys," the young doctor whispered in the phone as Sam heard footsteps in the background and what sounded like yelling.

"Woolsey's here, with some guy in a suit, not the senator but some other guy. They've cornered Carolyn, demanding answers, wanting to know why there's a quarantine," Cassie explained, as quietly as possible, covering her words with fact stats she was now speaking into the phone, acting as if Sam was the CDC it seemed.

"I told him flu Cass, why did he come down there?" Sam asked, hoping that she could answer, waiting as BDU pants were tossed into her shoulder.

"Yes, yes sir. At this point we still believe that it is an aggressive flu, my chief of medicine has just asked that we report it. Yes, we will call if anyone else comes in. No, thank you," she replied, hanging up quickly, Sam letting out a sigh in response.

"It's spread, but Carolyn's dealing with Woolsey. We need to stay put," Sam explained, Jack going back to sit on the bed.

"TV it is," he said, reaching for the remote to hopefully find something on that wasn't going to be home shopping.

When Daniel woke up the sun was peeking through the curtains and Adrienne was still asleep. Standing from the bed, he stretched and reached for his phone to check the time noting a text message from Sam.

_Keep an eye on Addy. 12 now. No idea. _

"Just great," he said out loud, not thinking, still half asleep, stirring his sleeping companion from her slumber.

"Whas grea?" Adrienne said as she sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"There's been an outbreak at the SGC, Sam got a call last night, SG-2 has slipped into a coma. Apparently it's spread now, from the four members of SG-2 to the eight others," Daniel explained, watching the panic in his wife's face as she grabbed for her abdomen.

"Who? How? How's it spreading?" Adrienne started to stammer and ask, her words fumbling, her eyes wide.

"I have no idea and from the cryptic text I just got, I don't think we can ask. When we got the first call last night, after you had gone to bed, she ordered that you, me and Jonas stay here," he continued, standing to see if Jonas was awake yet himself, reaching for the doorknob.

"But, why, I mean, you didn't come wake me?" Adrienne retorted, standing to follow behind, adjusting her t-shirt around her belly.

"Because you need sleep Ad. Joking aside, you need to rest, for your sake and the baby's," he scolded gently from the door, reaching out for her, kissing her head gently. She was pulling away, annoyance in her face, and he was about to try to figure out a way to get her to see reason when his phone was bouncing wildly on the nightstand.

Holding out a finger, Daniel dashed back over, grabbing the device from the furniture to read the screen.

_20 now. Be on standby. I'm heading to the infirmary._

What was going on?

"He dropped about thirty minutes ago, mid-rant and landed face first," Carolyn said, pointing to the IOA liaison lying in a hospital bed, clearly unconscious.

"Well, I think that answers the question as to whether or not he's questioning teams on his own, since it seems here that only people in direct contact with SG-2 have been affected," Sam said, trying not to smile at the vision of Richard Woolsey landing face first onto the floor.

"Yes, and it's just that behavior that's making me think this is viral, or at least acts like a virus. The list I have so far is right over here," the doctor replied, stepping over to a whiteboard, pointing to a group of names she had scrawled there, arrows connecting them to SG-2.

"Ok, first we have SG-2, plus all of the gate room workers that were present when they arrived. Next Carson, who was the intake physician, the two nurses working with him that evening and now Woolsey plus some of their other friends. What I don't understand is point of contact. If this theory is correct, then you, Daniel, Adrienne and Vala should be affected," Carolyn shook her head, confused, not as if she wanted her friends to start dropping into comas themselves, but it still didn't make any sense.

"I was thinking of tracking their movements, but it's been a month since they came back, a month. There's no way that we could possibly track every soul that every member of SG-2 had contact with. Alright, let's start with me, I've sent Vala onto, well, I've sent her on. Let's see what makes my blood work stand out from theirs, if anything stands out at all," Sam suggested, offering her arm freely. Shrugging, not sure what else to do, Carolyn stepping forward when Cassie came tearing out of the office, horror on her face.

"Dr. Lam, it's Addy on the phone," she muttered out, her face pale.

"She can't wake up Daniel."

Sam watched her friend fall to pieces on the computer screen, Jonas pacing nervously behind her.

" 'Ee sat down on da sofa after breakfast, ahn 'ee was readin sumtin in da file ahn 'ee fell asleep, I dought 'ee fell asleep, but den Jonas tried ta talk to 'im ahn..." the Cajun trailed, weeping, Sam shaking her head not knowing what to say to comfort her as her crying worsened, the general feeling powerless on the other side of the screen.

"Here, Addy, let me talk, just, it'll be ok," Jonas said, appearing over to the side, Adrienne nodding in agreement and standing, walking out of view, presumably to Daniel's side at the sofa.

"It's just what she said. He was fine, telling us about your messages at breakfast, moving right onto a list of things he wanted to go over with Vala before her and Ronon got to the planet. I was trying to fill him in on the code, how we send messages to her spy ships, when he got up and went over to the sofa while I got another cup of coffee. The next thing I know, Addy's screaming," he explained, looking back behind him, checking on Adrienne.

"And Daniel didn't say anything? Didn't complain of anything?" she asked, her inquisitive mind searching for answers. There had to be something, anything, and if Daniel was down why was Adrienne still up and moving around?

"No, like I said he was just..." Jonas began to answer, trailing, disappearing downward out of the view of the screen.

"Jonas!" Sam shouted, standing from her chair, screaming at the computer as Carolyn rushed to her side, peering on, hearing Adrienne's voice on the other end doing the same.

"No, Jonas, no, wake-up. Why won't you guys wake up!? Sam," she was red faced, tears streaming down her cheeks, clearly in a panic, her breathing labored, "wha's wrong? Are dey gonna die? Daniel can't die ahn da baby, I canna lose my baby," she was sobbing, Sam looking back to Carolyn.

"We have to bring her in, bring them all in, at this point she's exposed anyway and I would rather have her here," Dr. Lam said, looking over her shoulder at Cassie Frasier, the young doctor sitting there, awaiting orders.

"Cassie, go get Jenn, I want her here when Addy arrives so we can sedate her and run an ultrasound on that baby immediately," she continued, Cassie grabbing the phone from where it had been on the tray earlier, dialing Jennifer's on base room. Both women stood, Carolyn watching Cassie while Sam tried to calm down Adrienne, telling her to pack anything she may need from home that she didn't have on base as Cassie's eager expression, desiring to help, turned into a frown.

"There's no answer," Cassie said, hitting the button on the phone as her face grew pale.

"Go get her, give me the phone," Carolyn ordered, her tone changed, taking the phone from the young woman's hand and dialing frantically.

"Rodney," she said into the receiver, breathing a sigh of relief, "I need you to lock in on the Jackson's house and beam over three. Adrienne is still conscious; Jonas and Daniel have slipped into the coma. Yes Rodney, I am well aware that we are beaming a baby in utero, ok, well aware, but I can't risk her life by leaving her there alone. Yes, please, beam them over and come down yourself. Cassie has gone to get Jennifer now. Thank you Rodney, thank you."

"Hear that Addy, just hang tight, Rodney's gonna beam you guys in right now," Sam assured her, determined to stay with her, on the line until she was beamed safely into this infirmary. The Cajun woman shook with fear, staring at the scream, weeping, muttering Daniel's name when beams of light shone all around here and she disappeared.

"Ok, Carolyn, that's Addy," Sam said, turning around to see the doctor lying on the floor, phone in her head, a busy signal from the receiver.

"Carolyn," Sam shouted, racing to the doctor's side, falling to her knees to check her pulse, discovering the doctor as well was simply unconscious.

"Dammit!" Sam shouted out, slamming her fist to the floor, shimmers of light appearing in a triangle around her body.

"Sam!" Adrienne yelled herself, dashing over to her friend, leaving her husband and Jonas on opposite ends of the floor.

"Carolyn too. As far as I know that just leaves Cassie, Rodney, me, you, and, oh god..." she trailed, racing to the phone, the red phone, picking it up.

"Jack!" she gasped, relief in her voice, inside feeling instantly horrible being so glad that her husband was still awake while Adrienne stood behind her, her eyes gazing back down at her own.

Turning her back to Adrienne, hoping the archaeologist wouldn't take it the wrong way, she covered her mouth at the receiver to hide her conversation.

"Jack, it's getting worse. I have Adrienne here and she's the only one conscious. Daniel, Jonas, Carolyn and I'm pretty sure Cassie and Jennifer. Rodney was supposed to come up once he beamed Adrienne in, but I'm starting to doubt that he is going to make it down here," she whispered, trying not to panic the already terrified pregnant woman.

"No joke, my secretary's a snoozin' away on her keyboard like that's acceptable behavior," he replied, but he couldn't hide his concern, she knew him better to read between the lines.

"We need to figure out who is still conscious, who isn't and make sure that no one is in a precarious situation," Sam said, running a list of base operations through her head. It was morning, mid-morning, an early shift day, a non-mission day, nothing outgoing that she could think off having quelled as many missions as she could until Daniel returned home, missions at least of any substance.

"Easy, you go make sure Dr. Perky doesn't have a melt down over Danny Boy," he replied, hanging up on her.

"Addy?" Sam asked, turning to see Adrienne sitting on the floor beside Daniel, his head in her lap, running her fingers through his hair.

"I'm trying not to panic, see, this is my trying not to panic face," she stammered out, staying strong, which Sam knew had become harder for her to do as the weeks of pregnancy passed.

"Ok, Carolyn was running my blood sample to - " she started when the loudspeaker popped, Jack O'Neill's voice loud over the all call system.

"Good Morning Vietnam! If you can hear this that means you're not passed out, so General O'Neill is requesting that you make sure the people around you are not going to get hurt where they lay and that you get yourself down to the infirmary pronto. Thanks!"

"Ok hun, that's one way to do it," Sam said, looking back to Adrienne, "I think we should take a sample from you and see if there is anything we have in common because theoretically speaking, you, me, Vala AND Daniel should have gone a while ago."

"Should we contact Vala? Sam, what if she and Dex are knocked out floating somewhere in space?!" Adrienne countered, that look back in her face as she held her husband closer to her body.

"We can try, put out a signal, but she has to contact us, it was her idea to put that protocol into place," Sam answered with a sigh as footsteps filled the hallway, not by a mass of people but the loud pounding of two sets of feet on the tile. Glancing up she saw her husband come pushing his way into the infirmary, Teal'c on his toes.

"SamanthaONeill, AdrienneJackson, we seem to be the only staff members unaffected," the Jaffa stated.

"And of course Daniel's down, it just wouldn't be a normal SG-1 problem if Daniel was still upright," Jack tried to joke, indicating the obvious, that given his wife's current theory both he and the Mrs. Dr. Jackson should by lying right with them on the floor.

"Walter too?" Sam asked, wanting to know the fate of her right hand man and Jack nodded, crossing his arms at his chest.

"Yeah, but I got him all snuggled up at his desk, all cozy like. Has anyone heard from Vala?" he countered, walking to Carolyn's communicator.

"I just put a signal out, see if she was still close enough in to get the message," Sam started when the infirmary view screen flashed to life, Vala's glaring face staring them down through the screen.

"It's spread," she said simply, stepped back, her surroundings showing that she was still on the Odyssey, her crew not even have made it to their destination.

"Everyone but me, including my handsome cohort," she answered, stepping back to reveal Ronon Dex sprawled out on the floor, "how 'bout you guys?"

She was trying to keep calm, Sam could tell, the woman had manned enough large spaceships on her own but the sight of your friends dropping around you had to be disheartening.

"You're looking at it," Jack answered, making a mental note of who was still upright and who wasn't.

"Vala, did you stop the ship, can we hold this transmission open?" Sam asked, talking as she walked, heading over to where Carolyn had set her blood sample, wondering if it was still fresh enough to work with.

"Oh yeah, you think I'm driving this big plague carrying box around the galaxy. Nope, staying put until one of you brainiacs figures out what in the hell is going on," she answered, walking away herself, pulling up a chair.

Nodding, Sam checked the sample; still seeming viable in the spinner, grabbing four syringes, vials, rubber tie offs, returning to her friends.

"Alright Vala, I'm going to start with us, but I might need you to head to the lab, take some samples and work your own blood," the general instructed, walking to Adrienne first if not for any other reason than to give her something else to think about then her husband for even just a moment.

Noting his wife's intent, Jack reached down to unbutton his shirt, carefully, rolling up his sleeve, motioning her to come and take his first.

"Alright, you do the smart stuff honey, but other than the fact that we are all members of SG-1, or were at some point, why are the five of us unaffected?" he asked, scanning his friends carefully.

"ONeill, let us look at what we each have in common, see if that brings any ideas to mind," Teal'c said, eyeing the group as well.

"That's what I've been trying to do. The obvious doesn't work, pretty, pretty, pretty," he said, pointing to the women before turning his finger toward himself, "old and ugly," and then pointing his finger to Teal'c, "big and ugly. No win there," he started, holding out his arm for Sam. Shaking her head, Sam tied off his arm as Jack continued, using his head now instead of his finger.

"Then I went with the pain in the ass angle. Me, Addy and Vala, pains in the asses. T, sometimes a pain in the ass. But you honey, always perfect," he smiled as Sam frowned, shoving the needle into his arm.

"Still gotta stick me?" he asked.

"Yep," she answered, "keep going, you've got me thinking."

"Ok, the boy girl angle doesn't work, so that's out. Daniel hasn't been here to activate anything weird and if he had I'm sure that Dr. Perky would be down there in the floor with him instead of rubbing his head..." Jack continued, making a face at Adrienne who just blushed with embarrassment, her fingers stopping mid stroke.

"Now, the alien versus Earthling thing doesn't work either, nor does the preggo thing, I've got nothing," Jack finished, his eyes wandering to Teal'c for suggestions.

"Were the five of us on any mission, on anything during DanielJackson's absence?" he asked, trying to remember who had accompanied him in his last two off world missions. Between missions and trips back and forth to the Jaffa council, his days were starting to run together.

"No, I've been on world since the Furlings came, and anywhere I went, Jonas was usually with me," the Cajun replied, cocking her head in the direction of the sleeping Langaran.

"It has to be physiological. There has to be something in our DNA, our blood, as a result of our ancestry or something," Sam noted, more to herself than anyone else, taking note of who was there. She thought as she took Teal'c's sample, walking it to the spinner, returning to the group to take Adrienne's, who was now standing trying not to look down at Daniel.

"You, me, Teal'c, Vala and Addy. If you remove Addy from the equation I would say that it is residual naquadah in our blood streams, but Addy has never hosted and despite her best efforts, is not a Jaffa," Sam stated, her face between a frown and a grin, hoping that the blood test would reveal anything, "and for once we can't blame this on Daniel's contribution," the general added.

"Wait, Sam, what was that about the Jackson STD?" Vala joked from the screen, because of course that was what she had gleaned from the conversation.

"Daniel has never been a host, there is no reason that he would have naquadah in his blood that he could pass on to Adrienne or their baby, just a thought," she said quickly, holding the Cajun's arm up into the air, the three tubes in her hand ready to be spun.

"Addy's got naquadah in her blood, my naquadah," Vala replied plainly, Adrienne's jaw dropping. She had forgotten about that and in fact hadn't taken a modified injection in weeks for fear of what the substance would do to the baby. Bewildered, Sam looked over at Adrienne and back to Vala, trying to understand what she was saying.

"Now you're thinking like me," Vala laughed, reaching behind herself to grab something to fiddle with in her hands, "Addy, Jenn and I were working on some sort of vitamin shot, made from the naquadah stabilizers in my bloodstream or some nonsense so Addy can play with the weapons she and Glasses found and keep his ex out of here."

"That is NOT why we made it Vala!" Adrienne protested, red in the face, her gaze at Sam, realizing that shit storm that was about to be unleashed, "Vala and I had this idea that if we could duplicate, temporarily, the after effects of being a host, then more personnel could use the rather large store of weapons. We had just started testing, I only really have time to try it a few times, and it wears off quickly. To be honest, I thought that my, other, well, talents, would void it completely, but I might be wrong."

"Wait, wait, let me get this straight. You, Jennifer and Vala created a naquadah injection?" Sam questioned, in complete and total shock.

"Jennifer technically. Vala was the donor and I was the guinea pig," Adrienne answered quietly, "we didn't think it would work. It was a lunch conversation that went in another direction."

"Does Daniel know that his health loving wife is shooting up his ex-girlfriend's DNA? As if the relationship between the three of you couldn't get any stranger," Jack said, Adrienne already shaking her head.

"Yes, he knew. In fact, we were analyzing the results, before, I, was," Adrienne started, shivering at the memory, "before we found out about the baby. We were going to tell you, but things, got a little, well, hairy."

Sam nodded, not happy that there had been an experiment of that magnitude going on without her knowledge, but she'd have to deal with that later.

"But Daniel already gave Dr. Perky super-healing, isn't that all the sandworms really gave us?" Jack asked as his wife set the samples in the centrifuge, setting them to spin and separate.

"ONeill, to carry a Goa'uld would not only offer healing but resistance from disease. If SamanthaONeill is correct and this is a virus, it stands to reason that the naquadah in our blood streams would protect us from the illness," Teal'c explained as Adrienne took a deep breath.

"I want an Amnio," Adrienne requested, nervous, now wondering how this would affect her baby.

"I can't now Addy, but I think that would be a good idea," Sam answered, worried as well, worried about all of the things that Adrienne had been through and how it would affect their child, but there was no time for that, not now.

In silence Sam watched the blood twirl in a circle, her friends watching as well, looking to her for the answer. She hoped they were right, she hoped they were staring right at the solution to this, but it still didn't answer one question.

Where had this come from?

In her heart though, she knew, she knew who had caused this and sent this, and more than worrying about her friends, waking them up, making sure they were all right, Sam knew this would be the end.

"Adrienne?" she called out, motioning for the Cajun to join her, the round woman hobbling over to the counter, worry in her dark mysterious eyes.

"I want you to continue, find another guinea pig, once we have taken care of this situation, continue. If this is what has kept you safe, kept the baby safe, I want this injection. But we need to keep it under wraps, you and Jenn just continue as you were, but find another subject," the general requested.

"Yes ma'am," Adrienne replied, deferring to her as a boss not as a friend, thankful that she wasn't going to get into trouble.

Her mind in a million places, thinking about the implications of an injection, getting out of this mess, how to hide this all from Woolsey and the senate oversight committee, Samantha worked quietly and quickly, her husband and Teal'c sitting down to chat and Adrienne returning to Daniel.

"It's the naquadah," Sam declared a few hours later, bringing her hand her chin, "so we know what's going on, but how to do it, how to harness it, we'd need Jennifer's formula, Vala's DNA..."

"I got that covered," Adrienne shouted, standing from the floor to lay Daniel's head down gently, rushing to the door of the cooler.

"We kept a box in here; it's in the back of the larger cooler. Won't have enough for everyone, but maybe enough to wake up Jenn, Carolyn, and Rodney so they can start working on making more. Do you think we could use your blood Sam? Or Jack's?" Adrienne asked at the door way Sam nodding.

"Possibly," she answered, Adrienne heading back into the cooler, pausing one last time.

"Sam?" she asked meekly.

"Adrienne we need those injections," the general answered.

"Can I wake up Daniel, first, with this round?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," Sam replied, shooing Adrienne into the cooler.

"Did it work?"

"Yes - it did. Perfect hibernation it seems."

"How did they figure out how to awaken?"

"Naqahdah in the blood stream."

"I knew the Jaffa would be unaffected, but I did not take into account the residual in the Tok'ra hosts, or Qetesh. Have any Langarans been hosts? Tok'ra or otherwise?"

"Not that I am aware of."

"Excellent. Tomorrow then. Add it to the food supply"


	58. Chapter 57 - The Switch

_Asking you all to trust me again because EVERYTHING happens for a reason!_

"Kahmun," he said from across the lab, Adrienne rolling her eyes wildly.

"Carl," she countered, Jonas now rolling his eyes at their daily argument. More like hourly argument.

He was about to name this baby himself.

"That's the kid from the zombie show of yours that never stays in the house. That's a great example of how to behave," Daniel shot back, Adrienne shaking her head, "And I already said no to Walking Dead characters."

"And who is the hell is Kahmun?" she asked in response, her husband shrugging from across the room.

"I dunno, it sounded cool," he replied, Jonas reaching to rub his temple.

"Well, keep making that the basis for child naming and I'll keep giving you names of TV characters you hate. My knowledge of pop culture knows no bounds," she teased back, standing, her hand pressed firmly to her back.

"How about Tomis?" Jonas suggested, thinking back to the more influential people in his life and trying to find a more suitable name for a child to be born on Earth.

"Hear that Indy, Jonas is even better at this than you are," she joked, waddling to the lab door.

"Ja-wer, where are you going?" Daniel asked as she started to leave, slowly, painfully he could tell. She was nearing twenty four weeks and he honestly had no idea how she was going to make it to forty.

"To feed your monster. Jonas, you should come. We can discuss logical names for children since my husband apparently can't," she taunted, pausing at the door. Laughing, Adrienne motioned for Jonas to follow, she wanted company and knew Daniel was working and he followed, glad to use helping his friend out as an excuse to eat again.

He liked Earth food.

"Viktor!" she heard her husband shouting down the hall, overly stressing the Russian in the pronunciation of the name.

"Morpheus," Adrienne shouted back, "all day Indy, I can do this all day!"

"You're so awful to him," Jonas laughed, following behind as he shook his head, wondering if they would ever select a name.

'I know; I live for it. And you have to admit, it's a two way a street," she countered back, today's cafeteria menu already running through her head.

"Were you guys always like this? I mean, he never seemed so, well, loose before. Other than Jack, I did see him kid around with Jack," Jonas asked, having thought it was quite strange that this very, well, decorated woman ended up with of all people, Daniel.

"Not in the very beginning, but soon after. Once we figured out each other's sense of humor it was no holds barred," Adrienne laughed, remembering all of fights when they were trying to figure out those very senses of humor.

"How did the amnio go?" he inquired, changing the conversation, feeling that he might have gotten too personal.

"It went," she answered, quietly. Ok, maybe that was personal too.

"That good?" he joked, breaking the ice with her the best way he knew how, a joke.

"Let's go with yes," she smiled back, clearly not offended.

"Are you sure?" he asked despite feeling that he was prying again but Adrienne didn't argue, stopping her stride and looking back at him.

"It didn't show much. My blood still has and always will have the dopamine from Daniel, a lot more with the baby. He has it too, a pretty good amount in the little guy, so Carolyn is requiring weekly visits now in case my body decides to reject him. I'm still taking my meds but, but I don't know. It's scary," she answered honestly, the fear in her eyes evident.

"And the naquadah?" Jonas pushed, not wanting to upset her but genuinely concerned for his friends and their baby. After everything Addy had told him that they had been through, this just didn't seem very fair.

"More lovely secrets of the Ancients and how the Goa'uld came to be I guess. The dopamine heals and since naquadah in the blood can act as another form of that, it keeps a little in my blood stream. Not enough to fire weapons, but it lingers..." as did her voice, leading him to believe that she was simply reciting the speech that Carolyn had given the scared pregnant woman.

"I'm sorry Addy," was all Jonas could say, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

"No, I mean, the little guy looks ok. Correct size, a tad above average even, which considering how much I eat I shouldn't be surprised, perfect development, and he's certainly active," Adrienne stared, wincing, reaching for her stomach.

"Like now?" he asked, hoping that it was just the baby and not a problem.

"Oh yeah, that's really why I needed to walk down here. I had food in the lab," Adrienne admitted, taking deep slow breaths as she rubbed her belly, her son slamming her wandering hand.

"Can I?" Jonas asked, curious, feeling awkward for asking, reaching to touch without thinking before retracting his hand.

"Yeah, sure. If I wasn't getting pummeled from the interior it would be kinda cool, I admit," she said instead with a smile, reaching for his hand. Taking it into her own she set it on the lower left hand side of the bulge. He didn't feel anything for a moment when suddenly there was wild moment under his hand, his palm actually being forcefully kicked away. Pulling his hand back surprised, he suddenly understood why Adrienne was so uncomfortable.

"Oh wow he is a wild little guy," the Langaran observed, his friend smirking and nodding her head in agreement.

"See what I mean? If Daniel could carry him for just five minutes just five minutes to understand. Don't get me wrong, he's been a saint, but I would just love for him to really understand," she added, amending her answer quickly.

"You don't have to explain, I can see that he does. But I understand, it would probably be nice just to have him be in your shoes for a short while," Jonas offered, reaching for her shoulder again, getting a shrug in return. Deciding he needed to change the subject, yet again, he led her gently again in the direction of the cafeteria.

"So, this name game?" he asked now smiling.

"I'm messing with him," Adrienne replied swiftly, that fun grin of mischief on her face.

"I thought so," he answered, laughing, "so have you picked a name? Or are you still trying to decide?"

"I've pretty much narrowed it down, just trying to decide which is middle and which is first," she answered, Jonas making a face of confusion.

"Wait, you give two names? Why?" he asked, Adrienne shaking her head.

"Long complicated history. Pretty much started in Europe to make all whiney relatives happy to be included in the naming of the child. Picked up in the states through immigration and now everyone just does it," she tried to simplify, knowing Jonas was just going to go back to the lab and look it up anyway.

"So what are the two?" he inquired, planning as Adrienne anticipated to look up this Earth custom.

"That shug is a secret. And don't go telling Daniel just yet. If I have to let his son beat my innards to death, he's going to stress about which Jedi knight I'm gonna name him after."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We've got the images from Vala, this is a fairly easy in and out and we've got the possible ZPM locations. What we don't have is a woman," Daniel said with a sigh to Sam and Jack, the only two he had bothered to call to the briefing. No point in telling everyone else, he thought, considering he was still at an impasse.

"We have plenty of women on base Daniel, what are you talking about?" Jack countered .

"Jack, Teyla won't leave Torren anymore to go off world unless she has to, granted we are in a bind, but she's scared. Leaving her son on base used to be more of a guarantee, but it, it's just not," Daniel explained, understanding for the first time in his life; it made him think of that protective box again he wanted to shove Adrienne into.

"Do we have to have Geisha?" Sam inquired now, reading over the specs and information.

"Maybe not, but it would make things easier if I was trying to offer a new girl to the business. It would give each of us a different position on the inside," he replied, Jack chuckling.

"And woman gab," Jack interjected, "a lot. If that thing is sitting on the city side, it's the women that will know."

"I wish I could go," Sam offered instantly, Daniel shrugging.

"I know, you or Vala, but she keeps insisting that she needs to keep her, uh, cover," Daniel answered, forgetting for a moment but Sam nodding, understanding the double meaning in his statement.

"No, Richard agrees that Vala and her teams should be kept to their assignments and that only," she replied, assuring him he was not mistaken. He really wasn't very good at this covert operations mess and no matter how many spy movies Adrienne tried to get him to watch he wasn't going to get any better.

"Well Dr. Perky's as big as a house, so she's out," Jack said, chewing his pen before tapping it on the table.

"Please don't say that to her Jack. She's hormonal disaster right now and I don't want to add that to her current list of obsessions," Daniel pleaded, a tired look in his eyes.

Yeah, Jack thought, he had to admit that Adrienne was not a very good pregnant lady; she puked, she cried, she got really mad and then really depressed.

But still, it was kinda funny to see Daniel have to deal with it.

"Well on this one we can go to other woman outside, maybe Ann Mardsen?" Sam suggested.

"I've thought of her, and few of her team members. I don't want to delay this any further, but if you just give me one more day to think, go through personnel files, see if someone has a better background for this, see if anyone stands out," Daniel requested, shutting the folder and trying to think. Adrienne would be easiest, she was a Classist but anyone with a PhD in any of the historical fields had to have knowledge of other cultures at least more so than the average person. His darling wife, however, was out, as much because she was pregnant as for the fact that she was pregnant with his child.

He wasn't about to risk either of them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, I've narrowed it down to Ann Mardsen, primarily for her language skills, Ming Tuey who actually did study her native Asian cultures in undergrad and Karol Grubbs, member of SG-4, since her father is from Japan, the name just isn't. Anyone else would take weeks' worth of training and prep since this sort of thing is usually dealt with, by, well, us," Daniel stated laying the three file folders at the center table.

The center table, Jonas noted, remembered Jack's comment from the other week, wondering if it were true.

"Jonas, I asked if you had a preference, I know Adrienne's," Daniel repeated, peering over at his friend.

Jack has to be kidding, he thought, trying to focus on the files, reading the bio and specs of each candidate carefully.

"Who does Addy want?" he inquired, each of the women seeming as qualified as the last.

"Ann, she's got a good head on her shoulders. I think Tuey is too quiet and Karol doesn't have enough experience with operations like this," Adrienne replied quickly.

"What about you?" Jonas turned to Daniel, who seemed to be reaching for Lt. Tuey's file when the lab shook, subtly, not violently, the Langaran seeing a thin blue line appear at the back wall of the lab, expanding, growing warmer, radiating the room.

"Dr. Jackson," a small humanoid appeared, from the blue, a small humanoid the three knew, one of them better than the others.

"Medan, welcome," Daniel greeted, Adrienne feeling his glare, racing over to the cameras in response. This was one of the things that the senate committee was not happy about, but with the Tok'ra only agreeing to meeting off world for moments at a time with little information, the Jaffa having their own internal issues, everyone else was gone and Sam refused to sour relations with the Ktaenam in any way, shape or form.

"Thank you Dr. Jackson. We wanted to come and see if you have been able to locate any crystals or need further assistance," he started asking immediately, Daniel noting it was a kind gesture, but a strange one.

Yes, they had wanted to help, but it seemed very odd they were checking on the progress.

"Slow, there was a sickness on the base when I arrived home, it took a few weeks to clear that up. Everything's fine now, but it delayed our progress significantly," he replied.

"A sickness? How?" the small man asked, Daniel shrugging and shaking his head.

"We aren't sure. It attacked our base, put everyone is a state of deep sleep. We fear it might have been Anubis, but we have no proof," he explained, Medan placing his hand to his chin and nodding.

"There have been problems on some of our planets, not planets of the Ktaenam but planets we frequent. There are groups of thieves, thieves in ships of the Goa'uld that are coming in, attacked villages, stealing things, valuable things, weapons, food. We try not to interfere, just jump in and help as needed, but our leaders are sending in people to go and disable ships to try to stop them," Medan said, a clear concern in his face.

"What do they look like?" Adrienne spoke up, already walking to her computer to pull up some images.

"They wear the skin of animals, colored and they are very crude," he described, Adrienne walking her laptop over to him.

"Do they look like this?" she said, pointing to a picture on her screen that Daniel couldn't see but he knew what she had pulled up. Medan nodded, looking at his larger friends in confirmation.

"Lucians," Adrienne confirmed her husband's thoughts.

"I thought you guys hadn't heard from them in a while," Jonas said, unsure, going to his own computer to check his files.

"We hadn't, in fact Anubis was blackmailing them, killing their families, but they were fleeing, splitting up, hiding. We hadn't heard of much movement since," Daniel replied, taking his careful gaze back to Medan, "I guess we know where they've gone."

"I am so sorry to visit and be so demanding, we are simply growing very concerned. When it was the time of the system lords, they stayed away from our planets and even when they did break those truces it was with a Jaffa army, not like this. Not this," he shook his head slowly.

"We're working on it Medan, we might have found one of the crystalline power sources, ZPMs as we call them. Would you care to see?" Daniel asked, changing the subject, sensing it needed to be changed. They couldn't take care of their own problems, were barely making due with the Langaran situation and to start sending help to aid the Furlings was going to be impossible and for the IOA out of the question entirely.

Appreciating the gesture, Adrienne could tell by the small man's body language, he walked to approach Daniel desk, stepping on his toes to peer at the screen.

"This planet, based on our resources and devices seems to be our best chance. We sent a friend there and she said that they have had no contact with the outside world. There is a gate there, but the best she could tell they were settled, possibly by the Goa'uld but no system lords ever returned there. There are two different, very different elements of Japanese-like culture that could have the devices - THIS group of warriors and THIS group of entertainers. Warriors are fine and we have enough martial artists to make that work, but the other group on earth we would call geishas, the female entertainers, that's the problem. We're a little short on women that I trust enough to pull this off," Daniel explained, sitting back in his desk chair so the small man could see. He re-examined the information carefully, taking it all in Daniel could tell, before stepping back to make a face at the archaeologist.

"Why not your wife? She is your assistant and helps you in many of these quests, as she did the challenges," Medan asked, confused as Daniel, equally as confused, pointed in Adrienne's direction, at her protruding belly in particular.

"Medan she's pregnant with our child, and very far along in the human birth cycle," he noted, Adrienne smiling and nodding downward.

"Our women continue to work until it is time for the birth," Medan replied, almost as if he was scolding Daniel for not thinking the same.

"Ours too, but these women that she needs to impersonate are, well, uh, not 24 weeks pregnant," Daniel responded, delicately, not wanting Adrienne to be any more self-conscious than she already was.

It was only a week ago that Adrienne had started sobbing loudly in the shower, forcing Daniel to race into the bathroom hoping that something wasn't wrong, only to discover Adrienne crying that she could no longer see her feet. Given the size of her belly, he was fairly certain that she hadn't seen her feet in weeks, but for some hormonal reason it was that day, in the shower, that she had decided to fall apart.

He didn't need a repeat here.

"So you have selected the warriors to go?" the Ktaenam man changed his questioning quickly, possibly sensing his friend's apprehension.

"Yes, two of my colleagues Cam & Ronon. They are both accomplished fighters and I can trust them," Daniel answered, less concerned.

"Tobh. Then you would normally accompany your wife?"

There he goes again, Daniel thought, why won't he let this go? Adrienne cannot go and that is that.

"Normally yes, but as I said, she can't go," he reiterated slowly.

"If you could not have gone with your wife, who would have gone?" Medan continued.

"My friend Jonas here, he knows as much as I do about culture, maybe more since this wasn't my area of expertise and he has been studying it intensely for weeks," Daniel answered, yet again, still confused as to where this line of questioning was going.

"Tobh," he answered again, Adrienne wondering what else the man was going to say other than "good" about their situation. Shrugging she felt light suddenly, a freeing feeling, reaching for her abdomen.

It was then Dr. Adrienne Jackson screamed, nightmares of a past mission flooding her memory.

"Ja-wer!" Daniel was shouting racing to her, "what did you do!?" he threw out back at Medan when he felt a dull ache in his stomach, then a stretch, a painful stretch. Unable to remain upright, he fell to his knees, reaching, feeling his middle expanding growing rapidly, coupled with a wild thrashing from the inside.

"We can borrow and we can share. We can help. Now your wife can go and your friend can go and get the crystal," Medan said with a smile as Adrienne stood, shaking, holding her waist, her eyes locked on her husband who was equally as terrified.

"Jonas," Daniel choked out from the floor, "call Dr. Lam."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We can assure you doctor everything is perfectly fine, but due to the nature of your, what's that word you use for yourselves, human, physique, you will only have seven earth solar cycles before we must rescind the share," the Ktaenam man assured both the physician and still panicked archeologist, ignoring the trembling mother behind him.

"A week?!" Daniel shouted, trying to sit, his entire sense of balance completely opposite of what he was used to.

"Yes, will that be sufficient time to get the device? " Medan inquired, his eyes darting between the three humans standing around him, none of which seemed to appreciate this solution.

"Carolyn is the baby alright?" Adrienne asked, ignoring the Furling, reaching out for Daniel's hand, still hesitant to touch his protruding belly.

"The baby's is fine and it seems that they've borrowed a little more than the baby Addy, extra skin and your wo-," Dr. Lam began to explain what she was seeing on the ultrasound screen when Daniel threw up his hands, shaking his head.

"Please no, just no details. I don't want to know how it is working as long as it's working. If Adrienne's alright, the baby's alright, and I'm alright that's all I need to know," he interjected, laying his head back on the pillow in frustration.

Frowning, Adrienne turned her back to him, their finger's still lightly touching, as she studied the image of their son on the monitor, the one monitoring the wrong body.

"I had to come see this, just had to," a familiar voice boomed from behind him, the last voice he wanted to hear as he lay here, his belly large, his son still kicking wildly inside. There was laughing, because of course that would be his first reaction, Daniel turned his head slightly to see Jack powering his way over, a grin from ear to ear, followed by Jonas, who was certainly not as amused.

"Sorry, Sam was in a meeting," his other assistant offered from behind, shrugging, trying to give Daniel some sort of idea that he had no clue Jack was going to behave in this fashion.

"Jonas for future reference if anything like this EVER happens to me, we DON'T call Jack ever," Daniel growled, turning his head from his old friend to look back at his wife who was still staring at the screen, mumbling in French, clearly lost in thought.

"Does that mean you plan on gettin' preggo again because I know you and Dr. Perky have a strange kinda relationship. She seems to be the type of girlie that if she could would make you do it," Jack continued to joke much to Daniel's growing annoyance.

"Please leave," Daniel growled, stressing each word when another sensation hit him, nausea and he reached out for Carolyn, who was talking to Adrienne, he needed a pan, he needed something, but no one was watching but Jack as he erupted his lunch onto the floor.

"Indy!" he heard his wife finally shout out, rushing to his side, too late for a bucket, but with a towel in hand, cautiously stepping around his mess.

"What in the hell; you haven't throw up in weeks? Have you?" he asked, swearing slightly, trembling as she often did after throwing up. Leaning over, she wiped his face sweetly, reaching for a pan in case he were to get sick again.

"No sha, not for weeks," she whispered sadly, knowing instantly what he was going through.

"Then why am I?" he choked out, heaving again, holding the pan to his head while Adrienne ran her fingers gently through his hair.

"They're called hormones my friend, hormones. Oh this is gonna be so much fun..." Jack replied in her stead, still smiling.

"What are you talking about Jack?" Daniel spat over his shoulder, trying to control the bile working its way up his throat.

"Uh, when the head of archaeology, who happens to be a MALE in his LATE forties regardless of whatever other crazy shit that makes you NOT appear that way and one of my closest friends turns up pregnant, I tend to think I need to stick around to help," the general answered coolly, still smiling, a task he was refusing to delegate to anyone else.

"No," Daniel answered flatly.

"Really? I was expecting you to be touched by the close friend statement," he shot back, frowning. Peering over his glasses, the frames barely hanging on his face, Daniel looked up at his wife pleading.

"Ad, ja-wer..." he said, waiting for her to intervene, but she shrugged, pausing before answering to glance back at the last image, still frozen on the monitor.

"Indy, look, the problem's solved. Jonas and I can check the cities, Cam and Dex can check the Bushido temples, get the ZPM and head home," she responded, an evil glare in return.

"I could call Vala," she added, Daniel dropping the empty pan into the floor.

"Jack, my quarters. We are staying in my quarters."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daniel had yet to make it to his quarters.

"Sha, listen to me. If you take these pills and then sit down, quietly, it takes a bit but it works," Adrienne tried to reason, handing him over the prescription bottle of nausea meds but he shooed them away, readjusting things around his desk.

"Adrienne, I need to be here and make sure that everything is in order before you leave, uh..." Daniel started to reply, leaning over to dry heave into the trashcan, "you would be insisting on staying too," his voice echoed from the bin.

"I've had a little more practice with the space invader than you have..." she replied cautiously, knowing how truly stubborn her spouse could be, forcing herself not to laugh as well at his predicament.

He was pregnant, completely, totally, they played with his biology a lot pregnant and it was too funny for words.

"Keep going Jonas," that trashcan voice echoed.

"Dr. Perky can read R2," Jack informed him, receiving a quickly thrust middle finger in return.

"Damn, he doesn't even try to hide it when he's in the family way," the general added, Jonas shaking his head.

"Given that we're assuming the similarities are enough to pull this off, Addy's too old to be Maiko, we're going to have to make sure she can pass as a fully trained Geisha," Jonas said, taking pictures over to lay them on the center table, pausing, breathing in deeply and setting them down one by one.

"How far into Geisha training are we talking guys? Tea ceremony and etiquette or full-on Kabuki theatre?" Adrienne asked, running her finger carefully over the pictures of the gorgeous outfits, excited to be able to fit in one again, if only for a week.

"Which one doesn't leave Adrienne alone with a man?" Daniel asked, head from trashcan as his wife frowned at him.

"What are you talking about Daniel?" she said, rolling her eyes, wondering if this was going to go down, when she remembered and smiled.

Leaving the table for a moment she walked over to where he was sitting, resting her palm on his back.

"Stop," she whispered lightly so only he could hear.

"I just can't and I, like this," he started to stammer, Adrienne shaking her head.

"It's the hormones. It's what I think every day Indy, every day," she admitted quietly, Jack turning his back to them to talk to Jonas, giving them privacy.

"I would never even for a second think of anyone but you ja-wer," he said, gazing up at her, his face distraught.

"Me neither, ZPM or not. So, stop that, all of that and take it easy. Galen's rough on you, I know. I love you," she whispered in his ear, kissing it lightly.

"I love you too and Galen's not so bad. Where's that from?" he asked, wiping his face out of paranoia more than anything else as Adrienne blushed, trying not to laugh.

"Dark Horse comics," she said quickly, walking back to the table.

"What's that?" he asked, not trusting the look on her face.

"More Star Wars," she erupted into laughter, heading back to see what this training would entail.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I feel like Mulan," Adrienne declared some time later, twirling herself in front of a mirror in the lab. It was part of Jonas and Cam's final trip back down from the Odyssey, the Asgard replicator machine easily pumping out two full suits of Samurai armor as well as a kimono for Adrienne and matching business man attire for Jonas.

"Who's Mulan?" Jonas asked, knowing his friend well enough to know it was yet another movie reference but with Adrienne it was impossible to keep up.

"Ad, Mulan is Chinese," Daniel corrected, upright now, walking, pacing really, and worrying Jonas as to exactly how his body was taking this drastic change.

"Same idea," she countered, smiling at Jonas ready to explain, "cartoon, based on myth. Woman impersonates man to go to war in place of her father rather than be part of an arranged marriage."

"Sounds like your kind of girl," Jonas replied as Daniel marched up beside him.

"Adrienne, really, you of all people? Same idea? I mean, Ow! Why are you doing that!" he scolded, wincing, shaking his head in pain.

"Why am I doing what? Being right? Both societies had relatively the same attitudes towards woman and their usefulness," his wife replied, scowling, seeming to have second thoughts about her soft blue garb, the pink center fabric in particular.

"Not you, the baby! Dammit can't we agree on a name so I know what I can yell at him?" Daniel spat, Jack rolling his eyes and pulling up a chair.

"Sure, got a suggestion?" Adrienne shrugged, Jack raising his hand.

"Yep, the creature that made Daniel whine more than I thought was humanly possible," he suggested.

"Ebo," Daniel said, rubbing his belly as he walked.

Creepy, Jack thought to himself, watching his happy young little wife dance around while he is huge and pregnant, just plain creepy.

"Ya got me on dat one sha, dat's like me pulling out obscure Hebrew on ya," she teased, looking back from the mirror, her lips a deep red making her pale make-up clad face seem even paler.

"Not as common a name but OW! It means "born on Tuesday" as in today. As in I'm gonna make Carolyn get this thing out of me," Daniel shouted out, raging at his stomach, his glasses falling off of his face, a hand pressed to his back, the vein at his forehead throbbing.

"Jack do you have your phone?" Adrienne asked, erupting into laughing, leaning over onto her knees, choking as the tight dress restrained her.

"Already recording," he responded, pointing the gadget at Daniel, the red light on the faceplate blinking as Daniel face changed, a finger shoving his glasses up his nose, his eyes reddening as they laughed.

"Stop, both of you this isn't funny. This is...," he trailed, tears falling down his cheeks freely, "Not funny. Why am I crying?" he asked, wiping them away, sitting down, wetness continuing to cascade down his face.

"Indy, sha, welcome to my reality," Adrienne smiled, readjusting herself, grabbing the fans from the center table to try the dance from the video she had cued up on her iPad.

"But I'm just mildly frustrated why do I feel like someone died," Daniel sobbed out, smacking the phone from Jack's hand, letting his head collapse into his hands. Jonas started to take a step forward to offer comfort, something, but Adrienne shook her head, knowing how when she felt such swings herself she didn't want to be patronized. Nodding in understanding, Jonas stepped away watching Daniel fall apart in front of him.

"Because there is another human residing in your innards," she answered simply, beginning the fan dance again, slowly, crouching and dipping more like it was a fight than a dance.

"Less video game like," Jack criticized, Adrienne frowning and beginning again, more robotic this time, Jonas now scrunching up his face.

"Do you think music would help?" he suggested, walking over to the computer to find something appropriate, the sobbing continuing from behind him.

"I can't even cry without it beating me to death," Daniel wailed, Adrienne rolling her eyes to start again.

"I know sha, I know," she answered patiently, as patiently as she could understanding and fighting the urge to try to comfort him, which she knew would result in him lashing out, just like she did.

I really hope that I'm not this bad to him, she thought, clearing her throat to start again.

"Ready," she said, Jonas starting the music, a slow Japanese selection. Turning her head lightly to the left first, Adrienne let her eyes trail the fan in her matching hand, lifting the arm to meet her gaze, stepping out slowly with her left leg when she heard him sobbing again.

"For cryin' out loud Daniel, Dr. Perky has got to learn this to pull this off, otherwise there is no point to you having a bun in the over other than my own personal amusement," Jack hissed, Daniel lifting his head, wiping his face, angry now, standing walking over to Jack.

_Dammit Jack, I didn't want Indy to do THAT..._

"Your amusement!? Do you know how many stupid situations you have gotten into over the years that I'm not sitting here choosing to point out to embarrass you!? Do you!? Should I start with the earlier years of the program or just the most recent episodes of idiocy?!" he screamed, his wife racing up to catch him by his chest.

"Stop Daniel. Now," she ordered, glancing back at Jack and Jonas, " I'm gonna get Daniel to lay down. I'll be right back."

Jack started to joke and Jonas to argue, but she glared at them both in warning, her dark cajun eyes daring them to protest. It was the same glance she gave to Daniel as he opened his mouth, shutting it quickly as she took his hand, leading him from the lab.

"This isn't necessary," he hissed the moment they were away from earshot, pulling his hand from her clasp.

"What?" she played stupid, walking the best she could in the dress to the elevators, the wooden sandals clacking loudly on the tiles.

"Taking me to bed," he replied as she knew he would, hobbling along beside her.

"You do it to me all of the time," she pointed out, reaching the elevators and tapping the button. The doors opened as he was frowning already, following behind her as she entered.

"Yea, but, nuh uh, I'm not gonna let you catch me," he started to argue and stopped, getting the sinking feeling that this was going to bite him in the ass later if he kept talking.

"I'm not trying to. Seriously, I've adjusted to what he takes out of you, you haven't. Sleep and Jack'll bring you down something to eat in a while," she assured him, tapping the button for their level before peering back over at him.

"Can't you call Teyla?" he asked, not looking forward to Adrienne leaving in the morning, leaving him high and dry and with Jack.

"Already did. She's training some cadets and then will have Torren but has promised to come and check on you," Adrienne answered, reaching out for his hand.

"Thank you ja-wer," he whispered, squeezing her fingers strongly.

"I told you, I understand, I do mon amour," she replied, looking over at him, a smile across her face. Biting her lower lip, she raced over to the control panel, hitting the emergency stop and deactivating the camera.

"What are you doing? " he questioned, frowning, his crystal blue eyes cutting themselves sharply at her.

"Me? Gonna make out with you in the elevator. I'm feeling like myself again," she teased, bringing her lips to his neck and reaching her hands for his belt buckle.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Daniel awoke the next morning, his neck in pain having to sleep on his left side, on Adrienne's side so they could be close, she was gone, a note on the nightstand saying she was getting dressed. Jack must have come by too, there was breakfast laid out on the desk, so Daniel stood, painfully and ate the entire offering, all four waffles, the apple and the entire carton of juice.

"This is unreal little guy," he told his abdomen, a kick in response as he trudged over to get dressed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow," was really all he could say when he saw his wife standing in the jumper bay in full Geisha attire. She'd been wearing the dress yesterday, he'd taken the dress off of her yesterday, but it hadn't looked like this. She was stunning, her dark eyes seeming to explode from the white make-up carefully painted on her cheeks.

"I know right? Jaw up Indy, you know I can rock a dress," she teased, smiling, walking, no gliding, over to greet him, her motions very soft and unAdrienne. She could certainly play the part.

"That should do it," Sam agreed, slipping in a side entrance eyeing Adrienne's garb. The kimono was the same as yesterday, a pale blue, but Daniel was now noticing that the wrap around the center was not at all what he had originally thought, it was multicolored, a cream that changed to a peach that changed to a red, the black outline of a cherry tree drawn to the right hand side. The bottom of the kimono was covered in blossoms that carefully matched the color scheme at her waist and the floral effects in her dark hair. She wore traditional Geisha makeup, whitened face, soft pink over the eyes and red lips, but it was the pencil at her thin eyebrows and at the lids themselves that made her eyes more mysterious then he had ever seen them before.

He was completely taken aback and was just about to reach out for her when there were footsteps behind him.

"And so should that," Jonas said, "you guys definitely look the part."

Having forgotten about the other half of the mission, his attentions focused on his current predicament and his wife, Daniel turned to see Ronon and Cam enter, large horned helmets with intimidating dangling masks tucked underneath their arms. The replicator had done its job as well, both men covered from head to toe in black horizontal leatherwork overlain at the joints by carefully welded metal, a lighter substitute for Iron Daniel hoped. Both wore the traditional thigh pads, attached under what metal and leather skirt that adorned their waist, all accented with a padded leather vest. The men carried two swords that he could see, although Daniel was certain that their armor hide at least three more blades.

"Did you read over the information I sent to your office Cam?" Jonas asked, in a business suit himself, flicking around on the iPad in a very Adrienne-like fashion.

"Yes and watched The Last Samurai to boot," he added, smiling at the very archaeologist in question who shrugged as all of the eyes in the room descended on her.

"Oh come on, it's pretty historically accurate all things considered..." she argued, Daniel already shaking his head.

"You guys ready?" Sam asked, changing the subject, anxious to see this through, "Rodney will be beaming you up to the Daedalus and the crew will take you to the planet's orbit. It's only a few hours, fortunately, puddle jumper and from there you're on your own."

"Got it," Cam answered, adjusting the sword at his side, "All right people. Let's hope the Furlings are the real deal," he announced, proceeding to the designated beaming area.

"Adrienne, I, please don't do anything risky, don't, don't get hurt. And some Geisha, they sell, services, and I," Daniel started, reaching out for his wife with one hand, his eyes red, his face distressed, his other hand resting on his belly.

"Sha, these hormones are kicking your ass. Please take it easy. I'm fine, I'm gonna stick to the plan and," she leaned in, bringing her lips close to his ear, "you're the only man whose bed I want to be in, ok? And I want to be in it when I get back..." she added, disregarding their company to kiss his neck lightly, hoping to leave him with that lingering thought and memory from last night.

"You had to do that didn't you?" he hissed, willing his body to control itself.

"You're not crying anymore are you? Now, you just stay here with Jack, watch a movie and take good care of Aragorn for me," she said, squeezing his palms as she backed up, trying to keep a straight face.

"This is a joke to you, isn't it?" he asked, not missing her latest name suggestion.

"No comment, ana bahbak," she replied as the columns of light shimmered all around her body.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We'll drop you and Ronon on the outskirts of the city. You'll need to take a carriage to the temples while Addy & I cloak the jumper and leave it closer to the city," Jonas instructed as Cam brought the puddle jumper into the planet's orbit, peering over his shoulder in confusion as he steadied their descent.

"You know how to drive a jumper?" he asked the Langaran, his eyes cutting over at Ronon to see if there was something that his companion knew that he didn't.

"I do," Adrienne answered happily, shuffling gracefully in her wooden sandals, her hands shooing him from the seat.

"Since when?" he challenged but stood, her eyes glaring at him through the layers of make-up.

"Since I can't run all massive and with child. I got bored, needed an outlet so I asked John to teach me," she answered, crossing her arms across her chest, daring him to question.

"Ok girlie, ok, thought we left the hormones back with Jackson," he stood, throwing up his hands in surrender as she took his seat.

"Cute Cam, ya think ya and Dex can manage to keep ya heads attached ta ya bodies while I get da ZPM and save da day?" she inquired with a smile, sticking out her tongue at him before pulling it quickly into her mouth as to not destroy her carefully painted lips.

"The smartass is back, I missed you," Cam said, reaching to hug her and mess up her make-up when she got into a stance, laughing as she did.

"It's amazing how soft little mini-Jackson makes me. Little bugger, he's lucky I love him," she laughed back, returned to a normal standing position in her kimono, looking to Ronon to see that he was ready.

"Stay safe girl. You too Jonas," he stated, Cam reaching over to hit the button to beam them to the surface.

"You ready?" Jonas turned to her the moment they were gone, inquiring, knowing she'd been out of missions of this sort for nearly four months and posing as a Geisha wasn't exactly an easy thing to do.

"Do you mean am I used to being myself again?" she asked in return, nearly reading his mind.

"That too..." he responded, feeling it useless to lie but the look on her face was clear.

She was ready.

She had missed this.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just hoping that for all of this trouble we find a ZPM," she started, pausing to chuckle lightly, "and I'm wondering what in the hell Indy is doing right now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daniel was sitting at the desk in his quarters, trying to work, his brain attempting to focus on the next closest planet that might house a ZPM while his son decided to pommel his insides when it hit him.

"Shit," he mumbled, knowing it was coming, glancing disdainfully at the bottle of water at his right hand, the third bottle of water that he had had in an hour. He knew that was a bad idea, but he had just been so thirsty.

"What?" Jack questioned from the bed, setting the remote down to glance over at him, some stupid cartoon character dancing around on the TV screen.

Oh how I miss zombies, Daniel thought, standing and hoping his small passenger would move from his bladder.

He didn't.

"I've gotta pee," he grumbled, waddling his way to the bathroom.

"So..." Jack led, failing to see how this was a crisis and hoping to whatever gods might be watching over him that Daniel wouldn't start crying again.

"So, just, well, nevermind, I'll be right back," Daniel stammered, holding his lower back, wincing, his free hand fumbling for the knob. Rolling his eyes, wondering what in the world Daniel was talking about, Jack pointing the clicker back at the TV, appreciating Dr. Perky's taste in electronics when he realized what was wrong, erupting into laughter.

"Oh wait, you can't reach," Jack started, "you don't know where it is; you're not used to being a fat guy," the remote fell to the floor as the general tossed his legs over the edge, gasping for air.

"It's not funny Jack," Daniel spat back, not wanting to mention that this morning he had just relieved himself in the shower and that had been an unpleasant experience he didn't care to repeat.

"No Daniel, you're right, it's not funny," Jack composed himself, standing, "It's hysterical!" he choked out, cracking up once more.

"I'll figure it out," Daniel spat, opening the bathroom door and slamming it strongly behind him.

"Do you need some help? I'm not volunteering, but I can call Vala. She'd come running," Jack said from the other side, still laughing, as Daniel made his way to the toilet, staring pitifully.

"I'm standing here, six months pregnant and I'm really debating my dignity," he muttered to himself, shucking his pants to the floor and sitting, hoping that these next few days would fly by quickly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ok Jonas mon ami, we have arrived," Adrienne declared, cloaking the jumper before landing it just outside of what looked to be a corral of empty carriages on the outskirts of the city.

"You think you can do this?" Jonas asked, his thoughts racing, his mind in a million directions, all of which led to his planet, his people and his real concern: this was their hope, "I mean, Addy, you're always saying how lousy of an actress you are..." he trailed, not wanting to offend, but she didn't seem bothered in the least, her painted red smile breaking out into a broad grin.

"Ah, but, pregnancy has given me great practice. I have to act all of the time, like the baby isn't beating me to death, like I don't want to kill my husband for smothering me, acting like I'm not going to vomit, all acting. I'm just glad they were seeded by the Alterans. If I had to speak Japanese we'd be in a gah damn mal pris," she joked, setting the key passwords on the controls before straightening her kimono and wrap.

"Not one of your ten or whatever?" he asked, trying to remember exactly how many Taur'i languages this Dr. Jackson spoke.

"Nyet," she answered quickly.

"That's Russian," Jonas responded, thinking that was Russian from what he had read.

"My point exactly shug," she laughed in reply, "let's go bag my honey some crystals."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It wasn't exactly the mountainous terrain in the movie, but the village wasn't that far off. The homes were one story, thin walls with what seemed to be paper windows, careful tiled roofs decorate with patron deities at each corner.

"Gotta be bad ass when they barely have a front door," Ronon noted, many homes seeming to have no doors at all.

"Then I guess you've got your work cut out for you," the colonel joked in return, his hand to his forehead as he scanned ahead for signs of someone that they may be able to speak to but there was no one on guard, just rows and rows of women and teenagers tending to their fields. Squinting into the bright sunlight Cam could make out that one of the houses in the back was slightly larger and more decorated, maybe even a temple perhaps.

"When all else fails, go to the big building," he instructed, pointing his sword ahead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was about seven o'clock in the evening when Daniel was starting to worry again, wondering if Adrienne had made it to the planet alright, how she was doing, if she was safe. Were it not for the intense fighting going on in his stomach, his wife's shared womb, whatever, he would have completely forgotten about food.

Well, that or Jack's gleeful banging on the other side of his door, his eager friend only happy to service as needed.

"Oh Daniel! I brought you food!" he shouted, doing a terrible impression of Desi Arnez.

"I'm quite capable of going down to the cafeteria myself," Daniel shouted back, standing, wincing as his back started to ache again, waddling to the door to allow Jack to enter.

Turning the knob, he stepped back, the general smiling brightly in jeans and a black t-shirt, all too glad to be using this as an excuse to avoid more paperwork.

"Nuh uh, Sam said you have to stay put so the personnel under the thumb of the IOA don't get panicked that our little elven friends can start knocking people up with a snap of their wee little fingers," he replied as he passed on by Daniel, heading straight for the desk, a paper grocery bag in hand.

"It's my baby Jack and it's clear that the Ktaenam came and made the switch in order for Adrienne to complete a vital mission. A switch, with my WIFE," Daniel stressed, closing the door and waiting to insure that the lock was activated.

"Which made YOU a PREGNANT MAN. I'm not arguing this with you. Sam said you stay here and we're gonna stay here, end of story. Now, do you want to know what I got you to eat or not?" the general inquired, setting the bag onto the desk and reaching inside.

"Sure," the archaeologist relented, approaching the surface, the child inside his body writhing wildly. A grin from ear to ear, Jack pulled his hands out of the bag, passing over a jar to his friend, his laughter uncontrollable.

Pickles, Daniel thought, the ass brought me pickles.

_Why can't Adrienne be here? _

"I thought the ice cream would melt too fast between here and the cafeteria," Jack gasped out, Daniel's eyes rolling wildly.

"I'm not hungry," he lied, his son protesting those very words violently.

"You've got to be hungry. The Mrs. eats like a horse," Jack countered, reaching in the bag to produce some peanut butter and crackers.

Ok, Daniel thought, that's not so bad...

"I am hungry," he relented, sighing, "Really hungry, but, well, just, not for that." He hated to admit it but he had been craving on and off and now that there was food here in front of him, the desires were just going crazy.

"Ok, what can I bring you?" Jack asked, folding the bag, standing back to await his friend's response.

_He's not kidding; he's trying to be helpful. _

"Pizza," Daniel started, testing, gauging the reaction.

"Alright, fine, pizza. I can even get delivery. What do you want on it?" Jack asked, scanning the room in case this was a long list.

"Chocolate chips," Daniel spat out before he could think, his child doing the talking for him.

"What?" Jack questioned, his eyes back on Daniel's rather than searching for a writing implement.

"And carrots," he added, hanging his head at the admission.

Damn mini-Adrienne.

"I was on board with the chocolate pizza believe it or not, but carrots?" Jack inquired, frowning, completely confused.

"This kid is half Adrienne's remember?" Daniel replied, his eyes scanning the pickles, debating.

"Got it, add Spinach then," Jack said, no tone, fully serious, making Daniel wonder exactly what he had up his sleeve next when a thought hit him, the archaeologist spinning around to face the general.

"Oh! Wait, spinach pie, you know, greek style, I'm not going to try to get you to pronounce the name, can I get that too? There's a stand not too far from here I think, that would be good, the pizza, the pie, maybe a gyro..." Daniel paused running the food truck's menu through his head as Jack stood staring, his jaw to the floor.

"Anything else honey?" he asked sarcastically.

Biting his lip Daniel frowned, muttering something to his belly before glancing back up at the general.

"Baklava. Hell, scratch the pizza, get greek and a few candy bars," Daniel directed, changing his mind as Jack smiled, bringing another smaller, whiter bag from inside the sack.

"So this bag of cheese burgers is a no then?" Jack asked shaking the bag in front.

"Not at all, hand that over," Daniel replied quickly, reaching for the bag, yanking it from the general's hand.

"For cryin' out loud Daniel is there anything that you aren't going to eat?" he exclaimed, deciding it was best he leave the jar of pickles as well.

"Chinese, for some reason the idea of chinese take-out makes me sick," Daniel added thoughtfully, Jack shaking his head in annoyance.

"Yes master, I shall bring you the food of your wife's fake people anything else?" O'Neill grumbled as he made his way to the door.

Scanning the table Daniel reached for the jar of pickles, hoping he had a knife around here to cut them and add them to the burgers when he heard the door open behind him.

"Ice Cream Jack! I still want that ice cream," he shouted over as he opened the jar.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*

"Ok and this is the part in the film where the big head honcho guy pops out of nowhere with his mad ninja skills and asks what do we want," Cam said with a sigh, passing the canteen of water over to Ronon who as sitting beside him on the steps to the temple, waiting as well.

"Well, I'm not gonna complain about not getting attacked," the Sataedan replied, picking his fingernails with a knife pushing the water away.

"We can't just sit here all day," Cam added, frustrated, watching farm woman pass on by, not a one even making eye contact.

"Probably not," he agreed, continuing to pick his nails.

Problem solver you are not my friend, the colonel thought to himself, standing to gaze at the open door of the temple.

"I'm gonna go in there," he declared, peering down at Dex.

"I'll come running if you scream," was all he replied, Cam thinking instantly how if Adrienne was Daniel's soulmate that this man certainly was Vala's.

Adjusting his armor, Cam puffed out his chest, marching proudly into the candle-lit temple.

The temple itself was amazing, the decor inside more than made up for the thin paper-like walls that made up the exterior. Lining interior were suit after suit of armor lit spectacularly by a single candle under each, some of the outfits so old that they seemed to be held together by unnatural forces. There was no one unifying thing about the uniforms, they spanned the ages, wrapping around in a semi-circle, silent soldiers guarding a center shrine, large, golden, positioned in front of a tree.

Thinking Earth, Cameron half expected to see a Buddha, even though both Adrienne and Jonas had told him that would not be the case, but the tree wasn't even a statue, but a living bonsai like tree.

Odd thing to worship, he thought, stepping forward, the tree itself seeming to breathe as it flickered in the candle light.

"We wondered how long it would take for you to enter," a voice said from beside the tree, stepping out, all ninja-like as Cam had expected outside. The owner of the voice was a man, his face more Native American than Asian, his skin nearly as dark as the robes he was wearing, those at least appearing traditional Japanese.

"Uh, we weren't sure if we should come in or wait," Cam answered, not having anything better to say, the man stepping closer to him and down from the shrine platform.

"It would not have mattered. We knew you meant no harm. Otherwise we would have stopped you," he answered, smiling, folding his hands in front of him.

"Guess that's a good thing, but how did you know?" the colonel continued, nervously; his eyes darting left and right to see if he was being surrounded as he stood here, having a very strange conversation with a strangely confusing man.

"You are too pale to come from the south and we harbor no ill will to the north," he replied simply, walking right past Cameron toward the main open doors.

"Right, yeah, good point," Cam responded, turning to follow, hoping Ronon wouldn't leap up, armed, at the sight of their host.

"The weather must be poor. You are our third set of visitors in as many months, warriors heading south to escape the snow. One cannot train in this manner," he continued, Cam nodding in reply, albeit unsure as to what he was talking about.

"Are you seeking refuge or just passing through?" the man asked, pausing at the doorway.

Luck, Cam's brain was racing; this is a stroke of luck.

"Passing through," he choked out, hoping his lie was not seen, but it must not have as the man paced carefully through the portal, pulling his hands from his robes and extending them to Ronon.

"Greetings, to you both. I am Kelchui, the leader of our village. Your friend says you are passing through from the north," he started, Cam's companion standing quickly, taking the man's hand and bowing low.

Shit, Cam thought, Dex is definitely NOT a PALE man from the north...

"Ronon," he answered, to Cam's shock, since Jonas had assigned them false names, hard to pronounce names, but false ones, "this is my friend Cameron."

"Ronon, Cameron, welcome. It is almost the hour for training, then the evening meal and then meditation. I am glad to see you both in armor, that way you do not have to take time to prepare. Please, come this way," Kelchui said, walking down the temple stairs toward an open field in the near distance.

"At least they're feeding us after they beat our asses," Ronon noted walking on.

"Oh joy," Cam replied, wondering exactly who he was supposed to fight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Konichwa, my name is Aki and I would like to present to you Ichisumi. We have traveled from the south to seek employment in your establishment," Jonas introduced, sweeping his hands back at Adrienne before bowing low to the men behind the desk, keeping his eyes on the large woman behind them, the one who was obviously in charge.

The Langaran stood, his blue eyes darting around the room, wondering if their hosts were going to speak, knowing that they spoke English spattered with Japanese so they should understand him. There had been no problems when they arrived, a kind mixture of people, both racially and economically, pointing to the direction of the main tea house, where a man in a servant's suit ushered them to a waiting area. It had taken barely thirty minutes to be called back, where he and Adrienne were told to sit, well he was told to sit and Addy to stand, but they had sat in silence for a few moments before Jonas had spoken.

Evidently, he was going to have to speak again.

"We've heard from traders that we had the best opportunity to increase our earnings here; I feel that Ichisumi has greater potential then is offered to her in the north," Jonas offered, cautiously, hoping that Vala's suggestion to say they were from the north, that Adrienne's pale complexion and his own blonde hair would make it more believable, would indeed work.

"We do not take in geiko like strays," the woman spoke first, proving to Jonas that she was indeed in charge.

Nodding, Jonas turned his body to address her, catching Adrienne's eyes directing themselves to her as well.

"We are not asking to be taken in. I know the procedure and I am prepared to have Ichisumi perform to be judged by yourself Okisan," Jonas addressed her directly, using the proper Japanese title. Crossing her arms at her chest, the woman peered over at the man seated nearest to her, who leaned forward across the desk, eyeing Adrienne carefully.

"She has strange eyes, not blue like those from the north," he stated, gazing at her face looking for other discrepancies. Vala had warned of that as well, that while the southern portion of the area seemed to be inhabited by people of seemingly Asian and related descent, the inhabitants of the north were strictly Scandinavian in appearance.

What they were not were pale with near black eyes, like Addy.

"She is my sister, our mother was of mixed decent. She has trained hard to be Geisha to provide for our family and I can assure you that she is very talented," Jonas insisted, glancing up at Adrienne in case she needed to prove said talent then and there.

The smaller of the two men, the only person in the room other than Adrienne yet to have spoken, stood, looking over the Cajun as if she were a cut of meat.

"I like her eyes. They are enchanting," he said, his face so close to Addy's, studying her, examining every inch of her person.

"That is what they said in our homeland," Jonas spoke quickly, thinking fast, deciding that selling Adrienne as an exotic might just be their way through this.

"Where are you from again?" the Okisan asked, panic coursing through Jonas' body, when the smaller man stood upright once more, shaking his head.

"I like her look. We will hold a tea ceremony tonight. It is a practice for the provincial governor's upcoming visit. She may assist with the ceremony. If she does well then we can allow her to try employment here," he instructed the others, both cutting their eyes at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John hadn't been kidding about Ronon and watching him fight with the wooden practice swords Cam suddenly wondered how in the world his non-alien friends kept up in those sparring matches he was involved with. The Sateadan was able to bob, weave, pop around and even when Kelchui added in a second and third warrior, he just kept going like it was nothing.

"You may rest," the village leader announced, both to Cameron's relief and dismay. Yes, Ronon might be finished but on the other hand that would make it his turn. Wiping his brow, finally, Ronon came to sit beside Cam on the tuft of grass, leaning over and smiling.

"That was great," he declared, folding his long arms into his lap, looking out to the next pair of warriors, which thankfully did not include the colonel.

"Glad you think so," Cam whispered watching two men much smaller than himself move at a speed that seemed to defy the laws of space time. The grace with which they moved, however, was to be respected as well as feared, making him vow to spend more time in the gym and less time in his office upon their return.

There was a click clack exchange of blows, wood against wood both men moving as though they would never grow tired. His heart raced in his chest as he watched, unsure as to whether or not he could hold his own against the man they would pair him with, so he barely noticed the hard slap on his back, his friend bringing him to reality.

"Mitchell, you're up," he heard, sort of, just as he sort of remembered standing and being handed a practice sword, making him feel slightly less naked in his undergarments with the large wooden staff.

Taking a breath, Cam stepped into the area, an invisible circle on the grass, cracking his back before looking forward, at no one.

"I'm ready," he said quietly, peering back at Kelchui and then Ronon in confusion. Again, there was no response, Cameron standing by himself in the center area.

"Isao, come to the center," Kelchui ordered, Cam took a deep breath, looking forward to see his opponent.

He almost turned and ran.

Standing before him was not a Samurai but more like a Sumo wrestler, making him instantly concerned that he had been watching the wrong movies before they had come. The man wasn't disrespectful or discourteous in the least; he simply took his stance and clasped his hands at his center, bowing low in front of Cam.

"Hi there big guy. Let's do this," Cam bowed in return, standing quickly and putting up his hands. There was no fancy standoff, nothing impressive, just a quick slip into their stances, both men starting to attack instantaneously. His opponent was large, too large to use his feet or for a foot to make it near the giant's face, so he used his feet to dance around and his clever hands throwing out a punch or hook when he could, landing a few here and there and taking a few hits himself. His face hurt, he was sure his cheek was a mess of black and blue already, but Isao had a few marks on himself as well, so Cam didn't feel like it was a total wash. The fight seemed to last forever, Cam dodging and weaving as Ronon had before, until again there was a voice in the distance.

"We had no idea such great fighters were in the north," Kelchui declared, stepping in front of him, between him and his opponent, his body finally feeling the result of the exertion as it came to a stop. Wiping his forehead with his arm, the colonel glanced up at the village leader, a smirk on his face.

"We had no idea our southern neighbors were so soft," he joked, hoping, praying it would be taken the right way. Kelchui stood, Isao at his side, unmoved for a moment before breaking out into riotous laughter.

"How long will you be needing accommodations?" he inquired, his hands carefully slipping into his sleeves.

"Just a few days and then we are moving on," Cam replied, still breathless, standing from his knees.

"Where are you headed then?" the leader continued, looking at both men.

"West," Ronon answered, thinking that the direction of the rendezvous point would not be a lie and would answer the question, which it must have, as Kelchui nodded solemnly and held out his hand again, indicating they return to the temple.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack sat in the desk chair, his feet propped up happily on the top, a cheeseburger in one hand and one of those damn cheese pies in another. Daniel's stomach hadn't been as large as he had thought and Jack was more than happy to share the leftovers.

The program on the TV ended, some stupid History Channel special Daniel had been watching, and Jack glanced at the clock seeing it was nearly ten.

"Look, night shift is on, Carolyn says that you need to walk around some. I'll get Teal'c to clear the corridor," the general offered, tossing his food aside before slamming his boots onto the floor. Sighing, rubbing his very full belly, both with child and too much food, Daniel peered over at the clock as well, nodding in agreement.

"Thank you Jack, you've been really, well, mature about all of this," Daniel admitted as he sat up, honestly glad that his old friend had been around to help.

"And you've misjudged me for all of these years," Jack joked as he stood, shoving the chair underneath as he waited for Daniel to join him, who didn't. Instead, his uncomfortable friend just stayed in the semi-upright position, propped up carefully on his elbows.

"Are ya coming?" Jack asked, rolling his eyes at the door. Rather than answer there was a grunt from the make-shift queen bed, the noise followed by a look of sheer panic on the archaeologist's face.

"I can't," he choked out, remembering instantly the first time that this had happened to Adrienne and her reaction. He had remained calm while she panicked but sitting here, feeling exactly what she had so intricately described to him as the tears flowed freely from her eyes, he felt a worry of his own rise into his stomach.

"You can't what?" Jack questioned, walking back over to where Daniel was obviously struggling to get up.

"I can't stand," Daniel hissed, twisting and turning, trying to do this himself and failing miserably.

"What do you mean you can't stand?" the question really rhetorical as Jack stood there staring at his friend's legs, contorted in some strange position that didn't make any good biological sense in the least.

"I mean, my legs are not in my hip joints so I can't stand," Daniel clarified, his eyes gazing up over his glasses at Jack pitifully as Jack's own widened before he raced madly to the phone.

"I'll call Carolyn," he spat out, lifting the receiver and beginning to dial, Daniel waving his hands wildly in the negative.

"No, you just have to put them in place," he added, pointing to the mess that was his lower half, his son beating him wildly in frustration.

"Wait, me?" Jack questioned, freezing where he stood, his own eyes widening in concern.

"Yes you, come here," Daniel shouted, frowning, frustrated now more than anything.

"Uh, no, I don't lean that way," the general answered quickly shaking his head and his hands in front of his face.

"Goddam it Jack, it's not that way! I have to do this to Adrienne all of the time," Daniel continued, still yelling, flailing, trapped.

"Right, Adrienne and YOU, not YOU and ME," Jack stepped back, a frown of his own across his face.

"Jack listen, all you have to do is reach between my legs.."

"And that's where I leave.."

"No," Daniel shouted back, nearly falling from the bed, his hand protectively holding his abdomen, "It's my knees, you just reach between my knees and shift everything back into place!"

"I said no."

Taking a deep breath Daniel calmed the explosion that was about to erupt from his mouth, an explosion which he was surprised included a few Cajun swear words, wow he and Adrienne had been together way too long...

"Jack, we are both friends. Grown, married, male, straight friends. Fix my hips! Ow!" Daniel retorted, shouting out in pain.

"What? I didn't touch anything!" Jack shouted right back, holding his hands up in the air as his friend struggled on the bed.

"No, not you ow! Baby ow! Stop kicking!," Daniel screamed at his belly, throwing himself back in frustration, "How in the HELL does she do this?'

"And for you no less, that's the part I can't get over," Jack relented, taking a step forward, reaching uncomfortably for his cohorts legs.

"Alright, this is simple. I'm going to lie back like this," Daniel started, spreading his legs wide, Jack's jaw dropping, "and you reach here, between my knees and push out while I push in and when you start to feel a pop shove my legs towards my hips."

Taking a breath, the general reached forward, stepping between his friend's legs, reaching under his knees when there was a click behind him, followed by familiar laughter.

"Now there's a Kodak moment," Sam declared between fits of giggles.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Addy do you want to go through this one more time?" Jonas asked, his eyes darting around their surroundings as the Cajun woman kneeled on the floor, seeming to be in deep meditation.

"Nope," she answered quickly, her eyes still closed.

"Are you sure?" he replied, running the images through his head of the notes he had taken, of the intricacies of the ceremony, of the little details that Adrienne would need to remember.

"Completely," she answered again, her eyes still closed, her posture unchanged.

"I just don't want you over confident," he added, wincing, thinking that might have been the worst possible thing he could have said to her but she didn't move, she didn't act like anything was wrong or about to happen, she just remained on her knees, breathing in and out slowly.

"No, it's not that. I can think Jonas. My mind is clear, every last little detail that you've given me, every single one, it's there just, there, I... I..." she stammered, her deep eyes finally opening as she turned to face him.

Concerned, his face furrowed, Jonas reached out carefully, placing his hand on her shoulder not saying a word just letting her speak.

"I wish Daniel could finish it out," she said honestly, "I hate being pregnant. More than normal." Ashamed, or at least that was what Jonas thought he could see on her face, shame, Adrienne hung her head, cutting her eyes away. He wasn't sure as to what he should do, so he did the only thing he could think of, extending his arms to take her into them.

"Addy, I'm not sure what to say," he whispered, hugging her tightly.

"Not anything you can say. Just let me enjoy this moment of lucidity. There's something oddly soothing about having to perform the tea ceremony; I welcome the routine of it," she said as she stood, forcing a smile, reaching down to help him up.

"We're ready," a voice said from the corner, the pair glancing up to see a Maiko looking right at them. Adrienne didn't respond, just nodded slowly, following behind the young woman.

Breathing out slowly, Jonas went to take his seat with the guests.

"If I knew where I'd put the journal I wouldn't be asking you!" Daniel screamed, launching the composition book across the room, the pain in his back now matching the throb in his head.

"It's a leather book Daniel, it has to be on your desk or your nightstand. It's not in the lab," Jack tried to reason with him, but his patience was wearing thin.

Daniel had vomited most of the morning, stuffed his face the entire afternoon, couldn't get up only a few hours ago, and now, plagued with what the general knew was inevitable indigestion he had declared that he needed to work on a translation which apparently could only be worked on given that he had this one particular journal.

A journal that of course was missing.

"Go check again," Daniel ordered, Jack laughing the moment he spoke.

"Do I look like your servant?" was his response, his arms crossed across his chest as he stopped, refusing to do anything else.

"That's what you signed up for isn't it?" Daniel shot back.

"And on that note," Jack answered calmly, uncrossing his arms, heading for the door, quickly deciding that as funny as this all was, getting yelled at was no longer worth it. He was just about to turn the knob when he heard a sniff behind him, rolling his eyes, knowing what was coming next.

"No, Jack, I'm sorry, don't leave..." Daniel begged, grabbing his arm, pulling him back to the side. The general let out a sigh as he turned, seeing the sight he knew he would see, back to hormonal Daniel, Daniel on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

"Dammit Daniel, you've got to get a hold of yourself. Look at yourself! You're a total disaster!" he shouted, fed up with the entire situation.

How many more days of this, he thought, and when does his wife get home?

"Jack, I'm so sorry, I am," Daniel stammered, holding his back as he hobbled to the desk, sitting in the chair slowly as a rip echoed through the room. Jack was puzzled as he watched Daniel's face change from annoyance and frustration to shock, the archaeologist bursting into tears.

"My pants," he said between sobs resting his head on the table.

Jesus, Jack thought, I think I have to hug him, do I have to hug him, he pouted internally, stepping forward to his friend.

"Come here," Jack said, wrapping his arms slowly around Daniel's shoulders, hugging him cautiously, "it's only a week. Now at least we know what the little woman is going through, huh?"

"I can't make it a week; I don't know how she does this," Daniel whimpered, hugging him back, dear God he is hugging me back, Jack thought while he formulated his answer as Daniel sobbed into his pants.

"They're stronger than we are but don't you go telling mine I said that. Why don't you try sweats or your pajamas or something because somehow I think that Dr. Perky's yoga pants aren't gonna work," Jack offered, pulling away, patting Daniel strongly on the back as he nodded in agreement, standing slowly.

"I'm not helping you get into them," Jack added as Daniel made his way to the dresser.

"No, that's fine, can you just stand there in case in fall on my face?" he answered, opening the drawer to dig for something more suitable.

"Sure. But just to be clear, if you do, I'll check on the squirt first, laugh at you second and still not put your pants on," Jack clarified.

"Fair enough."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Daniel felt he could actually sleep, it was nearly two, so he sent Jack away assuring him that he would radio him if there was any problem. He found his journal of course, it was in the dresser drawer when he changed shirts, for the third time, having sweat through yet another clean shirt.

"This is really disgusting," he muttered to himself, wondering why he hadn't noticed this massive amount of sweating with his wife, adding to the long list of things that he had no idea how she dealt with.

Stripping down to his boxers and deciding against the shirt, Daniel made his way slowly and carefully to his bed, their bed, pulling back the covers for the first time all day. He was about to shut out the light when he saw an envelope sticking out from under his pillow. Smiling, recognizing the messy script on the outside of the envelop, he sat on the edge of the bed, opening the flap, slipping the note out and opening it.

_Sucks to sleep alone in here doesn't it? I hope you've done alright today and Jack isn't being too hard on you. Just remember, I am at this present moment trying to scrape off about ten pounds of white make-up. Aren't we both just in a mal pris?_

_Please take care of yourself and try not to worry. I'll be back soon. I love you so much Daniel. I know I've said this before but you're the love I didn't think existed in the world, that I didn't think existed for me. _

_Again, take CARE of yourself! Better than normal. After all, I want little Fox to grow up to be a big and strong FBI Agent. _

"Love or not Ad, no X-files characters," Daniel answered her out loud, setting the letter on the nightstand along with his glasses, shutting out the light and crawling under the covers. Rolling onto his side, his left just like she slept, he reached out for where she would normally join him in bed.

"I miss you too ja-wer," he whispered, closing his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX*

Jonas had been pleased that he was given a room in the Geisha house, the Okisan and tea house owners buying the sibling story completely. To top it off Jonas had tossed in some details during tea about a sick father and needing to make money to return to him and they seemed to pity him, or at the very least believe him. His room was plain and sparse, a thin mat on the floor with a proportionally thin blanket.

He had slept alright, but Adrienne on the other hand didn't appear to be very well rested.

"I forgot about the block," she said as she staggered in, wearing a purple house kimono and sitting on the floor, hot tea in her hands.

"The block?" Jonas asked, trying to think of any other chore he had forgotten about that she might have been asked to attend to.

Frowning, Adrienne rubbed her neck pitifully, Jonas finally remembering.

"Oh that block," he remembered, making a face of sympathy, "You ok?"

"Just spoiled is all," she admitted, missing not only her feather pillow but a warm bed companion curling beside her. Her mind beginning to wander, memories of his lips caressing her neck so softly, she was slightly startled when Jonas tapped her on the shoulder.

"Did you find anything out last night?" he asked, focusing back on the task.

"Not a thing. Their entire existence is the world of Geisha. The finery, the money, the hair. It's respectable, it is, but no one seems to pay attention to much else other than themselves," Adrienne replied, thinking back to her evening. They didn't seem to want to know much about her, which she had expected, but they didn't want to talk about themselves either. If there was a ZPM here, these girls would have no idea where it was.

"What about you?" she inquired getting a shrug in return.

"Nothing. Still using candle light for the most part. Very basic electricity usage, circa Earth 1890 but - " Jonas started as if he was giving a mission report but Adrienne was waving her hands in front of her for him to stop.

"Stop there, I get it. I don't think it's here," she admitted, leaning her head onto his shoulder.

"Me neither but I do think it's worth the trouble to stay a while longer, just in case we're wrong," he added, looking down with her.

"No, I agree. Hell, they could be using the damn thing as a coffee table for all we know," she agreed quickly, picking up her head to look at him, "your shoulder is much more comfortable than that block."

"I'm glad to offer at least temporary support," he laughed, "What's on your agenda for today?"

Groaning, she stood, adjusting her kimono, peering back down at him, "Not getting caught having secret discussions with my brother is one thing, but there is a party."

"Oh?"

"Yea, luncheon shortly. Entertain, chat, flirt, make them some money," she shrugged, trudging out of the room.

"Things we won't tell Daniel," Jonas understood, smiling, trying not to laugh at the image of Daniel breaking down at the gate.

"He's not an idiot, but correct, things we will not tell Daniel," she paused, turning back to him, walking in that small step Geisha like fashion to his side as he stood, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Time to play refined lady," she winked and pivoted on her heels, sashaying out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_He sat in the briefing room trying to stress how important it was that he be allowed time to go through the data from the Furlings but the bear just wouldn't listen, sitting there, a folder in his hand, shaking his head. _

"_You're not listening to me." _

"_We are listening to you Dr. Jackson," the beast answered, pushing its glasses up its face, " but there is just nothing in it for Earth." _

"_Then at least let me go bring back my team. SG-1 is now as much mine as it is Colonel Mitchell's," he insisted, the vulture beside the bear shaking his head. _

"_It's too dangerous."_

"_But Adrienne, my wife, my wife is with them..." _

"_Dr. Jackson we are considering all members of SG-1 Collateral Damage..."_

"_But my child, the child will be automatically returned to Adrienne in just a few days..." _

Caked in his own sweat, Daniel sat straight up in bed, his heart pounding. It was a dream, he knew it was a dream, Richard Woolsey made a terrible bear, but that still couldn't calm the racing in his chest.

"Daniel, you up?" a voice was shouting at his door, the knob turning, the door opening in crack but before Daniel could answer the reality that he was awake hit him, or hit his stomach at least, making him lean over and retch onto the floor.

"I thought this would be more entertaining but yeah, no, it's kinda gross," Jack said, walking straight for the bathroom to get some towels. Shaking, still soaked, Daniel heaved over the side of the bed, the smaller version of himself beating him on the inside.

"Alright Puke Monkey, let's get you upright," Jack said, pulling Daniel by the shoulders, tossing a towel beside him on the bed.

"Wait - I'm gonna throw up again..." he pleaded, heaving over the edge.

"Daniel, you've got nothing left my friend, let's sit up and get you moving," the general wasn't going to take no for an answer, throwing one towel onto the small mess on the floor.

"No I want to stay here," Daniel argued.

"No honey, we've got to get you on your feet before your ankles swell. Remember, I don't find that at all attractive," Jack retorted, stepping back for Daniel to consider, a glare shot in his direction.

"That's more like it princess, get up," Jack ordered, grabbing Daniel's arm as he wiped his face, "you stink."

"I need a shower," he muttered in response.

"Then take one," Jack replied smugly.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to see myself. I feel disgusting," Daniel mumbled, tossing the towel aside.

"What?"

I said I don't want to see myself. I'm disgusting. No wonder Adrienne went tearing off with Jonas," his younger friend continued to whine and whine, Jack rolling his eyes.

"You're insane, worse than a damn female. You know, I feel sorry for Addy, having to deal with you 24/7," he spat, pulling Daniel upright.

"I should probably try to bathe then right. For when Adrienne gets back," Daniel admitted, finally, standing.

"Yep, and please tell me that you can handle this, that you can bathe alone," Jack asked carefully.

"No, I can, the sickness has passed but the little bastard is back to kicking, I'd like to eat a rack of ribs and my lower back hurts..."

"So, you're pregnant," Jack pointed out.

"Shut up," Daniel replied.

"Look, I'll sit out here on the off chance that I have to drag your huge naked ass off of the bottom of the stall, would that make you feel better?" the smile matching the offering slyly creeping across Jack's face.

"Yea," was the honest reply.

"Ok then, right outside. If you scream, remember, I'm not your little cutie, so keep it in English so I know what you've broken and how much ass I'll have to see," he added as Daniel trudged his way to the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Anything?" Ronon stood from where he had been kneeling, meditating as Teal'c had taught him, patiently waiting for Cam to return from scouting. Worried about it appearing too much like they were in search of something that they would essentially have to steal once they found it, Cam lumbered his way slowly to the Satadean's side.

"Not a damn thing. Dex, I think we'd better hope that Addy and Jonas have found something otherwise when we meet up tomorrow this isn't gonna be pretty," Cam answered, knowing they had to gauge their time carefully. The Furlings had given them a week of Addy without child and this morning was day three and a half and they still needed to travel home. If they left now with no complications they would have three days to spare, but they had planned on leaving tomorrow, cutting it too close in his opinion. Not that he minded a pregnant woman on a ship but neither Daniel nor Addy had any idea how this transfer would work or if it was possible across the galaxy.

"It's only the first planet, I'm sure they've got others," Ronon offered, standing and adjusting his clothes, taking a moment to crack his neck, tight from his stance.

"I know - " Cam started, stopping the moment he saw a shadow at the door, Kelchui coming to either greet them or bring them to training, either one not helpful considering their current situation. His feet skated along, walking on air, coming to a halt in front of the pair, bowing low, Ronon and Cam doing as well in return.

"Are you both faring well this morning?" he inquired as he stood.

"Yes, thank you for your kindness. We'll be one our way tomorrow," Cam replied, cutting his gaze over at Ronon, a gaze of disappointment, a gaze of failure.

"We shall miss having such fine warriors among our ranks," he praised, walking past them to the shrine, reaching his hand gently to a bowl of flames, removing a lighting stick.

"And we as well," Cam answered respectfully, smiling, bowing a second time.

With a quick whisk of his hand the village leader ran the thin bronze stick across a row of candles, lighting them with one smooth motion of his hand. Light illuminated the front room, casting a gentle glow at the man's face.

At least this had been one of the more enjoyable missions that he had been on, Cameron relishing his training and experience here among these alien Samurai, and he was about to thank the man for just that when his expression changed and he smiled, his hands folded in front of him again, a sly smile across his face.

"You are not from here," he stated, stepped forward and away from the array of candles.

"Well no we said we -," Cam began clearly, preparing to repeat his rehearsed story again but Kelchui was shaking his head slowly, still smiling.

"You are not from this world," he added as he let his eyes trail back and forth between the men. Neither looked at the other; they just stood there frozen in time wondering, based on Vala's intelligence report, how in the world this man had come to that conclusion.

"Many visitors have come through the ring of stone. It has been our duty to protect our people against them," he continued to explain, unfolding his hands, proceeding to the door. Cam wasn't sure what to say, he knew what his orders should be but he couldn't just lie to him, in the past twenty four hours he had come to respect the man and felt he deserved better.

"We have fought many a strange people," he continued talking over his shoulder, his dark eyes gazing out the green meadows in the distance, "but we always prevail. We thought you were from the ring but our guards say it has not activated in a long time."

"Makes sense Ronon," Cam admitted, their ruse over, "it's like an entire planet of you."

There was no point, he knew, he could tell by the look in the great warrior's eyes not only had the lie not worked but that he had known the truth about them from the moment they stepped foot in the village.

"We used a ship," Ronon explained, Kechui nodded in understanding.

"We're not trying to trick you or take over your planet, even your village. We're looking for something in particular, something we need to defend our world," the colonel added quickly.

"No, we were aware. Had we sensed malicious intent we would have killed you," he responded so plainly, so calmly, Cameron knew his words to be nothing but the truth.

"It's like a crystal, yay high, glows, lots of little crystals all around it," Cam specified, his hands trying to draw out a ZPM in the air. Kelchui watched him carefully for a moment in silence as if he were making sure of something before he spoke.

"The Ochina Kesso," he replied, nodding, "You are not the first ones to come for that either." The first words had lifted Cam's spirits, the latter dealing a devastating blow.

They were too late.

"Great..." he said, unable to control his disappointment but Kelchui remained unmoved, still standing quietly at the door, his arms once again folded in his robes.

"How will it help defend your world?" he asked as he peered over his shoulder.

"There's this man I guess, not really, but this being named Anubis. We thought we had him licked, but he's back to torment us. He wants to take over and enslave the entire galaxy. He's also captured the planet of my friend Jonas and doing God knows what to those people. He doesn't just want a planet, he wants everything, and he wants to destroy my friends in the process," the colonel answered, torment apparent in his voice. Side by side he and Ronon stood watching their host peer out into the distance, not moving, not turning around to address them.

"Would this man come here?" the voice at the doorway asked.

"Yes. We have a friend, she's a spy. She came here before us to make sure you were friendly. She said he has people everywhere, probably on Earth but our people won't give her the power to search and see. He's probably already here," he was honest, with himself as well as the Samurai.

Sam knew Anubis was among them, watching their every move. The clones were his army but the Ori soldiers and paid mercenaries could easily infiltrate any society as a regular person, sending messages back to Langara in order to inform Anubis of any defensive weaknesses.

This was bigger than before.

Anubis wanted everything and he was going to destroy what he could along the way in revenge for everything the Taur'i had done to stop him before.

Abruptly, Kelchui spun in his feet, unfolding his arms and marching forward.

"Come with me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Daniel stood in the lab, leaned over the center table shaking his head. Sighing, he stepped back, reaching his hand to his abdomen looking very much like his wife.

"It's drained, there seems to be a very small crack here in the side. There's nothing," he muttered, his eyes gazing over to his wife, Jonas, Jack and Sam.

"Addy & I thought so but we'd hoped..." Jonas started not able to continue.

They were no closer, no closer to repowering Atlantis, no closer to facing Anubis, no closer to freeing his people.

"Indy sha, think about what we did. In less than two weeks and after a major outbreak, we have a ZPM. Yes it's not working but we have one. Not months, not you and me and now Jonas falling asleep in keyboards, overworked, exhausted. With the information from the Ktaenam, our double checking and one Vala trip, we got one. There were lots on that list; this was just the first one. Even Woolsey would have to admit that this is much better than guessing," Adrienne offered, stepping forward to rest her hand onto his back, Sam nodding behind her.

"If anything it gives the powers that be a reason to stop complaining about cost. This is much more efficient than going through the database," she agreed, smiling at Daniel as he waddled over to his desk chair, sitting slowly and painfully.

"Then we just need to get to work, move onto the next planets. I have a list here I have been working on," Daniel replied as he turned to the surface, grabbing a legal pad from his desk.

"Alright, I've got to meet with Woolsey and Bennett, convince them that this is a step in the right direction, because it is Daniel, it is," Sam assured as she stepped back, patting Jack lightly on the back before slipping out of the lab. The room dropped to silence, even Daniel not moaning or fussing at the baby, the remaining three looking at one another uncomfortably trying to figure out what to do next.

"Sha, I'm gonna go get some snacks and stuff, for us, so we can work," Adrienne offered, feeling her husband's mood. For as close as they were, Adrienne knew when to keep her distance and let him think, certain that he would want to talk to her later.

"I'll help you," Jonas added quickly as he turned to follow Adrienne, catching the look she was giving him noting that Jack didn't follow.

"Look, I know the hormones are probably making it worse but you can't beat yourself up about this," Daniel heard behind him, a small part of him having already known that Jack would not follow the other two to the commissary.

"Nope, Ad's right. We found one and where there's one there's more," he replied, rubbing his belly as he read through the information, "just need to keep working."

"You're exhausted," Jack countered immediately, truth in his words.

The team had arrived back later than expected, closer to ten at night, tired themselves and disappointed. Jonas hadn't said much, Jack couldn't image what he was going through, and the others had been equally as solemn. It was obvious by Dr. Perky's speech that she had thought her words through, anticipating Daniel's reaction.

"I have to keep working. We have to solve this," the archaeologist replied, writing feverishly in his notebook, so much so that he didn't seem to notice the blue light glowing at his side. Jack on the other hand did, racing to the camera to shut them off lest his wife have anything else that Woolsey could scream about.

"Dr. Jackson, your team has returned," Medan spoke without greeting making Daniel jump and shake his head.

"Yep, just got back, nice of you to drop by," Jack greeted, giving Daniel a chance to recover since it seemed the little guy inside of his good buddy had given him a good kick as well.

"Were you able to recover the crystal?" he asked as he stepped forward, looking very much the cheerful sprite. Already shaking his head, Daniel sat back, sighing, prepared to admit defeat again.

"Yes, but it was broken, there wasn't much power left in it. Unfortunately, we can't use it," he answered slowly.

"I am sorry," Medan responded, stepping up to the desk.

"No Medan," Daniel replied, shaking his head, "we found it, easily, much easier than before. We're just gonna continue to keep working with the information you have given us."

For a brief moment it looked as if the Furling was going to nod in agreement, but his face was furrowed, in concern, tiny feet padding to the archaeologist's side.

"You are very worn Dr. Jackson," Medan spoke quietly, " your body and mind are tired. I sense it as does your son."

"I've been through worse," Daniel replied quickly, "and in a short time the baby goes back to Adrienne." Still frowning, Medan turned to Jack, examining his face carefully.

"You have been a great help to your friend."

Shrugging uncomfortably, Jack looked back at Daniel, actually feeling sorry for him, not one joke floating through his head.

"Thank you for agreeing to help longer," the Furling added his palms gently touching together.

"What in the hell?!" Jack shouted out, Daniel reaching for his waist, feeling a sense of freeing, weight disappearing as the general was screaming, falling to the floor.

"There, now you both can have a rest. In thirty six earth hours the fetus will return safely to his mother," Medan stated calmly.

Eyes wide Daniel stared at his stomach, flat again, empty, his friend on the floor large with child.

"Wait, do I get a say in this?" Jack joked from the floor, tried to joke from the floor, Daniel reading his face. Frowning, growling, was he growling, standing clumsily with his eyes glaring at Daniel.

Wait, he thought, I'm not pregnant. Adrienne's not pregnant. We have 36 hours...

"Wha in da 'ell ees goin' on?" he heard his wife's Southern twang, her swamp monster voice echoing through the lab.

There were no second thoughts, no time to waste, Daniel dashing over to his bride and confused colleague, taking the snacks from her lap and tossing them to her desk. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her aside, locking his azure eyes on her ebony orbs.

"We have 36 hours," he said plainly.

"Daniel, what the hell?"

"Sorry Jack, I think another switch might be a bit hard on the baby, don't you..."

"Indy, is there tequila in our room?" Adrienne asked quickly, catching on, her brain racing.

"Nope, but I bet Vala has some. I'll get ice cream, you get margarita ingredients, meet you in the room?" he replied, smiling. A sly grin spread across her face, her palm resting gently on his chest, her lips reaching to his ears, whispering lightly.

Dropping to silence Daniel listened, his eyes growing wider as he took a deep breath.

"Oh, oh yeah, oh I'll get that too..."

"Hello?!" Jack was now shouting, unable to believe his ears, Adrienne rushing to his side.

"Thank you Jack. You are the greatest!" the perky archaeologist stood on her toes, kissing his cheek before dashing out of the lab, nearly knocking Jonas over.

"Later," Daniel said with shrug, racing out behind her.

"Daniel dammit!"

"They will be much refreshed after a rest. You are a good friend," Medan stated with a smile as Jonas walked over to his desk, shaking his head.

"Tell them that," the general responded, reaching for his belly, this little shit could kick hard, waddling out of the lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hearing the doorknob behind her Vala stopped talking just in case that rat faced asshole was barging in but instead it was Jack and she started to look away, it finally registering what she had seen as she jerked her head back around to make sure that she wasn't seeing things.

"One of Santa's elves decided to give the Jacksons an early Christmas gift," he answered the unasked question, his eyes rolling wildly.

"Where are they?" Sam questioned cautiously.

"If you have to ask Sam you're much more naive than I've given you credit for. So Val, what's up? Any fancy James Bond for us?" he changed the subject quickly, noting the light off on the corner camera, a sign that Walter was running a loop so they could speak in confidence.

"Langara, Ry'ac and I just got back," she explain, Jack remembering Ry'ac going in Ronon's place, the young Jaffa proving a helpful substitute for the Sateadan when needed.

"What's he done?" his question bringing a mournful look to Vala's face and a sigh from his wife.

"They're in a coma," she answered, pausing, "All of them."

"Jack that's how he is going to do it. He's going to knock us out. If he doesn't have the manpower for an attack he's either going to kill or immobilize the population," Sam added, shaking her head, pushing a stack of photos toward him.

"Two billion people are just asleep where they fell," she said as he reached forward to take them, scanning them with his eyes before turning to walk right back out into the hallway from whence he came.

"Jack where are you going?"

"To talk to Jonas. I don't think anyone is sleeping tonight and that goes for the team not just the Jackson sex fest," he shouted over his shoulder.

"I'll call them," Sam offered, reaching for the phone.

"Leave them. No one's waking up anytime soon and I want to see Ronon for a few hours before all hell breaks loose again," Vala said as she stood, leaving the photos for Sam and Jack, exiting without a further word.

"Do I want to know how?" she asked once they were alone.

"Those little folks completely lack the ability to take social cues," he answered with a smile.

"Can I get you anything?" she inquired with a smile.

"Pickles. I just want some god damn pickles."


	59. Chapter 58 - Full Circle

_Thanks for bearing with the M-preg, just hang in there a little longer. _**_Every_**_ teeny tiny little detail has a reason and a purpose..._

"I'm so sad the loincloth is at home," she whispered in his ear, kissing there softly before sucking at his ear. She'd missed this, being so close and intimate with him, just the two of them, their third party in Jack's temporary custody.

"Would you have left that on longer?" he asked as he turned his head to capture her lips with his own, kissing her long and slow, reaching under the covers to grab underneath her thigh, pulling her back to his body.

"Maybe longer than you left my yoga pants on..." she teased, slipping away, not to leave but to bury herself into his neck, taking in his scent. He smelled like sweat and other lovely aromas that she had caused, ones that she'd missed.

"You're so awful to me," he replied, kissing her head, holding her as close as he could.

"Was Jack helpful?" Adrienne asked from his neck, kissing it lightly, wrapping her arms tightly around him.

"Surprisingly yes," he answered, his fingers lingering down her back to her waist, smaller than he had felt it in a while, "I don't know how you do it," Daniel added, letting his hand squeeze her middle and his fingertips linger at her skin.

"I love little Anthony," she responded wondering if he'd catch on when she felt him shove her back, his handsome face frowning at her in the dim light of their alarm clock.

"Oh no, not even on the table," he said through laughter watching her full lips turn into a smile, knowing she was kidding.

"It's not that much longer, as much as I wish Jack could finish this for us. You took a week, only fifteen more to go," she said as she reached once more for his embrace, Daniel eagerly letting her slide into his arms.

"I would for you if they would let me, if Medan thought it was possible," he whispered as she rolled over, turning her back to him so that he could curl his body around hers.

"Indy, you're such a liar," she giggled, wriggling onto the pillow, her body telling her that it needed sleep. He had no response other than a laugh. She had a point, he would if he had to because he loved her, but that was something he never wanted to experience again.

Closing his eyes, the comfort of laying there, the love of his life in his arms, having every intention of waking in the morning to make love to her again, Daniel let himself drift off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Addy!" a voice echoed from the other side of the door, waking Daniel, Adrienne sleeping through life as usual, "Look I know that you guys are trying to sleep, but I really need to talk to you."

Peering at the clock, Daniel noted it was at the most fifteen minutes since he had closed his eyes.

"Daniel!" it continued, Adrienne finally stirring in his arms. Sighing, Daniel sat up from the bed as his wife rolled over onto her back, gazing up at him and rubbing her face.

"Is dat Jonas?" she inquired, yawning, still not fully awake herself.

"Yea," Daniel answered, frowning as she leapt from the bed, grabbing a blanket to cover her nudity.

"Where are you going?" he asked, confused by her actions, expecting her to shout to Jonas to go away and let them sleep, friend or not.

"Ta answer da door," she replied, no longer as groggy, as she dashed to the entrance, their comforter the only thing covering her body.

"Wrapped in a blanket?"

"Sha he watched us dash out of da lab like some 'orny teens; he knows what's going on down 'ere. If he's banging at our door dere's got to be sumtin' wrong," she explained, reaching for the door knob, opening it without another word.

"Addy, Daniel, guys, I'm sorry to come down here but Langara, it's, it's..." he was rambling as the door opened, the color absent from his face.

Sure, Adrienne had seen him panicked, but Jonas was nearly shaking, scaring Adrienne more than she wanted to admit.

"Jonas, shug, what's going on, come in," Adrienne invited immediately, turning on the light and sending her husband into a panic as he grabbed for another blanket to cover himself.

"Ad we're naked," he hissed as he sat forward, wrapping the blanket around his waist.

"Hush, no bahbin," she spat back quietly, indicating Jonas walk ahead of her and take a seat at their desk. He wasn't even looking at them, either of them, and he walked in a zombie-like trance to desk, pulling out the chair and taking a seat, staring out into nothing.

Resting one hand on his shoulder, Adrienne leaned over in an attempt to make eye contact, the other carefully holding up the blanket.

"Take a breath shug, here, let me get you a water," she requested, tiptoeing over to the mini-fridge she had in the corner, grabbing a bottle of vitamin water and hurrying back over to him.

"Ok, what happened Jonas, slowly," she said softly. With a slight nod of his head, Jonas took the bottle and opened the cap, taking a drink before setting it back on the table, glancing back up at his friends.

"Sam called the lab, she said she had to meet with Woolsey but she needed me to come to her office afterwards. I waited around, kept going through the information from the Ktaenam until Walter called," he started off so clearly only to fall into a stammer, Adrienne reaching out her hand in concern.

Unable to recall seeing Jonas act this way before, Daniel slid forward on the bed, his legs hanging over the side and his face furrowed in a frown, slipping on his glasses from the nightstand.

"It's ok," Adrienne assured, "take ya time mon ami."

Sucking in another deep breath Jonas nodded, glancing over at Daniel before continuing.

"Anubis, he, the entire planet, he," Jonas tried again, stuttering, trying to keep himself together.

"Look at me," Adrienne ordered this time, sounding very mothering to Daniel, something that made him feel a surge of warmth deep inside.

"What did Anubis do?" she pushed, gently but forcefully, reaching her hand to his knee to give him some sort of comfort.

It was just so perfect, she was breathtakingly beautiful, her hair still slightly mussed from their lovemaking, her pale, bare shoulders poised as she tended to her task. She was so stunning at that very moment that were Jonas not there stammering and explaining the next catastrophe that awaited them, he would have scooped her up and taken her back to their bed to be intimate with her again.

"What he did to us. The comas, the sleep. Every last one of them," the Langaran explained, upset and shaking, locking his eyes on Adrienne for the strength to continue, "Addy, Sam says that unless we can get in there, with enough of the injection for the population that we have no way of knowing..." he trailed, his lips trembling as if they feared finishing the sentence would make the nightmare that was racing through his head come to fruition.

Knowing there wasn't going to be any more private time with his wife, or sleep for that matter, Daniel slipped out of bed, adjusting the blanket at his waist, heading for the dresser rather than to the intense conversation going on at his desk. He opened the drawer, grabbing himself some clothes, moving on to get Adrienne some as well.

"What did Sam say that she planned to do?" he heard Adrienne ask behind him as he closed the drawers, turning to walk over to join them.

"Nothing, she said that Woolsey rejected the idea of taking a small team to Langara, even to let Vala slip in and try to smuggle a few people out. No, nothing, they just don't care," Jonas admitted slowly, tearing up somewhat Daniel could tell. Reaching out for Adrienne, Daniel rested his hand on her shoulder, bringing his lips softly to her ear.

"Ja-wer, we should get dressed," he suggested softly, reaching for her arm to pull her away. She nodded, a part of her brain finally registering that this was going to be a long night, standing, holding the blanket in place.

"Hang tight shug, we'll be right back," she whispered, following her husband to their bathroom to get decent.

"Daniel you don't think that Woolsey?" Adrienne began to ask, stopping herself. There was no way that Woolsey, finances or not had just decided to write off one of their greatest allies and the two billion or so inhabitants of the planet.

"Yeah, I do," he answered honestly as he slipped into his boxers, shaking his head. He'd been through this before and with everything that had happened since his return he'd been somewhat expecting it.

"But Sam didn't call," Adrienne argued, pulling her shirt over her head, making a face at him as the collar slipped under her nose, "you'd think if the IOA was just gonna screw over Langara she would let us know."

"She's just being Sam, probably trying to come up with a solution before calling us in, or at least start. I don't know, maybe she was trying to give us time but either way we need to get down there," he replied adjusting his own shirt now, tucking the hem into pants.

"Time I'm glad we got," she said with a smile. Two quick steps forward and she was in his arms, kissing him slowly, passionately, his mind wandering again to lifting her to the counter and forget the world but the ringing of their phone broke his trance.

Sighing as he left her lips, he reached for the bathroom door, slipping out to the main room. He noted that Jonas was extending his hand to answer the phone himself, but Daniel shook his hand in front of his face, clasping the receiver and bringing it to his ear.

"Alright Daniel, I think I gave you and the misses plenty of time but we've got shit hitting the fan up here," Jack's voice boomed from the earpiece loud and clear, supporting his theory that his friends were buying him some time, which considering that time was spent having sex with his wife, was very considerate.

"We know, Jonas is here," he answered, spotting Adrienne out of the corner of his eye grabbing her bag and packing it for a briefing.

"Jonas? In there with you and Dr. Perky? Daniel I had no idea," the general joked, Daniel rolling his eyes.

"No," was the only response he gave. There was grumbling on the other end, grumbling about kicking as Daniel peeked up at Adrienne and Jonas, both of which were up and ready to go.

"Well get decent and get up to the briefing room," Jack finally ordered.

"Already heading there," Daniel replied, reaching to hang up the phone when he heard shouting from the other line.

"Bring those leftover cheese pies! Junior's demanding nourishment."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Then I'm going myself," Jonas shouted, standing only to feel a tug at his arm, Vala grabbing him and shoving him forcefully into his seat.

"Were you listening to anything that Sam or I said? They are OUT, completely OUT, and we have NO SHIP," she repeated in her words the just of the meeting so far, called in the middle of the night, half of their covert team present. Sam had asked Adrienne to text John every so often so he could alert the others, but kept the bulk of meeting to SG-1, except for Walter, who was seated at the far corner of the table monitoring the security cameras and taking notes feverishly.

"ONeill, do you not have the power to overrule RichardWoolsey?" Teal'c asked still after all this time mystified by the way the government of this world functioned, leaders with little real power, underlings who had access to secrets, completely different from any sort of leadership he had known or participated in now. Granted, his experience in his friend's country had given the Jaffa a basis for their own council, but the more levels of bureaucracy he was exposed to as the years passed simply confounded him.

"You'd think, but my generaling days are gone. Taking this post just made me another talking head. Woolsey yes, Sam yes, the senate oversight committee, no," Jack admitted, frustrated. The very people that were riding them were the ones pulling him into meetings, secret meetings, meetings at this point he had only told Sam about.

They were meetings he was going to tell his friends about right now at the high risk of losing his job.

"The program is a wash, in their eyes anyway. There've been meetings, shit I haven't told you about. They've gotten some walking talking calculators to come in, analyze everything like we're just facts and figures and are pulling me in to drill me about cost benefit analysis," Jack began, Daniel shaking his hands in front of him, halting his explanation.

"Cost benefit of what?" Daniel asked puzzled. They'd been through this, at least in his department, Addy's find, among quite a few of his own, holding them at bay.

"Well for one you and Dr. Perky here. Her good luck hasn't run out only because you two got hitched, they think she's useless, but throw Jonas here into the mix and the United States government is tired of footing the bill for three nerds to find pretty rocks to go out and save other planets," he put it, bluntly, his brown eyes cutting over at his wife before continuing.

"It's not just Cheyenne. In the past few weeks we've lost the Gamma sight and they've shut down plans to open up any other bases with cute greek letter names," he added, a pause after the forced joke to look back over at Sam a second time.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Adrienne asked meekly unable to control the fear in her voice.

"Nothing, nothing's going to happen. They're just trimming at this point, a lot," Sam began when there was a clearing of a throat, all eyes in the room turning to look at Walter.

"Ma'am, Senator Bennet has just arrived."

Nodding, her face not giving Daniel the confidence it normally did Sam walked back to the head of the table, crossing her arms, looking out at her friends.

"Daniel I need everyone to go back to your house and that includes you Jack until the switch occurs. I'll make your excuses," she ordered stoically.

"Honey," Jack said carefully, his voice fearful, unwilling to leave the love of his life to the wolves, "I don't think you should face him alone."

"I'll stay," Daniel volunteered instantly no thought or consideration needed, "I'm the head of research, a leader of SG-1, I should stay with you." He felt a hand at his arm and a squeeze not needing to glance over to know that it was Adrienne, his rock, trying to give him what little support she could.

"Thank you, but the rest of you should go," Sam agreed, "split up like last time, but Jack, I want you and Addy to beam over."

"Sam, listen, you don't have to - " he started as Sam stepped forward, shaking her head.

"I do. Right now, in this condition, you're proof of exactly why they want to shut this down, you and Jonas and..." she paused, taking a breath, putting on her general's face, "This is my base and it's my responsibility to demonstrate its necessary place in the DOD."

No one moved or spoke at her words. This wasn't a threat anymore; this was real. In silent compliance the team filed out, knowing their individual paths that would lead them back together to the Jackson household, all but Adrienne and Jack, their faces ones Daniel could easily read. Speaking with their brown eyes Daniel could see the concern, the deep concern in leaving their spouses behind.

"Sha," Adrienne whispered as she marched up to his side, a look of determination on her face, "don't let them take advantage of you. You're better than that."

Pursing his lips as he looked down at her, Daniel took her into his arms, holding her tightly and kissing her head.

"I won't. You go home, watch out for Jack and the little one and I'll be there as soon as I can," he answered, kissing her lips this time before pulling away.

He stood back, watching as she placed her hand gently onto Jack's back to have him do the same in return, waddling ahead of her out of the briefing room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Adrienne wanted to sleep, the last time she had done so being on a wooden block, but she needed to listen out for Jack, who still nearly had twenty four hours left as her son's carrier since the Ktaenam were nowhere to be seen. He seemed to be doing well, much better than her husband she had to admit, and other than being very tired and extremely hungry, he had kept his griping to a minimum.

There had been a small chance that she'd get a nap in once she had gotten Jack settled on the air mattress in the nursery, but there was a knock at her door, Vala and Ronon waiting on the other side.

"I brought you coffee," Vala said as she passed over a paper cup, still piping hot. Adrienne didn't bother to thank her verbally, the aroma making her snatch the cup from her friend's hand, sipping it gratefully.

"Who else is here," Vala asked as she slipped past, pulling her fleece off of her shoulders and taking Ronon's coat as well, hanging them in the hall closet. Adrienne swallowed quickly to answer, savoring the caramel and caffeine that she had missed these many months.

"Just Jack, he's still got the baby for a while longer. You guys are the first to arrive," she said, closing and locking the door behind her friends.

"Any word from Daniel?" she continued, comfortable enough in her friend's house to make her way to the living room, plopping down on the sofa.

"Not even a text," Adrienne answered before taking another swig.

There wasn't much more to say, or to do than continue to wait, Vala cuing up something on the TV.

By sunrise Cam and Teal'c had arrived, John informing them via text that he was on the way. Torren was sick on base, not serious, but Teyla had taken him into the infirmary so she could join Carolyn who was communicating with the group via iPod, courtesy of Adrienne. There was still no word from Daniel, keeping Adrienne awake and worried, her body wishing she could just have their son return to her if not for anything more than the comfort of his kicks inside.

After waking up herself, she and Ronon having napped together on the sofa for a few hours, Vala insisted that Adrienne get some sleep, leading her drowsy friend to her bed. The Cajun was hesitant, worried about her husband, about her son, about Sam, but she was rambling, making no sense and Vala wasn't going to hear it.

"Go to bed..." she ordered, Adrienne yammering on about Daniel and Woolsey, but she let Vala lead her anyway, pulling back the covers and getting her to sleep.

No sooner had she left Adrienne asleep, than did John arrive, Rodney surprisingly in tow and Jack up and moving about, his belly still full of mini-Jackson.

"Not one damn word, I don't even think she has her phone on," Jack was explaining to John, an explanation Vala was tired of hearing.

"I think we should go over there," she interjected, stepping between them. She was finished with waiting, wondering, it wasn't her style and two of her closest friends were having to deal with the gods knew what while she laid on the sofa watching bad programming with her boyfriend.

At least he was hot.

"Sam said stay here Vala so we're gonna stay here," Jack replied, his face cross, his toner serious.

"So you tote around the Jackson love child for a day and suddenly you're the little submissive bitch," she spat trying to get a reaction from Jack but getting none.

"Sit down Vala and shut up," he answered calmly, walking to the kitchen to presumably get more food.

Frowning and resisting the urge to start a fight with him in her friends' living room, Vala returned to Ronon's side, about to mutter something crass to him when the light beams in front of her answered her question.

As the beams dissipated, much to Rodney's confusion, Sam and Daniel stood before them, the latter with his arm around the former.

"What happened?" Cam asked immediately, sensing that something was very wrong, Daniel already biting his lip and shaking his head.

"They shut us down," Daniel answered quietly, "it's over."

From behind where they stood a coffee mug hit the floor, liquid spraying everywhere, including all over Jack's BDU's.

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"There's no way in hell!" Jack raged, Daniel assuming it was probably being enhanced by the hormones of carrying his son but not wanting to interrupt him to speculate.

"There is Jack, at least the research aspect of it. The oversight committee voted as soon as they heard about Langara. All non-defense missions are to cease immediately and the entire base is being turned over to all military operations," she explained again, painfully, not knowing what else to say.

"But that still means we look for ZPM's. We need Atlantis base to defeat Anubis," John argued, ignoring the beer that Ronon has fished out of the fridge for the group, some crap that he was certain Jack had left over here.

"I tried that. No go," Daniel answered instantly, "The committee doesn't consider it defense if we're going after him."

"What if he comes after us?" Cam shot right back, the attitude in his voice not meant for Daniel or Sam but sounding that way nonetheless.

"They've decided that between the Odyssey, the Daedalus and keeping the Iris closed at all times we should be fine. The consensus is that he's too weak to do anything, hence the reason he has taken Langara. Bennett argues that with fewer people and inferior technology, they were an easy target," Sam replied calmly, not taking offense at Cameron's attack.

"Close the iris? That's their big solution?" John re-entered the conversation, unconvinced as he could tell most of his friends were.

"They think that it is, close the iris, inoculate personnel against the sleeping virus, but that's it," Daniel answered for her, his eyes again gazing at his friends, wondering where his wife had gone, hoping it was to sleep.

"What about Jack?" Rodney finally spoke, unable to sit quietly, "why can't he just overrule all of this. He's head of Homeworld Security, or did I miss something?"

Teal'c started to speak, inform the scientist that he had asked that very same question, but he refrained, allowing SamanthaONeill to answer.

Sighing Sam finally let her own eyes meet Jack's, lingering there for a moment before scanning her collection of friends, gathered here in Daniel & Adrienne's home.

"Jack will have to answer to Joint Chiefs now for every major decision. The committee has decided that he's too close to the program and he'll be a - "

"Paper pusher. I'll be a goddam paper pusher," Jack finished for her, anger in his eyes, "as if it wasn't heading that way anyhow."

"I don't understand, what happens to us?" Vala asked, scared, not even feigning strength.

"As of today, Stargate Command is a full defensive military operation. Military personnel can stay, civilian personnel, doctors excluded, will be assisted in finding jobs outside of the base. All others, our visitors here, will be given new identities and assistance in finding suitable employment here on earth if they are unable to return to their home worlds," Sam said, whispered really, the pain of delivering this news to her friends seeming to be more than she could bear.

"Fuck no," Vala spat instantly, "I don't want any fucking new identity. I'm me and I intend to stay that way," she argued, refused, shaking her head as rage built up in her face.

"Vala, there's no choice, that's where we're at now and I've been told that I can assist in finding placements that match your talents," Sam assured her, having already considered favors that she had accumulated over the course of her career, favors that she was going to call in as soon as she got back to her office.

"No," Vala was trembling, her eyes watering, "Fuck this, fuck this. This is all I have now! I can't go back to..." she screamed out, sobbing, Ronon reaching over to take her into his arms. It was the first time Daniel had seen the Sateadan show affection for his friend and despite the horrible news that he was delivering, he was comforted in seeing how much the man obviously cared for her. She was crying, shaking, screaming and everyone sat in stunned silence watching Ronon calm her, not knowing what else to say.

Daniel wanted to speak up and almost did when he felt a hand at the small of his back, followed by a tug on his shirt. Turning he saw Adrienne standing there, on the brink of tears herself, pulling him aside. Vala's scream must have awoken her, she looked exhausted, deep dark circles and sleep in her eye that he reached out gently to wipe away. He could tell by the look on her face that she had heard or at least understood what was happening.

"Don't worry ja-wer, I think I have enough saved. I'll take care of you, of us, of the baby," he assured her quietly, running their finances through his head but she was already shaking hers.

"We do, but I'm not worried about that. I'm southern; we could show up with nothing but the clothes on our backs and Aunt Barb would never question. I'm worried about Vala, Dex, and Jonas, look at them, at her. She's falling apart," Adrienne whispered, her breathtaking dark eyes gazing mournfully at her friends, at their friends.

It was a scene he never thought he'd see, Vala crying violently in Ronon's arms, Jack, still carrying their child trying to keep calm while he talked to his wife, who also seemed to be fighting back emotion. John had moved to the corner of the room, phone pressed to his ear, talking to who Daniel assumed was Carson by his foul choice of words. Rodney was ranting aloud for anyone that could hear as Cam stared into space, Teal'c sitting silently on the sofa beside Jonas who didn't even seem to be here.

Their entire world was collapsing.

"Is it for real?" she continued, those eyes now searching his for hope.

"They deactivated our dialing computers while I stood right there and ordered Satterfield to shut down the secondary labs immediately," he answered quietly. Biting her lip nervously she peered over at her friend, Vala sitting up from Ronon's chest, wiping her eyes.

"Daniel can we? They have nowhere to go..." Adrienne asked without asking.

"Of course," he replied before he could think about it, "it would get pretty tight but yeah, we can make it work," he agreed, knowing his wife's request, knowing that she would never leave her friends to fend for themselves.

"So did Woolsey take over?" Cameron finally spoke his brain in overdrive Daniel could tell.

"No, I retain the post as general, but in a military capacity only. I'll no longer be allowed space for my own research either and I'm not even sure if they will allow me to keep Walter as my assistant," Sam replied, reaching for an unclaimed beer on the coffee table.

"Look, maybe I'm a little dense but how is shutting everything down but the bombs gonna keep Anubis away," John spat angrily, phone in hand, Carson on speaker. He must have disconnected the video chat with Carolyn and Teyla and Daniel hoped the doctor was there with them.

"The consensus is that if we let him have Langara, he'll forget about us," Daniel answered regretting the words the moment they crossed his lips as Jonas Quinn stood from the sofa and left the room without a word.

"I've got him," Adrienne said, rushing after him.

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"Anubis likes to experiment. I know that from the last time I worked here. He's sick," Jonas muttered as soon as the door to Daniel's office closed and locked, not needing to look up to know that Adrienne had followed him in there.

"It's not over. We won't let it be over," she tried to assure from the door, leaning back on it lightly not sure if she should take a seat beside him.

"You know, it really hurt when I was pushed out of here the first time. Daniel was back and I wasn't needed anymore. It wasn't just the job but I'd always wanted to do something for my people, serve a higher purpose, like Teal'c does now. But this, now, they expect me to just take some alias and head out into this world like nothing ever happened to my own. Addy I watched my president's brains blown out before I was forced to shove children through a wormhole, hoping they didn't get shot in the process. And what about them? Survivors are living four people to a room on base as it is, what's the damn oversight committee plan on doing with them!?" his voice changed from sadness to anger, he was screaming at her but she let him, not arguing, not even trying to smile, just letting him carry on.

"I don't know Jonas. I wish I did," she whispered when he finished, hanging by the door, "but you can stay here, with us. Daniel and I are low cost kinda people and the house is paid for.." she offered carefully. He was clearly concerned about his people and not himself, but her home was the best she could offer now.

"Thanks," he answered quietly, resting his hands on Daniel's desk as he stared out into space.

"Do you need anything? Some coffee?" she almost laughed at her own suggestion. For all of the years that she had denied the influence her family had on her, the older she got the more she realized that they had done just that. Coffee can fix anything in the South, coffee or iced tea, and just like her aunt it was all she could think to offer.

She had a burning urge for just a moment to call her aunt and apologize for acting like she wasn't family for so long and to tell her that she loved her.

"No, I just, I just want to think but thanks Addy. I don't know what I would do without you and Daniel with all of this," he rejected her offer, his blue eyes meeting hers for a moment before cutting away, staring back into oblivion.

"Alright, well, I'm right outside if ya need anything shug, ok?" she added, reaching behind to let herself into the hallway.

"CameronMitchell that is good news, is that not a promotion?" Teal'c was asking as Adrienne entered the living room, headed straight for the kitchen to make coffee.

"A promotion to what Teal'c? It just sounds to me like they want me to keep an eye on Sam," the colonel replied, Sam shaking her head.

"Or keep an eye on the both of us," she interjected.

"Ok so Cam's full colonel now, great, what about the rest of us? Where are they planning on keeping an eye on us?" John inquired, phone still in hand, his eyes tracing the touch screen, a clear indicator that the rest of their missing party was definitely on the other line.

"Like I said, alien personnel will all be given new identities John, all alien personnel. From what Bennett said, you're being given command of the orbit forces, both the Daedalus and Odyssey," she answered, John standing from the sofa.

"Then I demand Teyla as my assistant, I'm not letting her get shipped out of here with a kid! I owe Kanaan THAT much!" he shouted back, Daniel bringing his hand to his head, rubbing his temples and preparing for the next round of shouting about to start in his living room.

"John, right now that's just not possible," Daniel started, the colonel slamming the sofa pillow back onto the love seat where he had been sitting.

"Then I quit. Teyla, pack up Torren and Carson if they're considering you alien you might as well pack up too. I don't need this," he declared into the air, his phone on speaker, marching back down the hall.

"Sheppard, come on," Ronon now directed his calm to another source, standing and following his old friend out of the front door.

"SamanthaONeill, I shall prepare to return to Chulac where I will await your next command," Teal'c stated simply, hoping to stop the tears of frustration building in her eyes.

"I still don't understand why my research is no longer a priority, my cloning advances alone can be sold to agriculture companies for more than enough to justify the expense of my materials," Rodney stood now, ranting, focused on himself as usual but Daniel couldn't help but wonder if it was a front, if he wasn't already messaging Jennifer about what they should do.

He could hear Ronon down the hall, trying to reason with John, who was accusing his friend of giving up, shouting about everything they had left behind in Atlantis.

Rodney raged on as Cam and Jack argued themselves over what exactly the Colonel's full role would be in the SGC, Vala standing to face Sam, demanding to know where the general planned to ship her off too as well.

It was total chaos, Daniel just waiting to hear sirens outside as the result of the neighbors reporting a domestic dispute going on next door and he just couldn't take it anymore.

"STOP! EVERYONE JUST STOP!" he screamed out, surprising himself and the room as well, each and every person in his sight pausing to stare at him.

"Look, Sam did the best she could, but it was an ambush. They knew about Langara, they know the Furlings can pop in and out whenever they please, they know Anubis has infiltrated the base on numerous occasions and they know that we are no closer to getting Atlantis operational than we were months ago. They knew and they had everything planned before either of us could speak. Right now we just need to do what they say, bide our time and give Sam time to think."

Rolling her eyes despite his very true words, Daniel was correct, there was nothing else that could be done right now, Vala shoved her way past him, heading down the hall and out the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Here's some more sha," Adrienne said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing his cheek lightly before she backed away, refilling his coffee mug. Standing upright she placed her hand on the small of her back for balance, their son having been transferred back to her body moments before she had finished brewing their third pot. Jack had left shortly after, at Sam's insistence, and knowing his wife he did as she asked, kissing her forehead before heading out the front door himself, hours after the last of their group had as well.

"Thank you ja-wer," he replied, removing his glasses from his face to pinch the bridge of his nose, Sam thanking Adrienne as the Cajun filled her cup as well.

"Walter says they're still there, allowing people to clean out their offices, monitored of course, but they seem to have no intention of slowing down the closure," Sam said as she scanned her phone, wondering how long her excuse would hold out.

Richard Woolsey might be an idiot, but eventually someone was going to figure out that the head of the SGC wasn't at home taking care of her sick husband all day while her workplace was being decimated.

"Well, I think the first thing we need to do is determine what to do about Langara. Not only for Jonas sake, which speaking of..." Daniel started, trailing as he glanced over at his wife who joined them, a mug of hot cocoa in place of coffee.

"Asleep. I got him to rest about an hour ago. He's in pieces, frustration, guilt, he can't take much more," she answered, sipping carefully.

"No, I agree. I'm gonna need to head back, start calling in a few favors to try to get most of the civilian personnel placed. I wish Vala would answer her phone. I wanted to send her and SG-3 to Langara, quietly, under the guise of checking our satellites and flight paths of ships but I can't do that if she won't answer her phone," Sam spat frustrated, taking out that very frustration on her phone.

"She'll come around. Adrienne and I have decided to try to make room here for her, Dex and Jonas so maybe we can stall their new career paths for last?" Daniel mentioned, remembering he and Adrienne's early conversation.

"Possibly," Sam said as she stood, reaching to finish the cup of coffee in front of her, "I'll need to see what I can do but if you guys hear from her, please let me know. In the meantime..."

"I know. Carolyn needs to see Adrienne after the transfer and we need to be seen on base because the pregnancy itself is a security issue. I've got it, we've got it, I just hope she can buy us the time we need," Daniel said standing himself, taking his coffee along.

There was tension in the air between the old friends, thick enough where Adrienne remained seated, resting her hands on her once again large belly as a silent excuse to stay right there.

"Daniel, I'm not giving up on this, the research, everything. You and Addy need to get in there, get every piece of information you can get your hands on in case..." she started but Daniel was already shaking his head.

"You forget that I'm married to techno geek extraordinaire," he answered, cocking his head back at Adrienne, "but we've got this covered. You just find Vala." Nodding she started to step away when she reached out for his arm, gazing into his eyes.

"Thank you. Not only for back there but for everything. You deserve better than this," she whispered, her words, Adrienne's exact words from earlier, breaking Adrienne's heart.

He did deserve better than years of research and hard work being flushed down the toilet, Daniel cast out into the world, a mockery of his profession, with nowhere to go.

"Don't talk like that. This is just another bump in the road; we've been through worse," he assured her with a squeeze of her arm, a smile in return and pulled back as he watched her head down the hall to the closet. There was no goodbye, simply the close of a door behind him as he returned to the table.

"Sleep Indy," Adrienne caught him halfway there, grabbing his shoulders to turn him in the direction of the bedroom.

"Adrienne, there's no time for that, you heard what Sam said. They are going to monitor us when we clean out the lab, we need to get to Carolyn and -" his words halted by her lips on his own, kissing him softly, reaching behind his neck to pull him in deeper, to distract him, to shut him up and it was working as he pulled her into his arms allowing himself the pleasure of her mouth.

"Damn distracting Adrienne," he said as he pulled away, right to her face, that devilish grin his reply.

"If you're expecting me to perform movie-like miracles, I need to nap and I need to do so without worrying about whether or not you are having a panic attack in here. I'll call Carolyn, make an appointment, and then we can rest for a while, if not for any other reason than to make sure our brains are at full power," she argued, pulling him down the hall. Smiling, he pulled her back into his arm, kissing her again slowly, running his fingers down her soft cheek.

"What would I do without you?" he asked, bringing her into his tight embrace.

"Be out of lives by now, no more stallin'. Ya a gah damn tete dure," she teased, hoping her hard headed husband would listen. Rolling his eyes, he marched down the hall, following orders without complaint.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"I'd like thank you Mr. Woolsey for allowing Adrienne to continue under Carolyn's care; I know it would be very difficult for her to have to find a new doctor this late in the pregnancy," Daniel thanked their host, their babysitter, as he met them at the elevators. Sam had warned him that this was a possibility and assured him that precautions had been taken in case this very thing happened.

"Dr. Jackson the IOA feels that given the nature of Dr. Rowan's, uh, Dr. Jackson's pregnancy we needed to insure that, well, it was best that Dr. Lam stay on as her doctor until the baby is born, provided everything proves to be..." Woolsey stammered and trailed, Daniel holding back rage.

First she's my wife you creep and second stop implying something is going to be wrong with my child, he thought but bit his tongue, forcing a nod.

"Well, again, it's appreciated," Daniel replied, keeping it short, resting his hand at his wife's back, urging her forward.

"Adrienne," Richard continued, calling her neither Dr. Rowan nor Dr. Jackson infuriating Daniel further, "will you be needing any assistance to the infirmary?"

"I think I can handle a short waddle," she replied, winking at her husband as she sauntered the best she could to the infirmary.

"Right this way Dr. Jackson," Woolsey sneered, stepping ahead toward the lab.

"Right this way Dr. Jackson," Daniel mocked quietly, laughing to himself at his very Adrienne response, hoping that his babysitter didn't hear.

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"Ok Addy, up on the table," Carolyn Lam ordered tapping the table top much to Adrienne's surprise, the Cajun making a face of confusion.

"Wait, this is supposed to be a ruse..." she asked, Carolyn rolling her eyes as she cocked her head to the cameras.

"What's that you say all of the time? You suck at simple things..." she lead, Adrienne rubbing her temple as she caught on.

"Oh, right, yeah, I feel fine doc, no worries," she changed her tune, doing what was asked, hands instantly all over her face, glands and making their way down to her belly.

"Regardless, your biology was radically altered for a week, your son was carried by two separate men and then returned to your body like nothing happened. Now lay back," the doctor fussed Adrienne grumbling, but complying, realizing that she did have a point.

Feeling her shirt being pulled up, exposing her belly, she closed her eyes knowing the cold wet gel that was coming next.

"Any change since the swap occurred?" Carolyn inquired, her eyes on the screen, scanning the small person kicking wildly inside of Adrienne's body.

"I'm a little more lucid, must have cleared out some hormones. Less Mommy brain if you can call it that," she answered, the doctor nodding in understanding.

"Makes sense, I'm not going to explain to you the biology, but I take it that slightly weepy Daniel was only a fraction of what he actually experienced," Dr. Lam continued, tapping the screen, Adrienne giggling from the table.

"From what I heard, yeah, it was pretty bad. I think I owe Jack a very nice dinner out once N-," Adrienne started to answer, pausing, biting her tongue before she slipped but Carolyn Lam was already smiling, wiping the gel away from her middle.

"So, you have a name?" she guessed correctly, not needing a verbal answer as Adrienne's reddening cheeks were confirming what she knew.

"I think so, but I haven't told Daniel yet. It's too much fun to make him think I'm naming our child after a Ninja Turtle or something," she replied as the doctor pulled her shirt back down, turning around and crossing her arms, staring at the office. Completely still and silent Carolyn waited, Adrienne unsure as to what she should do when the doctor spun around reaching for the archaeologist's arm.

"Ok, Carson's gonna run the exam as a loop. Your little guy is fine, I'll text Daniel, but you've only got about thirty, forty-five minutes maximum before I need you back here," she instructed, phone in hand.

"Wait, what if Woolsey comes down here? I thought you were going to need to come with me to the lab for some reason," Adrienne asked, confused as Dr. Lam was already shaking her head.

"I need to run some more tests, you've been experiencing that dizziness and all, so I think it is best that you lay down Dr. Jackson," Carolyn contributed, however no longer talking to Adrienne but to Cassie Frasier, in a hospital down and pillow in hand.

"Yes Dr. Lam, I'm feeling a little dizzy right now in fact," she smiled, raising her eyebrows at Adrienne before slipping behind the curtain in the corner of the room.

"Ya think it'll work?" Adrienne questioned, slightly unconvinced.

"You've got about two minutes less now to find out. Go!"

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_Le descendirent au stockage. Travaillez rapidement._

"Gah sha, I hope you can keep him occupied down there," Adrienne mumbled at the note in barely legible french on the whiteboard, wondering what Richard Woolsey would allow Daniel to take from the storage closets. Breathing in, focusing on the task at hand, Adrienne dashed over to her desk, opening the bottom drawer and digging like mad, trying to find her collections of spare hard drives and cute themed flash drives. She paused for a moment, her dark eyes scanning, taking a mental inventory of the items before her, grabbing a few as she dashed over to his desk.

"Indy you'd better never make fun of Lion-o eva again," she laughed as she pulled the cartoon character head off of the end of the device, shoving it into the side of his computer.

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"Dr. Jackson, we can't just allow you to take what you want from here," Woolsey reminded him sternly, as Daniel opened yet another box. He knew he couldn't take anything, openly anyway, but he needed to stall to allow Adrienne to download as much information as possible. In this mess right now he had one task and one task alone.

Stall.

"With all due respect Mr. Woolsey, this might be a closet to you, but to me it represents a good portion of my life's work. I'd like to go through and make sure that none of my personal effects have been accidentally included at the very least," Daniel rebuffed, reaching in to dig through the contents.

This was yet another box of nothing, stone slabs he had stored down here for later investigation, but the rat faced little fink didn't need to know that. He heard grunting beside him, open frustration, Woolsey glancing at his watch before glaring back up at Daniel.

"Look, I have important matters to attend to, I can't stand here all day," he hissed, pivoting around to count the array of boxes Daniel had arranged for just this very task.

"Then leave. There's an inventory, correct? I'll report any items that I take and you can check against the inventory," Daniel offered quickly, seizing the opportunity that was being handed him.

Yes Richard, there's an inventory alright, one my wife can alter before we even make it to the car.

The bureaucrat paused, adjusting his glasses as he glanced carefully at his overpriced watch. Daniel knew he was deciding, debating, trying to figure out whether or not Dr. Daniel Jackson would take something without permission...

"Alright, just hurry up," he stammered, straightening his tie before heading out the door. Standing in silence Daniel waited, not only for the door to shut but for footsteps to no longer be heard. Not taking any chances he raced for the door, stuffing a chair under the knob and back to the boxes, opening the next case, hoping it had what he was looking for.

"Perfect," he said with a twinkle in his eye, reaching in with gusto.

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"But what about Vala?" Colonel Reynolds asked, cautiously, not meaning to disrespect the general but wondering what was going on. Last he'd heard all off world missions were scrapped and this wasn't sounding very scrapped at the moment.

"I'm not sure. It's just your team, go, do what you can and return," Sam spoke cryptically, her blue eyes darting over at the camera. The colonel nodded, reading between the lines, reaching for his communicator at his ear.

"Yes ma'am," was his answer as he turned away heading for the door, muttering orders to his men.

It was done.

All she could do was take a deep breath and hope.

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She'd changed the code again, back to Skarsgard's birthday so Daniel would be the only person to join her. The contents of his computer safely stored on two Thundercats hard drives and one Voltron, Adrienne had moved onto to her work issued machine, sending every file that she could to her iPad and her personal cloud account.

She glanced at the clock, fifteen minutes had passed, and she was running out of time that she needed to start downloading from the main lab computer, the one on the backside of Daniel's desk, with information from both the Ktaenam and the main Asgard database.

"Ad, please tell me that you're finished," the voice behind her startled her, she hadn't even heard the door open, but it was just Daniel, the lock of the door behind him clear.

"No, I've only got mine and yours. I still need to download the databases and install spyware on the system," she answered, her eyes intently at the screen.

"Woolsey was headed to a meeting, probably with Bennett and we need to get out of here and get you back to Carolyn, how much longer -"

He never got to finish his question as he watched wife collapse to her knees, holding her belly and screaming in pain.

"Ad," he raced to her side as she breathed rapidly, in an out like she was in labor, "no, no the baby can't come now," but she was shaking her head, still keeping with the breaths.

"No, no, it's," she argued, standing, still pacing her breaths, "Braxton Hicks, I think, I just can't AAAHHH," she shouted again, painfully, trying to stand and continue.

"Adrienne, we need to get you back to Carolyn," he urged, pulling her, but she yanked her arm away, glaring at him.

"We need this," she hissed, crumbling to her knees a second time, her menacing gaze now directed at her belly.

"Nicholas Francis Jackson NOT NOW!"

"Who?" Daniel asked confused from his knees, his arm protectively around her.

"Your damn son!" she spat, trying to stand again, Daniel helping her to her feet.

"Wait? No Conan? No Han Solo? Nicholas Francis?" he asked, confused; this was the first he heard a normal name come out of her mouth.

"Yes and young man if you don't let me do this!" she shouted, at him first and then their son, standing to her feet again.

"I like it."

"What?"

"I like it, the name. It's perfect," he answered, not believing that it was over, that his son had a name.

"Ahhhh, that's great Daniel, glad you like it. Little help please," she begged, on the floor again, how did he miss her sinking to the floor, falling to her side?

"Ja-wer are you SURE this is false labor?" he asked, refocusing, watching her writhe on the floor.

"Nope, but I'm sure we are SCREWED if I don't get this downloaded so help me!" she was screaming, they were going to be caught, and whether or not she was experiencing real contractions, she wasn't in any sort of state to finish the task.

There had to be something he could do, something to help when the idea hit him, thrusting into his pockets.

"Ad take this," he ordered, shoving the stone into her hand, one of the few items he had stolen from the storage facility.

Her eyes met his, confused for a moment, pain in her eyes when she understood, clasping the cool rock in her fist.

"I'd like to point out that this is true love considering I'm pregnant, again," he said from her body, it taking her a moment to realize what he had done.

"I got them in the storage area, and a few other small things, AAHHHH," his quick explanation was interrupted by a scream and more deep breathing, "work Ad."

She breathed out herself, standing, stumbling in her new center of gravity, reaching for the keys when it hit her that she, well, rather, her body, had the drives she needed. Kneeling quickly she took them from her own small hands as her face grimaced, the body contracting again.

"Indy, are you-"

"Just do it," he gasped out, eyes closing to try to meditate away the pain. She nodded, pushing his glasses up his face as she turned back to the screen.

From the floor he watched, trying to control the pain, remember what he had read in that stupid book of her about breathing as his own blue eyes darted around the screen in the computer like way that Adrienne's did so often. There was cajun swearing, in his voice, his feet racing past him to her desk, a few more things taken from the drawer, Adrienne back at his side, the personal computer inside her own head working her internal techno magic.

Yet another contraction ripped through his body, her body, Daniel close to screaming at his son himself. Instead he tried to focus on their latest revelation, the name, the combination of his grandfather and her father, a perfect name for their child to be. He wasn't about to tell her he really didn't mind some of her sci-fi and fantasy suggestions, but he was certain now they had all been a joke, that naming their child after the most important figure in Adrienne's life had been her plan all along.

"Daniel?" his own voice broke his meditative train of thought, bringing him to the realization that he was contracting again, the baby shifting uncomfortably in his body.

"Daniel, sha, stay with me, can you hear me?" she asked again, kneeling in front of him, his hand on her face, eyes locked, "Daniel I can't get it all, there's too much, what's most important?"

Through pain, intense pain and motion, Daniel forced himself to think, to prioritize, trying to determine what would be the most valuable to him if he could never step foot into his lab again.

He wanted the Asgard database, the secrets it held, the lifetime of research at his fingertips...

But he needed to help Jonas, to help Langara, to restart Atlantis, to protect Earth, to get Teyla home to her husband, to fix everything that had gone so horribly wrong...

To do that, he needed to stop Anubis.

"Notes from the Ktaenam," he squeaked out between cramps, "just the notes from the Ktaenam."

Biting his lip Adrienne nodded again, understanding, realizing the choice he was making, hurrying back to the screen.

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"Dr. Jackson, is your wife feeling alright?" the senator asked as he stepped out of the elevator, staring right at the couple, Adrienne reaching protectively into Daniel's jeans pocket. She'd untucked the t-shirt, hoping it covered the bulges on the sides, hiding the communication stones, the Goa'uld healing device as well as the Asgard shield he had stuffed into his pockets. It seemed a strange combination, but she knew he had a reason and wasn't going to question; if there was anything she had learned about Daniel was that he did very little in haste.

"She came down to the lab to get a few personal effects and she's having contractions," she answered deftly, hoping it sounded enough like Daniel to be believed because it sure as hell sounded like her voice in her head, trapped in her husband's body or not.

The senator didn't seem convinced, scanning them both with that condescending look on his face telling her that he knew something might be wrong when she felt an arm slip away, a shout from her side.

"Gah dammit Indy it 'urts!" he screamed beside, correct accent and all, so much so that she was momentarily frozen, impressed by his impersonation.

"Sorry ja-wer, Senator if you'd excuse us please," Adrienne took her cue, reaching to pull Daniel to her feet, leading him away.

"Swamp rat," she hissed as they walked, powering ahead to the infirmary.

"Monster, I call you swamp monster," he corrected despite the pain, forcing a smile.

"Nah Indy, ya be ah rat," she said with a smile, "but ya be my rat."

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Surprised didn't quite describe what he felt when he opened the door to the townhouse, the smell of cheeseburgers and fries making his stomach rumble. He thought maybe Jonas had gone out, possibly having taken the bug, but he heard frying, realizing that Jonas was cooking.

Best he did, Daniel thought, give him something to take his mind off of things and he could't ignore the extreme hunger he was feeling, even back in his body. He couldn't imagine what Adrienne was feeling, his short bout in her pregnant body enough to give him a taste of her hunger, much worse than his own.

"I guess that answers my question," Adrienne said, her hand resting on Daniel's back, moving him out of the way, rushing ahead to check her friend.

"Jonas," he heard her yell down the hall, shutting and locking the door behind him, hoping everything was alright.

"In the kitchen!" the reply came quickly, sounding more like Jonas than this sad person that had been traipsing around their various living spaces for the past day.

Maybe there had been news, Daniel hoped there had been news, not having time to stop by Sam's office to find out for himself. Carolyn had insisted on not only re-examining Adrienne to make sure it was Braxton Hicks but giving her IV fluids once she determined what it was and the contractions were caused by dehydration and a lack of sleep.

Feeling a bit better with this turn of events, he hung his jacket in the closet, realizing that Adrienne had dashed off still in hers.

"You guys have good timing, I just finished the fries," the Langaran said with a smile, setting out plates of food on the table. Daniel debated asking for moment but Jonas beat him to hit, yammering on as he raced back for condiments.

"Sam called, she's says they're sending a team to Langara," he announced, the second shock to Daniel for the evening. Sam hadn't mentioned a word to him but the look on Jonas' face was clear.

"That's great," Daniel answered noncommittally, pulling out the chair for his wife, who had tossed her hoodie across the sofa, sitting down without argument.

"Yeah, she said it might take a few days, but regardless, it's something," he continued, setting the ketchup on the table, taking a seat himself.

"When did she call?" Adrienne asked, grabbing two burgers Daniel noted, deciding to refrain from comment.

"About three, four hours ago give or take," he answered grabbing two himself, leaving only one for his colleague. Daniel sighed, hoping there was something else to eat since after all of this one wasn't going to tide him over when he saw a pale hand slip in front of him, Adrienne giving him one of hers.

"Thanks," he whispered, looking back at Jonas, "so what specifically did she say?"

"No specifics, I hadn't expected any, but she seemed to have every intention of sticking to the plan, so I guess vials of antidote," Jonas replied, smiling, that childlike aspect of his nature shining through.

"She'll probably check in later," Adrienne assured, taking a bite of her burger as Jonas nodding in reply, swallowing before answering.

"Yeah, she said she'd give me a call as soon as she knew something..."

The third shock of the evening came when the phone rang on cue, Daniel watching Jonas dash from the table to the kitchen where he must have left the cordless phone.

"Walter, yeah they just got back. Uh huh. Yes, she called about two o'clock," Daniel heard only half of the conversation as Jonas chatted with Sam's assistant, their most trusted member of the support staff.

His friend nodded as if Walter could see, slipping a few fries into his mouth, after rolling them in some of Adrienne's hidden Ben & Jerry's ice cream, smiling, listening to what Daniel assumed to be good news.

They needed good news after today.

He felt a squeeze at his thigh, Adrienne's ebony eyes full of hope and light.

They were going to get through this after all, and maybe even get back to their research soon.

He was just about to ask Jonas if Sam needed them back on base when he noticed a change in Jonas' expression, his smile gone, his eyes lost.

"Thank you. Yes, I'll tell them. No, I understand. Thank you," Jonas uttered, setting the phone on the table without even bothering to hang it up.

"Shug, what's wrong?" Adrienne questioned as she reached forward to grab the phone, hanging it up, securing that line of communication.

"They recalled the ship, to Langara, they called it back," he started, reaching for a fry, rolling it in his fingers.

"Jonas I'm sorry..." Daniel spoke, too soon, as Jonas was shaking his hand in front of his face.

"No, no, that's not all. Sam, she's," he stammered for a moment, "she's been fired."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

They'd finished eating in silence, what they could eat anyway, Adrienne consuming only enough to satisfy Nicky's appetite, after Jonas insisted, pleading with her to consider the baby.

Choking down half of the burger and a few fries, Adrienne excused herself to the bedroom, wanting to lie down, her head throbbing, her stomach sick. She felt bad to be leaving him, but it was best that she leave Jonas in Daniel's capable hands.

Daniel always knew what to say.

Her back joining the list of things that were throbbing, she waddled into the bedroom, flicking on the light and making a beeline to the bed. She was tired, she was upset, she couldn't think and it was taking everything in her power to not cry out for Daniel, begging him to take her into his arms. To be honest she just wanted to talk to someone, anyone, and was debating texting Vala, not only to check on her but to see if she was available to talk, not that she needed to hear Adrienne's problems as well.

Reaching underneath her t-shirt, she unfastened her bra, pulling it through her sleeve, not even considering pajamas when she noticed a piece of paper folded on the center of the bed. She didn't remember leaving anything sweet for Daniel, although it was a good idea, they needed more of that lately, but she reached for the paper anyway, thinking she might have just dropped something from her bag.

_There wasn't time to say goodbye to you two but you take care of that baby and you tell him that his Aunt Vala loves him._

_P.S. - Ronon says he'll miss whupping Addy's ass. _

She'd felt loss like this once before in her life, as her father lay in that hospice bed, slipping away, the light in his eyes extinguishing right in front of her.

Then that call had come. That amazing special call had come that she thought was offering her a nice desk job, cataloguing artifacts, writing papers, and organizing files.

That amazing call that had changed her life.

And now it was gone.

Just like her friends.

Just like her father.

It was a shame she was too dehydrated to cry.


	60. Chapter 59 - Sometimes Not Even Then

_Because, if you'll remember, this story is about Daniel and him getting what he deserved, even if it happens in way that he or we never expected..._

_Now it's time to start seeing why. (note the word 'start')_

_Just a note, MOST of this story is sap and there is a part some readers may not like. If you have joined us for the adventure part of the story and don't care about the romance or the insane things Daniel does for love, skip to that last section. _

"Get up."

His voice was stern. He'd reached his limit and he didn't mean to hurt her feelings or belittle those very same feelings but this had to stop.

Enough was enough.

"Nicky kicked a lot last night Indy, please let me sleep," she pleaded, rolling onto her left side, away from him, crawling both figuratively and literally into the hole she had created for herself.

She was lying.

He knew she was lying.

She had laid peacefully in one position all night clinging to him, tightly, as she had done every night since Sam had lost her job, since Vala and Ronon had stolen a puddle jumper disappearing into space, since Jonas had lost all hope for his people, since their lab had been shut down. So tight was her grasp some nights that he couldn't sleep himself, but he didn't dare pry her away; he knew it was her subconscious making her hold on to him for fear of losing him too.

"No, get up," he repeated, standing his ground.

It had been four weeks since their life had changed, four very long weeks full of tears and sorrow. He knew she was trying to be strong, she tried not to cry around Jonas, but he'd catch her in the shower or folding laundry, weeping. He did the best he could to assure her, telling her that Jack would find a way to fix everything but he wasn't sure if it was helping. She had been talking to her aunt more, which was new as well, not about work but about the baby, the name and the preparations. That had been what she absorbed herself in, the nursery, having given up her own office at home to make Nicky his.

So, if that was what was keeping her going, that was what he was going to use.

"Just another 'alf ahn 'our," she whined from the pillow, Daniel marching to the end of the bed.

He'd tried nice.

Taking the comforter in his hands, he ripped the blanket from her body, her legs curling up the best they could to her belly at the rush of cold air as she jerked the pillow from behind her head, launching it at him.

"Ya gah damn tchew, leave me da 'ell alone. I donna wanna get up!" she screamed, standing clumsily to retrieve the blanket which he brought behind his back, frowning at her.

"You are going to get up. You are going to shower. You are going to eat breakfast. No more sleeping to ten, no more moping around the house. It's over Adrienne, I'm putting my foot down," he declared, glaring at her over his glasses, daring her to question.

"What's da point Daniel, what's da fuckin' point!? What else do I 'ave ta do!? I can't run, I can't fight, I can't do anyting ta contribute anyting meaningful to setting up da nursery ahn I sure as hell can't work. I might as well sit da fuck here and grow ya beb becuz dat's all I'm good fo!" she screamed, throwing her hands up, fighting tears.

"Are you finished?" he inquired, holding his ground, resisting the urge to take a step forward and hold her in his arms. Glaring at him, her eyes threatening, Adrienne sucked in tears, adjusting her t-shirt over her enormous belly.

Thirty weeks, Daniel calculated in his head, she was thirty weeks along and in no more than ten weeks his son would be here, here for him to hold, teach and raise, whether or not the SGC existed again.

All the more reason to get Adrienne out of this funk.

"Yea," she grumbled.

"Good, you're up. Get in the shower. I've started breakfast. Jonas is getting dressed. We are going out. All three of us. No moping, no complaining, no nothing. We are leaving this house," he continued calmly, hoping that Jonas was doing as he asked, getting ready.

"Fine," she pouted, turning to head for the bathroom.

"On to child number two," Daniel said out loud, walking back to check on Jonas.

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Jonas was sitting at the dining room table, listlessly eyeing the stack of waffles on his plate. He'd lost weight, Daniel had noticed, and he knew it was from a lack of taking care of himself and eating as he should which was so strange considering that all Jonas Quinn had done in the past month was watch cooking shows and live in the kitchen.

He started to say something, point out the fact that he could make something else, that he hoped he hadn't offended Jonas by cooking himself for once, but decided against it, waiting for his wife to join them.

Silent, he made his way back into the kitchen to make a few waffles for Adrienne and maybe cook some bacon.

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"So here's the plan," Daniel started the moment his wife took a seat, her eyes already rolling but he ignored her attitude. Jonas had finally eaten one of the waffles and was gazing up at him, waiting for him to speak.

"We're going to the outlet mall. Jonas, you're gonna purchase a bed, mattress and a dresser that we're gonna put in my office. It's been a month and if you're gonna stay here, which you are more than welcome to, you need a better place to sleep than alternating between the couch and an air mattress," Daniel began, Jonas already opening his mouth to protest when Daniel shot his hand in front of his face, shaking his head.

"This doesn't mean we're giving up. What is means is that you're not assuming another identity, you're staying close to base, but you need to be in a more suitable living environment for when Sam and Jack figure all of this out," he added, directing his attention to the confused pregnant brunette at the head of the table.

"We, ja-wer, are going to the baby store. We're gonna purchase a crib, a changing table and any other furniture that we need to get this nursery beyond a bare room stenciled with Ewoks and Jar Jar Binks!" he was almost shouting at the end, somewhat annoyed that he had allowed Adrienne to make the entire theme to the room Star Wars yet all she did, day in and day out was talk on the phone and stencil fuzzy characters.

"There's no Jar Jar in that room; now you're just trying to piss me off!" she started to yell right back when she saw him smile, realizing that he had said it on purpose.

Blushing, she looked down to her plate, stacked high with waffles that Nicky was excitedly indicating from the inside that she eat sooner rather than later.

"Settled. Eat and get dressed. We're leaving in an hour," Daniel declared, taking a seat himself, feeling better even though they hadn't even left.

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_Can you swing by today? I think I've found something._

Daniel glanced down at his phone, reading the message a second time, his eyes cutting up to check the hour. It was nearly ten despite how fast Adrienne and Jonas had gotten moving; the traffic to the shopping center hampering his plans further. He wanted to get over there but today all he could deal with was two lost people in his life, not a borderline third.

_I'll try my best. Baby shopping._

The response simple, he knew that she would accept that answer, giving her something else to think about. Hopefully it would give her something else to think about, but right now he just needed to hang on to that hope and keep everything together.

Packed was the best way to describe the parking lot, Daniel instantly regretting that he decided to do this on a Sunday. There had been no choice though; he had been busy all week, buried in books at the dining room table. Adrienne really hadn't asked him what he'd been doing and he wasn't about to share, and Jonas?

He wasn't ready to discuss this yet with Jonas.

There was just nothing tangible to discuss.

_Have fun. Please give Addy a hug for me. I hope she's doing better._

"You and me both," he said aloud, noting his wife staring at him funny, catching him on the phone.

"Who's that?" she asked, curious as to the frown on his face. Times like this he really wished she couldn't read him so well.

"Sam, just checking on everyone," guilt washed over him as the half-truth crossed his lips but Adrienne smiled softly, appreciating the gesture. He knew her, she was gonna ask, so he quickly shoved the phone into his pocket, turning to address Jonas.

"Ok, I think Ikea is down that way," he pointed, the familiar logo clearly visible in the distance, "Take this," he added, his wallet in hand, sliding out a sliver of plastic to pass over.

"Your check card? Daniel, I can't spend your money," the refusal was fast, Jonas Quinn actually stepping back, stuffing his own hands into his pocket. Daniel tried to be patient, tried not to ask who exactly Jonas thought had purchased gourmet cooking wines and new pots for his entertainment the past month, taking a breath before extending his hand to insist a second time.

"Jonas you don't have a job and you don't have an identity for a checking account anymore," he said instead.

"It has your name on it," the Langaran was quick to point out.

Come on Jonas, he thought, are you trying to be difficult? You're smart enough to know better; stop arguing.

"That doesn't matter if you use debit," Daniel stated the obvious. Caught, Daniel could tell by the look on his friend's face, he could see blue eyes working, formulating an alternative in that brilliant mind of his.

Daniel understood, he really did, he wouldn't want to take charity any more than the next person, but this wasn't charity.

He was trying to hold it together.

_Take the damn card Jonas. _

"I don't have your what's it called," Jonas continued to play stupid as Daniel continued to control his temper.

"Pin number, it's called a pin number and yes you do. What's Adrienne's birthday?" he replied, the annoyance creeping up in his tone.

_Answer that one; you can't get out of that one._

"June 18th."

"There you go, four digits, have at it," his tone wasn't as friendly as before, but he couldn't help it. Like Adrienne this morning, Jonas didn't seem to want to make a change, continuing to be satisfied with slothing around their house, cooking and moping.

Taking out his own wallet, Daniel was at least glad he had brought that, Jonas slid the card inside, breathing out slowly before turning to walk away. Daniel didn't say a word, waiting for Adrienne's response, preparing himself for another episode of moping when he felt lips at his ear, familiar lips, making him smile.

"That's your pin? Indy, you're just asking to be hacked," she joked, relief washing over him.

"What do you mean? It's not my birthday," he asked as he spun around to grab her hands in his own, watching her shake her head a him, her stunning brown eyes rolling.

"You're impossible, I'll fix that later," she said with a smile.

"Whatever, stop stalling," he answered, excited now. This was normal, a couple going to look at baby things was normal, "There's a baby store that way."

"How do you know that?" she questioned, pulling away from his grasp confused. Daniel hated shopping; he only liked shopping when he could pick on her, so his knowledge of the mall was very limited.

"The internet, your favorite tool, and even better I searched for it on my phone. Be amazed, be very amazed. Now ja-wer, waddle that way," he joked, pointing in the opposite direction of the Ikea.

"Waddle? You're cruising for a serious ass whupping Indy, serious."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

It was the soft touch of Daniel's hand at her lower back that was the only indicator to Adrienne she wasn't standing in a living nightmare.

The store front itself was pastel, a disgusting mixture of pale colors in the formation of a rainbow, the name of the establishment "Happy Little Bluebirds" adding to her disgust.

"That is just awful," she spat out before she could control her words, Daniel shaking his head as he pulled away.

"You're giving birth to an adorable tiny person, not a grown adult. Cute is what humans do," he corrected, reaching to open the door for her.

"Not this human," she replied.

"Stop being difficult," he retorted sharply, pushing her through the door.

Inside was worse, the tinkling of trendy baby classical music permeating her very soul making her look at her husband and shudder.

"No, no, no, no, no - " she started, seeing his smile, knowing that he would recognize the composer immediately when her protest was interrupted, the young woman smiling brightly at her new customers.

"Welcome, how may I assist you today?"

"We're looking for some nursery items, crib, dresser," Daniel spoke up, not allowing Adrienne the time to give a smart reply.

"Cutting it a little close aren't we," the sales lady joked with a smile, Daniel glaring at his wife, daring her to speak, "right this way; our furnishings are in the back."

"She seems nice," he countered her thoughts, a dirty look in return, sweeping his hand dramatically in front for her to follow, the woman still talking as she led them through racks and racks of tiny clothing.

"We offer a variety of color and wood options, is there something in particular you're looking for? What's your theme? We have complete room sets in a number of themes; some of the more popular ones available now are the alphabet theme as well as a multicultural set..."

"Endor," Adrienne answered before Daniel could stop her, not in a rude way but excited, she must have seen something she liked as her deep brown eyes were darting all over the store.

"I'm sorry?" the woman questioned, coming to a stop, trying to determine what exactly her guest was looking at, as was Daniel, not seeing any crude huts or evergreen trees anywhere nearby.

"Endor, the theme is the forest moon of Endor," a smile spread across her face as she said it. Daniel had to bite the inside of his lip to keep from chuckling, or choking up even; she was happy, she looked so happy standing there, explaining her theme. She seemed delighted, excited even to talk about their baby and their life together.

This was going to work.

"A forest theme, I'm sure we have some things like that, but I'm unsure as to what is Endor, is that in Europe?" their helper continued, smiling, reading the excitement in Adrienne's face as well.

"No, it's Star Wars, Episode Six, Return of the Jedi," she piped up as only a true geek would, Daniel shaking his head, waiting for her to start quoting movie lines.

"As in the movie?" the saleswoman questioned, her tone changing.

Uh oh, Daniel thought, this is not good.

Luckily, it seemed that trapped in her own fantasies, fantasies in which Daniel was certain included selecting a crib that looked like it was carved right into a tree, Adrienne was still smiling.

"Yes," the cajun answered excitedly, "I've been painting the walls already, the detail work and the background just as in the film, so I'd like to find furniture to compliment.."

"Oh," the saleslady said, playing no attention to Adrienne's description of her careful artwork.

Game over, Daniel thought, seeing the confusion in the saleswoman's face, Meghan, her name was Meghan, as her happy helpful smile turned into a frown.

Why had he let Adrienne pick the theme; he should have known this would happen.

It was time for damage control.

"But a general forest would work, what items do you have that match that theme?" he spoke quickly, trying to head this off at the pass.

"Yes, we do have forest items that are much more appropriate for a newborn, less, well, violent..."

Or not...

"It's not violent, it's the Ewoks. Dey were a peaceful tribe..." Adrienne started to argue, Daniel noting the cajun slip, bracing himself for explosion.

"Well our forest theme is a bit, more, cuddly, I think you'll like it, the textures and colors are proven to capture the attention and enhance the development of newborns..."

It wasn't that she said anything particularly offensive, well, other than the 'Ewoks are violent' part, but it was enough, Daniel knew from the moment her face dropped and the tears flooded her eyes, Adrienne turning her head before anyone could see, dashing from the store.

Not again...

This, planning for their son had been the one string holding Adrienne together and now it was unraveling faster than he could fix...

"Excuse me," he apologized quickly, racing after the crying pregnant mess in front of him, "Ad! Adrienne, wait!" The bell tinkled, the door was opened and she was back in the bustling of the crowds, her wrist barely within reach as he grabbed frantically, pulling her to a stop in front of him.

"Ja-wer, she didn't mean anything by it, you know how..." he started, stopping, reminding her that she was not like most mothers-to-be not the best idea right now.

"Daniel it's not that, it's just," she sobbed out, leaning forward to bury her face in his chest, but he wasn't gonna let her fall apart here; she would be upset with herself later, hormones or not.

"It's just what? Come on, let's walk, go get a drink," he offered, taking her hand to walk to the food court area, hoping to get a snack, a soda, something to let her ease her nerves and temperament.

"Sha, I'm sorry, I just can't do this today. I just can't..." she was pulling away, her face still red, her breath heavy.

"Do what? Crib shopping? Fine, if you're not up to it we can buy one online. He'll be here soon you know..." Daniel offered, clasping her hand a second time, guiding her to the side, to a center garden area away from the throes of people.

"I know..." she replied, sitting down on a bench, cutting off their eye contact, her attention at her nails, picking and pulling at the skin.

"There's something else, isn't there?" he asked as he joined her, his hand on her thigh as she gazed up at him in tears.

"Daniel, I don't have the will to get up anymore. I only eat when I absolutely have to. I have no will to do anything. I'm just... You deserve better... so much better..."

"What are you talking about?" he questioned her rambling, her trails, the fresh rush of moisture cascading down her face.

"Look, we were friends, best friends, for a long time before I ever realized how much I loved you, and what did I say? What did I always say? You deserved better. You deserve so much more than this. More than being trapped at home, away from your work. More than being cut off from your friends. More than a child trapped in a woman's body, than a nobody from nowhere who did nothing. I'm an emotional mess, a broken worthless mess, hidden behind a mask of metal and ink, why me, why on Earth would you want me..."

"Adrienne you're not making any sense," he tried to calm her, cease her crazy thoughts but she wouldn't have it, shaking her head as she grabbed his chin forcefully, locking her eyes on his.

"Look at me Daniel, look at me! Do I look like I should be someone's mother? Do I look like I should be a high ranking government whatever I am? Or I was? Do I look like I should be with someone like you? No, you know that answer's no and at the end of everything _I'm_ what you have left..."

He didn't know what to say.

What a crazy thing to think!?

She was everything to him; she was the one thing in his life that he treasured more than anything, the person that had made him not give up on the only thing in his life he had ever given up on.

Himself...

He'd be damned if he was going to let her do this but he wasn't quite sure what to do to show her that she wasn't getting out of this, he wasn't getting out of this, this was forever.

Adrienne was his soulmate; something he hadn't really believed was real until he had met her.

There had to be a way to show her when the idea hit him.

_Adrienne was his soulmate..._

Without a word he grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet, dragging her along in the opposite direction from the baby stores, from the main stores in general to a shop that was not attached to the main complex.

"Indy, where are we going?" Adrienne asked, her face no longer red, but the worry still there, confused but following.

"To finish something I should have finished before," he shouted over his shoulder, soldiering on.

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She hadn't really paid attention to their surroundings but she did now as he came to a stop in front of a store front, a particular store front that she was quite familiar with, one she had visited to add some flowers to her foot shortly before discovering that she was pregnant.

Her tattoo parlor.

"Do they have a restroom, or somewhere private? I'm gonna need to take a picture of your hip first, to make sure they can get the match correct."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Daniel, listen, you don't have to do this," Adrienne pleaded, watching the artist stand at the copier, adjusting the image he was somehow xeroxing from Daniel's phone.

"No, I don't have to," he answered, pulling up his shirt over his head and passing it over, leaning forward onto the adjusted seat.

"Then why? It's stupid, I'm hormonal, just, ugh," she questioned, lost, confused, still so very upset. He could tell, he could read her face as well as she could read his and he sat up again, reaching for her hand.

"Because I never give up on anything, why would I give up on you?"

Adrienne paused, tears in her eyes, before she was disagreeing again.

"But you don't want to do this," she started to argue, but he was shaking his head, leaning forward again.

"Not the point. I do, for you, because it means something to you. Our world may have fallen apart but we're still standing right? Sometimes you have to do things that you never expected to do and you do them and carry on," he answered, the artist approaching him with a the piece of paper, the one with the outline, the outline of the other half of the Beshert tattoo, the Hebrew symbol for soulmate.

She'd hoped against all the odds and she had found him.

He owed her this.

"Like act like a child? Or better yet, marry one?"

"You're not a child. Stop saying that. We're more alike than either of us care to admit, and you know that. Now we're gonna be even more alike," he answered, adjusting back down onto the chair so they could get this started.

"So you're getting a tattoo?" she prodded as she took a breath, the man who would carve this symbol permanently onto her husband's shoulder blade misting him down with water to lay the image where it needed to be placed.

"Yes, a tattoo, one that completes yours, the rest of the tree."

"A really permanent tattoo that completes mine..." she said between her teeth as the picture was peeled away from his back, leaving the purple outline.

"Can you stop reminding me of that; I'm trying to be sweet here," he answered nervously, Adrienne could tell, nearly bringing her to tears.

"Daniel, I don't know what I would do if I hadn't found you," the tears were flowing now, real tears not hormonal ones, but actual tears.

No one had ever done anything for her like this man had, no one, but here he was, doing something she had never expected him to do. She had never asked, never even entertained the thought to ask, but he had remembered.

After all of this time he remembered a seedy motel in the middle of nowhere where again she had told him a secret that she had never told anyone else before.

He had remembered, not only when he had asked her to marry him, but even now, and that meant more than anything else.

"You'd have married a crabber, been the mother of what, five or six by now, and spent your days in the kitchen baking King Cake. Now you owe me even more, so stand there for when I start screaming," he joked, his eyes sparkling in the bright light of the shop as he gave her that smile, her smile.

"Ya ready?" the man asked, pulling up a stool behind Daniel's back, positioning a table beside him lined with vials and vials of black ink set along with a needle.

"Yeah," Daniel choked out, taking a breath and feeling a quick squeeze at his hand.

"Alright, we're gonna start with the trunk," their artist declared, the buzzing commencing instantly.

Pushing away his final doubts, Daniel stared forward, holding fast to her fingers. As he'd told Adrienne dozens of times before, he'd seen people getting tattoos on numerous occasions in far less sanitary ways, but the recognition still didn't ease the pounding in his chest.

The buzzing was closer and closer, a light touch at his skin, an odd sensation, new and indescribable. The needle was cool at first, scratching, the buzzing almost soothing, the vibration at his right shoulder blade lulling him to sleep. This isn't so bad, he thought, closing his eyes and taking a breath, starting to loosen his grip on Adrienne's fingers...

And then he felt it.

He felt the pain, the sensation of his skin being torn from his body, something digging into him, deeply.

"Wait!" he shouted out, letting go of Adrienne's hand, "I can't." He was breathing heavily, glancing over at Adrienne shaking his head.

"Sha, I hate ta break this to ya but, ya can't stop," she replied, leaning over to peer at his back.

"Oh I can. I'm done now," he said over his other shoulder, the unscathed one, at the man responsible for inflicting this pain on him who was pausing, needle mid-air, more at Daniel's movement than words.

"Daniel, ya can't stop. There's a black line right on ya, a line. Ya gotta finish."

"Fantastic, and now every time you see it proves how much I love you. Can we go back and buy a crib from those awful people!?" he shot back. Frowning, Adrienne walked behind, eyeballing his back again.

"Daniel, you didn't need to do this to prove anything, but ya gotta finish now. It kinda looks like a worm, a long diseased worm that's trying to bore its way into ya brain stem..." she teased, smiling, her gently fingers caressing him lightly where it hurt, a small sense of pleasure before the pain.

"Not funny," he replied, refusing to make eye contact.

"Either that or it looks like you fell asleep with your journal again, rolled over on the pen and wrote on yourself."

Ok, that got him to laugh.

He'd done that, a lot, and she'd rolled over onto the pen, a lot, writing on herself.

He smiled.

"Ad, you've lost your touch," he joked, the pain subsiding slightly.

"Your son is sucking out all of my humor, damn mini Jackson. It looks like you started a tattoo and chickened out," she taunted, removing her fingers and walking back over to face him.

"I didn't chicken out," he grumbled, eyes darting in the direction of the artist who was clearly looking at him as if to say, uh, yeah, you chickened out.

Big time.

"I thought you didn't give up on anything."

Oh, she played that, did she?

"This doesn't count."

"It's not that bad, I have six tattoos."

"We've already determined that you're a sucker for punishment. You did marry me."

"Do I need to remind you of how many times you have, d-i-e-d?"

"Uh, Ad, I'm pretty sure he can spell..."

"Are we gonna do this or what?" the man asked, staring at the both of them clearly annoyed.

"Yes," Adrienne answered quickly, the exact instant that Daniel shouted "No!" loud enough to be heard outside.

Frowning, nope not my frown, Daniel thought, that's a glare, the Cajun death stare, Adrienne took a breath in and out slowly.

"Ok sha, look, I said you didn't have to do it, but I have to look at your naked ass every day and right now one of my favorite parts looks ridiculous," she said, sweetly almost, slipping back to his side to run those fingers of hers against the unscathed skin on the other side.

"My shoulders are your favorite part?!" he asked, surprised.

"One of Indy, one of. Don't make me get graphic. I'm pregnant, I have no filter," she answered with a smile, biting her lip coyly.

"Look, we've still done a decent amount of work here, I've got the outline nearly finished, a few leaves and the fill is all that we have left," the artist offered, Daniel peering at him in confusion.

The outline was done?

The Beshert tree wasn't that big, it wasn't really complicated, and if it was already outlined...

"Really?" he asked for clarification from the man before glaring at Adrienne, "you said it was a line."

"I was trying to give you a happy surprise when you realized there wasn't as much to go," she offered, blushing.

"So it looks like a tree?" he clarified, making certain he had heard correctly.

"No, it looks like a what is left of the tree after a bayou hurricane," she answered quickly, trying not to laugh. The outline was mostly done, but without the rest of the detail work the partial tattoo on her husband's right shoulder did appear to be more of an 'aftermath of the storm' kinda thing than a Cyprus tree.

Breathing out slowly, Daniel rested his chin on the chair.

What a stupid, immature, impulsive idea.

Adrienne didn't need this to prove his love for her it was so idiotic, so childish, so unlike him.

Why was he doing this?

Why was he sitting here?

Because this was his reality.

For over a decade his life had been so simple, or as simple as it could be considering the amazing device that had changed his entire existence. He'd loved and lost, had his fair share of personal and professional insanity, but all within the safe confines of the mountain, the safety of his friends and the knowledge that there would be someone else to step in if needed.

That, however, wasn't the case anymore.

The mountain was gone, now more than ever, his heart mended by this perfectly unique person standing beside him, his dreams of becoming a father coming true, and the security of someone there to step in and save the day gone.

It was him now; he was the glue holding everything together, his marriage, his friends, their precious hidden research. While he would have never given up, years ago Daniel Jackson might have doubted, worried, over analyzed but in this past month he hadn't even so much as stammered over his words.

_I've held it together, all of it together, and now I need to make it work again._

_That starts with finishing this small symbol for the woman I love._

"Hand, ja-wer, now."

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"Hey guys! Ok, I did what you said, got a bed ordered, mattress, dresser and they even threw in a night stand for free!" Jonas shouted excitedly in their direction reading the look on Adrienne's face at least, her eyes so bright and happy. Daniel looked a little worse for the wear; he could only imagine how exhausting shopping for a baby might be.

Buying a simple bedroom set had been nightmare enough.

Approaching his friends he reached out, to grab Daniel's shoulder, turn him around to give him his card back when the archaeologist flinched, hissing in pain.

"OW!" Daniel yelled, pulling away, his face screwing up.

"Sorry, what's wrong?" Jonas asked, presenting the card, "here, I just wanted to give this back."

"Thanks, it's nothing, I just, watch the shoulder," he stammered out, Adrienne smiling brightly as she playfully bit her lip, reaching for his hand.

Breathing in as the pain in his shoulder subsided, Daniel glanced down at Adrienne, forcing a smile.

"Back to the baby store?" he asked, cocking his head in that direction, thinking that not only after his break in sanity and with the presence of Jonas she could face the horrors of prenatal shopping again.

"Nope, I'm gonna do it online just like you suggested. Computer geeks don't belong in in stores anyway," she answered, pulling him along.

"Are you sure?" he urged hoping this didn't mean that while his back was being inked she had found something on her phone in the shape of some space cruiser or R2-D2.

"Yep, I'm sure," she whispered softly, herself again, that sparkle in her eyes beginning to glimmer once more.

"Jonas?" she redirected, turning to face their friend.

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about Mexican tonight? YOUR Mexican," she stressed with a smile, Jonas' own blue eyes brightening in return.

"Traditional or Tex Mex?" he offered, Daniel at once knowing that his brain was racing through a mental catalogue of recipes in order to prepare his wife's comfort food, their comfort food, for all of them.

"You pick," she replied, his excitement growing as Daniel's stomach rumbled, knowing that this would be good.

"Ok, can we stop by the store, there a few things we're gonna need that I know I'm out of..." he walked off, heading to the car, rambling his mental list as he walked.

Not ideal, Daniel thought, but this could work, hold us together a little longer when he felt fingers interlocking with his own, his wife looking up at his, gazing into his eyes.

"Daniel, back there, I just don't know what to say, you, I..." she started again, those tears she had shed at the shop reappearing in her dark eyes.

"Adrienne, stop. There's nothing to say. Just means I'm stuck with you a little more than I was a few hours ago. I mean, my next girlfriend might not like me having another woman's tattoo," he teased, somewhat glad at how huge and pregnant she was since normally that comment would result in her kicking his ass.

"It is, well, incredibly sexy," she answered instead, running her finger along his chest.

"Yeah, it's got that advantage too," he whispered as he took her into his arms, kissing her in the middle of the shopping center like no one else was there. She pulled away slightly, nuzzling his cheek, her lips quickly at his ear.

"Damn baby," she swore, her first acknowledgment of that lack of intimate contact in nearly a month.

He'd missed that, a lot more than he had realized...

"Not much longer now ja-wer. Let's go home. I'm supposed to soak this thing, so I was hoping you'd be willing to help..." he led, hoping she's read his expression.

"Oh?" she seemed surprised, smiling brightly, "oh yeah, I'd be happy to help ..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He wasn't completely asleep but comfortable; her naked velvet skin pressed again his own as she curled into him, out cold herself of course. She smelled so good, like myrrh, the scent from her body wash still radiating off of her. Smiling before he closed his eyes, he leaned forward, kissing her bare shoulder softly.

"You haven't had that kid yet?"

I've got to be dreaming, he thought, my first good night of sleep, my first night with Adrienne in a while, romantically with Adrienne, and my mind is concocting all sorts of strange fantasies...

"It's better to pop out the first one before you start working on the second."

Not a dream.

Daniel sat up, frowning, reaching for his glasses with one hand and trying to cover himself and Adrienne with the other. Stupid idea to stupidly hop into stupid bed without stupid clothes because of course if Jonas isn't going to be the one barging in it just had to be Vala.

"Get up. I've got a ship, I've got guns, I've got a hottie, what in the hell is on your shoulder?"

"A tattoo," Daniel answered, rolling his eyes already as Adrienne began to stir in his arms, "what do you mean you have a ship? Here?"

"Indy? Who's dere?" Adrienne mumbled, still partially asleep, turning in such a way that he was frantically covering her with the blanket.

"Your pitbull," he answered as Vala got even closer, crawling onto the bed, their bed, her face approaching his now completely bare back.

"You got a tattoo?" she was touching him now where the skin was tender, Daniel flinching and spinning to glare at her.

"Yes, Vala, can we go back to the ship? Where is the ship?"

"Like a real one? This isn't some marker that Addy drew on you during some odd Cajun voodoo sex ritual?" there was that touch again, Adrienne of course laughing; he never got support in that department.

"VALA, SHIP," he snapped, the other woman in his bed pulling back her curious fingers in a scowl.

"Right, ok, well, we're back. It's time to hunt jackal headed assholes right?" she asked, not leaving the bed but sitting there like she belonged.

"Vala, mon ami, we haven't been doing anything to look for ZPMs or -" Adrienne started to answer for him, finally coming to, but Daniel shook his head slowly, his eyes darting from one woman to the other.

"Well, ja-wer, that isn't entirely true..." he responded, Vala looking as confused as his wife did.

"What are you talking about?" Adrienne questioned, glancing at Vala to see if she had any answers either, which she apparently did not.

"Sam and I have still been working. The firing, she did it on purpose, she knew they'd take her research away. They were close, with Langara and once they found out that the Furlings have the ability to alter human biology, they just needed more ammunition. The moment they closed her lab she made sure to send SG3 to Langara, and not covertly either. Carolyn determined the sleeping virus is safe, they're just hibernating, so we really didn't need to go there, but it went exactly as she planned. Bennett fired her on the spot and when I went over there that night I took her all of our research and Rodney managed to get some things out too. We've been working, when you're on the phone, or writing, or reading or painting or watching TV. That's where I've been going, but I don't think you've noticed..." he trailed at the end, watching her face, her eyes, her reaction.

He'd essentially been lying to her, for a month, about his own activities and whereabouts.

"Uh, I think I should go, Ronon had to bring us into a low orbit. Here," Vala said quickly, eager to remove herself from a possible marital dispute, tossing a communicator into Daniel's lap, "call me once you've got your shit straight."

Stepping back from the foot of the bed, she tapped her ear, taking a peek upward.

"I'm comin' alone sexy, Daniel and Addy need to finish something first..."

In a beam of light she was gone.

Alone, finally, Daniel gazed over at Adrienne, no longer worrying about covering himself in the blanket, extending his arms toward her.

"I hope you're not angry, I wasn't trying to hide it from you, I just didn't know with everything if you could handle that on your plate as well and -" but she was on him, her lips locked with his, crawling the best she could into his lap. She kissed him slowly, like she had earlier today, pulling away and resting her hand on his cheek.

"Daniel Anthony Jackson this is why I love you so much, you really never give up, do you?" she whispered, pecking his lips again, making him smile, that she wasn't angry at all, "Ok, sha, what's the plan?"

Sighing, he pulled away, shaking his head.

"No plan really, I just kinda hoped, Sam and I, we kinda hoped. The whole never giving up thing, see, it works. Sam and I were planning that once we had found something we were gonna try to have Jack pull some strings, but it seems that Vala's return fits in nicely," he admitted, genuinely and pleasantly surprised to see Vala again, that she had lived up to be the person he always knew she was.

"So what are we gonna do?" she asked, sitting back, her hands resting on her belly.

"How are you and Nicky feeling?" he countered, reaching for her stomach as well, trying to judge if their son was experiencing any of the excitement he could see on his mother's face.

"Motivated."

"Great, well, get up. I'll wake Jonas," Daniel declared, smiling, standing from the bed to rush to the bathroom and grab a robe.

"Where are we going?" Adrienne inquired, now confused, noting it was just past midnight.

"Sam and Jack's. It's time to get our life back and stop Anubis from ruining anyone else's."


	61. Chapter 60 - All the King's Horses

"I've got one."

That was all Adrienne heard before she felt her hand being let go, Daniel racing ahead of her, following Sam down the hall and straight into what used to be the O'Neill dining room.

What she saw instead of the familiar cute china cabinet and dining set were two office tables, computers, a metal cabinet, a lab of sorts, files and experiments spread all around. Daniel was already rambling, going on about Vala and Ronon when Adrienne heard another familiar voice in the background clear their throat and speak up.

"We took a god damn Tel'tak, it's cloaked!" Vala was shouting from the living room, apparently beating them there. Adrienne had called her with the communicator the moment she and Daniel were dressed, Jonas shouting encouragement in the background to get her large pregnant body to move faster.

"And that's why in the hell they haven't been breathing down my neck over jumpers, they're still trying to figure out what you took," Jack interjected, approaching Adrienne, mug in hand.

"It's coffee and trust me, my mom smoked with me and I turned out just fine. If your spouse is racing around like mine is you're gonna need it," he said as he offered, Adrienne taking the cup from his hand gratefully.

"And cheese pies. I should make you pay for those, I blame you completely," Jack joked, cocking his head toward the corner of the kitchen. Adrienne smiled, taking a sip, thanking him as soon as she swallowed.

"So, Glasses gets inked, Addy still hasn't had that gigantic baby, Jonas has become Gordon Ramsey, and Sam's moved half of the SGC into her living room. What in the hell else has gone wrong in my absence?" Vala asked from an unfolded chair, looking as if they had set up in that area as well. Adrienne noticed that Ronon was beside her, indicating the empty chair for Jonas, who already had a soda in hand.

"Woolsey painted your quarters, white walls and threw away your clothes," Jack spat back, walking to get more chairs as Vala rolled her eyes at him.

"So what's the plan?" Ronon asked, not giving his cohort the chance to make a smart remark back.

"Daniel and I have found a planet, close enough to Earth, provided you stole a ship that can make it outside of Earth's orbit," Sam began, eyeing Jack who shrugged. They knew soon after the pair had disappeared what they had taken, the worst Tel'tak in what was left of their piece meal fleet, a ship in bad enough shape that Jack was able to write it off as space junk, because essentially that is what it was.

"That's where we've been, fixing the damn thing! Figured that was more productive than staying here bitching and whining," Vala shot, falsely, her real reason easy to see.

No Vala, you gave up like the rest of us, like everyone but my husband, Adrienne said inside, remaining quiet as she nibbled a cheese pie.

"How far Vala?" Daniel asked immediately, the tall alien woman leering at her counterpart.

"Dex?"

"Not as far as a cruiser, but about half-way to Pegasus," he answered, taking another swig of his drink.

"Can we get to Langara?" Jonas interjected immediately, Daniel shaking his head as Sam dashed to her center computer, pulling up something no one could see.

"We're not going to Langara. We're not ready. We still need at least one more ZPM according to Rodney and Carolyn says her airborne cure will only go about two hundred yards," Daniel replied before joining Sam, motioning Adrienne over as well.

"Wait? I thought there wasn't a plan?" Vala inquired, confused as was Adrienne because until Vala turned up in their bedroom a little over two hours ago, Adrienne just assumed that Daniel was reading in his office, not actually working.

She was pretty damn proud right now that he was hers...

"There wasn't, but I've been able to toss a few things over Woolsey's head in the interest of defense. Rodney's been channeling all of the ZPM power we have to the weapons on Atlantis base and Carolyn is working on an airborne cure for the sleeping virus in case it comes here," Jack answered for the pair, crossing his arms.

"A cure?" Jonas asked, not giving up, standing from his seat although he was frozen in front of it.

"Yes Jonas, it works in much the same way as a dirty bomb," Sam explained from the computer, pointing at the screen for Daniel and Adrienne to look as she continued, "infects the air with the anti-virus. It's not instant, not by a long shot, but it will spread fast, waking up victims within twelve to twenty four hours."

"Then why can't we go, infiltrate the gate room, wake up enough of the primary officers to rescue them or arm them for a fight," the counter was quick, the Langaran eyeing his friends for support.

Daniel took his eyes from the screen, Adrienne noticing that he hadn't been paying attention to the same figures as she, raising his head to reply when Ronon stood, placing his hand on Jonas' shoulder.

"Listen, it's hard, trust me I know but sometimes the best thing you can do for your people is to wait and prepare and strike when you are ready. Anything else will just get you killed too."

The room was silent at his words, Adrienne herself having forgotten for a moment Ronon's life before Atlantis and the insultingly derogatory term given to him by his tormentors.

Runner.

And now he was telling Jonas to do the same.

"It's more fun to blow the baddies the fuck up anyway," Vala added, her eyes on Ronon's as she waited to see if he would say anything else, which he didn't. Nor did Jonas, who took a seat again, Ronon joining him, swapping out his soda for a beer.

"This," Sam's finger was in front of Adrienne's face again, bringing her eyes to the screen.

"I remember, from Daniel's presentation," she answered, peeking back at her husband as he peered over her shoulder.

"Those are runes," he noted, reaching over her shoulder, his fingertip toying with the screen, "they were Asgard protected; there would be more in the database. Dammit, I wish we could have gotten out the database."

"I'm sorry Indy," Adrienne apologized immediately, cursing her clumsily fingers, her awkwardness using his body to hack the lab but he shook his head, leaning in to peck her cheek.

"Not your fault ja-wer," Daniel started, hearing laughter behind him.

"Nope, but she can fix it," Jack popped up behind them, yet another cheese pie in hand.

"Put those damn things away Jack," Sam scolded, Jack taking another bite and stealing her coffee to wash it down, swallowing strongly before continuing.

"I've got Mitchell and Lam all over this. He's had an awful lot of training exercises going wrong; so many that Carolyn needed another computer..."

"Honey," Sam exclaimed, her eyes wide as she scanned the room.

"Look, don't think you and Daniel here are the only two people with some tricks up their sleeve. I've become somewhat of an expert at moving Daniel's shit around, salvaging it, and it has been those very years of experience that have made this all possible. And you didn't even have to die," he joked, taking cheese pie bite number two.

"So, our computer system is in the infirmary?" Daniel clarified.

"Yep, your system, some little rocks and things they wouldn't let you keep, some of Dr. Perky's little black and white books, the works," the general answered with a grin, lifting his eyebrows just a touch as he did.

"Ad," Daniel said with a smile, glancing over at her, "how are you and Nicky feeling tonight?"

"Sha, I'm not sure what's wrong, but I think I might be having contractions and I just can't keep anything down..." she feigned, her hand dramatically pressed to her head, those awful acting skills of hers improving yet again as time passed by.

Forget Adrienne making Daniel a master liar; he had forced her to become an Oscar worthy actress.

"Perfect," Sam said with satisfaction, passing Daniel her phone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Lay back," Dr. Lam ordered, her eyes cutting behind her checking the camera light, "when did the pain begin?"

"This afternoon," Adrienne lied, "Daniel took me shopping for the nursery."

"Alright, that's been a while, and how would you describe the pain, dull or stabbing?" the doctor continued, popping her stethoscope into her ears and resting the cold metal circle to Adrienne's chest.

"Stabbing, definitely stabbing," the Cajun replied, wincing, acting, giving it her all.

Frowning, Carolyn cut her eyes again at the corner, breathing out before directing her attention back to Adrienne.

"I thought you were the one reading all of those books. Labor is not stabbing until the very end, it would be long, dull and painful for the stage you would be in, before your water breaking," the doctor corrected, shaking her head.

"Look, I've told all of you a thousand times, I suck at acting. I can make a half-truth look pretty, but that's about it," she defended trying to sit up, the doctor reaching to help her.

"Whatever, you don't have much time. Someone's gonna check on you soon, especially since you and Daniel had the bright idea to fake contractions," Carolyn replied, stepping back while reaching out to help Adrienne to her feet.

"It won't take much I promise, I'm just searching a few key terms to try to narrow it down, then I'll just download what I need," she said as she took the offered hand gratefully, wincing again this time in discomfort at the large intrusive bulge of child kicked her back in protest.

"What if I may ask?" the doctor queried, following behind the slowly moving woman as she made her way to the computers, her hand pressed firmly to her back.

"Blár, fregna, leita, among other things," Adrienne answered cryptically, not intending to be dismissive but in the mode, her geek mode, eyes already powering their way around the screen.

"Which mean?" Carolyn now asked, peeking again at the time and the camera, wishing Adrienne would waddle faster.

"Seek, learn and blue, in reverse order," Daniel replied as he popped around the corner, answering the doctor as he walked straight for his wife.

"Blue?" Carolyn was confused, but Daniel simply nodded, peering over Adrienne's shoulder.

" 'Bout time ya got here. For the record, if you're this late to real labor, we're gonna have a serious talkin' sha," Adrienne warned, kissing his lips softly before looking back at the screen.

"I kinda like these end of term hormones, you're so affectionate lately," he teased as she made a face, her eyes back on the database, her fingers frantically typing.

"Alright, there's an entry here, it seems that the Asgard referred to them as the Aetla," Adrienne started to read, her right hand beginning to download the material to a flash drive.

"Think, thinkers, supports what I saw with the Kaetnam; they seemed rather advanced," Daniel commented, standing upright, taking in the information.

"Let's see, noted for being highly intelligent, large brain capacity, not dissimilar to our own, advanced even, maybe even empathic," Adrienne moved closer, squinting, trying to translate.

"Keep hacking ja-wer, I'll read," Daniel interrupted, leaning in, pushing Adrienne slightly with his side.

"Empathic?" Carolyn asked from the table, trying to keep working as if she still had a very pregnant patient on her table.

"No, telepathic, sort of, words are close, seems they have some sort of built sensory or something, there's short hand here I haven't seen before. Evidently the Asgard didn't even try to convince them that they were gods, just found them during some early stages of war between the system lords. The Asgard refused to give them advanced tech but allowed them to advance on their own, slipping in a few technologies here and there," Daniel kept reading the best he could as Adrienne ducked in and under his arms, typing, hacking and sending files.

"I'm assuming that's good, after all you can just explain what's going on," the doctor added, checking over her shoulder to insure that they were still alone.

"It can be," Daniel answered, crossing his arms now as he allowed his two sources of information to mesh, "but sometimes it's easier to get things from the more primitive cultures that were not using the technology. If these people have figured out what a ZPM can do and have achieved a way to harness the power, we might have a problem convincing them to give it up."

"Almost done, do we need anything else while we're here?" Adrienne asked from the floor, her husband wondering how she got down there and whether or not she was going to be able to get up.

"Not for now, we know this is here and we can just use you again if we need to come back," he answered before thinking.

"Great to know my value Indy," she replied, extending her hand to ask for silent assistance to her feet. Laughing, Daniel reached down to help her, pulling her upward as she pocketed the drive, well sort of pocketing it, shoving the device down into the pocket of his jeans.

Adrienne breathed a sigh of relief, relief that they hadn't been caught, turning to leave when there was a small gentle hand at her bicep, making the Cajun peer over her shoulder to see the owner.

"One, you're thirty weeks if I'm correct and two, Woolsey and company might actually come down to check to see that you came here for the reasons that you did. Back on the table, I need to take a look," Carolyn ordered pointing at the table.

"No arguments," Daniel agreed, ushering a grumbling Adrienne to her earlier posture.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"I miss the giant white projecty thingy," Vala complained as they crowded around the ONeill's dining room table.

"Yeah, the floral wallpaper makes them all look like they're wearing grass skirts or something," Jack agreed, chomping down yet another cheese pie before pushing the plate to Adrienne who just giggled, but took one anyway.

"Can we start or would anyone else like to comment?" Daniel asked annoyed, Sam suppressing a grin as he scanned the room, tapping the iPad to continue.

It was kind of hard to see, but the fact that Adrienne had pieced together a projection system from a cardboard box, a magnifier, a few light bulbs and her iPod attached to the iPad was pretty damn amazing. It made no sense to him, but he didn't ask; it was better not to ask her about tech stuff. Silence his answer, he carried on, redirecting his attention to screen.

"The civilization itself goes back to prehistoric development, much like humans, evolving from a more primitive version of themselves. They were not brought to their world, which the Asgard call Laufgroenn, or Green, unlike many of the other humanoid civilizations that we have encountered. The Asgard saw them as intelligent, offered them protection and provided some cultural influence. They are multilingual, speaking Old Norse, English, Asgard, and Goa'uld. Their technology is similar to modern Earth, even slightly more advanced. As of the last recorded visit by the Asgard, they were making use of hologram technology as well as basic robotics in the service industry," Daniel explained, flashing pictures of their city, some parts of it looking much like one of his wife's movies.

He flicked through a few more pictures, no one asking any questions in particular when he finally arrived at the last, a picture of a collective of Aetlans standing together on what appeared to be a street corner.

"They're the Avatar people!" Vala exclaimed as Jack nodded his head in agreement, Ronon frowning at the image on the dining room wall.

"Look kinda like wraith to me," he added, peering back at Sam for support.

"No to both. They seem to be not too different from us physically other than the color of their skin and increased activity in the frontal lobe," Daniel explained, lest anyone think these were a violent people.

"Kinda like Chiana," Adrienne corrected everyone proudly, Daniel looking at her confused.

"Farscape Indy, I haven't made you watch that yet?" she questioned as he frowned, Jonas finally standing up to get a better look.

"Are they friendly?" he asked, the first serious question of the entire pseudo-briefing. Daniel shrugged, unable to answer the question.

"Honestly, I have no idea."

"When do we leave?" Ronon now stood, adjusting his gun.

"We need to decide who's going," Sam said from behind, taking charge of the meeting again, "I think it should be myself, Daniel, Ronon and Vala."

"No," Jack spoke quickly, eyeing Sam.

"No what?" she countered frowning.

"No, you're not going. We don't know what we're walking into and to be honest, I'm not comfortable with any of you going, but Sam you're the head of the SGC..."

"I WAS head of the SGC Jack, was, like Daniel WAS the head of archaeology. If there is a ZPM I need to go," she argued, calmly, Daniel easily reading Jack's face. It was the same face that he would have made were Adrienne going, Adrienne who was standing behind him holding her tongue.

He knew she didn't want him to go any more than Jack wanted Sam to go, but there wasn't a lot of choice.

"Wait? Why am I not on that list?" Jonas spoke up quickly, his face furrowed.

"Jonas, you're the only one we wouldn't be able to explain away," Daniel started, having worked this all out in his head on the way over, "Vala and Ronon are technically not here. Sam and I have been let go, but we're from Earth, they're not keeping tabs on us, but we are fairly certain they are watching you."

"And you running off with another man's wife doesn't look suspicious?" he retorted sharply.

"Not that Bennett and company would care at all about whether or not Sam and I were having an affair, but it's explained easy enough if Sam has to go home, Jack can't leave because of work and a woman nearly thirty one weeks pregnant can't fly. We can blame anything on being friends," the archaeologist explained.

"I'm going," Jonas argued, refusing to give in.

"Jonas, listen, you're too emotionally involved. I'm sorry, but you're not going and that's final," Sam asserted, Jonas starting to grow angrier, to rage out when Daniel stepped up, placing his hands in the center.

"Stay here, for me. I need someone to take care of Adrienne, in case she goes into labor or there are any complications," he reasoned, Jonas now directing his rage at him.

"So, I'm your replacement. Again. Except this time I get to sit in your marriage!"

"Except for the sex part, Daniel might kick your ass," Vala added smartly, no one other than Adrienne acknowledging her statement with rolling eyes.

"Jonas, I'm not asking you to sit in for anything. I'm asking as my friend and as Adrienne's friend to stay here and make sure nothing happens," Daniel tried again, remaining calm, Jonas' face still filled with anger.

"You do realize shug that I'm having Daniel's baby. The chances of something going insanely wrong are very very high," Adrienne tried to joke, everyone else silent, waiting to see if Jonas would explode.

Breathing out, however, the Langaran shook his head, looking down before addressing the group.

"Ok, ok. Fine, you're right; they probably are watching and Addy can't stay alone this far along, you're right. Just do this guys, please, just get this," Jonas relented, taking his seat once more.

"I fully intend on it," Daniel answered for them all, Adrienne unable to stop the smile creeping across her face.

This had changed him, all of this, this insane past year and he was stepping up in a way that he never had before.

It made her so proud.

"Let's get moving people; we've got to get there and back before we arouse suspicions," Sam ordered, the room an instant flurry of action.

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"Take this," she held up the bottle for him to see before, sliding it into his duffel, leaning in to kiss him as she did.

"Lotion?" he clarified, reaching back in to the bag to see.

"Yeah, since we can't soak together you're going to need to put this on otherwise the itching will drive you insane. Trust me, I know you," she answered with a smile.

"And I'm supposed to reach that how?" he asked again, peering over his shoulder to the one solitary leaf that he could see peeking through the collar of his shirt.

"Get Vala to do it," Adrienne teased, unable to help herself, Daniel frowning at her.

"Clever ja-wer, clever. I'll figure it out," he concluded, zipping up the bag, his eyes scanning the room once more.

"That's everything. Are you sure that you and Jonas will be alright?" he asked, reaching for her arm, rubbing it softly.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. You be careful. You made a promise to me to stop dying and all," she teased, kissing him so softly, making him want to linger, to lay her down on their bed and make love to her slowly before they had to go when that accented voice that was the source of his annoyance the past twenty four or so hours screamed from the communicator lying on the bed.

"Hurry up you two!" it shouted, mild for Vala, and Daniel pulled away slowly.

"I said I wasn't going to leave you again until the baby was born," he apologized softly, running his fingers down her face.

"This isn't like going with the Ktaenam. This is a simple mission to a friendly planet. Just go and get back before your son decides to make his appearance," she answered, reaching down to hand him his pack.

"Ok, but Carolyn said that you need to take it easy, that we're close, the conception date might be a little off and no heavy lifting, no stress if possible, no," he started, a hand clamping over his mouth.

"If you stop talking and go you might make it back before his first birthday," she teased, her hand still firmly in place. Kissing the underside he smiled, taking the pack and grabbing the communicator.

"I'm ready," he spoke, stepping back from Adrienne and safely out of the way.

"Behave," he ordered.

"Never," she replied as her husband was beamed into oblivion.

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The smell of sausage permeated the bedroom making Adrienne roll over, reaching her arms out in search of Daniel.

"Sha, what time is it, why is Jonas cooking already?" she muttered, feeling cold beside her.

"Dammit," she swore as she opened her eyes, "you're out saving the damn galaxy again," she joked, laughing at her words as she sat up. Yawning, she peered over at the clock, noting it was about half past three in the afternoon; that she had effectively slept through the entire day.

"Jonas!" she shouted, knowing he must be stressed since beside breakfast sausage she could smell eggs, vegetables and cheese. She could only imagine how stressed he was, something that was generally relative to how elaborate of a dish he was creating.

"Are you alright?!" he shouted back, not really seeming concerned since he continued to cook, no footsteps heading in her direction.

"Yeah, what are you making?" she yelled back, standing, adjusting her top across her large abdomen as she waddled, fuck you Daniel waddle is exactly what I am doing, toward the bedroom door.

"Southern sausage egg casserole. Some woman named Paula on the Food Network taught it this morning. I figured I'd make it when we had a guest arrive," he replied, Adrienne stopping in her tracks. He hadn't used a code word; she had him referring to the IOA as Imperial Officers and Woolsey as General Tuck.

Daniel didn't find that funny either.

Oh well.

"No worries, no visits from the Empire. Just get dressed and head on out, I'll serve you up a plate," was his answer, making her reassess her attire.

Frowning, Adrienne pulled her tank over her head, trudging her way to the closet. She debated what to put on, thinking that Jack would be the only other person showing up, unless her aunt Barbara had come, Adrienne hadn't talked to her in days, what if her aunt had gotten worried, what if she had taken the first flight out of the Bayou...

Throwing a dress over her head, Adrienne raced out of the bedroom, nearly running down the hall.

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Daniel sat staring down at the images of the people, studying, looking for any text he could decipher.

"Anything?" Sam asked as she joined him, looking refreshed after her nap. He should have taken one but he was just too excited, the prospect of this all coming together keeping him wide awake. Now, taking in the sight of his old friend, he wasn't so sure that was a good idea.

"Not anything new. I know we can communicate verbally, but I can't find any indication that their written text will be anything that I can understand. I just wish we knew," he muttered, not looking up, absorbed, as usual into what he was doing.

"At the very least the ZPM will be in Ancient, we just need to find it," Sam assured him, taking a seat and reaching to remove the iPad from his hand, "I'm more concerned about the condition. We got lucky before and we haven't since; it just seems that everything's working against us."

Daniel shrugged, leaning forward to rest his head on the table.

"Go to sleep," Sam suggested, rolling her eyes at him, "we still have at least fifteen more hours ahead of us."

"Can't sleep," Daniel muttered into his hands.

"Meditate, that'll make your brain calm down enough to get some rest," Sam added, Daniel already shaking his head.

"His back itches and he's too stubborn to ask me to lotion it," Vala joked from the co-pilot seat, laughing, "I said Dex would do it but that reaction was even worse."

"Why does your back itch?" Sam inquired, puzzled, Daniel not bothering to look up.

"Cuz he got a tattoo for Addy. He's SUCH a DEVOTED husband..." Vala teased, throwing an empty soda bottle at him.

"You did?" Sam leaned over to clarify, too shocked to say anything further.

"Yeah," Daniel said from his arms.

"Of what?" she questioned, curiosity overtaking her shock.

"It's a damn tree," Vala answered for him.

"Wait, how did you see it?" Sam now asked, bewildered, Ronon turning from the pilot's seat to hear this answer.

"Oh for god's sake when I beamed down they must have just finished tossing about in the sheets, no worries, they were both naked and I was not," she spat, turning back around.

"It's damn huge," she added, opening a second soda.

"It's not, it's personal and it's not a big deal," Daniel replied, finally looking up and rolling his eyes. He started to sit again, keep reading, when his face gave him away, eye scrunching like he was experiencing the very sensation that Vala was accusing him of.

"Get up. I'll do it then you're gonna sleep. No arguing," Sam ordered, Daniel following as instructed, Vala trying to refrain from laughing. The two disappeared down the passageway before she looked back at Ronon, tossing her feet up to rest in his lap.

"If the two dorks did it, we should do it," she stated with a smile.

"Do what?" he asked, peeking over at her with curiosity.

"Get matching tattoos," she offered slyly.

"I have tattoos, lots of them. You could just get one to match me like Jackson did for Addy," Ronon answered as he scanned the control panel.

"Which one?" she asked, retracting her legs and leaning over.

"That one on my thigh. You should get that one," he replied, tapping his leg lightly.

"That knotty thing? What's it mean?" She remembered that one, and liked it.

"Death to all who cross me," he said with a smile, gauging her reaction.

"Good, I like it. Daniel and Addy's soulmate shit makes me want to barf."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Dr. Jackson, it is a pleasure to see you once more. You are great with child now," the small woman said from her seat at the dining room table. It took Adrienne a moment, but then she recognized their guest, a woman she had almost killed when she had thought it was Hathor brought back to life.

"Hi..." Adrienne answered, forgetting her name.

Even if she had remembered it she was still feeling bad that she had once held a sword to her throat.

"Shamira," she said with a smile, sipping a cup of coffee.

Great, they can read my mind.

"I recalled that you and I were never properly introduced before my husband took yours back to our homeworld," she added, drinking again. Adrienne took a cautious seat, frowning, cutting her eyes over at Jonas.

"She went by base first," he clarified as he exited the kitchen a large casserole dish in his hands. Adrienne started to help, to set down a towel to protect the table when the Furling stood, shaking her hand.

"Allow me," she requested, a shimmer and a crack, Adrienne's serving trivet appearing at the center of the table. Nodding his thanks, Jonas set the dish down, slipping the protective gloves off of his hands before continuing.

"She ran into our favorite person," he added, serving up a rather large helping onto a plate passing it to Adrienne, who was barely paying attention to her offering.

"There is nothing to fear. I did not allow him to see me, but I did hear him, discussing Anubis and other things which are of great concern. He was at General O'Neill's desk, which I found to be odd and when I left to ask Dr. Jackson, either of you, I found the laboratory but it was locked and empty," she explained, taking the plate from Jonas to set down in front of Adrienne.

"Thank you," Adrienne muttered, reaching for her fork to stir her food, questions racing through her mind, "yes Shamira, they've closed the base, well at least the research part of the base." There was nodding, this time from their guest, who took her own plate from Jonas.

"All operations are strictly military, defensive only," Jonas added, finally serving himself and taking a seat.

"But your world?" she asked him, seeing the desperation in his face, garnering a sigh from the Langaran.

"The IOA, the, well, governing body, they have decided to allow Anubis to keep Langara in the hopes that he will leave Earth alone," he replied.

"Then it is evident that they do not know Anubis," Shamira interjected, Adrienne agreeing quickly.

"That was what Daniel said."

"Where is, Dr. ah, Daniel?" she inquired, making it evident to Adrienne that Jonas had waited until she awoke to answer her questions, something she appreciated.

"He, General O'Neill and our friends Vala and Ronon, I'm not sure if you remember them, they have gone after a ZPM," Adrienne explained before finally taking a bite of her breakfast.

"So all operations have not been ceased?" the Furling seemed confused, Adrienne shaking her head sorrowfully at the answer.

"No, they have, no one knows about the mission except for me, Addy and Jack, I mean, the other General O'Neill," Jonas piped up this time, apparently excited now to be a part of this covert operation.

Better than the rage last night, Adrienne thought.

"They've gone to Aetla, they were the world closest to Earth with the most recent ZPM drop by your people," Adrienne added, reaching to Daniel's normal seat at the table, now empty, a copy of the information he left her sitting in his place.

"The Aetla, they are a good people. They can be fickle and are savvy traders but I believe that they will be willing to help," Shamira answered, her eyes now downcast at the food in front of her, most likely something she had never seen.

"He's an amazing cook; I just try not to tell him, it'll go to his head," Adrienne smiled at Jonas, taking another bite as he flushed red at the compliment. Still cautious, however considering her words, the woman took a small bite, letting the flavor roll around in her mouth before gazing up at Jonas, her eyes as big as saucers.

"This is amazing," she stammered before swallowing, bringing her hand up to her mouth to catch dribble.

"You ladies know how to make a man feel good about himself," he joked, digging in himself.

Without another word, the small woman tore into the dish, devouring it faster than even Adrienne could eat, Nicky urging her from the inside to eat at a similar pace. When she finished she glanced up at Jonas, bringing a tiny fist to her mouth to presumably burp.

"How does one make this?" she asked, wiping her face as she reached for more.

"Well, I learned on TV, uh, well, from a recording, but I would be happy to write down the ingredients and how to make it, but I'm unsure as to how you would get everything unless you have it?" Jonas started but their guest was smiling, her expression playful.

"We have our ways," she said with a grin, loading her plate. Giggling, Adrienne went to eat more herself when an idea hit her, her fork falling to the table.

"Speaking of your ways Shamira, how long were you planning on staying?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Hey, Daniel, Sam said to come get you, Vala's taking us down into orbit," Ronon informed him from the doorway to the storage room where the couple had tossed a few cots to accommodate their guests. It had been interesting; it was the first time since Daniel had met Vala that she hadn't invited him to sleep with her.

Evidently it wasn't Daniel being married that stopped that behavior; it was Ronon.

"Thanks, be right there," the archaeologist answered, sitting up, reaching for his glasses, glancing at his watch. He'd slept for nearly ten hours, a record for him, and he felt much better.

Grabbing his uniform pants from the end of the bed, he pulled them back up to his waist, dragging himself out of the room and to the bridge.

"I think we should land on the outskirts of the city. Vala and I can sneak in and check it out," Ronon offered as Daniel walked up to where they were standing, the bright Earth-like planet a warm beacon in the void of space.

"We can get in and out quiet, we've gotten pretty good at this steal, I mean, acquiring parts for the ship," Vala corrected, blushing, not wanting Daniel or Sam to know that she had let herself slip into some old habits.

"No," Daniel answered from behind, not even allowing Sam to speak. He should have felt bad, Sam was his superior, his boss, or used to be, but he just had this feeling inside that he was supposed to lead this, take care of this, get the ZPM and get home...

"We land wherever they land their aircraft. Ronon, do a scan of the area. We send a message, in every language they speak, telling them exactly who we are and that we are asking for their assistance. We land the ship where it is supposed to go and we ask to speak to who is in charge," he declared, marching up to the co-pilot's seat where Vala stood, staring at him and moving out of his way for him to sit.

"Daniel, we don't know anything about these people," Sam cautioned, her years of leadership experience willing her to argue, but he shook his head, glancing back at her as he pointed to the planet.

"Do we ever? I mean really, do we ever really know what is going on, even with our allies? Even with our own people. We need this, to save Langara, get our lives back and stop Anubis. I've played cautious long enough. For all of the insanity that Jack brought for so many years, the man was correct. Be direct, stop dancing around the point," Daniel answered simply as Sam smiled.

"It's all yours then Daniel, at your command," she said softly, watching him as he turned to direct Ronon as to what to do.

Sure, she'd seen him take charge of himself, let things happen to himself, but he'd always seemed reluctant to order others to what could be a bad situation, something a leader had to. When he had to in the past he did without complaint, but not with the same determination that was in his eyes right now.

It was then a thought popped into her head, something she would have never considered before, but now, it just seemed appropriate.

Keeping it to herself, she grabbed Vala by the shoulder, leading her to the back to suit up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"And these are all your things?" Shamira looked at the list, crudely scratched into the notebook, the more confusing items accompanied by a basic doodle, hopefully enough for her to recognize the items.

"Yes, well, sorta, I mean, they are part of our lab, so yes, but they do belong to," Adrienne attempted to answer without lying, an elbow in her side. Trying not to blush, the archaeologist peered up at Jonas, who was cutting his eyes at her, warning her to be very careful in her word choice if they were going to pull this off.

"Alright, because unless you can assure me that they are your possessions we can cause a rift in the fabric of space time without the proper borrowing precautions in place..." the Furling answered, Adrienne frowning and reaching for the notebook. There was a pen in her face, Jonas waving it with a smile and she took it, scratching a few words from the page before handing it back.

"The SmartBoard SHOULD be mine. I ordered it," she countered.

"It has property of the U.S. Air Force stamped across the bottom, I think that might be the fabric tearing Shamira is talking about," Jonas replied, pocketing the pen.

"And where should we move these items?" she asked, her eyes darting around the living room.

"Lawd no, not 'ere," Adrienne answered, her brain quicker than her mouth could catch the accent in her speech, "the office down here," she corrected, waddling down the hallway as she peeked over her shoulder. Nodding, the woman followed, peering around the corner and eyeing this room with the same concern as before.

"There seems to be a rather large collection of items here, I am not sure everything from this list will fit," Shamira.

"Would you care to repeat those very words to my packrat husband?" Adrienne joked, catching her confusion, "Nevermind, Jonas and I'll take care of it, we'll need a few hours, but yes, everything here."

"Alright. It will take me sometime as well and I will need to focus on each item individually, but it will be done," she agreed, disappearing without another word.

"Addy, Daniel was quite clear that you are to be relaxing, and I don't think clearing out his office for some crazy scheme counts as relaxing," Jonas spoke as soon as their guest was gone.

"This is VERY relaxing, working, organizing, but if you are worried about me lifting that desk, oh hell no," she said, sweeping herself, waddling really, it was pretty funny, out of the room.

"What are you planning on doing then? Stacking the contents of the lab vertically?" he yelled from behind, wondering where in the world she was headed now.

"Nope, I'm calling Jack and Cam. I just need YOU to order some Greek food," she turned into the kitchen, presumably for the phone.

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There was a landing strip; in fact, there was an entire airport, a message coming in English as soon as Ronon transmitted their request. The Aetlans didn't seem to fear their visitors at all which Daniel was unsure to take as a sign of good faith or as a sign of confidence in their defensive capabilities.

Either way, however, it was something and as Vala brought them down onto the runway, insisting she be the one to land the ship, Daniel sat in his chair, trying to figure out exactly what to say.

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"Dammit Adrienne, what in the hell do you need? Are you in labor, because if you're not in labor I'm trying to cover for your damn husband dragging my damn wife all over the galaxy!" Jack was shouted from the front door as Jonas opened it, but Adrienne was armed and ready, platter in hand.

"I have offerings kind sir in payment for your continued support of Daniel and I's endeavors," she said with a smile, a plate of cheese pies waiting.

"You can't bribe me with shit that's your fault I'm now craving on a daily basis," Jack sneered, stopping dead in his tracks to glare at her.

"I have beer too," she added, her head cocking to the kitchen.

He smiled.

That did it.

"This had better be something that's not gonna blow up in my face. And it's just me, Mitchell's playing patsy to Woolsey so I could be here," the general clarified, deftly removing the entire plate from Adrienne's hands before proceeding to the kitchen.

"Just some furniture rearranging, Jonas and I have already started with the light stuff!" the cajun shouted behind him, following happily. Jack was at the door to the fridge, beer in hand and pie in mouth before Adrienne even got the chance to thank him.

I'll save that for later, she thought, after I am sure that he's not gonna kill me...

"You know," he started, his mouth full, "I SHOULD be lecturing you on taking me out of meetings for nursery renovation, but I would rather be painting cuddly little bears on Daniel junior's walls anyway.."

"Ewoks..." she corrected with a forced smile.

"Fuzzballs, whatever, and I happen to be a master at crib construction I'll have you know..." he continued, taking another swig.

"Well, Jack, that wasn't exactly the reason for my call -" Adrienne tried to explain but as she did there was a loud crash from down the hall, making the Cajun bring her hand to her face.

"Dr. Jackson! You will need to remove many more things from the office if you wish for me to continue. And you will be pleased to know that I have found one of those Intelligence Boards that did not claim to be the property of your government!"

"Do I want to know?" Jack asked as Adrienne turned red, rubbing her chin with a grimace.

"Just remember that Daniel did stupid impulsive things for years and you still trust him. And besides, I'm cuter," she tried.

"Down the hall Dr. Perky. Let's see what you've done that's gonna get me fired."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Ok, he had to admit, the people approaching him looked a LOT like the people from Avatar, save for their attire, which looked more like the uniforms worn by the Atlantis personnel back when their base was operational. They were taller than humans, as he had expected from his first covert visit, standing at about seven feet. Lacking the pointed ears of fantasy characters, the Aetlans actually lacked ears at all, holes instead similar to frogs, the rest of their facial features seemed distinctly human. They were different shades of blue as well, the darker beings seeming younger, as if they lost pigment with age.

Just as if she were landing a small plane on Earth, Vala had brought them carefully down the runway, guided in by tiny flying lights, a message coming over the loudspeakers welcoming them as soon as they stopped.

"They seem nice," Vala said, sending a safety confirmation to their tower.

"That was the impression I had as well with Maden, but I still think we need to play it safe. Ronon, I want you and Vala to stay with the ship, not only to guard it but scan the planet, come up with some sort of plan of escape if this goes wrong," he instructed, Vala making a face.

"A quick beam out the geeks and go getaway," she confirmed, starting the scan.

"With and without. We need to anticipate both scenarios," he answered quickly, much to Sam's surprise.

_I was right..._

"Sam," Daniel broke her thoughts calling her name, the general trying to hide her smile, "I'd like to speak with them at first, explain the direness of the situation and feel out their technological levels concerning the ZPM before we offer them any information. If that's alright?"

There was a hesitation in his voice, for the first time since they left Earth's orbit and she wasn't going to let him doubt himself now.

"I think that is exactly what we should do," she had answered quickly.

It was exactly what they should do...

And it was those very words that were guiding him now as the azure being stepped forward, a seemingly sexless creature, offering two hands to him palms up.

"Greetings. I am Draugr, and I serve as the governor of this province," she/he/it greeted, Daniel placing his own hand on top, hoping that was the correct gesture.

'Tree trunk' he translated that name loosely, his back itching at the mention.

Damn Adrienne.

"Greetings. My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson and I am honored that you have allowed us to meet with you," he answered, Draugr clasping his hands and bowing.

"We meet very few beings with similar advanced technology so we are eager to welcome those who come, and come asking for our help no less, that is most intriguing," their host answered, cordially, slipping hands from Daniel's grasp.

Intriguing, Daniel thought, please don't let that be code for 'we want to ransack your ship you intriguing idiots' but he kept his composure and to his plan, not to beat around the bush.

"Draugr, again thank you. We were also friends of the Asgard, I'm not sure if you knew Thor?" he tried, name dropping first, feeling that was safest and the being smiled, nodding.

"Never did we have the pleasure of meeting Thor, but we have heard of his adventures," was the reply, friendly, making Daniel's confidence grow.

"Adventures I hope that did not involve things about myself or my friends that would cause you to question our purpose here," he pushed a little further, trying to ascertain whether or not their reputation preceded them.

"We have heard little from our protectors other than of their unfortunate demise," the governor replied sullenly, Daniel nodding in understanding.

"It was a great loss to the galaxy," he agreed quickly, expecting his host to usher him to a meeting room, any kind of room where this would all normally take place, but Draugr didn't move, just stood there arms crossed over a thin chest.

"We believe so as well, however, dwelling in the past is what prevents a civilization from moving forward," the Aetlan replied, eyeing Sam now. "And you are?"

"General Samantha O'Neill," she offered, refraining from identifying herself as the head of Stargate Command as she normally did. Daniel wasn't sure why that stuck out to him, but it did, making him frown slightly.

"A warrior and an academic based on your titles," Draugr continued, "an interesting combination. What sort of distress must your world be in if they have chosen to send such an odd combination?"

Ok, Daniel thought, I expected that response to an extent, taking a breath before breaking into his speech.

"I understand how this may look, two strange people coming in an enemy ship asking for help may appear odd and I agree, I would see it as an unusual situation as well. But we do need your help. Our world is in danger and our leaders are not listening. We are in search of a device, a device that would help us power a great weapon. There is a being that needs to be stopped, he is called Anubis. He has already taken one world and his plan is to take over not only our galaxy but make his way across the universe," Daniel started, hoping his explanation was not too cryptic, but his host was nodding as was a slightly shorter Aetlan with paler skin.

"This Anubis is a Goa'uld, is he not? The name is of their language?" the other asked, Daniel nodding.

"Yes, both that and Alteran. He's far worse than any system lord we have dealt with and he doesn't give up," Daniel replied, waiting.

"He hurt you. And someone you loved," a voice spoke up from the back, Daniel swallowing strongly.

This Daniel had hoped wouldn't happen, that the increased activity in their frontal lobes would not be as empathic as he had worried, would not be able to read the more emotional side of him, this side of him that now was as strong as his rational side, if not at times, stronger.

"Yes, he hurt my wife," Daniel chose not to lie, trying to control the images of Adrienne rocketing through his head, her safety now paramount to his own. The trio of Aetlans straightened their heads, eyes wide, reading, they were reading him, testing his words.

"She is with child."

"Yes."

"You fear losing them."

"Yes."

"As much as you fear losing your world if not more."

Daniel paused this time, fully aware of Sam standing at his side, awaiting his answer.

"More," he chose not to lie, keeping his eyes ahead not wanting to see Sam's reaction, how yet again, in a dire situation Adrienne was his number one concern.

There was not a motion in front of the pair of friends, not one twitch between their hosts, Sam choosing as well to say nothing.

"He seeks the crystal," the one Aetlan asked that had yet to speak, disregarding his torrent of emotions that he was sure they could feel, all for Adrienne and their unborn sun, but it was not asking Daniel, instead asking his comrades without eye contact.

"She knows how to use it," Draugr agreed, Daniel assuming that the she was Sam.

"Not ours," the pale one interjected, making Daniel frown.

This wasn't going well.

At all.

He should have lied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Addy, all we have left is the desk. Where do you want that?" Jonas shouted from the hallway as Adrienne began to line books carefully on the shelf in their bedroom.

"We need a bigger house," she muttered, feeling ungrateful and guilty for saying anything against their home, a home Daniel had sought out and purchased for them.

For me, she corrected, he did all of this for me, and her pregnancy hormones kicked back into overdrive, tears streaming down her face. It was too much, it was just too much, and she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Why are you gone again? What if something happens to you?" she knelt in the floor, sobbing, hearing footsteps behind her.

"You ok?" a voice asked from behind her, a hand on her shoulder, the Langaran's face peering around into her own. Jonas, my friend with ESP, Adrienne thought, turning to face him.

"Yea, I'm fine, "I'm ok. You guys can bring the desk in here, over in the far corner," she replied, sniffing in, wiping her eyes, composing herself.

"No you're not," he led, reaching around her, taking her into his arms.

"Jonas, I'm fine, it's stupid. Everything's gonna be alright. Can you help me up?" she requested softly, pulling away, not from his kind hug of friendship but from his sympathy.

Not a moment of hesitation, Jonas stood again, reaching down to her arm and her back, helping her to her feet, but not letting go.

"Adrienne, it's alright to be upset," Jonas assured her and he meant it. Granted Daniel had to leave, despite his own protests the lead archaeologist was correct in his assertion, no one else was as qualified to handle the task. It had to be hard on Adrienne, Jonas couldn't imagine. She wasn't from another planet, like he, Teal'c, Vala and she hadn't been a part of this for years like Sam, Jack and Daniel, since the inception, and she was here alone, again, pregnant with Daniel's child.

"No, it's not. It's not fair to him."

She was trying to be strong, Jonas could see it in her eyes and was about to say something more, to tell her that she needed to start considering herself in the equation and stop worrying so much about Daniel when Jack was shouting from down the hall.

"I'm a god damn senior citizen by definition Dr. Perky, where in the hell do you want this thing!?"

"In here Jack, please, under the window. Jonas is coming," Adrienne sucked in once more, reaching for Jonas' hand.

"I knew what I was getting in to, it's just the hormones. He'll be back," she nodded with reassurance.

"He will Addy, if anything he'd never sacrifice you. Himself, yes, but you. Never, and he'd never let you go through this alone," Jonas said quietly, hoping that Jack wasn't peeping around the corner.

Adrienne smiled, starting to answer but shook her head, returning to the stack of books and her librarian mode.

"Coming!" Jonas shouted and left her, giving her some space.

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Daniel stood watching the cryptic exchange, some odd combination of dialog and what looked to be telepathic communication which Daniel knew was not. They didn't seem to be willing to share this technology that they so desperately needed.

His heart pounded in his chest, this just had to work, they couldn't leave yet another planet empty handed.

"Technically it is not ours."

"It was left."

"In our care."

"I beg to differ, the small ones had no inclination as to the extent of our abilities."

"Excuse me?" Daniel lifted his finger, seeing an opportunity to interrupt. All eyes directed themselves back to him with curiosity, wondering what he could possibly offer to the conversation.

"The Ktaenam, they were aware of your society's technological level, which is why those chose to leave the ZPM here, that's what we call it a ZPM. They knew you would keep it safe," Daniel offered, pausing, gauging their reaction, and it was working, they seemed interested so he did what he did best; he kept talking.

"They're assisting us; they understand the threat that Anubis is, and listed your planet as a friendly one, told us that you were a people that would help us," he said with a smile, one that quickly turned to a frown as Draugr shook his head, looking down at his paler associate.

"Dr. Jackson, we do not fear your retrieval of this item, we can sense your intentions. It is of no use to us. The problem is that it does not work," the leader explained, his head turning to meet Sam's gaze.

"So yours is broken as well," Daniel clarified, part of his mind already skimming the list in his head, what was the next closest planet, could he radio Adrienne from here and get her to pull up the full version of the next world on her computer when he noticed the smaller Aetlan was shaking his head.

"No, it is fully intact and seems to be at full power. However, there is no way to harness that power," it explained, Sam cutting her eyes over at Daniel.

"It's a complex system, Alteran technology, we would be happy to show you how we would use it, how we will harness the power, so you would know," she offered quickly, but again their hosts didn't seem to be convinced.

"We know how it works, the crystalline power is very simple to harness, but this one simply doesn't. There are also strange holes in the sides and we are not certain of their purpose as they seem to add no function to the overall performance."

Again, a response that Daniel understood, the ZPM has been altered, someone must have gotten to it without their knowledge, but Sam's mind was somewhere else entirely, she was shaking her head, scanning the tablet in her hands, her mouth wide. She was looking for something, that was clear enough, but what Daniel had no idea.

"Like this!" she spat out, stepping forward, showing the screen. Confused, what in the world was she was getting so worked up about, Daniel leaned around, trying to see, a crudely drawn image on the gadget's face. It was a ZPM, that was clear, but with a series of extra black lines, thicker, with holes in them just as the Aetlans had described. He hadn't seen anything like it before, in fact, the drawing looked like something Rodney had concocted in his crazy imagination.

"Yes, but the lines here," a blue finger touched the screen, "go higher and the pinnacle is nearly as wide as the base."

"And it's powered?" Sam continued, Draugr nodding slightly.

"Yes, based on all of our tests it seems to be at full power, however, when attached to a device that it should power, it does not. It simply does nothing. The crystals are like nothing on this planet, so we have been hesitant to dismantle the device to find the source of the malfunction."

"Can we see it?" Sam asked, Daniel wondering who was in charge of this conversation now, the excitement in her eyes one Daniel hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Of course. We'd ask that you leave your weapons, and we'd perform a safety scan, but if you'd like. It is housed in the main science building," Draugr agreed quickly, turning to lead them to a small, most likely secure, building, the general following without question. Daniel hesitated for just a moment, watching Sam walk away amongst the azure giants as if she belonged there before racing forward, pulling her back by the arm.

"Sam, where are you going? What is that thing, because it doesn't sound like a ZPM?" he asked, Sam smiling brightly.

"Nope, it's not," she answered with a grin, "it's a charger."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Homer shook in his boots, literally, as he stood at the door to the president's office.

He felt guilt, he felt sorrow, he felt fear.

They'd shown him that his wife was fine, as was his infant son, peacefully asleep under the spell, but that still didn't assuage his fears. He'd seen the soldiers turn on his fellows before, gunning them down with staff weapons, blasters, whatever was nearby. He'd been spared each time though, and the only reason he could give for that was his position in the government and his brain kept he and his family alive.

"There is never a need to fear as long as you have done what has been asked," the figure said from the desk, looking up, not as imposing as she should have been. She was attractive, in fact, penetrating green eyes against dark skin, her light brown hair flowing down her back. If he hadn't known the truth, if he hadn't seen it with his own two eyes, he wouldn't believe it.

"Yes ma'am," he answered without thinking, wondering if that would be an offensive

term but she smiled, so sweetly, in a way that almost melted him, disturbingly so.

"Take a seat Homer, what have you found?" she offered, signaling her hand to indicate the chair across for her desk where she had been writing something, in that language, Ancient he thought he had heard Representative Quinn call it.

"It will work, with no trace. It appears that a similar chemical is used in their food processing already. It will work," he let those words cross his lips, regretting the exchange, his tiny child for someone else's, a person he never met.

More guilt, more regret. more terror.

"Good, and the method, you do realize how much of an area we need to cover?" She wasn't looking at him anymore, she was writing again in that script making him wish he'd listened to those presentations Quinn had given.

"Yes. It will need to be administered bit by bit, and even then you will need to repeat the process city to city," the words tumbled out of his mouth at the thought, again a mixture of guilt and relief, relief in knowing that the final test couldn't occur here; there wasn't an entire city awake here to be tested.

"Excellent Homer. I hope you understand that you have become someone that I can count on..." finally she was looking at him, speaking directly to him, those green eyes with their golden pupils. He knew that wasn't part of the package; that was requested and given and based on what he had heard of her/him/it, he was pretty certain as to why.

"Yes ma'am," he choked out, another smile in response. Ma'am must be alright, preferred even, by her manner.

"That will be all for now," her eyes were back at the paper, thankfully, Homer's breath resuming its normal pattern.

Standing quickly, the Langaran adjusted his uniform, excusing himself with a few mutters. He didn't look back, heading straight for the door, praying that the tremor in his leg was not as visible as it felt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He'd been dealing with baby things too long, well baby things and endless pictures of alien worlds, because Sam might as well have been speaking in binary for all he understood. The device was set on the table in the back of a storage room, clearly cared for but abandoned for a while, proving to both Sam and Daniel that it had indeed been examined but now forgotten.

In a zone, one he would never have a chance to break, she powered her way past him heading for the table, asking their guide, the smaller of the Aetlans, a female by the name of Leita to provide her with light if possible. The woman nodded, heading to a computing console, the lights flickering on to a brighter level with a few swift motions of her finger.

"My associate, Dr. McKay, has been studying various components of Alteran laboratory technology. We have found evidence that such a device was theorized but there so far has been nothing to support its actual construction," Sam began to explain, her eyes and hands already ogling the device.

"ZPMs, for us stands for Zero Point Module, contain what should be limitless energy, but that only seems to hold true when it is being used to support more basic technologies, computer systems, even life support for a ship, but when used to power weapons' technology or a hyperdrive it depletes at an alarming rate."

And all of this time Daniel thought Rodney had been stealing Adrienne to clone flowers.

Addy was cloning flowers while Rodney was unlocking sources of ultimate power.

Who knew?

"Given that we are fairly certain the Alterans knew of this limitation, or defect, what have you, we started to search for some method of recharging the devices. Again, we found no images, only text descriptors describing what such a device would look like. From our best guess it should look something like this," Sam showed the small gathering the picture from the iPad, confirming to Daniel that it was indeed a sketch.

"You are saying it was not designed to power anything?" Leita ventured, Sam nodding quickly in agreement.

"No. According to our research, it is made from a more powerful version of the crystals and can only transfer power back into the lesser crystal, presumably through these extra veins, but there seems to be nothing to resemble a cord. That is as far as our knowledge extends, we would have to set this side by side with a depleted ZPM to see how the two would communicate or if they would communicate at all," she answered.

"Then you are not certain if it works?" Draugr asked, Sam shrugging.

"Not exactly, no, but based on what knowledge we have it shows every indication that it should."

Daniel stood back from the exchange, listening to Sam ramble on a little more about power levels and checking the flow through the black power conduits by using some simple appliances for comparison. He watched as the Aetlans spoke amongst themselves, not quietly, they were open, all saying the exact same thing, that they didn't need it but they were very curious as to how it worked.

"Can we have it?" Sam blurted out, glancing at Daniel apologetically, this was his call really, she had said as much, but he shrugged, letting her excitement take her over.

"Of course," Draugr replied immediately, "we have no need for it."

Daniel's heart skipped a beat, there was no way, they were just going to give it to them, how did this happen, he was going to get a charger, Sam was going to have a way to recharge every single ZPM that wasn't cracked, he was going to get home to Adrienne, to their baby, no fear of her going into labor without him and he was approaching the table to take the device when he heard it...

"What do you have to offer in trade?"

Daniel stopped in his tracks.

Of course not, of course it wouldn't be this easy; nothing in his life was ever easy.

"We could see what we have on the ship," Sam started, her face panicked, trying to rack her brain for what might be there.

"We have no need for Goa'uld technology," Draugr replied, dark eyes back on the device.

I know what you're thinking, Daniel thought, you want to know what you can gain from this, it was said that you are savvy traders.

_What do we have?_

_What would be enough?_

"The shield," Daniel's spat out, reaching for his bag.

"The shield?" Sam clarified, frowning, Daniel shrugging in embarrassment.

"Yeah, the shield, the Asgard shield, the prototype, I was pissed off alright, I took some things from storage," he explained as he knelt on the floor.

"A shield of the Asgard?" Leita asked, kneeling to join Daniel as he dug through his bag, spilling journals and pens all over the stone floor.

"Yes, see, when the Asgard knew of their demise, they contacted us, they contacted me, they gave us a data -" Daniel stopped, holding up the small device in his hand shaking his head, " base. Wait. This. We can do better than this, we can give you everything. Everything the Asgard held back, everything they thought you weren't ready for. I don't have it here, it's back on our homeworld, but we, I, can bring it back. I'd need some information on how to convert it to your systems, but I'm sure my wife can figure out a way she's a genius with that kind of thing," he offered rambling, finally taking a breath to compose his excitement with the idea.

"A database? Of what exactly?" Draugr was clearly deferring to Leita who in Daniel's blabbering had taken the device, examining it in her long fingers, curiously studying the object.

"Everything. Their entire civilization. There is so much in it, so very much, it will never be possible to go through it alone, but we could share that knowledge with you, we could help one another go through it," he changed the offer slightly.

What am I doing? he thought, I'm offering the only thing Thor was able to give me so freely, without hesitation, but there was something he just understood standing here, in all of this chaos and excitement.

Keeping this information to themselves, hiding it from every other intelligent civilization that they ever encountered, including the Langarans, that he and his friends were no better in their isolationist ways. If the Ktaenam had trusted a civilization this advanced with not only a ZPM but a primary power source no less, who was he to question their intentions.

"The Asgard gave us very little information. They said we were as children and some things we needed to figure out on our own yet they have given you everything?" the Aetlan seemed hurt, well Daniel couldn't be sure, they didn't seem to have many different emotional states.

"We became very good friends with Thor. We promised him that we would care for the information, learn from it, but there is no way one person, well two people, can go through it all," he answered, standing as he stuffed the last of his items into the bag.

"That," Daniel continued, "keep that. It's a prototype, but you can test it and study it. We can return, bring more information, in exchange for this."

There was no reply, Daniel's stomach sinking, the three slender giants eyeing one another and Daniel just knew what was to come, there needed to be a committee, a meeting, another damn planet with more damn bureaucracy...

Sighing deeply, Daniel reached beneath his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose strongly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Adrienne was vaguely aware of the front door opening, rubbing her face with her hands as she tried to sit up from the sofa, falling back onto the pillow.

"Come on, count to three, roll and stand," Jack said from above her, Adrienne opening her eyes again to see the general standing over her, a hand extended to help her to her feet. Yawning, she couldn't control the action, she scanned her body to see that he had covered her. She remembered sitting down on the sofa, exhausted, Nicky beating her to death from the inside, both of her male helpers insisting that they would finish setting everything up that Shamira had piled into the lab.

"Jack, what are you doing here?" Adrienne heard the moment she took his arm, her heart skipping a beat, the rest of her waking up quickly.

Daniel was home.

"Dr. Perky decided to remodel," Jack shouted down the hall, relinquishing her hand knowing where she was headed as his friend bounded through the front door, his arms open, heading for his wife.

"I told you I'd be back soon," Daniel said in greeting, taking Adrienne's into his arms, the Cajun reaching for his face, kissing him deeply.

"We have a ZPM, better than a ZPM," Sam was trailing right behind Daniel, pushing past the lip locked couple, the look of excitement on her face, kissing Jack herself in the middle of the Jackson living room.

"Wait, it worked?" Jack asked as he pulled away, catching Adrienne leading Daniel down the hall by the hand.

"Yes, it did. Well, it sort of worked, it's not a ZPM, it's a Primary Power Source, it's a charger. We left it aboard the ship with Ronon and Vala, but Jack not only did it work, but we have allies. This isn't over!" she sputtered, holding his hands in her own, Jack smiling, excited to hear the details.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Ja-wer, I just got back, can I sit down? Remember, you married an old man..." he joked, letting her drag him along.

"Indy, just hush for a second, there's something I have to show you," she answered, coming to a stop at his office door, beaming; she'd be jumping up and down were it not for the large child growing in her.

"Open it," she gushed, cocking her head at the door. Confused, expecting her to drag him to the nursery, maybe she and Jonas had gone shopping, Daniel turned the knob, peering into his office.

What WAS his office.

"We have a lab?" was all he could manage to say as a miniature version of his workspace laid out carefully in his home office was displayed in front of his wide unbelieving eyes.

"What? I'm pregnant, not helpless," his wife said with a smile, happily leaning against the doorframe as Daniel rushed inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Is it really a charger?" Adrienne asked as Daniel shut off the water, slipping into the tub in front of her.

"Sam thinks so. She wants me to head over there tomorrow," he answered, sitting down, leaning back into her embrace, only somewhat comfortable as he could feel what he swore was a small human kicking him in the back.

"I'm surprised she didn't want you there immediately," Adrienne noted, reaching for the sponge and soap.

"She did. I asked to have a night with you," he replied, leaning his head back to see if she was smiling. Giggling, she dabbed the lathered sponge lightly on his face, reaching to wash his arms.

"Lean back more, you're supposed to soak that thing," she ordered as she stopped washing, Daniel wanting to whine the moment she halted her soft caress.

"I can't, Nicky's in the way," he replied instead, Adrienne shoving his shoulder.

"We need a bigger tub," she teased.

"No, you need to give birth. Dammit Ad, what's taking so long," he joked, Adrienne stopping again to splash water at him.

"He's YOUR son, I figure that makes him genetically stubborn," she spat, Daniel laughing.

"Here, switch with me," Daniel stood, extending his hand to help her move forward. She took it, heeding his request, and he sat down behind her, shaking his head as she watched to make sure he was laying back as much as he could into the warm bath.

"Better?" he asked, noting her frown.

"Is it soaking?" she checked, trying to peer back at him.

"You know you've gone into mom mode already?" he picked, hands in front of his face to block any more water she might be splashing his way.

"Sha, I got into mom mode with you the DAY I was hired, don't you start with me," she retorted, easing back into his arms, the sponge now caressing her shoulders softly.

"Is it gonna work?" she asked after a while, her eyes still closed slightly, letting him carefully wash her.

"The charger? Sam says it should," Daniel answered, dipping the sponge into the water to rinse.

"No, I mean, is it enough?"

"I have no idea. I'm thinking that if Sam thought it was enough she would say, but for now she wants to keep it low key," he responded, reaching for the shampoo.

"As long as I have you I shouldn't care..." he heard her whisper, making him furrow his brow.

"Really? Are you ready to start wearing an apron too? Cook crawfish, have supper ready for your man every night? Sell Tupperware?"

"I was trying to be sweet," she spat, laughing, understanding his meaning.

"I know; I'm just messin' with you," he said in reply, another thought popping into his head, "Is this ok for the baby?" he hadn't thought to ask when she had suggested this the other day or now but she was shaking her head against his chest.

"Yeah, the water's not too hot, we're fine," she sighed out, letting him wash her hair.

"Not much longer now," he added as he scrubbed, Adrienne shrugging.

"I know," she answered, pausing and taking a breath, "I'm getting scared."

"Why? I just said you mother me, so see, you've got lots of practice," he joked as he reached for the cup beside the tub, filling it to rinse her hair.

"Just how fast my life has changed, in only a few years; it's a bit intimidating," she admitted, sitting up to let him wash the rest of the soap away.

"I know what you mean," he replied, "Done, I used the two in one shampoo if that's ok?" Adrienne, however, didn't respond, turning slowly to face him.

"Lean back," she requested.

"Ad, the tattoo is soaking, ok, stop worrying," he answered, leaning back into the water and closing his eyes.

"Not that..." he felt a soft touch, his brain finally registering.

"Oh..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Jonas lay on the air mattress in the living room, again, an unmistakable noise echoing down the hall, again.

"I need to get my own place..." he sighed, pulling the pillow around his head.


	62. Chapter 61 - From the Inside

It was bad enough that the base had actually become a military hell, but to feed them this swill was ridiculous.

Cassie sat at the cafeteria table, alone, in the mostly empty room, stirring her grilled cheese into a bowl of warm tomato soup. Sure, she was thankful that she had gotten to keep her job, knowing full well that Jack had used her mother as the reason for Cassie being retained to assist Carolyn. With the gate closed and the iris shut now, for good, the teams having all returned weeks ago, Cassie wasn't sure why Carolyn was here either. She wasn't going to say a word, Jennifer and Rodney had left two weeks ago, Jennifer bound for Johns Hopkins and Rodney fielding offers from Georgetown, Johns Hopkins as well, and a number of others.

Jen had been texting her the annoying Rodney brag by brag all week.

Carson, as everyone had expected, had left with John, hell nearly the entire Atlantis crew had left with John. The commander had assured them all that his brother could find a job for each of them back at his home estate. She knew the crew didn't care about money, but what they did care about was staying together, except for Ronon who had run off with Vala. Apparently they were an item now.

She hadn't seen THAT coming.

Everyone else however had stayed local for the most part, everyone except for Teal'c. She'd tried her best not the cry as the one person who made her not fear Jaffa when she was so small, hugged Sam, Jack and Daniel in the gateroom, whisking himself through the wormhole to never return.

It was getting too depressing to stay here.

Maybe she'd call Daniel.

He knew she was upset, he'd been worried about her and had been trying to get her to come over and help them set up the nursery, come over and help Adrienne out, who evidently was equally as depressed. She wanted to, she really liked Addy, she was good for Daniel, but it was just a little more than she could handle right now.

Pushing back from the table, Cassie stood, heading for the line again, hoping at the very least they had brewed some iced tea.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"And that is the final planet?"

"Yes Teal'c, we have checked them all. Anubis has managed to confine himself to Langara," the young woman reported, her Hak'tyl sisters behind her.

"Thank you Syn'ac, that will be all for now. Please thank Ishta and tell her I will return as soon as I am able," he said from behind the table, Brat'ac's wise eyes already cutting at him.

Teal'c could read his words without them even being spoken.

As he'd expected, Brat'ac waited to speak, his presence imposing enough where even Ry'ac remained quiet.

The door to the ceremonial room closed, the same room that eighteen short months ago had been a huge part of Teal'c becoming a grandfather, the three men sitting crossed legged on the floor with candles.

"The Tau'ri have abandoned the galaxy Teal'c and it seems that Anubis has as little power as their superiors believed. It is a poor use of Ishta's tribe to send them on this fool's mission into space," his old teacher's words were harsh, as Teal'c expected, his head already shaking in disagreement.

"The Tau'ri have not abandoned us Master Bra'tac. I can say with certainty that O'Neill and DanielJackson are working on a solution as we remain here, doing nothing," he shot back, his response disrespectful he knew, but no longer caring.

"We have our own problems. Just yesterday we've heard of yet another exodus of warriors, flocking under the banner of yet another savior. They follow one after another, and it does not matter who this savior might be, it is the fact that our people are choosing to follow any other path than the council," Bra'tac explained without scolding, Teal'c knowing his words to be true.

This latest leader was one of their own, Yat'Yir, who had always been a problem Teal'c knew, he just never thought he would walk out of the council and take half of it with him. He hadn't supposed their elected president, a Hak'ytl woman by the name of Nyctal, who much to Teal'c's surprise had really stepped up to be a major part of the government would cause such a problem. She had been a good choice, she was neutral to old conflicts, well-spoken and well educated, as Ishta has made sure all of her women were.

And therein laid the problem.

She was a woman.

Some things never change.

His son looking at him for answers that he didn't have, Teal'c stood, walking over to the table to secure his robe.

He needed to meditate.

Alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Jonas had been on the phone all morning, one IOA bureaucrat after another trying to regain control of his assets. He didn't have much, he knew that, but he'd accumulated enough working here for the short time that he had been back, again, to get paid and he knew it was enough for at least a deposit...

If they'd give it to him.

Three hours later he had a total, scrawled on a legal pad and nowhere to send it. He'd turned down an Earth identity, something he was now regretting, and the finance department refused to transfer one red cent into the Jackson bank account.

Why was this so difficult?

He had appreciated Daniel and Adrienne's hospitality, he could never thank them enough, but what had seemed like such a large living space was growing smaller by the minute. His bed had arrived two weeks quicker than he had expected, but with the lab in place in Daniel's office, Adrienne's office housing the nursery, Jonas had nowhere to sleep but in the corner of the living room. Not only did he have no personal space whatsoever but with things looking up and Adrienne not sulking around as much he was started to regret agreeing to live with a married couple, a happily married couple no less.

There were some things he just didn't want to hear.

He would have never said anything to them, but it was just slightly awkward and embarrassing and he was certain that they had no idea he heard anything because they would have been as equally as mortified as he was having heard them. So, it was back to finding a way to get his money and get out of here.

"Jonas, do you want coffee?" he heard Daniel shouting from the kitchen, the smell of that strong brew the two of them were addicted to floating out to greet him, something else he was getting tired of. That fancy machine Addy had could make individual cups of tea, but no amount of tea in the world could make up for the fact that the entire place smelled like a Colombian plantation.

Or so he imagined.

"No thanks!' he shouted back, covering the phone receiver, his eyes looking back at the page, the pen listlessly circling the total. There was a click on the other end, Jonas hoping he was be connected to Jack, finally, when loud rap music started to blast through the living room.

He'd forgotten; it was cleaning day and how in the world a nearly thirty four week pregnant woman was dancing around the house like she was was indeed a marvel of science itself.

"Ja-wer! Turn it down!" Daniel ordered from the kitchen but Jonas knew Adrienne wasn't going to listen. She would just shout something smart back at Daniel, which he would counter, sarcastically, and the music level would stay the same. He could point out to Addy that he was on the phone, but then she'd feel bad that she hadn't noticed and she'd be apologizing for nearly an hour, so instead, he stood from the table, grabbing the legal pad, his cell phone tucked under his ear, heading for the back deck.

" - clean underwear!" he heard Adrienne's voice screaming back at Daniel as he pulled the large glass door closed, taking a seat at the wrought iron porch table.

He loved his friends, he did, but he really needed out of the Jackson household, sooner rather than later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He was glad Sam had explained the buzzing noise, because Jack had almost made the error of calling Woolsey to cuss him out concerning the poor shape of the phone system, but that was just the charging sound, the PPS rocking another ZPM to life.

"Honey, Cam can't get another one out, RatFace is getting wise," Jack said into the receiver the moment Sam shut the machine off, just in time to hear his wife sighing into the phone.

"I guess that's fine," she grumbled from the other line, a few more pops and clicks accompanying her response, "I'm not sure if Rodney really fixed the fracture in this one anyway; it won't seem to hold a charge past 33%."

Jack wasn't sure how much 33% of a ZPM could actually power, but he knew it wasn't a hundred percent and Sam seemed disappointed, so that information was enough.

"I'll keep working on it; see if we can get one out by the end of the week. It helped that they're letting Ann Mardsen keep records; she'd been good about fiddling with numbers and had even borrowed some toys from her nephew that she made look just like broken ZPMs.

He had to hand it to her, he wouldn't have thought of that.

"How's your day going?" he asked, scanning his emails, looking for something he would want to do, which was nothing.

"Other than that and well, this, it's fine. Things are so exciting spending my time with daytime soaps as I try not to get electrocuted by alien technology," she attempted to joke, Jack chuckling at the attempt. He was about to offer to skip out an hour early, bring her some take-out home when his call waiting clicked in, making him roll his eyes.

"Gotta go. Duty that's still paying our bills calls. Love you," Jack groaned into the phone, a small part of him wishing that he would be fired too.

"O'Neill," he growled into the mouthpiece, turning his chair back to face his desk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Carolyn rubbed her head, staring down at the folder. The cure worked, it did, but at the scale Bennett and the other members of the Defense Committee wanted it was going to take much more manpower and a lot less mouth. Granted, she hadn't had any injuries to deal with, in fact, she felt more like a boutique doctor lately then a true medical professional, but she still had a job and that was all that mattered.

She was just about to make a note, adjusting the amount of naquadah in the original dose, wondering how without the ability to contact their allies the IOA planned on getting this naquadah when she heard footsteps behind her.

"How's it going down here?" the voice asked, a voice that made her smile every time she heard it. It was Sam's job, she understood that, but something about Cameron Mitchell working the post made her feel secure.

"It's going. I'm not sure if that's what they want but we'll see. I can start tests on mice by the end of the week if this goes as I thought; I have the supply ready," she replied, setting down the pen and leaning against the table.

"Well that's something at least," he answered with a grin, keeping his gentlemanly distance as he always did, making her stomach flutter. She'd refused to let this happen to her, like it seemed to happen to everyone, but it just had, and she couldn't stop the feeling no matter how hard she tried.

"What's your day look like?" he asked next, smiling still, despite the confidence on his face expecting the answer, the rejection, the same response day after day.

"I have a few personnel coming in shortly, general complaints, mostly from being overworked, but no one will listen. Addy's coming in at three, just her weekly check-up, everything's fine, but after that, nothing..." she led, leaving it open for the first time.

Hell, if work was gonna suck so bad she might as well have a personal life.

"I have a meeting at the Senate office at four and then Woolsey's taking night shift, he'll be here at six to change over at seven, he likes to loom over me as I shut down the day staff, so, I didn't know if you'd want to -" Cam started, rambling off his calendar, Carolyn shooting up her hand to halt his awkward invitation.

"Yes, yes I'd love to. How about I meet you in the parking lot at seven thirty?" she answered with a smile, a look of sheer disbelief spreading across his face.

"Carolyn, it's grilled cheese again, for nearly every meal it seems," Cassie said from doorway, Cam straightening up as she entered and as if he had been doing something other than just asking Carolyn to dinner.

"See," the doctor whispered to him with a smile, "it's fate. I hate grilled cheese." And with that, left his side, walking over to where Cassie was pulling patient files.

Still stunned Cameron Mitchell left the infirmary headed to Sam's office, as Carolyn peeped over her shoulder, blushing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Dammit Indy leave it up!" Adrienne shouted from the laundry room, switching the last load from the washer to the dryer. She needed that today; she needed the distraction of hard-core gangstas, Nicky's swift kicks reminding her exactly why.

"Does it have to be so damn loud!?" she heard him yell in return, Adrienne slamming the door to the dryer trying not to be angry. There was a forceful crash deep in her belly and she winced, holding onto the appliance, hearing footsteps behind her.

"Ja-wer!" he started fussing already, reaching out for her but she shooed him away.

"He's just dropping, and my back hurts. It's ok, no labor," she assured him, standing again.

"Ad, go sit down. Stop cleaning, I've got this," Daniel pushed her along, Adrienne wincing again, her palm braced firmly against the wall.

"Go to the bedroom, now," Daniel's tone changed, his expression grim, stepping forward to force her if he had to.

"Why?" she whined. There was so much to be done and she didn't have time for his worrying.

"Go lie down and slip off your pants. I'm gonna check, see if this is worse than you think," he answered, his wife turning to glare at him.

"Don't look at me like that, I know what I'm doing," he answered the smart remark he could read in her expression.

"That's doesn't mean I'm gonna let you down there!" she shot back, Daniel now making a smart face of his own.

"Really? Need I remind you that I've..." he started, Adrienne shooting her hand up to his mouth.

"No, no, no, no, no, no. I have an appointment with Carolyn today and nothing's gonna happen between now and then," she spat, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"Ahm ya usben," Daniel muttered underneath her hand, the hand that was still there, with no intention of going anywhere. This was silly, he'd seen her in more intimate situations than he could count but she was worried about him checking to see if she was dilating!?

"Yes, you are. NOT my doctor. That's weird and not normal and no and none of that other stuff that's coming out of your mouth, got it?" she glared up at him.

"Gah it," he replied, hoping she understood that was fine and would stop freaking out over nothing. She glared for a moment longer, slowly pulling the hand away from his mouth.

"I only worry because I love you," he said the moment it was away, "and I could ease both of our fears very easily."

"My hand is moving back toward your face," she warned.

"And because you are a stubborn pain in the ass," he added, "I worry because of that too," Adrienne turning on her heels to waddle out of the room.

"I've delivered babies!" he shouted from behind, "three of them."

"Not this baby you aren't! Go get the keys, we're heading to the doctor early so she can check; the one that WILL deliver this baby!" she responded, already in the bedroom.

"Fine Ad, whatever you say," Daniel answered but followed, not wanting to argue the silliness of this with her any longer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

_Can we get another by Friday?_

Standing in the supply closet Ann Mardsen read the message again not knowing how to respond. Sure, the powers that be really didn't hang out in the storage areas or the closed labs, but they weren't so stupid as the believe that the flood of people who had dedicated their lives to the program would just step away.

It was her job to make sure that was exactly what they believed.

She'd done her best to ransack the Jacksons' lab after receiving word that the Furlings had aided them in securing their items. That had been her first challenge, but with some paper boxes of trash, some cardboard containers of broken tiles and a few computers from recycling, she made it look like she was using the space for storage as things continued to be downsized.

That had worked, much to her shock.

Her next task had been to begin stealing ZPM's, which were located in two places. The ones in storage, the broken devices were easy. She'd even fashioned some look-a-likes from old toys, resembling the crystals enough so someone casually glancing at the shelves would think the fragments were just as they had been left by Rodney.

Rodney's lab was the hardest. Unlike Daniel and Adrienne, he didn't keep much in there, and it was very sparse save for the ZPMs. There were three there, one at full power that SG-1 had recovered some time ago and two from Atlantis base, in perfect working order but completely drained. She had yet to get those out and that was what Colonel Mitchell wanted now.

It looked like Sam was going to get her battle station powered.

Ann hoped so. She was sick of pushing paper, sick of assisting in battle plans, sick of trying to reconstruct pieces of the Asgard database that were "left" in the computer that had "crashed" when she knew the real one was at the Jacksons' house. When she had first been offered the opportunity right out of Airmen's Academy she couldn't believe it, a literal dream come true.

A dream that was now paper and what she'd joined the Air Force to avoid.

_I'll have it to you by Thursday. _

She texted back, determination in her face. There seemed to be only one way to get this back and if that meant her job so be it. Either Sam would hire her back once things were back to normal or it would be the swift kick in the ass that she needed to move on.

Anything was better than this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

This day really couldn't get any better, which wasn't saying much considering Cameron was now in his dear friend's job, had been for nearly two months now, expected to build a defensive system against a foe he wasn't even allowed to understand. Now, he had a message on his phone that he wanted to see and a dinner date tonight he'd only dreamed of having.

It was definitely a good day.

Hell, maybe he would get totally lucky and Jack would call telling him that Sam had activated all of the ZPM's, that she was going to come marching back into the SGC on a figurative white horse, save him from a desk job and let him get back into his element.

Sure, there was a small part of Cameron Mitchell that was grateful that he had been selected to head the SGC, in a shared position with Robert Woolsey, especially since it was almost a clear indicator that he was being considered for a promotion to general.

GENERAL Mitchell.

It sounded cool, sure, but not if general meant this paperwork and red tape of hell.

Custer had the right idea; go down with your men.

_Thanks. Keep me informed. _

He texted back, heading over to his desk, no Sam's desk, this was gonna work, sitting down to cue up his email. It was the same nonsense, a list of questions and meetings, things that the staff the IOA had so casually laid off would be able to answer, but they weren't here, and ergo it was left up to him. Frustrated, he checked his phone instead, hoping to kill time before his off-base meeting where he had already planned to stop and get one of those fast foot roast beef sandwiches, since he was getting sick of cafeteria food. There was nothing in his house, not that he liked to cook anyway, but some decent food once in a while would be great.

There was a beep in the dial tone, only one slow methodical tone, so he must only have a single message.

Maybe it was Sam.

He keyed in his access code, Sam's access code, a familiar voice on the other line.

_Cam, hey it's Jonas. Listen, I've hit a hang up, again, with my pay and Jack said I have to talk to you. I'm sorry to be such a pest about it but I really need my money soon. _

Cam was already jotting himself a note to look into Jonas' pay when there was a loud bang and a second voice in the message, yet another he knew all too well.

_Jonas, oh, hey, you're on the phone, I'm sorry, hang on, Indy DAMMIT don't touch the dryer, I have my sweaters in there!_

The colonel couldn't help but laugh, it was too funny; he couldn't imagine life with the pair of them.

_Cam, please. Please help me; I just. Call me when you get this message. _

Ok, so evidently Jonas couldn't handle life with the Jacksons either. He couldn't help but feel for the guy, how many times in a person's life did they have to move and under such circumstances? Well, Daniel moved an awful lot but Jonas had to be a close second.

Sighing, but preferring tracking down Jonas' money over IOA bullshit, Cam hung up the phone, reaching for his desk directory to figure out who he needed to call.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Hey Addy!" Cassie greeted happily, thankful to take a break from filing. The Cajun woman was smiling, leaning back slightly to counter balance her large abdomen.

"Shamu has arrived!" she joked, headed straight for the sink, after water Cassie knew, since Carolyn would ask for a urine sample first thing. For as much trouble as Adrienne caused, accidentally, the woman was sure good about her own health. She'd taken every vitamin Carolyn had requested, kept up with her medication, drank plenty of water, and had almost entirely eliminated caffeine.

She really was the ideal patient.

"You're early, is everything alright?" Cassie asked, now noting the time, which was only a few minutes after one when Adrienne smiled, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Yep, Daniel just worrying like he does," she answered, her husband nowhere to be seen.

"Adrienne I need -" Carolyn started, their smiling patient waving her hand as she chugged down the small plastic cup.

"On it!" she replied as she swallowed.

"Where's Daniel?" she asked, peeking at the infirmary doors, looking for him to be trailing behind.

"According to Indy? Visiting Cam. According to me? Snooping," she smiled, tossing the cup into a trash can and waddling to the bathroom.

"I'm right here smartass, Cam's not in his office," his voice laughed behind her, teasing, walking right over, reaching out for her.

"No squeezing sha, that will result in peeing and not in a cup," Adrienne joked, pushing him aside on her way to the bathroom. Cassie couldn't help but smile as she watched the normally athletic frame make her way slowly and carefully to the facilities.

"Daniel we got so lucky with all of this, that given everything, Addy's body didn't reject the baby. I hope you know that," Carolyn's voice broke her stare, making her peer back at the pair, Daniel already nodding in agreement.

"I know. Adrienne does too and I can't thank you enough for taking such good care of her," he replied, Carolyn taking a step closer.

"If she's thinning today, I want to induce. There's every indicator that the baby is just fine, thirty four weeks is safe, we have the facilities to take care of a preemie and he really wouldn't even be that much of a preemie. I want you to understand, because I get this feeling that Addy's gonna fight me on it if it comes to that," she explained as Daniel closed his eyes taking a breath.

"I'll try, but she's been working on a birthing plan, which includes every organic hippie treatment, no nightmare, every organic hippie nightmare that you could imagine," he replied, his eyes on the bathroom door waiting for his wife, "but she'll listen to you. She informed me, in no uncertain terms, that you will be the only person delivering this baby."

Cassie giggled, the two friends turning to look at her. Daniel had delivered babies, as had Carson and she thought Jennifer had, she wasn't sure. She was pretty sure she could see a smile on Carolyn's face because for as stubborn as Addy was, she did listen to Carolyn and took her advice to heart.

There was more conversation ahead, but the young doctor felt as if she was eavesdropping, so she slipped way, back to her patients, giving them the privacy they deserved.

A click sounded behind her, Cassie peering over her shoulder to see Adrienne walking from the bathroom, cup of yellowish fluid in hand, heading in her direction not Carolyn's.

"For the record," the Cajun started, Cassie always able to hear her southern accent even when she was trying so hard to hide it, "I think it sucks you get pee pee duty every time," she joked as she handed over the warm cup. Cassandra Frasier had to agree, urine duty was not fun, but with the fears of losing the Jackson baby, Cassie would prefer to be running pee any day.

It wasn't that Adrienne herself had been at any risk, it was the variety of factors, most of which Carolyn reminded everyone, were Daniel's fault. Adrienne herself was perfectly healthy; save for vaginal scarring that Adrienne couldn't explain but didn't have to. Carolyn had talked to Cassie about it, although the archaeologist herself had admitted nothing, it was clear that she had suffered a vicious and violent attack, leading to severe damage that was clearly never treated.

Cassie wanted to ask, but didn't want to pry because if considering Adrienne's obsession with health she still didn't inform her doctors, than it was something that she never wanted to discuss again.

On top of that, Adrienne still carried slight traces of trinium in her spinal column, which could leak into her bloodstream at any moment but it was the dopamine healing that concerned the doctors the most. Would Adrienne's body reject the baby, seeing it as an injury? It hadn't healed the scarring, which Carolyn couldn't explain for the life of her, but she also couldn't believe that Adrienne had even conceived, much less that the baby survived her captivity, but for the child to be carried to term...

It was a medical miracle and no one was taking any chances.

"No sign yet," Carolyn announced from under the sheet, Adrienne shrugging from the opposite end of the table.

"Am I the only person who wants this to go on time? I mean really Indy, if you are so gung ho about Nicky making an appearance you'd think the crib would be constructed already," she teased from the table, Daniel rolling his eyes.

Cassie couldn't help but wonder if Daniel knew how to put together a crib.

"I take it that's my task for the afternoon?" he took the hint, again, Cassie suppressing a chuckle. They were so cute together she really couldn't be upset anymore like she was in the beginning. It wasn't as if Daniel could be expected to never see anyone else, ever again. She knew that Vala mess wouldn't work out, that was so bizarre in the first place, but there was a part of Cassie that had always hoped...

"Hey Cassie, can you get me another cup of water?" Adrienne was asking from the table, the young woman happily standing to fulfill her request. She heard more movement, Daniel helping Adrienne to her feet so sweetly as the Cajun continued to joke about Daniel's nursery furniture construction skills.

"Sure thing!" she answered cheerily, standing herself, rubbing her temples as she did. Stupid headache, she needed to stop staying up that late reading. Grabbing the ibuprofen bottle as she went to the sink, Cassie filled up a cup for herself, downing the meds before taking Adrienne her request.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Jonas?" finally he called back, the Langaran happy for the interruption to his silence.

His dear happily married joyously bickering friends had left a few hours ago, the townhouse dropping to silence the moment Daniel pulled the door closed behind him. He had sat on the sofa, reading a true crime novel, almost allowing himself to doze off when the phone rang loudly beside him.

"Cam, thank you so much for calling me back. I take it you got my message?" Jonas asked, sitting up, rubbing his face with his hand.

"Yeah, I wanted to check into a few things before calling you back so sorry about the delay," the colonel answered, Jonas not minding in the least. A delay was good; it meant that maybe something had gotten accomplished...

"We can get you the money..."

_See, something accomplished..._

_"_But it's gonna take about eight weeks..."

"DAMMIT!"

_Oops, that was out loud. _

"Man, I'm sorry, that's the best I can do," Cam apologized quickly, not present to see Jonas stand from the sofa, unable to miss his bed, his poor excuse for a room shoved in the corner of the living area.

"No, thanks, at least I can get it. I'll just need to be patient," Jonas sighed out, trudging to the kitchen hoping he had some eggplant. Ratatouille would be great meal, simple, satisfy his frustration cutting vegetables...

"Patient? Dude, don't tell me that you're trying to get some damn sports car like Vala. Hell, with her and Dex gone, the Miata's here in storage, I could probably get that out quicker than your funds," he answered, Jonas shaking his head.

"No," he said, stopping the shaking that Cam wasn't there for either, "it's not that. I don't need a car; the transit here's just fine. It's, well, it's just..." he paused, feeling terrible. After everything they had done for him, everything, here he was, busting his ass to get out. They weren't that bad to live with, he could deal with the music, the banter, the cuddling, the...

"I've got to get out of here," he spat without thinking, Cameron erupting into laughter on the other line.

"I bet. I heard Addy's a screamer," Cam replied, Jonas clearing his throat.

"Other way around."

Cam shut up.

"So I take it that you need money for an apartment?" Cam chose instead, desperately trying to dispel the nightmare of images forming in his mind.

"Yeah and soon. My bed's in the living room Cam, the living room," Jonas just couldn't contain it any longer, letting it all pour out, "and that music she listens too, it's so bad, Daniel must really love her to not want to puncture his ears every time she turns it on! And they are at it non-stop, not just the sex, but the bickering, constantly, back and forth, over and over, and her mood swings and Daniel, wow, he's got this whiney brat side that she just tolerates, she coddles the hell out of him when she's not swearing at him in that redneck speak of hers and I just can't take it anymore!"

There was a pause at the other end.

"You better?" Cam finally spoke, counting to thirty before he did.

"Yeah," Jonas muttered, "I feel like a complete and total ass but yeah."

"Don't," this time the answer was quick, "just because they work together doesn't mean that you have to work with them, well, in a living together sort of way."

The colonel was correct, Jonas knew this in his heart, but he still felt terrible guilt over all of this. The Langaran stood at the kitchen counter, leaning back, phone to his ear, wondering if he could make it eight more weeks. Cam was silent on the other line, Jonas hearing some clicking in the background. He was about to thank the colonel for his effort and hang up when there was throat clearing.

"You know, I've got an extra room, just a few boxes of crap in there now," Cam offered.

_Wait? Is he offering me to move in with him? _

"And I can assure you that there is no screaming sex going on in my apartment," he continued, Jonas not able to help but laugh.

"Are you serious?" he asked, wanting Cam to really be serious and not just pitying him.

"Yeah. I'd have gotten a roommate already but it's kinda hard being that I work at a job that doesn't exist and all," he joked, Jonas knowing he had a point. There really was no way to find a roommate that would understand exactly what in the world, no, the universe that they did for a living.

Stepping back from the counter, Jonas scanned the kitchen, the baby bottle boxes ready to go, the vitamins taking up an entire shelf, the notes on the fridge in different languages his two current roommates left for one another, most of which involved some disgusting declaration of eternal love, everything that reminded him that he was a third wheel that just didn't belong.

"When can I move in?" Jonas asked, opening the fridge.

"Ha, ok, I'll take that as a yes. Let me get a few things in order and yeah, maybe this weekend. Would that work?" he was serious, this isn't a joke, relief washing over Jonas.

"That sounds perfect. Thanks Cam, thank you, and as soon as I start getting my money, and, well, get a job, I'll pay half of the rent, I promise," Jonas said, and he meant it, hoping that Cam knew he did.

"No problem. Look, I'll make a deal with you. You bring all of that cooking stuff that you've acquired there and cook so I don't have to endure the shit here any longer and we'll be good to go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

The IV was secure in the Lt. Tuey's arm, Cassie taking a step back and cracking her shoulders.

"Got that Cass?" Carolyn asked, the young doctor taking a step in her direction. She faltered in her step, a brief spell of dizziness making her shake her head.

"Damn flu," she swore, taking a breath before continuing her step.

"Are you feeling it now too?" Carolyn asked, concerned, Cassie waving a hand in protest.

"Little bit, or I'm feeling something. Maybe it's just stress. It seems that everyone coming in all day is showing flu symptoms," she complained, Carolyn shrugging.

"CDC has labeled the entire East Coast as a hot bed for the mess this season. I even told Addy to cut her meds to every other day just to insure that everything's alright, keep her from getting it. Poor thing doesn't need to feel any worse," her boss answered and Cassie couldn't help but agree.

"Was she complaining of anything?" she asked, curious, considering that Adrienne had seemed very happy when she came.

"Not this time, but that's a big baby. She was sick for so long, she's had terrible mood swings, her hips have been a mess most of the time but I can tell. She's just not comfortable," Carolyn replied, genuine concern in her voice. It was sweet, Carolyn worried about Adrienne and Cassie would have smiled, were it not for the pain in her head making the use of any facial muscles excruciating.

"Cass, speaking of ok, you don't look well, maybe you should lie down," Carolyn suggested, taking a step from the lab work that she was running, walking over to her intern. With a frown on her face she placed her hand to her forehead, shaking her head.

"I've got it, don't I?"

"Looks like it. To bed with you, now. Maybe if you take some meds and get some sleep you can fight this because if flu is ripping through this base I'm gonna need you," Carolyn added, Cassie understanding.

She was right, with Jenn and Carson gone, it would just be the two of them dealing with that disgustingly strong strain of the flu she had been reading about. Nodding, Cassie turned to go to her quarters not bothering with taking any of her stuff back to her room, a caring voice shouting behind her.

"Lots of fluids!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Samantha, you missed THIS crack," Rodney was quick to correct, proudly, as Sam knew he would. Normally it would have really pissed her off but she was so desperate for a second opinion on the matter that she blew off the remark.

"So, it should work now," she clarified approaching him, ready to activate the PPS as soon as he was certain.

"Positive," he replied as he directed her attention to the area in question, using the small hand device to seal the break. That had been a great find in the ancient lab, one that had absolutely no use until the PPS was brought to Earth.

The general shrugged, reaching in front to cue the power source and let it work its magic.

She knew Rodney wanted to do it himself, and she probably could let him, but she felt like a small child on Christmas morning. Three, she only needed three to work, the one that Jack and Addy had recovered, the one she was able to charge from the original set on Atlantis and this one that was obtained by Ronon and Cam. The other two sitting in the lab that she had been begging Ann to smuggle wouldn't even matter if they could do it with these three.

Three, the magic number, and this was that third.

Stepping back, Sam reached out her hands taking the ZPM in one and the PPS in another, bringing them together slowly to touch the tops. There was a faint clink of crystal, a small spark inside the PPS and the machine whirred to life with vibration. The blank lines in the PPS were pulsating, moving, thin beams of energy floating out of them. Her heart raced, this had to work because if it worked then it was the break they needed, that she needed.

In silence the two scientists let their eyes scan the meter, watching the numbers climb...

34

57

78

91

100

"It worked," Rodney breathed out, Sam smiling and not saying a word, "we have three fully powered ZPM's. We can..."

"Return to Pegasus, yes, we can. And we can face Anubis. Pass me my communicator," she said, extending her hand. His eyes still wide with amazement, he did as she asked, his gaze not breaking from that beautiful number.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Cassie wasn't answering the phone in her room. Pain rocketed through Carolyn's head as she glanced back at the blood work, unable to believe her eyes since technically this was supposed to be an urban legend but she knew it wasn't.

She knew this was exactly what it looked like and who was responsible.

You didn't need to be an Egyptologist to figure it out; she watched enough movies. It was Anubis, it was clearly Anubis because in every film she had ever seen he was the god of the afterlife, of embalming and would know this.

Nausea raced through her and she would have vomited were there enough contents in her stomach to vomit. She needed help but they needed someone who would be unaffected, someone who wouldn't catch this if it was airborne, someone who could fight it off regardless.

She needed Daniel. It was early enough, she had them both take their medication at night. All she had to do was send him a message and stay awake long enough to tell him what to do, but she was so dizzy, she needed to check the IV's of the personnel in the infirmary, she needed to check on Cassie, get her down here and on fluids, she needed to try the only idea she had.

The same idea she had been working on all day.

Taking a deep breath, Carolyn Lam made her way slowly and carefully to the walk-in, phone in hand, typing the message with her thumb. She stopped her message mid-explanation to key herself into the locked storage, shivering as the cold blasted around her.

She saw what she needed, stored in the far corner on a bottom shelf, labeled in her code, a lame code she was certain by the standards of her friends, but in code that Woolsey and the rest of the IOA would never figure out. Resuming her typing she took a step forward, the dizziness back, the world spinning, a fast rushing spiral of metal racing to meet her face.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he watched Adrienne re-read the directions. They had been at this for two hours and at this point had a base with wheels. Somehow it seemed just wrong that two people with a genius level IQ couldn't put a crib together.

He was convinced this was some Mensa graduate's cruel joke.

"Ok, it looks like we were supposed to do the back side first, attach that to the base and work from there," she muttered, not looking up, a frown on her face that he knew she had picked up from him. He tried not to laugh, especially since he'd been picking his fingernails throughout this entire process, but some things he just noticed more the closer they were to being parents.

He wondered what habits Nicky would pick up.

"Indy, are you listening to me? You have to READ the directions," she teased, kicking him lightly. He would have read the directions but she had stolen them the moment he opened the box not leaving him a lot of choice. He decided to overlook that as well, glancing up with a smile as she balanced the booklet on her enormous stomach. It made him wince; the size that she was he KNEW that labor was gonna hurt, a lot.

"DANIEL HELLO?" she said his name as if she had been repeating it, which she might have, as he was lost in this thoughts. He had been doing that a lot again lately, all of his fears coming to fruition, the top of that list being a parent.

His pocket buzzed again, but it was a hand reaching into it that really brought him back from his flood of worry.

"Oh shit," she said as she sat back on her knees, her eyes wide, her face panic stricken. Shaking his head, Daniel reached out, taking the phone as he peered up at his wife.

"Oh shit what?" he asked, peeking at the screen to see it was Carolyn Lam that had texted him. More worries, more panic, he quickly slide his thumb across the screen, activating the device to read the text.

_Please let everything be alright, please..._

The screen flickered to life and Daniel made a face at the message, one that made no sense at all for about a minute.

_We're being embalmed alive. Help. It won't affect you. Skip your meds. _

Embalmed?

How?

Skip meds?

"Sha, what's wrong. He's been kicking the snot outta me all day, he's fine right? Everything's fine, please say everything's fine," Adrienne was tearing up, shaking, her hand on her belly as Daniel shook his head, his jaw dropping.

"It's Anubis, he's killing them," he said slowly, not standing, just freezing, unsure as to what he should do. He couldn't leave Addy alone, if Anubis had made his way to base killing his wife and child would be his very next goal, and Jonas, Jonas had left a note that he had some errands to take care of and he didn't have a car, he took the metro, there would be no quick way to get him back here even if he called him and what was on base, why didn't Carolyn call, who was hurt, he knew Sam was headed in, Jack was there, where was Cam, was Vala still in orbit or were she and Dex there too and here he was worried about crib instructions when his friends could already be dead...

"Get up!" Adrienne was over him, ordering, her hand extended to help, a hand he didn't take as he stood.

"We've gotta go, go get your shoes," she continued, the directions tossed aside, determination in her waddle as she went to do as she was ordering.

"No, Ad, we, no I need to figure out where to hi -" he started and stopped, sensing her reaction in her halt.

"Hide me? Like that worked before. Look, I'm coming with you and we're gonna help like Carolyn asked. Period. Don't argue with the woman carrying your child," she shot back quickly, Daniel preparing to argue, hormonal tears or not.

"Adrienne, no, if this is some virus, some infection, I can't risk both you and Nicholas," he continued, her eyes rolling wildly.

"READ, Daniel, you're really off your game today. She clearly said 'skip your meds'," she reminded, Daniel sighing out.

"Your son is my personal dopamine factory. Let's move," she added with a smile.

Daniel knew better than to argue.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Vala, you in the mood for a little breaking and entering?" Sam kept it brief, Rodney beginning to pack ZPM's into canvas bags.

"Always, where this time?" she answered quickly, Sam hoping that they were close enough to beam them up safely and quietly. She should call Jack but he was at the White House all day and she didn't want to bother him until she knew.

Or Daniel.

Because if this worked, she needed to sit down and talk to Daniel, really talk to Daniel.

"Atlantis base, we've got three ZPM's ready to go," Sam whispered as if someone would hear but maybe it was just in that saying it out loud she was afraid this would all fall apart...

"Hey sexy, you ready to break into your home?" Sam heard Vala shout to Ronon, his deep voice replying only with 'when.'

This was happening, she thought, we're gonna power it up.

"Sam, we can beam you up now," Vala answered; the general turning to give Rodney a thumbs up.

"Give us five minutes. It'll be myself, Rodney and three bags," Sam requested, turning to face her companion.

"I want to go back. I just want to say that now before anything else happens. I'm not sure about Jenn, I'm not so sure about, and I don't want to, but, well, I want to go. I want to go back," Rodney stammered out, Sam nodding in understanding.

"Let's go one step at a time," she answered kindly, grabbing a few things before they were beamed away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

There was no one to let them in at the base back entrance and Daniel no longer had the credentials to go strolling through the front door of the Pentagon.

Luckily, he was married to a computer hacker.

Kneeling at the front door, reaching around her belly she typed a few things into the keypad, shoving a safety pin into the side, swearing in Cajun until the light turned green.

"Gonna make it dat damn easy, whataa pain pee po," Adrienne muttered as she stood, Daniel helping her to her feet.

"No alarms?" he asked, concerned as his wife stood, brushing pavement dirt from her knees.

"No, and it's just damn sad that we can get in this easily, especially since they KNOW about the various threats," she replied, reaching for the door knob, the pair dashing inside, or trying to, Daniel nearly tripping on the obstruction at his feet.

It was a body, an airman, Daniel halting Adrienne's advance to kneel and check his pulse.

"Is he?" she asked, fearful, no longer as confident as she was on the ride over.

"He's dead, come on," he grabbed her hand, pulling her along as he raced to the elevators.

Bodies littered the floor, more than Daniel had expected; each and every one of them a sunken in face, devoid of color, mouths opens and eyes ash.

"Don't look," he ordered her, needlessly, Adrienne was strong, but with her hormones he wasn't sure she could handle it.

"They're mummies, minus the wrapping, but they're mummies. How in the hell did he do it? How is that even possible?" she rambled, fear in her voice, but soldiered on, their destination in sight. He let go of her hand, running to the doors, to the button, slamming it down and waiting. There were some personnel he recognized, one of the men that had worked down with Satterfield, he didn't even know any of part of the staff that was left, one woman from SG-6, another...

The doors opening, Daniel shoved Adrienne into their safety without thought, his finger on the door close button before she could scold.

"As soon as this door opens you are to go straight to the gate room, understood?"

"What? I'm not leaving you," Adrienne protested immediately.

"Ad, I have no idea what we're walking into and we can't do this alone. I'm going to go find Carolyn and you need to get that Iris open and that gate active," Daniel said as he watched the numbers decrease taking them to the bottom floor.

"Activate? I've never activated the gate before," she stammered, worried, Daniel reached out for her shoulders.

"I have FULL faith in you ja-wer," he whispered, kissing her head, knowing that she could do it; if anyone in his life could do it it was Adrienne.

"Indy that tech, it's way above me, I just, I have no clue," she continued rambling as Daniel shook his head.

"You CAN Ad, I know you can, it's hooked up to a computer. Hack into it. I need you to," he repeated, his plan coming together in his mind, a plan that would keep her safe...

"Daniel what if that door opens to a bunch of clones ready to blast us away?" she changed her worries, her eyes at the elevators doors and descending numbers, not even thinking she would make it to the gate.

"It won't trust me," he answered with full faith that the statement was true.

"How do you know?" her voice was quiet, scared in a way he wasn't used to with her.

Remember, he reminded himself, you said that you would never lie to her again.

"Because when Anubis comes for me, when he comes for us, it won't be that easy. It'll be a nightmare," the honest words crossed his lips, Adrienne standing in front of him in silence. She knew, he didn't have to tell her, but saying it confirmed the truth of their situation, that they were now a unit that Anubis was determined to rip apart.

"Where do you want me to dial?" she was herself again, not the emotional mess that he was starting to lead out in the elevator, but Adrienne, his strong-willed partner for life.

"Chulac, get Teal'c and the Jaffa, bring them here. The tretonin will keep them safe from exposure and they can help us round up the survivors," he started to explain his plan, Adrienne nodding in that way that she did, her brain processing the orders.

The elevator jerked and halted, coming to a rest of the basement level, the doors sliding open once more. There was a body lying in the hallway, a woman, looked to be a senate staffer or something, her tablet computer cracked beside her lifeless body.

"Please don't do anything heroic, Please," Adrienne begged at she pulled him by the shirt to face her, her hand slipping up to his cheek.

"I won't," he lied, "go get Teal'c."

Breathing in, she turned to race away, Daniel shouting behind her.

"I love you!" he wanted to say one last time, just in case he was wrong.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"The chapa'i is active!" the screams were loud enough to be heard miles away even if Teal'c had not been standing outside of his home. He turned, looking to the horizon, wondering who might be coming through since he wasn't aware of any scheduled visits.

There were no shots fired, no other indicators of a problem, so Teal'c simply turned to head back inside and see what he should prepare for the evening meal.

"It's the TAU'RI!" the crier was louder this time, his words making Teal'c freeze, glancing over his shoulder to see Ishta powering her way to the gate.

She would beat him there, she was faster, but he turned nonetheless to chase her.

His friends had returned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

When she heard the scream she didn't even stop to think because she knew it would happen. From what she knew of their friends on Earth, they would have never just disappeared; they would have found a way back to their alliance. She heard the crier shout again, what sounded like "Jackson" and ran faster, knowing it was one of her mate's closest comrades returning.

The young boy came into view and he was standing in front of a woman, a pregnant woman, in tears, and instantly Ishta knew she had anticipated the wrong member of that coupling.

"AdrienneJackson!" she shouted out, racing onward, catching the woman as she was about to fall.

"Anubis, Ishta, he's attacked da base, it's awful, so many dead, all ova da 'alls, da gate room, I cud na get Walter ta wake up, 'ee's barely breathin', it's jus me ahn Daniel, 'ee's gone ta find Carolyn, she messaged us, we donna know what's going on fo sho..." she was blabbering, shaking, Ishta holding her in her arms.

"Have the ships arrived? I'll have Teal'c summon the Ha'tak's, we will fight," but Adrienne was shaking her head, sucking in tears, clearing her words.

"No, it's a poison or illness or sumdin, it's internal, da Tretonin, ya'll shouldn't be affected," she choked out, holding her belly.

"Does the child come?" the worried stricken Jaffa asked, Adrienne shaking her head.

"No, he just likes torturing me. Must be genetic," she tried to joke, letting the warrior help her stand as Teal'c came to a stop at her side.

"What has happened?" he asked, his own eyes scanning his friend for injury.

"He's embalming us, them, we don't know how..." the Cajun sobbed out, "and I left Daniel, he made me come and get you."

"Take her to Kar'yn," he ordered his counterpart, Adrienne shaking her head.

"I'm not leaving Daniel," she countered, sniffing in and collected herself so that she could speak clearly.

"AdrienneJackson you already have," he answered in reply.

"To get you. I'm not hiding out while that asshole goes after my husband. So are you gonna help or what?" she said as she straightened, Teal'c unable to muster any other reaction than a smile at her perseverance.

"Ishta, please go find Ry'ac and the others. I must help my friends," Teal'c requested, the beautiful blond woman nodding in reply, turning, dashing back to town as the Jaffa looked down at teammate.

"You realize that DanielJackson most likely sent you through to keep you safe from this threat thinking that I would force you to stay?" Teal'c noted, Adrienne smiling.

"Yep," she answered.

"And he will be very upset when you come back through, putting yourself in danger for him once more?" he continued, Adrienne nodding.

"Without a doubt. I'll dial and do you have an extra staff weapon? I left Eric at home," she asked with a wink as her hands made quick work of the DHD.

Shaking his head as there was no convincing her to do otherwise, Teal'c stood back, watching the wormhole take shape in front of him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

The infirmary was packed, these personnel still alive it seemed, but Dr. Lam was nowhere in sight. His head darting left and right, Daniel scanned the room, looking for any sign of an intruder, any sign of anything, but there was nothing, the entire room frighteningly still.

"Where are you?" he shouted to someone that he was certain wouldn't answer, his eyes doing a second scan when he noted the cold storage was open. Without hesitation he ran for the partially open door, throwing it back to find the doctor lying on the floor, phone still in hand. Her other was reaching out for a small cardboard box on the bottom shelf, a box labeled 'Q' .

He paused now, staring down at her, wanting to help but trying to figure out what she had been attempting to do in those final moments of consciousness. Clearly she had been sending him a message, the text now making sense since she probably had a better chance of a signal with words rather than a voice call, but what was she in here for?

Kneeling, crawling over to her quickly, he pulled out the box on the shelf, reaching inside, finding vials and vials of a liquid also labeled 'Q'.

"What in the hell is 'Q'? he asked, turning the vial over in his fingers when he noticed a familiar blue dot.

"Qtesh," he whispered, "Vala and Adrienne's damn Goa'uld juice," he hissed, a small part of him finally thankful that his love had indeed been a part of concocting this potion.

Pocketing some of the vials, Daniel raced around the container, looking for a syringe but finding none. He grunted, leaning down to grab the doctor, lifting Carolyn into his arms to carry her back to the one unoccupied bed in the corner. There was an empty syringe on a side metal table, Daniel quickly filling the needle with the concoction, leaning over to inject it into her arm. No movement came; he'd been hoping for some miracle, but there was nothing.

Remembering the people in the hall and her message, he dashed back to the cooler, pulling some sterile saline from the storage containers to start an IV line. It took him a few moments, but soon she was lying on the bed, peacefully, the fluid slipping into her body.

He needed to be patient, give this time, give Addy time to get to Chulac, so he reached in his pocket, hoping to reach Sam at home.

It rang and rang, Sam's voice on the message announcing that the O'Neills were not home, Daniel swearing, in Cajun of all things, before hanging up to dial again, her cell phone.

Again, there was no answer.

"Pic kee," he swore out again, wondering what Adrienne would say if she were here to hear that, setting the phone onto the side table to redirect his attention to his patient.

"Carolyn, wake up, are you alright?" Daniel asked, pulling the doctor upright, hoping her hunch had been right that those vials of Vala juice as Adrienne called them would afford Carolyn the protection she needed, that they would work as they had before.

"Daniel," she stirred, her eyes still partially shut, "you got my message..."

"Yea and I gave you a dose of the Goa'uld DNA cocktail, you were right, that seems to be working," he informed her, her face brighter already.

"What is it Carolyn? What did he do?" he pushed further, not wanting to rush her but having no choice.

"I'm not sure, it's poisoning, Natron poisoning it looks like, I just don't know how..." she whispered, her voice hoarse and pained, "Give me another injection."

"No, that's too risky," he argued, the doctor's hand at his waist, reaching for the vial that was inching its way out of his pocket.

"I need to make sure, give me another injection," she said as she fumbled, nearly dropping the small glass container onto the hard infirmary floor.

There was no sign of Adrienne, no sign of anything and Daniel would never be able to figure out what was going on and people were dying.

Hoping again that the brilliant doctor was correct, Daniel prepped a fresh needle for a second injection.

"There," Ronon pointed to the image on the screen, Sam, Rodney, and Vala leaning over to see where he was talking about. He knew that Sam and Rodney might remember the location, but Vala had only been on Atlantis once and spent that entire time attached to Daniel's hip.

"Ha! I remember that, good work Ronon," Rodney cheered, the Sateadan making a face at him. While so many staff members longed for Rodney to be nice and pleasant for once, when he actually did it just creeped Ronon out.

"Yeah, the door is easily breached, won't set off any alarms because I'm assuming they've rigged the place," he noted, his eyes cutting up to Sam.

"Jack said they had, but since none of us were involved, the extent of that system remains unknown," she answered honestly, Ronon nodding his head.

Perfect, he thought, this is exactly what he'd hoped, reaching down for his blaster.

"Vala, come here," he ordered, his prize, yes she was his ultimate prize, rushing to his side. He'd always wanted a partner, a real companion, and there was really none better. He probably should take the time to tell her what she meant to him, but she said she hated 'sappy shit.'

"Beam me there," he said as she was at his side, eyeing where his finger was pointing. She nodded, slipping into the seat that he had previously occupied, his hand gripping the holster of his gun, tucking it into the strap on his leg.

"I'm gonna get in, send a signal when it's safe," he continued as he stepped back for Vala to beam him down.

"Wait!" she couldn't contain herself, leaping from her seat to join him in the area, "I want to go."

Both Rodney and Vala glanced at each other as Samantha O'Neill rushed over like an excited little girl, strapping a backpack to her and passing Ronon the other two.

"None of this multistep mess," she added, "I want this done."

Nodding with a smile Vala waited until both the general and Ronon were ready to depart before activating the beaming device.

No one noticed the phone buzzing on Sam's seat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

As fast as she could run Adrienne raced down the hall from the gateroom, shouting for Teal'c to keep going ahead of her. There were no new bodies, but the old ones were still there, the Cajun pausing at each one to check for vitals. These people in the hall were still alive, very very ill but alive, so she sat up as many of them as she could, trying to comfort them, assuring them that she would be back, hoping it was a promise that she could keep.

Shouts echoed from the hallway ahead of her, Teal'c in search of Daniel and finally an answer, a blissful answer, his voice calm and collected and Adrienne rose, dashing to meet him.

"Daniel, help me up," Adrienne heard another voice as she came around the corner, Carolyn, Adrienne breathing another sigh of relief.

_I'm worried about Dr. Grumpypants; wonders never cease. _

"Carolyn, are you sure?" he asked as Adrienne could see he was doing as he was told, holding her by her elbow, upright and careful.

"Yes, I need to run my blood work; I need to make sure it is what I think it is and find the source," she choked out to Daniel as he assisted her to the lab table when she stopped, turning to face her new visitors her eyes widening at someone Adrienne could not see.

"Father, Ishta requested that we search the base and I found Dr. Frasier in the stairwell," Ry'ac's voice was clear, the Cajun whipping her head around to see Cassie limp in Ry'ac's arms.

She started to walk forward to help, the best she could in her condition but Daniel was there before she could even move, there muttering under his breath '_no, no, no...'_

For a moment Adrienne didn't understand, didn't remember, her entire world so consumed with herself and Anubis and the baby and her own problems, that she hadn't stopped to think about the others, about their pasts. She stood in shocked silence as her husband took the petite blond woman from Ry'ac's arms, tears streaming down his face, living a flashback Adrienne knew, a flashback to someone he had cared about so very much.

"Cass, Cassie, it's me, it's Daniel, please wake up," he begged, laying her on the bed that Carolyn had just vacated, peering over into her face.

"Cass, please, wake up, you have to be alright. I promised, I promised her when we buried her, please Cass," he was babbling, clearly upset as he stood, pinching his nose, collecting himself, leaving her side only to get an IV bag from the fridge, working quickly to start a line.

There was a pain in her abdomen, as if the small being growing inside of Adrienne knew something was wrong, kicking and wriggling fiercely. She let herself stand there for a moment, taking in the scene as she willed her child quiet, willed herself not to go into labor here and now.

Carolyn was working feverishly at the station faster than the sick woman should have been moving, Teal'c and Ishta checking bodies to see who was alive and dead, Ry'ac and some of his friends bringing in more of the ill, lining them on the floor, on blankets taking vitals. Daniel was barking directions, his gaze torn between checking on Adrienne to see if she was alright and between his own patient, the young medical intern now hooked up to machines and IV drips.

She breathed in deeply, stepping over the disaster of the infirmary to join Daniel.

"Ja-wer," he spun around instantly sensing her approach, reaching for her shoulders, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, how's..." she didn't even want to say the name, to acknowledge that biological or not, the only thing that connected Janet Frasier to any of them was lying there, barely holding on to life.

"I don't know," he choked out, pulling a chair from the side and taking a seat. She didn't know what else to do other than reach forward, placing her hands gently on his shoulders. She didn't say a word, even when he slipped his hand to quickly rub hers before reaching to take Cassie's into his own.

_Daniel I want to take all of the pain away..._

Adrienne felt so helpless. She had no medical training to know what to do right now, although Carolyn with the help of the Jaffa seemed to have things somewhat under control, now injecting the afflicted with Vala's DNA concoction. An idea flashing in her head, Adrienne scanned around the hospital bed to see that he had indeed given Cassandra an injection, two of them, but she was clearly not having the positive response that Carolyn was.

"I'm sorry Cassie," he was apologizing, swallowing strongly, "I'm sorry I let them send you away to your aunt, but I was a single man, you deserved better than being stuck with me. I didn't know how to be a father."

Adrienne's heart was breaking. She knew, he had told her about Janet, he had told her everything about his past, but he had never told her this, he had never told her that he felt responsible...

"Yea, I'm terrified, absolutely terrified about having to be one now to be honest, and Addy's standing right behind me hearing all of this, see, look, I get to look like a complete doof and it's all your fault," he continued, Adrienne walking to get a chair, pulling it up behind him to straddle his back the best she could, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his back, still not saying a word.

_Please feel me here, I can't fix this but I'm here for you..._

"Your step brother needs you Cass," Daniel now said, Adrienne trying not to let him feel the tears beginning to leak out of her eyes. He was reliving Janet all over again, on a different level, begging her daughter, a child that may have been his own, to stay alive and there was nothing anyone could do.

The monitors blipped, Adrienne cutting her eyes over at them to see the slight change in heart rate, the dip down, the lost pregnant woman feeling her husband convulsing in her arms.

"I'm sorry Cassie. I'm sorry I let you down. I'm sorry I couldn't protect your mom and that I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry..." he wept, Adrienne not knowing what to do other than hold him tighter.

"You did pay for college, so that was kinda cool," a weak voice spoke, Adrienne's head darting up and over his shoulder.

She was awake.

"Cassie," he was standing himself now, the small doctor smiling slightly from the bed.

"I feel sick," she whined now, Daniel reaching for a tray for her to throw up in, helping to turn her onto her side to be ill.

"Carolyn!" Daniel yelled for help as Cassandra Frasier dry heaved into a pan.

"I've got her Daniel, back up," Carolyn said, staggering over, shoving the stethoscope ends into her ears. He wasn't moving, frozen in time and this time Adrienne did interfere, clasping his arm and pulling him to her.

"Give her space to work sha," Adrienne whispered sweetly into his ear and he came, her voice breaking his trance. He didn't speak, just nodded, turning around to take her into his arms when there was a buzzing, one that she could feel coming from his pocket. He stood there, holding her, glancing back at Cassie, ignoring it, but Adrienne was curious, slipping her fingers into his pocket.

"I don't care who it is," he whispered, holding on to her, but she pushed him back slightly to see for sure. No call to be taken, Adrienne saw only a simple text message lighting up the screen.

_Sorry I missed your call. Too busy turning on the lights again. _

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel scanned the table at the briefing room, a table that was not as full as he had expected. He knew that Carolyn was still dealing with the fall out of the poisoning. According to her explanation and the subsequent investigation by himself and the rather large contingent of Jaffa that had come to their aide, Anubis had infiltrated the water supply, a water supply that included a ten mile radius of the Pentagon.

A water supply that included their home.

Jonas had passed out at the mall in his errands, taken to Johns Hopkins where Jennifer was talking to Carolyn concerning treatment. Jack had been at the White House in conference with the president, the entire executive branch complex on a different water system and unaffected. Once Daniel was able to get a hold of him the National Guard was dispatched the help the civilians in the affected areas, each government doctor carrying Carolyn's orders until they could get more "Q" to the hospitals. Revived, Walter was already dialing up allies trying to obtain the needed naquada for the cure.

As far as the total number affected, Daniel had turned off the emergency radio in Sam's office as the rising death toll made him sick.

Jack had returned now for the briefing, and they were joined by Carolyn via speakerphone, Cameron who had been found getting a late lunch after his meeting downtown, Teal'c and of course Adrienne, who Daniel was determined not to let out of his sight.

"General," Woolsey was more subdued as he entered, staggering, ill himself but still going forward, determined, his orders in his head.

"Richard," Jack answered, not bothering to stand and greet him. Walking very slowly the IOA representative took a seat at the opposite end of the table, his manner more reserved than usual.

"We lost Bennett," he said as he sat, Jack nodding slowly in reply. Daniel had wanted Bennett out of the picture, out of the SGC, but dying wasn't what he had in mind.

Death toll plus one and again nausea flooded his body.

"I'm sorry," Jack answered professionally.

"I've spoken with the board and the senate committee and they've agreed that we would like Samantha to be reinstated to the head of the SGC as soon as possible," Woolsey continued, looking down on the table, "they feel that military leadership is needed on all shifts. Colonel Mitchell will run the night shift until we can make a final decision concerning the new schedule of operations."

Daniel cut his eyes over at Cam, noting his friend didn't disagree and a part of him hoped that this meant a promotion for him as well.

"She's gonna request the rest of her staff," Jack interjected immediately, "Anubis isn't playing with bombs and guns Robert. He's going in an entirely different direction, one that means we're going to need a full science staff to combat him."

Woolsey let out a sigh.

"We agree, but the staff will be a point of discussion. We want Drs. McKay, Keller and Beckett to return immediately, as well as the remainder of the Atlantis contingent and Mr. Quinn..." Woolsey started to list, Jack throwing up his hands.

"And Daniel and Adrienne, because newsflash if they hadn't shown up Robert, Bennett wouldn't have been the IOA's only loss."

There was a sigh again, a look on Woolsey's face that Daniel didn't want to see and a squeeze at his leg.

"We appreciate Dr. Jackson's willingness to assist in this matter, but the IOA feels as if his presence here will only cause more harm than good," he answered, carefully.

"Harm than good? You mean he keeps saving your ass and making you look bad," Jack was at the ready, Daniel about to speak up himself when that sweet soothing rubbing hand was gone, a chair being pushed back, his wife coming to stand beside him, moving away.

"General, it's clear that part of the reason Anubis keeps targeting our world is that Dr. Jackson is the object of his vengeance and the IOA feels that -"

Daniel had been looking at Woolsey, respectfully, but it wasn't until that very instant that he realized Adrienne hadn't stood to go to the restroom because her hand was in the air, on the other side of Woolsey's face, the loud slap of her palm to his cheek halting his words, the noise echoing through the briefing room.

"How dare you!" she shouted, glaring down at him. No one said a word, moved a muscle, as the very pregnant Cajun woman stared down at the thin wesley man.

"How dare you say Daniel causes more harm than good. How dare you not only not give him his job back but how dare you NOT reward him with a slew of damn medals. How dare you! Well you know what? THIS is Jack's base right? If we've gone all military and the senate is backing the fuck off, then, well, you can, no, wait. Get out. Do you hear me? Get the hell out of here and we'll let YOU know if we need you. GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Without a word of protest Richard Woolsey stood, fixing his glasses, racing out of the room as every member present stared in shock at Dr. Adrienne Jackson, who was wincing and holding her massive belly.

"I've already been fired, what else could he do?" she said as she shrugged, Daniel's jaw to the floor.

"Daniel, you're rehired, and so's Dr. Perky," Jack started, standing looking down at Daniel who was blocking his path to the head of the table, "now move."

"Why?" he asked, but did as he was told, Jack shuffling by.

"Because I'm gonna go kiss your wife."

"Did I miss something?" Sam was standing at the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her, Jack looking around as if he were caught.

"Or mine, I can kiss mine. Regardless that little damn worm is out of here!" he declared, taking Woolsey's seat and not kissing anyone.

"We've been reinstated," Daniel explained as she entered, not taking a seat herself but heading straight for the whiteboard.

"Perfect, because we need to talk. Addy can you please get the Smartboard going while I load this information?" Sam requested, flashing a tablet computer of her own. Smiling, back to work already, Adrienne dashed over to board.

"I got your job back honey," Jack said with a grin, sitting back to hear what this was all about.

"And I got Atlantis back. Rodney's there now powering up the systems and Ronon and Vala are doing a sweep to make sure nothing has been taken or destroyed," Sam answered, both her computer and the board willing to life.

"Wait? What do you mean 'got it back'?" Jack clarified, Sam happily pointing to the image on the board. It wasn't a still image at all but Rodney, Ronon and Vala waving from the main control room of the Atlantis base, all of the lights on, every single colored bulb at every panel, the normally grumpy scientist grinning from ear to ear.

"That kinda of 'got it back'."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Ad, pass me that piece?" Daniel asked from his kneeling position on the floor, Adrienne resisting the urge to make a comment about having to talk to his butt, again, as he crawled around on the nursery floor.

"Are you sure?" she questioned with uncertainty. Not that there wasn't another piece that she could hand him, but something about the shape of the furniture in front of her just didn't sit right, but he had followed the directions. Not that she could do much better, when it came to things not associated with computers Adrienne herself was all thumbs, but regardless, something just wasn't where it was supposed to be.

"Yea, see, it's labeled in the diagram, piece YY?" he answered without looking, a finger pointed at the open booklet.

"Ok, ok, I believe you," she relented, passing it over as requested before sitting back down, crossing her legs yoga style while she waited. There was grunting from the direction of the crib, cursing, one word she could have SWORN was Cajun slang, but she just giggled and kept her mouth shut allowing him to finish.

"Done!" he declared, sitting back on his heels looking over at Adrienne for her approval.

There weren't any visible flaws in the project, not one, but it just didn't look right...

"Why are you looking at it like that?" his eyes were on her, frowning, reading her face.

_Damn Daniel and his damn face reading. _

"No reason," she half lied, standing to walk to the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" he asked, worried, Adrienne stopping in the doorway to peek back at him.

"Nowhere."

Ok, that was a total lie, but she couldn't very well tell him that Nicholas wasn't going to spend a hot minute in that accident waiting to happen that he had constructed. Confused, Daniel stood to follow, watching her waddle to the kitchen straight to the cordless phone on the counter, picking up the receiver.

"Adrienne who are you calling? Jonas is fine; he's not upset and he's not moving out because he's upset. It's gonna get crowded here real soon and trust me, the last thing a single man wants to hear day in and day out is a crying baby," Daniel tried to joke, knowing that Adrienne had been upset about Jonas' announcement when he got home from the hospital, worried that it was her fault. Why exactly it would be her fault he had no idea, but she assured him it was Southern guilt and nothing more.

"I'm not calling Jonas, I'm, uh, calling Jack," she stammered, no eye contact, intentionally he could tell.

"Why?" he asked, trailing the end, trying to feel her out but she didn't turn around, just started dialing, slowly.

"Because he said he was good at putting cribs together," she said in barely a whisper.

"Ad, I did it, see finished, come back and look it over," he urged reaching for the phone where there was a crack behind him, the unmistakable sound of wood and a loud crash.

_I never get a break..._

"You call Jack," Daniel changed his tune quickly, walking to find his cell phone, "I'll go order some Greek food."


	63. Chapter 62 - Promises

"I'm not a cripple," Adrienne hissed, smacking his hand away as he reached out to help her stand from her desk chair. At a little over thirty six weeks pregnant he couldn't understand for the life of him why she insisted on continuing to work. Yes, there was Anubis; there was always Anubis but they were no longer alone. Sam had already gotten the wheels in motion, a team of Aetlans due to arrive any day now and Jonas was out of a meeting with the reinstated archaeological staff in about twenty minutes.

Adrienne COULD rest.

"So, I'm treating you like a cripple by helping my very pregnant wife stand?" Daniel asked, making a face at Adrienne. He stood back, letting her struggle, flashbacks of an ice pack held in place by a black belt racing through his head. Finally she looked back up at him, grumbling under her breath in Cajun, giving up he could tell.

"Now can I help you?" he asked again. No longer protesting, she reached up for his hand, scowling the entire time. He couldn't help it; she looked so ridiculous and pitiful that he started to laugh just as she interlocked their fingers.

"I hate you," Adrienne spat, trying not to smile.

"I know you do," he answered, pulling her to her feet. Pausing, she tried to reach over to close her computer lid but found that her reach was no longer enough and in that instant, her mood soured even more.

"I can't take it anymore," Adrienne whined, walking around her desk to the computer and packing up from there. At least she was leaving the lab; he couldn't make her go lie down, but if he could get her to at least stop working that would be one small victory.

"It's not that much longer Ad and besides, Carolyn said she could induce you at any time you liked, if you're feeling uncomfortable; Nicky is ready..." Daniel spoke carefully knowing what Adrienne's reaction would be. Her usage of medicine was at least as strict as her diet.

She had even given up coffee, which hadn't been pretty for a few weeks. Daniel tried to rationalize with her that she had been drinking coffee for the first ten weeks of her pregnancy, practically the entire first trimester, but that just upset her even more, especially that now given what had been going on she had started to drink it again.

She'd convinced herself that because of this Nicholas would come out with three eyes or something else insane from one of that damn pregnancy books.

As he expected, she glared at him, her Cajun eyes boring into his soul.

"I am NOT letting her pump me with drugs just for my own person comfort. It's UNNATURAL!" Adrienne shrieked, her bottom lip shaking, leaning over onto him and starting to cry.

No, Daniel thought to himself, what's unnatural is the monster you have become these past few days, but he bit his tongue.

Sure, it had been a long hard road, but about the time Adrienne hit week thirty six she completely fell apart. She cried over burnt toast, raged at him over leaving the toilet seat up and sat in unmoved silence in front of some of the most disgusting horror movies he had ever seen. Carolyn assured him that it was hormonal, that'd she'd return to normal once the baby was born and he was hoping so.

He really missed his best friend.

Not knowing what else to do, Daniel wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head, hoping that something, anything would happen to get this show rolling. Adrienne was due in less than four weeks, just twenty six short days, but with her refusal to be induced, time meant nothing.

At this point he would rather deal with a crying baby than this creature walking around in Adrienne's body.

The sirens went off all around them, Walter's voice coming over the intercom and Adrienne looked up, pulling away but Daniel just held her tighter.

"Not a chance," he stated, gazing into her eyes as she gave him that dirty look, yet again.

"In just a few weeks you'll be back to normal ja-wer. Then, once you're cleared you can go back to whatever craziness that you deem necessary for your life and I'll watch our son while you participate in said insanity," he smiled at her, trying to joke, hoping she would stop crying, and it worked, somewhat, his very miserable wife sniffing in strongly.

"You like to make me feel bad, don't you?" she muttered, laying her head on him once more, arms slipping around his waist.

"No, I'm here to bring you back to reality," he said, grabbing her bag and throwing it over his shoulder. They waited at the door for the marines to rush by, no announcement accompanying the alarms making even Daniel curious.

"Someone could be hurt," she said peering back at him, his head already shaking in the negative as he jotted a quick note to Jonas, letting him know that he was taking her home.

"Yep, and Dr. Grumpypants can deal with that, not YOU," he stated, grabbing her hand so they could leave. She'd come, with complaint, but she'd come, so he pushed his luck, tapping the button for the parking lot rather than the floor of their on base quarters.

There was grumbling, a few choice Cajun words, but she followed, slowly climbing into the Jeep, letting him take her home.

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"Adrienne, why don't you just let me induce labor, then we can stop all of this?" Dr. Lam asked, standing at her stubborn patient's bedside, her eyes darting back to her husband for support, but Daniel shook his head, clearly unhappy.

"It's not that bad, really, it was just a little hard to get up this morning. Daniel had a stupid panic attack," Adrienne insisted, making a face at him.

"Your hips weren't in place, and not just shifting like before but you couldn't MOVE for an hour! Tell me that's normal," Daniel fussed, crossing his arms across his chest and glaring down at her. She wasn't going to give in; he knew she wasn't, he was just hoping that Carolyn would overrule her with a good medical reason.

Ignoring him, Adrienne looked back at Dr. Lam, determination in her face.

"No, I'm gonna do this natural and safe. Period. He dragged me in here hoping that I'd just let you drug me. Not happening," Adrienne stated as she tried to get down, failing miserably. Sighing, Daniel stepped in to help her and she didn't fight him this time, her palm brushing his chest as she slipped down from the table.

"Well, Adrienne, you're not dilating or showing any signs of pre-labor. This baby has no intention of showing himself to us just yet, so if you choose not to let me induce you're just putting yourself through misery," Dr. Lam said, not taking the side he wanted her to take, his side, the one that wanted her to say 'Adrienne, I believe that it is in your best interest to induce labor.'

"Then he's not ready to come yet. He wants to come on time," Adrienne stated as Dr. Lam made a face at her.

Damn stubborn Adrienne.

She started to leave the infirmary, not waiting for Daniel, who peered back at Carolyn, shaking his head as he did.

"I'm sorry, she's just on edge lately. She really does appreciate everything that you've done. I know that dealing with a pregnant woman wasn't something they told you to expect when you took the job," he told her honestly.

"I don't think anything they told me could have prepared me for this job," Carolyn responded and Daniel started to walk away, not wanting Adrienne to get too far ahead.

"Daniel," she said quickly before he could get completely through the door and he paused, turning around to face her.

"Try rubbing her ankles. That is supposed to work," she suggested, "Or spicy food, castor oil, and, well, sex. Actually, I'd try sex to be honest, not like you two aren't well versed in that."

She was trying to joke and Daniel's face flushed in understanding. Like THAT was going to happen; Adrienne had been an emotional ball of nasty all week, he really didn't see them getting intimate at all for a good long while.

"Thanks Carolyn. I'll call you if there are any developments," Daniel muttered, turning to leave.

Maybe he could try that, actually, maybe a little time alone at home would be enjoyable and start things along...

Frowning, wondering how to try any of her suggestions without his wife catching on to what he was doing, Daniel rushed out of the lab, catching Adrienne at the elevator.

"Thanks for waiting," he said to her sarcastically and hit the button going up, with every intention of returning to the parking lot to take her home.

"I waddle slowly, I figured I ought to get a head start," Adrienne replied, growled really, hitting the button to go down instead. Crossing his arms, Daniel looked down at her, reading her mind.

"No," he said and hit the up arrow again to take them to the parking garage, "we're going home. Carolyn suggested a bath, maybe I can rub your feet, get you comfortable..." he suggested, peering over his shoulder to see that they were alone before taking a step forward, his lips lightly brushing the back of her neck.

"Nice try Indy," she pulled back growling, "if you were just a normal man I'd suspect you had true romantic intentions. But you're not, and I know for a fact prostaglandins can soften the cervix and induce labor."

Daniel made a face.

"No sex for you and I'm NOT going back to bed," she added.

"You do realize that what I'm suggesting is natural right Ad?" he continued to argue, although if this is where their conversation was headed he most certainly wasn't going to be in the mood for anything, as the elevator doors opened.

He started to step forward, let her go down to the lab and visit with Jonas for a bit when there was a loud buzz in his pocket. Holding up a finger for Adrienne to wait a moment, he moved away from the elevator doors to take the call.

"Sam, hey, what's up?" he asked, noting the name of the screen. Adrienne walked closer to eavesdrop on the conversation, nosey he could tell, Daniel frowning at her insistence on continuing to act like she wasn't about to give birth.

"No, I'm on base, well, we're on base," he answered, cryptically, intentionally, trying to keep Adrienne at bay, "No she's fine, just stubborn. No, no sign of the baby just yet. Carolyn has no idea; she say's Adrienne's not even dilating yet," Daniel continued his conversation as Adrienne tried to lean in to hear what Sam was saying. He knew that she hated being the topic of conversation but he shooed her away trying to listen.

She made a face, crossing her arms and backing up, preparing to start spelling rude things into his hand.

"Oh wow. No, I agree that does seem serious. He's here? Now? Sam, I know what Carolyn said but I just can't. Alright, that's fair. Ok. No, I'll call Teyla, see if she can sit with her. Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can," Daniel was breathing out as he hung up the phone. Ok, yeah, a dispute among the tribes did not bode well for naquadah mining, something they needed if they wanted to continue to manufacture their vaccines against Anubis' insanity.

Now it was time to see what Adrienne's reaction would be.

"Sha, what's wrong?" Adrienne asked, putting her hand on his arm as Daniel shook his head in annoyance, both at the situation and at the fact she wasn't going to be happy...

"Chaka's here. The mining colony was attacked by another tribe of Unas that he doesn't know. They want control of the mines and the profits and all production is at a standstill. He's trying to set up some sort of negotiation because he thinks they're working on their own accord, but we're not so sure," Daniel explained, Adrienne nodding instantly.

"Go then, go see what you need to do," she hit the arrow for the elevator once more, the down arrow, Daniel shooting her that look.

Ok, she wasn't mad, but he knew her, she was taking advantage of this and was going to go work or do something equally as stupid.

Stubborn pain in the ass, he thought, as Adrienne simply smiled.

"And I don't need Teyla to babysit me, you heard Dr. Grumpypants. Nicky has no intention of showing his face just yet," Adrienne added, Daniel maintaining his glare.

"Babysit and look out for your hips deciding to go on vacation again are two entirely different things," he argued, Adrienne stepping into the elevator as it opened a second time.

"You haven't carried this inside of you for nine months. I have," she countered as Daniel stepped in behind her.

"I did for a week. It sucked and you made Jack babysit me. You're bigger now, further along and when I want someone to look out for you, you ignore and snap at me for caring," he tried to fuss carefully, started to get slightly annoyed with her attitude.

She didn't answer, no fighting, no tears, nothing, just hit the B button on the panel to carrying him to the basement. She paused for a moment, slamming her finger into the "2."

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked, crossing his arms across himself and peering down at her.

_Don't fight with a pregnant woman Daniel, she's just gonna go hysterical..._

"To go annoy Teal'c," she replied sweetly, that look on her face he could never say no to.

Daniel gave up, knowing that until he had child in hand, there were some wars that he was just not gonna win.

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At the second floor, Adrienne leaned up to kiss him softly and waddled herself out of the elevator, heading for the main training room.

Daniel yelled a quick I love you down the hall and continued to ride the elevator down to meet with Sam and Chaka.

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The Unas was dressed in his full tribal leader gear as Daniel had now come to expect him to wear. It was refreshing, gave him an authoritative look, one that terrified Richard Woolsey.

That just made Daniel love the entire get-up even more.

He approached his old friend and they clasped forearms, pulling him into a half embrace.

"Greetings Daniel," Chaka said in his broken English, stepping away, that green mouth drawn into the best grin possible.

"Greetings Chaka," Daniel replied, "It pains me to hear of your troubles."

Solemnly, the Unas nodded, putting his head down, able to express to Daniel his true feeling concerning the situation.

"Take a seat, tell me what happened?" Daniel motioned for Chaka to sit so they could get started.

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"AdrienneJackson!" Teal'c's voiced boomed across the workout room. The three Jaffa cadets, part of the new SG training program, another change Sam had been quick to implement, immediately, stopped their advance on him. They dropped to their knees to wait, bowing their heads in a dramatic and marital arts type manner. Smiling, the great warrior, dashed over to Adrienne clearly happy to see her.

"Does the baby come?" he asked, smiling from ear to ear. Since his granddaughter had been born a little over a year ago now, Teal'c had become quite the fan of babies, and, since Adrienne had announced they were having a boy, Teal'c had also began to contemplate other things.

It was actually really a sweet notion, and would give Adrienne a set of in-laws that she really wouldn't mind spending future holidays with...

"Not yet," she sighed, "It seems he's a bit stubborn, like his father," she added.

"Indeed," Teal'c responded, chuckling in agreement. He looked over his shoulder back to the young men he had been training to dismiss them and they stood quickly, bowing low and dashing to the showers.

"Where is DanielJackson?" he asked as he returned his attention to Adrienne.

"Working, where else would he be?" she answered, rolling her eyes. Teal'c started to object, Adrienne was sure he was thinking that Daniel should remain by her side up until the moment of birth, but then again he had said that Adrienne was more like a Jaffa woman than a human woman, strong and independent, so maybe he didn't see it that way.

"I just wanted to come see how Nia'lyn was doing and stretch my legs," Adrienne said instead of arguing, knowing what buttons to push when it came to Teal'c.

As she anticipated, he immediately launched into a play by play of the past month of Nia'lyn's life, most of which Adrienne had heard from the moment Teal'c and Ishta took up a new residence here on base, but it would stop the old warrior from worrying about her. She ran her arm through his and pulled him a bit, indicating that he needed to take her for a walk. Teal'c smiled and followed, continuing to talk along the way.

This, she thought, I needed just to spend time with friends today, after last night.

She hadn't told Daniel the extent of her discomfort because she didn't want to worry him.

They had returned back to work, immediately, Sam calling John Sheppard right after their briefing to ask him to return. It had taken a week, he didn't want to abandon his brother outright, but once the Atlantis crew was back at the SGC she had most of them transferred immediately to the Atlantis. John was overseeing the rebooting of the facility, Rodney and Zalenka taking care of the more technical aspects of the operation. Carson had been reinstated as the base doctor while Jennifer had asked to remain at Johns Hopkins to finish out her short term contract of six months. Sam also requested that Ann Mardsen lead the SG teams being reassigned there, assisting John in making the crew whole once more. Teyla had asked to stay behind until things were settled, not wanting to uproot Torren, something Adrienne understood completely. Ronon had chosen to stay in DC as well. He hadn't given a reason for wanting to stay, but Adrienne knew, and it made her smile.

In theory that should have been a relief, they had the weapon they needed to battle Anubis, were charging ZPM's for back up and for Antarctica in hopes of picking up the pieces there and Carolyn was making major headway in adapting the DNA cocktail to keep them safe from biological attacks. Jonas had settled in wonderfully with Cam, so Adrienne no longer felt guilty about that change. Daniel really couldn't be any sweeter, looking after her every need while he continued to help at the SGC, her aunt either, who called every day to check on them.

But that wasn't the problem.

Adrienne Jackson was in pain, terrible pain. Her back hurt, her head hurt, her hips, every part of her body. She could barely eat and she was unsure as to how much sleep she had gotten in the past week, but it was an amount small enough that she could count the hours on one hand. She was dizzy, exhausted and nauseous but she didn't want to say a word.

The Aetlans were coming, the Ktaenam already borrowing various things that had been removed in the closure, the Jaffa and Tok'ra both in contact once more. There were worlds to be saved, future targets, Langara, Earth.

Discomfort in the final stages of her pregnancy paled in comparison to the motion of the universe around her.

Forcing a smile as Nicky slammed into her again, she clutched Teal'c's arm tighter, continuing their walk down the hall.

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"Sam, I don't think there's another option," Daniel said as he sat on the end of her desk, picking his fingernails. Sam was leaning against the wall, looking through the glass at Chaka who was awaiting a decision, shaking her head.

"Daniel, what about Addy and the baby?" she asked, Daniel finally looking up and rolling his eyes.

"I'm beginning to think Adrienne likes to be pregnant. Carolyn says she's not even dilating yet and Adrienne refuses drugs. It's just twenty four hours Sam, I really don't think anything will happen and if I discover that this is Anubis related, I'll come right back for reinforcements," Daniel argued.

Knowing he had a point, if there was anyone that could help solve this problem it was him, Sam sighed, stepping away from the wall, heading back to the briefing room. She paused at the door, peering back at him, knowing as well that he wasn't going to really leave Adrienne to fend for herself.

"I'll get Cassie to go home with her, if that's alright, so Jonas can keep working. But YOU are going to tell her, not me. I want no part of this when she explodes," Sam requested.

"She'll cuss me out, so what else is new? She'll fight, swear, then go into a worry fit about the Unas and cry," Daniel answered, standing himself to deliver Chaka the news.

Then he would deal with his wife.

She'd understand; she'd been telling him since they found out they were going to have a baby that she was capable of doing things alone and that he needed to not hover over her so bad.

Besides, she was such a caring person that she wouldn't hesitate to insist that he help others...

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She didn't take it as well as he expected.

"You're going where!?" she screamed at him in the lab, Jonas slipping on headphones to try to give them some privacy.

"Adrienne, we have both been to P3X-888 tons of times. This is cut and dry. If it's gonna take more than just one meeting or there is anything the slightest bit fishy, I'll report back to Sam and we'll come up with a plan that doesn't involve me leaving D.C. For now, though, I have to agree with Chaka, as a honorary member of his tribe and an SGC official, I think it's best I join him to meet with them," Daniel tried to explain, approaching her carefully, reaching for her arms.

She pulled back like she was going to slug him, making him flinch, but she didn't, despite the fact that her entire body was shaking, her teeth grinding.

"Daniel, I canna believe dat ya be entertainin' dis?! Ya've 'overed ova me like ah bee ta honey fah weeks ahn now ya jus waltzin' ya ass drough dat damn gate like nothin' is gettin' ready ta 'appen! No, Imma jus gonna 'ave ya goddam baby!"

By the time she got to the last sentence, she was screaming at full volume, so much so that Daniel caught Jonas slipping out of the lab out of the corner of his eye mouthing 'Good luck' as he passed. Keeping his cool, Daniel just sat there and let her get it all out and once he was confident that she had finished, he spoke.

"Ad, it's one day. Even if you were in labor, I would still have time to go, evaluate the situation and return home before our son made his grand appearance, but you're not. There's no indication that you're even gonna start. In the meantime, I'm trying to prevent a war between two peoples and make sure that we don't lose a very valuable naquadah supply," he stressed the last sentence, hoping to appeal to her soft side, and it worked, the throbbing of the vein in her neck subsiding.

"Daniel, I understand, I do. It's jus," Adrienne started to stammer, face changing, and there went the waterworks accompanied by a blathering of Cajun phrases and French apologies, a hormone driven breakdown that made him step forward, taking her into his arms. He started to remain quiet, let her cry, but there was something different now in her sobs, something not as hormonally driven.

"What? Tell me, Adrienne if there's something wrong I need you to tell me," he whispered to her, kissing her head awaiting an answer. She was shaking in his arms, holding onto him tightly, wetness forming at his chest.

"I'm scared," she said, tears streaming down her face as she peered up at him.

"Ad, what are you scared of? I'm right here; I'm gonna be right here, and I'll be holding your hand during labor and delivery, I promise. This is either gonna be an easy fix or need a large scale intervention but either way I'll be back before you know it," he held tight to her letting her cry, but instead of calming down, she sobbed ever harder.

"It's gonna 'urt, but not only dat," Adrienne started, crumbling to pieces, "I'm afraid dat I'm gonna die, like my mom. Fifteen 'undred women die each year in childbirth and dat percentage increases by twenty five percent when a close family member 'as died in childbirth."

"Ad, you're quoting statistics that include third world countries. I told you to stop looking up that crap on the internet," he fussed at her gently and she sobbed harder, holding tightly to him.

"I won't go," he said, changing his mind as he saw her reaction. She was a mess and she needed him here, regardless of the fact that Carolyn said the baby wasn't coming just yet, "I can see if Jack can go, or maybe if Jonas, yeah, let me go find Jonas, I bet he just went to get some coffee."

"No, no, you're right Indy. You need to go and make sure all hell doesn't break loose over there. I'll be fine with Cassie," Adrienne said, pulling away, the tears shutting off as quickly as it started.

Daniel was completely confused.

"Adrienne, you know I'm bad at this. Don't do this. Don't you lie to me. If you really need me, just say so, and I'll go and apologize to Chaka. He was surprised I offered to come anyway considering your condition," Daniel said, Adrienne shaking her head, stubbornly.

"I'm sure, but it's just the hormones, I'm fine really. You're right, Nicky likes tormenting me; he's not coming. You need to hurry, go and get back. Maybe me freaking out will make the little booger want to come," she answered, smiling.

"Let's hope not," he kissed her one more time and continued packing his things as she sat down into her chair, watching him in silence.

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He hadn't minded in the least that Adrienne had insisted to go with him to the gate, although he really wanted her to rest as soon as he was gone. Cassie arrived before Daniel had finished getting ready and offered to take Adrienne home then and there, but she refused and wanted to walk him to the gate and see him off. Considering her performance earlier, he didn't argue; he did like it when she saw him off and he didn't want to send her home with Cassie in that state.

At this point, he wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy.

When the three of them arrived at the gate, Cassie following, taking her job as nursemaid very seriously, Chaka was already waiting. He approached Adrienne and greeted her placing his hands on either side of her face, that grin that for so long had scared the daylights out of her.

"Greetings Addy mate," he said, touching foreheads with her. She smiled back, still not liking her Unas designation, that the word 'mate' had been added to the end of Addy, and she made a note to talk to Daniel about the role of women in the tribe at a later date.

Waiting until Chaka had greeted his wife, fussing over her belly as expected; Daniel said a few things to Chaka in the language of the Unas, the tribal leader nodding in agreement before turning to face Adrienne.

"Last chance ja-wer, just say the word," he whispered softly, bringing his hand to her cheek, wanting to make sure before he went through the gate. She smiled so sweetly, grabbing his hand, holding it to her face before bringing it to her lips, kissing his fingertips so that he knew she was going to be alright.

"Do you want me to say that I need you to stay?" she asked, even quieter, giving him an out if he wanted one which as bad as he did, as bad he wanted to stay here with her, make sure that she was comfortable, maybe figure out a way to induce labor, he couldn't and they both knew he couldn't.

They stood, gazing into one another's eyes as they could hear the sounds of the gate activated, the surge of electric air surrounding them, Daniel's blue eyes sparkling in the light of the wormhole.

"No, I just don't want to be sleeping on the sofa when I get home," he tried to joke, but she could see the worry in his expression. He was afraid that she would be angry, that something would happen. For as much as his job and work meant to him Adrienne knew in her heart that he would throw away everything for her and for their family if she only asked.

She peeked around the room, Sam in the observation tower and a few personnel milling around, only Chaka here to pay any real attention. Leaning forward, she reached for his face, bringing his lips to hers, her tongue into his mouth, a part of her considering his suggestion from earlier if they had the chance, if they could just race back to their quarters to kiss, taste, cuddle and touch. She heard a thud at her side, the sound of a backpack being dropped onto the gateroom floor and his hand slipped behind her head, Daniel kissing her back passionately, strongly, her stomach a flurry of nerves...

"Hurry back, I'll be alright," she said, pulling away before she could change her mind and beg him to stay.

_Stay with me Daniel. Let's go back to our room and make love and make this baby come..._

Reaching down and tossing it back over his shoulder, Daniel adjusted his backpack, willing himself to concentrate on the negotiations and not the other thoughts racing through his head. He took a breath and turned to face Chaka, who had already started up the ramp peering back at his wife one last time before following.

He heard Adrienne scream just as the wormhole enveloped him and he was blasted through space.

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Adrienne just panicked; she saw Daniel step through that gate and every awful thought she ever had raced through her mind.

_What if he never comes back?_

_What if he never gets to meet his son?_

_What if he dies and I die and Nicky never has parents? _

_What if I lose him?_

Her heart pounding in her chest, her stomach sick, her head throbbing, Adrienne was standing there shaking as Cassie approached when she just broke.

"No Daniel wait!" she screamed as she ran, as fast as she could with her enormous belly, into the shimmering pool of energy, Cassie frozen in shock as her patient just disappeared.

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As soon as Daniel was spit out on the other side he dashed for the DHD, controlling the emotions welling up inside as her voice racketed through his memory.

"Daniel?" Chaka asked, racing to his side, the archaeologist frantic, not taking the time to speak slowly or in Unas for that matter.

"That was Addy, she was shouting, she was screaming, our child might be coming, she could be in labor, I can't go, I have to dial back home," he stammered out, reaching slamming his hands on the symbols.

"Come on dammit," he swore at the gate, "close so I can dial back."

The gate remained open, open for an eternity, Daniel's mind creating the worst possible scenarios when Adrienne stumbled through, nearly crashing down onto the rugged ramp.

_She came through the gate..._

"Adrienne, what's wrong? Are you in labor? Why did you come through? Where's Cassie?" he shouted as she rushed over to meet him. She was crying, long red streaks running down her cheeks and she looked out of breath as if she had sprinted to the gate.

_She sprinted through the gate..._

She leaned over, her hands to her thighs breathing heavily as he took her into his arms.

"No," she coughed out, still crying, "I thought you might die and I would never see you again and I would have this baby and I'd have to raise him alone and I can't do this alone and I can't live without you and..."

She was rambling, an emotional mess, Daniel looking over his shoulder as Chaka as he held her, kissing her head, trying to calm her down.

"With the Unas? Really Adrienne, this is nuts, I don't have to do this. You're a mess right now. Let me dial back, you can go through," he said gently, stepping away from his sobbing wife to dial back home.

"Baby come?" Chaka asked, concerned, in English so Adrienne could understand.

"No, not yet," Daniel replied, dialing home quickly and initiating the gate.

Nothing happened.

"Dammit!" Daniel swore, strongly, glancing down at his watch. It had been a tight schedule today, he knew going in, with SG teams in and out for the next few days meeting and planning with allies. He had been told that he had exactly eighteen hours before he could dial back in, eighteen hours he had neglected to mention to Adrienne lest he upset her further.

Which meant that she was stuck here, on P3X-888 for the next eighteen hours...

"Bring mate. My mate care for her," the Unas offered, Daniel frowning in bewilderment.

"Mate? Chaka have mate? Since when?" Daniel now asked, this new piece of information flooring him completely.

"Many cycles Daniel. Chaka good mate. Good like Addy," Chaka answered with a smile, making Daniel screw his face up in embarrassment. What a good friend he'd been, spending so much time on himself that he hadn't even thought to ask Chaka how he was doing on the last missions; he'd spent his time worrying about mine output.

"Chaka mate care for Addy. Take good care Addy," his friend reiterated, nodding as he glanced at Adrienne to ensure that she understood the offer.

That's an idea, Daniel thought, it's safe enough and lets me get this meeting over with.

Considering the idea, he looked over at Adrienne who was showing no emotion at all, seeming to have no opinion on the matter.

"Voulez-vous aller avec Chaka? Rester avec sa femme? (Do you want to go with Chaka? Stay with his wife? )" he asked. She looked over at Chaka and then back at her husband, knowing that they couldn't gate home and now feeling like a complete idiot.

"Je ne veux pas que tu crois que je suis stupide," (I don't want you to think I'm stupid), she answered, her cheeks flushed as she gazed at the ground.

"Il est trop tard pour cela. (It's too late for that)," he teased, smiling, hoping that she would get the joke and not start crying.

"I hate you," she said, unable to stop smiling as she pushed past him, heading for the Unas village.

Chaka nodded, pleased and followed, Daniel standing back watching the large creature happily toss his arm around Adrienne's shoulder as she waddled slowly and uncomfortably to the structures in the distance.

"I love you, you Cajun pain in the ass," Daniel muttered under his breath smiling, shouldering his backpack to trail behind them.

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Cassie stood there as the wormhole closed vaguely aware of the shouting behind her, Sam screaming for Walter to dial again. Footsteps echoed all around, Cassie peering over at Sam as she came to a stop at her side.

"I'm sorry, she just pulled away and ran. It caught me off guard; I'm so sorry Sam," she stammered, fearful, but Sam just put her arm around the woman who was like a niece to her.

"Ma'am," Walter's voice came over the loudspeaker, "We have a team trying to dial in; we're gonna have to wait a few hours, that'll be our best chance to dial again given this schedule," he said and Sam nodded, running the board through her head.

SG-14 was due back, SG-7 leaving, Anise from the Tok'ra expected shortly after.

Daniel was just gonna have to deal with the Unas and Adrienne all by himself.

"Fine, he's on his own until we can get out. Cassie, I need you to go to the infirmary and be ready; we're dialing out as soon as we can, just in case. I don't like a woman that far along on a planet that primitive," she ordered, the young doctor rushing to pack as requested.

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When they arrived at the colony it was obvious the impact the mining operation had on Unas, drastically different than their last visit. Even more surprisingly was that the change had occurred in such a short time. The village no longer looked like an above ground version of the Unas colony that Adrienne remembered from her last visit or the many pictures in the planet file; this village looked like a cross between a medieval village and an SG dig site.

For a moment, Adrienne forgot about her predicament and went into work mode, grabbing Daniel's arm.

"Sha, I think we need to send a team from Anthropology here, the obvious impact of our presence really should be analyzed further and maybe even run a cross investigation between Chaka's colony now versus our data from previous visits," she whispered into his ear.

Frowning, he stopped walking, glaring down at her.

"Seriously Ad, that's what you're thinking about right now?" Daniel asked, making a face.

"Yes. Do you see those structures? Do you think they are resistant to the hail? And the houses are smaller, are we talking single family units now?" she yammered on, her husband simply shaking his head.

"What? You've been a bad influence," she smiled up at him.

"Ja-wer, we need to have a discussion as soon as we get back regarding maternity leave and what that really means," Daniel noted, reaching over and wrapping his arm around her as Chaka walked ahead, searching for his mate.

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No sooner had they stepped foot in the village than the other various Unas that knew Daniel approached him, greeting him and reaching for Adrienne's belly. Daniel was just glad his wife was open minded and didn't seem to care, beaming as they fussed over the enormous bulge that was his son.

_Wow, it really isn't that much longer now..._

As he was talking to another villager they heard a shout and Adrienne looked up to see a large female Unas, basket of fruit under her arm, running toward them.

"Looks like she's excited about her task," he said quietly, leaning over as Adrienne elbowed his side.

"I don't need a babysitter, so he better have told her that I just needed someone to hang out with," she growled, waddling forward toward the excited female.

"Look on the bright side, you can spend the day with a woman, bitching about me. It's just like home!" he joked, Adrienne's hand shooting up behind her, middle finger proudly displayed.

"Addy good with Chaka mate," his friend assured him with strong pat on the back.

"I'm not worried about Addy Chaka, I'm worried about your mate," the archaeologist shook his head, knowing that the normal Adrienne would have been very kind, but that hormonal mass of human being that was hobbling off in the distance, not so much.

Trying not to think about it, Daniel cocked his head in the direction of the mines, where he was hoping to fix this mess, retain their allies and operation and head home.

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Adrienne was surprised that her 'babysitter' wasn't bad at all.

When she approached her smaller human counterpart, she simply gathered her up in her free arm and led her to a large tent on the outskirts of the village, no fussing or muttering or making a big deal over her being pregnant; she was just generally friendly. Adrienne had to duck a bit to get inside, but it was a nice dwelling, seemingly more permanent than the guest house she had stayed in on previous visits to the planet.

There was a central fire like in the other Unas homes she had seen and her desire for warmth drew her there, Chaka's mate walking over to a low bed, grabbing some pillows and placing them on the floor by the fire for Adrienne to sit.

"Thank you," Adrienne said in English, cursing her pregnancy brain for making her blank on the few words she knew in Unas but she must have understood, bobbing her head in understanding as the woman/creature helped her down slowly.

"Baby good?" she asked, Adrienne nodding, too soon she thought as Nicky began to kick wilding inside of her.

"Not good?" she inquired now, Adrienne growing frustrated, shaking her head no, not only at the baby but at the situation. The pain in her abdomen grew, Daniel was across the village doing god knows what, she was hungry, of course, and she didn't even know this woman's name.

I'll fix that first, Adrienne thought, pointing at herself.

"Addy," she said, thinking to herself how Daniel most likely had done the exact same thing so many years ago. Confused, ok she understood 'thank you' but not this, the Unas cocked her head.

"Of course only our husbands speak each other's languages," Adrienne muttered to herself. Trying to understand, Chaka's mate turned her head to the other side and reached out, pointing a finger at Adrienne's chest.

"Daniel," she said and Adrienne shook her head, resisting the urge to stand and find her husband right at this very second.

"He and I are seriously gonna have a talk about these women when we get back," Adrienne said to herself, looking back up at the Unas, pointing at her chest again.

"Addy," she repeated and the Unas shook her head.

"Daniel," she replied, as Adrienne breathed out, grumbling to herself.

"No, no," she clarified, trying to control her accent, finger pressed firmly into her own chest, "Addy" pointing then to her wedding band, "Daniel," she explained.

She repeated this a few times, slowing to differentiate between herself and the ring on her finger. Finally the Unas woman turned her head and stood, pointing to herself.

"Zita," she said and then as Adrienne had done pointed to her finger, "Chaka."

Adrienne smiled.

"Fantastic Zita, now we're rocking," Adrienne declared and started to rack her brain, hoping to figure out a way to explain her current discomfort.

"Baby move," she started, again simply, Zita beaming, getting down onto her knees like she was going to deliver the child but Adrienne just laughed, shaking her head,

"No, not come. Move. Ow, Hurts," she tried, Zita sitting back on her knees, scanning the room.

"More soft?" she offered, Adrienne breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Yes, please, thank you, more soft," the Cajun was feeling better already, and pretty accomplished as she navigated this cryptic conversation.

Zita seemed to smile, standing again to go to their bed and bring over more pillows and cushions adjusting them around Adrienne, who, for once, allowed the pampering. More pain rocketed through her middle, Nicky clearly unhappy over something, Adrienne trying not to wince in pain. The kicking finally subsided, replaced with a new ache, one that she had felt earlier and dismissed.

Hunger.

"Addy good?" Zita asked, kneeling again, Adrienne shaking her head.

"I'm hungry," she replied, guilt washing over her. She'd dashed through the Stargate like an idiot, she had no backpack, not even one of her husband's crappy Powerbars, and had been thrust upon this poor woman who she was sure had plenty of things to do herself rather than sit here all day with her.

Zita apparently didn't understand hungry.

Frowning, Adrienne tried to think of the simplest English words she could think to express what she was feeling and politely request something to eat.

"Baby not good. Want food. Zita have food?" Adrienne tried, hoping to convey that she wasn't being demanding, that it was little Daniel junior inside of her that wanted nourishment.

"Food for baby yes," Zita replied, standing, hurrying to a cupboard behind the fire fishing for things, speaking more over her shoulder.

"Addy want food baby no come," she stated, Adrienne nodding in agreement.

"Exactly, yes, he's not coming so until he does I'm hungry, want food. P'tit boug wants more food than I would ever normally eat."

"Good, Zita cook," the Unas declared, Adrienne feeling bad as she watched the woman assemble items on the cook fire. Not wanting to insult her customs, however, and feeling ravenously hungry, she leaned back against the pillows, closing her eyes as the smell of the food wrapped around her.

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Seeing his friend content with his wife's caretaker, Chaka led Daniel to where the opposing tribal leader was waiting.

He didn't look happy, Daniel didn't need a meeting to figure that out, but it was a relief. Unless Anubis had done some clever work in cloning and taken a sudden interest in the Unas language, it was clear that this was exactly what it appeared to be, a dispute.

Chaka approached him, saluting respectfully and introduced Daniel, who nodded his head at the simple Unas greeting, bowing low as Chaka backed away.

Not much else he could do for now, Daniel took a deep breath and approached the large visiting Unas warrior, hoping that this wasn't going to take long.

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Adrienne was shocked the meal smelled so good, making her even hungrier as it popped and crackled over the fire. The now cleaning Zita rushed back over to the strange mix of meats, spices and fruits to spoon it onto a plate, Adrienne thankful it was ready, bringing the platter over. Smiling she knelt, handing it to the starving archaeologist, indicating that she should eat by putting her hand to her mouth and Adrienne nodded, Nicky already kicking wildly.

"Smells good," she said, reaching her fingers in and grabbing a small fistful, popping it into her mouth.

It was heaven.

Nicky agreed, the feeling in her stomach as though her son were doing somersaults, making Adrienne only eat faster, hoping her host would take this as a compliment to her cooking. She swallowed quickly, reaching again for more, pausing only to giggle.

"Take your time sha," she joked to herself, continuing to eat her meal.

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The negotiations were not violent or disrespectful in any way, but they were certainly going nowhere. Yuka, the leader of the rival tribe truly didn't understand what was going on with Chaka's tribe, only that they were considerably richer and Yuka felt his people were being slighted. Daniel sat back, quiet, as he was listening to Chaka try to explain again that his tribe was not becoming rich off of natural resources and trade that they were essentially working for what Daniel had begun to refer to as his tribe to save their worlds from a bad man.

Yuka, seeing Daniel as an inferior species, could not wrap his mind around the concept.

Tired, he could see the other leader's point of view but he wanted to get Adrienne back home, Daniel was trying to think of another way to explain this and maybe offer to allow a team to meet with Yuka's people when a small Unas child came running into the tent, jumping up and down excitedly. Chaka stood and approached the child, trying to calm him and then began to shout himself, what sounded to be the Unas word for 'come' and 'time' looking to Yuka who was nodding his head appreciatively. Confused, Daniel rose from his crude stick made stool, leaning toward Chaka.

"Chaka, is everything alright? What's it time for? What's coming?" Daniel asked, concerned at the combination of shouting and smiling, an irrational part of him looking to the sky for a hailstorm that was definitely out of season. Smiling, beaming, Chaka turned around to face his human friend, clasping his shoulder tightly.

"Daniel baby come!" he declared in English, clear English as the other Unas gathered began to cheer.

Eyes wide, Daniel dashed out of the hut.

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"Oh my gawd make it stop!" Adrienne was screaming as a contraction waved through her, Zita sitting at Adrienne's feet, rubbing them and making some cooing noise.

"AHHHHH!" screamed Adrienne, "Where in da 'ell is my 'USBAND!"

Zita, however, just continued to rock back and forth, cooing and rubbing as Adrienne gritted her teeth and tried to imagine herself elsewhere when the contraction suddenly stopped.

"Dank gawd," she breathed out when the door flap opened, Daniel ducking inside and racing to her.

"Ad, please tell me that this is Braxton Hicks, please," he pleaded, reaching for her abdomen.

Adrienne started to answer him that she had never felt anything like this before, that this was nothing like the false labor she had experienced some weeks ago, when she began to feel the push in her body once more...

She screamed like he had never heard her scream, profane Cajun phrases pouring out of her mouth, some he had learned over the course of their relationship, others he was afraid to ask the meaning of and all the while, Zita just kept cooing and rubbing.

When the contraction was finished, Adrienne collected her breathing the best she could, just as Chaka entered the tent her eyes darting between the people here.

"I dink Zita did it. I told 'er I was uncomfortable ahn 'ungry and she fed me sumtin ahn den..." Adrienne trailed, a pained looked in her face and she started screaming again.

Oh shit, Daniel thought, this is happening and it's happening right now.

This time, instead of standing there looking mystified, the Unas woman shoved Daniel out of the way and began to reach for the waistband of Adrienne's pants as Adrienne, still screaming, was frantically smacking her away, her dark eyes ogling the other large green creature entering the tent, yammering away in their speak.

"No, no, no, no," Adrienne was screaming as she wiggled away, looking over at Daniel with a look of pure hatred, "Ya promised ME!"

"Promised you what?" Daniel asked, confused, still coming to terms with what was going to happen.

"Promised me that ya wud neva allow me ta ever give birth like dis, ever!" she raged.

It took Daniel a second to remember when they had ever talked about a situation just like this when he remembered, Kar'yn exposed on the floor of Teal'c home, an audience to her labor. Trying not to laugh, the very thought of Adrienne being anyone's parent at that very moment being something he had thought to be hysterical, Daniel just shook his head.

"You said if you married a space prince," he tried to play hoping to ease her pain just a bit, reaching out for her hand, a hand she smacked away quickly.

"I married ya stupid ass; dat be close ENOUGH!"

There was the screaming again, Adrienne's head thrown back as howls of pain echoed from her mouth. Daniel stood, frantic, trying to at least get her a glass of water as Zita muttered something to Chaka. Nodding, he stood, approaching Daniel, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"Sit Daniel. Mate push. Sit here," Chaka indicated that Daniel should go sit behind Adrienne. His heart was racing; he had seen women give birth before but this was _his_ wife bringing _his _child into the world, this was different and he was slightly disoriented. Nodding, he walked behind her, this screaming, blithering mess that he was married to, and sat down, crossed legged, reaching for her shoulders and leaning to whisper in her ear.

"Ad, this is happening, alright, so I think you need to let Zita do this," he said as he pulled her shoulders so that she was laying in his lap. She was sweating profusely, tears in her eyes, looking back at him.

"I want Carolyn, please go get Carolyn. I want da drugs," she begged, "Carolyn, please, where is Carolyn, I want Carolyn..."

He hated seeing her in this much pain but nevertheless shook his head no; it was too late now.

"Adrienne, it'll take too long to go and come back and the schedule was too busy, I can't even guarantee that we could dial through yet. We're gonna have to do this together and hope that Sam is sending someone through to yell at you as we speak," Daniel replied, feeling horrible but with no response from his wife other than her throwing her head back into him, screaming like a banshee.

Not knowing what else to do, Daniel looked up at Chaka and nodded, Zita understanding, reaching up to remove Adrienne's pants and calling around her to the child that had gone to fetch Daniel earlier. She then turned and barked some commands at her husband, who also left to do as she said.

Despite the pain Adrienne smiled; it pleased her to see Zita taking charge and being listened too.

Maybe she had underestimated their societal structure.

Adrienne was watching Zita as she worked and prepared when another contraction hit her, sharp pain rocketing through her entire body and she screamed, reached frantically for something to squeeze when she felt Daniel slip his hands into hers.

"Please don't break my fingers; I need them to type," he whispered to her sweetly, kissing her ear and she wanted to laugh, but the pain was too great. This time, however, it subsided as quickly as it came and she felt like herself again. She rested back against Daniel, exhausted, releasing his hands and he reached over, brushing her hair out of her face when it hit her yet again, and she was wailing.

Daniel felt so helpless as he watched the contractions intensify, holding Adrienne tightly in his arms. He wanted to say something to make it better, but he was at a loss for words, clearly this was full blown labor and without the comfort of Carolyn's table or the medication that Adrienne was now finally asking for, she was here, alone with him, and in intense pain. He looked up to see what Zita was doing now that she had removed Adrienne's pants and noticed that Chaka had returned, a bucket of water and the small child had brought a bundle of rags. He started to ask if there was anything he needed to do when he felt his hands being violently grabbed and heard her screaming again.

"Dammit, when dis gonna be ova?!" her accent was thick, what was coming out of her mouth more like "dammitwhendisgonnabeova" rather than separate words, Daniel glancing up at Chaka to try to find her some indication other than her contractions as to how far along she was.

"Water from Addy?" he asked, knowing if Adrienne's water were to break things would be rolling along very quickly. Chaka said something to Zita, who shook her head looking clearly upset.

"No water Daniel," Chaka answered, Zita speaking again, "Addy ready, baby ready, but no water."

Daniel's eyes widened and he took a breath, knowing what was going to have to happen.

"Ja-wer, listen, Zita has never delivered a human baby. You're dilated, but your water isn't breaking and I'm not sure if they know what to do," Daniel started, Adrienne peering back, looking at him in horror.

"Oh no, no, no, I see ya face sha, I know wha ya dinkin'. I said no, I said Carolyn be deliverin' dis baby, nah ya, no, Daniel, go get Carolyn, I want Carolyn," Adrienne shot back breathing heavy. He knew what was coming and let her grab his hands.

She screamed and squeezed and he squeezed against her, waiting for the contraction to be over before trying to reason with her again but the moment it ended, she whipped her head around, ready to keep arguing.

"Ya canna be serious," she screamed, "Indy ya canna, I jus wanted..." she was crying now and Daniel knew why.

She had been scared from day one, of being pregnant, getting married, being a mom, the delivery and it seemed that nothing was going to go right, not even the thing she feared the most.

"Adrienne, you know I've done this before. Look, this hasn't gone like you wanted ok, like we wanted, but it's going to be alright; I promise. This is my son too," he said gently, running his fingers down her cheek, wiping away her tears. She knew he had to do it and she was starting to nod in agreement when she was screaming again.

Daniel signaled over to Zita to go and sit behind Adrienne so she had something to push against. She stood and they switched places, Daniel rushing over to where Zita had been before gazing between his wife's legs.

He took a breath, worried; this was going to be a bit more complicated than he had dealt with before. Shar'e had gone into labor on her own and he was only left to finish the task that had been started but Adrienne had been induced by some strange Unas concoction of what he had no idea with an already questionable pregnancy. Focusing only on what he had to do, he looked up at Adrienne as she tried to breathe her way through another contraction, taking off his jacket and tossed it aside, reaching underneath to break her water.

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"I just can't believe she did that," Cassie was still telling Teyla as they crossed through the gate's portal, "I mean why would you do something like that? Is she insane?" Teyla was smiling, gun out and looking around them, ever cautious as she always was. She determined the coast was clear, holstering her gun as she peered at the young doctor.

"She is close to birth. It can make a woman crazy," Teyla answered but Cassie just shook her head.

"Hormonal influx or not, I don't think I would go running through a wormhole," Cassie responded, hitching her medical bag up onto her shoulder as Teyla laughed lightly.

"We say all sorts of things before the moment arrives. Then, we forget every declaration we have ever made, just for it to be over," Teyla advised, walking to the village.

Cassie didn't respond, still shaking her head as she followed.

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"Ok, Adrienne, listen to me, it's time ja-wer, you've got to push," Daniel instructed, having survived the first hurdle, breaking her water, the rest of the labor going smoothly. Leaning between her knees and away from Zita, tears streaking down her face, Adrienne did the only thing she could do: cry.

"I can't, I just can't," she whimpered, her voice weak and exhausted. Daniel could tell he was big; they knew all along that he was big, but he had never thought Adrienne would lose the will to fight. He grabbed her legs and looked right at where she was facing him, crying and in pain.

"I know it hurts and I can help you some, but you have to do this Ad. You have to push. Get mad," he ordered, trying a different approach but Adrienne just let her head fall back, giving up.

"Get mad, start screaming and yelling. Get mad at Carolyn for not forcing you to be induced. Get mad for Vala for tormenting you once you couldn't fit into your insane wardrobe anymore. Get mad at Cameron for training for the marathon without you," he tried but she wasn't pushing and another contraction was starting.

She was wiped, sobbing, but she needed to stay with him.

"Dammit Adrienne, what kind of woman are you?! You bitch and moan about woman's power and women's rights and you can't even deliver a baby!? I thought you were so damn tough, so perfect. You know, maybe I was right about you in the beginning, maybe you can't hack it," he shouted at her in the most hateful tone possible, a tone he wasn't sure if he had ever really used with her.

Grumbling, she flipped her head up at him and he hoped that she would be angry, that in her insane hormonal state she would believe what he was saying. She started to scream, loudly and he felt her pushing. Even if she didn't believe him, which she probably didn't, she was doing as he asked and that was all he needed.

Taking a breath, he reached to help her, reaching inside of her to try to bring their child into the world.

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Teyla and Cassie heard the screams as soon as they entered the village, a rather large crowd of green humanoids gathered at the entrance to a larger hut in the back of the main living area.

"Oh no," Cassie slipped, glancing at Teyla as she began to push her way through the crowd.

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"One more push Ad, just one more," Daniel instructed, Adrienne wincing as she nodded. Breathing in, gritting her teeth, she grabbed Zita's hands and started to do as he asked.

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Cassie was wriggling through the throng of Unas when she heard two set of screams, Daniel yelling push and Adrienne screaming in pain.

And then there was silence.

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The world slowed to a stop as Daniel Jackson saw him for the first time, his son, his perfect and healthy baby boy. He reached over for his jacket lying at his knees, wrapping him up so very gently, holding the child in one arm while he searched for a knife or something to cut the cord. He was digging around one handed when Chaka approached him, handing him a very fancy looking knife and Daniel took it, separating mother from child. Once he made the cut he stood, looking back at Adrienne, wrapping the baby carefully in his jacket.

"See Ad, look, drinking coffee didn't hurt a thing, he's fine, Nicky's perfect," he said, walking over to where she was laying back on Zita. He peered down at Nicholas one more time and then back at Adrienne, surprised that she hadn't said a word, she'd want to see him, he couldn't believe that exhausted or not she wasn't fussing already. Zita was gazing up at him, sadly, her own dark eyes cutting down at the pale unconscious woman in her arms.

Daniel started to shake.

"Adrienne, Ad," panicked, he looked at Chaka, who came over and took the baby from his arms and Daniel instantly, fell to his knees, shaking her.

"No Adrienne, no, it was just garbage that you looked up on the internet. Garbage. It's not true. Wake up, please wake up," he said, starting to sob.

"NO!" he screamed, "Fate, God, what the fuck ever you can't do this to me! You can't take her, not like this! All I want is her and this family, why can't I just have that!" He leaned across her to sob when he felt himself being shoved out of the way.

"Daniel you need to back up, right now," Cassie ordered from behind him and he turned around, growling viciously.

"No, she's my WIFE this time, I'm not leaving," he shouted at her. Unmoved, Cassie slammed her hands on her hips, staring him down.

"No one is asking you to leave. Go grab my step-brother and get the hell out of my way so I can make sure that Addy's alright," the small young doctor ordered.

Taken aback by her forceful manner, Daniel stood, doing as she said, returning to Nicholas. Chaka handed him back the bundle and he watched Cassie work, asking Teyla, who Daniel had just noted joining them, to come and assist her, handing over various items from her medical bag. She poked and prodded Adrienne, directing Zita to lay her down flat, examining her before covering her lower half with a blanket.

"She's alright, she's gonna be fine. Did you guys induce labor, because whatever did it was hard and just wore her out. She's just resting and she needs it," Cassie asked, Daniel breathing a sigh of relief as he nodded in the affirmative.

"A bit of a misunderstanding between Adrienne and Chaka's wife. Yes, labor was induced," he said, feeling stupid by panicking before he checked Adrienne's vitals himself, Cassie smiling and nodding.

"Alright, let me see this little guy Daniel while you go and make Adrienne comfortable. We can let her rest here a while and then we'll get you both back home," Cassie stood, pointing down at the now mumbling Adrienne as she made her way to the newest member of the Jackson family.

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Adrienne waved her hand over Nicky, slowly, deliberately, but he wouldn't stop crying. She closed her eyes, concentrating hard on the idea of silence, waving her hand again.

Nicholas, however, continued to cry.

Sighing, Adrienne peered over at the clock by the nightstand noting the time.

4 a.m.

"Imma neva gonna sleep again," she groaning, gathering up all of her strength as she took in a deep breath, waving her hand over her son again.

"Ja-wer, you're not a Jedi knight," she heard Daniel say from behind her, laughing. A frown on her face, she turned, glaring right at him, trying not to smile.

"Considering how many of the things I thought in childhood were not real but turned out to be real, I thought it was worth a try," she relented, a grin spreading across her face.

"Sure..." he teased, she elbowed him, back to making her desperate gaze down at the screaming child.

"Fine, YOU make him stop," she ordered and started to leave the room. Shrugging, Daniel reached in the crib and grabbed Nicky, following behind his wife. She stopped in front on him, noticing that the crying had stopped, turning to frown at him yet again.

"Daniel, that's cheating; I could have done that and you're not supposed to sleep with the baby," Adrienne fussed, ready to cite a page from her latest book, the one she had read cover to cover as she and Nicky recovered together in the infirmary, as she patiently waited for Daniel to wrap up the negotiations, negotiations that she insisted he return to.

It seemed the hormonal insecurity and neediness had left the moment the baby left her body, thankfully.

"I watched families do this all of the time on Abydoys. I don't care what your research says. Sometimes what's in a book isn't always right," he stated simply, smiling again, waiting for her argument.

"But I sleep so soundly, what if I squish him?" she now asked, concerned, Daniel shaking his head.

"I barely sleep, and I'll watch him, even if that means sleeping with him on the couch," Daniel replied, looking at the baby, "Isn't that right Nicholas, mommy needs to chill out a bit, doesn't she?"

Adrienne kept up her glare, as he walked to her, turning her around by her shoulder, pointing her in the direction of the door.

"Good night Adrienne, we're going back to bed, all of us," he said, nudging her toward their bedroom.

"I hate you Daniel," she laughed, but let him have his way, shutting out the light as she watched the two most important people in her life slip into the other room.


	64. Chapter 63 - Seven Days

_This story is a little different, using a journal format between Daniel and Adrienne. It's mostly sappy and funny, but there are some key plot points covered as well. _

_Enjoy!_

_Tuesday, May 28th_

I knew he'd be waiting with a smart remark on the other side; I just wasn't prepared for what he said.

"Look everyone, Daniel can multiply. Just add Unas!"

Apparently I work like a mogwai, I think that is what Ad called it, my wonderful wife who of course, laughed; it seems her and Jack have bonded after his stint carrying Nicky.

It is wrong to miss the sweet affectionate spouse already? Or even the monster at the end that needed me, even if she did so by lashing out and then crying and burying herself into me. Nicky left her body and it's back to full on 'pick on Daniel' mode.

Well, I sorta missed that too.

There was fussing the moment my boots hit the concrete floor, Carolyn starting right into Adrienne about how if she had allowed her to induce when she asked that none of this would have happened. Adrienne, miraculously, agreed.

I think that hell froze over.

Sam went completely gaga over the little guy, something I wasn't expecting in the least, scooping Nicky from my grasp and whisking him to the infirmary herself. I'd expected Adrienne to react somewhat negatively, worrying about the boy being taken out of her sight, but whatever Zita had given her continued to make her feel groggy after she had awoken, so she just lay back, closing her eyes.

The exam went well. He's completely normal and healthy, ten fingers and toes and no signs of any degenerative diseases. I hadn't told Adrienne that I was worried; I didn't know what he'd be like, I always feel as if my luck will run out when it comes to he and Adrienne, but he's perfect, absolutely perfect. He weighed in at eight pounds three ounces, so chances are that conception date might have been off or the process was sped up slightly by Adrienne's body. Oh and he's twenty one inches long. He's gonna be tall, I know it, but he'll look like Adrienne, I can tell already. He has the cajun glare.

Adrienne on the other hand, she's going to be fine, overall. Well, almost. Carolyn took her right into the exam room while Cassie looked Nicky over. There was some slight tearing and bleeding, nothing that one wouldn't expect considering the nature of the delivery, but Carolyn pulled me aside as soon as Adrienne was asleep. It's against medical practice, but she told me first, that Nicky was going to be our only child.

There was scarring apparently from her attack, scarring I'm not even sure if Adrienne knew the extent of, but the stress of carrying Nicky, the labor itself, it was more than her body could repair, dopamine or not. Carolyn said that much like our eyes, part of this was genetic; hence Adrienne's mother dying during childbirth, and even Adrienne's short bout of healing before we started our medication wasn't able to take care of all of the damage. Carolyn wanted me to tell Adrienne myself, unsure as to how she would take it, so I'm going to sit her down once we get settled.

Since everything seems to be in order and groggy or not Adrienne is already fussing that I have a job to do, I'm heading back to Unas planet to finish things up and let her and Nicky rest.

I'm a father.

Wow.

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_Wednesday May 29th_

Just got back from P3X-888 and my being a parent has benefits already. I arrived back to a riotous celebration that included both tribes, Chaka informing me that Yuka was very impressed that I was able to deliver my own child.

After a presentation of gifts, things that a normal woman would be appalled to use on her child but my wife will cherish, we returned back to the negotiations which seemed to go a lot smoother this time. They wanted in, of course, noting the wealth of Chaka's tribe, but given that we need more Naquadah now than ever before, Chaka was happy to have the assistance.

Oh, back to the gifts. Not only can I see Adrienne wanting to try out the hand-woven sling from Zita immediately, but some of these other items I feel are going to be incorporated into the "Forest Moon of Endor" otherwise known as my son's room. Since I'm certain that Adrienne won't be reading this I'm gonna say it here: It looks cool, really cool. I have only ever seen Star Wars from start to finish with her, well and paid attention, so I don't have the Ewok village committed to memory but this room is AMAZING. Adrienne isn't very artistic, but she is tech-savvy and she bought every stencil and decal that she could to make the walls look JUST like the background in the movie. She even had Cam carve into the crib to make it look like it was a tree and he went back later and coated it with some sealant so Nicky can't hurt himself on it. He's gonna do the dresser and changing table too but he thought he had another month.

So did Adrienne.

I know that she knows that I didn't tell Zita and Chaka to induce labor but she was joking before I left that it's my bad luck vibe that did this to her and I can't help but think she's right. While she didn't have the best luck in the world before me, with me it's only gotten increasingly worse. I probably should consider myself lucky that she's stuck around as long as she has.

Alright, I need to stop writing and get some things done. It's nearly dinner time and I want to get this mission report to Sam so I can meet my family for dinner.

I like the sound of that, my family.

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_Thursday May 30th_

I have a kid. An adorable pudgy little Indy. An adorable pudgy little Indy that I have to take home today because Carolyn says we're fine and can go home.

Now I'm freaking out.

So Daniel went back to P3X-888 to finish making sure that the Unas didn't erupt into civil war, which was fine, I was wiped out, sore and wanted as much sleep as I could in between breast feeding. Nicky took to that well, I was surprised since I'd read that could be difficult, but nope, the little guy latched right on.

I really want to write a joke here, about his dad, but considering that Daniel gave me this journal to write in I'm pretty damn sure he's gonna read it.

Hi sha. I know you're nosey. There's no hiding it, but I still love you.

Oh, and like father, like son .

Something's wrong though. Carolyn's acting like I'm glass, not her usual 'let Addy suffer' demeanor. I know what's she's gonna tell me, that Nicky is it, that I can't have children anymore, I just wish she'd come out and say it. I'm ok with that, really, I have Daniel and Nicholas; they're all I need. In my eyes they are the two most perfect men in the entire universe.

Ok, back to the written whining. Daniel will be back in an hour or so from an intelligence meeting and then we're taking him home. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this. I can take care of people sure, adults, adults who can talk to me, tell me what is wrong, and have medical histories I can use to figure out what needs to be done. But Nicky? All he can do is cry, which he does already, a lot, and I have to decipher whether he needs to be changed, fed, cleaned, burped or any other of a myriad of baby needs. What's the worst though is that I'm scared that I'm gonna disappoint Daniel. So yeah, if you're reading this, please don't be upset with me. I'm gonna try I just don't know if I can do this.

Better get up and moving again. I guess I'll write more later, see how this goes.

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_Thursday May 30th_

The only thing funnier than watching your wife try to do Star Wars parlor tricks on your screaming son is to see her argue with you about how to change a diaper on a little boy only to watch said little boy pee in her mouth as she argues.

Adrienne's gonna divorce me, I just know it.

I got the little guy to sleep in the bed, Adrienne soon after. I was going to go to sleep myself but she's going to have to get up again in about an hour and a half to feed him and I feel bad about snoozing away while she does that. Well, that and I have to get her up. She's hasn't had to get up yet for a feeding, Carolyn says that she didn't sleep well her entire time in the infirmary, so it remains to be seen how this goes over once she's at home in our considerably more comfortable bed. I wonder if she'll call me Sam, Eric or Bill this time.

Hopefully Eric; it makes me feel wanted.

I have to admit I sat there for a moment tonight, watching them both sleep. When he does stop fussing and actually goes to sleep he looks so much like her in so many ways it just takes my breath away. He has her high cheekbones; they poke out of his pudgy little face, and just the general look of him. I wonder about his eyes though, if they will darken or stay blue like mine. Only time will tell.

I would have just stayed in bed, holding them both in my arms, but I didn't want to get him crying again, so here I am, my son in my spot on the bed, surrounded by pillows to keep his mother from squishing him. I should be annoyed, isn't that what's supposed to happen, the dad feels like he's shoved aside, but I'm just not.

I'm so happy, so very very happy.

And I'm exhausted, I'm completely exhausted but Adrienne will be so proud. I've set my alarm on my phone, yes Ad my PHONE, to go off in a little over an hour so I'm gonna curl up here on the couch and hope my family is enjoying my bed.

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_Friday May 31st _

Super Daniel fails.

I don't even care if he's reading this right now, Nicky is conked and I just needed to get it down before I forget. I'm not a journaler, I'm not, I'm not even sure if this family could handle another journaler, so this little gift from my husband is going to simply be my running record of Daniel being wrong.

Nicholas Francis Jackson - Three days old, less than 24 hours since he has been brought home...

My dear husband decided to give me a primer on breastfeeding. Mind you, he and Shar'e had no children, none, so he has not helped another woman that I know of to do this, but MY husband, the ANTHROPOLOGIST of the universe decided to coach me on breastfeeding. Now, please note by the information above that Nicky is three days old right now, three, so he hasn't been surviving on imaginary milk; me and my little man have this under control.

I was sitting on the coach, watching the True Blood I missed from the week before, oh how I had missed Eric, Nicky just eating away like nobody's business. In comes Daniel, all smiles, looking at us like he's been looking at us for days, all doe-eyed, in that way that makes me melt, damn him, when he stops and leans forward, at me, at my chest, watching me feed.

"May I help you?" I asked, wondering what was going on when he, get this, he reaches down to adjust Nicky on me.

WHAT THE HELL.

Now, of course he has touched me on my chest more times than I could ever count, usually in a very fun way, but no, this was nosey know-it-all Daniel, and he gazes back between me and Nicky and says, "If you adjust his angle it will make the milk flow faster."

EXCUSE ME?

But I didn't scream at him, I didn't even crack a smile. I just looked up at him calmly, reaching out to touch his cheek, bringing his lips slowly to mine to kiss him so softly.

Then I told him, as sweetly as I could, that these were my boobs and to get lost.

But of course this is Daniel, and he stayed, whispering an "I'm sorry," and sitting down on the couch.

I wasn't going to hold it against him, he wasn't trying to be nasty, he was just being a know-it-all, like normal, but I couldn't help but pass Nicky right on over after he was finished for him to change the poopy diaper.

Because it was awesome.

"He's pooped," I said, handing my prince charming his son, "can you take care of that while I get cleaned up?" Smiling, he stood from the sofa, taking the adorable stinky bundle that we made to the nursery as I rushed to wipe down and get put back together, because I knew what was coming and I wanted to see Mr. Perfect Dad deal with it.

He was at the changing table as planned, Nicky cooing happily after his feeding, the boy liked food, so Daniel's child, when his darling father flipped him over and screamed...

"HE HAS SHIT UP HIS BACK TO HIS NECK! HOW!? HOW DOES IT EVEN GO THAT FAR!?"

I wanted to hit the floor right there but I didn't, I behaved, trying to contain my laughter, slipping back out of the nursery.

"I HEAR YOU LAUGHING JA-WER! THIS IS NOT OVER! AND AT LEAST IT'S NOT IN MY MOUTH!"

Touché Indy, but I win this round.

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_Friday May 31st or Saturday June 1st. _

It's too damn late to figure out which but I'm awake so I might as well write this down.

I don't think Adrienne's gonna divorce me; I'm starting to think that having a family with me is just her latest amusement. This is the conversation I JUST had with her, as best as I can remember, with Adrienne, miraculously rolling over and waking up without my urging, burying her face into me just as soon as he started fussing.

"Dear God is he crying again?"

"Yep," I answered, but not moving. I had to deal with the diaper from hell not three hours ago; it was her turn.

"I just fed him. He's been burped, he's clean. I don't know what else to do," she whined, or something of the variation.

"You're gonna have to rock him," I answered simply, yes, I'm a brat and I'm still not over the explosion of feces that I had to remove from my son AND his changing table AND his WALL, yes, the WALL...

"Me? What about you?" she shot back, sitting up. Ok so she's not getting up and no more snuggles either so I was losing either way.

"I have to get up early and go to work, you're still on maternity leave."

Yeah, I said it, bad choice. A very bad choice. This really shouldn't be a journal entry, it should be a 'how to' guide for husbands and new fathers. NEVER insinuate to your wife that staying home is less difficult of a job.

EVER.

"What, wait, what do ya dink I'm doing 'roun 'ere? Sleepin' all day. Do ya 'ear dat racket ya chile be makin'?"

I'm editing, of course, this is what I THINK she said, it had a lot more Cajun flare to it, a lot more.

Sometimes I feel like I'm communicating with the Unas.

"But you're fitter and more energetic."

See that statement, right above.

NOT a compliment, just FYI.

"And had the pregnancy from hell and a rather violent delivery, I'm still recovering," she was calm now, clearer speech, so I decided to play with her a bit, all the while the adorable Nicholas Jackson was still wailing his head off in the other room.

"I'm old," I teased, really, I was teasing, but no, yet again a bad choice.

"Don't ya even start wit dat merde Indy," she spat, sitting up and glaring at me, the entire time, Nicky still going and going and going and going...

WAAAAAAAAAA

"Fine, fine, fine. Parenting's fifty fifty. Rock, paper, scissors," I offered, after all, she had a point. We're in this together, so this I think is the best way to solve this.

"Fair, one, two, three, shoot," and she shoots and loses.

How is this my fault?

"Ha! Up and at 'em Ad," once more I open my mouth before I think. I seem to excel at that with Adrienne.

"Indy," she whined, kissing my chest, I can't say no to her when her soft lips are on me, it's not fair, "best two out of three?"

"Fine, but much like chess, I'm unstoppable at rock, paper, scissors. Foster kid, remember? I have street smarts..." back to teasing, or at least verbal teasing as she kissed down my stomach. She's taunting me; we can't have sex for four weeks and she's using my frustration to get the best of me and I refuse to let it work.

"Shut your mouth and shoot, one, two, three, throw," she ordered, seeing that I wasn't going to give in, winning this round, of course.

"Best two out of three," I shot back quickly, if not for any other reason than to get one of us to stop that infernal wailing.

WAAAAAAAAAA

"You're a loser," she spits, as if her winning the second round was gonna change all of the rules, and she counts off again, one, two, three and then slips her hand under the covers to grab me.

Yes, ME.

There.

And held on tightly.

"Uh..." or something close I choked out; don't get me wrong, I was happy to have her venturing there, just not, well, like this...

"I call baby maker. Ever want to use it again? Go get your kid. Now"

I did. Without complaint.

Point for Addy.

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_Saturday June 1st_

I lied about work.

I don't HAVE to go in, so I guess it's ok that I lost our little middle of the night rock paper scissors bout, because we were both up most of the night and are dragging today. I got him, there was no way I was going to question her with that threat, bringing him back to bed with us again, Adrienne starting right in on her worry about me crushing him, her crushing him, that we needed some fancy co-sleeper bed she had seen on the internet, the usual.

Honestly there's a part of me that wants Dr. Lam to lift the physical restriction NOW and not so we can have sex but so Adrienne can run because she's driving me insane and needs an outlet to burn this energy.

Adrienne couldn't sleep, I couldn't sleep, Nicky cried for about thirty minutes straight even with both of us, yes me included, singing every silly song we knew. For the record, Adrienne only sings children's songs in French, cajun French, which means that it really shouldn't be translated literally because it's disturbing.

I'm really glad that my son doesn't even speak English yet.

I, on the other hand, seem to know every children's song ever on Earth, Nicholas sort of likes "The Wheels on the Bus" and a few from Abydoys as well. All languages considered, the child really seems to enjoy my "swish swish swish" the best.

God help me.

At some insane o'clock Addy just decided to feed him again, and pump later if it created excess, which is something else that bothers me. I understand why she pumps, it lets me feed him and bond with him but it's kinda of crazy to see her hooked up to that machine. Carolyn suggested an electric one but it looks like some piece of farming equipment. It makes me feel like she's being used, like an animal and I really don't like to think of her being used in any way, especially given what she has gone through. I've considered suggesting formula; I've looked into it, modern blends are nearly 99% as effective as breast milk but I also want to keep my head. Suggesting anything other than what is natural in this relationship is a death wish.

Excuse me if I'm rambling, I have slept maybe an hour in twenty four. I knew babies cried, I did, but Nicholas takes the cake.

I'm not sure if I can survive this...

Wait, I hear nothing. No Adrienne singing in French, at least her voice is pretty, I do love her voice, but I don't hear any crying. I'm going to assume the best and that they've both gone to sleep and that Nicky doesn't need anything else for two more hours. In the meantime, I'm going to form an intimate bond with my sofa.

Good night.

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_Sunday June 2nd_

Aunt Barbara arrives this afternoon.

Thank you Jack O'Neill.

Daniel and I survived Saturday. He had said that he was going to work, but then he said he was teasing me and he wanted to see if I knew it was Saturday, but now I am fairly certain that he lost track of his days and was just trying to cover because I sure as hell have.

In fact, I ONLY know that it's Sunday because I got a text alert that there's a new episode of True Blood on tonight. I wonder how Eric would react to Sookie having a baby? Ok that thought was a combination of cool and guilt and what the hell. Wow, coo, back to Aunt Barb.

Daniel called her late Tuesday when Nicholas was born to let her know that I had been induced by Carolyn due to discomfort and health concerns and to give her the typical proud dad measurements. In true Southern woman form, she hadn't asked to speak to me, told Daniel to tell me that she loved me and rest up and she'd be here this weekend.

Neither of us had believed her, neither of us, but then again read the lines above; we have forgotten what day it is, what time it is, our names, what silence sounds like, everything. So when Jack called yesterday to tell us that he was flying Aunt Barbara in on an Air Force flight, due to land at Reagan tomorrow, well, today, Sunday, at about one I'm pretty sure I dropped the phone.

You don't understand, Aunt Barbara is awesome, she's the BEST, but we're a mess.

Nicky is five days old but Daniel and I are falling apart as is our house. Here is just a quick list of the causalities that I can pin point right now.

We broke the coffee machine. The regular one, not the Keurig, which is probably worse because that Keurig coffee is NOT strong enough.

We haven't done laundry since the morning that Daniel dragged me in to be induced and got his way indirectly and it is PILED all over the house. In fact, I don't think my husband is wearing any underwear. DAMN sex restriction, I've got all sorts of hormonal thoughts right now but it's not like we would get a moment's peace anyway.

There is no food. None. I mean Indy has this secret candy stash in his nightstand I have only JUST now discovered but NOT ONE BIT of real food. I might break down and order delivery again, even though I've been so good since I got home.

It smells like poop in here. Trash pick-up is on Mondays and of all of the insane presents we got this week (apparently Vala was going to have a surprise shower Friday since I wasn't supposed to have this baby yet) a diaper non-stink thingy was not included in those gifts. And note to future parents, regular trash bags cannot defeat the powerful odor of a newborn.

Daniel has taken up residence on the sofa, which doesn't bother me, we're working together in this and he needs to sleep too. He's being awesome with everything but he's just leaving his set-up there so he can sneak in a nap when he can. My sofa looks like it is home to some very messy nomad.

So, my house basically looks like a fraternity, minus the beer cans. She's gonna be en fache and I just can't do anything about it.

Maybe Vala is right, maybe I'm just not equipped to have a child.

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_Sunday June 2nd_

Adrienne told me to wash him because he is due a bath. Honestly, I had forgotten about bathing and panicked for a moment trying to figure out how to get him in the bath with me safely when Adrienne happily produced a giant sponge in the shape of a teddy bear.

What a great idea!

All I had to do was lay the sponge down, lay him on it and pour warm water over his body with a cup. Washing lightly, pop that cute little hooded Yoda towel on his head (Thank you Teal'c) and we were done. It was so easy that I have to admit I got a little bit arrogant.

Allowing Ad to get ready, she was begging for a shower herself and I sent her away, if anyone she needs to just stand in the warm stream, I decided to get the boy going. This wasn't what she expected, reading the books or not, and this wasn't what I expected.

This is hard work.

Anyhow, I went to the kitchen to warm up some pumped milk, Nicky tucked in the crook of my arms feeling pretty good about myself. Milk slightly warming in a small saucepan, I reached in for the bottle to shake it, not sure why I did that seeing as it's breast milk, when it exploded, everywhere.

All over me, all over Nicky, who started crying of course, all over the stove, all over the floor, I'm not sure if there was any part of the kitchen that wasn't covered.

I didn't know what to do; normally I'm really good in a pinch, but I haven't slept, I'm not sure that I've eaten anything other than Snickers bars in days, I'm not even sure if I could recite my name and security code at work if I had too and I just stood there, staring, my son screaming in my ear when there was a voice behind me.

"Daniel whatcha be doing wit dat chile? Give 'em ta me, ya get yaself cleaned up."

Aunt Barbara to the rescue. Adrienne might have been concerned about what she was going to say when she got here, but she raised THREE kids, Rae the youngest after TWO boys. I wasn't worried about her reaction; I was relieved for the help. I passed him over without complaint, racing to join my wife in the shower, just to have five minutes alone, restrictions or not.

I really hope she wants to stay, really really really, do I sound like an idiotic undergraduate student writing a diary or what, but we need help. We're doing well I think, he's in one piece, but neither of us have parents and with everything that's going on at work I just feel bad asking our friends for help.

I was able to slip in with Adrienne for a little bit, Adrienne hiding her body in embarrassment over the changes it had undertaken post-delivery. I don't care; she's still my soulmate, still perfectly beautiful, the love of my life, and I was excited at the very least to be able to wash her hair and do something to relax her.

The kitchen was spotless when we got out, completely spotless, Aunt Barbara sitting at the dining room table with Nicky in her lap, another heated bottle in his mouth. Adrienne still seemed embarrassed, but her aunt would hear nothing of it, telling us to go lie down and take a nap.

Oh, yeah, I hope she stays for a while.

Those were seriously the best two hours of sleep I ever had.

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_Monday June 3rd_

Daniel went to work this morning because he got to sleep all night, courtesy of Aunt Barbara who got up with me every two hours to help. Nicky cries for her too, but she doesn't seem to mind in the least, bouncing him around singing "The Wheels on the Bus" which Daniel claims is our six day old's favorite song but whatever, if there's another person to clean and help she can sing whatever she wants.

So I'm writing this entry now as Aunt Barbara is making me take a break; she's doing laundry and Nicky is down again, thankfully. It seems his baby body likes to sleep once in a while.

Oh, so the purpose of my entry.

Daniel epic fail part deux.

Alright, so, yet again, this morning before he left for base he decided to coach me on breastfeeding while he got ready and had his coffee. I humored him, I'm not gonna fight with him, he's sweet and means well, so I adjusted our son to that odd, overtly horizontal angle continuing to feed, Nicky not happy in the least. But he ate; I don't think that child will ever turn down a meal. My wonderful husband comes the moment Nicky backs away from my breast and scoops him up, gently, to burp him and say goodbye. Nicholas burped like a good boy and Daniel started to hand him back to me when he totally erupted. No, not typical baby puke, that had happened a few times when I was learning how to do the burping properly, but full on horror movie vomiting.

ALL OVER DANIEL.

I love him so much but I wanted to tell him 'I told you so' so very badly, tell him that whatever craziness he thought he knew because of something he had seen was a bad idea because the baby would naturally adjust the way it needed.

"Can you clean him up while I change?" was all Daniel said, calmly, passing that adorable mess back over.

Nope, I don't need to say a word.

Thank you Nicky.

Point for mom.

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_Monday June 3rd_

Cajun food was something I never thought in my life that I would eat until I met Adrienne and then after we became friends and I realized her entire life consisted of celery and carrots was something that I thought I would never have. With a few exceptions here and there when she has cooked it for me, I have never really had the chance to enjoy authentic Bayou cooking.

The verdict: Barbara Verdin can never leave, ever, this is the most amazing food that I have ever eaten in my entire life and if Adrienne didn't dote all over my body like she did I would be content to eat until I just became fat and exploded.

I'm exaggerating and it's blatantly obvious why the Acadian/Cajun people have the problems they do with obesity, diabetes and heart disease because there is no way that a person with any taste at all would ever say no to this food. Well, no person other than my wife, who ate nothing at dinner but some bread and vegetable soup. I'll tease her later, but to be honest she's so conditioned to eating healthy that even when we indulge in pizza it tears her stomach up a bit as it is and this is much richer.

Anyway, I got home from work to a spotless house, a well-rested wife and a semi-happy baby. I'm beginning to think the child just likes to scream. I thought Adrienne would be happy for the help but after we had put Nicky "down for the night" meaning that he would hopefully sleeping in his crib between feedings, Aunt Barbara had the air mattress blown up and ready in the living room, ushering the two of us to bed. I closed the door, hoping to get to sleep these next few hours with her in my arms when she turned around to face me, tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm a failure; I told you I could never be a mom," she was sobbing, letting herself fall into my arms.

"Ja-wer, no, no stop. I know for a fact from having friends who are parents that EVERYONE feels this way the first few months, EVERYONE," I tried to assure her, holding her, kissing her head but she just cried harder. I know she's still hormonal to an extent, so I didn't want to argue.

Leading her to the bed, I pulled back the covers, motioning for her to join me and she did, just letting me hold her while she cried. I didn't know what else to say other than she was doing a great job, that I was proud of her and that I loved her. She fell asleep crying, so I just held her and let her rest, staying awake until Nicky's next feeding.

Tomorrow is her one week appointment and Carolyn now wants us to tell her together about her womb and the damage since I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. I'm absolutely terrified to tell her; I think she just might fall apart. I love her so very much and all I ever wanted was her, Nicky was just this amazing added bonus.

I don't need another child, I just need Adrienne.

I'm gonna get some sleep; tomorrow's gonna be a long day.

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_Tuesday June 4th _

I will never carry a child again.

I knew it in my heart, I knew the moment I woke up in the infirmary, my mind finally registering that the instant Nicky was a part of this world and not just a part of me. I just hadn't expected that to actually hear Carolyn say the words would affect me so much...

_Adrienne I'm sorry but there was too much damage from Nicky's delivery. _

I hadn't thought it had been that bad, really, but I knew that wasn't all.

_From your post-delivery exam, Adrienne, we found some scarring, partially healed from, well, from your healing abilities, but there was older, more extensive, damage. _

I knew, I'd bled for days, had an infection, researched everything on the internet I could to take care of it myself, not thinking for a moment that I would ever need to worry about children, not thinking I would ever let a man lay a hand on me again.

And then came Daniel.

_Adrienne, I'd like to do a full exam on you please. And I need to know your full medical history._

So I told her. In that cold SGC infirmary I sat there and told Carolyn and Cassie what happened while Daniel held my hand, every sordid detail of during and after and how I treated myself, things I have never even told my husband. I tried not to cry, but I did, Daniel taking me in his arms, just holding me until I stopped. I'd always thought it would be the most awful embarrassing thing I could ever admit to, an admission that I was broken, weak and tainted but it wasn't.

Instead it was the most freeing experience of my life.

I'm free.

I'm no longer a prisoner to my own fears. I'm no longer a victim. I'm a survivor.

I was raped and my body was broken in such as fashion that combined with other genetic factors I can never carry another child.

But I'm still here, I was able to give birth to one beautiful son and I have an amazing supportive husband.

You might have hurt me, but you didn't break me.

And I'm free.

Now I'm just going to focus on this mom and wife thing while still trying to be a kick-ass SGC archaeologist. We have an evil villain to stop, alliances to be made, and I'm gonna do it with a baby on my hip and Daniel at my side no longer ashamed of my past. I have three more weeks at home, three more weeks to get a handle on this mom thing first though.

Oh, and I kinda like this journaling, but don't tell Daniel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX

_Tuesday June 4th_

Adrienne is so happy and had I known that admitting what had happened to her would have garnered this reaction, I might have tried to get her to talk to someone sooner. Not that on base quack we have, but at least Carolyn since it was a health concern. She was so thrilled in fact when she came home that she sat down her aunt, who had DETAILED the house while we were at Ad and Nicky's check-up, and told her everything. They cried together, Aunt Barbara apologizing as if she could have done anything, while Nicky and I slipped into the kitchen to warm him a bottle and to order some dinner.

I ordered her favorite, Mexican, and left the baby in the care of the now much calmer women while I ran to pick it up.

They were smiling when I returned, laughing, Adrienne with a large mug of hot chocolate despite it being June. There was such happiness in my house, such glee and sheer joy that words cannot describe how I'm feeling because just as I was going to brew myself and Aunt Barbara some coffee the phone rang.

It was Vala and she was calling to tell me that Galar had fallen to clone forces, the men that made it out telling tales of Jaffa like warriors taking orders from Galaran scientists who seemed to have turned on their own people. Adrienne still had three more weeks of leave, well, three weeks that she's agreeing to take, the bare minimum, and she needed to spend those weeks enjoying her time with our child, and one more week of Aunt Barbara's amazing help.

I'll deal with Anubis, with what is to come. He's not going to lay a hand on my family.

Dinner was great, I chose well; there is something very satisfying and comforting about Mexican food.

It's late, Adrienne just fed Nicky and Carolyn says the amount he is eating and growing to try to see if he can make it three hours now, which is fine by me. I wanted to get this down before I went to sleep myself and I plan on going in there and curling myself around that perfect person in my bed, our bed and holding her because at the end of it all that is all that matters.

I'm so happy.


	65. Chapter 64 - Surprise Guests :)

**Three Archaeologists and a Little Lady**

_This chapter is a Crossover with SGsVamp's Light God series and was written together with her. (Boy did we have a BLAST doing it). It occurs right after Surprise Package's story "Seven Days" but will not occur in the Light God timeline until part three. _

_We both hope that you all enjoy because we sure as heck enjoyed writing it together! (And it's long, we REALLY got carried away. Good thing Skype is free!)_

"Okay, that has got to be the wackiest plan you have ever come up with!" General Jack O'Neill exclaimed, leaning back in the briefing room chair, near dumbfounded at Daniel's suggestion.

"You've said that before," Daniel countered, not bothering to mention just how many times.

"I also said that I didn't want you mentioning that damn time machine ever again."

The surrounding members of SG-1 looked on in awkward silence while the General and the Archaeologist, both known for their legendary stubbornness, glared at each other hotly.

Until Daniel reluctantly dropped his gaze to the tabletop, "Look, I know it's a long shot-"

"You do?" Jack interrupted sarcastically, "Good, 'cause you're acting like you don't."

"-But my point is, right now isn't it worth the risk?" Daniel continued, stubbornly ignoring Jack's interruptions. "The Ancients aren't going to help us; the Asgard and Tok'ra are all but gone. There isn't going to be a friendly neighborhood alien ally to bails us out of this one. We're in this alone."

"Have you forgotten the problems that thing caused us last time we screwed around with it?" Jack argued.

"Of course, I haven't." Daniel snapped. There was no way he could.

"For arguments sake, let's say we do this," Mitchell said, leaning forward in his chair, "Last time we did this we were swapped with our counterparts. What about the others that come here in exchange?"

"That's the easy part," Sam weighed in. "The substitution component is a safety feature added to the device to protect against entropic cascade failure. It's not essential to the operation of the device and can be easily bypassed."

"Et tu Beauty?" Jack glared at his lover, already guessing that he was gonna lose this battle. If Daniel had Sam's backing there would be no logic he could impart to sway their argument.

Sam aimed a shrug in his direction. He should be used to SG-1 not following orders; after all, he started the team's trait. "Of course this means that anyone that goes does so at their own risk. Because of this I would suggest as small a team as possible and a limited time frame to minimize the risk. The hard part will be adjusting the calculations to make the jump to an alternate future rather than an alternate present, if that is even possible."

"I know I'm probably gonna regret asking this, but: What's the point?"

Daniel stared over the top of his glasses at Jack. "To find out if there is a way to defeat the Ori," he stated slowly, as if talking to a child, and not a very bright one at that.

"In an alternate reality? How do we even know that whatever those guys do, did, whatever, would even be possible here?"

Daniel didn't reply. In truth, there was no way they could know. It was a long shot, a stab in the dark, but at this point they had nothing to lose. The Ori were the greatest threat the Galaxy had ever come across, probably would ever come across and something needed to be done. If only to affirm hope that it was possible to survive.

"Obviously Leesia needs to go." Daniel stated calmly, powering on despite Jack's reservations.

"Obviously," Jack said questionably, his tone dryly sardonic.

"If anything should go wrong, she's the one with the most experience in alternate realities. Plus, with her abilities and the fact that the device is Ancient it gives her our best chance should anything go wrong on the other end. It makes sense."

"Daniel, none of this 'makes sense'" Jack added, making sarcastic quote marks with his first two fingers. "I take it that means battery-boy is going too."

"Yes." Daniel stated firmly, with a nod, choosing to ignore Jack's new nickname for him. It was a step up from Plant-boy at any rate. "Look, I know it's a risk, a big one. But what other choice is there?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

With the 'Switching' crystal safely removed, Sam stood and dusted the muck from her knees.

"Once you jump we'll give you 24 hours before activating the recall," Sam told them seriously.

"That doesn't give us much time," Daniel grumbled, setting an alarm on his watch.

"Any longer than that and the risk of ECF increase dramatically," Sam stated.

Reluctantly, Daniel nodded in agreement. With the Galaxy potentially hanging in the balance he was willing to risk his own safety for more time... Leesia's on the other hand, was another matter entirely.

"At our best guess this should take you around a decade into the future," Sam continued.

"It feels somewhat like our own," Leesia told him, her hand gliding across the edge of the stone-like device, "Hopefully that will mean that they have already encountered the Ori."

"But you need to know whether or not they even know about the Stargate program before revealing classified information."

"That will be obvious if both Leesia and I are there," Daniel told them, folding his arms around his waist, "Without it we wouldn't have met."

"True," Sam admitted. "But there's no telling what changes you'll find. If not you have to be sure."

"Okay," Daniel said, taking a breath and wrapping his arms firmly around Leesia, hoping they were right that the physical contact would keep them together for the jump. "See you tomorrow."

"Good luck," Cam nodded as he, Sam and Teal'c took a step back.

"Thanks," Daniel replied nervously, they would need it.

"Ready?" Leesia asked, keeping one arm firmly wrapped around him, the other feeling over the device.

"As I'll ever be," he replied and with a nod, Leesia activated the device and the couple disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"He's down," Adrienne whispered from the doorway to the bedroom, relief washing over her face. Jaw dropping, Daniel set the bottle of Advil back on the nightstand, forgetting the small collection of medication in his palm.

"Thank God, for good? Please say for good or at least four hours..." Daniel, begged, pleading with his wife even though he knew the effort was in vain.

Nicky was never going to let either of them sleep ever again.

"I hope so, I fed him, burped him, he's clean, I even sang "The Wheels on the Bus," although I'm most certainly not the expert on 'swish swishing' that you are sha. There's absolutely nothing else and I've gone through every trick in the book," she replied, referring to the only other source of contention in their household other than the baby himself, the books, which she had reverted right back to the moment Aunt Barbara had headed back home.

"I told you to stop reading that book. Those idiot authors never had a baby. If they had it would come with a gigantic warning on the cover reading: Welcome to parenthood; your life is now over," Daniel replied, feeling the pills in his hands and remember his aching head, downing them dry.

"You don't mean that ya cooyon," she teased, moving to sit beside him on the bed, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Of course I don't, I just think I'm too old for this. But then again, my wife is practically a teenager and she's completely falling to pieces so maybe it's just babies in general," he joked back, wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Ok, well, your teenaged wife thinks he's out, for now," she replied sighing.

"We can only hope," he whispered, kissing her head, feeling her pull away to stand, looking down at him.

"So...I think I'm gonna shower..." she explained, not moving, but standing at the foot of the bed, smiling.

"Have fun. I'm gonna sit here and enjoy silence," Daniel answered, letting his weary body flop against the bed, hoping the noise of the plop didn't stir his pint sized tormentor, but Adrienne was shaking her head at him already, giggling playfully.

"Indy, love, let's try this again. I think I'm gonna shower and Nicky's asleep..." she led, biting her lower lip lightly, teasingly.

_Come on Daniel,_ she thought, _Carolyn just gave us the ok, it's been forever, please clue in.._..

"Oh that? Oh, hell yeah," he replied, his expression changing as he leapt from the bed, pulling his shirt over his head racing behind her to the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

It had been too long, god how long had it been, but regardless Adrienne didn't even bother with foreplay, their usual slow careful washing of one another, letting him slam her against the shower stall. She felt him lift her, hoping that he wouldn't drop her, although he had been good about that lately, well, before Nicky lately, wrapping her leg around his waist, begging him with her body. Biting her neck_, oh my lord is he biting m_e she thought, when there was a shimmer in front of her and a quick flash of light blinding her only for a moment.

She screwed her eyes closed, another wave of pleasure coursing through her body, before opening her eyes again, staring ahead, her heart stopping.

She couldn't be seeing what she was seeing, could she?

Of course she was, why would she think for a moment that anything in her life with Daniel Jackson would be normal, sexy post baby showers included.

They were no longer alone.

Not taking her eyes off the interloper, she whispered gently in his ear, "Sha, I know we said we might need to spice things up after the baby, but this is NOT what I was thinking," the words spilling out of her mouth as her eyes widened.

Frozen, Daniel stared at her, completely confused, ironically with the same expression as the man behind him. It was another Daniel, a younger Daniel, frozen in shock, water beating down his uniform covered back.

"Spice up how?" he asked, taken aback, starting to pull away, but Adrienne stopped him, holding him firmly in place.

"Oh no Indy, trust me, you don't wanna do that..." she quickly added, thinking that if she wasn't seeing things her husband needed to stay right where he was, his more private side facing her.

"What Ja-wer?" Daniel whispered, "did you hear Nicky?" he asked, but she shook her head, holding him gently in place.

There was movement at the man's rear_, great, even bette_r, _what da 'ell there's _**_three _**_of them_, and a petite brunette woman stepped out the best she could in the stall from behind him.

Okay, a second Daniel, that she could attribute to her sleep deprived brain cooking a fantasy she wouldn't normally consider...maybe...no two Daniels could be a lot of fun, then she's not really doing anything wrong, but another woman?

Yeah, no, that would never cross her mind, joking with Vala or not.

"Stop what you're doing right now. Don't uh, well, eh, just, Daniel, oh dear god, you have to stop sha, just, dear god why do you have to stop, Daniel just STOP, just stop, turn your head only and look behind you," she stammered out, trying to ignore the waves of pleasure that he was sending through her, closing her eyes, thinking she was losing her mind, _damn Nicky, that damn never sleeping bab_y. She didn't open her eyes, she didn't need to; she knew when he dropped her leg that she wasn't seeing things.

"Good I'm not crazy," she stated, unable to move or say anything more.

Shaking his head in an attempt to recover from the shock of the sight before him, Daniel lifted his hand and covered Leesia's eyes. Of all of the possible situations they could jump into, materializing in his counterpart's shower, while he was having sex was not one he had thought to consider.

Leesia's shoulders slumped in a silent huff of disbelief, "Really Daniel? This is nothing I have not seen before," she said, batting his hand away from her face.

"Pretty sure it is," Daniel retorted. While the sight of his naked body would be no shock for her, seeing him so intimate with another woman was definitely high on the 'things-he-never-wanted-her-to-see' list.

"Hi I'm Adrienne Jackson. Welcome to our shower," the crimson faced Cajun was finally able to spit out, noting the blatant discomfort of their surprise guests, well, one of them, really not knowing what else to do.

"You did NOT just say that Ad..." Daniel whispered, looking at his wife in shock as she shrugged, not letting go of his back for a moment.

Unfazed, Leesia smiled in greeting, extending her hand over the naked Daniel's shoulder towards the new woman. "Thank you. I am Leesia. I assume my husband needs no introduction," she giggled lightly.

"Can we save the meet and greet for when some of us are less naked please?" Daniel moaned, his reddening face buried in his wife's shoulder, feeling her hand come quickly to the back of his neck squeezing it gently.

_Like that makes it any better, Ad,_ he thought, but didn't shrug her away.

"I was just about to say the same," the second Daniel agreed, already pulling Leeisa out of the shower cubical.

"I believe that answers the question as to whether or not I exist in this reality," Leesia stated, matter-of-factly, as her husband yanked the curtain back around the naked couple and shooed her from the bathroom, into a bedroom that looked like it had been pulled straight out of a cheap greek romance novel.

"Ya think?" he replied, closing the door behind them. The couple had shown no sign of recognition towards Leesia; clearly this version of himself had never met her. "Maybe he never ascended," Daniel mused in a hushed whisper.

Leesia cocked her head in thought, "There is a simple way to find out."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"It's safe now Indy," Adrienne whispered, giggling in his ear, this latest episode in her life too unbelievable to warrant any other reaction.

Pulling back from her embrace, Daniel frowned, rolling his eyes. "That's a relative term Ad," he replied, leaning to shut off the water before turning back to face her.

"Well, they weren't screaming, so let's go with they meant to be here just not in the middle of, well, that," Adrienne tried to joke, opening the curtain and reaching for two towels.

"Let's pretend THAT didn't happen and see why they're here," he answered, wrapping the fabric quickly around his waist and stepping over the edge, "You need to not be trusting of something just because it looks like me." Feeling a little sheepish for just a moment for falling into that trap, Adrienne followed, opening the door to their bathroom to find their guest, a feeling of worry in her stomach.

Even though she knew what to expect when she opened the door, it was still a bit of a shock when she saw the somewhat younger version, noting that both of the people were soaked from head to toe staring, waiting, odd expressions on their, or at least his face. The woman seemed calm, very calm and that in and itself made Adrienne feel a little less vulnerable, what with her being naked and all.

Without a word, Leesia boldly stepped up to the man identical to her husband. Gently, she ran her hand up his naked, dripping chest, coming to rest over his heart, immediately a startled gasp caught in his throat.

Stunned and wide eyed, he stared down at where she was touching him. The sensation was unlike anything he had felt before, an intense surge of energy, more powerful than any caffeine binge or adrenaline pumping activity Adrienne had ever dragged him to. It spread through him, from where her hand sat on his skin, making his heart race and his palms sweat.

"What the hell is that?" he gasped out.

"Residual energies, left over from when you were ascended," Leesia answered him, "More than once, I would guess, judging by the strength. Although they may be stronger at present due to your -"

"-Leesia. Vetoed topic in company," Daniel interrupted through gritted teeth, seeing where her sentence was heading and cutting her off before she got there. They needed this couple's help and they were probably embarrassed enough without Leesia reminding them what they had witnessed mere moments before, "Remember? We've talked about this."

_'Repeatedly_' he added inside his head.

She looked over her shoulder and addressed her husband, "I believe you applied those rules for anyone other than you, in anywhere other than the bedroom. Well, he is you and unless I'm mistaken this is the bedroom."

"Woah, woah, woah, wait," Adrienne spoke up, screwing up her face in confusion, "you mean he's got more leftover merde from being ascended?" she asked, worried as to what in the hell is going on, his eyes gazing at her bewildered as if he wanted to explain something, but merely lacked the words. He was calm, eerily calm and collected, his face showing an outward expression of what Adrienne had felt when she saw the woman.

Slowly, dropping her hand, Leesia turned to face Adrienne. Seeing the troubled look the woman was wearing, she quickly backed away and tried to reassure her, "There is no need for concern. It is not harmful."

Adrienne, however, didn't seemed convinced, rushing to her spouse's side, running her fingers where the woman's had been, searching for a mark or a wound but finding nothing. It was her lot in life it seemed to pick up after Daniel was hurt and she really didn't want to be adding to the list today.

"Are you ok?" she asked, trying to look him over, her own heart pounding in her chest.

"I'm fine ja-wer, really, it's wasn't bad or malicious at all, " Daniel whispered quietly in her ear, "it was just, well-"

"- Different." Both Daniels said in unison, the younger nodding in understanding, remembering his similar reaction the first time he had felt the tingles himself.

"I'm sorry if we scared you," he continued, speaking softly to his other self's wife, while wrapping a supportive arm around his own, who was looking equally as troubled for causing a panic. "We just had to make sure before we shared classified information. With Leesia not being in this reality we had no way of knowing how much would be the same here," he rambled on awkwardly, rolling his hand as he spoke. "It was the only way we could be certain."

"Sha, are you ok, look at me," Addy asked, still concerned, he was still slightly breathless and it worried her, more than she could put into words.

"Ad, go get that bag from Rodney, the one he had you bring home this afternoon. I think there's something in there," Daniel took a breath and requested, Adrienne shaking her head. "I'm fine, go, he wanted me to look at that cloning tool, I think it will, just please, get it," he sputtered out, Adrienne trusting his eyes and his eyes only dashing to do as he requested.

"I hope you don't mind but," he started, his double nodding.

"No, no, of course, we would do the same."

Adrienne returned in a flash, struggling with her towel, the large black military duffle thrown over her shoulder. Her husband didn't say a word, kneeling and removing what appeared to be a long stick, standing and walking over to his twin.

"Finger?" he requested, the younger complying, Daniel tapping the end of the device and pulling it quickly away, reading something on the tiny screen, not paying any attention as the other Daniel wiped the excess blood droplet onto his pants leg. There was a light glow and buzz, the elder nodding his head with relief.

"Clear," he said to no one else but Adrienne, who suddenly looked much better.

"Alright, so you guys are who you appear to be," she said with a sigh.

"Again, we are sorry to have scared you both," Daniel said sheepishly, "Believe me, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't important."

"No, I understand, I do. I just tend to flip shit first and ask questions later when it comes to him; the man seems to be a magnet for injury. I kinda like having him around, on occasion," she tried to joke, sensing that this couple meant no harm, her heart still racing nonetheless.

_Stupid hormones_, she thought, _makes me worry about stupid Daniel stupidly dying again_.

_UGH!_

"I can relate to the feeling," Leesia said, giving her Daniel a pointed 'I told you so' look and wondering how many times this woman had had to watch her Daniel put himself in the middle of a life threatening situation, leaving her powerless to do anything but watch while his life hung in the balance.

"Ah mon ami, ya too?" Adrienne laughed finally, catching the glance and shaking her head at the younger copy, "must be a Daniel thing."

Leesia nodded in agreement. "One I am getting most tired with," she added with a playful grin, the look returning.

"Is this pick on Daniel day?" he asked, frowning and bringing his fist up to rest on his hip.

"Shug, in this house, EVERY day is pick on Daniel day," Adrienne replied laughing out loud.

"SHHHHH, keep your voice down Ad. For the love of all things holy, please don't wake the baby!" Daniel hissed, eyeing his wife in warning, however, even as the sentence fell from his lips came the unmistakable sound of a baby crying from another room.

"I really don't get a break do I?" he huffed, already heading in the direction of the wailing, the steady 'waaa' vibrating through his skull.

.

"Let's get you something to wear, you're drenched," the woman offered, reaching for Leesia, "And Indy can hook you up with something I'm sure, after he's got le P'tit boug calmed down. It's his turn," the Cajun told him; at least that is what he thought the accent was, Cajun or Creole.

Thankful that he had an excuse to leave the women to mock and whine about their husbands without having to listen, he quickly left the room looking for his other self.

"Indy?" Leesia asked, curious about the name bestowed on Daniel's counterpart by his spouse.

"Like Indiana Jones, from the movies, Temple of Doom, Raiders?" Adrienne clarified.

"The fictional Archaeologist?" Leesia questioned, remembering Jack had mentioned the character to her as a suggested baby name for them and Daniel had been less than impressed with the idea.

"Yeah, that one. I used to like to mess with him, a joke between us, but now? Who am I foolin'? I still like to mess with him and the name stuck," Adrienne grinned, dashing to the side wall and opening a door, revealing a very large closet and an array of clothes inside, taking a careful step over the now absent Egyptian 'poof' she had become so used to taking, chuckling quietly to herself at the memory.

Leesia peered round the taller woman into the overly bright and meticulously organised closet. Even by glance she could tell that there was nothing in there that would fit her slight frame. Not really surprising as Adrienne stood at nearly half a foot above her, closer to Daniel's height than her own.

"Cah, donna worry, I got cha covered," Adrienne added, noting the look of concern on the woman's face, reaching for a flowery bit of fabric tucked away on the corner. "I know I'm not a small woman, especially these damn Cajun hips," the taller woman chuckled, shaking her waist from side to side, a bright grin across her face, "but I've got a few sarongs; you can tie it however you want."

She accepted the multi coloured garment, so different from her usual style of blues and creams, grateful to not have to spend a moment longer in her soaked BDU's. "I spent the first few days of my human life in Daniel's clothes," she explained with a smile. "By comparison this is highly agreeable." she added as she removed the zat from her harness, passing it to Adrienne, starting to tug off her wet clothes, the Cajun glancing down in disbelief at the weapon, now in her hands.

_And here's Indy being all paranoid; the damn woman just handed me her gun..._

"I bet. So, Leesia, did I say that right?" Adrienne inquired as her guest began to change, wanting to make sure she didn't offend their visitor.

"Yes, that is right. Although, most seem to call me Lees," she offered, thinking the acronym may be simpler with the woman's strong accent.

"Got it, just like to ask. We've got a lotta strange names in the Bayou so I've been trained to ask how to say just about everything. You can call me Addy," she explained, shrugging her shoulders before walking over to the dresser, pulling out some yoga pants and a tank, tossing aside her towel to get dressed as she continued, "So...I'm just wondering, to what do we owe this 'lil visit? It's not every day younger copies of my husband and alter wives pop up in our shower..."

_I'm just as damn nosey as he is_, she thought, her previous notion of letting Daniel ask why they were here completely out the window.

"Daniel believes he will find answers here," she said, sounding doubtful. Free of her vest and boots, she unfastened her thigh harness and added it to the growing pile of wet items. "He would not be told otherwise."

"Yet another trait in common. Let me guess, crazy out of left field idea that stands about a snowball's chance in hell of working that could possibly kill or injure him and leave you a widow?" Adrienne asked, sensing the woman's apprehension. It was clear that she cared very much for her husband and was here most likely to keep him out of trouble.

_We're gonna get along great_, Adrienne thought.

Leesia giggled; Addy knew him well. "Actually it was I that had to come, Daniel refused to allow me to come alone," she said, tossing her jacket to the floor and starting to peel off her t-shirt. Adrienne smiled, pulling the yoga pants to her hips.

"Glad to hear his alternate is just as caring," she added, popping the tank over her head.

"The compassionate nature does seems to be something he was born with. That and the tendency to get into trouble. Stubborn as he is."

Adrienne decided to refrain from erupting into total laughter and from adding that he was a complete pain in her ass and had been for years, going back instead to her original line of questioning.

"So how'd you guys get here? All of the crazier things we've got stored in area 51, but I was pretty sure the quantum mirror was destroyed," the Cajun asked, kneeling to collect her towel and guest's wet clothes.

"While that would have been preferable, unfortunately the mirror would not have been useful in this instance," Leesia replied, pleased that so much of this reality was proving to be similar to their own. The closer they were the more likely it was for Daniel's plan to weld results. "We needed to come to a future timeline. So Sam made alterations to the device on PX7-169." She tugged off her BDU pants and handed them over.

"PX7-169? Never heard of it," Adrienne answered, her brain going a mile a minute. It didn't fit current codes, nor did it fit any of the new ones in their system, "Ancient?" she asked, the promise of a possible useful tool for themselves dashing through her head.

Eyeing up the strange garment, Leesia nodded. "Yes. Considering the laws of my people, I am amazed they leave potentially dangerous technology all over the galaxy for any race to find," she said in clear disapproval.

Seeing Leesia standing unashamed, in her panties, which thankfully had avoided getting soaked, turning the sarong over in her hands like she had never seen one before in her life, Adrienne took it from her and shook it open, folding it carefully in half like a blanket, holding it up to the woman.

"Of all the damn times dat Vala's skinny ass donna leave anything ova 'ere ya po' ding gotta be stuck in my merde, 'ere let me," Adrienne muttered, directing the woman's arms up to wrap the garment behind her back, her brain kicking back and forth between thoughts, "Apparently. We've been finding all sorts of leftover goodies as time passes, things that shouldn't have really been sittin' around."

"I'm pleased that someone else, _finally_, understands that," Leesia smiled broadly. "The others seem to be on the impression that anything they find is theirs for the taking... except Jack who I think is merely trying to avoid more trouble... Unless it comes in the form of a weapon that is."

"And apparently some things never change, regardless of timeline or alterverse," Adrienne responded, signalling with her hand that she follow her out of the closet back into the bedroom to where she hoped her husband was calming the neverending cry fest in the room next door.

Leesia followed, stepping over the clothing that seemed to be literally strewn all over the place.

"Sorry, we, uh, well, with the baby, it's hard to get time, alone, like that," Adrienne stammered, blushing, tiptoeing around what this stranger, this other wife of another version of her husband who was standing in front of her in her beachwear for some unknown reason, had just witnessed.

"I can imagine," she replied, forcing herself to mask the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat, immediately regretting her choice of words. This version of Daniel had the family that he longed for, the striking, if somewhat quirky, wife and child. They were happy and she was not about to let her own pain cloud their happiness.

Keeping further comments to herself, she followed the tall woman as she led her out of the bedroom door and into the hallway, presumably in the direction of the nursery.

"Can you take him Ad, please, I'd like to actually have a chance to put some clothes on considering we have company," Daniel pleaded as he entered the hall, a small whimpering bundle in his arms, gesturing to his significant other to free him. Finally noticing that her poor husband was still in a towel, water droplets cascading down his neck, driving her wild, Adrienne reached out to take the child, trying not to let her eyes wander too much down his body.

_Damn baby, damn visitors, I'm never gonna have sex again,_ she thought, grimacing.

Without another word, the older Daniel headed to the bedroom to change, signaling his double to follow.

Now that he could actually hear what the man was saying, or hear anything at all other than wailing, Daniel started right in with his questions. "As my wife so tactfully put it, you weren't screaming back there, so I assume you planned on popping in?" he asked cautiously, a part of him still holding up his guard. Adrienne hadn't been around long enough to know better, despite everything.

The trailing Daniel rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah," he said, drawing the word out, "Timing kinda sucked, but this is a planned trip. Uh, I really don't know where to start um. Okay, back in our reality we've encountered the Ori." He paused seeing if his counterpart responded to the name, which he did, the frown on his face telling him this was a familiar term.

"Oh fun," he replied, indicating that he carry on as he dug through the dresser, passing back a black t-shirt.

"Yeah, not really," he replied with a sarcastic purse of his lips. Taking the offered T he rambled on as he tugged his soaked clothes off his body, "Anyway, as we had a, for lack of a better word, time machine at our disposal we decided to jump ahead to find some answers. Between you and me, we're in over our heads with this one."

"This is the Ori we're talking about, we're all in over our heads," the man at the dresser replied, starting to peel the towel away but pausing, taking a quick glance at this intruder. The man was just undressing like he was supposed to be here, tossing his weapons aside like it was nothing, another sign to Daniel that this may be alright; that while they were not clones they could have been anything else.

_You used to trust people so much more; let's give it a chance now_, "When are you guys from?"

Averting his eyes to avoid a second up close and personal view of the other man's butt_, my butt, his butt, whichever_, Daniel pulled the shirt over his head, "2005," he told him, "We aimed for a jump approximately a decade into the future, but it's hard to pinpoint exactly."

"Close, welcome to 2013, mid-year, my, well, our birthday is next week," he answered, turning hand over a pair of jeans, pivoting back himself to pull his own pair to his hips.

"Well, we won't be here that long, we're on a 24 hour time limit, well-" he checked his watch, "23, 30. So Happy Birthday."

"Thanks but I try not to think about it, I haven't had much luck with birthdays in recent years," future Daniel tried to joked as he turned back around, noting the curiosity in his guest's face.

"Forget I mentioned it. Ok, the Ori is it? Then this is probably a conversation we should have with the ladies," he added quickly, wanting his comfort zone close if he was going to have to relive this again.

The man's sudden change of tone, going from almost playful to anxious at the mention of the Ascended beings, worried Daniel. Whatever had happened in this reality concerning the Ori couldn't be good.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Sorry, he just cries. A lot. For no reason. I'm sorry, I only know ya name and here Imma vay yay wit ya like I've known ya," the Cajun apologized, adjusting the child in her arms, her mind so fuddled with exhaustion that she could have just kept her mouth shut but, among other things she had picked up from Daniel over the years, yammering on and on was the worst of the habits.

"True blessings must come at a price. There is no greater blessing," she smiled, hoping that it came across as sincerely as she meant it to be.

"He is, for more reasons than you know. I just wish that I knew what was wrong with him," she added, her dark eyes closing in frustration as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Leesia paused, closely studying the tiny bundle squirming in his mother's arms, his little face reddened as he cried insistently. His tiny brow was puckered in a very Daniel-like frown, one that she had seen too many times before to not recognize immediately.

"He is frustrated," she said, sympathetically.

"Trust me, so are mom and dad," Adrienne replied, glancing over at where the Daniels had left, in more ways than one, she thought, damn Indy skipping out on his turn. "We've tried everything we can think of. He just doesn't stop crying. Ever!" Adrienne sputtered out, exasperated; she just couldn't take it anymore, Nicky wailing in her arms.

"It must be something that you have not thought of then," Leesia stated simply.

"Trust me, we've done everything, read every book, but I'm open to suggestions," the Cajun continued, looking for any answers this stranger might have.

"Sometimes the best knowledge comes from the heart not from ink."

"Well, mon ami, I'm out of ideas, out of everything, here, have at it, PLEASE," the Cajun sighed, taking a step forward. For the tiny person's entire four week existence they'd been trying to get him to calm down and stop the insistent screaming, if Leesia thought she could do any better she was gonna have a shock coming.

"Oh no, I did not mean that-" Leesia began holding her hands up in protest, but suddenly there was a baby in her arms, a wildly screaming baby, the close proximity making his cries all the louder to her unaccustomed ears.

It was odd holding a baby of Daniel's that was not also hers, odd, yet surprisingly warm and comforting. Daniel deserved his dreams to come true no matter which version. This woman had made that possible for this one, sweetly nicknamed "Indy" and had also given him the family he so richly craved. Their baby was a blessing and blessed.

Their family was whole.

"I know, I know," Leesia cooed sympathetically, smiling down at him, "It is all right. We can hear you, you do not need to cry."

And in that instant, Nicholas stopped crying, his mother almost hitting the floor.

"Oh my gawd, he stopped. He really stopped."

"You know, your Father is the most intelligent person I have ever met. He is just sleep deprived, as is your Mother. They will be able to understand what has you so upset if you just let them sleep," Leesia continued, speaking directly to the child.

"How'd you do that?" the taller woman inquired, watching this stranger do exactly what she herself had done before, but this time it was working, it was really working. Hope in her eyes as she stepped forward cautiously to peer down at her now quiet child.

"He must have inherited his father's compassion," Leesia surmised, Adrienne frowning, much like Daniel as well, Leesia noted.

"And my stubbornness, what a great combination," Adrienne added, hearing shuffling behind her.

"I think I've gone deaf?" Indy checked as he entered the unexpectedly free of wailing and now tranquil room, trailed by his other self, staring over at his wife in confusion, who was already making a face at him.

"Yep, add that to the list of old man supplies I need to buy you, a hearing aide," she spat back, looking back her son.

"Cute Ad, what did you do to him?"

"Nothing, it was Leesia, she just took him and he stopped..." she answered, not knowing what else to say and having no other explanation for what just happened.

"So you didn't drug him?"

His wife glared at him, a chilling stare, before racing up and hugging the smaller woman, child still in her arms. The baby remained silent, cooing even, _was he cooing,_ Adrienne whipping around and turning to Daniel, shoving her husband out of the way.

"Can we keep her? Like forever?" she asked the other man, her own husband's eyes rolling.

"Oh I am certain it was not my doing," Leesia stated quickly, gently handing Nicky back to the flabbergasted mother before any further misunderstanding could occur. Adrienne was nervous, reaching out for him before pulling back her hands, afraid that if she touched him it would set off the wailing again.

_Stop being stupid_, she told herself, extending her arms a second time to take her son, who remained blissfully calm as she made herself comfortable holding him.

He was still calm, his dark brown eyes gazing up at her own.

"Beb, listen. We love you, we do, and if I knew what to do I would do it, ok? Just give us a break," Adrienne tried now, realizing that other than the days right after his birth she had never had the chance to say anything to him, to talk to him other than begging him to please stop crying.

"Nicky, shug, let's go to sleep. Sweetie you need a lot more sleep than you get, just lay down for a while, okay? Don'tcha wanna be big and strong?" she urged, holding him tighter, like she felt she should, like she felt that she hadn't been able to. As if on cue, the baby yawned and closed his eyes, Adrienne scanning the room.

"I'm gonna go put him back down, if ya'll'll excuse me," she whispered in apology, slipping down the hallway.

"So beb, here's what happening. Another Daddy and yet another alien have appeared in Mommy's shower. Alien lady weird zaps Daddy which is supposedly ok, but makes me now worry about other weird merde that your Daddy doesn't know about but she's apparently a baby whisperer. Yep, that about sums up your life at this moment little one, welcome to the Jackson family," Adrienne muttered, more to herself than the sleeping child in her arms, bumping the nursery door open with her hip to make a beeline to the crib. Leaning over carefully, she placed the child into his bed, pulling the mossy looking blanket over him.

Amazingly, Nicky remaining peacefully undisturbed and Adrienne paused at the door looking back at the sleeping angel.

Two Daniels, another alien woman with freaky ascended abilities and now a silent Nicky.

It was too weird.

Harshly, she pinched her own forearm. "Ok, so not dreaming." she mumbled, pulling the door closed and heading back to rejoin the madness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"If everything's alright now, we actually have something serious to discuss," the elder Daniel announced as his wife returned. Taking a deep breath, knowing where her thoughts were going to take her and knowing that she was about to freak out considering he had only just told her about Galar, "They've met the Ori."

Her eyes widened at the name, as he knew they would and he gave her a long pointed look, a look that said, stall, do something, I need a moment and then I need you.

"Coffee, then, a whole pot," she declared, herding the guests the rest of the way down the hall to the center of the room. It was her first thought, coffee; in Louisiana everything could be fixed with coffee.

_God, I'm turnin' into Aunt Barbara_, she thought, darting her eyes over to the second Daniel, "One cream, two sugars right? How about you?" she added to Leesia, wondering if this other woman was as much of a fan as her husband.

"No, please allow me," she said softly, not moving from her spot. They were stalling, that much was clear, although why they would do that didn't make any sense to her, but she clutched Daniel's hand as an uneasy feeling washed over her.

Raising her eyebrows, Adrienne stared at her husband, trying to determine what exactly she meant by allow me. However, before she could voice the question the sound of what was unmistakably their most beloved household appliance, their newly replaced beloved household appliance, sputtering to life came from the kitchen behind her.

Seeing the pair's confused expression, Daniel spoke up. "I should probably explain that Leesia is a technopath."

"A what?!" his counterpart asked, wondering if he heard him right.

"A technopath, sha, someone with the ability to control technology with their mind. Like Micah from Heroes," Adrienne explained smiling as Daniel rolled his eyes. Adrienne's knowledge of pop culture never ceased to amaze him, "you need to read more comics Indy."

"Right," the younger agreed, although he'd never heard of this Micah character... or Heroes for that matter, but he was certain that his other would find out sooner than he.

"Is that something left over from when you were ascended?" Adrienne asked, her mind wandering, her computer-like brain kicking into overdrive, "Sha, remember, ya, well 'contribution', wha if da descension changes each person en a diffrent way, wha if da same ting da make ya ahn me act like da damn X-men is whas makin' our friend 'ere 'ave all sorts ah sparkly powas," Adrienne explained, tried to explain, glancing to the small woman to see if she could answer. Catching that she had slipped in the excitement of the idea, her words getting the best of her, Adrienne took a breath, forcing herself into professor mode.

"Sorry Leesia, I was just thinking about the descension. You see, Daniel has sexually transmitted to me some sort of gifts that he had derived from his descension back to earth that has made some fundamental changes to his as well as my personal genetic makeup," Adrienne clarified, her spouse's jaw dropping.

"She went there," he said to no one but himself, shaking his head wondering what other highly personal information Adrienne was going to offer up.

"Could that be it?" she added, wondering if she was right, "Have either of you experienced any other significant changes?

"Uh, no it is, em-"

"A long story," younger Daniel quickly interrupted, knowing Leesia wouldn't want to explain herself. Having the memories was painful enough without voicing them. He gently ran his thumb across the back of Leesia's knuckles, hoping that his touch alone would ease the tension he could feel from her. "Basically, the sharing energy is left over from being ascended, but the technopathy was, uh, pre-ancient. Something that was unwillingly done to her," he told them, hoping it would be explanation enough and catching Leesia's grateful half-smile to him out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh," Adrienne uttered, sensing the other woman's discomfort, "I'm sorry. I've had some awful stuff happen to me too and I understand if you don't want to talk about it. I couldn't for a very long time," a pale hand reached out in her direction, a kind smile to match, "it's just that being with Daniel's just filled my life with all sorts of surprises."

Much to both Daniels' and Adrienne's surprise, Leesia started giggling. "I imagine that any Daniel would not be the most relaxing of husbands."

"Hey!" Both Daniel's protested in unison.

"What?" Leesia frowned in confusion at both of them. "It is the truth. You cannot deny that you have a knack for getting into bizarre and dangerous situations."

_Speaking of which_, Daniel thought glancing over at his wife who read his eyes as she did.

"Coffee, and I'll get the fixin's," Adrienne interjected, for the second time in as many minutes seeing what he needed without having to say, quickly scooting out of the room.

"We should probably sit down," he redirected his attention to his unexpected guests, ushering them over to the sofa where he took a seat himself on the smaller of the two pieces of furniture out of courtesy.

He turned his face slightly, not wanting this other version of himself nor his significant other to see the worry on his face, pretending to look back for Adrienne to come prancing out of the kitchen with coffee, mugs and creamer. He had no doubt that his other self would see through this gesture in a heartbeat, but maybe Leesia could be spared, but it was too late, he realized as he took a swift glance out of the corner of his eye. By the look on her face she had clearly spotted the apprehension that he was trying to hide. All he could do now was avoid their eyes and pretend neither of them had noticed.

He sat there in silence trying to formulate his words when yoga panted hips were in front of his face mere seconds before a large blue mug followed.

"Food too?" she asked, her eyes saying it all, she could read and she was going to play it cool for his sake.

"Not yet, thank you ja-wer," he responded quietly, setting the mug on the table in front of him.

"I live to serve," she teased, racing back to the kitchen to get something more. Taking the chance to use the coffee as an excuse, he reached forward, bringing the cup into his grasp and sipping slowly allowing her time to return to his side, which she did, her own silly character mug in hand.

With a deep breath Daniel took Adrienne's hand nervously as she crossed her legs yoga style onto the loveseat. Glancing over at his younger self he wondered how best to start, exactly how horrible he was going to let this conversation get. Then again, maybe it didn't have to be as bad for this version as it had for him, clearly, these two were very much in love, he could tell as his alternate mirrored his actions, clasping the other woman's hand lightly. He knew that things would have been easier for him, had he had Adrienne at his side.

"I don't mean to pry, but..."

"Pry, all you wish. I have no secrets from Daniel. Whichever version may be asking." Leesia reassured, with a cheeky child-like grin.

"Good..." he continued, squeezing Adrienne's hand, "...how strong a relationship do you two have? I'm not questioning anything, it's just that - " he cut himself off, at a loss for the correct words to express exactly what he knew the two of them were going to experience.

"No, no that's okay. We're uh, we've had our problems," Daniel began, "But we've overcome them, for the most part. I mean..."

"No, I don't mean it like that, Adrienne and I, just, well, let's just say that we're no strangers to..." the other began, Adrienne swiftly elbowing him in the side, thinking they had aired enough of their personal life, Daniel didn't need to add to it.

"I will never leave him," Leesia stated steadily, interrupting the Daniels' awkwardness. At the rate those two were going it was going to take longer than they had to get to the answer.

"Alright, good, I just needed to ask," the elder replied, taking a breath again and continuing, "I take it you haven't meet Merlin yet?"

"We found Avalon, in Glastonbury, if that's what you mean? That's kinda how we got into this mess in the first place," his guest answered quickly.

Wanting to discuss this as little as possible Daniel nodded. "Right, so I can assume you found the communication device?"

Leesia nodded. "Yes. We went to the Ori galaxy -"

"- Didn't like it much," Daniel interjected with a shrug.

"So, it was you that went?" the elder now asked, pointing at Leesia. In their timeline Daniel must have avoided being bound to Vala by Nut's damn marriage cuffs._..lucky bastard..._

Leesia nodded and carried on, "I could tell from the technology that they were like the Ancients, but their ways went against everything the Ancients stood for."

"The burning people alive was a dead giveaway," Daniel clarified.

"Never a sign of peaceful beings is it?" Adrienne added quickly, trying to joke.

"I take it the Ori know about the Milky Way then?" the Cajun's husband asked now, continuing to judge without giving too much away, he hoped. Seeing the others guilty look, he continued, "You clued them in too, huh?"

Daniel nodded, "Am I ever gonna live that down?"

The still damp haired man wrinkled his nose and quickly shook his head, causing Daniel to huff, "Great. Anyway, things have been going from bad to worse ever since. We're losing whole planets of potential or previous allies. Prior plagues are ripe throughout the Galaxy. We're alone and have no idea where to turn from here… hence the jump."

Daniel nodded thoughtfully, Adrienne taking the mug from his grasp with him barely noticing. There were differences, many, many differences and it was startling thinking how much one person's presence could change things. Without knowing precisely what was different and how, he couldn't give them a 'How to defeat the Ori' step by step guide, but he could at least point them in the right direction, a direction that hopefully wouldn't disrupt the timelines too much, this strange alternate past that he had never lived. Scanning the coffee table for paper that he knew was always there, he pulled a legal pad towards him.

"The first thing you need to do is find Merlin," he told them noting down the gate address and instructions on how to get to Merlin and the Sangreal, "He'll know what to do... you just have to trust him...but I'm not gonna lie, it won't be easy," he continued, his own blue eyes focused on Daniel's, pushing the pad towards him and sitting back on the sofa into Adrienne's waiting arm, thankful for it to be there.

She rubbed his back, she knew, she always knew, hugging him close and resting her head on his shoulder.

Turning fearful eyes to Daniel's older self, Leesia pleaded, "Does it have to be Daniel?" The pain that this Daniel was trying to hide was clear in his mannerisms and the way he had clung to his wife, like a lifeline, that whatever was coming was going to be hard...very hard.

"I can't tell you what's gonna happen in your future, only what happened in my past," he replied, wishing he could tell her otherwise and give her the comfort and reassurance that she clearly was desperate to hear, thinking how Adrienne would take the news of having to do this, on purpose and watch while he suffered. There was simply no way to tell if things would pan out the same way in their reality, but maybe with this person there, this wife, his own love, that things would be different.

_I know it would have been different for me_, Daniel thought,_ it would have been different had Adrienne been by my side, she would have kept me from falling over the brink; I'm just lucky that I found her_.

_She brought me back from what I became. _

Adrienne slipped her hand from his and reached around his waist, hugging him the best she could from the side. Without one another we would have been completely lost, she added to no one but herself, hoping in her heart that whatever fate lay in front of their two new friends that it would be less painful with their being together.

"That's about all I can tell you for that, but as for the Prior plague there is a cure," he admitted the one thing he could think of that he could do to help.

"There is?" Daniel quickly piped up excitedly.

Smiling, the elder nodded. "I don't know how much, if any, we'll still have some after all this time, or in what condition it might be in and it'll have to wait until the morning to get at it, protocol and everything, but yes, there's a cure. Samples or instructions at least."

"Ja-wer?" he now said, quickly changing the subject as he glanced over at Adrienne, "I think they should stay here tonight. Can you give Sam a call?" his thoughts immediately on their reaction to the new reality of Stargate Command and how that knowledge could affect their timeline. There were so many things to take into consideration, so very many things, and it was best if the only changes they knew of were the marriage they were witnessing right now.

"On it," she replied quickly, jumping up from the sofa, dashing to the kitchen to secure her cell phone.

"Hey Walter, it's Addy. Can you patch me through to General O'Neill? Yeah, that one," she spoke as she walked back into the room, her phone to her ear and her mood lighter.

"Didn't she say she was calling Sam?" Daniel asked, leaning over to whisper the question to Leesia.

"Heya Sam, mon ami, we've got a bit of a situation here," Adrienne came back to the sofa, sitting down beside Daniel once more, crossing her legs again in front of her.

"Never mind," Daniel continued, thinking he couldn't wait to tell the couple that difference when he got back.

The Cajun made a face of confusion, like she was trying to figure out what to say, dancing her head back and forth waiting her turn to speak.

"Yeah, we've got a bit of an interesting situation here. See, there are three descended in my house and I'm only sleeping with one of them..." she said into the phone, her husband reaching to rub his temples, while Leesia covered her mouth so her giggles wouldn't interrupt the call.

"Yep. No one of them is another Daniel. Version 1.0... Pretty much... I know, right? ... Ok we'll be there in the morning... No, really, Sam, I'm so used to it now it's just sad... No problem, thanks," she hung up the phone, smiling at her company.

"And?" Daniel asked from the loveseat, her jovial expression being hard to read.

"And we're good to go, and she thinks hiding more pop-in guests would be a wise move at this point," she explained cryptically, quickly readdressing her guests. "Alright that's settled, one storage raid in the a.m. scheduled. Now, in the meantime, I think we need to relax a bit, have something to drink."

"Ad, grab the Godiva," her husband requested, appreciating her offer, thinking a drink was exactly what he needed right now and probably what his guests needed as well.

"What is that?" Leesia asked.

"Gourmet Chocolate Liquor," Adrienne answered with a smile, "it's what I've got lightweight here hooked on. That and European wine."

Seeing the face Leesia was making at the suggestion, Adrienne continued, "or not..., shug if you haven't had it, it's just chocolate paradise sliding down your throat."

The younger man laughed, shaking his head, "Uh, actually, it's the chocolate that she has a problem with. I think that Leesia is probably the only woman on the planet that doesn't like it and she's never tried alcohol."

"You've never drank before?!" Adrienne inquired, puzzled, a part of her wanting to know exactly how long this woman had been on Earth.

Damn shame we've only got twenty four hours, she thought, I could have so much fun introducing her to the wide world of wine and cheese.

"Ah mon ami, I've got something then you've got to try!" she said excitedly, already heading to the kitchen.

"Don't get the moonshine, don't get the moonshine, please God, not the moonshine," the overly excited Cajun's spouse muttered under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head, already knowing what was coming.

"She 'as gotta try da Moonshine," she called back, almost on cue, and he could hear the distinct sound of her rooting through the cabinet in search of the jar in question.

Her husband let out a resound sign, before turning to his younger self hopefully, "You have any control over yours?"

Daniel laughed loudly, "Oh I'm not making any comments on that one."

"Wanna see if you can stop mine?"

"I could try..." his counterpart mused with a thoughtful pout, "but I'm not going to." Truth be told, he was more than mildly curious to see how Leesia would take to this new experience.

"Thanks for your help," the other Daniel sighed, reaching behind himself on the couch for Adrienne's satchel, removing her iPad and sitting it in his lap. A few quick flicks on the screen and he passed it to his alternate, a smirk on his face. "If we're gonna have social hour, especially with Ad, you're gonna need this."

"What's this?" Daniel asked, taking the unfamiliar item, frowning at it.

"The Adrienne dictionary, Cajun slang 101, available in touchscreen. I used to speak twenty eight or so languages. Marrying her has made that twenty nine, if you can even call that a language, WHICH I DON"T," he shouted at the end, smiling playfully.

"I heard dat sha. Don't forget, I know where ya sleep," she responded, laughing lightly as she came back in with a fist full of shot glasses and a large jar of clear liquid nearly crammed to the lid with pieces of fruit. "It's cherry peach," she explained, depositing her load onto their small mahogany coffee table and taking a seat on the floor between her husband's legs, "but I don't recommend that any of you three eat the fruit. It sends my Daniel crawling in the floor - "

"Does not," he protested.

"Fine, makes him fall unconscious on the floor, and I'm assuming that yours is the same and you hun, you just wait," she interrupted herself, pouring a small glass and passing it over to her new friend as she had begun to think of her.

"Here mon ami, try this but go SLOW. Little sips," she instructed, sitting back on her heels to await her reaction.

"Seriously, Leesia, go very very slow. My wife is an insane swamp monster that doesn't realize the rest of us have livers. Please be careful," Indy cautioned, an evil Cajun glare being shot in his direction.

"I am NOT a swamp monster," she laughed, kneeling in front of the woman.

Leesia eyed up the innocent looking liquid in her glass. _It really couldn't be as bad as they were making it sound... Could it? _

It certainly didn't smell unpleasant, rather sweet and fruity, most likely too sweet for her tastes. Carefully, she took a small sip, rolling it around her mouth, her face screwing up more and more the stronger the taste of the liquor grow... until she spat it back into the glass.

"I believe we should have had the chocolate," she choked, her eyes watering.

"Ok, so you're not a junior swamp rat, noted..." she turned to younger Daniel who was rubbing Leesia's back trying to not laugh at her. Adrienne didn't say a word for a moment, that cheshire grin of hers stretching from ear to ear, a sparkle in her dark Cajun eyes when she finally spoke, "Now you my friend, seeing as how ya gots so much in common wit my man here, ya gotta have some swamp-rattedness in ya..." she taunted, daring him to drink.

Hesitantly, he took the offered drink. The shot glass paused at his lips, Daniel looked over at his other self, "Homemade?"

"Yep, but not by me," his older self told him. "Her uncle makes it...they like it **_strong_**!" he said emphasising the last word as a warning, an idea popping into his head, "Actually, I'll get you a beer to wash it down... Ad's been on some microbrew kick after Cam left some stuff here and with the baby it's just sitting in the fridge going to waste."

"Woah, woah, sha whatcha be vay yay 'bout nah by me!?" Adrienne asked, coughing on her own glass of shine, a juice glass full of corn liquor, ignoring Daniel's quick subject change to beer.

"I can make moonshine, well, homemade alcohol, not this rot-gut," he answered, calmly, over his shoulder trying not to smile, quickly ducking into the kitchen to grab the beer.

"Ya been 'oldin' out on me!?" she was shouting, laughing, her eyes, those dark eyes that he knew were the front for the crazy thoughts going on in her brain, "What kinda supplies we be needin' ta make this a reality?!"

Still smiling as he came back into the living room, Daniel passed over the beer, set another in front of himself just in case and took a seat, his playful eyes teasing Adrienne.

"You two are just here to cause all kinds of trouble today, aren't you?" he joked, downing his glass, bringing it down just as he felt his wife take a seat beside him.

"We're gonna hafta discuss dis lata Indy," she teased, scolding, looking at the younger copy of her husband, "You're up."

Seeing he was not going to get out of it, under the Cajun's watchful eye, Daniel took back up the glass and knocked it back without comment, immediately swigging the beer straight after.

"Impressive," Adrienne joked, her husband rolling his eyes at yet another Star Wars reference; it seemed she just wasn't going to hold back tonight in the least.

She peeked back over at Leesia to see if she had recovered from her earlier shot. "Ok, mon ami, it's seems we are looking drier...let's see.." Adrienne's face furrowed, deep in thought as she leapt up, making her way to a very large piece of furniture in the corner of the room, an oversized cabinet of sorts with gigantic cherry doors.

Daniel was about to make a comment that would explain to their guests exactly what was going on as his wife yammered on excitedly in Cajun french when she appeared in front of them again, grabbing Leesia by the wrists and pulling her to her feet. "I need to ask you some questions," was all the explanation she offered, dragging Leeisa to the collection of bottles.

"The shrine," Indy said, taking a sip of the moonshine.

"Do I want to know?" Daniel replied.

"Nope."

"Alright, so what do you know about wine?" Adrienne asked, her eyes darting between the bottles and her new friend.

Leesia eyed up the intimidating piece of furniture, at least as tall as Daniel himself, filled to the brim with dozens upon dozens of glass bottles, "Obviously a lot less than you do."

"That's ok, that's what most people say. Good, then I can fix you in advance," she smiled devilishly before continuing, "what's your favorite food?"

"Most things are pleasing to me. Well, other than the ludicrously sweet things that Daniel consumes."

"No one should eat what Daniel consumes, no one. Ok, let's try another approach. If you HAD to choose between a really juicy piece of steak or chicken which would you prefer. Don't think about it; go with your gut?"

"No thinking." Addy quickly added when Leesia immediately paused in thought.

"Well, it would depend on whether you mean actual chicken or those MRI's we have to endued that are meant to taste like chicken."

"Oh shug, lord, what is he feedin' ya? I'm 'bout ready to call Jonas," Adrienne said.

Leesia frowned in confusion. Things were certainly different here if these people called the Langarans for take-out.

"In a nice restaurant, with real honest to god food, do you usually order steak or chicken?" Adrienne tried rephrasing the question, Leesia shrugging.

"We have only been able to go twice."

"And what didya order?"

"Daniel ordered for me."

"I need more than a day, ok, I like red so we're gonna start with red. And how bad is this hatred of chocolate?" Adrienne shook her head, trying to push away crazy ideas of sampler platters and cheese tasting and focus on what she had to work with.

"I would say on par with Jack's hatred of the infirmary," Leesia answered.

"Mild red it is," Adrienne declared, grabbing two glasses from where they were so carefully hung at the top of the shelf by their stems, lines and lines of glasses.

"You two really drink all this?" the former Ancient asked, unable to take her eyes of the monstrous amount of wine before her. Using the Stargate for take-out was one thing, but Daniel, any Daniel, being able to cope with THIS large an amount, was too much for her to believe, even if it was half as strong as the Cajun woman's previous offering, "Because I doubt my Daniel would be able to consume even a miniscule fraction of this and remain alive, let alone coherent."

Judging by the way Leesia's Daniel had thrown back his shot without complaint, Adrienne was starting to think that the former Ancient had actually got the better deal, in terms of alcohol tolerance anyway. Her Daniel had passed out on the floor more than once long before they were together.

"Yes and no. If I find a flavor I like at a tasting I buy a few bottles and then I just like to keep around a variety for guests, but honestly there are only a few we really drink," she began to explain, smiling and giggling, unable to resist a quick jab, "and I don't get Daniel too drunk; I like for him to be able to actually, uh, well, be able to, uh perform..."

"You do know we can hear you, right?... And you've never complained."

"Because I control the consumption. No margin of error sha!" the Cajun shouted back at her husband, reaching for Leesia's arm to continue her quest, "now mon ami, to cheese. Do you like cheese?"

"Ja-wer, I was thinking drinks, not a formal tasting," Indy butted in for a second time, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Ignore him, I do," she replied to the small woman, leading her into the kitchen.

"You do realize this is only gonna get worse once they start drinking?"

Daniel grinned. "I don't think I need to worry about that. Leesia doesn't exactly conform to, um, conservative ways." He shrugged. "She wasn't brought up with the normal impressed boundaries. I'm kinda used to her speaking the brutal truth."

"Adrienne has no excuse other than just being Cajun," Indy replied, taking a sip of the shine again and giving the other a knowing grin, "How's your drink?"

"Perfect, thanks for the bail. Think that would have floored me," he said nodding at his empty shot glass.

"Who'd have thought that trick would ever have come in handy again," the elder added, memories of the few college events that he had attended washing into his head. _Spit it back into the bottle_, he thought, _just so easy_. "Just glad you remembered it too."

"Hard to forget. You seem to be doing okay. No rouse needed," the younger quizzed, noticing his counterpart was actually drinking the stuff, without a gun to his head. He had only had the liquor in his mouth for a second, but he could tell it was strong enough to strip paint.

"Don't let it fool you. It's taken me a couple of years to get used to Ad's drinking style. She's not joking about the floor."

"I'm not jokin' about what?" that accented voice spoke over them, the Daniels looking up to see the woman returning.

"Nothing ja-wer, just lamenting your continual mistreatment of me," her husband said with a smile as she rolled her eyes.

"You are SO lucky I love you," she said as she placed a cheese and cracker platter onto the table, how she was able to whip that up so fast he would never know...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Four empty bottles of wine later, and some moonshine as well, Leesia clutched her side where a stitch was developing and wiped away the tears of laughter from her eye, "And I thought my Daniel was over protective," she chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I mean the glass case was bad enough, but the bubble wrap. He will NEVER live that down ever," Adrienne choked on her last sip, her husband rolling his eyes.

"At least I care, you, well, you..." he tried but failed to come up with an example Adrienne knew, smiling smugly.

"I throw myself into all kinds of crazy shit ta save ya ass, including back when ya 'ated me. Yeah, keep tryin' love, keep tryin'," she said with a smile, pecking the side of his mouth lightly before cuddling close beside him.

Smiling, Leesia crawled unsteadily onto her husband's lap, wrapping her thigh around his hips, "Don't get any ideas," she told him, giving him a playful tap on the nose, pulling so close that were they not clothed, they would be in a far more intimate position.

Adrienne wasn't going to say a word, starting to look away when out of the corner of her eye she could clearly see her new friend grinding down into her husband's lap, her mouth slightly open as she pulled him into a deep kiss, her fingers rubbing the back of his neck. He tried to speak around her lips, gently pushing her off by her shoulders.

"I think it's the wine," he explained, blushing, thinking he was never gonna let Leesia drink again, at least not with company. There was public displays of affection and then there was, well, putting on a near sex show, "She's not normally THIS bad,"

"When and if I pass out half-dressed then and only then can you criticize," she breathed into his neck, the only skin she could get to, her fingers eagerly tugging at the corners of his shirt.

"Gah damn hypocrites dey bouf are," Adrienne spat, remembering past enjoyable encounters of her own, encounters that her dear sweet son had now made damn near impossible, "Ugh NICKY," she moaned, falling into Daniel's lap, her husband's head perking up.

"What, no, did you hear him? NOBODY SAY A WORD," he ordered, his hand clapping over her mouth, Adrienne's head already shaking, shoving him away.

"Nah, I just be dinkin' dat, ahn no offense ta ya guys, but we get a moment alone ahn, well, yeah, no go," she whined, blushing, her slight inebriation slurring her barely comprehensible words.

"Well, ja-wer, you wanted some post-baby excitement. Does the shower count as a foursome?" her Daniel teased, clearly intoxicated, Adrienne's jaw dropping.

"Ya be drunk Indy, shut ya dirty mouf," she scolded sharply.

"I do not understand." Leesia asked, briefly pausing to look to her husband for an explanation. "What is a 'Foursome'?"

"You don't wanna know," was his short reply, shooting his counterpart with a look, "Does it look like she needs further encouragement."

"He's just trying to embarrass me, tchew, Leesia's gonna dink ya a pig. Fine smart mouf, two can play at dis game. So I guess all Daniels be cradle robbas?" Adrienne turned it right back on him, sitting up and shoving him playfully.

"Shut up Ad," was his rapid response.

"Actually," the younger seemed less flushed now, directing Leesia to his side rather than his crotch, "she's around 4000 years old. Though now you'd never know it," he added, as Leesia started kissing that sweet spot behind his ear and batting her hand away before it could get any further inside his shirt.

"Really?" Adrienne seemed surprised, momentarily distracted from the scene in front of her, now frowning at her other, "Indy, I swear fo gah if ya EVA bring up da age difference ding again, I'll pass a slap, I not be kiddin'."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Thankful for the combination of her runner's metabolism and her intentional skipping of her nightly medication, Adrienne staggered into the kitchen in search of her husband, eager for their guests to go to bed. He had left the living room a few moments ago, shortly after his other, and while she had enjoyed talking to the very interesting and kind woman in her living room, her guests were tired and headed to bed soon.

And the baby was asleep.

And they never finished their shower from earlier...

She was a woman on a mission.

Slipping in through the kitchen door, her Cajun hips swaying playfully, she saw him standing there at the sink getting a glass of water, his magnificent body leaning over the counter, in those torn jeans that drove her wild.

_Damn distracting Daniel. _

On her toes she inched her way over to him carefully, hoping to catch him by surprise. Biting her lip, she took a breath, slipping her right hand into the front of his pants, as she brought her lips to his ear.

"Dink ya can pick up from where we left off?" she asked seductively. her hand starting to wander.

"Uh, A-Adrienne?" Daniel stammered, quickly trying to still that playful hand, trying, but not quite succeeding through the confines of the tight denim. He'd only come to get a glass of water to avoid a hangover in the morning; how'd he end up in this situation? With his other self's wife's hand inside his pants, fondling his..._ 'Oh dear lord!'_

"Sha donna worry. I dink da odda Daniel be asleep already- "

"Wouldn't count on it," Daniel breathed, trying to will his body not to react to the unfamiliar caress.

"Ahn Leesia be una bonne femme, she'd understand," she added, reaching again for that place that she knew he liked, that place that would send him over the edge.

"Oh I think you'd be wrong about that," he tried again, attempting to move his hips out of reach of that pleasurable touch, but pinned in place against the kitchen counter he didn't have a lot of wiggle room.

"Dinna ya see da way she crawled inta his lap? I need ta be bedda like dat, be mah adventurous," she purred, her fingers venturing upward.

"May I recommend a map then, because you seem to have got adventurous in the wrong, uh, territory," a voice behind her stated simply, Adrienne freezing, her hand stuck firmly in place. There was motion, pulling away from her, him pulling away from her and glancing at her over his shoulder right in the face.

_Wrong Indy._

_Shit. _

_Why in the hell had her idiot husband given his damn twin the same damn clothes?!_

"I'm gonna need that back," Daniel said blushing, eyes gesturing down to his crotch, where her hand was still gripping, not having moved a muscle.

"I swear fo gah I had no idea," the Cajun woman spat out quickly, letting go, pulling her hand back, her words stuttered, her dark eyes darting between both of her guests. Her heart was racing, she had no idea what to do and dying really wasn't an option right now.

"How could you?" Leesia giggled, a little surprised by Adrienne's mortified expression. She couldn't be blamed for the mistake. "They are near impossible to differentiate... Maybe we should make them wear identification collars."

Daniel glared at her, "It's not funny, Lees."

"No but plea, jus kno, I really neva would 'ave, 'onest, ah dear Gawd," she continued to stammer, words not enough to describe how bad she felt.

"You probably should have spoken up, Daniel."

"I tried, but she had me by the balls, Lees. I didn't think upsetting her would be a very wise move at that precise moment, do you?"

"He is rather attached to them," Leesia quipped playfully to the other woman, doing her best to pinch her cheeks in to try and contain the threatening grin. She really didn't want to laugh, not while Adrienne looked so deeply, deeply embarrassed. Not that she had any reason to be; it was a mistake she herself could have made just as easily.

"Everything alright in here?" Indy asked, searching out his wife and finding her, red-faced, muttering in Cajun about being a 'bonne rienne' much to his bewilderment. She looked up at him in sheer horror, as if she might fall into the floor at that very moment.

"Just a misunderstanding," Leesia informed him, casually waving her hand, as if the gesture alone dismissed any importance, "Addy simply mistook Daniel for yourself and was trying to initiate intercourse."

Daniel looked over at his other self and wife, trying to work out who was blushing the hardest as both were clear finalists in the 'who could turn the reddest' competition. Though his other self's color may be partly due to anger, he debated, judging by the look he was giving Leesia.

Adrienne, on the other hand, looked nothing short of mortified.

It was hilarious.

"Oh this. This is a million times better than you kissing Jonas," he choked out, convulsing already, knowing he probably should be going to console her but unable to.

"But dat be ya ya tchew! Dat's not fair," the Cajun spat, storming up to him, her dark eyes warning that 'passing a slap' was about to be headed right in his direction, but Daniel was bent over on his knees, laughing uncontrollably.

"Correction, infinitely," he answered, "It is INFINITELY better than you kissing Jonas."

"But Daniel looks nothing like Jonas," Leesia puzzled, her head tilting questionably.

"Ahn I dink I be causing enough damage tanigh. Indy be showin' ya where ta stay," Adrienne's cheeks so fiery red that were her skin not so normally pale she would be glowing.

"Cam I would understand," Leesia mused, only half listening, lost in thought, "possibly."

"See, I'm glad that someone else finally agrees with me," the Cajun's Daniel added, reaching out for his wife, finally, still laughing.

"Cameron? Really?" Daniel threw at his own spouse, "We look nothing alike!"

"-Really sha, da ya wanna start listing people we dated. Ya wahn me ta start wit aliens or 'umans?!"

"-You are the same height, have the same hair color and length, eye color..."

"-Adrienne, it's funny. I'm MESSIN' with you! Do you think I'm mad!?"

"-Seriously? Cameron Lees? I don't see it - And being from another planet doesn't make them any less human!"

"-It's nah funny ya cooyon; I look like an idiot, donna even know my own husband's bibitte!"

"-From the back you are practically indistinguishable."

Pursing her lips Adrienne breathed in deeply through her nose, nice long yoga breaths, willing herself to not faint dead away from sheer embarrassment. "Daniel, I'm sorry that I fondled you. Leesia, I'm sorry that I didn't check first. Indy, you can sleep on the couch. Goodnight everyone," she said, slipping out of the kitchen, her face in her hands.

"Come on ja-wer, you have to admit it's hysterical!" the elder Daniel chased after her, leaving his guests behind.

As their raised voices faded away, Daniel turned back to his wife, "Is he the only one in the doghouse?"

"They have a dog?"

"It's an expression."

"I've never heard of that breed."

"Okay, now you're just messing with me."

"Why should you two be the only ones to have any fun?" Leesia mused, closing the gap between them and running her fingers up his tight, firm side. "Do I need to reclaim you as my own now?"

The seductive look in her eyes as she looked up at him through her long full lashes and the feeling of those charged tingles, strong enough to be felt through the thin material of the shirt he was wearing, made his mouth water. "We can't. Not now. Not **_here_**." he told her reluctantly.

"I was proposing the bedroom."

"That's not what I mean. This isn't our house."

"Considering how we arrived I do not believe it would trouble them. Besides," she purred seductively in his ear, her fingers working inside his shirt, stroking up his chest, "I can feel you need a release every bit as much as I do."

Daniel swallowed hard, his eyes closing with the feel of her touch on his skin. She was right; he couldn't deny it.

"Maybe it is the alcohol, or maybe the timing but I do not believe waiting until we get home would be wise."

Daniel paused, her words still playing in his head, "Just try and keep your voice down," he pleaded, guiding her quickly towards the spare room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Did she just SAY..?"

"What you think she said...Yep."

"Oh my gah Indy, I had no idea that you... I mean I could..If you're really into... talking dirty... in Ancient..." Adrienne was rambling, Daniel already shaking his head.

"No, no, not me, him. Wow, just wow," was really all he could say as Adrienne curled into a ball.

"I can't listen to this..."

"Well I'm not going in there to stop it," the words escaped his lips before he could think them through, his wife sitting straight up in the bed.

"Zombies, put on zombies! Loud zombies! The fast kind!" she suggested, starting to leave the bed to make her way to the movie shelf.

"Seriously Ad, zombies? You might as well shout out 'WE HEAR YOU SCREWING IN HERE!'"

"Keep your voice down, dammit, sha, this is so awkward..." she trailed, flopping back onto the bed.

"Are you jealous?" he teased, pulling her into his arms and kissing her lightly.

"I'm mortified; I'm such an 'ole Southern prude," she whispered, falling into his chest, burying her face in the safety of his embrace.

"It makes me feel better," he muttered as he held her close, laying back down onto the bed, "It makes me feel like he won't have to deal with it alone like I did."

"Me too," she replied, kissing his neck softly. Puzzled, Daniel pulled away, smirking at her, wondering what she was thinking, if she was starting to let outside influences take over her thoughts.

"Really?" he wanted to check before taking matters into his own hands.

"Keep dreaming. I'm gonna get my iPod. Listen to music that you hate while you enjoy the audio programming," and there she was, escaping again, slipping from his arms.

"Hey," he whispered, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards him, "come back here. Listen, they're quiet now." Adrienne paused, listening intently and hearing nothing from the room down the hall.

"Ok," she grimaced, crawling back into his arms. "Should I check on Nicky?" she changed the subject quickly, her husband already shaking his head.

"I did that after you kicked me out of the bathroom. He's fine."

Adrienne grumbled a bit, rolling over and wrapping her arm around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

"You still mad at me?" he whispered, kissing her head.

"Where are you sleeping sha?"

"Shutting up..."

"You know, you're supposed to comfort me when I do something stupid..."

"My love, ja-wer, are you alright? I'm so sorry that you -" he began so sweetly, holding her tightly before erupting into riotous laughter, "nope, can't do it," he choked out.

"You're lucky I'm da kinda person dat sticks ta my vows ya coo yon."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel was gently pulled from dreamland to waking reality by the delicious and unmistakable aroma of Sumantra Mandelin.

He couldn't remember the last time that happened, the last time he had woken peacefully.

Yes he could.

Adrienne had still been pregnant. Since Nicky had been born waking to stretch, yawn and get up on his own terms was a luxury that had fallen by the wayside, in favor of the shrill alarm of demanding baby squeals at all hours of the day and night. In fact, to not be woken by Nicky's caterwauling was a little... disconcerting. He took a squinted glance at his watch and found it was even later than he had expected.

Rising as speedily as he could without disturbing his slumbering bedmate, he pushed away the covers and made his way to the nursery.

The crib was empty.

Nicky was gone.

Panic stricken, Daniel was about to raise the alarm, when to his immense relief he heard the soft tones of giggling coming from the other room.

"We get him quiet and then I panic because he's quiet, great," he muttered, popping his head around the corner, seeing immediately the source of the cooing. There was his guest, his female guest, seated in the floor of the living room floor with his son in her lap, surrounded by every single parenting book that Adrienne owned, a disgustingly extensive and expensive collection. She didn't notice him at first so he just stood there watching as she talked to the boy softly. It was nice to see the little booger not screaming his head off for once and letting his wife get some much needed rest was sure to make her smile.

He missed seeing her smile.

Waiting for some clue as to precisely which Daniel it was that had just walked in, Leesia explained, "He was getting fussy," thumbing over his chubby knuckle as he clung to her index finger.

"Fussy is what he does, trust me," was the reply from the doorway.

Other one then.

"I see you have found the library of child-rearing," he continued, a chuckle in his voice, "she's color-coded and tagged the important parts, or so she thinks."

"They were very ... informative. I had no idea there were so many varied views on something as simple as changing a diaper."

"Yeah, I remember her reading those sections, aloud. She was pretty mad that I could do it without an instruction manual. Just wait until you read about co-sleeping, that's been fun to discuss too," he quipped, thinking back to yet another deliciously fun argument.

Adrienne was so fun to torment, one of the great perks of being married to her.

"It confuses me how any parents would gain any useful help from these books when there are so varied ways of "correct parenting styles" I mean with, Dr. Sears favouring attachment parenting while experts at the United States Product Safety Commission claiming that under no circumstances should a child be placed in an adult bed and then The American Council of Pediatrics being divided," she shook her head, eyes turning back to the adorable bundle drooling on her hand, "On the other hand they are each unique individuals so there should be more options than these simple few."

"Woah, woah. You read that too? How long have you been up? What have you read?" he stammered, scanning the room again.

"Around fifteen minutes. These were all I could find."

"Torre mas chiens..." Daniel now sputtered, realizing that in his amazement he had slipped in Cajun, "Sorry, never mind, bad habit. You read all of these? All of them?"

"I have never changed a diaper before, I needed to learn," Leesia stated simply, as if that was explanation enough. "I made coffee also," she added, puzzled by his confusion.

_Then again, my Daniel cannot function without at least half a cup inside him either._

"Right...well I..."

"There's coffee?" Daniel asked, wandering in sleepily behind his double, his glasses pushed up onto his forehead as he knuckled his tired eyes.

Leesia smiled at her predictable husband, his glasses falling back into place as he scrubbed at his bed messed hair. Seemed that 'coffee aroma wake up calls' worked just as well in any reality and in this one it worked in stereo. She was about to say as much when the baby moved a bit, squirming in her arms, and letting out a small cry.

"It is all right, little one, it is okay. You have my attention now."

"Actually, he's probably hungry. He's always hungry. I'll go get Adrienne up," her host said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder then heading in the direction of his bedroom, while his counterpart helped himself to the fresh pot of coffee.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Hey wake up," Daniel muttered pulling the blanket slowly off of the burrito that was his wife. Shivering she grabbed her knees, pulling them to her chest, her yoga pants and tank top not providing the warmth the covering had offered.

"Is the world ending?" she grumbled as she ripped his pillow from his empty place, covering her face with it.

"No," he answered flatly. Baby sleeping like a baby was supposed to sleep and it was back to Daniel and Adrienne normal; there was no getting her out of bed willingly.

"It's your turn with the baby." It was always his turn, at least when she was tired, but not right now.

Now Nicholas needed food, something Daniel was unable to provide since Adrienne hadn't pumped anything.

"Leesia has him," Daniel replied, Adrienne peering from around the pillow.

"Is he crying?" she inquired, worried and curious.

"Yep," he answered, "he's hungry. You're on."

"You need to grow boobs; this is inequitable," she replied, stuffing her head back under the pillow.

"No, what we need is to buy a cow, but whatever. By the way, Leesia read all of your books. All of them. She agrees with me; they're crap," he added with a smile.

"Cookie for Indy," she grunted, reaching for the blanket blindly.

"I said ALL of them. In about fifteen minutes."

"I'm married to a man that has died more times than I have fingers and yet he stands here, disturbing the only sleep I've had in weeks to tell me that our alien guest has more magic powers. Sha, nothing surprises me anymore," and there went the blanket, back over her shoulders.

"Touche," he agreed, climbing into bed with her, enveloping her body with his own, holding the wrapped enchilada that was his significant other, "but regardless, he's hungry and the screaming is only gonna get worse."

"I know. I'm just relishing this for a few more minutes. Less talk, more cuddle."

Laughing, Daniel stood from the bed, playfully tugging at the blanket.

"Cup of ice water in two minutes ja-wer, and I'm sure you don't want to have to explain that to our guests," he joked as he left, heading in the direction of coffee, coffee that he hadn't had to make.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Half his mug consumed, Daniel took a second to take in the scene before him. It hadn't escaped his notice that Leesia's eyes had barely left the newborn, nor that she had taken to fondling the star-drop pendant at her throat ever since she had held him yesterday. This couldn't be easy for her, it was hard enough for him; his own heart torn between the joy of seeing her there holding that child so close and the heartbreak of imagining what was going on in her head.

"You okay?" he whispered, his tone full of concern, taking a step forward, carefully, wading through the array of books.

Without looking up from Nicky, who was currently whimpering in warning, Leesia nodding, her smile widening, "He is beautiful."

"Yeah, he sure is," Daniel agreed as he sat behind her, leaning forward to stroke his finger down the baby's forearm, backing up almost immediately when Nicky started fussing a little louder, "And he seems to have taken to you."

"We understand each other," she said, readjusting the baby in her arms, getting him in a more comfortable position, leaning back against her husband once she was happy with the comfort of the child, "It is okay, your Uncle is just worrying unnecessarily, again. He will stop in a moment."

Daniel rolled his eyes._ 'Okay, message received loud and clear, Lees. No fretting in front of the baby, got it_.' "Uncle?" he asked aloud, shaking his head.

"You share the same parents and DNA as his father, Uncle is an accurate description." Eyeing him over her shoulder, Leesia added, "Would you rather I refer you as his would-be father had things worked out differently from another time and reality?"

"Uncle's fine."

"So how long have you been up my little Ewok?" a Southerly accented voice said from behind him, clearly not as awake as its speaker was trying to convey.

"Ewok?" Daniel asked, what was it with this woman and nicknames? She was worse than Jack.

"Yeah, Indy said Jawa was too creepy, reminded him of a Goa'uld or something. But he makes a better Jawa, always fussing over nothing," the Cajun woman made a face at her child, reaching down to take him into her arms, "thanks for getting him, I don't get much sleep anymore. I appreciate it."

"It was my pleasure," Leesia answered, folding her now empty hands and laying her head on Daniel's thigh.

"You sir, need to eat, Indy can you - " she started to ask, her husband reading her mind.

"Did you take your shot?"

"Not yet, so coffee's fine," she responded, crawling up onto the sofa, lifting her shirt to feed the child, ignoring the glare from Daniel. She'd just take it later.

There were mutterings coming from the sofa, not the normal coos and babbles you would say to a child but French, clear French, thanking the child too for letting her sleep.

_Poor woman_, Daniel thought as he watched his counterpart's wife tend their child_, she really does look exhausted_. He hoped this calm of crying wasn't just temporary, for their sake. Holding Leesia tightly in one arm still worried about her reaction as shesnuggled up to him, he watched this Jackson family complete their routine, Daniel bringing out a plate of what looked like cheese and crackers to Adrienne who was multitasking like a pro.

_Different_, he thought,_ but still nice_.

The very decorated Cajun woman was just removing the child from her breast to burp him when there was a knock at the door, making him glance at the clock to note it was only eight in the morning.

_Who came over that early?_

He was about to whisper to Leesia that very question when she stood, quietly excusing herself to the restroom.

"Answer the damn door!" the voice screamed from the other side, echoing down the hall, a voice that seemed strangely familiar, although he couldn't place it.

"Merde," Adrienne swore, passing the baby to her husband, a frown on her face.

"Why is she here?" her Daniel asked, pulling the child to his shoulder to burp him in her stead.

"Why is she ever anywhere?" she responded, adjusting her tank as she marched down the hall to the door, opening it up with a smile.

"Vala, hey, why are you here?" Adrienne didn't bother with pleasantries, asking the question her husband had, her friend on the other side of the door, tapping her foot furiously a look of distaste plastered on her face when she remembered, not even getting a chance to apologize before...

"Where in the hell did you drop off to? Call me all damn day long yesterday, begging for me to save you from that angel that you obviously are not equipped to take care of, bring you ice cream, but no call, nothing and here I am at damn breakfast, WITH the requested ice cream I might add, and that's the greeting I get, oh, Vala, why are you here?" she ranted, pushing past Adrienne, down the hall and right into the living room coming to an abrupt halt staring at the books and their visitor, the last person Adrienne wanted her friend to see.

"What the fuck? Addy I had no idea that you were into this kind of thing but as long as we are exploring new avenues of sexuality have you considered four?" Vala exclaimed, her eyes wide at she paused in the hallway. A huge grin broke out across her face, one that went from excitement to confusion as a small brunette woman entered from the opposing hall.

"Ok, or five? I'm not picky."

"Mon ami," Adrienne started calmly, "this is Leesia and, well, red-verse Indy."

"I know this Indy..." she hissed, sauntering over to him carefully, "I know him very well..."

"Nope, ya don't and you're not going to," the elder Daniel intervened, placing his free hand on Vala's head to turn it away, guiding her in the opposite direction, "You do remember Ronon right?"

"Whatever, give me my nephew," she spat, grabbing the baby from Daniel as she lifted him into the air, pausing for the second time this morning.

"Wait, the little booger's not crying. What did you do to him?" Vala glared at Addy, who was already rolling her eyes.

"You know her?" Leesia asked seeing the look of surprised near horror her husband was wearing.

"Uh, yeah. Remember the space pirate that hijacked the Prometheus I told you about?"

"And beat you up?" Leesia questioned, causing Daniel's look to shift from surprised to wounded. Of his whole recap of what had happened THAT was the part she chose to remember, that a woman beat him in a one on one fist fight?

"Good times huh glasses," the pirate smiled, bringing the baby to her chest whispering into his tiny ear, "Did I ever tell you about that you little cub - "

"Ewok," Adrienne corrected.

"I'm not sure why he needs a nickname at all..." her husband interjected, crossing his arms across his chest, that pissy tone to his voice, the one Adrienne ignored.

"Hush, I'm trying to explain to my nephew here that he needs to be tougher than his daddy who is easily beaten up by women. No worries, we'll have your uncle Ronon teach you," she cooed, walking herself, the baby and the bag of groceries into the kitchen.

"Oh, so NOW we remember Ronon, when he can teach my child to beat my ass. Good to know," Daniel lamented, following the tall woman to help.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Last night you mentioned a cure to the Prior plague," Daniel inquired, glancing up at his older self over the rim of his second coffee of the morning. He didn't want to seem ungrateful for the help they'd already given, but their time here was running out.

"Right," the other agreed. He had planned on bringing it up and now that his wife had indulged her southern need to feed everyone it seemed as good a time as any, "we'll need to head into base for that."

"The Miata's downstairs," Vala happily volunteered, Adrienne glaring at her sharply.

"No, I like him, both of them," she replied.

"I'll drive, we don't live very far from base, but we should probably get going before things get too busy there," Daniel stood, glancing back at Adrienne, "you ok with everything ja-wer?"

"Yeah, Leesia and I can hang here if that's alright with her," she led, hoping that if it was this woman's presence that was calming the child that presence wouldn't go darting out of the door after their husband, but thankfully Leesia was already nodding her agreement.

"I'm with the boys!" Vala leapt up, grinning, the Daniel with the most Vala experience already rolling his eyes.

"I had no doubt," he grumbled as she rushed to him and his counterpart, running her arms through theirs, pulling them to the door.

"Have fun my love!" Adrienne shouted between giggles, watching the trio walk out of the door. Smiling she turned around to look at Leesia, shaking her head.

"Give them about an hour. I can assure you that he will start texting a play by play of Vala torturing your Daniel," she explained, walking back over to the playpen set at the side of the dining room table.

"Torture?!" Leesia gasped, eyes widening in panic.

"Figuratively, not literally, well..." she tried, frowning, peering into the playpen, "no worries, she's just a lot of mouth nowadays I promise." Breathing a sigh of relief, Adrienne looked back at her guest, her finger at her lips, cocking her head away from the dining room.

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"So why's my boy not screaming his damn head off!?" Vala demanded from the back seat of the Jeep the moment its driver closed the door.

"Because you left," he shot back, starting the engine.

"Ha Ha," she shot right back, "Seriously, you drug him or something?"

"He calmed down shortly after we arrived," the other Daniel replied instead, unsure how to answer his former foe who apparently was now a friend of his in this reality, or was she?

"Did YOU drug him?" her eyes were on him now, a curious look on her face.

"Dammit, nobody drugged anybody. He just stopped. Leesia asked him to stop and he stopped, I can't explain it," Daniel corrected from the driver's seat, pulling the car out onto the road.

"You mean you just had to ask him? How's that work?"

"I...I have no idea," he paused, turning to his counterpart for clarification. Leesia herself had told him she had no experience with newborns and he and Adrienne had been trying for weeks to get him to stop. "How does that work?"

It just didn't add up.

Daniel casually shrugged his shoulders. "It's just her way. Sometimes it's like she can read my mind or something. She just **_knows _**what people need to hear. It's hard to explain."

"Bet none of those damn dumb books said to do that," Vala interjected before her friend could answer.

"For once I agree with you," he said instead, pondering the entire thing himself.

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"We're gonna hope he stays like that and get the dishes later," Adrienne whispered, indicating with her head that Leesia should follow.

"He seemed happy at breakfast," the petite woman answered.

"Fingers crossed."

Smiling, Leesia peered over her shoulder at the playpen before looking back at her Cajun host, "Judging by last night I would say he gets his mischievous side from his mother."

"Don't let Indy fool you. He got mean in his old age," she joked, pointing for her friend to join her on the couch, "But jokes aside, Leesia, I still feel really bad about last night, really bad. I'm really not that much of a coo yon but I haven't had alcohol in a long while and I was a little, well, inebriated when I went in there and..."

"And they were identical physically in every way?"

"Yeah, uh, they were..." Adrienne admitted, finally feeling a little less stupid by her mistake since what she had slipped her eager hands around was exactly what she had expected to slip her hands around.

_Ok, maybe not exactly. _

The manhood which she fondled did not belong to her Daniel and that was a big difference.

"I doubted there would be a difference but there was always the possibility," Leesia noted, a sweet smile on her face.

"Oh no difference, trust me," Adrienne replied, blushing, starting to regret not trying again later with her own version once everyone was settled down._ I'm such a stupid Southern prude sometimes..._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Vala can you PLEASE just stop!"

"What? You think your wives aren't having the exact same conversation as we speak?" she spat back, leaning in between the front seats, her gaze making its way back and forth between the two men.

"I don't care, WE are not, I repeat NOT talking dimensions with you," Daniel spat, taking his eyes from the road to make sure that she knew by the look on his face that he was deadly serious.

"Besides we'd have no way of knowing," the younger spoke quickly.

"Not helping," the other muttered out of the corner of his mouth to his counterpart.

"Actually, if you really want to start comparing opinions, there is one person that everyone in this car has seen naked..." his identical guest now offered instead.

"Wait, you said you, well, you, both of you, kept your eyes closed," now Vala was stammering, starting to sit back in her own seat.

"Or better yet, I think that as soon as I get our guest what he needs that I can swing by Ronon's quarter's and give him a few pointers myself..." her friend added with a smile, glancing in the rear-view.

"Not fair, I was asking about you and yours, this isn't about me," she defended, Daniel, the Daniels still smiling.

"Ronon..." Daniel reminded again, happy to finally have something to shove in her face, taking his eyes off of her mirror image only long enough to pull into the Pentagon parking lot.

"Yeah, but he dated Addy too, so I'll consider the conversation research. I can play this game too," she tossed back the one thing that would send Daniel into a jealous fit, smiling now herself.

"We're here, get out," he answered, his counterpart looking totally confused.

"And here I thought you were forever curious. Shame being a wimp causes it all to remain a mystery," she taunted, slipping out of the door to sashay across the lot.

"Is she always like that?" the visiting Daniel asked.

"Sometimes worse," he answered over his shoulder, heading straight for the side door, the other Daniel racing up to catch him.

"Did you look?" he asked, wondering, thinking that might explain why in this reality the space bitch was still hanging around.

"Nope. You?"

"Nope...," he replied, laughing, "But she doesn't need to know that. Anyway, so, discussion of nakedness aside, we're not in Kansas anymore..."

"No, there was, well, there were some complications, all SG operations have been moved here to the Pentagon," he said, flashing his badge, clearly Pentagon credentials.

"There's a base in the Pentagon?"

"I was as surprised as you but it's rather extensive... Do you think the girls really will be comparing our um, manhoods?" Daniel asked the question that was bothering him, that Adrienne might actually be having the very conversation that Vala was suggesting.

"Oh I have no doubt."

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"Hey Leesia, can I ask you something? That Daniel might not like..."

Confused, yet intrigued, Leesia frowned,_ 'what possible question was there that the ever curious Daniel would not approve of_'. "Okay?" she replied warily.

"Oh, not like that, not bad, I mean, well. Last night, I, uh, heard you guys, uh..."

"Making love?" the former Ancient offered.

"Yes, making love. I heard you, well, you were very verbal. I mean we talk too, well not erotically, we have, nevermind, dammit I sound like him stammering on like a fool, but not like that, I don't, well, say things like that. I mean I asked him when he heard but he's, you know, well, a man and he won't tell me the truth anyway and I just wanted to know if he well, if he..."

"Likes it?"

"Yeah. Remember that whole upbringing thing? Aside from, well, Daniel and our bizarre coitus nerd conversations, yes, it's weird I am fully aware of it being weird, I never do that..." there she went again, just blabbering on.

Unsure exactly what was being asked, Leesia's frown deepened. "I am afraid you are going to have to be more specific."

Adrienne took a breath.

_Come on Addy_, she coached herself, _who better to ask a question about something with your husband than, well, someone with your husband._

_That's just weird. _

_Like everything else in my life. _

_Let's do this. _

"You were saying some very graphic things, in Ancient, encouraging graphic sexual details as to his performance. I'm not disappointed at all in his performance, lord, no, but I wanted to know if he enjoys hearing that, does it please him?..."

_Professor mode_, she thought, _close enough. _

Leesia smiled mischievously. Daniel had always warned her about sharing 'private' moments with others, although she never really understood why. But she saw no harm in sharing her own experiences with another wife of his. It was technically still _his _love life after all. "I should explain that mostly when I do that, I am not completely sure of exactly what I am saying. But," she added with a cheeky grin, "I have noticed a change in his arousal when I do deliberately, dependent on what I have said."

Adrienne bit her lip, unable to believe that she was even discussing this, breathing before her next question.

"Do you think it's what you say or the language in which you say it?" she started, swallowing, "because truth be told other than, well, general screaming, I'm not sure if anything other than swamp talk would come out."

"I have no way of knowing. I have only done it in Ancient."

"Ok, note ta self, learn dirty ancient, cuz I sho as shit kno if I said aborde mon pockon he will DIE laughing at me," Adrienne joked, running what Ancient she did know that might work through her head.

"You could try; Hác nocta ego propono ut ador tua dónec tuut trancus palpitó penes désideró, it worked for me." Leesia offered.

Adrienne paused, rolling the words through her mind. She knew Ancient, from his journals, but Adrienne was fluent in Latin, fluent enough to understand the difference in meaning She knew Leesia meant, 'Tonight I plan on loving you until your body is quivering with desire' and not 'Tonight I plan on adoring your body and decimating you' as it came out in Latin. Her face broke into a grin.

"Hold dat thought mon ami, I need ta write dis down," she spat, standing and racing down the hall to the office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel swiped his way through the first set of doors, nodding at the guards that he could tell Sam at warned although they were still staring at the pair, stopping at the second set to tap his badge to get through security. Not saying a word, clearly in deep thought, the elder powered his way down the hall toward the elevators ahead, veering off out of habit to head for the stairs. He paused when he noticed the younger wasn't with him, looking up to see the other frowning, pondering at the elevators.

"Something wrong with these?"

"Oh, nothing, I, well, Adrienne is a bit of a health nut, so, yeah, the elevator's fine," the man at the stairs stammered, shaking his head and pressing the button.

"Health nut?" Daniel questioned, after seeing the woman's ridiculous consumption of alcohol the night before it didn't quite fit.

"Yea, she's into healthy eating, running, what not. You know all that crap we ate last night? I'm fairly certain that she is already calculating the exact number of miles needed to be run to burn off every stitch of it."

"So, I've got to ask," the elder Daniel continued as he stepped through the elevators doors, "what's it like to be married to someone you don't have to threaten to get out of bed in the morning."

"It's like never getting to sleep in, always being second in the shower and constantly knowing you're the grumpiest person in the room, but there's always coffee."

"True, well you know EVERY stereotype about people from the bayou that you have EVER seen on TV and movies. They're true. I'm not sure if Adrienne has ever been on time for anything in her life," the Cajun's husband joked, stepping out of the elevator, a quick ride, fewer floors the other noted, directing his counterpart down the narrow hallway.

"Forewarned is forearmed I guess," Daniel quipped in reply, following.

"No telling what you get with a former Ancient right?" the lead Daniel added, stopping at yet another door with another alarm system, swiping his card here as well. The light turned green and Daniel turned the knob, walking over to a cold box in the corner on the room.

"Think in any reality we're with some nice, normal and boring?"

"Oh God I hope not," he said, opening the large door, scanning the storage fridge with his eyes before continuing, "I thought there wouldn't be anything in here, but it was worth a try, let's check the system." The older man pushed his glasses up his face, motioning for his counterpart to follow him to the central computer station.

"If it's not here, or locked up elsewhere, I know that Ad and I have it in our files, it just might take some hunting. I'm assuming paper copies would be best?"

"Yes, paper's fine, thank you, but, well, how long have you had it in storage? Where did it go?"

"It's been about five years now. I can assure you, we haven't had to use it since, so it is just a matter of finding the formula and the notes on dosage," the elder said without diverting his gaze, his fingers dancing along the keys.

"Got it, great. I didn't think it would be that hard to find. Like I said, it was highly effective and we haven't needed it since," Daniel stood from the counter, the sound of a printer whirring to life behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"And he passed that onto you through sexual intercourse?"

"Yep," Adrienne answered quickly, a little less shy now. She hadn't really opened the wine at nine in the morning like she had originally considered, instead just taking a breath and letting herself talk.

Somehow she was making it through.

Talking and being honest really did make things better.

"I never got that." Leesia mused thoughtfully.

"Maybe because you're an Ancient. Maybe because I've got trinium in my spinal column, that's another long story. Maybe something screwed up in my own DNA. I have no idea, but Vala calls it our STD, it's embarrassing," Adrienne admitted looking down at her water glass, her finger listlessly toying with the rim.

"Why?" Leesia questioned with her head tilted, "Because a physical display of your love has joined you in another way? Made you more alike? That is not embarrassing, that is beautiful. It bonds you. Like your tattoos, it is the same thing is it not?"

Adrienne paused for a moment. She hadn't really thought about it like that; for the longest time it seemed like something she should be ashamed of but it did make them closer, more alike, if that was even possible.

Nodding she looked back up at the woman, a small smile creeping across her face.

"I haven't taken my meds, wanna see it work?" she asked, excitedly, leaping from the sofa and dashing to the kitchen, Leesia following eagerly. Heading straight for the knife block, Adrienne drew a long sharp blade holding out her palm to display it.

"Don't tell him I did this. He gets all, well, Daniel like," Adrienne admitted with a grin.

"Cannot imagine why." Leesia said sarcastically, eyeing up the knife warily, "Are you sure this is wise?"

"Yeah, it's fine. It stings a bit, but no more than a tattoo," the Cajun answered slicing into her palm, not even flinching for a moment. Leesia watched as the skin separated and blood flowed, coming to an abrupt halt and then stopping. Smiling, Adrienne wiped her hand onto a dish towel, displaying her unwounded palm.

"I thought it would glow," Leesia mused, gaping at the sight unlike any ancient healing ability she had seen before.

"We can't totally figure it out either. Carolyn's run a ton of tests on us and it seems that the entire thing is a combination of elevated dopamine levels and increased endorphins. It's well, at her best guess, a," she began to stammer again, blushing furiously, "it's literally because we love each other she thinks, sounds so stupid to say it. And you know, you got that technopathy, and I don't have that. Why not?"

"Oh that was, uh, well, long before Daniel. I erm..." Leesia stammered. "It's complicated to explain. I could just show you instead." she offered keen to move the conversation onwards.

"Bring it."

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Daniel watched as Vala stopped her conversation in the hallway, squeezing Ronon's hand quickly before jetting in their direction.

He couldn't resist.

Grinning, he glanced over at his guest, whose nose was in the folder, following him in that classic awkward fashion.

"Hey, follow my lead," he requested, a puzzled look in return as he peered over at the tall alien woman for only a moment before glancing back at his younger counterpart.

"Exactly the same, that is pretty remarkable."

Daniel blinked rapidly for a second, then double taking between his counterpart and the approaching space pirate, understood what his friend had in mind, "Yeah, no, you would think that life experience would alter it, even slightly, but no, size, shape, contour, completely identical."

"Well size and shape was a given, but you really had to wonder about the rest, right to the tip."

"You didn't, no, way, nuh uh, Daniel's even a prudy fancy pants while he boinks Addy in the lab. Bullshit," Vala retorted, Daniel frowning. Because of course Vala had to blab to anyone that would listen about their on-base indiscretion.

"Ohhhhhh we did," the younger continued, "We're genetically completely identical."

"You're lying bastards, there is just no way, I mean. Did you, did you really? That's, well, kinda, UGH!" she sputtered, throwing her hands up, turning to head back down the hall after Ronon.

Two smug grins watched her leave.

"She doesn't need to know we were talking about our fingerprints."

"No, no she doesn't."

Payback was sweet.

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"We're never gonna get home; that's the third stoplight that's been out and, in case you hadn't noticed, no one in D.C. or Northern Virginia can drive," Daniel moaned, resting his head on the steering wheel as he waited for the throngs of confused drivers to get out of his way.

His visitor looked up from the file, the gold mine at the end of the jump and surveyed the traffic, "How far away are we?"

"Just a few more blocks, I went around a different way this morning, but Ad and I don't live very far. We must have missed some severe weather while we were inside, cut the power. Happens around here from time to time," the elder driving again, finally, his eyes darting around the sky, "but you'd think at least the ground would be wet, or maybe a cloud. Weird."

"Oh, no, she didn't, please tell me she didn't," the younger Daniel muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose from under his glasses.

"Didn't do what?" the driver asked, flicking the signal and turning onto their road.

"Leesia's technopathy," was all the explanation given, or needed.

"I knew you guys were just here to cause trouble," he replied, noticing that all his neighbours were out in their front yards, looking concerned, as he pulled into their drive.

Any doubt Daniel had to Leesia's involvement vanished as soon as his counterpart opened the door.

"Can you PLEASE come to base and do that to Rodney's lab? I will do ANYTHING you want in return! Oh and Woolsey's office! Let's take that out too..." Addy was shouting excitedly, bouncing around with the baby in her arms.

"I am so, so sorry," Leesia was stammering.

"No, don't apologize, dis is jus awesome, SCREW da Wolverine, ya fa real Seven ah Nine!"

"Seven of Nine?" the Cajun's husband seemed equally as puzzled, as he reached out to safely remove their son.

"Star Trek Voyager, we'll add that to ya list sha, anyway, mon ami dat be amazin'. Can ya turn it back on too?" Adrienne blew off Daniel, looking back at Leesia, her mind in nerd overload.

"Wait, wait, can ya fly a Puddlejumper!? Like it's a remote control, can ya be ah remote control?"

"Adrienne," Daniel was now frowning at her, scolding like he did, "our guest is not a toy."

"I am well aware of that ya damn tchew, I'm askin' fa scientific reasons!"

"It's okay, Lees, they just don't have the protection we do." Daniel said, rubbing his wife's back. He turned to his counterpart. "It's probably just fuses, ours are specially lined; can you show me where your box is?"

"It's back here in the utility room," he said through gritted teeth, leading his other self to the back of the house.

"Is he angry with me?" Leesia asked worriedly.

"Not you, but me for sure. He'll live. I'll bake, that always works," Adrienne assured her, still laughing as she made her way to the kitchen to presumably do just that provided the boys could get the power back on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Oh shut up Indy, how was I supposed to know that all of D.C. would be at Tony Cheng's tonight?" Adrienne rolled her eyes at his smart remarking, catching Leesia's giggle out of the corner of her eye.

"We can go elsewhere, I'm not sure if Leesia - " her husband started, adjusting the baby in his arms as Adrienne swung around, ignoring him, instead staring at his younger counterpart.

"How long have you two been together?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

"Two years," he replied confused.

"Three," Leesia corrected.

"Enough," Adrienne answered, staring back at Daniel, "you have taken her out to eat twice according to her, twice. That is unacceptable, do you understand me? I don't care if God himself is raining fire down on the people of Earth and the oceans are turning ta gah damn lava, when your ass gets home you are taking this woman out like I am taking her out now. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am," the younger mumbled, suddenly finding the toe of his shoe fascinating.

"Good. Give me my son. We are going to eat," Adrienne declared, her attention back at the other Daniel, grabbing Nicky with one hand and pulling Leesia by the other.

"She told you," Indy grinned mockingly, following their wives, his suitable chastised counterpart shuffling after him.

"So, Leesia takes out your fuse box and I get the lecture?"

"Welcome to my life."

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It was nearly eight in the evening, Nicholas sleeping soundly as the couples sat in thecandlelit living room, having a final glass of wine, when Daniel's watch beeped signaling that their time was coming to an end. "It's nearly time," he warned. Leesia nodded and following her husband's lead, sadly grabbed up her vest and harness.

"We can't thank you enough for this," Daniel told them, indicating the file held tightly in his grasp.

"I hope it will help" his identical host offered with a shrug as Adrienne rushed to her feet, racing over to Leesia and hugging her tightly.

"I'm sure it will. Anything else we need to know?" the visiting Daniel asked, taken aback as arms were thrown around his neck too, the Cajun now hugging him as well.

"If Sam tries to hire you an obnoxious assistant, be nicer to her. She's not so bad," her husband laughed as he watched her step back, whisking a tear from the corner of her eye.

"And make sure if you guys do have an Addy, that she dates Cam. I would love to have this version squirming for the remainder of eternity at that thought," Adrienne joked, sniffing in,playing tough like Daniel loved to see her do. He shook hands with himself, _weird_ he thought, the one question he hadn't asked popping into his head yet again.

"It is curious though, if Leesia is from our past why she's not here," he let out, unsure if he wanted to hear the answer.

"There are too many reasons to count that could explain my absence here," Leesia said. "Maybe in this reality I never ascended, or we never met, or we could have met and hated each other. Regardless, we will never have any way of knowing. And maybe that's for the best. It's our own journey that defines us and each will have different stops along the way."

"In other words, don't split hairs, sha, because in some reality, you're fuckin' Vala," Adrienne teased, making him roll his eyes and grimace as he stepped forward to hug the woman as well.

"Or Jack," Leesia added with a cheeky grin, Daniel freezing mid step.

Before anyone could reply, the couple were engulfed in a bright flash and disappeared.

"She was joking, right?" Daniel's eyes widened, pointing to the spot where Leesia had been only the second before. "How many realities have they been too?"

"Oh thank you Leeisa. That's too much material, just too much," Adrienne laughed, covering her mouth as to not wake the baby.

"Ad! I'm serious, this isn't funny! Maybe in some reality YOU are with Vala, huh? How do you like that? Or even better RODNEY! I think that would make a fantastic match!" he shouted, chasing her down the hall.

"Whateva sha, she said you and Jack! We already know you are comfortable with fifteen year age gaps!"

"Thirteen," Indy corrected automatically.

"Well, you would know."

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"Jack? Really?"

Leesia shrugged her shoulders innocently, "You two are freakishly close, it is possible."

Daniel rolled his eyes as Sam stepped up, asking, "How'd it go?"

"Better than I ever hoped it would." Daniel explained as the group started for the gate.

"What is that?" Leesia inquired, seeing Daniel was clutching something new.

"My counterpart slipped it to me when he shook my hand," Daniel replied carefully unfolding the note. He read it aloud, "Adrienne Margaret Rowan, Red Oak Motel. April 2007. I'd like to ask one favor in return, **_change her stars_**, D."

"She did say something awful happened," Leesia replied.

"It's dated two years from now. More than enough time for us to stop it."

"And we do owe them one,"

"We certainly do," Daniel agreed, wrapping his arm across her shoulders.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Nicky had eaten, Daniel tucking him into his crib while Adrienne hid in the bathroom, reading over her notes from earlier in the afternoon. She heard a door open, their bedroom door, stuffing the notebook under the sink before slipping into the bedroom.

"He's out like a light," Daniel said, pulling his shirt from his head and throwing it into the hamper.

"Thanks for getting him down," she replied, pulling her yoga pants from her legs and slipping into bed, just a tank top and panties hoping he'd notice the difference in her normal attire.

He didn't, instead pulling his jeans from his legs and throwing them into the hamper as well, joining her by flopping down beside her.

She was just gonna have to go for it.

"Hác nocta ego propono ut ador tua dónec tuut trancus palpitó penes désideró," Adrienne whispered into his ear, crawling into his lap. He paused for a moment, confused, understanding her words when he realized what she was doing.

"Coo, I be preferin da gataspeak if ya be doin' all dat," he whispered in return, nuzzling her close, hoping she felt him smile at her cheek as he kissed it, awaiting her reply, which was delayed, but sharp, as she pushed him back away.

"Really?"

"Par ailleurs, le français ou le Cajun semble tellement sexy avec ton accent ja-wer …" he replied, running his fingers down her cheek, "but really, all I want in the end is to always know that you're right there beside me."

"Den I gotta be tankin' sum sorta gods dat dat boy ah yahs be takin da sleep," she joked, her accent so forced she was almost mocking herself, pushing him back down on the bed.

_Yeah_, he thought,_ just keep sleeping little guy_.

_Mommy and I have some catching up to do._


	66. Chapter 65 - Full Stop

_"I couldn't tell him," Adrienne said at the door, that now familiar look plastered across her face. _

_"Why in the hell not? Are you blind? You said he tried to get you drunk and bed you at that damn hotel. Just walk in there, get the sappy shit out of the way and take off his pants," Vala retorted, blocking the entrance to her quarters. She'd had it with this; she'd had it with Adrienne, one of the bravest women on this planet, coming to her room every other night, every night that she wasn't with him, sulking like a lost dog. _

_"Vala, I don't just want to sleep with him, we've been over this," she whined, again, stepping forward to push past her friend, who relented, as she knew she would. Tossing her backpack onto the floor by the desk, Adrienne went to her now customary sulking position on the bed, curling up into a ball. _

_"He does," Vala said simply, shutting the door and walking over to her desk chair. _

_"I know," was her muffled response as Adrienne's face was shoved into the pillow. _

_"He would," she added, throwing her feet up on top of the cheap formica surface, streaked with nail polish stains, half of which were Adrienne's fault from previous whining marathons. _

_"I know," the reply was louder, still muffled, as Adrienne chose not to look up. _

_"You could just lie, don't tell anyone, well, anyone but me of course, I want explicit details starting with how big -" Vala began, knowing how to push her buttons, halting her own words the minute Adrienne's head shot up, her dark eyes cutting into Vala's own. _

_"You'd nah be getting merde for details mon ami, so ya can stop dat 'ope righ dere," Adrienne hissed, the look on her face enough to make Vala laugh uncontrollably, popping her feet onto the floor and resting her hands on her knees..._

"Oh Nicky," Vala muttered out loud, bottle in hand as she fed the small human in her arms, the memory that slipped into her mind making her laugh, "your mom is such a baby and your dad, well, he's worse. It's probably a miracle that you were even conceived." She was laughing at her own statement when the child moved his mouth away from the bottle, glaring at her, a sinister combination of Daniel's frown and Adrienne's glare.

"Don't look at me like that. It's true. That's why you have me. Your auntie will get you through life in a much less confusing and backward manner than your parents, trust me."

The baby took the bottle back and continued sucking.

Creepy kid.

She was imagining it, she knew, but sometimes it felt like the little guy understood what she was saying. He had this look, very young for his age, that Addy said was just genetics, well that and Daniel frowned so much that it had been passed on.

Daniel, on the other hand, didn't find that funny.

"There wasn't a whole lot left at that red rental box thing, but I did get some snacks," she heard a familiar low voice declare from her doorway, making her peer from the bed and smile at the tall Sateadan entering the room.

It had all worked out so nicely after all, she thought, Ronon Dex was honestly better than she could have ever imagined.

Teal'c had told her about the Odyssey, about how weak and docile she had become in an alternate lifetime with Daniel. He seemed to bring that out in people, vulnerability; she had never seen Addy cry except for over him. For months after the incident, Vala had pumped Teal'c for details; details that made her feel more and more pathetic. She'd apparently suffered a month long breakdown over the fact that having Adria had destroyed her reproductive system and she could no longer bear children, his children, which made her withdraw into their bedroom. She'd become his submissive little woman, doting all over him as he continued to work for fifty years, fifty years in which he had never told her he loved her, at least according to Teal'c. She knew why, it was because he didn't, for as often and open as he was with the words for Adrienne, Teal'c, properly intoxicated, could not remember once in fifty years Daniel saying it to Vala, not once.

Ronon, on the other hand, wasn't about to make Vala his little woman and couldn't have been more, well, open.

"Thanks, almost done feeding," she replied with a smile as he set the plastic bag over on her dresser and walked over, kissing her lightly before heading to the bathroom.

He was totally worth the trouble.

Adrienne was the one that had lost in this equation.

It wasn't Vala that had ended their trial run; Daniel had been just as distant himself, admitting one night while they sat so very close to being together in this reality, in his apartment, in his bed, that he didn't feel anything. She'd known it, known it based on Teal'c, she had been his project on the ship, an object of convenience and nothing more. Some things just weren't meant to be and she left it at that, returning to the status quo of harassment until Adrienne came along.

Then she had watched Daniel change.

"He's a cute little guy," Ronon said as he took a seat at the chair of her desk, careful not to disturb the child's feeding by joining her on the bed.

"He is. They don't deserve him you know? They are too, well, them," she said, in jest of course, but it was still hard for her to imagine Adrienne as anybody's mother. No wonder the kid had peed in her mouth; that was still Daniel's favorite Addy story to tell.

Laughing, Ronon sat back in the chair, turning on the TV.

"He sleeping in the playpen?" her lover asked, cocking his head over in the corner where Adrienne had set up the station earlier, one that Vala had amended as it had way too many unneeded things: the changing table attachment, three visual stimulators, playpen inner padding, about a half dozen stuffed toys and a few pacifiers. The kid only needed a blanket and to not be on the floor, but Vala had only lightly teased as Adrienne set it up, taking it apart quickly once she had left.

"Yeah, Addy said to try to get him down by nine, so I was just gonna let him watch something with us until then," she answered, checking the bottle to see if he was done, which he was.

Definitely Daniel's child, she thought, the kid could pack it away.

"Can I stay here then or is that not alright?" he added, cautiously, in that way of his, the quiet soft spoken unsureness of what was and was not socially acceptable on this planet. He had found that while Earth was very much like Sateada in some ways, it was very unlike it in others.

"You realize this little booger was conceived outside of their picture perfect marriage, right? I think we can share a bunk," she answered, setting the bottle on her nightstand to scoot over and allow Ronon to sit.

He's such a gentleman, she thought, my perfect gentleman.

_Thank the gods for him. _

"When are they coming to pick him up?" he asked as he sat, kicking his flip flops to the floor.

"Tomorrow, a little before lunch," Vala answered, the baby looking up at her again. So weird, she thought, it's like he understands me.

"Yes little one. They need a break, which means all sorts of things that I can't say in front of baby but trust me, they'll be back. If there is one person that Addy can't leave behind it's you. You've replaced your father," she joked, leaning back against the headboard, letting her head rest on Ronon's shoulder, wondering what Daniel and Adrienne were doing right now...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel had Adrienne right where he wanted her, pinned down with nowhere to go.

"I'm gonna take you now," he whispered, smiling, his eyes probing hers for a response.

"Keep dreaming Indy," she hissed back just a slyly, her own back at his, daring him, taunting him, teasing him.

Trying not to smile, he was right, he was indeed going to take her, she looked back down at the board eyeing his rook.

He was just too damn good at chess.

"We're pathetic," she moaned, moving her pawn, hopelessly as Daniel reached across the board, laughing hysterically.

"No, you are. That's three games. In a row. Care to try something you might be able to beat me at?" he joked, moving the piece to capture her king, Adrienne shaking her head.

"No, I mean us. First time Nicky's away from us, for the entire night, and we play chess and drink expensive wine," Adrienne grumbled, cleaning up the game and refusing to set up another.

"Ja-wer, for a moment, just one moment be quiet and listen," he requested, pausing dramatically as he could, throwing his hands into the air, "what do you hear?"

"Nothing," she answered, eyes rolling.

"Right, nothing. Nothing to break my concentration as I beat your ass at chess, nothing to interrupt our discussion of what hints of what are in our wine, nothing, absolutely nothing," he replied, sitting back onto the couch.

"He's been better about the cryin' cooyon," she fussed, slipping into cajun with a wink.

"He has, but I've missed hanging out with my best friend. Sue me," he said sweetly making Adrienne stop and smile, tossing the game onto the coffee table and crawling into his lap facing him.

"I've missed you too," she whispered, pecking his lips softly before pulling away, resting their foreheads together. Breathing out softly, Daniel slipped his hands behind her neck, pulling her lips to his, kissing her passionately, holding her so close to his body as he felt her hiss in breath.

"I have an idea," he murmured as he pulled away, Adrienne nuzzling at his ear.

"What's that sha?" she asked, grinding down into his lap.

"Let's get your computer and try to learn Elvish while watching The Lord of the Rings," he suggested, Adrienne grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm so glad I married someone as dorky as me," she answered standing.

"You get the DVD's, I'll get your laptop. And more wine. Red?" he asked, dashing up behind her.

"Of course."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

She had to admit that it was nice, sitting here in Ronon's arms, Nicky happily asleep in his playpen, fed, burped, and not crying. The two of them must be doing something wrong; the child barely cried for her even before that Ancient woman showed up.

Leave it to two geniuses to not be able to do something as simple as take care of a baby.

"You want a soda?" a low voice whispered in her ear.

Not really, she thought, I just want you to sit here and hold me and talk to me in that voice.

"Sure, what do we have?" asking a question she full well knew the answer to.

"Regular, diet, I have some of that grape stuff too," he answered, sitting up slightly, pushing her forward to fulfill her request.

This is nice.

Normally on a night off, no teams coming in, no spy missions, just a night here on base, she and Ronon wouldn't be on base, they'd be at a concert, a restaurant or some other event and then they'd come back here and...

Well, they'd act like Daniel and Adrienne is what they would do, so she really had no room to talk in that department but still, no one was complaining of screaming coming from she or Ronon's quarters like they did from the Jacksons'.

It was disgusting.

"Diet," she answered, making note of her sugar intake. Adrienne was right, it wasn't about gaining weight; regular soda just made her feel like shit.

"Sure, I'll grab that bag of popcorn too," and he was up and getting something for her and he was hers and they were them and there was no flirting, no deceit, no tears.

_Vala, stop worrying, I told you, I might not believe in God but I do believe that some things were meant to be..._

Adrienne's words echoed in her head as she willed her heart to stop racing with panic because nothing ever worked out this great for her, nothing.

She just didn't want to get hurt again thinking that it finally would.

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX_

"There's no way in hell that that man wrote that language, no damn way. I'm gonna look into it; I bet you that some alien civilization is to blame. It had to be taught to him," Daniel pouted from the bed, letting the notebook drop into his lap.

"So, you think that an advanced alien civilization visited Earth for the sole purpose of teaching Tolkien their language so he could put it into a fantasy novel," Adrienne replied, desperately trying to keep from laughing hysterically right in his face.

"Shut up," he laughed instead rolling his eyes.

"You're just pissy you can't figure it out," she teased as he fell over onto her, burying his face into her thigh.

"I'm too tired to think about learning a new language," he muttered as Adrienne slid the notebook from his hand, shaking her head.

"It's nine o'clock sha and you switched back to coffee from wine an hour ago," she joked, tossing the notebook lightly into the floor. He had done pretty well for a while, but then he started claiming that Legolas wasn't speaking the same thing as Elrod and then all nerd hell had broken loose.

"I'm old," he muttered slyly, rolling over into her lap, trying not to smile.

"You don't even think that; it's just become your damn excuse to get out of shit," she accused, Daniel finally laughing.

"I liked you better when you were scared of me," he teased this time, his eyebrows raised slightly watching to see if she was to grab her pillow to slam him in the face with it.

"I was never scared of you but if that's what helps you sleep at night," she lied, he knew she was lying; she'd admitted as much, that she had been so worried about pissing him off or losing her job in the beginning. He laughed, the memories coming back from when she had first walked into his life, how he'd wanted to ship her right back to the Bayou and now, here he was, lying in her lap, their son in Vala's care.

"Did I ever tell you that I had a naughty dream about you?" she asked as she ran her fingers through his hair. She must have been thinking back too, and he paused, realizing what she had said. He sat up staring at her quizzically, that sly smile of his creeping across his face.

"No...when?" he pushed as she giggled, turning red.

Such a prude sometimes, he thought, that Southern raising making intimate moments like these that much more fun.

"A while ago, remember that time you took those stupid pictures of me asleep on the keyboard?" she replied, unable to believe that she was telling him this especially as he sat there in front of her with that goofy grin of his.

"You mean those fantastic pictures I hung around the lab for a month, yes, wait, that was what I woke you up from!?" he was cackling like a fool by the end, the pillow slamming upside his head as he expected.

"Shut up tchew," she started to flee, a grab at her wrist pulling her back to the bed.

"You trusted me back then, that much?" he asked as she turned her head around to face him, no longer kidding, understanding what a dream like that really meant. Lips pursed, Adrienne just nodded.

"I was looking at your butt," he admitted now, Adrienne's somber glance changing back to a smile and then a giggle.

"I know, Ronon told me," she said as she sat once more, Daniel's jaw dropping.

"What?"

"Yeah, on the negotiation mission to that Inca world, whatever the planet code was, yeah, he told everyone," she answered. This is too much fun, she thought.

"Ok, so you believed the word of a jealous ex-suitor?" Daniel changed his tune quickly, the look on Adrienne's face so full of sarcasm she really didn't need to say anything more.

"It was true though, so, yeah, try to backpedal ya way outta dat one," she hissed as her husband tried to play it cool, lacing his fingers behind his head, leaning back into the pillow.

"Ok, fine, we'll just clear the air. I changed the time I worked out so I wouldn't drop a weight on myself. To be clear, I still wanted to choke you, but that didn't mean I couldn't admire the view," he said so coolly, so snotty, that Adrienne couldn't resist, crawling on top of him, pinning his arms with her knees.

"Ya cooyon, are ya kiddin' me? Ok, wha else, verite, doncha be 'oldin' nuttin back," she demanded, Daniel nervously licking his lower lip.

"Not much else, but I had a dream too, when you came home with me after your first half marathon."

"I knew about that one," she shrugged, easing back from his arms to lie on top on him, her cheek resting against his chest.

"How?" he asked, confused as Adrienne began to giggle again.

"Where da ya dink da pilla came from?"

Daniel froze in their bed.

_Oh dear god she saw..._

"Oh..." he choked out, sending his wife into hysterics.

"Neva unda estimate me sha, neva," she managed to tease, his arms wrapping around her tighter despite his sheer embarrassment.

"How did Teal'c see all of your tattoos?" he inquired the moment the question popped into his head, Adrienne picking her head up to peer at him, her chin digging sharply into his chest.

"I showed him."

"All of them?"

"Yeah, we were having a conversation about tattoos so I showed him."

"All of them?"

"Jealous much?"

"No," he lied, she knew, making her rest her head against him again.

"It's Teal'c sha, he's like everyone's big brother. Ishta was there too if that makes it better; I got mostly naked in front of two Jaffa," she explained, her innocent tattoo show in the gym one late night not being that big of a deal.

Ishta herself had a gorgeous one of her backside, but she really didn't think Daniel needed that detail.

For as much as he claimed to be open minded, he could be as prudish as she at times and he still didn't totally understand the artistry in tattooing even though he now had one himself.

"Alright, I was just wondering," he whispered, kissing her head.

"I miss Nicky, I do, but I've missed you. I wish this could last forever," she murmured as she nuzzled him, running her hands gently down his sides. He did too; as excited as he was to have a family, he wanted just more time with Adrienne, to chat with her, kiss her, love her...

"We can, I mean it can, well I think," he sputtered, sitting up nearly knocking her into the floor.

"Uh, lying here," she retorted, climbing off of him, frowning.

"Sorry, no we can, we need to get to work, now. I've got an idea."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

The sound was distant, so much so that Vala almost disregarded it when there was another sound, one closer, whispering in her ear.

"Should I get him?" Ronon asked softly, Vala coming to the realization that it was crying she was hearing, Nicky's crying, in the same room. Sniffing in, her nose somewhat runny from the D.C. temperature swings lately, Vala rubbed her face, opening her eyes to look at Ronon.

"Give him a sec. He's supposed to be sleeping through the night now," she muttered, running Adrienne's insane list of instructions through her head. Feeling a chill through her body, she curled closer to her sleeping companion, letting him warm her, the crying continuing.

"It's his first night away from home," Ronon reasoned as he held her, why was he always so reasonable, making Vala sit and push back the blanket, a gentle grab at her wrist.

"Stay. You've had him all evening. I've got him," he added, standing from the bed, from her, lumbering his way over to Nicholas. Vala sat up, pulling the blanket to her neck, cold despite her long sleeved t-shirt, watching Ronon as he fetched Daniel and Adrienne's child.

"Hey little guy, come on. What's the matter? Do you need cleaning up?" he asked, leaning over into the playpen to scoop the boy into his arms, bouncing him lightly.

"He likes 'The Wheels on the Bus'," Vala figured she ought to mention, that being Daniel's only instruction for their babysitting venture; when all else fails sing 'The Wheels on the Bus.'

"What's that?" he asked, Vala chuckling, remembering that he would have no reason to know that song in the least as he continued to talk to the little bundle in his arms. Funny, talking to Nicky was the most talking Vala had ever heard him do.

It was adorable.

"You like wheels? Yeah, I have to admit that cars, especially the old ones like Sheppard's brother collects are cool. You like cars. Vroom vroom," he continued, Vala herself now speechless. He was classic Ronon, calm, cool and collected, not upset for a moment by the wailing child, but at the same time absolutely adorable as he addressed Nicky, who was starting to calm a little himself at her boyfriend's silliness.

"So a bus huh? I like trucks myself, but maybe that's because I don't fit in much else. You'll probably have the same problem, your dad's tall and your mom's not too small herself."

It was the most charming scene she had ever witnessed, the strong and normally quiet fighter carrying on a conversation with the small human in his hands.

Things really did turn out for the best, she thought, this is all truly amazing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, Teal'c knows a lot more than we give him credit for and Rodney's been working on this for a while."

"Ok, and everything has to be in here?"

"Yes, bed area."

"Indy, that sounds like you have one thing on your mind and one thing only..."

"No, I'm trying to limit this to a small area and I was trying to pick an area where if we choose to make love we're in the best place."

"That sounds so awful sha, you know this right?"

"Fine, it was just an idea. We don't have to do it."

"No, let's try. I just need to get something first."

"We've got Monopoly, Scrabble, cards, your computer, snacks, drinks, what else do we need?"

"Think bed Daniel..."

"Oh, in that case, carry on ja-wer."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Come on Addy, this isn't fair!" Vala shouted, feeling bad about her word choice even though the baby in her arms had no idea what she was saying. Ronon was parking the Miata, the only other person that she allowed to drive it, since both of Jacksons' cars were taking up the entire tiny drive and the streets were lined with automobiles. Turning on the hall light, Vala kicked the door shut with her heel, pocketing the spare key her friends had given her before powering down the hall.

"Mommy and Daddy are taking advantage of Auntie Vala," she explained to her companion, "not that I don't love spending time with you Nicky, you're adorable, but Auntie Vala is trying to get a big scary dog man and she has a lot of work to do today."

Nicky didn't respond, of course, Vala making for the living room, knowing that the second playpen would be there, and it was, the shine of the hall light against the vinyl making up for the fact that the living room light was off as well.

"You've got to be kidding me," she grumbled as she set her human bundle into the playpen, Nicky thankfully not crying, before making her way to the kitchen.

"It's almost one in the afternoon, I know Daniel has got to be up, you two could not still be sleeping," she continued to rant, flicking on the lights as she stormed room by room, finding them in none of them, leaving only one room to be inspected, their bedroom, at the end of the hall.

"Please at least be under blankets," she muttered, turning to knob and opening the door.

There was Adrienne, in a red nightie that Vala recognized, it was a wedding gift, from HER, crawling on top of Daniel who was thankfully mostly shielded from view by Adrienne's body.

Mostly shielded, but there was enough showing where Vala put her face in her hands, leaving only her mouth exposed.

"I'm back and so is your kid and I'm out of pumped milk so can you two get dressed and come parent again?" she declared, hands on her hips, waiting for Adrienne to slink away slowly from her straddle of Daniel, who any moment would be ripping the blanket from where he had tossed it aside in order to cover himself...

...but he didn't.

He didn't move, she didn't move, the pair frozen in time, mere moments before they...

"Addy? Daniel?" Vala said, stepping forward cautiously, peering around the bed looking at the scene, trying to figure out if they were joking with her, but why would they joke, especially like this, Addy was a bit of a prude and Vala now knew why, but they were just there, in front of her, not moving a muscle.

"Can you two hear me?" she asked, taking one more careful step forward when she slammed into a solid wall of nothing, blocking her advance.

"Shit!" she shouted out, dashing back into the living room to scoop up Nicky, tearing out the front door of the Jackson townhouse.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Sam reached out carefully for her shoulders as Vala rambled on, Ronon standing back in the tight SGC office bouncing Nicky in his arms.

"Take a breath and slow down Vala, we're sending a team there now but I need you to stay calm," the general reiterated, but Vala had no intention of standing still, nervous energy making her dance around the room.

"It's Anubis, I know it, he's done this; he's doing something awful to them. Galar, they're a planet full of nerds, between that and Langara he's figured out a way to encase them and kill them and we're next, we're all next, Nicky, he's next and he's just a child," she sputtered, Ronon adjusting the baby to try his luck in calming her, to no avail as she swatted him away.

"Vala, we're not sure what it is right now; it could be a host of things," Sam lied, her stomach telling her that this was something awful, Anubis come to finish the job he had started with Adrienne that now seemed like such a long time ago.

"No Sam, it IS Anubis! What the hell else could it be?!"

"A time dilation device," Cam said from the doorway, shaking his head, a tablet computer in hand.

"Wait, what?" Sam asked, herself certain that Vala was correct, but Cam was walking the device over to her, a grimace on his face.

"SG-7 combed the place, took pictures, everything and nothing was unusual but this," the colonel explained, pointing to the picture of the screen, a picture that was of one of their nightstands a black gadget lying on top.

"I sent the images to Rodney, but I know you know what it is, time dilation, portable version. One of the many things that Rodney was working on..."

"...That Adrienne would have told Daniel about since she worked with Rodney as well. And it's inside the field, Vala says that the field encompasses the bed, so that means that Daniel or Adrienne activated the device," Sam finished, Vala pushing her way forward.

"No, that's idiotic. Why would they do that? Daniel knows not to mess with those things," she argued, Cam leaning over Sam to flick his finger across the screen.

"Idiotic yes, but that's what they did. Take a look around the bed, they have about three days' worth of food, water and entertainment. I think they planned this," he added, sheepishly. He'd seen a lot more in that room, a lot more than he ever wanted to see, making sure no pictures were taken of that and the team was ushered out as soon as he figured out what was going on to help preserve his friends' dignity.

"So, they've slowed down time, for themselves alone? Am I understanding this correctly?" Sam clarified, unable to believe what she was hearing. Daniel and Adrienne had done a lot of stupid things in their time together, as friends and as a couple, but slowing time to create their own personal child free vacation had to rank among the stupidest.

And they forgot to include the bathroom by the image she was looking at, which was doubly stupid.

"A fuck fest. They dumped that adorable little boy with me to break into storage, steal that damn time thing and have themselves a fuck fest?!" Vala was now shouting, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation.

"There was Monopoly and a backpack there Vala, I think they planned on other things too," Ronon added from behind, giving her a look no one else dared give her.

"Fine, whatever," she spat, storming up to him to retrieve the baby, "so I just guess that I'll hope that you all can figure this out before I run out of milk for Nicky."

With that, Vala stormed out of the office, Ronon pausing before following.

"Can you get them out of this?"

He was concerned, those were his friends too, trapped somewhere in the confines of time by their own careless hands.

"I hope so," Sam answered honestly, the Sateadan nodding before trailing behind Vala.

"Can we Sam? If I remember correctly we were inside the bubble with the device, not the other way around," Cameron noted.

"I know. Call Teal'c and I'm gonna have Rodney beam over," was all the reply she gave, Cam taking that as her signal to leave and do as he was ordered. Breathing out slowly, Sam walked over to her desk, grabbing the receiver, debating on calling Jack right away or just phoning Rodney, as either would have something smart to say.

They would start in with something she didn't have time for, especially this morning.

Anise had dialed in just before sunrise; Sam summoned to work before she could even have her morning cup of coffee. The Tok'ra had new intelligence on Anubis, evidence that he was on the move, with help. Yat'Yir and his group of rebel Jaffa had joined Anubis, the former slave now begging to be back the service of his old masters. Teal'c was devastated, requesting to return to Chulac immediately, a request she denied fearing imminent attack. She hoped he wouldn't be too angry, that he wouldn't see the Jacksons' poor decision making as something not worth his trouble.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"That's the last bottle," Ronon informed Vala as she plopped onto the bed, inserting the nipple into the very loud awaiting mouth.

"I know," she answered curtly, "which means Sam had better hurry this up." She didn't look up, peering instead down at the child in her arms, now silent, eating, the look of worry on her face unable to be hidden.

"She'll figure it out," he assured, walking around her room to pick up a few things, straightening the mess from keeping the baby, trying to give her space when he heard a sniffle behind him.

"Are you alright?" he asked, stopping what he was doing to glance over at her just in time to see her long fingers streak across her face.

"I'm fine, just, didn't he know? The last time, didn't he know? I mean, yes, it's Addy, but he left Nicholas behind," she started to tear up again, Ronon gently setting the boy's belongings on the table, rushing to join her.

"Vala, stop, they didn't leave anyone behind; they just wanted more time together. It's hard to have a newborn," his words were as soft and tender as the arm slipping around her, holding her to him.

"I know, I know, it's just what if something happens to them? They aren't even letting Addy take a full leave, as far as I know neither of them have any intention of cutting their hours. Did they even think of him?" she yammered, trying to retain her composure but unable to, Ronon reaching for Nicky to take the babe, continue the feeding.

"Yea. They left him with you with only enough supplies through this morning. This is just an accident; Sam'll fix it," he soothed, adjusting the child in his arms as he wriggled himself onto the bed.

"It was fifty years last time Ronon, fifty years..."

He would hear none of it, leaning over to kiss her head.

"Why don't you go down to the mess, get us some grub? I'll feed him and get him down again," he suggested, more of an order than a suggestion really, Vala complying without complaint, standing to make her way to food.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Are the ships ready?" she stood at the screen her green eyes brushing over the layout of her fleet, a collection much more extensive than before. Yat'Yir's Hataks were holding center, his Jaffa now bearing the correct mark, on their biceps this time rather their foreheads.

"They will be by nightfall ma'am," Homer answered shyly despite the surge of confidence he had only a few nights before when Anubis had selected him and him alone to be more or less her personal medic. Granted, Homer was not much more than a microbiologist, but he knew enough of cloning to insure that proper care was taken of this body.

And his family's.

For as long as Homer Khalen was in Anubis' good graces his family would be alive and well, his now awakened family, housed in a secret location that he was not privilege to know. His only communication with his terrified wife had been via video when he had assured her that everything was going to be alright and that Anubis' leadership really was what was best for the galaxy.

"Well done. Now, I'd like for you to report to Amuro's lab. He will discuss your next task with you," she ordered, turning on her heels, the shimmering green gown accenting those vicious eyes.

"Yes ma'am," he sputtered, trying not to be trapped by her glare, by her beauty, by the temptation that was this person, was this god standing before him. It was wrong to want your captor, wrong to want to caress a body that you helped keep alive, and it made him nauseous that he even felt that way. Not waiting to be dismissed, he turned to leave, heading for the science building and the trams to take him there.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Teal'c stood in the Jackson bedroom shaking his head. Sam was lucky he had agreed to come; Cameron having found him in the gym, training more Jaffa cadets, cadets he was hoping would be awarded positions on teams very soon.

"This is most uncomfortable," he stated with his arms crossed, Sam letting out a sigh as she looked yet again at the sight of her two friends getting ready to...

"That's why I'm trying to avoid calling Rodney. It would be great if we could keep this between the team," she explained as he nodded, his large booted feet padding their way around the invisible bubble examining the scene. She wished she could cover them up, afford them some privacy, because of course they started the device now, they couldn't have just done it while they were playing Monopoly...

"Samantha, it seems the device is inside of the field itself, as is to be expected," Teal'c noted, making his way over quickly to their nightstand pointing to the device sitting there, a device that itself was frozen in time.

"Yeah, I noticed that last time. I was just hoping that you remembered something, anything we could do remotely to reverse it," she found the words hard to say, a part of her knowing that they would need to call Rodney, that she'd have to work with Rodney on this, something she was not looking forward to.

She was going to kill them when this was over.

"However last time it was not the field that needed reversal but time itself as well as the Odyssey removed from danger. If Daniel and AdrienneJackson were only to turn the device off themselves everything would continue as it was."

Duh Teal'c, Sam thought, her very next thought being that she had been married to Jack too long, Jack that she hadn't called just yet.

"Well, it was worth the try, Teal'c if you could just take a look at the device. I'm having Cam bring another over on the off chance that we can turn the thing off remotely," she requested, the warrior nodding again.

"Of course."

Sighing Sam slipped out of the room, heading down the hall, her phone to her ear before she made it to the front door.

"General O'Neill please. Yes, I'll hold," she said, of course I'll hold, I need to figure out what I'm going to tell him exactly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"There's still no answer. What's taking so damn long?" Vala spouted as she slammed her cell phone onto her desk, regretting that move the moment she had as the crying had begun, yet again.

"He's up," Ronon remarked, standing quick to pick up Nicholas, Vala heading him off at the pass.

"No, let him cry it out. You'll spoil him," she fussed, smacking his hand gently.

WAAAAAAAAAAA

"Nicky, I'm sorry I was loud but I'm not picking you up right now, do you understand?" she now added, leaning over into the crib, Ronon's puzzled face glaring at her.

WAAAAAAAAA

"You're talking to him like he knows what you're saying," he remarked, cautiously, wondering how much experience with babies that Vala had. Must be enough for Addy to trust her, he thought, as she glanced up at him, still choosing to not pick up the child.

"It's what Addy does," she answered simply her eyes back on the screaming mound in the playpen once more, "Nicky, listen to me. Aunt Sam is doing the best she can to get your idiotic parents out of trouble yet again. Laying here wailing about it isn't gonna do one good damn bit!"

No sooner had the words crossed her mouth than the infant just stopped crying.

"You shouldn't yell at him," Ronon teased, cutting his eyes over at Vala who didn't seem as amused.

"It's not yelling, it's talking over the noise," she muttered quietly, crossing back over to her desk, taking a seat and reaching for a small blue book, one of those vampire novels that she had been reading.

"You know," she started before he could ask, shutting the book again, "they haven't picked godparents yet."

"What's that?" he asked, taking a seat on the bed, keeping a safe distance from her just in case she needed to have an explosion of frustrated rage.

"It's the people who take care of your kids in case you die. Daniel and Addy haven't picked anyone; she was talking to me about it the other day at lunch. They want a couple and Daniel doesn't seem to think that Jack will want to raise an infant at his age."

Ronon sat quietly not knowing what to say. Sure, he knew that Vala was excited about the baby, after losing one of her own, and she had spent a lot of time in those early weeks helping Adrienne when Daniel returned to work. It wasn't until this very moment, however, that he realized how much Nicky meant to her.

"Vala?"

"Yeah," she grumbled back.

"We..." he was about to say when there was ringing at his side, Vala's phone, Sam's name flashing across the screen.

"Pass it over," she demanded, standing, taking the call and stepping into the bathroom.

Sighing, Ronon stood, walking over to the playpen to check on the baby.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"But I thought you were attacking?" it was too brazen a question he knew, but Homer couldn't control himself, this was just something too risky, too insane; it would never work.

"I am. There are many intricate steps to this Homer to insure we all get what we want. Don't you agree?" her voice was smooth even though it still chilled Homer to his core.

He agreed, more than anything did he agree, and he only wanted one thing.

"Yes ma'am," he answered, slower than he probably should have.

"Do you doubt me? I thought we had an understanding but maybe Amuro is better suited for this..."

_Yes he is; he doesn't care about anything anymore and he buys your bullshit. _

"No ma'am, I do not doubt you, never would I doubt you. It's the technology. The Galarans have a tendency to use things before they are certain of their viability," he half-lied, although in his time working with Amuro and the others he learned their arrogance was what had gotten them in trouble before with Jonas Quinn's Earth friends.

"That is why you are going to test it for me," Anubis let the words roll off of that perfect tongue, so slowly, they would be teasing were it not for the message they sent.

"Muh..muh...muh...me...but...ya..ya...you...s...s. ..said," he stammered, laughter his reply, as she cackled evilly, that fear back, the emotional rollercoaster of being here becoming too much to bear.

"Not on you, why would I waste a perfectly good assistant, especially one that isn't going to die on me in few weeks. And such a handsome one," she was toying with him, she was what she was and even in this form, this cloned body, she could read him and never ceased to use it to her advantage.

"Homer we are not going to insert the device into you. You are going to take it to Earth and insert it into our test subject. Simple, is it not?"

He nodded, swallowing, his heart nearly exploding in his chest, because somehow he knew that this was a one way ticket and he would never see his family again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

"We should let them stay like that, they deserve it. The device isn't supposed to even work in that fashion," the smug face on the screen sneered, Sam peering over at her husband for support that she hoped he could give now that he had stopped laughing. He seemed to love to see Daniel in awkward situations, impending Anubis attack or not.

"Rodney, I realize that it was stupid and I plan on dealing with them just as soon as we fix this, but that needs to happen first, we need to fix this," Sam replied, maintaining her cool, thankful that he was not standing right here because for the mood she was in she would have slapped him across the face.

"Samantha, do you realize that our technicians are still working on the transport system? And with John and Ronon being pulled back and forth, it's just me, Radek and Teyla left to order around a bunch of cadets that don't even know the program," and here came part two of the argument that she knew was coming, the 'I don't have time to fix this' part. That was garbage too, he not only had every last science staff member from before that chose to return once more to Atlantis, but the best in the cadets that were training for work on the Gamma site, but no, as usual, the entire world was on his shoulders.

"Rodney, what I realize is that I need Daniel and Adrienne back under my command as soon as possible and that at this moment is my number one priority," she responded quickly, giving him the look that dared him to question her. He went to scowl further, throw a fit, but he paused, reading her eyes through the view screen.

"Have the Odyssey beam me directly to their house. I've looked at the pics Cam sent and I have an idea," he shot back, ending the transmission before Sam could reply.

"It's gonna be so good to send him back through the cosmos," Jack joked, squeezing her shoulder.

"And then he can backtalk someone else," she agreed, a pang of guilt in her insides that she brushed away quickly. Right now, there were more important things to take care of then assigning a new commander to Atlantis and she needed to make sure that Anubis was no longer a threat before returning the base to the Pegasus Galaxy.

"Well, call Vala, let her know. She's apparently flipping shit over having to play mommy for what, going on twenty four hours straight now? Might as well call her over in case this works," Jack replied, passing Sam over her phone.

Glancing at the screen to dial Vala she noted that it was over twenty four hours now since Daniel had swiped his card on base, it was nearly midnight, putting it at twenty six hours, and for her two friends not even a fraction of a second. She sighed, slipping her finger across the unlock bar before dialing her number.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

Ronon felt bad for the baby, he had just gotten quiet again when Vala burst from the bathroom babbling on about Rodney beaming over to Daniel and Addy's place and Sam wanting everyone to meet over there. She seemed excited, hopeful, so he went to gather the boy's things, stuffing the bag back with more supplies than a two month old child would ever need. They weren't driving, she informed him, taking Nicky from his arms and leaving him with the gear, whisking herself out of her room and down to the transport area.

He paused for a moment, thoughts racing through his head that he hadn't considered in years, had given up on, had stupidly brought up with Addy which she had taken the wrong way completely he knew but with Vala.

Vala?

Hearing her shout for him to hurry, he shouldered the bag and followed, wondering, just wondering...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"By my calculations, we should be able to artificially speed up time in the bedroom itself by activating a second time dilation device, remotely, from this side of the bubble, shame Dr. Jackson didn't think of using one of the remote devices because then we would just need the second remote, but, regardless, we can put up the second field, setting the time in that field to much faster rate than our own, effectively speeding up their pocket of time as well," Rodney explained as he darted around Daniel and Adrienne's bedroom, making tiny chalk marks all over the carpet, marks that Vala knew would send her friend through the ceiling if she couldn't get them out.

Serves her right, she thought, peering over at Sam who looked concerned, as if she wasn't buying this plan.

Vala wasn't either, not that she really had any idea what he was talking about.

Rodney had been rambling on since he arrived thirty minutes ago about time dilation fields and how they functioned relative to the time passing outside of them. In theory, by speeding up time in this second field, it should speed up time for Daniel and Adrienne, allowing them to deactivate the device.

Hopefully allow them to deactivate the device, Vala added internally, feeling horrible for putting Nicholas through this. Peeking at her phone she noted that it was nearly three in the morning, Nicky sleeping peacefully on the sofa in Ronon's arms. The poor child had screamed his head off from the moment they were beamed in and, as Daniel had suggested, singing that stupid song about wheels and buses seemed to work to calm him.

She was just thankful that Jack knew the song.

"Why do I get the feeling this is bullshit?" a voice whispered in her ear, Jack's, as if he could read her mind.

"Because it is, look at Sam," she retorted. Jack laughed, peeking over at his wife to see that indeed she didn't seem pleased with the idea.

"Alright, so will they be able to see us through the two fields? Will we be able to tell them to cut it off?" Sam asked, Rodney standing again scowling.

"Of course not Samantha, the distortion in shapes would be much more than they could handle, if anything, it would seem to be objects moving out of focus. It may startle them, but if we want to communicate to them what has happened we are going to need to hang up some signs within the second field," he explained, walking back to his backpack and producing a pad of paper.

"Hang signs?" Sam asked, Jack deferring to her, because by the look on her face Vala knew she was thinking what they all were thinking.

"Yes, simple explanations of what's going on and that they need to turn off the device and drop the field," he started scribbling on the paper, Vala shaking her head.

"That means they're gonna have to turn around to see it," Jack spoke up finally, a voice of reason.

"I don't see that happening and we have no way to hang a sign on her boobs," Vala spat, unable to keep it to herself, Jack laughing loudly.

"Samantha would you like this done or would you like these two to remain in pre-coitus stasis?" Rodney sneered at Sam, scratching away at the pad with a Sharpie.

"I'll get tape," Jack relented, unsure if Sam had any other idea. Vala watched him duck out of the room heading for their office when an idea hit her and she knelt at Rodney's side, taking some paper from his hand.

"Don't bother," she muttered as she uncapped the pen with her teeth, setting the pad on her knees.

"Don't bother what?" he was puzzled but Vala just smiled.

"With instructions," she answered, "I've got it covered."

The scientist sat back on his heels waiting to see what she would come up with, Sam leaning in to see as well when Vala recapped the pen and tossed it aside, turning to display her message.

_Shut it off you dumbasses._

_You're stuck and we're looking at you right now_

"That should do it," Sam sighed, stepping back to allow Rodney to work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Homer sat at the desk in his room, the elegant surroundings making him again wonder where exactly his family was. His eyes wandered, from the device in his hands to the pills in the vial, his instructions clear. He wasn't to depart for another twenty four hours when he would be shuttled by that turncoat Jaffa from Galar back to Langara and activate the gate.

Then, he would send the distress signal that only high levels of government in Langara knew; a signal that SG1 would never expect Anubis to have given that he had executed all high ranking Langaran government officials. It was a signal that Homer only had, and merely by accident as he was fixing the presidents computer systems.

He now knew that was the only reason that he was still alive.

Jonas would accept him, he would remember Homer, Representative Quinn was very friendly with all of the staff regardless of his own rank. It would be the "in" that Anubis needed, someone they would trust. Homer was to tell them everything she had been doing, everything, she had made that clear. He wasn't to lie to downplay anything.

Anything except for this and there went his eyes, to the device, to the bottle and back to his hands.

"I can't do it," he whispered into the dark, laying his head on his desk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"I knew it wouldn't work but no one ever asks my opinion," Vala stated from the sofa, Ronon stirring behind her. She'd left the fiasco that Rodney was creating in the bedroom hours ago, returning a sleeping Nicky to his own bed and curling up on the sofa with Ronon, who promptly slipped his arm around her.

"Hey, I'm just the messenger and I needed to get out of there," Jack said, taking the seat across from the couple, rubbing his face in his hands.

"What time is it?" Ronon asked as he sat up himself, pushing his dreadlocks back behind his head.

"A little past eight. They've been at it for nearly five hours and the only movement we've gotten from Daniel or Adrienne has been, according to Rodney, that her leg has moved closer to Daniel about three inches but he's full of it. They haven't moved, not a muscle. Sam's about to call it a wash," Jack explained, a whine, a moan and then wailing beginning to creep in from the next room.

"He doesn't like the formula," Vala sighed, standing to head for the kitchen.

"Wants all natural like his mom, here, let me see what I can mix up for you," Jack stood again, following to help just as Rodney stormed out of the bedroom.

"You've been married to Jack too long!" he was spitting over his shoulder, Sam trailing him making Ronon stay right where he was as the two geniuses were about to battle it out.

"Do you have a better idea, because we're coming up on thirty six hours of two of my most important people stuck in bed!" she shouted back, Ronon impressed to see his boss, of different work spaces now if you thought about it, finally showing some balls.

"No Samantha, because my idea is working just fine. Adrienne moved, you're just too impatient to wait and let the field do what it is supposed to do," he was walking as he talked, although he wasn't headed for the front door so maybe he was going to the bathroom, but Ronon didn't know.

"And while we sit here to see if you're right, Anubis could be heading straight in our direction. Did we forget about him? I think the last time you saw him was right before the two people in there that you're walking out on saved your ass!"

Well played Sam, Ronon wanted to say but kept his mouth shut, waiting for Rodney's reaction. He stopped, sighing out, yeah you got to admit they saved your ass Rodney, turning back around.

"What were you thinking?"

"A modified staff weapon, create sort of a Naquadah laser to cut through the field itself and blow up the device," she replied, her phone already being drawn from her pocket to call for transport back to base.

"An explosion, exactly, just as I said, you want to blow us all up," he now accused, marching back over, Sam standing her ground.

"If you choose not to help fine, I'll do this myself. I need this taken care of and things returned to normal and if it takes destroying a bit of their bedroom so be it. But they'll be fine, they're far enough away from the device where they'll be unaffected by the blast."

"Fine, fine, we'll try your way, but I'm not responsible if we blow up the block," he relented, joining her as she dialed.

Ronon finally stood to find Vala.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"It's time," the clone warrior announced from the doorway of the office, Homer standing slowly from the desk. He didn't want to go, he wanted to run back screaming to her, to beg her, to hope that Anubis had chosen such an aesthetically pleasing exterior because he/she felt compassion like a woman would, that he/she would see the pain and agony in his face and allow him to leave.

Chances of that happening however were slim to none.

It wasn't just the beating, they had to make it look like a genuine escape, it wasn't just the live human experiment that they were expecting him to carry out, it was the outright murder of another human being that he was dreading.

He had done so much for their planet; Homer just didn't see it as fair.

"Anubis says now," the clone was more stern this time, the scientist walking slowing away, leaving his chair out and his desk a mess, headed for the gate area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Fly in the sky like a puddle jumper! Do you like that? When you get big enough I'll swipe you from your parents and take you up in one," Ronon said as he lay in the floor, Nicky held in the air over his head, Vala unsure as to whether or not the boy was really enjoying the flight simulation. It was so cute, not only to hear what Ronon was saying, and he really wasn't a man to say very much, but to watch him interact with the child. She felt a pang of guilt inside for being jealous of Addy, having a husband and a baby, something Vala knew she could never have, had never had in her one shot.

Here, however, was her second chance at happiness, rolling around on the floor like a giant silly child, having the best time entertaining Nicky.

Maybe I should just talk to him, tell him how I feel, she thought, crossing her legs as she sat back in the glider, the continual shouts of Sam and Rodney arguing almost as loud as Jack watching TV in the office. She was thankful that they had taken the boy back to his room to pay quietly, but this household was anything but quiet. Honestly, it probably wasn't much quieter with Daniel and Adrienne here, with her loud music and, according to rumor, his general loudness.

I'm gonna do it, she decided, I'm gonna tell him how I feel right now and explain to him that if he wants kids we'd have to look elsewhere...

_Wait?_

_Kids?_

_How I feel?_

I love him don't I, she thought, letting herself rock slowly back and forth in the chair...

_I'm in love with Ronon. _

"Dex?"

"Yeah, hang on little guy, what?" he answered, setting Nicky in his lap and rolling onto his side gazing up at her.

"Can, well, can you put Nicky in the crib for a bit, I'd like to talk," she started slowly, her heart racing.

Why am I completely falling apart, she asked herself, waiting for him to do as she asked, setting the now quiet child into his bed.

"VALA! I NEED YOU IN HERE!" Sam was screaming from the other room, Nicky mimicking her shouts as soon as they started.

"I've got him, go see what she needs," Ronon insisted, reaching back in for the screaming infant but Vala paused, standing slowly from the simple brown glider but not leaving, frozen at the doorway.

"You alright?" he asked, concern in his face and Vala smiled.

"I'm just glad to have met you, but we'll talk later, I promise, once the two idiots are freed," she replied, Ronon nodding as he set the baby on his shoulder.

"There's a new place open downtown, I think we deserve a nice dinner after all of this," he added, cocking his head at the clock. It was eight at night; they had been at this for two days now.

"Sounds good, I'll be right back," she answered with a smile, finally rushing to meet Sam.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX**

"Vala, I need you to check my aim since Rodney is refusing to do so," Sam instructed, the rather large laser she had brought and modified from supply pointed at the nightstand, the time dilation device in particular.

"It's not going to work Samantha, and you're just going to blow us up," Rodney argued as Vala did as Sam requested, checking behind her, the aim of the shot perfect as she would expect from the general.

"We've been over this Rodney, it is a concentrated Beta ray which will tear through the shield with just enough power to destroy the device and the device only," she insisted, Jack peering happily over her shoulder.

"And the nightstand, it might blow up their nightstand," he added, a cheery grin plastered across his face.

"Looks good," Vala said as she stood, walking over to behind where Rodney still grumbling, Sam leaning into the device.

"Shield your eyes, this is concentrated radiation," she ordered, peering into the eyepiece, "we're a go in three, two, one..."

The red beam shot out of the end of the box-like apparatus, slower than a regular laser, concentrating the blast right at where the device would be, cutting through the field as if it were butter, slowly, cleanly, pausing for a moment before reaching the other side. The blast sped up once free from the restriction of the field, racing toward the black box; in an instant the small point of contact was just what Rodney said it would be, an explosion, the black gadget as well as most of the night stand.

"Boom! Told ya they'd be down some furniture!" Jack exclaimed like an excited child as the field shimmered away.

"We're explorers right? Lay back, I want to explore you..." Adrienne murmured out, crawling on top of him, leaning forward to kiss down his chest as she felt his hands pushing up the fabric of her negligee.

"Dear God no just stop, it's bad enough we had to see all of that, but worse to find out you even talk dirty like dorky losers," Vala spat from behind Adrienne freezing on Daniel.

"Using government resources are we?" Sam asked, no longer as angry as she was before, well, still somewhat angry, but also amused as she watched the two of them flush red and frantically reach for blankets, fumbling like fools trying to cover themselves.

"Um, well, Sam, we, uh, you see, it's just that he's two months old and we, well," Daniel stammered, reaching for Adrienne as if she could provide some way out of here, his wife looking at him as if he were crazy.

"Come on Sam, cut him some slack. Who hasn't thought to try it?" Jack defended, everyone glaring at him.

"Really? If I were a fraction of the brainiac Sam is, I'd have been all over that," he added, his own wife shaking her head.

WAAAAAAAAA

"Oh yeah, and Nicky," Vala set right in, turning for the door, where Ronon was bringing in the screaming child, desperately singing the strangest version of "The Wheels on the Bus" any of the natives of Earth had ever heard.

"He doesn't like milk-based formula, he prefers soy, and there's an entire can in the kitchen, the instructions are on the side," she explained, Adrienne frowning.

"Wait? Formula? What happened?" she asked as she reached for the baby, Daniel already leaning in to sing.

"You two have been trapped in that field, like that, for nearly three days. Nicky ran out of milk right after we found you," Sam added, Adrienne now visibly upset.

"Nicky, boo, I'm so sorry," the cajun whispered, tears in her eyes, holding the now quiet child close to her.

"We'll leave you all alone to, uh, get everything back together," Sam announced, the group taking her lead and leaving the bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

"Colonel Mitchell, we have an incoming wormhole, unscheduled," Walter shouted back to Sam's office where Cam was running operations in her absence, happily falling in as second in command when needed.

"Who is it?" he asked as he stood from the desk, entering the observation room.

"It's a Langaran call sign sir, executive branch," he read from the screen, Jonas stepping over from where he was going over some intel Vala had left for him to translation while she dealt with the Daniel and Addy fiasco.

"Wait? What? Langaran executive branch, let me see that signal," Jonas requested although he was already looking over the gate room commander's shoulder, shaking his head.

"That's a top secret code, emergency, Walter open the iris," he ordered, pointing at the screen, Cam rushing to read the screen.

"Mr. Quinn, I'm not sure if that's a good idea," Walter replied quickly, not moving one finger to heed the re quest.

"Walter, that call sign was only given to the highest officials, myself included. It's top secret, they're escaping, they must be, something must have gone wrong, you have to let them in. Cam?" Jonas was frantic yet hopeful, this being the first sign anyone has heard from Langara in so very long.

"Call SG-3 and open the iris," Cam ordered, his eyes now up to greet their visitor.

"Sir?" Walter didn't seem as convinced.

"Do it. We need all the intel we can get. He can't attack through the gate, it's too small, and we're all vaccinated against anything he can throw at us, open the gate. We need the information, let them in," Cam explained, Walter nodding slowly.

"SG-3 needed to the gate room, unauthorized off world activation."

The announcement blared through the observation room, echoing through the base as well. Walter ended the transmission, his eyes peering through his glasses at the switch that would open the gate, his finger hovering until the marine unit arrived. A thumb's up from their commander as soon as they had taken position, Walter hit the switch, the creak of metal echoing through the gate room as their only shield from intruders opens, the wormhole sparkling behind it.

For a moment there was no one and Cam's heart stopped, wondering what biological weapon that he had allowed in this time when there was a shadow in the glimmer, a lone man staggered through the event horizon.

"Homer!" Jonas shouted, tearing down the stairs after the clearly injured man as he limped painfully down the ramp, falling to his knees, barely catching himself on his forearms before his head slammed into the metal.

"Representative Quinn," he choked out, his voice course as if he had been tortured, lifting his gaze to Jonas as he raced through the armed guard, pushing and shoving to reach this person he recognized.

"Walter, call a med team down here," Cameron ordered as he ran to see who this man was, this man that Jonas was now pulling to his feet, carefully. He was bent over, coughing, in pain, Cam catching his words as their guest cleared his throat.

"I escaped, Anubis is on Galar, he's been making me work for him, do experiments, maintain the clones, but he left me to check on Galar. I killed my guard, but I barely made it out alive," there again was the hacking, Jonas helping him stand as Cam walked around the other side, placing the dangling arm on his shoulder.

"He's coming, but I know how," Homer added as he composed himself, swallowing, "I know how Anubis is going to attack."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"I am SO embarrassed," Adrienne said from the shower the moment she heard the door open meaning that Daniel had given Nicky his final bottle and gotten him down. Vala was right, he did seem to like the soy formula, rejecting Adrienne's more natural offer immediately.

If she hadn't known better, she would have thought he was refusing to breastfeed because he was angry with her, but it was a dumb idea; what two month old child gets angry?

"You still had clothes on," Daniel said quickly, leaning back against the counter, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Not many," she argued, pulling back the curtain, "you gettin' in?"

"Yeah," he said as he stood, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it onto the floor.

She let the curtain loose to allow him to finish undressing, the fabric pulled back as her still red faced husband slipped in with her, reaching for the sponge.

"Your face was priceless," she let slip, erupting into laughter as he frowned.

"We're explorers? Let me explore you?" he shot back smartly, Adrienne now blushing like mad.

"Tchew," she hissed as he reached forward laughing, taking her into his arms.

"I love your lame come on lines," he teased, her fingers tickling his sides, pushing back to steal the sponge.

"I'm glad, because you're stuck with me foreva sha," she replied, reaching behind him for the soap.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Homer Khalen sat in the infirmary, a tray of hospital food across his lap, his eyes over at the pack of information he had brought.

This is for them, not me, for all of them, he thought, his eyes gazing down at his arm, still bleeding slightly...


	67. Chapter 66 - Roots

Daniel sat in the lab, trying to decipher the photos brought back the night before with one eye and watch to make sure Nicky was not doing anything stupid out of the other. Not that he moved that much, he was only three months old, but he did that worm wiggle thing that meant he could get himself into the trouble.

That and Adrienne had read in some book he needed to be alternated between time on his stomach and time on his back.

She'd set a timer to keep track of this.

Daniel just guessed.

Jonas stood back in the lab each day and watched them argue over "tummy time".

What a life he led.

He looked over at his son to see what he was doing now and Nicholas was lying happily on his back looking up at the lights of the lab. Daniel frowned and stood, walking over to the adorable little bundle, noting that his eyes were already darkening like his mother's.

"Nicky, didn't I put you on your stomach? If your mother comes in here and catches you staring at those lights she'll kill me. I happen to like having to no longer sleep on a couch," Daniel joked as he kneeled to the ground, smiling, reaching, grabbing the baby, flipping him back over onto his stomach.

He stood again and returned to his desk, snatching the photos and looking at them without sitting, more and more pieces from Homer's drive that he had smuggled in. They made his head hurt; Anubis was going way beyond cloning technology, he was still trying to get to Atlantis and offer up some biological weapons to the Wraith, but fortunately by what Daniel was reading he still had no way to get there.

And, even more fortunately, he had no idea that Stargate command did either. Granted, Rodney was still running checks on systems, things that had been broken as Atlantis made its final desperate plunge into the San Francisco Bay, but they still had a working space station.

Head throbbing already from the mess that he was expected to put together, his trance was broken when he heard cooing and peeked back behind him, smiling. This is why Sam was reluctant to let them tote Nicholas around the SGC like it was just normal to bring your kid to work; he was a distracting little booger. Now that he had stopped crying day in and day out he would just watch them as they worked, making little spit bubbles and funny noises. If possible, the child was more distracting than being madly in love with his assistant, Daniel resisting the urge daily to scoop him up and sit him on his lap while he worked, worried that Woolsey come down here and force one of them to take him home.

It was no better for Adrienne, either, who had taken to calling him her little Ewok, of course, but he was about as cute as the little fictional fuzzballs were. She did tend to break the 'rules' they had created to avoid having to hire a babysitter, she would carry him around the lab in the sling that Yita had given her, talking to him in French and Latin as if he were the fourth member of their team here in archaeology.

Nicky made another sound this time, one that sounded like a laugh, making Daniel glance over and he noticed that the baby was lying, face up, again.

Frowning, he put down the photos and knelt, again, reaching and flipping his son over onto his stomach a second time. A crazy idea going through his head, he sat back on his heels, watching carefully as the baby wormed around a bit, wriggling left and right and just rolled over, cooing and bubbling yet again.

"Uh oh," Daniel said, crazy thought confirmed,"That's not good little guy. Looks like I need to confine you now." Letting out a light laugh, when did he ever think he would be doing this, Daniel reached down and picked up the boy, cradling him in his arms and walking over to his wife's desk. He knew she had the playpen around here somewhere; she didn't like how Daniel just put a mat and a blanket on the floor and if Nicky was going to learn infant gymnastics this quickly, she might be right about keeping him in one place. Thankfully, it was there, right behind her desk, smashed into the small space where it was almost invading Jonas' already limited work area, a work area now with two chairs, one for the Langaran and his friend, the now significantly less battered Homer Khalan.

_Damn the lab is getting awfully crowded._

With much struggling, Daniel held onto his child and shook the gadget open with one hand, trying to control the swears that were rising in his throat. He got it open enough to push it down and lock it into place and he walked over, grabbing the blanket from the mat where the boy was playing before, laying it down inside. It wasn't quite how Adrienne set it up at home, she made Cam's obsessive tendencies appear mild when it came to their son, but it would do. Breathing out, he placed Nicky in the center, dragging the playpen back to the side of his desk.

"Try to escape that. See, we need to work together. Your mom always sticks you in this cage and I was trying to give you some freedom. Now, you've gone and messed that up," Daniel smiled down at him, turning again to look at the data, one image in particular, the one of Anubis in his new form, an eerily evil yet beautiful woman, chilling him to the core.

"Dada," he heard behind him, startling him, Daniel spinning around fast staring at Nicholas over his glasses.

"What did you say?" he asked, looking down into the crib at the boy lying on his back, what looked like a grin creeping across his face.

"Dada," he answered. Daniel put the file down again, leaning over.

"I thought that's what you said," he replied. Frowning and not taking an eye off of the child, who was now making bubbles again, he reached over to the desk and grabbed the phone.

Let Addy use her library of parenting books and development spreadsheets, he thought, I prefer live help.

Still keeping his son in his line of sight, Daniel tucked the receiver under his neck, dialing the extension.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Good morning Daniel," Teyla said nicely into the phone. She didn't need to bother asking who it was; Daniel was the only person who would call her this early in the morning while she tried to teach Torrin.

She knew he would have another question.

It was sweet and somewhat humorous. Daniel would ask his Athosian friend so he could prove to Adrienne he knew what he was doing, even though Adrienne knew full well that he wasn't reading those books and every ounce of his baby knowledge came from observing others and not practice. He'd done a pretty good job so far, not that this was a competition or anything, but Adrienne was finally getting the hang of things and, well, it was a competition. Daniel wasn't stupid, he knew why Adrienne was journaling so much, she was keeping score and right now he was still in a major parenting points deficit for the time dilation device and the poop on the wall.

"Hi Teyla," Daniel answered sheepishly, slightly embarrassed that he called her so much, but just went right into his question, "When does a baby begin speaking?" He'd already searched the internet for the answer himself; he just wanted two sources of input.

Teyla laughed a bit and Daniel instantly felt stupid.

For someone that could speak twenty eight or so languages, parenting was something that was taking a bit to understand and there was much more to it than he had known, especially when you couldn't hand the kid back to someone else. Still flushing, he waited for the giggles to subside and the Athosian to clear her throat.

"It depends, but I think you are getting to be a bit like Adrienne. It will be a few months still so please do not worry," she said tenderly.

A bit like Adrienne, he thought, Adrienne who is mapping out the boy's developmental milestones like it's some data to be analyzed.

Unconvinced, Daniel looked back over at Nicholas who was happily cooing on his back looking at some dangly thing Adrienne had attached to the side of the playpen as he let out a sigh.

"Are you sure?" he confirmed, wondering now if he was imagining things, but he had seen Nicky's mouth move; he saw him say 'Dada.'

"Yes, I am certain. Please do not worry. You two are doing just fine," Teyla replied. Not knowing what else to do, maybe he was just imaging things; Daniel thanked her and hung up, peering back over into the crib.

"Nice try, but I'm beginning to think that you're not on my side," he said to Nicholas.

Without further comment, Daniel sat back down to keep working.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Like clockwork, Adrienne came down from her assignment with Rodney to feed Nicky at eleven. Sam had all hands on deck working overtime in the ancient lab on Atlantis as well as the items moved to the SGC, Adrienne working with Leita, their new friend from Aetla, as Jonas, Homer and Rodney communicated with her via satellite from San Francisco.

"You gonna try to breastfeed again today?" he inquired, Adrienne's happy face scowling. He hated to ask but she just kept trying. She hadn't given up for weeks, even though the formula that Vala was forced to use a month ago was what he seemed to prefer.

"Yeah, I'm still pumping you know, I just don't understand why he won't go back to it. I looked it up and a lot of babies do after things like this happen, a parent in the hospital or child, I just, ugh..." she rambled, she really did ramble like he did now more than ever and it was adorable.

"Either way, at least we get to see you," he chose as his response, a safe response, although he was going to mention to Carolyn that Nicky was still refusing to go back to breast milk in case they should be worried.

Sighing, he shouldn't have brought it up, he watched as she closed the lab door and set herself up in the corner. She took a seat, tucking her shirt behind her neck before securing the bubbly mess from the playpen, trying again to get him to feed. Daniel had bottles just in case, but maybe he would take it today, but he didn't, Adrienne choking up slightly before securing a bottle from her desk drawer, apparently anticipating that as well.

As he watched her feed their child he debated on mentioning anything to her about this morning's events. Maybe it would cheer her up because it was something new, maybe it would upset her that she wasn't here, but he wasn't sure.

The rolling over was normal, he knew, he had asked Teyla about that last week when Adrienne had scolded him for putting the baby on a mat on the floor, but the 'dada' thing was still bothering him. Nicky hadn't said it since and it might just be sleep deprivation since he had replaced his staying up all night with a screaming child with working on finding Anubis before he could hurt any more innocent people. He decided against mentioning the speaking, trying to focus on the positive of this next developmental milestone.

"He rolled over today," Daniel said carefully, waiting for a reaction, "completely. No more lucky wiggles."

"Really?! And I missed it stuck in that damn lab," Adrienne replied, sadness creeping up in her face.

Dammit, he thought, bad choice. Standing, he shut the folder, walking over to the pair, resting his hand tenderly on her shoulder.

"Technically I missed it too; he did it when I was looking at those photos from Homer. I thought I'd lost my mind," Daniel admitted and Adrienne laughed, adjusting the baby in her arms to kiss his head.

"I'd have paid to see that; probably looked like a bad sitcom," she teased and he leaned down making a face right in hers, kissing her properly.

"You're so awful to me," he said in reply, returning to work to let her resume what she was doing. He sat there, watching, his wife and his child, a scene he never thought he would ever witness in his entire life.

_I'm so very lucky..._

Adrienne finished up, Nicky sucking down the last of the bottle, she was really gonna have to bump him to eight ounces soon, burping him as she sang his song, much better than he did in Daniel's opinion. The child did as she wanted, he really was such a good baby now that the fussing had subsided, and she walked Nicky over to the crib and put him back, kissing him lightly before letting go.

"Now I'd say behave for Daddy, but I never do, so just try to make sure he doesn't have a heart attack," she giggled, coos and bubbles her reply.

Smiling, it was good to see her smiling again, Adrienne walked back to join him, leaning over to kiss him as well. She looked stressed; she was like this a lot lately, Anubis' plan to attack Earth head on with a Clone/Rebel Jaffa army weighing on her as much as it was weighing on him. She'd upped her training, dragging Nicky's playpen into the gym, fighting Ronon, Teyla and Teal'c until she could no longer move, returning to their quarters sometimes a battered mess. It worried him, so very much, but exercise and training in one form or another was always her way of dealing with things so he kept his comments only to asking her if she needed a massage in the shower or for him to look at an injury.

He didn't want to upset or stress her further; he liked having Nicky around even though he was barely getting anything accomplished. It gave him someone to talk to when Adrienne wasn't there because he had to admit, after years of sitting in a lab alone he had grown accustomed to having an assistant to bounce ideas off of, an assistant who was now his wife and the mother of his child.

_I love the sound of that..._

He grabbed her hands as she went to leave and brought his forehead to hers, kissing it lightly and pulling her close.

"You don't have much to say, are you alright up there?" he asked, this much of the worry he was refusing to hide. She just sighed and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest, taking solace in his embrace.

"Yeah, Rodney's being nice for once. No snide remarks or threatening to beam over because Leita and I are too stupid to make sense of it all. I'm just tired, that's all," she said, cuddling into him, smiling as she did. Regardless of what was coming, what they all knew was to come, Adrienne couldn't help but smile standing here in his arms because Nicky would have one thing that neither she nor Daniel had much of growing up, two parents that loved each other, or so she hoped.

Sighing, she had tossed more than usual last night, he hugged her tightly, running his fingers through her hair.

"You need to stop doing so much yourself Ad, there comes a point when you have to realize that you're human," he scolded gently and she nodded into his chest.

"I know, I know. But look, you're helping so much today keeping him with you, even though I miss the little guy. But I can't let Anubis come here and..." she said, trailing, Daniel pulling back to gaze down into her eyes.

"Well, go try to finish up early or something. This little chunk is gonna take me a while, but I can bring it home once you're finished with Rodney for the day," Daniel offered preferring to work with a plate of cajun food in front of him.

Agreeing, Daniel still hoping she would cook and continue to spoil him, she'd been doing that a lot lately; Adrienne squeezed his hand and headed back down for the elevators.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

About thirty minutes later Daniel stood quietly from his desk since Nicky had fallen asleep right after eating. Thirsty, he decided to get himself a soda, tiptoeing over to the small fridge by Adrienne's desk since the longer the boy slept the more he could get accomplished. He bent over; opening the door so slowly and so quietly that he was sure Nicky wouldn't be disturbed. Fingers inching forward, careful not to make a sound, he grabbed the bottle of soda and shut the door, turning back to his desk on the balls of his feet.

Made it, he thought, taking a step forward when he heard shuffling in the playpen. Debating whether or not he should check, leaning toward checking, he moved just as quietly back over toward the portable crib, peering in cautiously.

Nicky was staring right at him, wide awake.

"This is why your mother's tired Nicholas. You need to sleep once on a while," Daniel fussed, trying to figure out how to make the child go back to sleep, he needed the time to get something finished. He wasn't crying, though, so Daniel assumed there was no diaper to be changed, no cuddles needed so he returned to his desk, hoping the child would lull itself to sleep.

"Dada," he heard the moment his butt hit the seat, Daniel closing his eyes tightly. He tried to ignore it, knowing after talking to Teyla that he must be imagining things. Refocusing, he brought the magnifier over the photos and began to read once more, deciphering the coded instructions that Homer said were being transmitted to ships of clones all over the galaxy.

"Dada!" he heard louder, Daniel looking up but trying desperately not to peek into the playpen.

"I'm losing my mind. This must be sleep deprivation," he said to himself, sighing, his eyes wandering over to the playpen.

Nicky was looking at the little dangling object again, not talking, no coy smiles, not even the bubbles this time, just cooing happily at the toy. Reaching under his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose, Daniel tossed his frames aside, peering at the soda and debating on calling to see if someone could bring him a coffee.

A strong coffee.

He could text Teal'c; he was still training cadets in the gym and he wouldn't mind in the least standing with Nicky in case the boy did fall back to sleep, letting Daniel get some java. He checked his son once more before reaching for his cell phone, letting his thumb scroll down the contacts.

"Nicky, I'm dragging here so I'm gonna call Teal'c down to hang out with you while Dad gets his caffeine fix ok? Life lesson number one, coffee is the elixir of life," he joked, smiling down into the portable bed as Nicky gazed right back at him.

"Uh huh Dada," the baby said. There was no mistaking it, Nicky spoke, adding a little something this time and Daniel watched his lips move as he said it. Standing, his jaw practically to the floor, Daniel scrolled down his cell phone contacts, this time looking for a different name.

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Teyla, Torrin walking beside her, was there ten minutes later.

"Daniel, it is just not possible, even an advanced child still is not going to speak for months," Teyla explained, leading Torrin over to the playpen. Curious, he stood on his toes and peered in, squinting his small brown eyes.

"Momma is Nicky talking?" Torrin asked, but Teyla shook her head, that kind smile across her lips as though she were humoring Daniel, which she was, but he was certain now that he wasn't going insane. Torrin scrunched up his nose and glanced back in at Nicholas, the look on his face unsure as to which adult exactly he should believe.

"Hi Nicky! It's Torrin. Say TORE-EN," he repeated slowly. Eyes darting between his son and Teyla's, Daniel just stood and watched, hoping Nicky would speak or do anything out of the ordinary. Not that he wanted his son to be strange, he just wanted someone else to witness what he was witnessing because he wasn't crazy; Nicholas had answered him.

Dear Nicholas, however, didn't say a word.

Back to feeling crazy, he KNEW he has seen the boy talk, he KNEW it, Daniel signaled Teyla over to him, bringing his mouth to her ear.

"He does it when I'm not looking," Daniel tried, remembering the last time, when he got the answer was the only time he had seen him do it, slipping back to hide behind his desk. Shaking her head, Teyla grabbed Torrin's arm, leading him behind her, just far enough where the smallest Jackson might not be able to see his visitors.

They all stood for at least five minutes watching the playpen, looking for something, anything, Daniel even trying to make it look like he was leaving the lab, slinking slowly and deliberately past.

Nicky, again, said nothing.

Teyla allowed this to go on for just a few more moments before looking over at Daniel, shaking her head.

"Is he sleeping at night?" she asked, Daniel letting out a sigh. He was sleeping, sorta, not crying so much as just babbling, cooing, making general noise and wanting to eat constantly. He was about to explain those very facts to Teyla, that it really was better now and they were just getting by, when Teyla looked at him like a concerned mother.

"Daniel, I have seen Adrienne. She is exhausted. You look exhausted. You two should take more time to rest. You returned after the birth and if I am not mistaken you remained home only three days and Adrienne merely a few weeks. That is not long enough. You need rest, both of you, and you should be sleeping when he does," she scolded, her speech might as well be coming from Carolyn Lam herself, pointing at the boy. Oh and Sam, Teyla was starting to sound like Sam too, who had been spouting the same advice for weeks.

Everyone claimed that they had everything under control, that no one could know when Anubis was coming and sacrificing time establishing their new family wasn't worth it, but both he and Adrienne just didn't see it that way. To them by not being right there helping they were just sitting back and inviting Anubis to start ripping that very family apart. Yet standing here, that little mini-Addy blowing bubbles in his direction, he was starting to think that maybe they were right.

He didn't say anything however, or try to explain, he just nodded in silent agreement. The look of concern still on her face, she knew full well that he wouldn't listen, Teyla placed her hand on his arm and grabbed little Torrin, leaving the lab.

Ok, I'm tired, I need a nap, we both need a nap, he thought, for the first time that he could remember sad that Vala wasn't on base. She was a great babysitter, well, she and Ronon, and even after their stupid time dilation incident she would still step up and help out. Problem now was that she had been gone for two weeks on a scouting mission with Anise and the Tok'ra, coincidentally when Nicky starting going through his latest non-sleeping phase.

Decision made, Daniel walked to the phone to dial Adrienne. If Rodney was being nice maybe he could convince him to let her leave and let Leita continue the feed, or send Jonas back here to work with her, allowing them to both take a few days to do just that, sleep. He could really use it, his fist covering his yawn reminding him of just that. Phone to his ear for the third time in as many hours, it was ringing slowly when he peered over to the crib as Nicky began kicking wildly.

"Hi Dada," the voice from the crib said. Eyes wide, he set the phone back down on the desk, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Really? Now? You wait until she leaves and I've convinced myself that I'm going insane and you say it now?" he asked his son but the baby just lay there, back to cooing and bubbles and watching the toy perched in his line of sight.

"Hello? Hello? Indy is that you?" her voice blared through the phone, Daniel remembering his discarded call, grabbing the device and shoving it to his ear.

"Ad, are you busy?" he asked, standing and leering over his son who no longer seemed to care that he was in the room.

"Is that a rhetorical question?" she responded, laughing, Daniel able to hear that she didn't catch the serious tone in his voice.

"No, I just need you to come down here," he replied quickly, a pause on the other end.

"Sha is everything alright?" she asked, Daniel's own worry kicking into overdrive.

"Yeah, I just need to talk to you, about Nicky," he said, once again, classic Daniel poor choice of words.

"I'll be right there," she answered, almost cutting off of her own words as she hung up. Hoping he didn't terrify her completely, Daniel put the receiver in the cradle and looked one more time at the baby.

"Dada," he said, looking right back at him.

"You just keep that up; Mommy will be here in just a sec," Daniel said to the small human in front of him.

"Dada," the baby replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Adrienne was there so quickly that Daniel knew that she had chosen to run down the stairs rather than wait for the elevator, five flights of stairs. He was glad she had started running again; otherwise she might have hurt herself in her frantic dash. She hit the entrance to the lab, out of breath, grabbing the door frame scanning the room for their son.

"What's wrong?" she asked, gasping for air.

"Nothing," Daniel assured, stepping forward to grab her shoulders and halt her frenzied advance, "he's just fine. I just want you to hear something."

Pulling away, Adrienne walked over to the crib quickly and peered in, gazing back at her husband in confusion.

"Hear what? The cooing? I know it's early but he's been doing that for a few days now," Adrienne said, leaning over to pick him up but Daniel shooed her hands away and grabbed her arm. She started to pull away, protest, but he shook his head, leading over to his desk and sat down, pulling her into his lap.

"No, just wait a minute. He'll do it again," Daniel whispered. Adrienne began to speak but he just clamped his hand over her mouth, nodding in the direction of Nicky. At a complete and total loss, Adrienne peered at the boy and then back at Daniel, rolling her eyes and relenting. Happy for the break, she leaned back against him, having missed him today, and relaxed as he wrapped his arms further around her waist and hugged her tightly. Together they sat there quietly, staring at the playpen.

Once again, though, nothing happened.

Giggling softly, Adrienne leaned back and kissed his cheek, nuzzling her face into his neck.

"At what point is he gonna do again whatever it is?" Adrienne asked. Daniel let out a grunt, freeing her from his clasp and pushing her gently to stand. She looked back at him, still confused, her hands on her hips, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"He said Dada," Daniel admitted, not mentioning the other small words, THOSE he could have imagined, but 'dada' he KNEW was clear as a bell. His cynical Cajun wife standing before him however simply giggled, Daniel feeling foolish instantly.

_I didn't make this up...did I? _

"Indy, I told you he's been cooing, you've heard him. He's cooing A LOT. You probably just misinterpreted something," she said sweetly in that way that she did when she was addressing the IOA, and he almost called her out on it when she brought her hand to his face, kissed him lightly, so softly, and he relented, kissing her in return, passionately, standing here in the lab, letting himself get carried away...

_Damn distracting Adrienne..._

There was wild kicking, Nicky moving in his crib and Daniel shoved Adrienne out of the way in a flash, glaring wildly down into the playpen.

"Come on Nicky, do it again. You've been doing it all day little guy," Daniel pleaded, Adrienne's eyes rolling again, as she walked up behind him, running her hand softly up his back.

"All day?" she asked. Daniel looked back at her, his face full of exasperation.

"Yes, all day. Without fail the minute I start to work on something I hear Dada, and there he is, just smiling and cooing away like he knows he's messing with me. He's definitely your child," Daniel said, shaking his head. Frowning now herself, Adrienne looked back at the playpen and knelt down, this time picking Nicholas up, holding him in the air as she looked him over.

"Are you driving Daddy insane?" she asked, "Are you? Good boy! He deserves that every once in a while," Adrienne told the baby playfully.

Great, Daniel thought, now I've got Adrienne thinking I'm crazy. She's gonna LOVE having fun with this...

Daniel made a face at her as she danced around the room with the bubbling baby, tickling him and laughing about Daniel being bonkers, so he just went back to sit down, resigning himself to the fact that his son wasn't going to say a word.

"That's not funny ja-wer; I'm not crazy. He said it, at least five times, maybe more," he was stern, frustrated because he knew what he heard and he heard 'dada.' Pulling out his chair to take a seat, he slammed himself down, grabbing the data again that he had been working on, or trying to work on, all day.

She felt bad as she watched him, having a little 'fit' as she called them, so Adrienne walked Nicky right over to him, bouncing the baby now in his face.

"Come on," she changed her tune quickly, "Rodney thinks it's an emergency anyway. He needs to eat again and then we can go home and go to sleep; Leita has this under control. It's just straight translation and by what I see so far, he's still not in any position to show up just yet unless you've found something here. I think we both need sleep, badly, and we can just throw all three of us in the bed and crash," she said and sat back down in his lap.

Sighing, it is probably just sleep; Daniel wrapped his arms around his family, squeezing them both tightly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Dada," Daniel heard as he rolled over in the bed, the voice invading his sleep, his dream of being at an endless buffet on a tropical island interrupting by the tiny little voice that was becoming his nightmare.

This time it was from behind him.

He was facing the closet, so he rolled over toward the middle where Adrienne had placed Nicky between them to sleep when they got home, plan C, so they could just pass out watching television.

There he was, happily cuddled between mom and dad and looking right at him, cooing and bubbling.

"Dada," the baby said.

_That little shit..._

His eyes locked on the child, Daniel reached over and shook Adrienne.

"Ad, wake-up, he did it again," Daniel hissed, shaking his wife strongly and she smacked his arm, pulling away.

"Did what Indy?" she asked, half asleep. Well, at least she knows it's me, he thought as she stayed right where she was, her back to both of them, facing the window.

"He said 'dada'," Daniel whispered, Nicky wide awake, eyes right open, looking right at him, "Do it again," he ordered the baby.

Nicky didn't say a word.

Remaining right where she was, still on her side, still facing the window, still not moving a muscle, Adrienne just laughed.

"Daniel, you were dreaming, go back to sleep before he cries or something," his wife whispered from her side of the bed. Sighing, that was all he seemed to be doing here lately, he reached out and put his hand on her arm, missing holding her close while he slept. Lips pursed with frustration, he looked down at the baby again.

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

"I can't cuddle her AND you're toying with me. This is not a good direction to take our relationship," he told the boy, closing his eyes again.

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When Daniel woke up both Adrienne and Nicky were gone.

He sat up in bed, stretching a bit. He must have been tired because right now he felt so refreshed, and to make it that much better, he smelled real food.

Adrienne must be cooking dinner.

The alarm clock on his side of the bed said 7:30 in the evening, later than he expected. They had returned home at two, so it seemed as if he had slept through the better part of the day. He just hoped that Nicky had allowed Adrienne as well to get some much needed sleep. Throwing back the blanket, Daniel got out of bed, stretching as he did and didn't bother to dress, heading down the hall in boxers and a t-shirt.

"This is how well I know you," Adrienne said, "I knew food would wake you up," she smiled and kept cooking. By the smell he could tell it was Mexican and he was momentarily disappointed; the cajun throwback must be out of her system now that Aunt Barbara's visit was a seemingly distant memory. He sat down, laying his head on the table, resting it on his hands, relishing in the opportunity to just relax and listen to the sounds of her moving around the kitchen.

"Daniel, go back to bed, you look exhausted," she said, Daniel peering up to assure her that he wasn't and saw that she was adding more spices to the pan.

Yep, she was feeling better; he needed to make sure that they had milk.

About to stand and find out, he turned his head to face her when he realized she was standing alone in the kitchen.

"Where's Nicky?" he asked. Adrienne pointed the spoon in the direction of the nursery, the room that used to be her office, winking.

"In there. Asleep. It's a miracle," she answered, starting to spoon food onto two plates as Daniel clanging around the kitchen, looking for what might ensure that his mouth would not be set on fire.

"I swear sha, if you wake that baby up I will kill you slowly, with this spoon," his wife warned. Setting the milk and a glass on the table, he slipped out to make sure the boy was still asleep, creeping slowly to the baby's room and weaseling through the space between the jam and the slightly ajar door.

The lights to the small forest decorated room were out, but Nicky still had his Ewok nightlight on, shining glowing Star Wars creatures all over the walls. It made him shake his head every single time he saw it, that he let her do this to the room, but he pushed the thought aside, walking over to the small cherry crib and peering in.

Nicky was wide awake.

Adrienne was gonna kill him.

Daniel started to sneak away hoping she wouldn't come up behind him when he heard it.

"Hi Dada," Nicky said joyfully.

"Why you little," Daniel started to say when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned, caught red handed.

"You're lucky I love you so much Indy otherwise my spoon threat would have been a promise. Grab him and put him in the little bouncy thing while we eat," Adrienne said, patting his shoulder and starting to leave but Daniel spun around, grabbing her arm quickly.

"You heard him right?' he asked, knowing that the timing had to be just right; she had to have heard, there was NO WAY she missed that.

Adrienne, however, laughed at him.

"Let me guess, 'dada' " she said, Daniel picking up Nicky and holding him to his shoulder, walking past his wife without comment.

"I'm gonna borrow some cameras from Sam," he said, to no one but himself, heading for the kitchen.

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Daniel volunteered to keep Nicky with him the next day, knowing that Jonas had two more days in San Francisco, Vala was off-world so no fake aunt nosiness and Adrienne was back in Rodney's lab with the Aetlan woman.

It was PERFECT.

Plan already working through his head, Daniel insisted he would keep the boy with him today. Adrienne just shrugged, kissing them both goodbye the moment they arrived at work, heading back to the elevators. Safely out of sight, of everyone, Daniel looked back at Nicky, grinning at the boy who had yet to say a word this morning.

Daniel was SURE that he was messing with him.

"Ok my friend, let's go get some cameras," Daniel said, adjusting the cooing bundle and diaper bag, lumbering to Sam's office.

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"Run this by me one more time," Sam said, frowning, she wasn't buying it, dammit, "You want to watch yesterday's video footage of your lab to see if you can hear Nicholas speaking, correct?"

"Yes, and then, if there's nothing there, I would like to borrow some portables to place around his crib to see if I can catch it that way," Daniel added.

Sam just stared at him in disbelief.

'What does Adrienne have to say about this?" she asked, noting the lack of her presence.

Dammit, Daniel thought again, sighing, his glare cutting at the child in his arms.

"Adrienne thinks I'm hearing things," he was truthful, although trying to stress with his voice that he was not insane, "that's why I need the cameras."

Sam, however, shook her head.

"Daniel, I can't let you play with government resources because you're trying to prove that you have Mensa level offspring," Sam started, walking away from her friend and back to what she had been doing, peering over her shoulder, "and besides, didn't you learn your lesson a few weeks ago?"

Having that thrown up in his face yet again, Daniel blushed, deciding not to try to argue with her further, just adjusted Nicky against his chest and reached for his phone, standing, juggling with the child, the bag and the cell phone.

"Fine, I'll call Jack. He loves to use government resources for his own amusement," Daniel muttered, storming out of the office.

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"The mics are too old, you and Dr. Perky could probably throw a towel over that thing and go to town and no one would be the wiser, you know, just for future reference," Jack said as he sorted through the footage, Daniel by his side with a bottle in Nicky's mouth. He was right, there was barely any sound at all, making Daniel feel better about previous indiscretions, but he decided not to comment, leaning into the screen.

"Dammit, alright fine, no luck there. Then I need you to help me set up these cameras then, pointed at him. I've seen him say it Jack and not just Dada but uh huh and hi. He's talking, I swear," Daniel answered, glancing over at his friend to see if at least he thought he was sane.

Jack had jumped on the opportunity to ditch real responsibility in order to help Daniel through this little ordeal; he was just as sick of sitting around waiting for Anubis to attack as anyone and with Robert Woolsey being the only IOA official around, Jack was more eager than normal.

Yet here they were, an hour later of scanning through footage, no proof whatsoever that Nicky could speak.

They were gonna have to move onto plan B.

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Jack had some low level grunts move the cameras down to the lab, grunts out of both Sam and Cameron's sight even though Jack was technically still in charge. Once delivered, Daniel and Jack shut and locked the lab door, shutting off the corner cameras in the room just in case Walter was paying any attention.

His mind already on his task, Daniel walked Nicky over to the playpen, Nicky who had yet to say anything so far all morning, setting him down onto his back. Daniel paused for a moment, thinking the boy might speak, but he just looked up at him and cooed.

_Little shit..._

His mind on the fun little side project as well, Jack knelt quickly, opening the boxes and setting up the cameras, talking as he worked.

"Ya know, Addy's gonna kill you if she walks in here," Jack stated as he clamped the second camera to the wall of the playpen, Daniel shaking his head.

"She's not gonna walk in here," he explained, "I told her I missed her and she really needed to finish up the remainder of the translation today so I could get her back. I even took bottles so she wouldn't come down."

"I'm proud Daniel; you've learned. Now, hand me another camera," Jack half laughed, half ordered, his open palm requesting a second camera.

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Cameras attached only fifteen minutes later they stood back to admire their handiwork. Each side of the dark green woodland playpen had two of the gadgets, ones with new microphones, clipped to each wall pointing down at the small child contained inside.

"We need to take it down," Daniel spat out just as Jack was firing up the system, the glare in the general's face almost as harsh as his wife's.

"WHY!? We just got it up there?" Jack asked, dumbfounded, but Daniel was already ahead of him, starting back with the first camera.

"Because I would prefer divorce not be added to my list of life experiences," Daniel said as he knelt awkwardly, nearly falling over, his head craning to look underneath the clip to un-attach the camera without slamming it onto his kid.

Of course he's chickening out, Jack though, his groan escaping before he could stop it, but Daniel didn't notice as he cussed from the floor of the lab.

"Dammit, Daniel, look, give it an hour and if the kid doesn't make a peep we'll take it all down. She'll never know unless you tell her or squish him trying to get the damn thing off."

He did have a point.

Nodding, Daniel sighed, flopping down in his desk chair.

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An hour passed.

Nicky napped, cooed, spat bubbles and flipped over, but he didn't say a word.

"I thought you said he was a chatterbox," Jack broke the silence, rolling himself in Adrienne's chair to the side of the playpen.

"He only does it when no one else is around, or when Adrienne's asleep, apparently," Daniel grumbled, looking at the stack of work he had neglected waiting for his son to start magically speaking again.

_I know I wasn't dreaming..._

"So, not only do you think your three month old talks, but you think he's smart enough to talk only when you're alone?" Jack inquired smugly. Cutting his eyes at his friend, Daniel stood, grumbling under his breath again, walking over to the wall where the power strip operating the complicated camera system when there was more wild movement in the playpen.

"Dada?" Nicky asked the moment his father was out of his sight, Jack whipping his head around gawking at Daniel, the baby and then Daniel again as the archaeologist raced back over.

"Yea, Nicky, that's right, dada, say it again for Uncle Jack," Daniel requested nicely.

"Uncle Jack?" O'Neill asked but Daniel ignored him.

"Uh huh Dada," Nicky, turning his head to look at Jack, "Dada."

Jack's jaw dropped.

"Holy shit, your weird little super-nerd baby can talk!"

"Ha! I am not insane! In your face Ad!" Daniel shouted running now to his desk as Nicky continued blabbering on, dada, dada, dada, Jack still shaking his head.

"Who are you calling?" he asked.

"Adrienne," Daniel replied, phone to ear, only to pause, slam the receiver back into its cradle peeking up at Jack.

"Let's get those cameras down first."

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When Adrienne Jackson came down to the lab she wasn't alone. Daniel, having mentioned that he had a witness to Nicky's amazing communication skills, had inadvertently given Adrienne an ally, the wife of said witness. A smirk on both of their faces, Jack and Daniel watched as their wives strode into the lab, both of them looking as if they were being pulling into some elaborate prank.

"Daniel's not crazy," Jack declared as they entered, pointing as Daniel was carrying Nicky around in his arms smiling brightly, "well about this at least. The kid talks."

"I now have a witness," he declared and Adrienne crossed her arms, frowning at the both of them.

"Jack doesn't count as a witness."

"Whatever Dr. Perky. I'm with Daniel, the little booger's been yammering all damn morning. I think you're just mad he didn't say mama," Jack retorted, Sam shaking her head at this ridiculous interruption to her day.

"Daniel are you sure you didn't just imagine it? Baby babbling can sound like words at times. Three months isn't just early, it's, well, not normal," Sam said, hoping that Daniel would understand what she was hinting at, that he really needed to be sure before saying such things, but he must have already thought of that because he was shaking his head.

"Carolyn's checked him out, head to toe, his white counts. He's fine. He's just talking, that's all," Daniel assured but Sam maintained her look of concern. Reaching out, she took the boy from his arms, glancing over at Daniel as she looked him over herself.

"When did he start?" she asked, Daniel smiling again, satisfied he was finally being listened too.

"Yesterday," Daniel answered, cutting his eyes at Adrienne, who hadn't said a word, who still remained unconvinced.

"Hey buddy, can you say it for me, please, say 'dada,' " Sam asked sweetly.

Adrienne made a face as her boss cooed and cuddled her child. He knew her, her look, her mannerisms and she was still skeptical but he knew why. It was fear; it was what Sam was worried about as well.

If Nicholas was showing advanced brain development, might other areas of his development be affected?

Sam kept cooing and cuddling, asking, but Nicky said nothing. She shook her head and started to hand him back over to Daniel when Adrienne reached over and grabbed him locking their twin dark brown eyes.

"Nicholas, beb, listen to me. I need for you to please say 'dada' again. Please, for mommy. We just want to know if you can talk to us, if you are understanding us; it'll just make things so much easier," Adrienne requested, that same tone that only two short months ago had gotten him to stop his relentless crying.

"Dada," Nicky said gazing right back at her as Adrienne whipped around to face her husband.

"Oh my gawd!" she exclaimed, "He spoke."

"I told you so," he shot quickly, Adrienne already scowling. Her own eyes wide, Sam took a step forward, the reality of the situation setting in.

"Do you have a list of ages of stages or something close? I know Carolyn isn't a pediatrician, but we need a list of developmental stages of children and I want you both to bring Nicky to the infirmary," Sam ordered, Adrienne's face now home to a different look, one of fear.

"One more thing," Sam added, looking back at Daniel and Jack who was now trying to get Nicky to say Jack while Daniel was explaining to him why linguistically that would be even more shocking.

Sam shook her head and continued.

"Did you take your meds? Throughout the pregnancy?" Sam asked, Adrienne nodding in the affirmative.

"Half dose. Carolyn had to balance my body rejecting him as he grew versus the adverse effects of a low dosage. She was honestly pretty amazed that I made it through the first ten weeks like I did," Adrienne answered, handing Nicky over to his father.

"Just wanted to make sure. Now, let's get down there before my husband scars your son for life," Sam said looking back at the boys.

"Say it, say J-A-K, Jack. Say S-AM," Jack was repeating while Daniel just held the boy up, shaking his head.

"Dada," was Nicholas' response.

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Nicky laid on the table looking up at the bright lights, muttering an "Ow Dada," which seemed to worry Daniel more so than Adrienne, as the archaeologist was trying to shield the small brown eyes from the glare. Smiling as the two struggled, Nicky acting as if he was trying to cover his face but not quite figuring out how, Dr. Carolyn Lam walked over and shut them out, turning on a lamp to the side.

"Thanks," Adrienne said, reaching over so he didn't flip himself off of the table, the small legs kicking wildly.

"He's cursed enough with both of you contributing to his DNA; I don't want to make it worse," she joked and walked over, excusing herself around a worried Daniel and putting the stethoscope in her ears. Sam stood back, arms crossed, brushing off her husband's questions while the doctor went through her routine.

It only took a few moments, Carolyn going through what looked to be a general medical examination when she glanced back at Sam, removing the rubber plugs so she could speak with an echo in her head.

"Everything appears to be perfectly normal Sam, is there something I'm looking for in particular?" she asked.

Sam let out a sigh and stepped forward.

"Cut him," Sam ordered, Adrienne immediately standing from where she had just taken a seat.

"No! There's no indication of anything for that!" Adrienne screamed, in a protective way that Daniel had only seen her act on his behalf before.

When it came to Adrienne, you didn't mess with people she loved, he and Nicky at the top of that list.

It was something that he would never tire of seeing.

Daniel looked over at Adrienne and then at Dr. Lam, knowing that despite his wife's frantic demeanor that this had to be done.

"Alright, I'll do it. On the foot, like you did when he was born to test for everything else. Get that child sized collection tube out and be ready," Daniel said to Carolyn and looked over at Sam, understanding her fears fully when Adrienne turned on him.

"No, 'ee's MY son; 'ee's my miracle! No one's gonna start slicin' into 'im fa ANY reason!" she screamed at him, advancing, a look on her face that Daniel knew, the look that had busted him in his cheek a good few years ago now. Remaining calm while she raged, Daniel reached over and grabbed Nicky, passing him over to Sam. Taking Adrienne by the arm, gently since he knew any other way would result in his being slammed to the ground, he walked her to the side, her eyes warning him that he was close to getting decked anyway.

"Adrienne, you know what Sam is thinking and it's not speed healing. She's thinking Orlin, she's worried about this being more than just advanced knowledge. What if he speeds up only to lose everything?" he whispered to her.

"I am well aware of that Daniel. I am also aware of the fact that when he was born we had him tested for every possible marker and the scans were clean. Perfectly clean, why would that change?!"

Her words trailed at the end, she was choking up, not angry at the idea of blood being drawn, but panicked at the thought that something could be wrong with her child, the most precious creature in her world. No longer did he stand back waiting for her to lash out, instead taking a step closer and pulling her into his arms holding her as she convulsed a few times.

"We're on the same wavelength, aren't we ja-wer? Now where's that crazy book of yours; do you have it?" Daniel whispered in her ear. Adrienne nodded and walked back over to where Sam and Jack were visiting with the baby, grabbing her messenger bag and heading back over to Daniel, digging out the book as she walked.

The book itself was tagged with an insane amount of small colored flags, color coded no doubt and Daniel just shook his head, waiting for her to open to the needed chapter.

"At three months old a wide variety of developmental milestones will be reached. This is a vital time in your child's development, a time in which connections with the parents are made and fortified," she began reading, letting out a sigh and looking up.

"Keep going," Daniel requested. Adrienne took a breath, nodding.

"Blah, blah, blah, baby will start to recognize you, and is more sensitive to the changes in the outside world. He or she will detect patterns in objects and the behavior of those around him, and will begin to feel and express emotions, try to talk back, but most important he understands who his parents are and there is a bond formed; the child in fact will start to feel love for the parents..." she trailed off, her eyes closing, their fears confirmed.

"Dopamine," Daniel stated.

"You really are a train wreck that spreads your insanity all around, sha," Adrienne admitted, swallowing, as she was closing the book.

"You said "I do" you could have said no," he shrugged, trying to lighten the mood, Adrienne squeezing his arm before slipped over to take their child from Sam.

"You do it, but I want to hold him."

Her words were broken, trembling, fears of matching DNA markers racing through her head.

_Please don't let this be like Orlin..._

Grabbing her son, Adrienne placed him gently onto her lap. He was just starting to hold his head up on his own a tiny bit, something else that was a little ahead of schedule, but Adrienne had to hold him sitting up to her body to help him out. Seeing that she was ready, Daniel took the scalpel from the tray, like he had over a year ago in Jennifer's lab and approached the boy. He brought the knife up and paused, gazing up at the baby whose dark brown eyes were looking right at him.

"Listen Nicky, this is gonna hurt, but just for a second. Dr. Lam needs to tell us if you're sick or not so we can make it better," Daniel assured, a part of him knowing that the child understood, that he had always understood which is why he had cried for so long, that same part of Daniel knowing that 'Orlin-like' DNA was not going to be found.

This was something else; he just knew it.

This was more than the Dopamine he was trying to convince Adrienne of.

Lifting the scalpel again, he moved it closer to Nicky's big toe, stopping yet a second time.

"We love you little guy, so much; please don't think for a second that we don't," he added quickly, slicing into the toe before he could delay any longer. Blood poured out for just a second and Dr. Lam slid the small glass tube right under the gentle stream to collect just as much as possible, knowing inside herself what would happen.

She was barely able to get the pipette filled when the bleeding stopped, the oozing ceasing completely. Biting his lower lip, Daniel licked his finger and wiped where he had sliced.

Nothing, not even a thin line where it might have healed.

It was then that Daniel realized that the boy hadn't made a sound, hadn't cried, had sat there as Daniel felt he would, letting them do what they needed to do.

"Ow Dada," was all he said, Adrienne's jaw dropping. Frozen in place as she stood, vial of blood in her hand, Carolyn Lam stared wide eyed at the infant as he continued, "Bad ow dada."

Smiling, Daniel grabbed the boy and hugged him, apologizing for what he had just done, taking him into his arms. Without another word, her face still in shock, Carolyn motioned in silence for Sam to follow her to the sample counter.

"Leave it to you and Dr. Perky to create freakish offspring together," Jack quipped. Daniel made a face at him, holding the boy protectively in a way that warmed Adrienne's heart.

"He's not freakish; he's advanced," Daniel defended, catching out of the corner of his eye that his wife wasn't smiling any longer walking over to where Sam and Carolyn were looking at the blood.

She didn't have much to say.

Jack watched her walk over as well, his expression changing as he glanced back at Daniel.

"I hope everything's alright," he said honestly, resting his hand on Daniel's shoulder, squeezing it strongly. Jack knew what it was to lose a child, the horrors of the loss, and it was something he wished on no one.

It had killed his spirit and his first marriage.

Like Adrienne, the phone call to come work here couldn't have come at a better time and to be honest as he looked around the infirmary, it couldn't have come at a better time for any of them.

"No, he'll be fine. Might have to mix some crazy stuff in his bottle, but he'll be fine," Daniel replied.

"He has to be fine," he added quietly, Jack hearing nonetheless, reaching out again but pulling back his hand, taking a breath.

Pushing the thoughts aside, his imagination going into overdrive, Daniel looked over at the women as he saw Sam turn to approach them, crossing her arms across her chest, cocking her head back over to the counter.

"We are getting some interesting results, not bad just interesting, but we need Adrienne to leave. Can you?" she asked, Daniel nodding and passing Nicky to Jack, heading over to retrieve his wife.

"Let them work ja-wer," he said lightly, kissing her cheek, "let's go get something to eat, get Nicky a bottle."

She turned and let him take her into his arms, trying not to cry. It was her baby, their baby, and this couldn't be happening.

"There can't be anything wrong with him," she cried lightly, not wanting to upset Nicky, who Jack had set onto the counter, trying to get him to talk. Daniel just hugged her tighter.

"There won't be, nothing that Sam and Carolyn can't fix anyway," he told her, trying to appear as confident as he could, smoothing her hair and kissing her head. He looked back at his friends and led her away as asked, hoping she would eat something, Jack following with Nicky.

"Say Jack. J-AH-K; come on buddy I'm way cooler than your dad."

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Adrienne had insisted that she feed Nicky herself when they got to the commissary, an excuse not to eat Daniel knew, but he'd have that argument later. She agreed to let Daniel get her a cup of coffee, so he got her a cup instantly, Jack joining them for a snack as well.

There was nothing to do but wait.

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Carolyn looked back at Sam and let out a sigh.

"It shows every single marker that Daniel and Adrienne show. Every one. But any combination of their drug cocktail is just not working; the healing continues and so does the Dopamine acceleration," the doctor said, sitting back on the stool, rubbing her face.

For the first time she had no solution for her two most troublesome patients, her now three most troublesome patients.

"And I have no one to ask, none of our allies would have any idea. The descended don't just come back down and start families," Sam replied, Carolyn unable to help but laugh.

"Daniel did," she corrected, Sam shaking her head.

"There has to be something. Something we're missing..." her voice trailed, the general bringing her hand to her face as she stared out into space. Snapping her fingers suddenly, she excused herself in front of Carolyn, peering into the microscope.

"Carolyn, do you have the first set of tests, the ones from when they got back from P3X-888?" Sam asked, picking up her head, her blue eyes clicking away already as her brain kicked into overdrive.

"Of course," Carolyn said, dashing from her seat, to her file cabinets. She dug through the middle cabinet and came back with a small file, the tab reading 'Nicholas F. Jackson.'

"Cystic fibrosis, negative, phenylketonuria, negative, sickle cell, negative, thyroid, negative, MCADD, negative with a note," Sam read aloud, pausing to glance back at Carolyn, "What's the note?" Remembering, the doctor reached over and turned the page, her thin finger running along her careful script.

"No sign of MCADD, but I did notice the blood metabolizing fat at a high rate. It was partly why Adrienne was eating so much throughout the pregnancy when she wasn't sick, and why we think he was crying so much, she couldn't keep up with him. But he slowed down after a few weeks, and since they've switched him to that soy formula, he's back in a normal percentile for growth so it just looked like a natural spurt," Carolyn explained, but Sam shook her head.

"This is Daniel and Adrienne; there's no such thing as normal," she answered, reaching for another sample.

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For fear of missing Sam, Adrienne had refused to go to sleep in their small on-base quarters, even as the hours ticked on by into night. She fed Nicky, set him in the playpen beside her and laid her head on her desk.

Daniel didn't try to argue with her.

He did try to get his work done from earlier while she slept, looking over at her every so often, her head laying on her arms, his eyes now instinctively gliding down at the playpen, which was still as well.

"That sight will never cease to amaze me," he said just as Sam walked in the door.

She wasn't smiling, and Daniel's stomach sank, the folder with Homer's intel tossed aside as he stood, powering across the lab.

"Sam, please don't tell me this is Orlin all over again," Daniel pleaded but the general shook her head, making a face that he didn't understand.

"Not entirely," she answered and Adrienne must have heard her voice, her head lifting from the table to see what was going on, a pale hand reaching out for her eye drops.

"There is nothing we can do. To slow the healing, the development. He's not growing that much faster, but his brain is developing quite quickly. Don't be surprised if he starts talking more now that he's figured it out," Sam explained to the pair. Lip trembling, Adrienne looked like she was going to cry, standing, bringing her hand to her as Daniel approached her. She shook it, urging him away, sucking in tears trying to be strong.

"Will he be alright?" she asked, breathing in, her right hand searching for Daniel. He didn't pay attention to her outstretched arm, however, walking up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Nicky's not like completely like Orlin, or you Daniel. You and Orlin changed form, changed shape, were converted from flesh to energy and then back to flesh. But Nicky never did that," Sam began, Adrienne shuddering in Daniel's embrace.

"Nicky was born this way, and he's been developing forward, not backward, which is the opposite of Orlin, but he is still maintaining the mental capacity of a descended being. The wound healing too seems to be selective. After all, Carolyn is able to get blood for his check-ups each time and we were able to get just the right amount we needed. As if his body knew it needed to," Sam continued.

"It knew?" Daniel asked, Sam taking a breath.

"Daniel, the Acadians, Adrienne's ancestors, they are a special people. There have been dozens of studies about them, how they've survived three hundred years of their culture being destroyed without their overall genetic make-up being affected. They've been using Acadian genes to help with the human genome project," Sam began when Daniel felt a pull, Adrienne leaving his embrace, her head nodding.

"It's true. Most cajuns marry another cajun, not anyone outside of our region, especially an ascended but our genes are standard; they are the basis for human mapping because we're pretty consistent in hereditary diseases, heart disease and diabetes, and whatnot. We're the Jews of North America," Adrienne finished, apparently having read these studies as well.

Of course she's read them, Daniel thought, why would I think for a moment that she hadn't.

"Exactly Addy and the Jews were..." Sam led, Adrienne leaving him completely, running to his desk, cueing up of all things, the database.

"Protected by the Asgard. Damn, and that planet? I never put it together!" she was shouting over her shoulder, Nicky stirring in his crib.

"What kind of Cajun characteristics are we talking about?" Daniel was now curious, because other than being the most stubborn person on this planet and having a hidden evil streak, his wife most certainly didn't have any real superpowers.

"Nothing special sha, but those of us that look more like our French ancestors have dark eyes, pale skin and dark hair, but that's just the old French line," she was half explaining, he hated when she half explained, but she was in the zone, "but if we were being kept that way, it might explain why Nicky isn't regressing like Orlin did. I mean, you didn't, and you remembered everything the second time."

"Dada up," Daniel heard from below, a new word, great, Sam wasn't kidding about the talking, the archaeologist leaning down to heed the child's request.

"Like you ja-wer? I know you have the physical characteristics of the old French line," he asked, adjusting Nicky on his hip.

"Mama," Nicky now said, trying to look up at his father. Understanding, and noting yet another word, Daniel turned the boy around so he could see his mother as requested.

"So, your line's protected? VERY protected?" Daniel was catching on now, walking to his desk to read over her shoulder.

"Uh huh, right Sam? That's what you're saying isn't it?" Adrienne asked, still scanning the screen.

"Yes Adrienne, that's exactly what Carolyn and I think. I believe your people might have been involved in the cloning research, or at least were test subjects."

Adrienne was silent for a moment, reading the screen, her brain Daniel knew back in Rodney's lab, the data she had been translating concerning cloning making a tad more sense in her head he was sure.

"Ok, fine, so Nicky, via me, has some of special genes, hardier genes, genes that might be mapped to know what they are supposed to do that are also susceptible to any disease that can kill you if you eat like Daniel, but that doesn't explain the vay yay," Adrienne now stood, peering back over at Sam confused giving Daniel the chance to lean over and read the text in question on Laja's people, their strength, stamina, things he thought were true of Adrienne just because she was athletic, but apparently not, and as far as intelligence, that seemed to be pretty high as well.

"Vay yay?" his small passenger asked, holy shit Nicky was asking a question, Adrienne turning around to answer him like he was grown.

"Your yammerin' little man, it's Cajun for talkin'," she explained quickly, looking back at Sam.

"Talkin'" Nicky repeated carefully.

"Talk-ING," Daniel corrected, "you're only half swamp monster."

"Remember that during ascension the being isn't all knowing, but the learning capacity itself is increased, dramatically," Sam was now hovering over the computer, Adrienne nodding like mad.

"I think that no other descended persons, that is if there have ever been any descended persons to have survived this long, have had children. Nicholas is the first. Combine ascended learning with Asgard altered Acadian genetics and you have, well," Sam paused, not sure what to call the child who was staring right at her as if he understood what she was saying.

"Nicky," he finished for her.

"Depending on which plane of ascension Oma held me in last time, well, wow," he stammered looking down at the baby, "you could do anything. I gained the healing powers the last time, not voluntarily but they are there nonetheless, powers both you and your mom have."

"Nicholas, can you do anything else," Daniel's thoughts going a mile a minutes, turning the boy in his arms to look him in the yes, "Uh, can you, float that pencil?"

"Foat?"

"FLOat, yes, with your mind? Imagine it in the air?" Daniel explained, dark eyes breaking from his own, gazing at the desk.

"No," the infant answered, his forehead furrowed.

"Ok, was worth a shot, Cassie can..." Daniel was truly in the zone, whisking Nicky back over to the bookcase.

"Cassie can float things?" Adrienne asked.

"She used to be able to, long story ja-wer remind me to tell you, later," was all the answer he could give her, his mind focused on the next idea in his head.

"Sam was there anything else about my blood test results?" he heard Adrienne asking behind him just as he found what he was looking for.

"No, Carolyn said that he's a normal healthy child, normal, but genetically children can hold more knowledge than adults. However, there are traces here, traces of markers that are in your blood as well, traces that also appear in the clones."

"Wait, clones?" Adrienne now looked concerned again, but Sam shook her head.

"I think one of the Asgard "models" used Acadian genetics. It's a hardy line, strong, like you said, and the diseases to which they are susceptible mostly have to do with diet, which was something the Asgard wouldn't have worried about. But, with proper diet and exercise, these problems are avoided, as is the case with you," Sam answered with a smile, hoping that Adrienne understood that this wasn't all bad.

"Found it!" Daniel declared, pulling a small book from the shelf, displaying it proudly.

_Corduroy_

Adrienne was about to ask Daniel what he was doing, but she knew in that instant and she recognized the book, making her take a breath.

The bear was lost and had found his place in the world, much like the both of them had. She was so touched and she wanted to just walk over and hug him at that very moment, and to be alone, just the three of them, her family.

"For now guys, I want Carolyn to check him out, once a week, so we can chart his progress and see what we're dealing with," Sam advised and Adrienne nodded, breaking her trance, reminding herself to ask him about this mysterious book later.

"Mama," Nicky added, Adrienne smiling and walking to Daniel, to take her son from his arms, her healthy son, her perfectly healthy son who was just special, who was just the perfect mix of she and Daniel, albeit like she and Daniel, a little bit odd.

"Ok Nicky, let's learn how to read," Daniel suggested, marching past the women headed straight for their quarters, book in hand.

"Mama come," he pleaded, looking back at Adrienne who rolled her eyes and followed, watching her husband take their child, otherwise known as his new toy, out of the lab.

"That's right honey, mama's coming. Dada's lost his marbles," she said as she followed, leaving Sam behind, eager to get her wish, be together, just the three of them.

"Dada. Mama. Nicky. Read," the infant explained, Daniel cutting his eyes over at Adrienne.

"Jack's right," Daniel leaned over to whisper to Adrienne, "This is too weird."


	68. Chapter 67 - Awakening

"Dr. Rush? Can you hear me?" Eli asked as he shook the scientist gently from the floor of the hibernation room. After debating for over an hour, Eli had decided, for reasons that he couldn't articulate, to wake up Dr. Rush before Colonel Young.

He was just hoping that decision wasn't a mistake.

Or that Rush was dead.

At this point, he just couldn't deal with any more bodies.

When Eli Wallace had awoken himself a few days before, he thought that he had died and this was hell, forever trapped in the hibernation chambers on the Destiny. The dingy glass encasing his body had blurred his ability to see much past the instruments in his own pod, things he had set up shortly after ending his final transmission to Earth. At that point, he hadn't even been sure that his own container would be secure; there were serious questions as to its integrity as the ship had moved closer to a red giant star in the near distance. But it had, his final modifications had worked, and when he realized that this wasn't a dream, that he had survived, he almost cried like a baby. Now, however, there was no time for that.

He needed to assess their situation.

Greer was the first he found dead. Eli had stood there for a moment, trembling and unable to think straight. Greer was so strong, so fit, and if it he hadn't managed to survive, what if the hibernation hadn't worked for the others? Then again, he survived, and other than some weight loss due only to the lack of food, he was fine. Eli was as far as an SG staff member could be from being considered in shape. It was random though, very random, as TJ., Chloe and Camille had all survived, along with Scott, Volker, Rush and Young.

Adam Brody, Lisa Park, Vanessa James and a few others hadn't been so lucky.

Eli decided to leave their pods sealed until he talked to Colonel Young.

And now Dr. Nicholas Rush lay here, in the floor of the pod bay, somewhere between the land of the living and the grips of death. Heart racing, Eli shook him again.

"Dr. Rush? Wake-up. We made it; we made it to the next galaxy. We're at full power," Eli explained, hoping that would wake the frail scientist, that it had work; their last ditch attempt to save themselves had worked.

Eyelids fluttered and the man looked up at him, weakly, but alive.

"Eli?" he inquired, the young man letting out a breath of relief and nodding.

"Yeah, it's me. We made it," he answered, deciding to leave out the causality list for now. First thing was first, they needed to make contact with Earth, and with Rush occupied talking to Earth, Eli could move on to waking Colonel Young and letting him assess the situation with the survivors and deal with the dead.

Still not completely awake, Rush squinted and rubbed his eyes, starting to sit up. Eli had to suppress laughter as he did so, reminded of his favorite movie as a child, his brain reciting the speech about "hibernation sickness" but he refrained from comment. Closing his eyes strongly once more, Rush made the final adjustment to consciousness, glancing back at Eli.

"The others?" he asked. Panic coursed through Eli's veins.

"I decided to get you up first, let you contact Earth and then worry about the others," Eli lied, hoping Rush would not have anticipated that checking the vital signs of his friends would be the first thing on his list, that checking the vital signs of Chloe would be the first thing that he would do. The scientist didn't argue, didn't question, just nodded, stretching and gazing around the room.

It worked.

"Nice job Eli," Rush congratulated, starting to stand, but stumbling, so Eli assisted, placing his right arm around his shoulders.

"Take it easy Dr. Rush, we haven't moved in quite literally three years," the young man assured him, but held on, aiding him in taking a few cautious steps forward. Eli himself had crawled for a good two hours after he had awoken, much longer than the others making him vow to take up some form of exercise as soon as possible.

About ten steps in, the scientist was shooing his young helper away, determined to walk on his own. His first independent step was wobbly, but he stayed upright and worked his steps carefully, only taking a few more before looking back at Eli.

"Go wake Colonel Young. I'm going to use the stones," Rush declared as if they had never slept at all, as if the past three years were just the dream that for them they were, exiting the hibernation quarters.

Relieved to see him go, Eli headed for Colonel's Young's pod, happy to be awakening their leader yet dreading the news he had to give.

Rush moved carefully toward the common room where they had stored the communication stones, part of him still shocked there was this much intact. It must have taken longer in the star's field than they had originally calculated because were this insane plan to work, Rush was certain that someone would have ransacked the ship by now, but no, everything seemed to still be here.

Powering ahead, he navigated still somewhat clumsily, the corridors of the ship, turning the corner and heading into the room where he saw the table still shoved into the corner.

There, in a box covered with three years' worth of dust, was what he was looking for, or so he hoped. Still lumbering, Rush walked slowly over to the table and reached for the locks on the side, holding his breath and as he opened the lid. The glimmer of precious blue stones, just as he remembered them, small blue scarabs glowing in a treasured tomb, was right now the best sight he could have ever wished for.

He paused for a moment, wondering about the world he would be communicating with, the world with which they had had limited contact with since the Lucian attack on Cheyenne, a world that unless every calculation that they had made was incorrect, was three years older.

He knew that General Jack O'Neill was talking about moving operations to the Pentagon, but the Destiny had gone into hibernation mode before Rush could be informed of anything. Regardless of the world he was walking into, however, it needed to be done, they needed to know it had worked; the crew of the most precious ancient device they had ever encountered had survived.

Dr. Rush walked around the table to the attached seat, situating himself in front of the box, not bothering with the dust on the bench. Taking a breath, he reached out for the stone.

The scientist opened his eyes to a small white walled office, the bright florescent lights blinding him for a moment.

His eyes adjusting, fingers rubbing harshly to hurry the process, he looked around to see that he was at a wooden desk home only to a small lamp, a pen, a legal pad of paper and a phone. There were no other pieces of furniture in the room, no other people, and no windows, just a closed wooden door behind him. This was a slightly different set-up than before, but it was something, which meant at least in three years someone with dignity had taken the program under their wing.

Hoping that his fortune would continue, he peeked down at the phone and lifted the receiver, slowly bringing it to his ear.

"Hello?" a confused voice asked on the other line, no dialing needed; they were ready, or so it seemed. The voice, though, sounded so young, like a teen, and curious, Dr. Rush scanned himself to see he was in the body of a fit African - American young man. Refocusing on his mission, he cleared his throat and spoke.

"This is Dr. Nicholas Rush. The Destiny has survived. I would like to speak to General Landry," he requested, hoping that Landry was still the head of the SGC, since he was vaguely familiar with the man and Telford had spoken highly of him.

The voice on the other line paused before speaking.

"Sir, I need you to hold while we get someone to your location. We need to follow the procedure," the young man said.

"The Procedure?," he questioned, knowing that yes this might be a surprise but at the mention of his name alone he expected personnel to come rushing in to discover the fate of the lost ship, "Get me Landry, or if he isn't available Colonel Telford!"

Rush started to get frustrated.

The voice on the line hesitated again and it sounded as if he was covering up the mouth piece of the phone, the scientist straining to hear the communication with whomever the young man was talking to, catching bits of O'Neill, Landry, meeting, and a few other military bullshit terms when Rush yelled into the phone unable to wait any longer.

"Do you know who I am? Do you know what is happening? Fine, all of the military types are in some meeting, I don't care! Get me Dr. Jackson! He's still here, right?" Rush demanded.

"Hold please sir," the man replied, ignoring his request; how dare he be ignored.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what procedure is in place but someone better get Dr. Jackson down here to talk to me right now because I know he's not stuck under some pile of military mayhem!"

Forget frustrated, now he was just pissed off. There was more murmuring on the other line, the sound of the receiver being passed over, someone clearing their throat before finally responding.

"Sir, we'll send Dr. Jackson right down," the new voice said, disconnecting the call.

Nothing else to do but wait, Rush sat back in the chair, looking at the phone.

"It's about damn time," he said out loud.

"There's no way he could possibly know that Atlantis is at full power!"

Of course Rodney McKay was arguing because why on Earth would a man, escaped from Anubis, beaten within an inch of his life and risking his family just be making this all up. He'd gotten so much better for a while, behaving like what Daniel believed was the closest thing to a person he could be, but now he was working side by side with John Sheppard to get the Atlantis base fully operational. Back on Atlantis, it was back to Rodney McKay, know-it-all extraordinaire.

"He does not know that you have restored full power to Atlantis base Dr. McKay," Homer corrected, patiently, commendable because Daniel had had enough. Yes, it was exciting to get back into the ancient lab, yes he was enjoying working in Atlantis but he hated leaving Adrienne and Nicky at home, especially now that Nicky was reading.

"Rodney, what he's saying is that Anubis has been tracking our movements, well enough to know that we are planning to use the base to defend ourselves," Jonas tried, to no avail Daniel was certain, as Rodney stepped up again, looking down at the notes from Homer.

"Fine," he somewhat conceded to Daniel's surprise, "let's go with the assumption that he knows we have it at full power, so you're saying that he's planning on attacking the base."

"Yes, he was using spies to track your beaming patterns as well as other internal information," Homer added, Daniel pulling up the chart that Adrienne had sent him only a few short hours before.

"Are there visible patterns in our beaming?" Robert Woolsey finally interjected, having remained eerily quiet during the exchange. He'd been eerily quiet in general since Bennett had died, since Sam had been reinstated and since Adrienne had slapped him across the face.

Daniel still wasn't over that just yet; there was something about Adrienne standing up for him that just made him feel fantastic.

He loved her so much.

Realizing that he was talking to him, Daniel gazed back down at the iPad, the charts his wife had prepared for him showing him clear patterns in the transports from Earth to starship and back to Earth again, San Francisco sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Unfortunately, there are," Daniel began, pushing the diagram in front of Woolsey, "they clearly show that we have some sort of vested interest in this area." The bureaucrat scanned the screen, seeing what Daniel had been looking at the archaeologist was sure, what might as well had been a gigantic bulls-eye pointing right at their most powerful base and weapon. Moving it had been the only thing Daniel could think of after Adrienne had shown him these read-outs, a suggestion he had only given to his wife and his wife only as she sat on the sink listening out for Nicky to inform them that he was awake while Daniel took his shower.

"Given this information I think we need to seriously consider mo-" Woolsey started when the screen behind Rodney's head lit up, Sam's expression gazing down upon them, a great and powerful presence.

She could have at least said hi.

"Daniel, I need for you to go down to the main office, I 'd like a secure line with you," she requested, much to his bewilderment. He had a phone, but she must not be trusting that either, so he stood as she ended the transmission, excusing himself to both she and Woolsey's former command station.

"What in the hell is going on now," he couldn't help but mutter as he heard Rodney begin to drill poor Homer yet again.

Rush sat in the silent room for what had to have been two hours. When he tried to phone again, the line was dead, and he had the feeling it had now been disconnected because of him. He stood, examining the room, looking for a two way mirror or a camera to see if they were spying on him, but he was unable to find anything. He had just completed what he counted as his twentieth pass of the room hunting for any evidence that he was being watched when he heard the door open behind him, spinning on his heels to greet his visitor.

"Right this way Dr. Jackson," a voice in the hallway directed, Rush smiling as he stepped forward toward the door to explain to Daniel the miracle of their survival.

"Dr. Jackson, I'm glad you're still here. Eli is in the process of waking the rest of the crew," Rush began when a woman turned the corner. She was a little more than average height for a female, with shoulder length brown hair, curvy but not heavy, more like athletic in build, with pale skin and deep brown eyes. In her arms she held a baby boy, perhaps four or five months in age, the child having the same pale skin and dark eyes. Adjusting the baby on her hip, she extended her hand, a smile across her face.

"Dr. Rush, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said. Confused, Rush took her hand out of courtesy, shaking it quickly and letting go.

"I'm sorry, but I was under the impression that Dr. Jackson was going to be meeting me," he explained, not wanting to be rude but the woman just smiled and shook her head.

"Well, Dr. Jackson is meeting you, just not the Dr. Jackson you thought you were getting. I'm Adrienne Jackson, Daniel's, well, not available, but I'm happy to escort you to our lab," she answered politely.

Dr. Rush shook his head confused and Adrienne figured she ought to explain.

"The new boys manning the line just called down to the lab looking for Dr. Jackson, they didn't specify. Happens a lot lately. I'll take you down to the lab while we wait," she said, cryptically he could tell, leading the way with her hand.

"So two Dr. Jacksons in one lab?" Rush asked, the woman again laughing.

"See, that was my argument all along when he went on and on about the name change mess," she said as she started out into the hallway. Dr. Rush followed, at least he wasn't going to be trapped in this room, catching on to what she was implying.

"Name change?" he clarified, but was certain that he knew the answer.

The woman looked over her shoulder as she walked briskly, shaking her head lightly with that kind smile on her face.

"Yes, Daniel's my husband. And this little guy here is our son," she replied and much to his surprise, the baby looked back at him and smiled, not that typical baby grin but a genuine expression of greeting.

"Dr. Nicolas Rush," the boy said, "we share the same name."

The scientist stopped in his tracks.

The child had spoken, this child that looked barely five months old, had spoken, his voice still childlike but for the most part clear.

Adrienne laughed yet again and stopped herself, adjusting the baby and looking him straight in the face.

"Yes honey, this is Dr. Rush. He studies the hard sciences," she explained to the baby, she was explaining this to the baby, the scientist in question still flabbergasted.

"Not history?" the child asked, Adrienne shrugging as she paused to answer.

"Not history, but he does understand Ancient like your dad and I do, but no, Dr. Rush is more of a scientist like Sam and Rodney," she clarified, the baby frowning.

"Ugh, Rodney," he replied. Adrienne again laughed and looked over at Rush, who was standing there dumbfounded.

"It's a child of the descended thing; you get used to it. Come on, let's get you down to the lab because everyone is going to want to know what has happened," the woman, the other Dr. Jackson, redirected, pointing ahead to some elevators.

This wasn't Cheyenne mountain, this had to be the Pentagon, he noted as he followed, taking in the sights of the new command center.

Daniel sat back in the chair of the main command office, running the pen listlessly around the legal pad.

The Destiny had survived.

He'd harbored the guilt for so long over his own involvement in the program that the call from Sam should have been a relief but instead it just sent him into a whirlwind of worry.

How far were they from Earth?

Had everyone survived?

Were the Lucians still after them?

Were they bringing the drones right to them?

It made his head hurt, pinching the bridge of his nose, his only solace that Adrienne was handling the initial interview of Rush, thankfully, because she would not only handle it with class and tact, but she had been given access to all of his files and the procedure should this miracle actually happen.

"Hey, everything ok?" Jonas was asking from the doorway, Daniel breaking his trance of worry to glance up.

"Yeah," he replied, a half-truth, pausing to consider who was asking. It was Jonas and even though he had nothing to do with the mission he was someone Daniel could trust, "the Destiny survived."

"Oh wow..."

Daniel couldn't have said it better himself, letting his head fall into his hands.

"That's a good thing though, right? Gives us the resources and knowledge of the ship?" Jonas asked a perfectly legitimate question, one that Adrienne herself had asked when she was first briefed about the ship years ago.

"Yes and no. Of course it is that they survived, but the Destiny itself brings a whole slew of problems. The Lucians, ones that we are still unsure have joined with Anubis or not, have been actively pursuing the ship since its discovery, not to mention the drones or whatever Colonel Young was calling them, both are after the ship. We could be trading one evil for another, provided we can actually defeat Anubis," Daniel explained as he lifted his head.

"So are you headed back?" the next logical question, Jonas not wanting any more enemies to deal with any more than Daniel did. Back to scribbling, Daniel drew a few loops on the page, his eyes no longer on his Langaran friend, his mind back on the conversation.

"No, Sam says that she wants Adrienne to conduct the initial interview, they're not gonna give too much away as to what is going on here or with Anubis. That and she wants me to keep an eye on Rodney," Daniel sighed out, Jonas rolling his eyes as his expression turned to a grimace.

"Speaking of, that's why I came to find you. He threw a bit of a tantrum when Homer was going over those battle plan files, something about whether or not that bastardized Jaffa fleet can bring down our fighters. There's something down in his lab apparently, some tool to measure laser beams, honestly Daniel I just tuned him out and he stormed off..." Jonas trailed his words again, Daniel letting his head fall back onto the desk.

"Sorry," he added but Daniel just waved his hand over his head, forgiving him with the motion.

"Just once I'd love not to babysit adults, once," the archaeologist said with a sigh, standing, pushing the chair back under the desk.

"You'll have to excuse Dr. McKay," Woolsey apologized the moment Jonas Quinn had stormed out after the temperamental scientist, "he's brilliant but prone to such behaviors."

"It is quite alright," Homer accepted easily, "Jonas warned me about him."

Jonas had warned his former colleague as well about the bureaucrat; however the man seemed to be nice, a little gun shy even.

It made Homer feel bad enough about what he had to do.

"Well, let's go back over this one more time so that I understand and can inform my superiors," he went right back to requesting what Homer had already explained, his careful repetition of Anubis' plan, his actual plan, minus a few important details.

"Right, so, based on the beaming patterns, it seems that Anubis has determined that this base is somewhere in the California area, as I said before, it is only a matter of time until they determine the exact location. He will use the Jaffa to attack this base in an attempt to neutralize it, giving his clones the opportunity to invade the SGC," Homer explained for a second time, this version uninterrupted by the now absent raving scientist.

"And you are certain that Dr. Jackson is not his target?" Woolsey clarified, Homer shaking his head.

Not exactly, Homer answered silently, Anubis cautionary words floating through his thoughts.

_Do it now..._

It was the perfect time. Homer had been here, on Earth, for nearly two months, long enough where he hadn't heard a single peep out of Anubis. Had he no ties to Langara, no reason to remain loyal to the cold woman that had sent him on this mission he would have forgotten but it had been, ironically, Dr. Jackson's son that kept his mission in focus.

Because his own small child was back on Langara, awaiting his success.

He needed to work quickly; the drug wouldn't knock him out for very long, so he needed to make sure that everything went exactly as planned.

"Yes, he had made it clear that he just wants to eliminate the threat that is Earth in general," Homer answered, reaching into his pocket, taking a step forward, an awkward step, one he knew would send him into the floor. One never thinks the impact of any fall, much less one that was planned, but the uf that escaped his mouth was not an act, nor was the wincing as his knee slammed into the cold hard floor.

"Dr. Khalen, are you alright?" Robert asked, kneeling himself to help Homer to his feet, barely flinching as the needle entered his throat.

Jackson's wife was very cordial in the elevator and explained to Rush that repairs to the main base at Cheyenne were still underway, but General O'Neill, who Rush was relieved was still in charge, had ordered operations to Washington, in a part of the Pentagon not used since the Vietnam war. It had taken some adjustments, but the base was functioning very well, almost as well as things had at Cheyenne.

Rush noticed the elevator was taking them to the basement floor and he looked over at the woman and her baby, who were conversing now in French.

That was a creepy little kid.

The doors opened and she stepped out, indicating with her head the direction in which he should follow.

"Daniel and I work down here, closer to the gate room," she explained, resuming her pace from before. This woman must run, Rush thought to himself as he raced behind, because she's not that far off from doing that now.

At the door of the lab she reached for a keypad and entered in some numbers quicker than he could make out, a click at the door telling him that she must have gained entry. Turning the knob, his host pushed the door open, once again signaling him to follow.

The lab inside was almost an identical copy of where Dr. Jackson had brought him so many years before despite the fact that it was located hundreds of miles away.

It was eerie, like stepping back in time.

He was scanning the room when he felt a light tap at his shoulder, Dr. Jackson, the Mrs. Dr. Jackson, standing there, baby gone from her arms and in a play area in the corner. She was pointing to a chair at the center table. Nodding, Rush took a seat as did the woman, putting a thin electronic device in her lap.

"So, you work with Dr. Jackson?" Rush asked, trying to figure out who this woman really was and why she was acting like she had some kind of power here, power enough to go through 'the procedure' whatever the hell that was. She didn't answer at first, smiling as she activated the screen.

"Yes, I'm his assistant," she replied, her cheeks flushing, clearly embarrassed. Dr. Rush wondered if she was his assistant before or after they started seeing one another being that romances like this were not allowed in this type of government agency. Before he could say anything else, she was speaking again, as if she had anticipated his thoughts.

"Don't worry, we get that all the time. Yes, Daniel married his assistant. Yes, it looks bad. No, General O'Neill does not care," she answered, not looking up from the screen.

"Has Jack taken a more active role in gate operations then?" Rush asked, wondering if that was why Landry had been unable to meet him, Adrienne finally looking up, smiling.

"I meant Sam, but yeah, Jack's been pretty active down here lately. I think he gets bored trapped in meetings day in and day out," she replied, holding something back he could tell.

What wasn't she telling him?

Deciding to try to work his way around it the best he could, Rush made a face at her, hoping to prod her further.

"Samantha Carter?" he asked in clarification, Adrienne chuckling once more.

"Samantha Carter O'Neill. I keep forgetting you've been out of the loop for about three years. Everyone got married in your absence doctor, well, except for Vala and Cam and Vala's working Ronon Dex pretty hard on that one," Adrienne joked. Rush nodded his head, not agreeing with her joke, but assessing the situation.

Things certainly had changed.

"So Atlantis base is still stranded here?" he continued, Adrienne nodding in affirmation.

"Yes, unfortunately. Well," she corrected herself, "We would miss the crew if they left, except for Rodney, but they are still stranded." Upon hearing her comment about Rodney, the scientist laughed, hoping to relax her, knowing that there was something else she was hiding now too, but wanting to make her feel comfortable enough to continue talking.

"I'll let Daniel bring you up to speed when he gets back," she added, "but there is a procedure in place in case we were to ever hear from you again."

Again with the procedure, he thought, but decided to go along with the inquiry.

"When did you awaken?" she asked. Rush looked at the clock on the wall, trying to judge how long he had been here, his initial and mental response being a while ago, but you made me sit in a room.

"Not long ago; once Eli got me standing I contacted Earth immediately," he responded, professionally, as Adrienne made some notes.

"So, Eli was the first to awaken?" she asked.

"Yes, and he was going to awaken Colonel Young next," Rush answered, starting to be annoyed that this woman, this girl, essentially was questioning him. He looked at her closer noting that other than a few expression lines on her forehead, she looked like a damn college student.

How old was this woman?

"Great, and the casualties," Adrienne spoke, taking a breath, her face furrowing, much like Daniel he noticed.

"Sorry, sorry. The longer I'm here the more I feel like I lose part of my humanity, I apologize for sounding so crass. Did we, did you all lose anyone?" Adrienne clarified.

"I'm not sure. I'm honestly unsure as to how long Eli has been awake or if he even checked on the others," Rush replied honestly because as absurd as these questions were, he told them he reported here immediately, she was being pleasant and he couldn't fault her for that. Adrienne made a note, and a face, and remained silent, a silence Nicholas Rush didn't like.

"You all have run simulations, haven't you? How many are you expecting to not have made it?" he asked and Adrienne looked up sadly, her head nodding slowly.

"Every scenario we ran showed a loss of at least one third of the crew," she answered quietly, looking over to the direction where the baby was lying on his belly seeming to read a book. Intelligent or not, she seemed to want to shield her child from these details for now. Rush took a breath, his patience at an end, allowing his eyes to meet her own dark orbs.

"I need to speak with whoever is in charge. Now," he requested without raising his voice, Dr. Jackson standing in silence to walk over to Daniel's phone.

"Mr. Woolsey, are you certain that you are alright?" Homer rested his hand on the man's back as Rodney stared down, annoyed by this interruption.

"I'm fine. I just haven't eaten much in the past few days and I think it got to me," he assured, holding his hands in front of him as Daniel re-entered the room, his face drawn in confusion.

"Everything alright?" he asked, Homer glancing up at both Daniel and the trailing Jonas, shrugging.

"I was reaching down for something when Mr. Woolsey collapsed. He claims that he had not eaten much and that he is weak," the Langaran explained, Daniel approaching the bureaucrat to examine him.

"How's your vision?" he asked, kneeling at the chair, but again Woolsey was shaking his head, refusing any and all help.

"It's fine, I'm fine, really. There was a Powerbar in your pack Daniel, Homer found it, and now that it's settling it's much better. Now about uncloaking the base," he said as he stood, Daniel backing away at first before freezing, glancing back at Woolsey quizzically.

"Wait, uncloaking?" he asked, his gaze darting to Jonas and Rodney, both of whom seemed equally confused.

"Yes, what we were discussing before. Anubis knows where the base is located already and we are wasting valuable energy in the ZPM's powering the cloaking device," Robert explained, walking over to the read-out panel indicating the fluctuations.

"Homer said he might know where it is and you know as well as I do that the power to hide the base is minimal," Daniel argued, Rodney, for once, stepping in to agree.

"If anything, powering the damn cafeteria wastes more power than the cloak."

Robert shook his head, stumbling for a moment and grasping the counter to retain his balance.

"No, Homer said that he had used our beaming history to pinpoint our location and that uncloaking the base would be a show of strength and allow us to divert power to the shields," Woolsey retorted.

"It was merely a suggestion, but the Jaffa force is small, as I was explaining earlier. One concentrated blast might be enough to scare them off and end the assault," Homer was now standing by Woolsey, pulling up some diagrams on the panels. The three SG members stood, eyes darting back and forth between them.

"Homer, I'm sorry, did you and Robert discuss something when I stepped out?" Daniel questioned, Robert shaking his head.

"No, don't you remember? He went over this earlier today and to be honest, looking at this data I think we need to revisit it," and with that he was at the control panel, peering over where Homer was now working.

Rubbing his temples, Daniel paused for a moment, trying to remember what exactly had been said this morning. It had been so early when he left, explaining to an awake Nicky that he needed to let his mother sleep in, giving him a book to read in his absence. After that, he had beamed here, listened to Rodney rant about how the north wing of the base still wouldn't activate, how slow Zalenka was working in his lab, how the engineers hadn't fixed the elevator only to then be ushered into the this spare lab, Homer going over Anubis plan yet again.

It was a distinct possibly he had minced his thoughts and by the look on Jonas' and Rodney's faces, they were thinking the same thing.

"Alright, Homer, can we go through the proposed Jaffa attack one more time?"

Rush honestly couldn't believe that he was even having this conversation.

"But my emotions were not yet mature enough to comprehend what was going on with my intellectual development, so all I could do was cry," Nicky explained, Rush nodding in understanding. Between the child's explanation and Adrienne's more medical reasons, as odd as it was, it made sense.

"What made you stop?" the scientist now asked, wondering if Dr. Jackson himself enjoyed having such a child.

"It was a variety of factors. First and foremost, we had a visit at our home of a former Ancient, and somehow contact with her allowed me to understand that the frustration was mutual and my parents had no more of an idea as to what was going on with me than I did. Then, once I was able to speak, it was just far easier to tell Mom what I wanted rather than cry," he answered, again with big words and that high pitched squeaky voice.

"And how does your father take this?"

"Well, they both have. Dad has even taught me how to read, which has been quite useful," he answered, affirming what Rush had already assumed, that the book on the high chair was indeed being read.

"Just don't tell Dad about this," the baby tapped the volume, some booked called _Twilight_, "but I really like fiction, fun silly fiction. He prefers I read history books."

"Nicky!" another small voice interrupting Rush's train of thought, yet another child at his feet before he could get in another word.

"Your mom said we can play!" an elementary aged child announced from the doorway, Rush catching Dr. Jackson looking up from her computer as well. A dark-skinned woman trailed behind, a woman he thought he recognized from the Atlantis crew. Adrienne must have called her because as she stood from her desk she looked relieved, nodding her hand thankfully.

"Teyla, thanks," the Cajun woman said gratefully, walking over to where Rush had been talking with her son. She had stayed in there the entire time while he chatted with the boy, speaking very cryptically into the phone after his earlier abrupt request.

"Stop reading about wimpy vampires," she scolded the child, tossing the book to the floor before pulling him from the high chair.

"I can't wait until I can walk," the baby lamented, Adrienne shaking her head as she passed him over, "and hide my choices in literature."

"We'll get some lunch and head down to our quarters. The boys can play there," Teyla explained with a smile, Dr. Jackson nodding in thanks.

"Behave," she warned the child as he peeped over Teyla's shoulder.

"Yes ma'am," he answered, the trio disappearing around the corner.

"Dr. Rush, I apologize for delay. General O'Neill is waiting," Jackson's wife went right back into her professional mode, leading the way with her hand.

Now was not a time for further comment, even as the scientist was wondering what was happening back on the Destiny.

Eli didn't know the young man that was currently inhabiting Rush's body even though he seemed to know a lot about him. Apparently, being discovered due to one's ability to master video games had made him somewhat of a superstar among the cadets. They had chatted for a while, Eli finding him seated at the dusty table waiting, explaining the SGC protocol required that he remain in the communication area close to the stones until given instructions by his superiors otherwise.

Eli didn't mind, he would rather sit here and chat about Earth than listen to any more of the conversation in the infirmary.

As soon as TJ felt well enough to move around, she dove right in, separating the less recovered crew members from the ones who seemed alright and the dead. In case there was some reason the hibernation hadn't worked other than their bodies just not taking the procedure, she urged Colonel Young to leave the bodies in their capsules, an order he had no problem executing.

"Do you know how long he will be?" Eli asked the young man who shrugged in Dr. Rush's narrow shoulders, shaking his head.

"Don't know. I know that the protocol states if the Destiny were to awaken that whomever made contact was to be questioned, briefed and General O'Neill will decide what course of action to take based on the information provided," the man replied, Eli shaking his head.

Then what is taking so long, he thought, I didn't tell him anything.

"I think our next plan of action is send a team over there, well, two of you, over to the Destiny. I need a comprehensive list of the crew, the causalities if any, basic health reports of survivors, and a mental picture. We need to make sure that there is no chance of anything else happening. I also need a better idea of the state of the ship itself, were the drones able to infiltrate the vessel, is there any indication that there are Lucians still pursuing it," Sam said from the end of the table, tapping her pen on the pad. Jack nodded from the opposite end, his eyes scanning the members of SG-1 present, Cam, Vala, Teal'c and Addy, all of which looked just as concerned.

"Telford's on the way," Jack added, leaning forward, his eyes darting over to Rush, waiting patiently on the other side of the glass.

"I think our best option right now is to send over Addy and Vala and bring back TJ and Camille. Let Carolyn get a better idea of what TJ's dealing with and Addy can get us a list of who we've lost. Vala, I'd like you to nose around and feel out exactly what is going on on the ship. You too Adrienne, pay close attention to the way the crew is interacting, if anyone is close to losing it, if there are still any issues between Rush and Young," Sam instructed the women, Adrienne nodding.

"Camille Wray? She's IOA isn't she?" the Cajun clarified, Sam nodding.

"Yes, but let's say that unlike Robert, experience has changed her viewpoint when it comes to certain issues," the general replied, Jack equally as quiet.

So many things, Adrienne thought, so very many things that happened here before I came that I just don't think I will ever understand.

"I'll speak with Rush. He's not going to be happy with your choice Sam, so prepare for a fit of blowback," Jack warned as he stood, Sam shrugging her shoulders.

"How did Robert used to put it? Welcome to the New World Order? I don't have to explain anything anymore, they need to get used to us running the show without interference. Cam, Teal'c, I need you two on standby for any teams that come in with any more information about Anubis. Is that clear everyone? You have your assignments," Sam declared, Adrienne and Vala unable to help but smile.

It was great to finally see Sam in charge, fully in charge, no worries of bureaucrats, at least for a while.

Taking their orders, the team stood, leaving only the couple to speak with Rush and set up the switch.

Daniel didn't like it in the least, but there wasn't a choice.

"Sha, I know how to use the stones, we do it all of the time," Adrienne argued, Daniel knowing that he didn't need to mention that a husband and wife switching bodies was not only strange in and of itself, but that was two people that knew each other intimately well doing it on the same planet.

"Adrienne, we have no idea what state the Destiny is in, anything could happen," he argued, peeking back over his shoulder as Woolsey continued to drill Homer. It worried him, he seemed to really be rolling once they had gotten his sugar back up and he didn't like where the conversation was headed.

"Daniel it's not my body over there, it'll be TJ's and I'll keep the stone on me as Sam is requiring so I can jump back in a hot minute if something goes wrong."

She knew he worried, and she appreciated it, loved it even. She'd had people care about her in her life, her aunt, her father, but she never let anyone take care of her like she let Daniel. She wanted him to care for her, love her, be with her...

"Ok, what about Nicky?" he tried a new angle.

"He's with Teyla."

Silence on the other end of the line.

Daniel never knew what to say to that. They were very fortunate to be allowed to bring Nicholas to work and Adrienne most certainly didn't want him in any type of care situation, especially now, but Daniel worried too that when they did need care and they asked Teyla that they were using her.

"Alright Ad, I'm sorry, I just worry," he apologized instead, not really meaning it; more sorry he wasn't there to hold her. Granted, it was strange with Nicky being, well, Nicky, but now that they knew why he was the way he was, why he had cried, now that Adrienne was so much better and back to herself, he just wanted to be with her.

"I miss you too sha," she read his mind, like always.

Another pause.

"How's it going?" she now asked, Daniel sighing out. He should have taken the call in one of the offices; he could really use the chance to talk to her right now.

"Alright, I guess. There was..." he started and trailed, unsure as to how he could tell her with listening ears in the room, ears that would know if he slipped into French and was hiding something.

"Do you need anything?" she whispered softly.

"You," he answered honestly though not for the reasons an outsider would think.

_I want to talk this through with you Ad. There's something not right here and until I can figure out if I'm just imagining things I'd prefer you stay right on base and not be taking a jaunt across the universe. _

"I know," was her reply.

"Stay safe."

"You too."

"I love you," he added not caring who heard.

"I love you too Indy," she answered, a click on the other end letting him know that she was gone.

"Dr. Jackson?" the voice behind letting him know that he was indeed being listening in on, his instinct to speak cryptically with Adrienne correct.

"Coming," he answered, pocketing his phone to return to the console.

"Samantha," it was odd to see Vala approaching her with open arms and not a foul joke to accompany the greeting. Sam reciprocated the gesture, hugging her guest and offering her a seat nearby with a wave of her hand.

"Camille, it's great to speak with you again," she answered honestly as the normally shorter woman adjusted to taking a seat in the much taller body.

"I have to admit I was quite pleased to discover that you were now in charge of the SGC. How did that happen?" the IOA official asked, Sam nodding her head.

"Landry, he was injured in the attack. He took a well-deserved early retirement," the general answered honestly, Camille/Vala's lips pursing.

"How many did we lose?"

"Enough," Sam offered the only information on the subject that she was willing to offer, again her guest nodding in understanding.

"Our count so far is five dead, including Greer. Chloe isn't doing very well, and it seems that Scott's vision was affected. Young has resumed full command, but the morale, is, well, it's not high," Camille set right in with her explanation, judging by the look on Samantha's face that she wasn't in the mood for small talk.

"Adrienne will take care of the losses the best she can. She's good with things like that," Sam said immediately, her private conversation with Adrienne coming to the forefront of her mind. She'd warned the Cajun to be cautious, to listen and pay close attention to the people there, but also console them in their time of grief.

If there was anyone who could handle loss of the people closest to them, it would be Adrienne.

Or Daniel, but he was away.

"I hope so. And Mal Doran? That was surprising," Camille now dared, questioning, Sam again expecting that as well.

"We have her heading up our intelligence division. We need to know if the Lucians or Nakai had any contact with the ship during your hibernation," Sam explained, thinking only to herself how she also wanted Vala to see if Rush had any plans on continuing his mutinous ways. Of all of the scientists Daniel had to recruit, he had to pick that man, that lying, manipulating man.

She should have hired Adrienne sooner because she knew that hire had been attitude as much as talent, a decision that a happier Daniel might not have made.

"Of course. Eli and Colonel Young did an initial sweep and have found nothing, but maybe there is something else she can offer," the woman agreed, Sam adjusting herself in her seat.

"Camille, we need to talk about what to do next and who is in charge. There have been some changes here..."

Sitting back in her seat, awkwardly crossing the unfamiliar long legs, Camille Wray prepared to hear about this new SGC, stuffed into the confines of the Pentagon.

Adrienne took a breath at the familiar sensation, but what wasn't familiar was the petite body she was zapped into. TJ was as tall as she was, but much slimmer, and to be honest Adrienne had gotten used to really only jumping into Daniel's body.

Damn that was so weird.

"You ok Addy?" an unfamiliar voice asked, but the Cajun was certain the origin of the voice although it was to coming from its temporary host.

"Yeah, guess it's the distance but whoosh," Adrienne replied, leaning on her forearms to stand, tucking the device into her palm.

"That and you seem to always have a dick when you do this, so that's gotta be weird," Vala joked, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Dr. Jackson, Ms. Mal Doran?" a young man greeted as he peeked around the table, Eli Adrienne could tell from photos.

"Addy and Vala, we're not really formal," she corrected quickly, Vala smirking.

"Speak for yourself," she countered, standing and adjusting herself to a much shorter body, "Where's Young?"

"He and Lieutenant Scott are on the bridge, I can sho-" Eli started, Vala waving a hand in front of her face.

"I'd make a pretty shitty spy if I couldn't find the bridge," she replied, Camille's normally conservative movements replaced with an arrogant shimmy.

"Ok..." Eli said, blushing, most likely not having intended to let the word escape.

"You didn't get to meet Vala before? Oh shug, did you miss a treat," Adrienne joked, adjusting her clothes and taking a breath.

"First switch?" her host asked, Adrienne shaking her head.

"No, just first switch in a while," she replied, taking a cautious step forward, her eyes scanning the room. It was dusty, dank, in such poor condition that it made their covert pirate ships look clean and that was saying something.

"Ok, better," she said, stretching, "now you're Eli right?"

"Yes and you're..." he clarified, Adrienne realized that in these bodies she hadn't made clear who was who and she really didn't want to, yet again, explain she and Daniel.

She'd forgotten just how annoying that was.

"Dr. Adrienne Jackson and General O'Neill wants me to start with causalities and get an overall feel of the crew's morale," she answered deftly, wanting more than anything to get down to business and get back. Sam required the switch back to occur in two hours, but if possible Adrienne wanted to activate the stones sooner.

"Right, sure, um, follow me," he stammered, leading the way through the dark hallways.

"Dr. Jackson," Woolsey asked as he followed Daniel back down to the main offices where Sam was now requesting all communications occur. To be honest, it made Daniel feel a little strange setting up shop in the Atlantis commander's office, a post that Daniel was certain would be awarded to John Sheppard once they dealt with Anubis and sent the spaceship back to the Pegasus. He felt like an invader, but Sam seemed to think it was the most secure place to have their conversations.

She had checked in about ninety minutes ago, informing him that Adrienne and Vala had indeed made their way to the Destiny. Sam herself had spoken with Camille Wray, discovering, among other things, that the Destiny at full power traveled significantly faster than it had before, although Dr. Rush was still insisting that they were at least four billion light years from Earth.

"Daniel," Robert repeated, the archaeologist shaking his head and coming to a halt at the main door, turning the knob to let himself in.

"Sorry, I was running some numbers through my head," he told a half-truth, noting as he stepped through the threshold that he had 'spread' across the desk in the office as Adrienne teased him about doing at home.

"That;s hard to believe, so many lost," the bureaucrat tried to guess exactly which numbers Daniel was running through his head, his companion nodding in false agreement.

"It's sad. I'm hoping Ad will come up with a good estimate as to how bad everyone else is," Daniel responded, his mind more on how far away the Destiny was and if it was headed this way.

With much of the ship itself still an anomaly, the last thing they needed was to hand Anubis what could be another powerful weapon.

"So, I am assuming that Vala is working recon?"

Daniel paused, a sinking feeling in his gut. Woolsey had been so much better lately, observing, staying out of their way, but now with this latest development he seemed to be slipping back into his weaselly ways.

"Yeah, but Sam was more concerned with the loss of life," Daniel answered, strategically, his follower again nodding.

"Of course, and getting them all the support that they need during this tough time," he replied, taking a seat at the main desk. Daniel glared at him funny as he sat, Woolsey leaping up quickly at the glance.

"Sorry, just, well, habit," Robert apologized, standing and moving across the room.

"Not my chair," Daniel corrected quickly, not wanting to just admit that he didn't care who took the spot as long as it was never again held by Robert Woolsey.

"Daniel, Homer brought up an interesting point down in the lab. You gave Anubis the dialing sequence to the Destiny hoping he wouldn't notice that they included an extra chevron. How do we know for certain that he didn't try to dial the Destiny?"

Daniel stopped making notes on the legal pad, glancing up at Woolsey.

Why was he mentioning that? Hadn't they already determined that there had been no indication of the power loss great enough to dial the ninth chevron.

"Now that the ship has awoken, shouldn't we warn them that he might dial. Maybe he will dial and take the ship for himself. I would be more than happy to use the stones to go aboard and discuss our current situation with Camille," Woolsey continued, that uneasy feeling back inside of Daniel, that feeling that made him wish Adrienne was here, the one person that could read him so well, the person that with a glance he could ask if she thought this was strange too.

Why did Woolsey want to go to the Destiny?

"Even if he doesn't want the ship, which I think he might, given his interest in Atlantis, I think we should use the extra power provided by the ZPM's to try to dial the ship ourselves," Robert now suggested, Daniel certain that his jaw was hitting the floor.

"We need to get on that ship; I need to get on that ship."

This wasn't just interest; the look on the bureaucrat's face was not one Daniel had ever seen before.

Something was wrong.

Daniel needed to get him out of here and call Sam.

Now.

"So where's Rush?" Adrienne asked as she left Chloe's bedside, noting that his absence was the only one not explained. Sighing, Eli glanced over his shoulder to make sure that other than the still feverish and semi-conscious Chloe they were alone.

"He's looking around," Eli whispered, his eyes darting around again.

"For what?" Adrienne asked puzzled, "Vala's orders are to do a preliminary inspection of the ship with the Colonel."

"Rush doesn't take orders anymore."

This time Adrienne paused. She'd been told as much, but she thought at the very least waking up as he had, in a situation such as this, he would be taking any help and recommendations that he could get from Homeworld Command, not picking up where he left off.

"How much did Daniel tell you?"

Everything, Adrienne thought her answer, but held her tongue, doing as Sam asked, feeling out the situation rather than adding to it.

"Sorry," he took her hesitation as insult, "I assumed that you and he were..." and Adrienne couldn't help but laugh at the misunderstanding.

"No, we are. I was actually just running what he had said through my head," she explained, Eli taking yet another paranoid look around.

"Right before we made the decision, to go into hibernation, even then I expected Rush to do something drastic to take charge and for a while I think he intended to have me help him," Eli was really talking now, Adrienne stopping her own scan of the room to give her full attention.

"Addy," he continued, using her name as requested and not calling her Dr. Jackson, "based on my calculations, we are heading back toward the Milky Way, I made sure that when I got into that pod I at least pointed us in the right direction. We should make it to the next galaxy with enough food, especially now with, well, so many gone. It worked, in theory this is exactly what we needed to happen, other than the people we lost, this should be a good thing."

"But it isn't, is it?"

Eli shook his head slowly.

"I would never say that I would want anyone to die but it would have been better if only one of them was able to take charge at least."

This time it was Adrienne that glanced around, even looking at Chloe as she slept, Eli's hands reaching up to rub his face.

"Just hang in there. I know Sam and Rodney will want to come over and, well, I'm no scientist, at least not this kind but Sam, we, command, never gave up on you guys and I don't think we are gonna start now," the Cajun assured him, reaching her hand out to his shoulder. There were footsteps and Eli walked away, back to not talking so much, to thinking and to worrying.

"Addy!" Vala shouted, of course it was Vala, Adrienne turning around to see what she wanted, "that little asshole that thinks he's in charge says I can't go down the airlock because the system reads it's broken but trust me, I'm not you or Daniel but I can read a damn airlock panel!"

Letting out a sigh, Adrienne stood, looking for Eli to follow but he didn't, lingering back at Chloe's bedside, where she hadn't noticed he had gone. She paused for a moment, knowing her mission, that without any way to take notes like she was used to doing she had to memorize a plethora of information, something her eidetic memory would have no problem doing, but this...

"Just let him throw a fit Vala," Adrienne replied calmly, "Sam's gonna send a follow-up team here and we can check air-locks then. Is the ship secure?"

"For a million year old rusted heap, sure, I think we're ok and no baddies on board that we could find," Vala shrugged, finding it harder than normal to read her friend's expressions in a different body.

"Good, I think we only have a few more minutes, so we should head down and be ready for the switch back," the archaeologist added, cocking her head toward the infirmary door, Vala finally reading her suggestion, to leave, to give her one more moment with the upset young man.

Safely alone again, if only for a few moments, Adrienne certain that Rush would come down here to follow Vala to see why she was ranting, to see if she was stirring up more trouble, she took a step toward her tour guide, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"We will send more people shortly. It's not supplies, but it's knowledge. We never forgot and we're not giving up on you guys."

He nodded slowly, drawing his gaze to her borrowed eyes.

"I just hope we don't kill each other while we wait."

"Are you alone?"

Glancing around the room at people Daniel knew were absent, he stood one final time from the desk, locking the door to the main office.

"For now, but Woolsey's been slowly inching his way back into his old self," Daniel answered, Sam sighing in understanding.

"I'll make it brief. Addy and Vala just got back. Five dead. Eight crew members remain Daniel, eight. Chloe Armstrong is very ill, flu-like symptoms according to Addy and Lieutenant Scott has gone blind in one eye. TJ doesn't seem to know why or how right now," she began to report, sharing the information with Daniel before anyone else. Jack she knew would be compelled to tell the IOA, limited involvement now or not he still had to report something as long as they wanted to use tax dollars.

Daniel, however, could be trusted to not tell a soul and maybe talking to him would give her some ideas.

"Dear god..." was all he could say, Sam sighing for a second time, rubbing her face in her hands.

"Rush seems to be picking up right where he left off, Eli pulled Addy aside. Eli thinks that while they are all bonding together now, as survivors, that this is gonna be bad. He thinks Rush may try to take the ship," she continued, Daniel frowning. Rush had been his selection and while the man was brilliant, there was a side to him that Daniel had been blind to so many years ago.

"Stop, I know what you're doing," Sam scolded instinctively. Daniel couldn't help but laugh, she knew him too well, pinching his nose under his glasses.

"What now?"

"I'm thinking of sending Carolyn over there, maybe a longer switch, check on Scott and Chloe. There isn't too much on base that Cassie can't handle and we can pull Carson or Jenn back if we have to. I also want Cameron to check on the ship, but he might need you to translate; I don't trust Rush," it sounded like a good plan coming out as it had in her head, Daniel agreeing immediately.

"We should be done here. I don't think that Homer's correct; I think he's paranoid. There is no way that Anubis knows the location of this base, beaming patterns or not, we have the same patterns to Area 51 and a dozen other locations. And I have to agree with Rodney. If the rebel Jaffa were to attack, we have the charger, we can keep shield and weapons running indefinitely," Daniel reported with a shrug, hoping that he could at least have one dinner with his family before being shipping back off again.

"Good. I was hoping so and Teal'c and Ry'ac are giving me the same information as Homer in terms of the fleet. Former first prime or not, Yat'Yir only has the resources that he has and nothing we're not used to dealing with. Ishta is meeting with their president now, urging her to call the able bodied warriors to arms, just in case."

"Have you contacted the Tok'ra?" Daniel hated to ask, their involvement had been more lately then they had all become used to, but they didn't seem to want to do more than offer intelligence.

"Yes. Delek and Anise are assembling battalions as well, for when the attack occurs. So it seems we have their support," she was able to answer with a smile. It was a relief to Daniel since other than the Jaffa and Tok'ra, none of their other allies were in any shape to fight. He himself had spoken with the governor of the Aeltans, and while they had weapons they were willing to part with, they themselves had no one trained for war. The same was true for the Kaetanam, but they had agreed to help 'borrow' anything they could to cause chaos during the battle should the time come.

Weak or not, Earth was still outgunned, were it not for Atlantis.

Running the day through his head, trying to remember if there was anything else he had to report, Daniel looked up to see Woolsey on the platform, powering his way to the main office.

"Speaking of support, here's our own friend of the IOA coming now. I wonder what else Rodney has managed to do," Daniel sighed out, Sam chuckling on the screen.

"Just let me know if I need to roll some heads," she replied, reaching to end the communication when Daniel glanced back up at the screen, screwing up his face in confusion.

"Sam?"

"Yeah?"

Dare I ask, he thought, the question having bothered him all morning.

"I really wasn't needed here today, was there something in particular that you needed me to look for? Something I needed to accomplish?" he asked, figuring he probably just had missed something but Sam didn't answer at first, just smiled softly.

"I have my reasons. Now go see what Robert wants. I'll tell Addy you said hi."

And then she was gone.

Grumbling, Daniel closed the lid to the laptop, just in time to see Robert Woolsey make it to the office door...

... and crumble to the ground.

Tapping the communicator at his ear, Daniel was shouting before he made it himself to the door.

"Carson! Emergency at the main office!"

Dr. Carson Beckett stood at the scanner, reading the output for what had to be the fifth time, Jennifer Keller watching as he did. The remainder of the D.C. contingent was waiting in another examination room, all but Daniel, who Sam had seemed to put in charge of this mission, who was observing from the corner.

"He's gone Carson," Jennifer said quietly, her colleague nodding slowly.

"I know. It just doesn't make any sense, but aneurisms never really do. One of those horror stories from med school you never want to see become a reality," he agreed with a sigh, Daniel shaking his head.

"I can't believe it. He was fine this morning, he had a small spell, said he hadn't eaten, but he was fine..." Daniel muttered as he approached the table, looking down at the still being who had been the source of so much turmoil in his life and so many others.

He had never wished Woolsey dead; as much as he drove him insane he never wished him any harm.

"I'll call Sam," Jenn spoke up, most likely an excuse to leave the room, both Carson and Daniel knew, but it was Daniel again that intervened, taking a step back from the scanner.

"No, I'll do it. I, well, I need to do it."

Neither doctor argued as Daniel left the infirmary in silence.

Homer sat in his quarters staring at his arm.

He'd killed a man.

It was just now sinking in.

A glance at the clock showed it was nearly five in the morning, too early to get breakfast unless he wanted to be surrounded by the military types and too late for even Jonas to be awake. They'd arrived back at the SGC hours ago, General O'Neill declaring that with Carson ruling Woolsey's death by natural causes, there was no need for quarantine.

Dr. Jackson was to stay the night and help with arrangements, moving the body, but he and Jonas were sent quickly back to base.

It was done.

And here he was sitting here, alone in the dark, his first task complete.

Then why didn't he want to continue.

The man was awful, had no family so to speak and had almost destroyed the entire program, endangering the lives of so many.

Why did it matter?

It was the woman that had met them in the beaming area that reminded him. Holding that small dark-eyed child, asking where her husband was, why he hadn't returned, it all reminded him of why he hadn't just taken his own life the first time Anubis looked him in the eye.

He stood from the bed, walking ever so quietly to the bathroom, opening the door and locking it behind him. He slid open the top drawer, digging through the medicines and things Jonas had given him to the thin razor slipped in the back. Tucking it between his fingers he turned, leaning against the counter taking a breath before he sliced into his forearm.

It did just as she said it would, sliding away like butter, very little blood, the black panel now fused to his bone blinking to life. His stomach was sick but he had come this far, his mind racing, that child asking for his dad making him wonder if his own was doing the same.

He reached his finger forward typing.

_It's done. He did not survive the procedure. _

And Homer waited.

_That was expected but we have what we need. _

_Now it is time for you to complete your mission. _

He wished he'd grabbed a tissue in his digging from before, not for his arm, but the wipe the tear escaping from his eye.

_Just wanted to drop a note that I will be out of town for a while. When I return, 7/10/13, I will resume posting. There are three more chapters left in the story, hard, climatic chapters and the story will be complete. _

_Thank you again for reading. Just seeing the stats overwhelms me and I cannot thank you guys enough for reading. _


	69. Chapter 68 - Orpheus Looked Back

"Mom!"

The shouts were clear as Daniel rolled over, noting it was just before midnight.

"Don't answer him, he'll go back to sleep," Adrienne warned from her side, too far away from him he couldn't help but think.

She must still be mad about the language joke.

They had been down in the lab this afternoon, Adrienne drowning in files that she had been asked to take care of while Daniel dealt with the aftermath of Robert Woolsey, files she claimed she was behind in because they were in alien languages that she didn't speak as well as he did just yet.

He replied with she probably ran out of room in her head for new languages considering that she knew the lyrics to every rap song that had been released for that past twenty years.

Probably not the best choice of words after being gone for three days, dealing with a sudden death and coming home to this mess.

Hence the other side of the bed.

"Mom!"

"Ad, we should answer him," Daniel whispered, walking that fine line that he had been walking all afternoon, the line that was gonna earn him bathroom duty he was sure.

"Mom..." Nicky was shouting again, a long pause before he changed his tactic, "I don't like these teeth!"

"What can I do with that?" Adrienne finally answered, rolling over, rubbing her face with her hand.

"I know that there are still fifteen minutes before I can have my next dose, but I'm above average in both height and weight so I think fifteen minutes at this point would be moot," the child argued, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Moot? That's a Daniel word," she grumbled, glaring at him.

"Only because it's comprehensible," he replied, standing from the bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked, sitting up, Daniel shrugging his shoulders as he made his way to the bathroom.

"To get him some Tylenol. He has a point."

Adrienne just rolled back over.

"He's six months old Daniel, super brain or not. WE are the parents," she countered, Nicky starting right in again.

"Why is the pain so bad? They are just tiny little things; it makes no sense. Mom, Dad, someone? Please!"

The shouting, and now bargaining, continuing, Daniel stood at the doorway to the bathroom, crossing his arms across his chest.

"He's just gonna keep it up and come on Ad. We don't remember teething, but it's got to be painful and the poor little guy has the capacity to understand what's going on and that there is a solution," Daniel tried to reason, Adrienne's head falling into her hands.

"I'm up," she declared before she actually was, trudging to the bathroom herself as Daniel raced ahead of her.

"Oh hell no," he shouted behind him, "You ignored him. I'M gonna be the hero."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

It was about eleven in the morning when Adrienne finally got through the last of the pile, her head flopping dramatically on her desk.

"Didya finish mom?" Nicky asked from his mat on the floor, Adrienne nodding in reply.

"Yep, thank Gawd," she answered, rubbing her temples.

"Good, I didn't want to bother you but I'm pretty hungry and I need to be changed. Sorry, I wish I could do this all myself, but, well, you know..." the child started to ramble, chewing his lip just slightly.

So much like your father, Adrienne thought, peeking up at the small brown hair, brown eyed baby, that despite how much he did look like her, his mannerisms were clearly his dad's.

"You're never a bother. In fact, since ya can talk to me, well, let's just say it's a relief," she replied, albeit a tired reply standing from her desk to gather up her son.

"Hey, sorry I never thought I'd get out of that damn briefing room, did you get that pile done?" Daniel asked, Adrienne redirecting her attention to the doorway.

"Yes master, anything else master, I await your next command," she mocked him, their son giggling from the floor.

"Don't encourage her," he told the boy, leaning over his wife's shoulder to see that she had done just that, that she had finished the pile of documents, translating what Homer has shared with them to be sent to their allies.

"Thank you ja-wer," he whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek softly, making her giggle.

"Uh, right here," Nicky cleared his tiny throat, "don't need to see all of that."

"How do you think you got here young man," was his father's reply as he made his way over to his desk, Adrienne shaking her head at the insanity that was her family dynamic.

"Ok, so, on the agenda for the day, now that we are caught up," Adrienne stressed the word 'we' ever so slightly, trying to drive home the point that she really had caught them up, Daniel having been pulled into yet another meeting about the system status of Atlantis, "Sam wants us to redirect our attention back to the database and any interaction at all that might have occurred between the Asgard and the Alterans."

"Mom?" Nicky complained slightly, tugging at his pants.

"I've got a few things on cloning Rodney sent down, and he wants to play with my spine some more, of course, but I really need to run," she continued as she knelt down, picking up the baby and taking him toward the bathroom.

"What about your lesson with the cadets? You know Teal'c doesn't like to mix the human women with the Jaffa women without you there," Daniel noted from his desk, Adrienne stopping at the doorway to the bathroom.

"Shit, I forgot, let me change Nicky first," she grumbled, slipping into the bathroom.

"Daniel, hey, have you checked your email," Jack was yelling across the small room, the archaeologist shaking his head.

"I JUST got here, for the first time today, and I haven't even eaten yet, I haven't even sat down yet. Do you think I've checked my email?" he spat, more harshly than he intended, Jack pulling out Adrienne's seat, making himself comfortable at her desk.

He was lucky that the two of them had bonded over cheese pies.

"Did the misses?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. Maybe Sam checked Jack messages for him but Adrienne either didn't care to infiltrate Daniel's email or she didn't have time to bother with it, but either way he knew she hadn't.

"If you sent it and you're here now, how 'bout you TELL me what it said," Daniel offered, peering down at Jack over his glasses.

"It said that we want your input on the new commander of Atlantis," Jack answered coolly as he leaned back in the seat.

Surprised, Daniel looked up.

There was actually a question?

"John, there, you have my input, but there really shouldn't be a discussion. John Sheppard deserves that, a promotion and more," the archaeologist gave his honest answer but his old friend was already shaking his head, letting out a sigh.

"He doesn't want it," Jack began, Daniel stopping again to stare at him quizzically, "but more than that, Sam and I have been talking and..."

"Uncle Jack!"

For as much as Jack seemed to cringe when Daniel first refereed to him as 'Uncle Jack', he sure did light up now when he saw the boy, even more at the moniker.

"Hey buddy! Sorry, but I haven't come to rescue you from Boringville today, lots of Boringville for myself as it is," he was out of the chair, plodding across to Adrienne, taking the boy from her arms.

"It's ok," Nicky replied, pointing over to his play area, the mat littered with two Rubix cubes, a toddler sized model of the solar system, a toy robot, and a dog-eared copy of Robinson Crusoe, "I've got plenty to do. Have you read that one Uncle Jack?"

The general didn't respond at first, rolling his eyes at the selection, still odd for a six month old child no matter how advanced the boy was.

"A long time ago, maybe," Jack lied, clearly remembering a high school girlfriend had done his report on that very same novel, when he felt a pull at his ear, the baby goading him forward.

"Mom won't let me read the puddlejumper manual," he whispered, Adrienne not missing a beat but paying more attention to Daniel, rolling her eyes nonetheless at her son's tattling.

"Ok sha, here's what I'm gonna do. If you've got Nicky and can handle getting the database started, I'm gonna run now, then meet Teal'c, and we can work late, stay on base tonight if we need. We still have a playpen in the room?"

Daniel shrugged.

"I think so," he answered, needing more coffee Adrienne could tell.

"And yet your dad still does not care about my meeting, do you see a problem with this," Jack was addressing Nicky, the couple ignoring him completely.

"Dad will do anything to get out of a meeting; I'm surprised he's not sending Mom," he replied, Adrienne shaking her head.

"Alright, we have a plan, correct?" Adrienne clarified one last time, looking at the room of men, none of whom seemed to be caring about the bigger picture, the one in which everything that needed to be done got accomplished, today, so she could sleep in her bed and not on base.

"Yes, Ad, go, run, fight, bring peace to the galaxy and we will be here when you get back," Daniel joked, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Fine," she grabbed her bag, racing over to kiss him quickly, "Love you," and made her way to Nicky, "and love you," pausing at Jack, "lata."

"No kiss for me?"

"You're not Jonas," Daniel answered for her, a glare in return. Not a further comment, Adrienne whisked herself out of the door to the lab, shoes over her shoulder, Jack laughing but confused.

"Jonas?"

"I'll explain later," Daniel answered as he opened his desk drawer, grabbing a plastic bound book from inside, "the Langaran in question should be back any moment now." With that, Daniel tossed the book over to the mat as Jack set Nicky back down.

"The jumper manual?" the boy asked, reaching out with glee.

"Read fast," Daniel instructed, peeking through the open doorway, "And don't tell your mother."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Archaeology," Daniel answered, thinking it was Adrienne calling to explain the alarm earlier. Seemed like nearly every time that she and Teal'c trained a new set of cadets that someone a little too big for their britches had to be corrected.

And, of course, Teal'c liked to make Adrienne do the correcting.

"Daniel, it's Carolyn, I need you to come down here," the voice on the other end was curt, as he had come to expect from any of Carolyn's dealings with his wife that did not have to do with the baby.

Dammit, Daniel thought, what has she done to herself now. He really hoped it was something minor, right now, with everything, he couldn't deal with Adrienne in a cast or some other insane contraption.

"On a scale of one to ten - " he started, the doctor clearing her throat loudly.

"Daniel, you need to take Nicholas to Teyla and come down here, now," Carolyn repeated, slowly, Daniel's heart stopping.

"Carolyn, what's wrong?"

There was a pause on the other line, longer than he would have liked...

By the time Carolyn Lam knew what to say, the phone was dangling off of the edge of the desk, Nicky's book dropped on the floor, open, the lab left unattended.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel sat on the edge of the bed, rolling the shot glass in his hands, staring at nothing.

_Technically I am supposed to be carrying these..._

The drawer to his nightstand sat open, two pieces of coconut inside, pieces that Daniel hadn't been able to look at.

_Daniel, I'm sorry, but you do have to understand that among the Acadian people..._

He wanted to throw something, break something, scream, but he just couldn't...

_You keep eatin' like that Indy and I'm gonna be a damn widow..._

He couldn't breathe, he wanted to die, he just couldn't...

_Daniel, you're in love with that woman..._

Jack has been so right, but it was so much more than that, and there was just no way...

_You're so awful to me sha..._

No Adrienne, he thought, you're awful to me.

_What are you gonna do? Fire me? _

Never, he would have never, even then, because somehow he knew...

_You broke your promise..._

With that Daniel Jackson collapsed into the floor, unsure as to what else he could do but sob.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"We should call her family," Cam said from the end of the table, John nodding his head in agreement but Sam simply sat there, the first time in a briefing that anyone had ever seen Jack actually acknowledge his wife physically, sitting beside her, his arm protectively around her shoulders.

"It would be best coming from Daniel," she answered quietly.

"He's is no position to be making any kinds of decisions yet," John spoke up now, Cam glad at least someone understood what needed to be done, no matter how horrible it was.

"I'll do it," Cam volunteered, "I still talk to her Aunt Barbara from time to time."

"Or I can," Jonas finally spoke, "I've met her a few times too."

Jack didn't reply with words, just a wave of his hand, indicating that Adrienne's closer friend figure out amongst themselves who should call home and inform the Rowan/Verdin family of their loss.

"Where's Nicky?" Vala choked out, breaking Sam's heart as she had watched Vala grow so attached to their child during his first six months and of course she would ask about him above anything else.

"With Teyla. She knows but she's trying to keep him busy," Jack answered for her.

"What did she tell him?" Evidently, that answer wasn't acceptable, Vala leaning forward on her elbows.

"That his mom got hurt and they're running some tests," Sam was able to reply with a strong swallow.

The room was silent for a moment.

"Sam, I'm not sure that Daniel can handle the arrangements," Cam added, his mind doing the only thing it could do to process the nightmare, to step in, to take over and to help.

"I'm assuming that the body will be sent to New Orleans and her family will take care of it from there," Sam answered, taking away his power as he nodded, rubbing his temple in his hands.

Loud sucking in, before sobbing, Vala's head dropped onto the table, Ronon reaching over to rub her back gently.

"Why, after everything why? A fuckin' heart attack... A goddamn fuckin' heart attack..."

"Shhhh, come here," disregarding the onlookers, Ronon pulled Vala into his arms, holding her tightly as she sobbed, wailed, the rest of the room watching in silence, Cam himself taking a deep breath.

"Where is he now?" Jonas sputtered, not even bothering to hide the tear streaking down his face.

"DanielJackson has locked himself in their room. I do not know the code, but I can request AnnMardsen or LieutenantHailee to recode the room if that is what we must do," Teal'c offered, his eyes clear and dry but clearly showing what he was feeling, what they were all feeling.

Dr. Adrienne Jackson was dead.

"Give him time. He won't do anything drastic; he loves the boy too much," Jack again answered for Sam, who just didn't seem to have the words.

There was more silence, no one making eye contact, when a low cry came from the head of the table, everyone looking up to see Sam head in her arms, crying, Jack trying to comfort her.

At that point, no one else held back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Ja-wer, come back to bed," Daniel grumbled, reaching out so that she would melt back into his arms like she would do, seeking his warmth. There was no answer, Daniel opening his eyes to roll over and turn on the lamp to see where she had gone. The light flickered on, his hands rushing to his face to hide his eyes, when he remembered that they were staying on base tonight and she was gonna kill him for waking up Nicky.

But there was nothing.

Slowly Daniel opened his eyes to see that he was fully dressed, his body wrapped around her pillow, his face sticky.

It wasn't a nightmare.

He would have started to cry again, but he was out of tears, the sadness replaced with just an emptiness inside, a hole that she and she alone had filled, a hole that was gaping here and now.

Sitting up, he wiped his face, the low electrical hum of their alarm blaring into his skull. He glanced over, noting that it was about nine in the morning, and he had cried and slept through the afternoon, the evening and for the entire night. He'd wanted to check on Nicky, he'd wanted to talk to him, even dialing Teyla's extension but even to just hear his son's voice was too much.

All he had of Adrienne, the love of his life, was that beautiful child, and he couldn't even look at him.

Surreal was probably the only way he could describe this. Never had he ever thought that he would lose her, things happened here, they always did, but never did he think it would be to something so simple, a damn heart attack. Adrienne was the fittest person he had ever met, but even he knew that some things were genetic, even if a person is only thirty two years old...

He hadn't cried when Carolyn let him see her, her pale skin even paler as she pulled the blanket away. They had done CPR, tried everything they knew, Carolyn even injected herself with 'Q' to use a hand device all to no avail.

Adrienne Margaret Rowan Jackson was dead.

And Daniel was alone.

He had just walked out of the infirmary, straight to the elevator and gone to their room.

Because there was nowhere else to go.

Now, he couldn't take it, he couldn't be here.

He needed to be with her.

Tossing everything else aside, Daniel didn't even bother to shut out the lights before making his way to the morgue.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Carolyn sat in her office looking at the file, the rather large file, making the final note she had put off for days. Time of death was easy, Adrienne had been gone by the time she'd arrived at the gym, but it was the rest of the information that Carolyn just couldn't bring herself to write.

She couldn't list the survivors, poor Daniel, living through the loss of a wife for the second time of his life although she had to imagine that this was so much worse now. Not only had he been with Adrienne longer but they were so very close; the two archaeologists shared something that she had never really seen between two people. Then the boy, the poor boy, facing a life as someone different anyway but without his mom to help him face it.

She put the pen down again.

Who would they write on her own file? It wasn't as if she were immune to dying herself; Janet was lost on a routine mission, Carson of present not Carson of old and even Cassie had her own brush with death only months before.

She had no one.

They would write on her certificate of death that she was survived by her father, their relationship still strained after his retirement, her mother, but other than that every night Carolyn Lam went home alone, by choice more than anything, her heart refusing to suffer the fate of her parents.

She saw Cam entering the room, shutting the door and locking it, her attention halfway between her own thoughts and the awareness that he had reached over and was filling out the rest of the form. He finished the last line and set the pen back onto her desk top, tapping the only place that he could not finish, where she had to sign.

Reluctantly, she took up the ballpoint, scratching a sad version of her name, pushing the paper away when there were lips on her own.

She let him kiss her as she cried.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He heard water running when he coded himself into her room, knowing he should have thought she'd take a hot shower. Vala had this thing with water that he didn't quite understand, but it always seemed to make her feel better so we went with it. Not wishing to disturb her, Ronon kicked off his shoes, taking a seat on her bed and cuing up the TV, flipping through the channel's listlessly as he waited.

Minutes passed and the water still ran, Ronon growing more and more worried. He knew her well enough to know that she liked her space to think but now was not the time.

Cautiously, he opened the door to the bathroom, walking right over to the shower and pulling back to curtain to find her sitting on the floor of the stall, naked, her head between her knees as the water beat down her back. He reached out to shut it off, feeling it had gone ice cold, but she hadn't moved a muscle. There was a towel hanging nearby, the Satedean grabbing it and wrapping it around her shoulders, crawling into the tub behind her.

"I want to go get Nicky," she whispered, Ronon drying her hair and rubbing her dry, trying desperately to warm her frigid skin.

"Alright," he answered softly, scanning the room for her clothes.

"I know I need to be calm before I see him, so I got in here but I just can't leave," she started to cry again but Ronon didn't say a word, just held her tightly, rocking her in his arms.

"Do you want me to go get him?" he finally asked after forever silent, Vala shaking her head.

"No, I need to do it. Addy would want me to..." she started to cry again.

"I understand."

"Ronon?" she pleaded as she composed herself a second time, her companion leaning around to look her in the face. "Why do bad things happen to good people? Always?"

He'd always wondered that himself, even more so as he watched his world torn apart, as he had watched Carson die, as he had seen so many innocent people both here and in the Pegasus disappear from existence.

"I don't know," was all he could say.

"Daniel's gonna need us. All of us," she added, finally acknowledging his touch, leaning back into him, pulling his arms tightly around her.

"He will," Ronon answered, a glimmer of doubt slipping into his gut. It was a selfish thought, one that he should never had, but he let his words escape his lips before he could control himself.

"Val, I love you."

"I love you too," she answered without hesitation, "let's just sit here a while longer."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

The Langaran paused at the door, hesitating before knocking. He had no place else to go, no one to talk to because his two best friends here were Daniel and Adrienne and there was nowhere to turn. Sure, Cam was his roommate and they were friends, but he just couldn't talk to him either, in fact he didn't want to talk at all.

He got the idea from Jack, after the briefing, Teal'c excusing himself to his quarters and saying that he would be available if needed, but that he was going to fast and meditate, honoring their fallen friend. Jonas hadn't paid much attention to it then but now that just seemed to be the thing to do.

He knocked.

There was silence, save for the sounds of a few staff members milling around the hallway, continuing their work, members that had heard the news but really didn't know Addy, so other than be sad that a tragedy had occurred at work, were carrying on like normal.

The door still didn't open, Jonas thinking that maybe he should just go back to his quarters or go check on Homer, who seemed oddly affected by all of this...

"JonasQuinn."

He'd missed the door opening, Teal'c standing there in a ceremonial robe, his face emotionless.

"Join me please," the Jaffa offered without Jonas even needing to explain.

Thanking him only with a deep sigh, Jonas followed the sweeping hand into the candlelit room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Do you remember when you made that pie? It wasn't long after the cupcakes, but you burned it so badly and tried to pass it off as Cajun pie? It was so awful but I didn't want to hurt your feelings, so I ate it anyway," Daniel laughed from the tile floors at the figure lying so very still under the sheet.

_Just keep talking..._

"Then there was that time when we went to Chulac, I'm not sure if I ever told you this, but it was before we were together, well, really together, you know it's all fuzzy with that right Ad? You have to admit that we were pretty much an item from the first night I crashed at your place..." he rambled on, not noticing the footsteps in the doorway, Jack standing there just watching as he continued.

_I will never lay with her again..._

"Anyway, Ishta had taken you out by the children while I had to, I bet you'll never guess, go to a meeting, and when I came to get you, you were dancing with the orphans and I just... Ad, I didn't get it then, I didn't, but I think my heart knew at that very moment that you were who I needed."

"Daniel, you need to eat, drink, something," Jack finally spoke, Daniel peering up, no tears, no expression, nothing, just emptiness.

"I don't want to leave her."

Unsure as to what else he could say Jack nodded, passing over the bottle of water he had brought down from the commissary which Daniel took, opening it to take a long drink, guzzling half of the bottle before setting it onto the floor.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Breathing in, Daniel reached back over for the water bottle, needing something to roll in his restless hands, his eyes still locked on her body, her lifeless covered body.

"Nicky's been asking for you," Jack tread carefully, Daniel still not looking away.

"I can't yet."

"I know, but I wanted to let you know is all."

"What time is it?" Daniel asked, the water making him slightly hungry he was just now realizing.

"A little after four," Jack answered, not knowing what else to say when Daniel leaned over between his knees, sobbing.

"She's really gone. There's no coma, no nothing, it's been over a day, she's just gone," he was blubbering, Jack approaching slowly, taking a seat on the floor beside him, putting his arm around his dear friend.

"Jack why? I thought, after everything, I thought..." Daniel just cried harder and Jack let him, knowing there wasn't much else he could do, "she was it Jack and I can't leave because if I leave then it's real and I have to fly with her body to the Bayou and bury her and I just can't."

More sobbing, Jack half hugging him, wishing he could fix it all.

"I know Daniel, I'm sorry," again it was the best he could come up with as Daniel turned, not flinching away from Jack's embrace, utter devastation on his face.

"She was more than just with me, she was more than my love, Jack, she was my best friend..."

Cassie didn't bother to disturb the men, Daniel completely collapsed onto Jack, as she came around the corner to say goodbye herself, wiping a tear from her eye as she slipped silently back down the hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Mom died, didn't she?"

Vala almost dropped her fork as the child stared right at her with those dark eyes like his mother, his face so sweet, innocent and honest.

"That's why Dad can't look at me. When he came down last night, he didn't say anything and he looked like he'd been crying. And I spent the night here again and no one is talking about mom at all and whispering around me," the small child continued so plainly, Vala biting her lip. "Auntie Vala, is Mom dead?"

Covering her face, Vala stood from the small table, dashing for the bathroom, Ronon staying seated at the small table in an effort to be strong for the boy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Sam sat, staring at the personnel file, her eyes going back and forth between it and the phone. She'd told Cam that if Daniel couldn't call Adrienne's family that it would be best if she did, especially given that this morning marked the third day since Adrienne had passed away.

Each of her team members was dealing with their grief in their own way and she really didn't feel the need to intrude and continuing to work, even in this capacity, gave her purpose.

Listlessly she thumbed through the file, the background check, information on Adrienne's education, paperwork she had filled out so many years ago for who to send her body and assets to should she die in the line of duty, paperwork that had been amended to read _Daniel Jackson_ in place of every other name.

It just wasn't fair.

Adrienne had suffered in her short life, Daniel had suffered more and what they had found with one another was perfect happiness.

Times like this she questioned everything.

Sam diverted her eyes yet again, looking at the gate through her window, trying to will it all away as she saw Daniel step into her line of sight.

"Have you called?" he asked, his shoulders slumped, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

"No," the general answered trying to read Daniel's face, but it was so cold and emotionless.

"Good. Barbara should hear it from me. I'll call her and get that started, then head down to the morgue. Adrienne wanted to be cremated, so I want a chance to say goodbye one last time and then let Nicky do the same."

He was so serious, so fixed, not showing an ounce of weakness.

He had found acceptance.

"I think that's a good idea," she whispered and stood, leaving him privacy to make the call.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel stood by the cold steel table working up the courage to pull back the sheet and face her because in his heart he knew this would be the last time he would ever see her beautiful face ever again. Carolyn said it was good that he had made the decision; it wasn't good to keep her body like this so long, cold storage or not.

And now here he was and there she lay and it was all over.

"I called Aunt Barbara," he started, the sheet still covering her face, his hand at the hem just unable to pull it back, "she's coming to help, with Nicky and the first flight she could get was tomorrow morning and they are gonna have to..."

Tears flowed again, Daniel pulling the blanket back to see Adrienne laying there, the only thing still on her body the teardrop necklace that he had bought her, glimmering red, a droplet a blood, the symbol of a life force against her lifeless pale skin.

"Ad, why did you leave me?" he leaned forward, taking her lifeless body into his arms, streams of liquid streaming down her bare shoulders, "I should have told you sooner, I could have had you longer, Adrienne I love you and I know you're gone but thank you, thank you for saving me. Thank you for never giving up on me, on us. And for Nicky, he's, just, just, why, why couldn't it be me..."

He laid her gently onto the table, gripping the side tightly as he stared at the ceiling, screaming.

"Why not me!? What did she ever do to deserve this!? God damn it I want her BACK!"

"I had wished to see you again under better circumstances."

Wiping his face, Daniel looked to see who was here now, who was now going to show up unannounced to tell him that they were so sorry, that they were there to help, what could they do for him because he was finished with that, he just wanted everyone to shut the hell up when he saw the glow, that calming glow making him take a breath and still his heart.

"Oma," was all he could say at first, removing his glasses and pinching his nose, making sure that he was seeing what he was seeing and that this wasn't just a hallucination from dehydration and lack of food, "how, why, what are you doing here?"

"I have been trying to come to your aide, as have we all, but there are always those who do not agree, however, the very same have decided that we can look away no longer, in some matters," she answered in her way, the one in which Daniel had to decode the meaning, although this time fortunately not as much since his mind could not process anything else other than the end of his perfect life and blissful future.

"This was not supposed to come to pass," she continued, hovering her palms over Adrienne's bare chest, a look of sadness on her timeless face, "It has always been her, was always to be her. Some things are stronger than our existence in this plane."

"Oma, it was a heart attack, not Anubis. We haven't heard anything out of Anubis since he conquered Galar," Daniel argued, an anger rising inside of him that again there was nothing that could be done. Frowning, Oma ran her hands across Adrienne's chest again, cocking her head in curiosity.

"Yes you have but you fail to see what is in front of you. Kasuf warned you of such dangers," she countered as she looked up, Daniel already shaking in rage.

"You mean, this is Anubis?," Daniel stammered, his eyes wide, "He killed her?!"

"Indirectly, but the paths all lead to the same outcome. One, however, cannot undo what was meant to be," she replied, extending her hand to take Daniel's, contact without contact, how was she touching him, his world going black...

_"Daniel, come on, our flight leaves in three hours, we've been in this heat long enough," Sarah whined as she stood from the table, pushing the cloth aside. He had to agree that it was a muggy mess here in New Orleans, a different sort of wet heat that he just wasn't used to. _

_"No, I'm coming, but I'm missing, dammit, have you seen my notes on Ptolemic Cults of Egypt?" Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes, laughing at him. _

_"No, you're so disorganized sometimes." _

_Daniel frowned, shuffling his papers again and trying to refrain from beating his head against the table. _

_"They must have fallen under the table here," he said as he lifted the table cover, scanning with his eyes in a hope to avoid crawling around on the floor. _

_"Well look there and pack up, I'm headed back to the room," she replied, her heels clicking on the stage as she left. Grumbling, of course he couldn't see anything immediately at his feet; Daniel pushed his hair behind his ear, getting down on his knees to search. _

_"Excuse me sir." _

_Great, I've now been caught crawling under the table like an idiot..._

_"I was wondering if you had a moment, I know that you're very busy but I was hoping someone could talk to my daughter," the man asked. Pulling back from the table, struggling as his hair and the tablecloth fell back into his eyes, Daniel examined the man puzzled. It was a public lecture, true, but as far as he could tell the majority of the audience had been students here at Tulane University. This man, however, had to be in his forties, not that that was too old to be a student, and in, at least Daniel's opinion, too young to have a college aged daughter. _

_Maybe not, he thought, we are in the South..._

_"Is she a student here?" Daniel couldn't resist to ask the curious question he himself unable to imagine having a child at his age, not that twenty five was young, but..._

_"Not exactly, well, not yet anyway. She's ten." _

_"Oh," that explained it; ten was a tad more reasonable when it hit him that he had just been a part of a ninety minute panel on the Translation of Advanced Hieroglyphics and their Roots in the Cults of Neighboring Societies that this ten year old had sat through. _

_"She wants to be an archaeologist, more than anything, and let's just say that around these parts that's not a very girly thing to do," the man offered explanation without Daniel even asking. _

_He couldn't help but smile; it sounded so much like him, to be the odd duck... _

_"Would you speak with her, just for a minute?"_

_Pausing, Daniel looked at his watch. Sarah hadn't been kidding; they were on a tight schedule if they wanted to make their flight to New York, the next stop on the tour, but this kid was not only an odd duck but had sat through this entire presentation. _

_He couldn't help it, or explain it for that matter, but he was compelled to..._

_"Sure."_

_Forgetting the papers, Daniel sat back on his heels as the orange polo shirt the man was wearing disappeared into the crowd, only to reappear what could have been just mere seconds later, an average sized ten year old girl being pushing in front of him. She wore jeans and an Indiana Jones T-shirt, both items faded with age. Her eyes were focused on the ground, her father urging her forward, the girl fighting silently. _

_"Hi there, what's your name?" Daniel scooted forward onto the stage, sitting on the edge trying to look into her eyes. She had the darkest eyes he had ever seen, beautiful even, eyes that still refused to look at him. _

_"Ok, well my name is Da-"_

_"I can't believe that you're still here, this is why I didn't head upstairs. We have to leave..."_

_Daniel didn't need to look to know that Sarah was just off stage, glaring at him. _

_"Just give me a sec," he requested without taking his eyes off of the girl, or the top of her head at least, long dark hair parted down the middle and still covering her face._

_"So, your dad tells me that you want to be an archaeologist," Daniel led, hoping she would talk, do anything and she did finally, she nodded slowly._

_Not a word. _

_"It's a hard job, traveling all over the world, never staying in one place, getting hot and dirty and you have to write really long boring papers. It's not like Indiana Jones," he joked, reaching his finger forward to point at her shirt, making her laugh and look up, a small smile across her face. _

_"I like getting dirty," she answered, Daniel happy to finally get a response. _

_"Well, that's good. Egypt is pretty dusty," he joked, earning another giggle. _

_There was a tap on his shoulder, Daniel expecting Sarah but it wasn't; it was one of their undergraduate assistants, looking pretty hurried himself. _

_"Dr. Jordan asked me to get you..." he started, Daniel shaking his hand dismissively. _

_"Tell him I'm coming," and he was but he didn't have much time he knew; he just couldn't leave just yet..._

_"Listen, I know it may seem hard now, sometimes impossible, but never give up, on what you believe in and on what you want to do. Do it and do it better than anyone else, promise me?"_

_He didn't know where that speech had come from, it was across his lips before he could even think about what to say but she was smiling, young eyes understanding..._

_"I promise," she whispered. Daniel started to ask for her name again, now that she was talking, reaching in his pockets for a card, something, maybe she could write him a letter, tell him what she was up to, that might make things easier..._

_"Sir is this yours?" the same undergrad student was still there, the missing notes in hand, Sarah's voice again echoing from the hallway._

_I need more time..._

_"I'm sorry, but I've got to. It was nice to meet you and don't forget what I said..." _

_And then she was gone, his focus back on his girlfriend waiting in the wings..._

"You must see what is in front of you," Oma whispered, pulling her hand from his, "it was always meant to be her."

Frozen, Daniel's mouth agape, his tear-filled eyes gazed back down at Adrienne, at his wife, at the person who had become his entire world in complete and total shock.

"That was Adrienne..." his voice was barely a whisper as he brought his eyes back to Oma's, shaking his head in disbelief, "I'd forgotten that, it was so long ago, you meet so many people on those tours, sometimes kids, but that was her?"

"Yes Daniel and she never gave up, as you made her promise. She never gave up on herself, on her father, and she never gave up on you."

"But she's gone Oma, she's gone," Daniel didn't care anymore, letting the tears flow freely as the Ancient smiled softly, her hands again over Adrienne's cold body.

"No, again you have not seen. Everything happens for a reason Daniel, everything..."

"I don't understand," he whispered, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

She was still looking down at Adrienne, examining, her hands moving as her head cocked back and forth, the small smile growing across her face.

"She found your book, by chance at a shop, she had not been looking for it, it was not something she would have normally reviewed for her superiors and she bought it, taking it home to read to her father because he loved Egypt..."

Daniel frowned, still confused, still wondering...

He had never asked her...

"It pleased him greatly; allowed him to imagine a world he only dreamed existed, but it broke her heart because if what you were saying was true then there beings that were that powerful enough to help her father, to help people like her father, to save him. That was what made her write the review of your book," Oma said with a smile, laughing lightly, "Did you ever read the others?"

"No..." and he hadn't; he'd meant to on so many occasions but he had just assumed that the website was all the same, that each and every blog entry was another rip into a fellow archaeologist in an effort to, as he had thought then, look cool to her students.

"Yours was the only one she wrote in that fashion, so scathing and critical. Only yours because if you were correct, someone had power to change everything in her life, everything in the world, and they had just abandoned us. You were not allowed to look to the stars if she had given up on them..."

Daniel took a breath, his mind racing, running the review's words through his head, she had mentioned being abandoned...

"It was so very cruel, which is how Vala found it," she paused, waiting for a reply.

"It had to be Vala," Daniel whispered, his heart pounding.

"Yes, it did, because she knows you, better than you care to admit but her purpose was not what either of you originally believed, which is why time was reset..."

"She felt something, she knew..." his voice was soft, his vision blurred...

"Daniel, Adrienne read you from the very start, knew what you needed the exact moment you needed it and once you allowed yourself to see, you were able to do the same."

_She was my happiness, my one true love and she's gone..._

_Leave and let me die..._

On the edges of total despair Daniel would have expected Oma to do something other than ramble on about what had past about what had been lost, but she did just that, continuing to talk.

"What you could not know Daniel, what you could not see, is that it is just not possible to undo what is supposed to be. The trinium in her spine, it should have killed her, but it did not. It did not for so long because of her people, but then it did not because of you. It is still there though, I can feel it and it is keeping her mind alive," she explained, Daniel shaking his head.

_Don't say alive, it's a cruel joke to play..._

"Oma, she's been dead for three days," the words crossed his lips for the first time, that she was dead, not just gone, but dead...

Oma, on the other hand, was shaking her head.

"No, she hasn't."

Tears streaking down Daniel's face, he looked away, refusing to hear her; if Adrienne hadn't been dead, if Carolyn had been wrong, if there had been a chance to save her, it was too much, he couldn't stand it, he just wanted Oma to stop talking, to go away, let him grieve in peace...

"She is a descendent of the protected peoples, her heart failing, it is not what it seems. It is beyond what your medicine knows and a portion of the database that you may never decipher," Oma explained with a smile, Daniel taking a breath.

"What do you mean? She's in a coma?"

_It couldn't be, she didn't mean..._

"No, she would have been in stasis for a time, to study, as the Asgard would have intended, but there are no Asgard here to repair her, no Asgard to solve the problem. Therefore she died," her words were so plain but plain had never been Oma's way, why was she doing this now...

"But you said..."

"She died only hours ago, but there is a part of her that just did not, the part you gave her and her body is repairing itself slowly..."

Hesitating in her own words, Oma reached to touch Adrienne's chest softly, her eyes locked on pale skin.

"In fact, it has finished her heart. It would halt the process, your doctors have stalled the healing already with medication, it is slow, not everything would be mended," Daniel now saw where her hand was hovering, over her pelvis, over her womb, "but we can awaken her now if you would like."

It has to be a dream, he thought, I'm gonna wake up and she'll still be here, and I'll be alone, Daniel please wake up and stop hoping...

Trying to contain himself, he looked down, was it true, could he have her, a billion questions racing through his head, but she's dead, had been dead for too long.

"Daniel?"

Oma reached out her hand again, a feeling of trust surging through Daniel, one that he had felt once before, it was real and he could choose, should he let it keep going, heal her womb, take the risk, but what if Oma was wrong, what if she wouldn't awaken, what if the process had taken too much time already?

"Wake her."

"Are you certain?"

Was he? Would a few more moments matter?

"Yes," the decision was made, "I just want her. Nicholas needs her. I need her. Wake her up."

Nodding, the glow around Oma intensifying with her subtle movements, she reached out to take his hand again, Daniel realizing that in her grasp he felt nothing other than energy, no skin, no contact, just pure energy. She didn't speak, placing his hand over Adrienne's heart, her own on top of his, inside of him, warmth surging through the both of them.

And then there was a heartbeat.

Daniel wanted to reached down, hold her to him, kiss her, feel her skin, her warmth, reaching to do just that when Oma pulled her hand back, gazing into his eyes.

"Do not disturb her. What we have done is what was supposed to happen here and here alone. Let her rest because you must prepare," she paused, backing away, "Anubis is coming."

"How did he do it?" Daniel was asking now, his hand still on her heart, not letting go, not pulling away for a moment.

_She's warm and I can feel her heart beat..._

"We need not explain again. You have invited him in, he did nothing he was not allowed to do..."

In silence, Daniel pondered her words, trying to figure out how Anubis got on base, how in the world anything had gotten past the tight security when it hit him.

"CAROLYN!" he screamed, his hands still on his wife, refusing to leave her until the doctor was at their side, "CAROLYN!"

Daniel tore through the hallways of the SGC in the direction of the commissary where Sam said he would be, a confused Sam who he knew was now headed down to the infirmary where Adrienne lay unconscious.

Unconscious, and alive.

Daniel ran faster.

This time it was he who knocked past personnel, files hitting the floor, papers in the air, not even slowing his pace as he turned the corner, powering into the mess hall. There he was, sitting with Cameron and John as if he belonged here, as if nothing had happened and without warning Daniel knocked him onto the floor, his hand at his throat.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" Daniel was screaming in the Langaran's face, hands at his shoulders, maybe Cam, maybe John, he wasn't sure, he didn't care, no one was gonna pry his hands from Homer's neck.

"DAMMIT TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HER!" he raged, color leaving the assailed's face and more gripping at his shoulders, shouting behind him, this time he was being pulled away as he repeated his words, demanding he speak.

"DanielJackson, let go," Teal'c was the guilty party, taking him away, pulling him back, Daniel reaching again for the man, still shrieking.

"HE TRIED TO KILL ADRIENNE!"

"DanielJackson, AdrienneJackson is with Kheb now, she has left this realm," the Jaffa tried to calm him, Daniel ripping himself free and standing, glaring at the crowd that had gathered.

"No," he was calmer, his eyes once again on Homer, whose hand was rubbing his throat as the pair of colonel's helped him to his feet, "you failed. Carolyn is examining her right now Homer, you failed. What did you do to her? What are you here to do to us?"

"DanielJackson, we are going to have to call if you do not calm down," the warrior now warned, Daniel shaking his head as he took another step forward.

"How'd you do it? You made it look like a heart attack and it would have worked, but it didn't. How did you do it?"

"Adrenaline," Homer's voice was strained, damaged, his face in a grimace as he swallowed, "a version of Adrenaline. I put it in her water."

Shock rippled through the commissary, Teal'c finally letting go of Daniel's arm.

"Daniel, is Addy..." Cam asked, no longer thinking Daniel was crazy, members of other teams now reaching for Homer's arms to take him into custody.

"Yeah, she's fine. She's gonna be fine. Carolyn needs to know what did it in case she has to flush her system," the archaeologist responded, Cam glancing over at the members of SG-3 who had the Langaran's hands pinned behind his back.

"You got him?" the colonel demanded.

"Yes sir."

Nodding once, Cameron Mitchell turned around, dashing out of the commissary.

"Why," Daniel now asked as Teal'c had stepped forward to take the man himself into custody, "why would you? What could he possibly offer you to do such a thing?"

Homer's eyes went to the ground.

"My family. If I killed your wife he would release my family."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

When Adrienne awoke she was in the infirmary, yet again, the cool chill of the air conditioning making her shiver. She must have pushed herself too far, after all, she had just started running again only three months ago and maybe going more than five miles now was just too much.

Daniel was, of course, waiting right there, lying beside her as he did when she was ill and leaping upright as she stirred.

"Where's Nicky?" was her first question, Daniel smiling as if he had anticipated those very words.

"With Vala, as always. I'm starting to think she's trying to steal him," he joked, Adrienne laughing lightly. Sitting up, the Cajun rubbed her head, her face furrowing as she struggled for a moment, Daniel reaching to help her.

"Gah, what did she give me? I had the strangest dream," she explained as she shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Actually it was more like a memory from when I was a kid. I'm not sure if I ever told you," she said, giving her temples a good push.

"Here," Daniel reached across the table, offering her some water which she took, drinking slowly before setting it aside.

"When I was a kid dad took me to this talk at Tulane about deciphering and there was this young guy, some grad assistant or something and he..." she trailed, Daniel's eyes filling with tears he knew, her mouth agape, taking a deep breath.

"OH MY GOD," was all she could muster as it hit her. She had never gotten the young man's name, she didn't even remember if he had ever told her his name but she had never forgotten his words...

..._ never give up, on what you believe in and on what you want to do. Do it and do it better than anyone else..._

Words that had meant so much to her for so long, a promise that she had kept, only now realizing that it was Daniel all along.

"That was my reaction too," he whispered, taking her into his arms.

"What happened?" she asked, a part of her knowing that something awful had indeed occurred; she could tell by the way he was holding her, by the look on his face.

"You took another step toward my record," he whispered softly in her ear, trying to joke, the effort appreciated even if the voice itself was tainted with doubt.

"Was that a dream? Or was that really you?"

She just needed to hear it from him, the affirmation that somehow her life had come full circle as the person that had made such a difference without ever knowing it held her so tightly in his arms.

He didn't respond, reaching his hand to her cheek to make her face him, kissing her softly and slowly, probably more passionately than he should have in the infirmary.

"It was me," his words were unhurried as he pulled back ever so slightly, his lips still brushing hers.

"I kept my promise," she said what he already knew, kissing him again as he chuckled against her lips.

"I know you did, and you've made sure that I have too," he answered, finally pulling away, so reluctantly, his soulmate was back, his everything, but it was time, his eyes gazing at the clock, "He's coming."

"How do you know?" She didn't need clarification as to who, his eyes said it all.

"I just do. It's time and I have to ask you to do something," he was setting his feet onto the floor, pulling away from her fingers as they clung to his so gently, eyes back on the clock, Adrienne at a loss as to what he was doing.

"What sha?"

"I have to ask you to trust me," he said with his mouth as his heart and his head argued in the manner that they had been for hours, knowing what he had to do but just not wanting to have to face it.

"I do, always, why?"

Daniel stood back from the bed, light columns enveloping him.

"Just trust me," was the last thing Adrienne heard before Daniel disappeared into nothing.


	70. Chapter 69 - The Fields of Hetep & Iaru

The Fields of Hetep and Iaru

"It is ready?" Daniel asked as the lights around him dissipated, John Sheppard nodding in the affirmative.

"Yeah, according to Rodney it is, but Daniel, we haven't flown this thing in years, I haven't flown this thing in years, especially not with a Rodney rebuilt chair," John replied, apprehensive, his head throbbing in advance for what was to come.

"John, I have full faith in you," the archaeologist answered, turning his attention to the scientist grumbling from the control panel, John Sheppard crossing his field of vision as he powered down to begin his task.

"Rodney?" he tried to be polite as Rodney McKay was clearly annoyed and the last thing Daniel wanted was a fight because after everything he was prepared to give it.

"Yes," the scientist in question answered smartly.

"Are we at full power?"

"Have been for a while now; any other obvious questions you care to ask?" he replied smugly, not taking his gaze from the control panel.

Hearing his wife in his head, ordering him to behave, Daniel rolled eyes, turning, heading back for Atlantis main office, pulling up view screen and calling Sam.

Ad would be so proud, I didn't even make one little nasty remark, Daniel mused internally, activating the call system on the touch screen, not one electronic failure in response.

"Everything is place?" she asked, Daniel noting that she had already completed her task, that is if you could even arrogantly think of assigning the General a task to complete, the unofficial royal couple of the Ktaenam at her side, their expressions grim.

"Yeah, looks good so far, provided that Homer isn't lying to us again," he replied, Sam raising her eyebrows as she cocked her head lightly from side to side.

"Vala, and, well, Teal'c assure us that's not the case," she answered after a pause, Daniel getting the message loud and clear.

He only hoped that...

Taking a breath, he nodded, understanding.

"I just wish Rodney had more time to get the weapons system tested before we try this," he admitted, standing to pull the door closed behind him lest Rodney hear and come storming in his direction, shouting his agreement. That had essentially been his argument all morning.

"There's no time. Homer sent the transmission three days ago. If what he told Teal'c was correct, then we are only talking a few more days, maybe even hours with the tech he's got."

He knew, his stomach sinking.

"What else do you need?" Sam interrupted his train of thought, Daniel walking over to grab his bag, tossing it over his shoulder.

"For you to make sure that my wife doesn't do anything stupid," he requested, scanning the office to see if he left any belongings behind, peeking back up at Sam again, "and Nicky. Intelligent or not he's not emotionally ready for this, for any of this."

"I agree. I'll head down there myself, you just let me know when you need us," Sam was standing, despite it all trying not to smile.

"I will," he answered, quickly ending the transmission, trying to ignore the shimmer at his back.

"Daniel I do not believe that you have considered what is in front of you," Oma stated calmly, as always, Daniel trying his best to control his irritation. She hadn't left his side since he had stormed into the infirmary after Homer was taken into custody, a tedious silent presence. He didn't know what was worse, the presence itself or the silence, but standing here now when there were things he needed to do, repeating that same cryptic phrase that had haunted him for years now wasn't a help; it was a royal pain in the ass.

"Oma can you please, for once, speak plain English, what does that even MEAN?" he growled through gritted teeth, maybe more harshly than he should. She had helped him get Adrienne back, or had she, she acted as if he had some sort of power to do it himself, but there was no time to think about that right now...

"At times we need to pause and -" she maintained that same tone, Daniel starting to retort when there was an alarm at his ear, the communicator Rodney had issued him buzzing to life.

"Sir we have the address you have requested ready to dial," the cadet informed him, they were all cadets here; this whole base was almost entirely staffed by children...

"Thank you," he said, heading for the door, leaving the Ancient being behind.

"Daniel, heed my words," she cautioned, not following this time, remaining behind in the Atlantis main office.

"Noted," he muttered as he pulled the door closed behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Carson Beckett scanned the read-out, sighing as he glanced back at Jennifer Keller and over to the monitor, Carolyn Lam standing there, arms crossed, awaiting his reply.

"It's there, isn't it?" she asked, Carson nodding in agreement.

"It is, just like he said it would be. I can't believe we missed it," he was beating himself up she knew, her dark eyes peering closer to the screen.

"It's organic Carson, I don't think any of us would have found it without a specific location and make-up," Carolyn assured him, the Atlantis doctor shrugging.

"Carson, I'm gonna get the operating theatre set up so we can remove it, see what it is," Jennifer offered, looking as discouraged herself as she slipped around the corner to set up in the adjacent room.

"Glad he didn't want ta be cremated, we'd be outta luck then," the Scot quipped, Carolyn agreeing from the other side.

"Keep me posted. Sam called down and she says that you guys are, well, just be careful," she offered with a smile, Carson chuckling.

"We will lass. I personally don't have any intention of dying again."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX*

"Are you gonna stop him?" Jack asked into the receiver, trapped at his desk, waiting for the call from the President where he was going to have to explain how a mole and assassin were just allowed to walk into the SGC. They were blaming Mitchell and Jonas right away, but Jack understood why the pair did what they did. He himself would have let the man in, if not for any other reason than to have someone else to question.

Speaking of...

"No, Jack. I think it'll work, Anubis really doesn't know that much and we're just lucky that Homer had a guilty conscious," his wife defended in his ear, Jack knowing what words were coming next.

"See my point," she continued "he's a natural and always has been."

Stop making arguments that I have to agree with honey...

"Jack?"

"No, I hear you and I get it. Who are you sending up to the Odyssey and the Daedalus to hold the shields?" he now inquired as he opened the door to the stairwell, heading down to lock-up to see if his old buddy had any answers.

Hell, he'd sent the man a steak just last week, he owed Jack something.

"I've got Cam on the Odyssey and I'm leaving Carvel in charge of the Daedalus," she replied quickly, that decision apparently having been made as well.

"Sounds good," he stopped at the door, taking a breath, cursing the choice of taking the stairs.

"Jack?" she asked, the general clearing his throat, hoping not to earn himself another 'you had better get yourself back into shape lecture', "Do you think he's gonna survive this?"

Did he?

Because of all of the stupid ideas that Daniel ever had, this had to rank up there pretty damn high.

"According to Addy's count I think he has two lives left," he joked, always a joke, better a joke.

"Just wanted to make sure you were thinking that too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Now don't yammer on so much, your mom is tired Nicky, she, well, she just..." Vala was at a loss for words as she tried to explain to the little mini-Jackson, his own set of dark Cajun eyes glaring right at her, that he needed to act like a child for once.

"Came back from the dead. Aunt Vala, I'm not stupid. First Dad wants nothing to do with me, then he comes to hug and kiss me and tell me that he has something to do and will be back, in fact, both my parents are pretty bad at hiding things," he replied in a way that was, as always, so out of character for those chubby cheeks and that innocent face. Vala frowned at him, unable to think of anything else to say as he giggled, the tiny tinkling of his voice making her smile.

"I'm not gonna go in there and start asking Mom was it was like to be dead and other creepy things like that, don't worry," he assured her, a grin this time, Daniel's grin, making Vala purse her lips and shake her head.

"Besides," he added before she could reply, "Stephen King has taught me all about that anyway. Him and Dean Koontz. Good stuff."

Addy junior, Vala thought, turning the corner and entering the ajar door on the infirmary.

"Nicky! My little ewok!" Adrienne was shouting before Vala could even see her over the boy's head, the first time she had heard her friend's voice in, well, three days, making her tear up herself. Sniffing in, Vala walked a little faster, the bundle in her arms trying to make a swan dive for his mother.

"We need to talk about that mom, and the Nicky too," he said, doing just as Vala asked, not bringing up that Addy had been dead, cold and dead. Vala had come down herself when Ronon and Nicky were sleeping, she had been gone, but she was sitting up now, sitting up, slight rose in her pale cheeks and...

"Vala, mon ami, stop, I'm fine, really."

Damn Adrienne, reading her damn face.

She was only supposed to read Daniel's.

"And you were worried about me," Nicky teased, just what she needed to bring her back from her near break-down.

Daniel junior too, she thought, condescending smile and all.

"Were you good?" the Cajun redirected her attention to the baby, at least the attention of her eyes, her left hand reaching out for her dear loyal friend, clasping her fingers lightly.

"It wouldn't benefit me to be bad. It'd cause you undue stress," he answered smartly, breaking into a grin, "and if I'm 'good' Uncle Ronon gets me ice cream, so yeah, no sweat mom." Adrienne couldn't help but laugh, this time tears in her eyes as she squeezed the boy so tightly, enough that he let out a gasp, his mom pulling away.

"I missed you," he said, kissing her and looking down, as if being intelligent made loving your mom wrong.

"Me too buddy. So no more Nicky?" she asked, the small child beaming, nodding his head emphatically.

"I like Nicholas better, just, well, Nicky seems like a, well, mobster's name," he was cautious, Adrienne erupting into riotous laughter.

"You are JUST like your father," she choked out.

"Where's Daniel?" Vala now asked, noting his absence, having assumed that when he told her hours earlier that there was something he needed to do that he meant he needed to see Addy, but he was nowhere to be found. Adrienne shrugged.

"He said trust him, and that's what I'm gonna do," she answered with resolve, turning to talk to the boy again. Vala was about to inquire further, scold Addy for just letting him go when she felt buzzing in her pocket, her phone dancing in its temporary compartment. Stepping aside quietly, she slipped it from her pants, her eyes widening at the message.

_Get Ronon and I need you to help arm the cadets. _

_Anubis is coming. _

_Daniel's going to attack him first. _

"Damn Daniel," she muttered under her breath, slipping away to call Ronon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Teal'c felt like a fool, standing here at the council, begging again for help for his Taur'i friends. It was help that he assured them, had assured Daniel that they would give, but as he stood here, the decimated group staring down at him he knew his answer before it was even uttered.

"We have allowed many of our warriors already to serve with the Taur'i and Yat'Yir has destroyed our numbers. We cannot afford to send more than we already have."

Teal'c was looking right at the president however, not whichever councilman was speaking, hoping she would speak, take his side, see what Ishta had seen but she didn't move a muscle.

"Anubis is a greater threat to us now. He is using a precarious mix of desperation and technology and he does not wish to simply control Earth as before. He wishes to destroy it," Teal'c added, looking at Nyctal and Nyctal directly.

"That is of no concern to us. The Taur'i have proven ineffective in destroying the system lords and have fallen in their promise to aide us in the development of our government," the man spoke, Kel'Ry if Teal'c remembered, fatally loyal to whatever he had aligned himself.

"And what of the Jaffa cadets?" Teal'c had to ask, Kel'Ry shaking his head.

"They made their choice."

There was no speaking to any of them, no more hoping she could read his eyes, Teal'c stepping forward and addressing the president directly.

"Nyctal," he skipped the formalities, frowns in his direction as he continued, "the Taur'i helped liberate the women of your planet. Free you from oppression. Surely you believe that warrants aiding them in avoiding the destruction of their world."

She didn't say a word.

Crushed, Teal'c turned away, walking directly toward the gate. There was no getting through to them, that much was obvious.

He, Ry'ac and the cadets were on their own.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Teyla, I'm just gettin' ready to activate the ship, but I want you here first," John was trying not to plead into the monitor as he watched Teyla, standing stoically, no intention at all of moving.

"I have explained this before John. I will do what I feel is best to protect Torrin. If Daniel is turning on Atlantis base to launch an attack on Anubis it only makes sense that Atlantis base is no longer our safest option."

Ok, he thought, she has a point.

"But Teyla it's just a plan, not a full on attack. If he's right there's not gonna be much of a fight. We'll be behind everything to just end it," John tried to clarify even though Teyla had been in the same briefing, a rushed meeting where Daniel had rambled on for about ten minutes without taking a breath before tearing away again to do god knew what.

"A plan that involves shooting and getting shot out," she really didn't need to point out anything else, hell, John knew that Addy would even be trying to find a place for Nicky, away from anything related to Stargate operations but he just couldn't let her win.

Not this time.

"Then, as a favor to me, because you trust in our friendship, come." She was still however shaking her head.

"John, why are you adamant and refuse to heed my wishes?" she asked as John glanced back at the chair, sighing.

"Because I can't keep you safe if I'm up in space and I'd like to get both of you back to Kanaan in one piece," his eyes said as well as his words.

Teyla couldn't help but smile.

"Torrin! Gather some of your toys. We need to leave our quarters for the time being," she shouted back behind her, her eyes peeking back to the viewscreen.

"Happy?"

"Very, I'll have you sent over in about an hour," John replied. Teyla didn't have another word to say, terminating the communication. Relieved, John walked over to the chair, taking a seat and leaning back, waiting for the signal to activate.

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She didn't like turbulence one little bit, bouncing around in that death capsule but driving the sixteen hours to get here in Buddy's truck was out of the question. She should have been thankful for the distraction, her mind since that phone call from Daniel littered with despair, despair that she just hadn't been able to outwardly show with tears. Daniel was a good man, a great father, but he also had a career and she didn't know what was to become of Nicky.

"Ladies and Gentlemen please fasten your seat-belts. In approximately fifteen minutes we will begin our descent," the intercom warned, Barbara Verdin shaking her head.

Like I eva took da damn ding off...

She did however, return the tray table back to position, reaching to stuff her purse under the seat, all of the instructions she had been given at the start of this mess, the reality of it all hitting her.

Adrienne was gone.

That sweet shy little girl, who'd been so rough around the edges, who'd been through so much in her young life, more than anyone had deserved had finally gotten her big break in life.

And lost it all.

Wiping the tiny bit of moisture that was seeming to finally make an appearance, Barbara barely noticed as the plane jolted to a landing on the runway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

It was too quiet, and Adrienne was starting to wish that she hadn't sent Vala and Nicky, correction, Nicholas, away. Her son had tried to play it off but despite the fact that he could and was carrying on a conversation with her like he was grown, he was also six months old and his mom knew that face. He was hungry, and with a few teeth now and his father's appetite, he needed a lot more than a glass of formula and some mushed bananas. She wasn't going anywhere, IV's still sunk deep into her arm, so why should Nicky, dammit, Nicholas go hungry.

The problem was that no one had come back.

Granted, Adrienne Rowan Jackson had known her dear, sweet husband for only three years or so, but she knew him better than anyone else and to say trust me and then not come back for hours meant he was up to no good.

She started to ask Carolyn if she knew what was going on, the doctor racing around the infirmary, but she had the grumpy look on her face that Adrienne knew to avoid. There was Cassie but Adrienne always felt like she was pulling the 'I'm kinda sorta but not really your step-mom so don't say no to me' a little too much lately when she wanted to avoid Carolyn's scolding, so she pushed away that option. Besides, Cassie hadn't been seen for hours.

She needed a better plan.

Adrienne was just about to try and execute said better plan, her phone lying beside her on the roll-away table, when exactly what she needed raced through the front door, rushing over to Carolyn.

"Dr. Lam, my father wants to know if you have any extra Tretonin in storage," Ry'ac was shouting before he reached her, making Adrienne's head pop up in interest.

Why did they need extra Tretonin?

"Yes, of course, but not as much as I'd like," she replied, ushering him to the freezer without hesitation.

Wish I could get vitamin shots that easily, Adrienne thought, straining to listen.

"We will not need as much as father wanted. The council has refused to provide aid and Bra'tac says they have sent Ishta back to Hak'ytl against her will," the young Jaffa explained, Carolyn sighing out before stepping into the storage area.

Aid for what?

She heard words from the cooler, mutterings that she couldn't understand, nearly falling from the bed to eavesdrop. Ry'ac, of course, didn't say anything else, nodding his head in agreement and adding an "I wish," at the end of something.

"That's all I have in here," the archaeologist peered over when she heard Carolyn's voice again, the doctor handing over a very small box to her friend's son.

"Stay here, I think I have some more down the hall. Cassie's got her hands full with, well, anyway, just listen for the phone," she requested, closing the door behind her and stepping for the front doors, leaving Adrienne alone in the infirmary with Ry'ac.

Showtime.

"Ry'ac," Adrienne coughed out weakly, faking exhaustion once she was assured that Carolyn was safely out of earshot. The doctor had heard her joking with Vala earlier, comparing lives and deaths with Daniel's record so she would see right through the act, but Ry'ac?

"Adrienne, my father said you had, well," he stammered as he looked over at her, unsure as to what else he could say...

"Risen from the dead," Adrienne cringed at her joke, quickly remembering that Ry'ac would have no idea what she was talking about anyway, his shrug indicating the she was correct, "can you get me a glass of water?" Nodding, the Jaffa rushed to the sink, grabbing a disposable cup from a stack to fulfill her request. Adrienne took the moment as the liquid filled the cup to think how she could word this just right so it wouldn't look like she was snooping because the way that everyone was speaking so cryptically she knew that something had to be going on that she was supposed to be left out of.

"Here," he offered as he rushed over, Adrienne making sure that her securing of the cup was as dramatic as possible, Daniel's voice rolling through head telling her how bad she sucked at acting.

"Thanks," she whispered, taking a long slow sip.

"How are you feeling?" he now asked, taking a seat in the nearby chair while Adrienne finished, passing him the cup back carefully.

"Good, just weak," she replied, pausing and breathing in, "I hope everything's ok." It was worth a try, and she was certain that she looked sincere enough to garner some sort of response.

"Father hopes so and the Tretonin should aid in keeping the Jaffa in the fight," he started, Adrienne trying not to smile. He thinks I know, perfect, she thought, smiling in agreement.

"I'm sure that Carolyn has something on hand," Adrienne offered, her heart racing as her brain started to put together the pieces, that she needed to trust Daniel and there was going to be a fight, "when do you leave?"

"According to Doctor Jackson, Anubis could arrive any time now and he requests that father have us in position and ready for our assault," he answered, Adrienne's face turning white.

"Assault?" the word escaped her before she even realized that she blew her cover, Ry'ac's face giving it all away.

"Were you not aware?" he was backing away from Adrienne as Carolyn re-entered the room walking over a larger box.

"This is all we have but I can get Cassie and a few of the nurses to start a new batch," she offered, Ry'ac taking the box, but not without a quick glance at Adrienne.

"Thank you Dr. Lam. Father or I will let you know if anything additional is needed," Ry'ac muttered before making his escape, fearful of Dr. Lam's reaction once she realized he had apparently told the other Dr. Jackson something he shouldn't have. Carolyn, however, didn't say a word, walking away from Adrienne's bedside and back to her office.

"Carolyn?" the Cajun called out, the requested stopping in her tracks, dropping her head.

"He said not to tell you," she answered before she turned around, Adrienne already frowning.

"He knows better."

"I told him you weren't stupid."

Carolyn was now facing her, a clear expression of concern on her face.

"Carolyn, what's going on?" Adrienne asked, trying to read the doctor who finally sighed, taking a step forward.

"He says that Anubis is coming Addy. Homer, he was sent here, to kill Woolsey to send us into chaos and to kill you to destroy Daniel. After you, well, died, he sent a transmission to Anubis, letting him know that he had completed his task. He claims that Anubis is coming, thinks we're without leadership and in chaos," Carolyn explained what she remembered from the briefing, Daniel rambling as fast as he could while she had watched her phone, waiting for Cassie to message her that Adrienne was awake.

"Wait," Adrienne sat forward more, her face in a panic, "he's coming here. I can't stay here Carolyn, I can't, I need to get Nicky and get out of here," she was insisting, but Carolyn shook her head, holding the larger and stronger woman down by the shoulders.

"No, Addy, you need to lie down. For some reason he wants Atlantis," she argued, Adrienne relaxing back only to frown in confusion.

"Atlantis?"

Carolyn nodded.

"The last time he wanted to dialing sequence to the Pegasus Galaxy, but according to Homer he wants Atlantis since it was an Ancient city and battle station all in one. What he plans to do with it though, not even Homer knows," she added, looking down at her hands, not sure what else to say.

"Carolyn, where's Daniel?" Adrienne tried to remain calm, taking in a breath as she awaited her answer, the doctor glancing at her watch.

"By now, he is taking off from San Francisco Bay," she answered slowly, "Adrienne, Daniel's gonna fly Atlantis out of Earth's orbit and attack Anubis from behind."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He felt that the best way to ensure that he didn't get shot, or worse, turned into a pig, was if he went through the gate, his hands up, voodoo doll clenched in his left. Taking that very position before he stepped through the wormhole, Daniel sucked in a breath, hoping that not only would the witch woman keep her promise to help when they needed but that she could do what he asked.

The ripple, the suck, the pop to the other side, and it was the humidity that alerted Daniel to the fact that he was exactly where he needed to be. Screwing his eyes closed at first to adjust, Daniel opened them slowly to the sound of shuffling, a voice clearing his throat.

"Who be ya?" the thick Cajun accent emanating from the man in front of him, a man he did not recognize, Daniel quickly passing the rag doll forward.

"I need to speak to Laja. It's urgent," he requested, the man taking a moment to gaze at the object in the visitor's hand, his eyes widening as it registered what he was looking at.

"Folla me," was all he replied, ushering Daniel to the village.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

The Pentagon seemed to be much bigger in real life than it had on television, Barbara Verdin stopping for a moment take in the sight in front of her before walking on to the front door. That had been hard enough to find, the sides of the building looking all the same from where the cab had dropped her off, but she had spotted a security guard at the memorial who had kindly led her to the entrance.

Opening the door, Barbara's first thought was not only how did she get here, but how had Addy gotten here, because educated or not, there was no way these people needed an archaeologist, let alone two. She knew that Addy had worked here with Daniel before they were together, but she had never met the man before her job here, so Barbara knew it wasn't her dear niece moving to be with a man. Not that she would have minded, it was about time Addy settled down and with someone as good as Daniel, but she knew that was not the case.

This was not a museum, she had not been teaching and her niece had most certainly not been doing any kind of translation and analysis of artifacts taken from war zones like she had been claiming.

So what HAD she been doing here?

And was whatever she had been doing what caused her death?

"Ma'am, can I help you?" a young man at her side asked, Aunt Barbara realizing that she had stepped through the front doors and was standing in a large lobby, a flourish of activity all around her.

"I'm 'ere ta meet wit General O'Neill," she spoke as clearly as she could, hoping the poor dear could understand her accent.

"O'Neill ma'am?" he clarified, Barbara noting the look on his face. Why did he seem so shocked that she was here asking for Daniel and Addy's boss? Did Daniel tell her to ask for the wrong person? She had that letter in her purse if she needed...

"Yes, General O'Neill. I be needin' ta speak wit 'er immediately. I gots an access pass," she hoped she wasn't rude in her reply, as she dug around in her purse, presenting the letter the general had faxed to Rae's work. Nodding, the young man reached for her arm to lead her to a large desk in the center of the lobby, indicating with his head that she should sit in a seat among a huge row of chairs over to the side.

"Ma'am," the man, who she just now noticed was in a military uniform and not a suit, "if you take a seat over there I'll call down to her office." He had a handsome and kind face, making her forget for a brief second that she was here to help transport her niece's body back home to have her buried, or at least help Daniel with arrangements since he claimed that she wanted to be cremated. Sniffling, a tear escaping her eye at the thought, Barbara Verdin sat waiting for Samantha O'Neill to escort her to the morgue.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Adrienne had done as Carolyn asked, sitting, trying not to panic, trying not to demand that someone call her idiot husband and ask him when exactly he had become Captain Picard.

Until the sirens started...

At that point, Adrienne was done.

She knew Nicholas was safe with Vala, in fact she no longer thought it odd that she trusted the woman so much, but if this was gonna be it, if Anubis was coming to tear them all down in a blaze of glory, Adrienne Jackson wasn't gonna just sit in the infirmary like a good girl.

A peek over at her captor, the Cajun could see that Carolyn Lam and Cassie Frasier were busy, preparing for casualties, preparing for war, all the more reason she needed out of there. There were no vitals so to speak, Adrienne was conscious and well, resurrected for lack of a better word, but there was this problem of an IV drip, Carolyn insisting that she was badly dehydrated.

"I am such a gah damn wuss," she hissed at herself, swallowing strong before looking at her left arm, the tape holding the needle in place enough to make her cringe, hearing Daniel's voice in her head mocking about tattoo needles. Taking a breath she counted off in French in her head, three, two, one, ripping the tape from her inner elbow.

"Aborde!" she swore, Carolyn's head darting up and over, glaring in her direction.

"Addy, are you ok?" she asked but remained at the counter, supplies littered in front of her.

"Yeah, just choked on my water," she lied, reaching quickly for the cup only to see the doctor turn away, not paying any attention.

"Just let me know if you need to go to the restroom. You still have the IV in you and between what you are drinking and what you're getting your body is gonna want to go soon," Carolyn added over her shoulder, Adrienne's heart calming.

Not for long, she thought, reaching for said IV taking a second deep breath and counting off yet again. Gritting her teeth, Adrienne willed herself not to scream, biting her lip instead at the feeling of a pinch of pain and then relief as the metal slid out of her arm.

"Now to get out of here," she whispered, peeking over her shoulder again at the doctors, neither of them paying any attention to her as the sirens sounded again.

"Attention all personnel, any team members ordered to Atlantis base need to report to the jumper bay to be beamed over," Walter's voice commanded, Adrienne freezing as her legs had begun to slowly creep over the side. In the past she would have dashed right there, found a way onto that base, ship, whatever, and stormed right into the bridge to scream at him, but now she had a son...

"All Jaffa cadets are to report to the bay as well to board your vessels," Walter continued Adrienne frowning. She helped Teal'c train those very cadets from time to time, there were eight of them, only eight, a whopping eight plus Teal'c himself, Ry'ac and maybe Bra'tac, she wasn't sure. So, to the best of her count that was ten, ten Jaffa at the most.

She threw her other leg over peeling away the blanket as she peeked at Carolyn, her world spinning for a moment, dizzy, forgetting that she had been lying here for at least four days now, well lying period as days one through three she spent playing Daniel. She was wiped out, but she couldn't just sit here, her husband launching a full scale attack from behind on a base that was fully charged but not even tested or completely manned, her friends in the tiniest army she could ever imagine aiding in the assault.

She had to get out of here. She had to find Nicholas, make sure he was safe and then help. She had to help, this wasn't just her life, this was the life of billions of people and maybe she could help just a tiny bit to make a difference.

Personnel ran past the open doors, Adrienne glancing up to see them dash by.

"Alright Addy, you can do this," she coached, leaning forward to exit the bed only the go crumbling to the floor.

"Merde!" she spat at she hit the ground, her chin only inches from the tile. She paused, waiting for a moment, knowing that Carolyn would be right there, yelling at her, but there was nothing, a quick glance backward proving the doctors were still busy.

"I can now see why he loves you so. You act very much as my sister did," a voice said in front of Adrienne, a voice that despite the Cajun having no picture in a folder, no audio recording, nothing, she knew exactly who was the speaker.

"Skaara, right? Ya think ya can 'elp get me out of 'ere?"

The handsome young man, clean features forever frozen by the miracle of ascension, simply smiled, his glowing body standing reaching out his hand.

"You must hurry, she will soon notice your absence," he urged, Adrienne gritting her teeth, willing her athletic form to stand, years of being in shape overcoming days of death. Squeezing his hand, a strange presence of there and not there, it was odd, he was corporeal but he wasn't, he was so very strong, pulling her upright when he shouldn't have been able to. He was around the corner before she could get there herself, Adrienne limping as fast as she could, to find him waiting on the other side.

"Come, we must hurry," he urged, directing her to the stairs, the hallway eerily quiet, "we will not be alone for long."

Nodding she lumbered on, that hand reaching for her again, clasping her fingers, so warm but not, so human and real but not, pulling her to the door.

"Why are you here? Why are you helping me?" she asked, following him carefully into the stairway, the door closing behind them.

"Because Anubis cannot win. He cannot destroy your galaxy, he cannot destroy others. He cannot and my brother needs all of the help he can get," he explained, guiding her now up the flight of stairs.

"You shug have excellent timing," she answered, trailing behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

A sigh escaping her lips, hopefully as rude as she intended, Barbara Verdin looked at the clock. It had been over an hour, sixty seven minutes to be exact with not even one person coming to check on her. That had been strange, since everyone seemed to be bending over backwards to help her before, but now she sat alone. The building appeared to have a lot of activity today Barbara wasn't sure if that was normal or not, after all, this was the building where the United States made sure that they were prepared to keep us safe.

Which again begged the question: WHY did Addy work here?

Curious and very annoyed, Barbara Verdin stood from her chair, shoving her book of crosswords back into her purse.

"If I be knowing Addy, she'da been in da basement, sortin' tru sum boxes ah ole rock. I dink I be findin' Daniel dere," she declared to herself, scanning the room for elevators. There they were, to her left across the main lobby, normal elevators like any normal office building. She took a step forward, frowning, pausing to reach into her gigantic purse yet again and pull out the letter from that O'Neill woman, smoothing it between her fingers.

There was the Air Force logo at the top, again, Barbara unsure as to why an Air Force official had been overseeing Daniel and Addy's work, a woman's elegant signature at the bottom with an asterix and the word "Urgent" on the side. She knew that urgent was the kind woman's way of saying 'She's here to help bury her niece' but it was just something about the letter itself that made Barbara feel confident as she stepped into the elevators, flashing the paper to the young man waiting there as he opened his mouth to question.

"Ya be seeing dat name," she declared pointing to the letter in question, "ya be seeing da word 'urgent'," she asked, the young man nodding.

"Righ," the Cajun continued, "ya be helping me get ta where I need to be."

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"Dat be righ bigga den I be used ta," Laja stood beside Daniel at the bridge of Atlantis, looking out the view panel.

"We shouldn't need it for long, just long enough for it to appear to a scanner that the base is here, for him to initiate the attack and drop his guard," Daniel replied, staring out himself, the false base glimmering only slightly, just enough to show up on scanners but still hidden in the fog one of Rodney's machines had managed to create.

"Ya jus gotta understand dat it drain me ta do dis and dere be nah much elsa ah cahn do," she added, her good eye looking up at Daniel to see if he understood, and he was nodding, still looking' ahead.

"I understand," he answered, his eyes finally moving to the panels where read-outs were coming from Cam, no sign yet of Anubis, making Daniel worry that he had reacted prematurely, out of anger over Adrienne, but now was not the time for self-doubt.

"Where be ya wife?" she now asked, Daniel finally looking at her, realizing that he hadn't done so since she had arrived on the ship, wondering too how she knew they were married, but then again this was Laja, she always knew everything.

"It's gud she dinna die; she be good for ya and da little one," she kept talking, Daniel sighing out.

"She's safe, and so is my son," he assured her, the witch woman waiting a moment before nodding.

"She be safe fo sho, she be safe," Laja assured, Daniel hoping that she was right.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Who'd have thought that dyin' would take so much out of you," Adrienne joked, Skaara stopping at landing to glare at her.

"Sheesh, Daniel told me what ya used ta do ta 'im, lighten up a bit," she added, joining him at the platform, taking a deep breath, that look still on his face.

"We have very little time, we must insure that your son is safe," Skaara answered, opening the door to the platform and stepping through, once again leaving Adrienne behind.

"What daya mean 'very little time', is Anubis close?" she was running now, starting to feel better, dashing up the stairs where the glowing form was heading down the hall to Vala'a quarters.

"Anubis has arrived, but that is not why we must hurry. They do not want us here, but Oma refuses to listen," he continued, Adrienne putting the pieces together in her head. 'They' were very same Ancients who were angry that Daniel was ascended, the same Ancients that ignored Anubis the first time, condemning Oma to the fate of fighting him for eternity while blasting her husband back down with no memories. They must have sent help this time, help that was apparently on a very short leash but it was help she was gonna take nonetheless. After all, Skaara had to be the reason that no one was hunting her down, that she had been allowed climb the back stairs in a hospital gown.

"He's with Vala, but I'm sure you knew that," the Cajun shouted ahead as Skaara turned the corner, heading in the right direction of course. She'd expected the door opened and Vala swearing at this stranger, but by the time Adrienne arrived he was waiting patiently at the door.

"Oma says your friend can be abrasive," he presented his hands in front of himself, Adrienne reaching out to knock.

"Abrasive, what a nice way of putting it," she chuckled, the door swinging open in front of her, Ronon's face peering from behind it.

"Why in the hell are you up?" Vala was shouting from behind, Ronon stepping back to allow their guests in, pausing to stare at her ascended Abydonyian tagalong, his hand reaching indistinctly for his weapon.

"Because she's stubborn like dad," her son chimed in from the corner, Adrienne glaring at the small child.

"No, because your stubborn dad has decided to take on Anubis with a semi-operational base and ten Jaffa," she explained thinking maybe she should have shielded her son from that information, but he didn't seem upset, just frowned like his father did so well.

"That doesn't seem to be very wise," Nicholas said with a shrug, "we probably ought to help him."

"He speaks like an adult," Skaara was muttering, shaking his head and looking at Adrienne, "Oma did not say..."

"Yeah, yeah and probably best we pretend we didn't hear that," the Cajun answered her companion quickly, looking back at her son and friends, "I've got an idea, maybe, but I needed to come here first. I need to get a few things but Vala, I wanted to talk with you..."

"About..." she led, Adrienne frowning as she reached for her arm, jerking Vala to the corner of the room.

"This might get bad," she hissed, Vala rolling her eyes at the obvious.

"Ok, fine, it's gonna be bad, but I can't go into this without knowing..." she started to choke up, breathing in to compose herself, "Vala I need to ask you something, huge, and you can say no but you're like the sister I never had and..." she paused, taking a look over at her son who was trying to act like he wasn't eavesdropping, but he was her child, of course he was eavesdropping...

"Vala, if anything happens to me or Daniel, I want you to take Nicky, ugh, Nicholas. If Anubis, if anything happens here, I want you to take my son and run, get the hell off this planet, keep him safe, and make sure he knows how much Daniel and I love him..." tears were streaming down her face, she was sure, Vala reaching out to hug her.

"That's not a request Addy; it's what I'd planned to do anyway," she whispered, squeezing tightly and pulling away. Nodding, Adrienne walked over to Nicholas, kneeling down and reaching out for his hand, taking it into her own.

"Good luck mom," he said, so mature, so amazing, Adrienne fighting back tears.

"Thanks shug," she whispered, wondering what she was going to say, what she could say when the child smiled brightly, speaking for her.

"I'll behave, I'll listen to Aunt Vala, I won't be mouthy, and I'll mind my manners," he started, squeezing her hand this time, "just try to keep you and Dad in one piece."

Reaching out to hug him again, whispering an 'I love you' into his ear, Adrienne hugged her son tightly, standing, adjusting the gown before turning to Skaara.

"So, let's get some help," she declared, heading for the door to go to her quarters.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Sir, we have Hataks on radar, heading for the bay," the cadet announced from the console, Daniel racing to his side.

"How many?" he asked, his eyes darting across the images.

"Several, at least a dozen, headed for the weapons systems just as Homer said they would," the man answered. A look at the screen confirmed his words, making Daniel's stomach flip.

He would take them out and storm the base, getting everything he needed to invade Pegasus, the gate, codes, coordinates and the base itself. Of all of the scenarios that Sam and Woolsey had anticipated as they fought the Wraith, having someone use Earth to allow them access to the power vacuum that had been created in Pegasus was not one that they had thought of. It made sense though, in hindsight, if Anubis wanted to make his mark in the universe despite his weakened state, that he would want to go there, play savior, be a god, where he could raise himself an army of loyals.

"Alert Teal'c," Daniel ordered, thinking to himself that his small fleet of Jaffa fighters was sorely outnumbered, knowing at the same time that he had no choice.

"Yes sir."

Lips pursued, Daniel turned to head back to the office, skipping steps in his haste, heading straight for the laptop.

"We heard," Sam answered before her face even flickered on the screen.

"Tell Medan that any time now would be nice," he replied, Sam nodding and picking up her desk phone.

"Stay safe," she instructed, reaching her finger forward to end the transmission.

Part one of his plan in place, Daniel raced out of the office and for elevators, to check on John and Laja, who had decided to sit with him, something about his ability to control the city helping her maintain the illusion. She had struggled, he was asking a lot of her, he knew, but Anubis needed to think he had won, he needed to arrive to take his prize so Daniel could make his next move.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Ma'am," she heard behind her, turning to see that woman, Ktuyo, Amuro's assistant, standing here, "the Jaffa have begun to attack."

Anubis wasn't sure why but the woman's voice grated his/her nerves. She missed Homer, he had been a good and loyal assistant, even more so that he had maintained his cover so long while still keeping his mission objective. She wished she could have been there, watching Daniel Jackson fall apart as his wife died, as her heart stopped, and she took her final breath. It made her jealous to think that Homer might have seen that in his stead, but she had just decided to ask him about it once he had his assistant back, his family safely on board to provide that extra collateral that he needed.

"Excellent. Have the Lucians ready. Once I am on base the timing of their attack will be crucial," she replied, standing to adjust her uniformed body. She didn't know why the Taur'i insisted on wearing the horribly uncomfortable garments, but then again there were many things about the people of Earth that she would never understand.

"Ma'am, Amuro still thinks it is a bad idea that you're going by yourself," the woman added, nasally, that was what the Taur'i would have called her voice, nasal. Turning to face her guest, those green and yellow eyes glaring, Anubis took a step forward carefully, scowling.

"Are you questioning me?" she warned more than asked, the woman quickly shaking her head.

"No ma'am," she answered, eyes on the ground, where they should be, not looking at her, questioning her. Striding confidentially to the door, Anubis used her eyes to guide the woman ahead, her manner considerably less confident.

I think I'll kill this bitch when I'm done with her, she thought, slowly.

Smiling at the thought, her lips curling slightly, Anubis walked down the hallway to the lab, herself ready for her own part in the plan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel wanted to look away as he saw the Jaffa ship go hurdling toward the ocean, so far away on the view screen that he didn't know if it was their own or one of Anubis' but it was a life lost just the same. It sickened him, watching the battle unfold, the few forces he had, Cam on the Odyssey, Cavel on the Daedalus and the ten Ha'tak ships desperately trying to keep the fleet from entering Earth's atmosphere on their drive to San Francisco Bay. The few that did make it through looked as though they had succumbed to Teal'c's excellent aim, but again, Daniel didn't want to surmise, he just wanted everything to be over.

The decoy was holding, Laja chanting some strange cajun mess that wasn't any kind of bastardized French that he knew, seated at John's feet as he kept the city cloaked and still. He hated sitting here, waiting, more than anything, but he had seen no indication whatsoever that a battle cruiser was near, no indication of anything other than this initial attack.

"Sir, there are some ships heading this way, look to be motherships," the cadet reported, Davidson his name was, Richard Davidson, Daniel leaning to view his screen. He was correct, there seemed to be some rather large ships heading their way, just as he had hoped and expected.

Here we go Daniel...

"Scan them, all of them, anything you can get. I need readouts of each life form sent to Rodney immediately so he can determine which ship is carrying Anubis."

"Yes sir," Davidson replied, starting to scan as Daniel returned his eyes to the battle. Another ship was going down, one of theirs he could tell. It was in worse shape than Teal'c's small fleet but there was no point of impact this time, no smoke, the ship just going down. Curious, Daniel leaned forward to the screen when he felt warmth behind him and an aura of a glow, a blue glow, making him spin on his heels to gaze behind him.

"He is going be angry when he wakes up, so I suggest you secure him at once," Shamira said with a smile, a Jaffa at her feet. Daniel grinned, the Kaetanam coming up with a much better idea than he had, taking away the pilots rather than the weapons from the ships, preventing further causalities.

"Can you take them straight to lock-up?" Daniel asked, the small woman nodding.

"Of course," and with that she was gone, Daniel turning back to the monitor to see more ships plummeting into the bay.

"We're winning," he said before he could control his words, a broad smile across his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

It was the only thing that he was unsure of; would the pirated tech work as well as Amuro guaranteed?

It would have been better to have obtained an Asgard vessel, but Anubis had learned through various channels that most of the ships had been destroyed or given to the Taur'i, who had locked them into the basements of their facilities, protecting them from the very pirates he was using.

The ship cut through the atmosphere, fast as a deathglider should, Anubis' eyes on the target, the manufactured yellow pupils glimmering in excitement. At her left hand was a small pouch, the only thing more she needed to do before making this plan a reality, taking the Taur'i out of the equation forever. Fortunately the ship was small enough and there was a quaint area nearby commemorating some of the people of Earth being killed by others, the space in such a way that she would be able to lightly balance the ship in the beams, cloaked and walk around as if she was a member of personnel admiring the garden before going to work.

Target in sights she accelerated, trying to control the smile as it spread across her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Ay-dree-en, you do not know what you face," Skaara was no longer leading, but trailing, and had been since Adrienne left her quarters. He kept saying that, insisting that she and even more so, Daniel, didn't know what they were doing but hadn't really offered an alternative.

"I know, Skaara, I know, that's why I'm gonna get more help, because we NEED to get more help," she spat back, breathing in deeply to counteract the exhaustion her body was feeling despite the overdrive of adrenaline pushing her onward.

Skaara, however, only shrugged, but maintained the rapid pace.

"So, I'll get Ishta and the Jaffa, if all of the Jaffa help maybe the ones who have joined up with Anubis will change their minds or at least turn tail and run," she reasoned, hearing nothing behind her.

"Lots of help you are," she shouted over her shoulder, starting to feel her husband's frustration at dealing with ascended beings in general.

"Oma says you should take your place by Dan'yell's side," was all he answered, shouting ahead to the Cajun as she raced forward, not stopping for a moment.

"Right, but he needs more than a handful of people. In case you and Oma didn't notice, it's us against an army!"

"But you should join my brother, Ay-dree-en, Oma says..." he continued to argue, the very frustrated and recently back from the beyond woman finally stopping in her tracks, glaring at him with deadly cajun eyes.

"Look, is dere sumtin specific dat I'm supposed ta do, cuz now be a right good time ta tell me," she hissed in near full blown Cajun. Taking a breath that he didn't need, Skaara opened his mouth, Adrienne happy to finally be getting something out of the Ancient that wasn't total bullshit when there was a shimmer behind him, Adrienne ignoring her follower.

And there she was, an Ancient that she knew, one that she hoped would actually be willing to help.

"Hell yeah, now we're talking. Please tell me you have more answers."

But the woman she thought was her friend, well maybe not this version, but someone who surely she believed she would be able to trust were she ever to meet her in this timeline, looked straight past her like she wasn't even there, her chocolate brown eyes locked on Skaara.

"You need to desist this, Skaara. The others have been patient with you until now, but our patience is waning."

"Leesia, I have said nothing but they cannot do this without aid. Many lives will be lost, in this world and many others. They need to know..."

"You cannot interfere. You cannot say anything. You will not be warned again!" she answered so curtly, in a way that Adrienne never expected, disappearing as quickly as she had arrived.

"I am sorry Ay-dree-en, I can say no more; we are being judged," the Abydonian apologized, lowering his gaze as Adrienne stood in shocked silence of what she had just witnessed.

"Of course we are," Adrienne replied, still baffled, somewhat sad that that woman, her friend, yes in an alternate reality but still, had brushed her away like she was nothing, so cold and heartless, "Let's try blinking. One blink yes and two blinks no, does that work?"

Not speaking, just as Leesia had warned, Skaara stared at her blankly, blinking once.

"Ok, guess I've gotta work with what I've got. Let's go," she ordered, continuing her advance, her insides still torn.

Daniel, she thought, he must have been the difference, made that woman, the Leesia that she knew and oddly missed, the person she called her friend. Her husband now again in her thoughts she marched onward, heading for the gate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Sam was at the main screen in the observation room watching the turn in the battle, the Furlings' alternate plan working better than Daniel's original idea. Various reports were being sent, and it seemed that they currently had anywhere from twenty to thirty rebel Jaffa in custody, better than they could have imagined.

All was not lost.

She was just about to leave the observation room, head to her office to call Jack, give him an update that he could then report to the president, giving the White House a better idea of at what state of alert in which they needed to be, when there was a knock at her door.

"General O'Neill," a young man said from the doorway, not one of her staff members but one of the Pentagon guards, one of the elevator guards, making Sam frown in confusion.

"Yes," she answered, I don't have time for this, who in the hell is stirring up shit now...

_I've been married to Jack for too long._

"You have a visitor. An urgent visitor," he explained flatly, Sam shaking her head. If this was Woolsey's replacement, now, during this, she might just discover where the end of her infinite patience lay.

"Who?" she still wasn't moving when the young man was shoved nearly to the floor, a rotund woman who could have been a stand-in for Kathy Bates, short brown hair, round face, but tall, like a football player, came barreling around him.

"Ya be Samanta O'Neill? I be sittin' anh waitin' 'ere fa 'ours! Where be Daniel ahn when can I see Addy?"

She HAD been married to Jack too long...

"Shit," the words escaped her lips, Barbara Verdin slamming her fists to her sides.

"Shit wha? I undastand dat she be dyin' ahn no body round 'ere seem ta be carin'. I canna fine Daniel, he not be takin' my calls, so I ahsk again, shit wha?"

Cajun accent or not, Sam could just tell by the way that she was talking this woman wasn't an idiot, panic in her gut as she realized that they hadn't called Adrienne's aunt to stop her from coming. There had been no time, really, Adrienne's waking up was about the hour her aunt would have been in the skies making her way here, but Sam had sent no one to the airport to meet her. Daniel really hadn't been in any shape to do anything, yet here she was, letting him lead a fight that was still going on according to the monitors behind her.

"Be I speakin'?" she continued to shout, Cajun eyes, wow, that was where Adrienne got that from, blaring across the room at her.

"Mrs. Verdin, I am so sorry, please, come take a seat in my office..." Sam started, reaching out to lead the very upset woman to the only room not in view of the Stargate when there were footsteps behind her, more excited Cajun echoing in her ear.

"Walter, I need ya ta dial up Hak'ytl, I gotta get Indy sum 'elp!"

_Guess I don't have to figure out how to tell her..._

"Addy!?"

"Aunt Barb!?"

_Why is Adrienne not in the infirmary?_

"Addy!" the woman burst into tears pushing past the general now, nearly knocking over Adrienne as she took her into her arms, the younger woman standing there with a look of complete and total shock on her face.

"Addy, Daniel called, he be sayin' ya 'eart gave out, he say dat we loss ya, but ya 'ere, Addy ya be 'ere," she was sobbing, Adrienne now crying too, hugging her back.

"No Aunt Barbara, it's a long story, I don't have time to tell ya righ now, I gotta 'elp Daniel, but, Sam!" Adrienne was shouting around her aunt, holding her shoulders, the woman wiping her face as she finally started to look around, her eyes locking on the gate through the observation room glass.

"Addy, what be dat?"

_Where is Jack when I need a clever 'What in the hell is happening right now?' comment..._

"Aunt Barbara, dat, well, I'll explain, later, but I 'ave to go, Sam, I 'ave ta go," Adrienne was frantic Sam could tell, why she didn't know, the battle was going fine, Daniel sent a signal the final fleet was coming, they were gonna have Anubis.

_Why was she here?_

Sam saw her answer in that very second, Skaara, that sweet boy from Abydoys, Daniel's brother-in-law trailing in behind Adrienne.

That was all the assurance she needed.

"Dial it up Walter," Sam ordered, reaching again for Barbara Verdin, "Mrs. Verdin, Adrienne has to go now, but would you like to see Nicky?"

That changed her expression, as if for a moment the woman had forgotten the child existed.

"He's with Vala and Ronon," Adrienne filled in, Sam starting to usher their guest away when Barbara pulled from her grasp, dashing back over to Adrienne.

"I always knew ya be special Addy," she whispered in her ear, kissing her niece's cheek, "be careful, whereeva ya gotta go."

Sam watched her friend well up a second time, sucking in tears as the chevrons began to lock into place; the general thinking now was a good time to get Barbara out of here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

She had to admit she was pleased with the strength of this body as well, having always thought of woman as the weaker sex. This body had been chosen for a specific purpose, to ease the people of the Pegasus Galaxy into trusting him, because a woman could be a mother and not just a savior.

That was what Anubis wanted to be.

The Wraith were still a disorganized mess, he had learned from his intelligence, the defeat by the Taur'i something that they had not easily recovered from. They were a disorganized mess that were simply waiting for a savior, someone with the scientific knowledge who could help ease their hunger as human supply ran low and convince them to come here where there would be plenty.

Two galaxies for the price of one, and he didn't have to lift a finger.

There was sound again, another cadet, but even as she reached out it hit her and she pulled back.

Not that one.

Too many here were 'not that one'.

Darting around the corner, Anubis reached in the pocket of the black BDU's, checking on the needle to make sure it was still there. He had only to go down this hall and then up one flight of stairs, General Jonathan O'Neill in his office, fielding calls from the president and other useless Tau'i leaders.

Then she would do what she came for, walk right out of here and deal with Daniel Jackson.

Shouldn't be too hard to make him kill himself, Homer said he had withdrawn completely, Samantha Carter O'Neill keeping him on a suicide watch. Then Anubis would be rid of the good Dr. Jackson.

The baby, on the other hand, she might keep around to experiment on, as he was, apparently, some sort of anomaly.

Assured that the man had passed, Anubis swept herself back around the corner, heading for the stairs, the end in sight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Daniel, when we are at our strongest is when we are really at our most vulnerable," Oma warned from behind as Daniel stood on the bridge watching the Jaffa attack fail.

"I'm not taking any of this for granted, we're still not sure if this is it," he responded indignantly; annoyed she was accusing him of hubris at a time like this.

"There is much of Anubis that you do not understand," she added, Daniel looking ahead.

"I'm sure of that," he answered honestly, his blue eyes locked on the images of the fleet headed this way, one of those ships protecting the only being he was really after.

"Daniel, what you must understand about Anubis is that he cannot..." she started, a glow emanating all around them as a voice spoke over Oma's soft words.

"YOU WERE WARNED."

Daniel whipped around to see what was happening, that voice oddly familiar, just as Oma disappeared from the room as she had never been here at all...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Skaara, her village is up here, but we're gonna have to run," Adrienne was shouting over her shoulder, peering back when he didn't answer, thinking this didn't exactly warrant a blink.

But he was gone, and she was alone, at the gate, miles of terrain in front of her. There was no time to think, Daniel was in danger, her family and world were in peril.

Taking a breath, Adrienne Jackson ran as fast as her weak body would allow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Cam felt considerably confident in the weapons systems of the Odyssey, Cavel seeming to have the same level of comfort when it came to the Daedalus. The Lucian fleet was moving in faster, none of the ships really seeming to take the lead, just powering forward in a line of metal and intimidation.

"Colonel Mitchell?" he heard Cavel over the intercom, Cam reaching to punch the button as his eyes still stayed on the screen.

"Yea buddy, looking good on your end still?" he asked, his eyes now floating to check Naquada levels for the canons.

"I believe so but their flight pattern has shifted slightly, a few degrees east," the commander noted, Cam checking his monitors again. They had moved, ever so slightly, yet still in a line, still headed straight for Earth, on a course bound for the fake Atlantis that Daniel's voodoo woman was projecting on the waters of the bay. His friend and the city, meanwhile, were tucked safely behind the moon, Cam and Cavel leading the defense of Earth.

He was about to tell Cavel to keep an eye on it, to watch to see if there was any more movement when the entire fleet shifted in front of his face, not just a few degrees east, but due east, on a course right past them, on a course straight for Washington.

"All hands, prepare to change course, they are going to attack the SGC!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel was still standing in shock having watched Oma being ripped from this realm and ripped from this existence when the alarm sounded, Davidson's voice echoing over the loud speakers.

"Personnel to battle stations and prepare for attack!" he ordered, Daniel running down the small stairs to see why they were being alerted.

"Attack? Did the cloak fail?" or did the Ancients decide to interfere in the wrong damn way, his irrational mind continued, but Lieutenant Davidson was shaking his head.

"No sir, the Lucian fleet is headed for the Pentagon," he responded, clicking his communicator to convey the message again as Daniel leaned toward the screen.

"Adrienne," the word escaping his lips as he pushed Davidson aside, trying to scan the base, rambling as we went along, running his eyes through the layout of the Pentagon.

"Ad, where are you, Nicky, we need to get them off world, and Cassie, somebody find Cassie, get my family off that base," he was shouting, the Lieutenant pushing forward to obey the orders.

"Yes sir, we can beam aboard Dr. Jackson and Dr. Frasier sir, but we don't have the sequence for your son," Davidson apologized, Daniel standing, waving his hands.

"No, he wouldn't be in the system. Stupid damn protocol; can you beam based on Adrienne's DNA. Scan the base for anyone that has her DNA, that should bring up she and Nicholas and then beam Cassie up afterwards," he rambled, the young man nodding.

"Yes sir," he responded, typing frantically as Daniel watched the Lucian ships soar in the direction of his family, his job and his home.

"Come on, have you got them yet?!" he hissed, his heart racing, please, I can't lose her again...

"Got 'em. Two with Dr. Jackson's DNA and Dr. Frasier from the system database, where would you like me to send them?" the young man asked, Daniel breathing a sigh of relief.

"Here, now, just hurry," he spat, looking ahead to the gate and the space there.

Eyes on the screen, Davidson tapped a few more things into the screen, three columns of light appearing and Daniel almost hit the floor in relief at the sight of it.

The columns clearing, it now being safe to advance, Daniel raced down the steps to them stopping dead in his tracks.

"Daniel dis nah be nah translatin' or diggin'. Dis be madness ahn I wanna know where we are!"

There was Nicky and Cassie, but the source of the voice was clearly NOT his wife.

At that very moment he remembered that he had forgotten to call Aunt Barbara.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Where are you going?" Ronon yelled as he chased Vala down the stairwell to the basement.

"Addy's aunt took Nicky and I'm pretty damn sure that was Daniel beaming them out of here. I'm not planning on sitting around waitin' to get blown up!" she shouted back, racing down the stairs.

"Fair, where then?" he was catching up only because she had made it to the door, stopping to look back at him.

"I'm gonna help Cam on the Odyssey," she answered quickly, Ronon nodding in agreement.

"Ok, let's go," he said, Vala making a face.

"Let's? Aren't you headed to Atlantis?" she asked, the Satedan shaking his head.

"No, I'm going with you," he replied plainly.

"Why?"

"Cuz I love you," he answered like she was an idiot, he said it, he said it again, like it was nothing, like he was proud of that fact...

She didn't know what to say, and didn't want to be like Daniel and Addy, their cliché obnoxious declarations of love.

Instead, she grabbed his hand, pulling him through the door behind her.

Ishta peered up at the ruckus coming through the front flap, her look-outs shouting that the Taur'i had arrived and her first thought was Teal'c, running out of the main tent and through the village in the direction of the gate. She was right at the outskirts of town when she saw a staff weapon lifted into the air, a weapon held by a ghost. The Jaffa's heart stopped, it had to be a hallucination, but as it got closer, screaming her name, out of breath, sweating, Ishta knew it wasn't her imagination.

It was a miracle.

"AdrienneJackson!" she screamed once her brain caught up with the rest of her senses, running to meeting the archaeologist as she fell to her knees. The warrior reached down to help the woman back to her feet, Adrienne standing with difficulty but standing, her dark eyes filled with panic.

"Ishta, you have to help. Anubis is here, he's attacking, and all we have are the two cruisers and the Jaffa cadets. And Daniel, he's on Atlantis and he has some insane idea that I only know part of and he needs help, we need the Jaffa Ishta, we need you, please," Adrienne stammered, Ishta still unable to believe she was here. She had seen the woman's lifeless body with her own two eyes but she was here and still rambling about there being only ten Jaffa ships against at least a hundred...

"And Teal'c?" she asked the only other thing she could think about, Adrienne nodding her head as she took a breath.

"Fine, when I left I still heard his name being called in the observation room but Ishta Daniel's hiding Atlantis. He doesn't want to fire until they can fire on Anubis, until then we have a dozen ships holding that fucker's entire fleet at bay."

A dozen when you left AdrienneJackson, she thought, how many now...

"It is not I that refuse to assist. It is the council," she explained, hanging her head in shame, as she had never listened to a higher authority before but here she was, hiding on this planet, sitting in silence and waiting, walking out being all she could think to do.

What had this mess done to her?

"But the president, isn't it Nyctal? She's one of you?" Adrienne asked, standing on her own now, her breathing better as Ishta nodded.

"That she is."

"Is she here?" the Cajun followed up immediately.

"Yes," Ishta answered without hesitation since it was not worth lying, the president herself having walked out of the council as well, effectively playing neutral, refusing to be a part of their isolationist nonsense but also refusing to be a part of this Anubis mess, following Ishta here. Ishta wanted to help Teal'c and Ry'ac, they were as much her family now, but she hadn't had the courage, doing as she was told and waiting.

Adrienne didn't say a word, forcing her way past, running again to the village.

Still spinning Ishta followed, because Adrienne was alive, and dead people don't return to the realm of the living without reason.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Do you understand?" she asked the gray-haired man on the floor, his chocolate brown eyes gazing up at her in total acceptance.

"Yes," he replied, the beautiful woman granting him a smile in return. Turning to walk to the end of the ramp, stepping over that pesky gate operator of theirs, Walter the general had called him before he knocked him out, she stood at the end of the metal platform waiting. General O'Neill rose, standing at the main breaker box, his hands making quick work of the manual override, the iris pulling into its case, the portal open awaiting the summoning of the wormhole.

"It is important that you wait fifteen minutes, is that clear? Fifteen, no more, no less and then destroy the gate mechanism," she clarified one final time, her pawn nodding.

"Yes ma'am," Jack uttered, his voice emotionless and robotic, the red mark at his neck the reason why, as the nano memory device worked its way into his cerebral cortex, creating within him a memory of a universe ruled by Anubis, one in which Daniel had never returned to Earth, his ascended spirit destroyed trying to fight, the Ancients bowing down to the old evil as well, a world where Sam was not his wife and he was in charge of making sure that Earth obeyed its God's every command.

Right now, that very god was commanding him to destroy everything he had known for nearly twenty years.

"Thank you for your years of service," she murmured smoothly, her captive nodding in pleasure at being recognized for actions that had never happened.

"Dial Langara," she ordered, Jack springing into action to do as he was told, the wormhole forming in moments.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Where's Adrienne?" Daniel didn't even answer his aunt-in-law, the angry cajun woman setting his son on the floor to march up to him, shoving her finger into his face.

"Where be Addy? She left da boy ta come ahn save ya ahn ya donna even know where she be!?" Barbara was screaming and Daniel couldn't blame her but his brain was going a mile a minute, updates from the battle behind him as the Jaffa and Lucians had figured out the ploy of the Ktaenam, shouts of various personnel reporting small bodies falling through Earth's atmosphere.

"Sir, the Daedalus has taken a direct hit, Cavel says his shield can't hold much longer!" Davidson was yelling, he was a good kid, hell they were all good kids, good people, this wasn't fair, they hadn't expected the Lucian fleet to be so powerful and where was Anubis but...

Where was Adrienne?

It was a failure, more screaming echoing around his head, and a small voice, some very tiny voice, making Daniel look over to see his son across the bridge, crawling toward a panel, yelling 'Dad' as he pulled himself up.

"Nicky!" Barbara was now looking at the child as well in shock, he must have been playing his biological age, but there was determination in his son's face as that tiny body struggled to pull up.

"Dad, ow, I can't stand. Dad, the gate, it's activating, look!" he was shouting Daniel looking behind himself as Cassie grabbed Barbara, pulling her out of the way to safety, the Atlantis Stargate bursting to life right in front of him.

"Dad, it's Mom! It's her call sign!" Nicholas added, reading the view screen, his six month old was reading the view screen, Daniel turning to see the event horizon stabilize and his wife, staff weapon in hand, come running through.

"Back up, we got ships comin'!" she screamed, Daniel racing to the control panel to open the floor doors, the screech of Ha'tak's screaming through the portal.

"Davidson, they don't know where they are, turn on the guide lights!" Daniel shouted, the young man leaping to action, ordering the rest of the bridge crew to flip on the lights, ships flying in and down, thankfully down, the first few nearly colliding.

Scores of them poured through the gate, ship after ship, he had no idea where they were coming from when suddenly two figures were running through after, Nyctal and Ishta, pausing as the gate came to a close behind them, eyeing their surroundings with curiosity.

"Mom!" his child was screaming again, Adrienne racing to the seat that the boy was desperately balancing himself on, scooping him into her arms.

"Mom, the Lucians, they're attacking the base, Dad beamed us up here but not Aunt Vala, I don't know where she is, or Aunt Sam or anybody, but you're ok!" the boy shouted, wrapping chubby arms around his mother's neck. Adrienne cupped his head with her hand, holding him against her as she rushed over to Daniel, throwing her free arm around his neck.

"Ja-wer? How? What happened?" he asked, not only his wife but the Jaffa women standing before him, of which the president responded first.

"While it is impossible for any people to act as the force of peace in all of the universe, it is wrong to turn a blind eye to the suffering of our brothers, no matter our own problems," Nyctal replied, Ishta nodding her head.

"One cannot deny that it is a sign when a dead woman lives again to fight," Ishta added with a smile, Adrienne shrugging.

"I just went and cried a whole lot, swore some in Cajun and when they realized you and Oma brought me back, that seemed to be good enough to persuade them," his wife answered as she let go, stepping back to adjust her son in her arms, Nyctal stepping forward.

"DanielJackson we need access to a command center to organize our ships," she requested, Daniel throwing his arms into the air, indicating that she follow when he stopped dead in his tracks, looking at his wife, a realization washing over him.

"Ad, what did you dial? Specifically, where were you dialing to?" Adrienne had seen the code to Atlantis, but he knew she had never committed it to memory, why would she, and the ships seems disoriented as they came through...

"Home," she answered, "I dialed home."

Daniel's heart again began to pound in his chest. If Adrienne had dialed home she should be at the SGC not here, which meant that...

With broad strides Daniel raced to the office, jerking open the laptop to cue up the system to call home, call Sam, call anyone hoping there would be an answer.

There was none.

They've taken command.

No longer was it time to hide, Daniel tucking the laptop under his arm, shouting for Adrienne to meet him downstairs once she could organize the chaos on the bridge, the archaeologist racing to John and the main power center.

It was time to fight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Sam heard the commotion from the infirmary where she was helping Carolyn with casualties of the blasts, only cuts and scrapes fortunately so far when alarms sounded, alarms she had installed shortly after becoming the head of the SGC.

"The gate," Carolyn filled in what Sam was thinking, knowing the sounds as well as the general froze for a moment, shaking her head and reaching for her phone. Dialing, she put it to her ear, waiting, Carolyn's dark eyes on her before she hung up, shaking her head.

"No answer, I've got to - " she started, the doctor interrupting her.

"Go!" the doctor ordered, Sam tearing down the hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Laja, drop the mirage and John, take us into the fleet," Daniel ordered, storming into the room. The voodoo woman opened her eyes, breaking her meditation, a few muttered words in French before she stood, nodding slowly.

"It be done," she answered, John adjusting in the seat to glance over at Daniel.

"Did ya find him?" the colonel asked, Daniel shaking his head.

"No, but he, they, someone's put the Earth gate out of commission and we need to get down there and find out who," he explained, Adrienne dashing in the room with their son in her arms, poor Aunt Barbara trailing behind.

"Sha, I sent Cassie down to help Carson, that Davidson is getting the bridge back under control and Nyctal is set up in the main office. Ishta is monitoring the battle and I asked her to report to you if anything changes," Adrienne said as Daniel opened the lid of the laptop, his fingers dialing up Earth a second time.

"Dammit," he swore, dialing a different room, the infirmary, hoping to get a hold of someone before he had John fire anything anywhere. The communication system buzzed and beeped, Daniel wondering for a moment if they were too far from Earth now to get a signal even though they had spoken before. He was about to give up, just have John take them into the atmosphere, when there was a face on the screen, Carolyn's, a look on it that Daniel didn't want her to explain.

"Daniel, we're under attack," she said, solemnly, her eyes behind her, not focusing on him.

"I know, we're headed your way," Daniel replied, a shout from behind Carolyn making her abandon the conversation, Daniel peering closer to the screen to see Sam in the background, leaning over a bed, over someone.

"He's not breathing!" the general shrieked, Daniel watching helplessly as Carolyn moved out of his way, to see Jack, his friend, a man who might as well have been his brother lying there, Carolyn Lam frantically doing CPR, Sam in tears.

"Get me some paddles over here, I've removed the nanobyte, this shouldn't be happening!" the doctor was screaming, an orderly running the paddles over to him.

"Carolyn, what's going on?" Daniel hesitated to ask as she tried to save Jack's life, the doctor shouting over her shoulder as she charged the paddles.

"Carson sent down a read out on Woolsey, it's a nanobyte, an injection, some sort of mind control, back up people!" she shouted, placing the pads on the general's chest, Jack O'Neill jolting upward.

"He's controlling people's minds Daniel, or trying to," she struggled to explain over Sam's pleading for a Jack to wake up, to please please wake up...

"Why?" Daniel asked, Adrienne peering over his shoulder, tears in her eyes but trying to keep it together for Nicky, who clearly understood what was going on.

"I don't know, but whatever it is hasn't been tested well for humans, strokes out the brain after a few commands," she rubbed the paddles together again, leaning forward, "clear!" she screamed, Sam yelling at Jack, daring him to die.

"We're coming Carolyn, we're coming right now..."

"Sir!" a voice shouted in his ear, "the gate is activating."

"John, take us to Earth, now, the SGC, beam me down as soon as we are close enough," Daniel started to command again, that voice in his ear yelling again making him halt his words.

"Sir, there's a woman, coming through, she, uh, stop, right there, you are not authorized for entry..."

The communication ended.

"Davidson!" Daniel shouted frantically, the computer leaving his hands as Adrienne took it, the call to Carolyn disconnecting suddenly, "DAVIDSON!"

"Hello Daniel. It is done and your reign in the universe has ended. This was meant to be ruled by the gods, by a god, and not by the likes of you."

It was him. The voice now echoing in his ear was female, as Homer said it would be, a seductive raspy voice that Daniel could tell was meant to torment anyone who heard.

"Anubis," Daniel whispered, the voice on the other end laughing.

"You say that as if it would be anyone else. Always a step behind Dr. Jackson, and see where it has gotten you. How fares the little one with his mother absent?"

Daniel was about to respond, tell Anubis that he failed, when the words registered in his head.

Anubis thought Adrienne was dead.

If Anubis thought Adrienne was dead, what else did he think, what else did he not know...

"I'm waiting Daniel. We have many things to discuss," the voice added, the communicator clicking dead, leaving Daniel staring at the group.

He didn't know...

And why wasn't he down here; why didn't he just come down here to finish Daniel off?

Why had he sent Homer to kill Adrienne and not Nicky?

Why had he injected Woolsey and Jack with mind-controlling nanobytes; why not just blast in here and blow up the entire operation himself?

See what is in front of you...

They were the words Kasuf had spoken to him so long ago, words that had been repeated that he never understood.

'See what is in front of you' wasn't just about Adrienne and finding true happiness for the first time in his life; it was the key to everything.

His time at the SGC had changed his entire existence, but while it had provided him what he could never imagine, it also took away some of his original curious nature and open-mindedness as the years passed by. Now, Daniel was always looking for anterior motives, hidden messages, when what Kasuf was trying to tell him was that all he had to do was stop and see what was staring him in the face, to once again be the person that he always had been inside.

Curious, thoughtful...

_Have you seen my notes on Ptolemic Cults of Egypt?_

The memory came back to him, the notes he had lost on that stage at Tulane University, notes he had been crawling around on the floor for when Adrienne had been brought to him from the back of the room...

_...you have to write really long boring papers_

And he had, this one in particular not being anything he cared about writing or speaking about, he wanted to translate, to solve a puzzle, he could have cared less about what some Greek writer said about Egyptian burial practices...

Until now.

"Beam me in," he ordered John, Adrienne stepping forward, Nicky in her arms as she shook her head.

"What are you talking about Daniel, that's what he wants you to do!" she was shouting, Daniel looking past her and right at John, repeating his order.

"Beam me in."

"Absolutely not!" Adrienne shot at the colonel who seemed afraid to do anything but sit there and stare at the both of them.

"Adrienne, I know how to end this. Beam me in John." It was then that he looked back at his wife who was crying, shaking, her aunt taking the child from her arms.

"Daniel, I can't lose you, please," she begged, reaching for him, holding on to him tightly, refusing to let go, "Sha, this is insane, you can't face him."

"Ja-wer, I'm not gonna face him; this isn't Star Wars," he whispered in her ear, kissing her softly as she relaxed, taking a breath to compose herself.

"What are you gonna do?" she asked, backing away but not letting go.

"Dad?" Nicky was asking now, Aunt Barbara holding him despite the child's extended arms, Daniel shaking his head.

"It's alright, come here. John's gonna beam me onto the bridge..."

"But Dad, he's gonna kill you," the child interrupted, Daniel smiling at him softly.

"Nicholas, listen to me. I don't know what's gonna happen, but if something does, I need you," he was honest with the boy, he had to be honest with the child, he deserved that, "Your mom is gonna need you. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do," the child replied nodding, "but.."

"No buts," Daniel stopped him, letting his eyes dart to Barbara, who seemed to be tearing up herself, so lost and confused, "I'm counting on you."

"Yes sir," Nicholas replied, his face furrowed, he really does look like me Daniel couldn't help but think, straightening his back to turn and face Adrienne. He took a step forward, reaching a hand to her cheek, pulling her close as if no one else was in the room.

"Ja-wer, you've made life worth living," he began, Adrienne shaking her head and pulling away.

"Daniel, stop, this is a good bye," she argued, but he simply reached out, grabbing her arms with his hands to hold her still.

"Just listen to me. I never expected anyone like you, I never could have, but here you are and not just that but you've given me Nicholas and you've given me my life back. I've got to do this, I've got to put a stop to this. I want to live this life with you."

"I know," she whispered, a tear streaming slowly down her pale cheek.

"Adrienne, no matter what happens please know this. You are my soul, my spirit and there is nothing in the universe more precious to me than your love," and he kissed her softly, hoping she knew he had never spoken truer words.

"John," he said as he stepped back, no more painful what-ifs running through his mind, "now."

Right before the light beams formed, Daniel jumped forward, grabbing at Adrienne's hand.

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Sam stood at the side of the bed, alarms raging all around her as Carolyn Lam tried desperately to beat life into her husband's chest.

"God please, save him, please..." she prayed, hoping that someone would hear her plea...

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Teal'c watched the Hak'ytl dart their ships through the skies of Washington, in and out, knowing that this must be a sight to the people below. He'd made sure to fire over enemy ships so that they would crash into the Potomac to avoid as many causalities as possible, but he knew at least one had gone crashing into the Pentagon.

There were two now, to his right, making a beeline straight for the White House, Teal'c turning his ship to try to cut them off before they arrived.

"I have them Father," he heard on his communicator, a ship darting in front of him, Ry'ac, in and out of the clouds heading right toward the combatant ships. Teal'c flew left, intending to cover his son from the opposite when shots came from underneath, a blast hitting Ry'ac's ship dead center.

Teal'c watched in horror as his son's vessel began to fall out of the sky...

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"The dark circles do nothing to accent those amazing blue eyes Dr. Jackson, your wife should have told you that," Anubis sneered as the beams of light flittered away, Daniel frowning.

"No smart retort? No challenge in reply. Did the little useless human mean so very much to you that you're completely torn apart that she's gone?" the taunting continued, the woman pacing the floor, green and yellow eyes darting up at him every so often as she strode back and forth.

"Well, if you're not going to say anything why did you come?"

Daniel, however, continued to remain silent, his hands pulled behind his back as he stood straight and still.

"Fine, play your game, it doesn't matter anymore. So, here's my proposal to you. If you do it now, slit your throat, use one of their zats," she said, pointing to the unconscious bridge crew, "if you end it now, then I will leave this planet and no one else has to die. Only you."

Daniel Jackson didn't move.

"If, on the other hand, I am forced to do it myself, then, well, I plan on enjoying the bounty that is Earth before attending to the remainder of my plans," she sneered, finally getting a reaction out of Daniel, one that she hadn't expected.

"You can't. You can't kill me," he stated with a smirk on his face, Anubis stopping in her tracks to stare him down.

"You can't kill anybody. Hurt, yes, have others do you bidding, fine, but Anubis, Ienpw, Inpu, Anpu, Anup, Wip, whatever you really are called, you cannot kill anyone. YOU can only judge," Daniel replied, the woman laughing at his statement.

"Dr. Jackson you know that's a story," she retorted but Daniel was shaking his head before she could even finish.

"No, it's not. Nothing is really a story, all myth is based in some sort of reality, you just have to see it. If I had died, which I did, twice, I should have been judged, by you! But Oma prevented that, the Ancients prevented that which is why I think you're so hell bent on tearing me down. But it's not just me either, you lack the power to take any lives directly, so without underlings and followers, you 're nothing, unless you can judge that person evil," Daniel explained, remembered his paper, that stupid paper he had found so very boring as the entire text by Apuleius had talked about the cult of Anubis and how specific their rituals were.

Because unless a person was evil, Anubis couldn't do a thing, and even if they were, he had to turn them over to Ammit.

He was just a scary figure, a jackal, but neutered and as Daniel stood in front he knew that there was nothing he/she could do, especially right now...

"That's why you can't kill me yourself; I've done nothing wrong," the archaeologist explained, still holding in place, "You've never attacked me directly when I was in human form, and even when I was ascended you were only pushing me away despite all of your power. You can't really hurt me."

"That is an arrogant statement," she spat in reply.

"No, arrogant would be to say that I'm such a wonderful person that has never sinned that you can't touch me, that there is no calling of Ammit of whatever form it's using now, but I'm not gonna say that. Not only have I sinned, I've royally screwed up most of my life, but I refuse to wallow in it or make excuses. The fact is that I try the best I can to do what is right and try to make up for it when I screw up and so does Adrienne; that's why you couldn't kill her either. You had to get Homer to do it, but it wasn't right, she hadn't done anything wrong to warrant judgment," Daniel paused, only to let Anubis react, a look of shock spreading across her face.

"You failed, Adrienne's alive and so are many of your army. We haven't killed anyone that we could avoid killing, you've failed. See, for this to work in your favor, for you to be able to take control of something like this city, you need for someone to lose the judgement, because you cannot simply take it away..."

"You're creating a scenario in which you win without having to lift a finger," she laughed, sauntering up to him, those eyes of her spellbinding, "Life's not that easy my old friend."

"No, it isn't, especially mine, so hear my confession and then you can decide if I'm to be cast to Ammit. Anubis, god of judgment, I have been a poor soul in my life. I've lied, I've cheated, I've stolen, I've committed adultery, I've killed men and women in the heat of battle, I've hurt the ones I've loved and I've failed to protect them. I've resented my friends, my wife, even my child at times, and I've even committed murder."

She had been smiling the entire time until the last word, cocking her head in curiosity at the final statement.

"Murder? Cold-blooded murder? You are full of surprises Dr. Jackson," she slowed her approach, licking her lips as Daniel pulled his hands from behind his back.

"Yes murder and that's probably enough to make me crocodile food, but I've got a life to live. Anubis, I'd like you to meet Eric. He doesn't like when people invade his space," Daniel replied, pointing his wife's staff weapon at the woman's chest.

With a flick of his finger the end opened, the head roaring to life and without hesitation Daniel fired, the blast blowing a hole into the clone body's chest. There was a look of shock on her face and for a moment Daniel thought he may have been wrong, that referencing a myth that even he thought was a story was too much of a stretch, until she began to crumble to the ground, no glow, no one to help her ascend this time, and too weak to do it herself, just dead.

Swallowing, Daniel walked over to where the body lay, examining it, pointing the weapon at her head.

"And if in some insane reality you can still come back please remember my words," he warned as the head to the weapon opened a second time, "Don't fuck with my family."

A second shot rang through the gateroom.


	71. Chapter 70 - The Glass Slipper

Daniel sat in the main office of the Atlantis base staring at the wall.

It was over.

Somehow, not in a blaze of glory, a shoot-out, a moment of self-sacrifice or anything else nearly as dramatic, Daniel Jackson had defeated his greatest enemy with a simple blast of a staff weapon.

There was still activity buzzing all around him, the doctors and medics tending to the wounded, Adrienne helping organize as she was good at doing, Daniel tapping the keys on the computer listlessly.

Jack was in a coma, medically induced, but stable, yet neither Carolyn nor Carson had any idea as to the extent of damage he would suffer when he awoke.

Teal'c had managed to fire on Ry'ac's ship, sending in into the Potomac, which fortunately had lessened the impact, but the young Jaffa still managed to break his collarbone, now in a bed not too far from Jack.

Of the Jaffa fleet originally holding the defense of Earth, four of the eight cadets had perished, along with five from Ishta's group.

The Ktaenam had lost some as well, but Medan refused to discuss it, wishing Daniel the best of luck before disappearing as though they never came. Laja as well had gated home, no words of wisdom this time; so very tired from maintaining the illusion, limping through the event horizon.

The two starships had managed to suffer only minimal damage according to Cam, who was staying aboard with Vala and Ronon to repair was much as they could before returning to base.

Daniel himself had called the president, a call he had never made before but Sam was in no shape to do so, assuring him that it was over, that Anubis' body, what was left of it, was floating lifelessly in space.

And now he sat, staring at the wall.

"Nicholas is asleep; I put our stuff in the first set of rooms if that's ok," Adrienne's voice broke the trance, Daniel glancing up at her nodding.

"Yeah, that's fine," his voice was a whisper, Adrienne walking over to the corner of the room to pull over a chair, pulling a tissue from her pocket.

"Look at me sha," she whispered, spitting into the thin mass of cheap paper, reaching out to wipe the blood from his face. He looked over at her slowly; his eyes so sad, his wife folding her hands in her lap, gazing sweetly at him.

"Is it considered winning if so much is lost?" he asked her and she shrugged, extending her arms again to clean his face, wiping away the blood gently, working quietly for a moment before letting her dark eyes meet his.

"Can Anubis hurt anyone else?"

Daniel shook his head. No, he thought, he/she, whatever the hell body it had chosen, it couldn't.

He had seen her head erupt into a million pieces from the close blast of Adrienne's staff weapon, he himself kicking the leftover mass of flesh through the event horizon. It was something like he never had done before, killing, like this, so gruesome, so brutal.

There had been that one time...

"Sha, stop, get up. Let's get you in the shower, clean you up, I can't get this off," she urged, setting the tissue aside to pull him to his feet, but he refused to stand. His eyes gazing up at her again, he pushed his glasses up his face, turning his body to pull her into his lap.

"It's over," he whispered into her shoulder, holding on to her for dear life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Samantha Carter O'Neill was thankful for the call to report to her office to meet with Dr. Rush because otherwise she would have sat in the infirmary all day. Jack still hadn't awoken, but she just couldn't will herself to leave, despite Carolyn Lam's urging. It was a mild stroke, the doctor had assured her, but a stroke nonetheless, Sam's brain running the entire diagnosis through her mind over and over, obsessing. It would have taken something major to get her to move, make her leave his side, and Dr. Rush reporting on the status of the Destiny was just that something.

It wasn't that the general wanted to talk to the man per se, more like his contact was an indicator that Anubis' control only extended so far, that this precious piece of Ancient technology and its minuscule crew was intact and not threatened, at least not by the likes of him. It also meant, however, that some changes needed to be made, and soon.

They needed to find a way to get the ship home before someone else could find it.

As she walked back to her office, slowly, planning, she ran through her head the victories and losses in this final engagement. The Daedalus was badly damaged, the Odyssey fortunately only suffering a few hits, Cameron already taking control of the reconstruction. There had been some damage to the Pentagon as well, crews from the National Guard being called in to assist with clean up. The Jaffa, despite their losses, were aiding in the recovery of ships, using cloaked vessels and confiscated motherships to literally pick up the pieces, but there was much more to be done. The news had reported military testing, staging on both coasts against possible foes, the Middle East, North Korea and the conspiracy theorists were tipped off to enough of the truth that they were making the reality of everything just seem too insane to believe.

Things, however, were far from over.

There was the matter of the prisoners; who was truly loyal to Anubis and who was being forced into service.

There was the matter of Galar, the planet mostly loyal to Anubis, buying his story and his speeches.

There was the matter of Langara, according to Homer still in a state of hibernation.

There was the matter of helping to repair and rebuild the Jaffa council.

And then there was the matter of Atlantis.

That had always been on her mind, when she would send it back, when they would re-establish a gate bridge but that had all been put on the back burner while they dealt with Anubis. Then the Destiny had awakened and they were lost on the other side of the universe, desperate to get home.

Pegasus, however, they could get to in less time, especially at full power, and keep it out of the paws of any bureaucrats here.

Re-establishing the Atlantis base on Atlantica could be even more of a benefit, allowing them to regain access to the resources of the Pegasus galaxy, both in goods and people. Sam remembered keenly a program that was flourishing, expanding and forever learning and more than anything she wanted that to be a reality again.

There were just a few details to take care of first.

Slipping in through the back door, Sam peered through the rear of her office, trying to see what Rush was doing while he waited, but he was simply sitting there, in a cadet's body, silent and unmoving.

"Dr. Rush," she greeted, walking straight to the man and extending her hand, feigning both energy and ease.

"Eli, Dr. Rush asked that I come, but when I arrived, well, it's looked a little crazy around here, I thought if I said I was him I wouldn't be ignored," he answered, standing and shaking her hand. Clever, she thought, unable to help but smile, gesturing for him to take a seat.

"Can I ask what happened?" he inquired, Sam letting out a rather long sigh.

"Anubis, but he's gone. We're still picking up the pieces, but it seems that's behind us now," she replied honestly, Eli nodding his head. He remembered the Lucian attack on Cheyenne, the one that had forced operations here and he understood. He just hoped that the causalities were low.

"How fares everything on your end?" she asked, wondering why Dr. Rush himself hadn't come and Eli shrugged, grimacing just a touch.

"Not too bad. Everyone is still coping with the losses. Scott had the bodies moved to one of the uninhabitable wings, took out the life support with the thought that the bodies can be stored until we make it home..." he trailed, his voice indicating that he didn't believe that himself.

"And Rush? Young?"

The young man nodded.

"Alright. There wasn't enough man power before and there is even less now. They managed to get us to a planet with some plant life and fresh water and so far the arguments have been relatively minimal, for them at least," he answered calmly. Sam was confused; if everything was alright then why was he here?

"Eli, I have to ask then, why are you here?"

This time, the young man looked at his booted feet, shifting uncomfortably in his borrowed body.

"Chloe woke up. She doesn't know who she is."

"Oh," Sam whispered, yet another tragedy to deal with, "medically, however, is everything else..."

"Yes, TJ says she's fine, she just doesn't know who she is or where she is. She's had to be somewhat sedated; waking up in a dirty infirmary on a spaceship was a bit more than she can handle," he explained as Sam remained calm and strong for him.

_What if Jack doesn't remember who he is?_

_What if he doesn't know where we are?_

_What if he doesn't know me?_

"General?" Eli asked, Sam shaking her head, dispelling the worry as she refocused on her guest.

"What do you need from us?"

"We were hoping to see if there was an expert on memory among the doctors, someone who can come and take a better look?" he requested, pleading, his care and concern for his friend apparent. That she could do; it would give her an excuse to hang in the infirmary for a bit while Carolyn looked into the condition.

"Yes, I will need to speak with Dr. Lam, but give me a few hours at least and we'll send someone over to check her out," the general offering, Eli smiling in relief.

"Thank you," he uttered as he stood making a promise to himself that he would keep the stones on hand.

Sam sat at her desk for a moment, staring at the phone and the computer debating. She couldn't just sit around and wait for things to go into motion themselves, she needed to call a briefing, call her team in, the head of the various labs and Atlantis, to lay out a plan for reconstruction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Addy?" she heard her aunt whisper from around the corner, peeping her head into the room. Nicholas was stirring slightly so it was alright; she wasn't disturbing him with her entrance like Adrienne knew she would be worried about doing.

"Come in, he'll tell me when he wants to get up. He's like me, likes his sleep," she joked with a smile, Barbara taking a seat beside her on the bed.

"How long he be talkin' ?" she asked, Adrienne reaching out to take her hand, feeling bad that this was something she had to hide from her.

"About three months," Adrienne answered honestly, Barbara chuckling.

"He be a smart one dat one," was all she said, Adrienne pulling her legs up nervously to cross them yoga style.

"Ya not be an archaeologist," her aunt continued as she squeezed her niece's hand, Adrienne sighing out, preparing to have a conversation that she never expected to have.

"I am, just not in the way you might think," she replied softly.

"And dis be a space ship," Barbara was still talking, Adrienne embarrassed not for the truth about her life finally coming out but about the fact that she had assumed for so long that her aunt was an idiot, a hillbilly who would never figure it out or was too uneducated to know what she was seeing.

"It's a city actually, a city that can travel through space," Adrienne answered, her hand squeezed yet again.

"Like da Death Sta..." the older Cajun teased, Adrienne laying her head on her shoulder as she giggled.

"Something like that."

"Are ya 'appy? Really 'appy 'ere, doin' dis?"

Adrienne turned to face her and smile. Of course her aunt, the woman she never gave credit for being as clever as she was, would accept all of this insanity unconditionally, Adrienne's happiness being her only real concern.

"Very, so very happy. Not just Daniel though or Nicholas, but everything. It's my dreams come true," she was able to say with a smile on her face, lifting her head from the safety of her aunt so that she could see her eyes and know it was true.

"Der be anything else I need ta know?" Barbara asked, Adrienne shrugging and shaking her head.

"Nope, that's about it," Adrienne replied, just as a tall blue Aetlan passed by the door, Barbara Verdin's mouth dropping.

"Oh yeah, aliens are real too. That's about it," Adrienne amended with a shrug, "I think..."

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"Do you know what this is about?" Adrienne asked, pulling Daniel back by the arm to a doorway, just like they used to do so long ago.

"No idea," he shrugged, speaking truthfully as he had no clue what Sam was calling a briefing for. He had checked on Jack once they had arrived back home, wanting more than anything to be in the comfort of their home, but before they could even make it to their quarters to grab some things they were called down here. Fortunately for them however Aunt Barbara was here, Daniel surprised at how well the woman was taking the whole 'Science Fiction come to life' experience, since everyone he called was also attending this meeting. It wasn't that he thought Nicholas would be a problem, he wouldn't, now that he spoke he was very well behaved, but if Daniel had no idea what was going to be said he didn't want his overly mature son to be listening in on the conversation.

"Jack?" she continued, Daniel shaking his head in the negative.

"No, I spoke with Carolyn. He's fine, they still don't know how he'll be affected once he wakes up, but it's not life threatening in the least," he assured, squeezing her arm. It was nice to see her care about Jack, not that she didn't before but things had been different since his stint carrying the baby.

"Ok," she replied softly, Daniel stepping away before there was a pull at his arm, Adrienne summoning him back and into her embrace, pressing her lips to his, kissing him slowly right in the corridor. He could never say no to her, meeting or not, letting himself fall into the moment before she was pulling away.

"What brought that on?" he asked, reaching for her, pulling her back to him.

"I needed that. I needed you. That's all," she whispered, leaning to do it again.

"Stop making out in the damn hallway, Sam's waiting," Vala voice echoed as she passed by, not even taking the time to stop.

Blushing, the pair followed, fingers linked lightly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Thank you all for coming," Sam began, Daniel scanning the room at the rather large assembly of people. Sam was seated at the head of the table, Walter to her right and John Sheppard to her left. The rest of the team and top SGC officials were seated around the table, from John there was Teyla, Rodney, Radek, Carson, Jennifer, Ronon, and Vala. From Walter was Teal'c, Cameron, Jonas, Adrienne, himself, Carolyn Lam and Ann Mardsen as well as a few men in suits, men Daniel assumed were the new IOA officials.

"How's Jack?" Cam asked, Carolyn answering immediately.

"Stable, well. If his vitals stay the way they are for the rest of the day I'm going to slow the drip and start bringing him out of the coma," she replied, the colonel nodding as Sam cleared her throat preparing to speak.

"I'd like to begin by thanking each of you for not only your efforts in all of this but for taking the time to worry yourselves with Jack. It," she stammered a bit, Daniel wishing he was closer to comfort her, but she composed herself quickly, continuing, "means the world."

There was a silence at the table, Daniel feeling movement beside him, a hand squeezing his thigh that he slipped his own underneath to meet it.

It was good to have Adrienne by his side again.

"This morning I met with Eli and it's only brought to light the reality of the situation that we're in. We've suffered losses in this, some greater losses than others, but we cannot afford to let our guard down nor can we use this as a further excuse to stunt the continuation of the program. The Destiny has survived; we need to bring them home. Our allies need us and it is our duty to assist them, all of them, in getting back on their feet. And we have ZPMs, we have a master power source, and we can fly Atlantis. It's time she's returned to her home galaxy."

Strong words, Daniel thought, coming from someone who almost lost the person that meant the most to her as he himself had just days earlier. True, there was a large part of him that just wanted to go home, curl up in the floor with his family and just be together but she was right. This needed to be done, action needed to be taken to bring the program to what it was before, to the program that he knew his wife had only read about in files.

"Teal'c, if the Jaffa are willing, once the clean-up is finished I would like them to go to Galar, with Cameron, to at the very least assess that situation. It may be a case of Anubis terrifying them into compliance, but we need to know either way," she dove right in, the men in question nodding.

"Carson, I would like you and Jennifer to assemble a medical team, gate to Langara and begin the process of waking them from their hibernation. Jonas, I will need you there as well, determine who would be next in the line of succession. They are going to need our help, possibly for a while."

Daniel took a quick look around Adrienne at Jonas now, gauging his reaction. He seemed very pleased to be returning home, and Daniel could understand, happy for his friend that had been through so much.

"Carolyn," Sam continued as she could see the doctor already questioning why she was not accompanying the medical party to their allied planet, "I need you to head to the Destiny, I would like a switch with Camille Wray if at all possible, as I could use her expertise here getting the base reorganized. It seems that Chloe Armstrong is conscious, but she's suffering from amnesia. Given her alterations, I don't think this is something we can overlook."

Understanding Daniel could tell, Carolyn nodded.

"Vala, I'd like you to sort through the Lucian mess. See how much of Endrae's story is true, who we can trust and who we need to find other options for. You may assemble a team as needed, but give me the names of those persons before you depart."

She smiled, and Daniel was happy for her. Vala deserved this and he knew exactly who would be the first choice for her team.

"As for the crew of Atlantis, I would like to return to Pegasus as soon as possible, set up a supply train, assess the situation with the Wraith and begin reconstruction of the gate bridge," she concluded, Rodney shaking his head.

"Samantha, it's gonna take weeks to get ready. We need to recharge, make sure you have a supply of Zed-P-M's here, fix some of the minor damage, test dialing outside of Earth's orbit -" he began to argue right away, Sam raising her hand to cut him off.

"How long?" she spoke slowly.

"At least four weeks, but more like six, yes, six weeks," he sputtered, his eyes already at his tablet making calculations.

"Fine, get to work. I want a daily report of the progress," she said, standing, moving over to the SmartBoard when Rodney stood as well.

"I need a full complement Samantha, and I'm sure that John will agree. I need every scientist here that you can spare, some engineers, I want to make sure, as I know John does, that our people are the safest they can be for the return journey," he said, looking to John for support, "don't you agree?"

"Oh course," the colonel answered, his face in a frown, "what do you mean our people?"

"Our people John, you and me, I'm assuming that both the IOA and SGC have learned the error of assigning leadership to solely the military or civilians. A joint leadership of the city between yourself and I would be the most logical decision," Rodney explained with a smile, John shaking his head.

"Nuh uh, you can bury me in a puddle jumper; I want no parts of that," he answered quickly, Rodney beaming.

"Of course, I'm more than happy to lead the station alone, provided I'm given the support needed to continue my research," the scientist declared, Daniel trying not to publicly facepalm.

Rodney McKay in charge of Atlantis?

Could there be a worse nightmare?

"Actually Rodney, we've already made a decision concerning the command of Atlantis, but I prefer not to disclose anything until I have had the opportunity to discuss it in private with the individual in question," Sam replied, much to Daniel's relief. He should have had faith in her; she would never give that much power or control to someone, while well intentioned, so abrasive.

"All due respect Samantha, but I believe a decision regarding the person who is to take command of our home," he stressed 'home' with a sneer, pausing for effect, "should be one that all Atlantis crew members are involved with."

"Again, Rodney, it was a group decision, between myself, the leadership at Area 51, Jack, the Joint Chiefs and the IOA. We have taken many factors into account and I can assure you that as soon as I can I will let each of you know who will be serving as your new commander," she was calm, Daniel's mind racing. Who in the world could it be? Someone from Area 51? She had mentioned quite a few departments; one of them must have had someone in mind before she started this process for a decision to have already been made.

"Dammit Samantha, I thought we ended this bullshit when Richard died! Why in the hell is everything such a god damn secret! Who is it?" he raged, Daniel letting his head fall this time into his hands, of course Rodney was turning this into a fiasco, Adrienne squeezing his leg again.

"Daniel," Sam answered plainly, the archaeologist looking up to see what she wanted to say to him, "the committee has chosen Daniel to head Atlantis."

_I must have fallen asleep..._

_"_Oh my gawd," Adrienne's words tumbled from her mouth, confirming that he was indeed awake, her hand slipping away from his leg.

"And we were hoping that Adrienne would step in to take over Anthropology, freeing you up Rodney for your own research, now that we have someone we can spare to assist in that department."

The room was silent, every last eye on him as Daniel tried to collect his thoughts.

"What about the Archaeology lab here?" Cam asked, confused, the first to break the silence.

"That has yet to be determined, provided that Daniel accepts the position," Sam answered now joining in the eyes.

"Sha?" Adrienne asked, leaning around, Daniel's mouth agape in utter shock.

"I, uh, I need some time," he stammered out, finally looking at his wife, trying to read her, dammit Ad, why can't I read you right now?

"Of course, which is why I wanted to discuss this in private," Sam shot a glare at Rodney as she said the last word, turning back to the SmartBoard, continuing with the meeting.

Daniel wasn't sure of anything that was said after that, only slightly aware of the word 'CALM' being spelled onto his thigh.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Indy, you have to take it!" Adrienne hissed as she closed the door behind them, locking them together in the supply closet.

"Ad, there's a lot to consider. You do realize that this job is in an entirely different galaxy," Daniel argued, reaching for the light so he could see her face. The fluorescents flickered to life, his wife standing in front of him, arms crossed across her chest.

"Let's be rational ja-wer," he began, Adrienne not moving a muscle.

"Let's," she replied.

"Anthropology is not archaeology. You know nothing about these people; you would be starting from scratch."

"I like learning, next."

"No more TV, Movies, Sookie Stackhouse books."

"Gives me time to write my novel."

"There are no marathons or other races on Atlantica."

"I can start some, I'm sure the locals have great runners."

"Nicky wouldn't be able to go to school."

"You really thought that he was going to school here? Our Nicholas?"

"We'd be leaving the database."

"Since when? You married a computer geek who has three years' experience in Asgard technology, I can get a copy."

"You'd be light years away from your family."

"Three week flight on the Odyssey until the bridge is reconstructed. Kinda like being on a dig in college."

"Who would take over here?"

"I can think of a few people, but we have weeks to decide that."

"The house, the cars, our lives here on Earth," he continued, Adrienne stepping forward lightly placing her hand on his mouth.

"Daniel, do you want this?" she asked and he sighed, kissing her palm and pulling it away slowly.

"More than anything," he whispered, "I just..." he trailed, Adrienne reaching out for him.

"What? You just what?" she questioned, holding him close, running her fingers down his cheek.

"I'm just not sure I can do it," he admitted what he could only say to Adrienne, the one person he trusted most in this world.

"Indy, you already have. Just stop and think, you have, you just didn't realize it," she said with a smile, Daniel leaning in to kiss her when he paused, considering her words. He had, in reality since Anubis had become a threat he had stepped up and had taken over, in his mind doing what was necessary to protect the woman he loved. When it came time to fight, when it was finally time to face his greatest fears, Daniel had appointed himself the commander of the city already without even realizing it.

"Adrienne, I want you to be sure," he whispered as she smiled, her dark Cajun eyes sparkling under the lights.

"I'm sure. I've got this problem, see, I kinda fell in love with my boss and he's gonna need me, I think, to keep him in line," she teased, Daniel taking her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"We're going to Pegasus," he whispered excitedly, Adrienne burying herself into his chest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"It's about time you woke up," Daniel joked as he watched Jack open his eyes, slowly, turning his head to peer at Cassie so she could call Sam. Samantha had been here all morning, Carolyn unsure as to how long it would take before he woke up, before the joint chiefs were calling, demanding a report of the week's progress.

A week, Daniel thought, it's been a week since I accepted the job.

_I'm the commander of Atlantis. _

"What in the hell Daniel, why are you in my god damn bedroom," he swore, of course, Daniel letting out a sigh of relief. Both amnesia and speech had been everyone's first concern, but if he was calling him by name and swearing at Daniel like normal, that seemed to be in order.

"Wipe the crap out of your eyes and look around. For once it's not me," the archaeologist retorted, Jack grumbling a touch before rubbing his face, taking a glance around the room once he was finished.

"Dammit, why am I here?" he spat, Daniel glaring down at him.

"That's what we're hoping you can tell us," his old friend replied. Grumbling some more, Jack tried to sit up, reaching out his right arm to support him only to have it spasm, the general dropping onto the bed.

Motor skills, Daniel noted, that's gonna be an issue.

"Don't try to sit up just yet, alright? Take a deep breath and think about what happened," he urged, hoping it was best to have Jack remember the entire incident rather than just tell him what had occurred.

"Right, ok, how long have I been out?" Jack turned his head back to Daniel who was desperately trying to not scan the rest of his body for any other part that might not be functioning, his legs being the number one concern. If Jack needed a walker or something close he just might explode.

"Little over a week. Carolyn kept you under for the first few days, ran some tests and started to bring you out slowly about three days ago. It took longer than she thought; you had us worried," Daniel explained, hoping his friend caught the last part as a joke.

"Where's Sam?"

Of course, that's his first worry, Daniel shaking his head.

"In a meeting, where is she always? Now what happened?" Daniel pushed a little further, Jack letting his head flop back onto the bed.

"You were playing Han Solo with Atlantis and I had the Joints Chiefs up my ass wanting to know if we'd made the decision and that's why you'd taken the damn thing into orbit..." he started, stopping, realizing his words.

"Scratch that last part," he amended, Daniel laughing as he continued, noting Jack's slip but not saying a word just yet, "The Lucians were attacking the base, so I went down to monitor the situation with Walter while Sam was trying to help Carolyn since you TOOK Cassie when one of your girlfriends tried to kill me."

"Anubis," Daniel corrected, Jack rolling his eyes.

"They didn't make me a general because I'm good lookin' Daniel," he spat, frowning, "of course I knew it was Anubis." Daniel, nodded.

"Carry on," the archaeologist indicated, Jack shrugging but pausing his words, watching his hand twitch again, involuntarily. Make a note, Daniel thought, he's not gonna be willing this information to Carolyn.

"Nothing else to say. He was dressed in our gear as a hot chic and because I'm stuck in a damn office all damn day I have no clue who in the hell anybody is anymore. I went over to ask her who she was and what she was doing here when she stuck me. Knocked me out I guess," Jack remembered, Daniel quickly tossing aside the remainder of his line of questioning since Jack's memory seemed to be completely intact.

"It was a nanobyte, updated version of the Galaran memory device. Carolyn thinks it made you believe that Anubis was in charge and you followed his orders. Made you deactivate the gate," Daniel explained finally, standing from the chair to get his friend a glass of water.

"Me, deactivate the gate? Why me? I barely know how to check my damn email," he argued, trying to sit up again, falling back down in frustration, "Why in the hell can't I sit up!?"

Sighing, Daniel looked around the infirmary for Carolyn, hoping she would be near, and she was, on the phone in her office. He debated for a moment, getting her, but decided against it. Jack was like his brother, they'd been through too much together and he deserved to hear it from him.

"You had a stroke Jack. Anubis inserted the memory device into you, presumably to have an agent with power in his control. You were dismantling the dialer in the gateroom when Sam found you," he began, Jack rubbing his face. Daniel kept talking, not wanting his friend to start worrying about his wife again, "The device, according to Rodney, isn't very well constructed, some of the safety protocols that would allow it to remain imbedded without causing a blood clot were not put into place. It's what killed Woolsey."

The general was silent.

"So I died?"

"Not this time, you did go into cardiac arrest, but everything's fine," Daniel was assuring now, Jack trying to sit up again, his arm shaking, unable to hold himself.

"No Daniel, it's not..." he spat, glaring at his arm.

"Jack, listen to me, it was a stroke. You could have died, you could have woken up here not knowing what your name was. You've been unconscious for over a week, some diminished motor skills are to be expected," Daniel was trying to ease the panic when there was a form at the door, a happy glowing face peeking around the corner.

"Uncle Jack!"

_Saved by the six month old._

Peeking up, Daniel saw Nicholas standing, awkwardly, Adrienne holding him upright by his small hands as he toddled forward.

"Look at you big guy!" Jack was trying to sit again, struggling, Daniel reaching forward without a word, helping him upright. The general didn't say a thing, allowing his friend to assist, instead focusing on the small child entering the room, "You're walking."

"Walking uncle Jack would imply that I didn't need Mom to help me, but I guess it's close enough. Tried the crawling thing, dirty knees, not a fan," the baby answered, Daniel shaking his head.

_He's so Adrienne's son. _

"I don't blame you Nicky, I don't," Jack was reaching out now, Adrienne grabbing the boy from the floor to take him to Jack.

"Mom," he protested, "put me down."

"Nicholas let's play a game, one in which ya act like a six month old," Adrienne started, Daniel holding back a laugh.

"Seven Mom, I will be seven months old next week," he corrected as Adrienne set him on Jack's lap, the general looking scared, admitting with his eyes what Daniel knew was going to be hard to admit with words.

"He can balance himself, just wrap your arms around him," Daniel muttered quietly, Adrienne peeking at him with a look as she read his lips and his face.

"So, Uncle Jack, you've slept through everything," Nicholas started right in as Jack cautiously held the boy in place, Adrienne walking over behind Daniel who was already reaching out for her, wanting contact, "Dad kicked Anubis' ass."

"Nicholas Francis!" Adrienne scolded, the boy rolling his eyes.

"Butt, Dad kicked Anubis' butt. He blasted him into bits and threw him into space. It was cool, Dad was covered with blood!"

"You need to start locking up your zombie books ja-wer," Daniel whispered, as Adrienne stifled a laugh herself.

"And the Furlings, they were switching pilots, and they kept dropping Jaffa and Lucians in the dungeon and there are so many of them, Aunt Vala took me down there to -"

"She did what!?" Adrienne interrupted, again, Daniel pulling her into his lap and resting his head on her back.

"Just let him finish, we'll parent later," he muttered from his new position, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

"Anyway, after Anubis was dead, Ishta and the Jaffa and the Furlings finished off the rest and a few of the Lucian ships just surrendered. The clones knew instantly that he was dead, so the Lucians that had been forced into service turned on them and KILLED them!" Nicky was excited, as a little boy normally would be, just not a six month old and not about things that happened.

"So we won?" Jack asked, smiling, leading the child on.

"Of course we won Uncle Jack! Anubis was no match for my dad!" he declared proudly, Daniel smiling from his wife's back.

"I feel that, don't let it go to your head," she whispered, Daniel chuckling.

"And, because my Dad is so awesome, guess what they did?!" Nicky now asked, beating his small hands on Jack's chest.

"What did they do?" he asked, holding the baby tightly still for fear of dropping him.

"They gave Dad Atlantis. He's THE commander of Atlantis!"

_So much for telling Jack myself..._

"You took it?" Jack leaned around to ask.

"Yeah," Daniel responded, still from Adrienne's back, not wanting his old friend to see him slightly embarrassed, a small part of him still thinking this was a job that he didn't deserve.

"When do you guys leave?" Jack now asked, Daniel realizing at that moment that Sam wasn't stretching the truth in their conversation when he accepted the job; they really had thought this through and for a while.

"Rodney says we'll be ready in four weeks," Nicky answered for his dad, rambling on, like his father as well, "and Mom is completely freaking out trying to pack up and figure out what to take, Dad says we have to sell the house, which makes no sense because it's paid for and Mom's been staying up really late trying to download the database to the Atlantis mainframe because the IOA told Dad that they are going to need to approve of a copy because they don't want so many floating around space but Mom says they are morons and Dad still hasn't assembled a crew because every time he goes over there to start working he comes back pissed off at Rodney and sneaks away to the office with Mom's moonshine."

"That's where that's been going?" Adrienne whipped her head around, throwing Daniel upright.

"I said I was gonna get the supplies so I can make you some on Atlantis Ad, you won't go without," he replied, pushing her to stand.

"I hate to leave but speaking of my new job," Daniel said as he stood himself, adjusting his uniform, "I have more bullshit to deal with." He started to walk away and paused, looking back over his shoulder.

"It's good to have you back," he said quietly to Jack.

"Hear that Nicky," Jack replied to the boy instead, smiling, "your dad was worried about me, so whatever bad shit he's told you is all a lie. He loves me."

Smiling Daniel left the infirmary, heading out to meet with John concerning his staff.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Jonas stood at his desk, the desk, he really hadn't worked at it in the past three weeks much, gating between here and Langara. It was convenient that Anubis had repaired the Langaran DHD before he decided to gate himself to Atlantis, that had saved a lot of time and effort, and the air canisters that Carolyn had created to disseminate the cure worked like a charm; people all over the capital waking up, confused, but seemingly unharmed. The doctor said it would take weeks to wake the rest of the planet, using jumpers to travel to major cities and then allow medical professionals to disseminate the antidote to the remainder of the smaller towns.

All of that went well, all of it, except for who was in charge, and, once again, we were back to them versus us.

Jonas didn't even know the names of all of the officials; most of the higher-ups had been either killed by the clones in the initial attack or executed later. With Tulra not having been sworn in, there was no plan for who would be the next in line without going to the past administration, which seemed to be siding with Forces United, causing a whole new headache. Jonas felt that he needed to help, but this was just more than he could handle and Sam had agreed, sending over some high level SG and Pentagon officials in his place.

So he was back here, in the lab, as Daniel and Adrienne Jackson prepared to leave.

He understood why his friend was taking the job, he did, but it was just a tad upsetting. Daniel and Adrienne had been so much more than coworkers to him, they had taken him in when he had nothing else, they had been his friends and his family and now they were leaving.

Once the capital had been awoken, Jonas went home to his house, miraculously unscathed by the battle that had pushed him through the gate in the first place. It used to be a sanctuary for him, the design of the entire place a combination of the things he loved about Langara and his time spent on Earth, but now it just didn't have the same meaning for him. In fact, the only place now that felt like home was Daniel & Addy's and they were leaving.

Trying not to think about it, Jonas looked back at the screen, just not feeling like working on anything today.

"Jonas?"

It was Daniel's voice at the doorway, as if he was asking permission to enter, odd, since it was his lab. He'd been like that since he took the command position, no longer as sure of his role on this base. It was respectable, he could have been walking around like he owned the place, but he hadn't, instead carrying himself professionally and humbly.

"Morning," the Langaran greeted, happy to have an excuse to shut the laptop with the latest information on his home world staring back at him.

"You gotta minute? I'd like to talk," Daniel started right in, walking to the center table, pulling out a chair and indicating that Jonas join him. He paused for a moment, unsure as to what Daniel needed to talk to him about before joining him at the table, stepping over a plethora of boxes that Adrienne had packed along the way.

"What's up? Everything going all right with the set-up?"

Sighing, Daniel shook his head.

"If Rodney came with a mute button, things would be going a lot better," he joked, Jonas laughing. Yeah, that was something he wished on no one, having to deal with Rodney McKay, "and that's kinda why I'm here."

Jonas stopped laughing, confused yet again.

"I'm not good with electronics, or mind control," he tried to joke, Daniel thankfully chucking in return.

"Well that answers my first question," Daniel played right back, folding his hands, unfolding them and starting to pick his fingernails just like Adrienne did, "but there's something else I wanted to ask you."

"Go on," Jonas replied, curious, watching Daniel frown and bite his lip.

"What are your plans? I mean, when did you plan on heading back to Langara?" he asked, Jonas shrugging. When WAS he planning on going? He kept gating back and forth, looking for excuses to go from one place to another, with no idea what he was going to do.

"Not sure. Sam's people are working with what is left of our government to try to get some sort of temporary leadership, followed by elections. They are re-electing the entire congressional body, including my position, but she thinks that given everything I'd be re-elected easily," Jonas answered, Daniel looking down at his hands, picking again.

"Right, of course," he muttered, nervously, again odd, Jonas not sure what in the world was going on.

"Daniel is something the matter?" he asked, figuring they were close enough friends to ask, it wouldn't be intruding, too much.

"No, nothing's the matter. I wanted to know what you were doing because we needed to find my replacement and your name came up, well, I brought it up. The committee voted and they asked me to come down and offer you the position," was his reply.

For a moment Jonas Quinn didn't know what to say. In that instant he knew how Daniel had felt when they offered him the base, although this wasn't being done in a public forum. Here no one was staring at him, expecting an answer; there was no feud to be had like he knew Daniel was living with Rodney right now.

Should he? Should he abandon his people to their fate? Leave the life behind that he had created back on Langara? On the other hand, could he really leave this life, this horrible second chance he was given to be back in a place that accepted him for who he was?

"Jonas, it's a big decision, I understand, and I don't want to rush you, you can take a few days to -"

"Yes."

That was his answer. Here he could do the most for his people, not as some bureaucrat with his hands tied in committee after committee, but as the head of this department he could do the good that Daniel had done and remain here on Earth.

"Really?" Daniel seemed surprised at his sudden answer but all Jonas could feel was relief, he had a place and a purpose.

Yes. I'll take it, I'll take the job."

Daniel was smiling, a huge grin across this face, him looking relieved as well.

"In that case, there is a second part to the offer, well, more of a favor to me," he continued, slipping his hand into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys, "We had a buyer but Adrienne just can't, we can't, bring ourselves to sell it."

This time, Jonas couldn't even produce a one syllable word. Their house, their home, a place that had been his home for so long, a place that sitting late nights with Adrienne watching TV she told him she loved so much.

"You already know the layout, and then you don't have to cramp your belongings into a concrete room or Cam's apartment. We're taking some of the furniture, Adrienne has it color coded and alphabetically labeled to be beamed aboard the ship, but you could bring anything from Langara you like, make it your own," Daniel added with a smile, extended his hand with the keys.

"Daniel, I can't take your house..."

"Well, technically, you're not taking it. It's paid for sure, but there will be taxes, homeowner's association fees but it's more like holding it. There's a chance this will all be for not Jonas, we could arrive at the Pegasus to a disaster that even we can't contain. So, it's just holding it, watching over it for us, for a while..."

There really wasn't any more to say. Daniel reached his hand out a third time, Jonas taking the set of keys from his palm.

Finally, Jonas Quinn felt he was somewhere where he belonged.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Leave that lamp for Jonas Vala, actually, leave all of the lamps, I don't think light's gonna be a problem on board," Adrienne changed her mind, yet again, Vala tossing the post-it notes aside.

"Alright, so we have decided that everything in the kitchen stays here..."

"Except the coffee maker and grinder, leave him the Keurig..."

"Fine, except for the coffee maker, whatever, and all of the lamps, bookcases, desks and the dining set," Vala clarified, knowing that this wouldn't be the end.

"Yes. We're taking everything in Nicholas' room, the books, Daniel's junk collection, the bed, dresser, everything in the bathrooms, the living room set and the Grecian Couch," Adrienne listed back, hoping that really was everything.

"You're taking that ugly thing?" Vala now asked, Adrienne shrugging her shoulders.

"It's not ugly, Daniel gave it to me," she replied as Vala laughed.

"You gave him that damn poof and that's in Teal'c's house now," she retorted, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Because I married a man with no taste."

That last word was a struggle, Vala could tell, Adrienne getting ready to cry again.

"Stop," she urged, approaching the Cajun, shaking her arm, "it's gonna be exciting."

"I know, but it's just scary. I finally get a normal life and now I'm gonna go play Princess Leia," Adrienne began to sob but Vala just laughed.

"No, you are not Princess Leia, at all. Because Glasses is not Han Solo, and you're both dorks," Vala replied, Adrienne pushing her away.

"Cooyon," the Cajun spat.

"You can tell him not to take the job," Vala now offered, Adrienne powering down the hall to resume packing in her bathroom.

"No, he took the job already mon ami," Adrienne yelled over her shoulder, Vala following, grabbing the post-it notes on her way.

"Yeah, but he'd give it up for you. He'd give up everything for you. I was right Addy, you know I was, you're it..."

"Stop," Adrienne halted her stride, turning around, "I know Vala. I know. And you know what, he's mine. This is his dream, and to be honest it's mine too. Vala, I never thought I'd ever be anything, do anything, I thought that every dream I'd ever had was just that, a dream. But it's not, and while this is hard, while I'll miss my family, I'll miss you guys, a part of me always knew this would be how it was in the end, just me and Indy."

"And the rugrat," Vala added quickly with a smile.

"And the rugrat," Adrienne agreed, her face brightening again, "Come on, back to the bathrooms!" she declared, turning to head back down the hall.

"I liked lamp sorting better," Vala whined as she followed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

He lied about the time the meeting started just to give Jack the opportunity to make it here before everyone else, but he hadn't and for a moment Daniel thought he wasn't coming until he heard the click of metal against tile in the hall.

Swallowing, Sam stood from her place beside the archaeologist, rushing to the door to help, Daniel catching bits and pieces of fussing from Jack as he turned down her assistance.

"Samantha, dammit, I've got this, look, I've gotten all the way up here without one damn bit of help!"

The SGC head nodded, backing away, letting Jack enter, with the walker, covered in stickers of various hockey teams, Daniel knowing they were stickers that his son ordered from the internet.

Note to self, Daniel thought, figure out Nicky-proof passwords as soon as possible just in case he decides to order himself something insane before they leave.

"What in the hell are you all staring at? I'm an old man and it's a god damn walker!" Jack shouted as Daniel peeked around the room at their friends, each hiding their gawks, embarrassed. No one said a word as Sam moved down a seat to let Jack take her place, which he did slowly, the room still in silence, silence that Daniel knew was killing Jack.

"Bout damn time you got here..." Daniel joked right away, Jack glaring at him.

"Look smartass, just because someone gave you a damn city, doesn't make you god," he shot back, sitting down, the room instantly at ease.

"Are we ready?" Sam asked, taking Daniel's cue and the collective all looked at her, hearts racing around the room Daniel knew.

This was the meeting everyone had been waiting for.

"Daniel, the floor is yours," Sam said with a smile, her old friend taking a breath.

Gotta start giving orders sometime, he thought, opening the folder to begin.

"As you know Sam and I have been in more meetings these past few weeks than I care to count, but I guess it goes with the territory now. We've spoken with many of you individually and we thank you for your input and patience in this process. That being said, we think we've finally finished staffing the city," Daniel began, his eyes darting over to Adrienne as she smiled softly, pride clear in her face.

This is for you too ja-wer, he thought, looking down to the folder on the desk to continue.

"There are some things that we're keeping the same, namely that John Sheppard remain the head of all field teams and serve as second in command to myself. That's not much of a change really, and I need someone to have my back in case I manage to get myself hurt..."

"And there is a significant chance of that," Carolyn piped up, Daniel seeing his wife's hand race to her mouth to control her laughter.

"Rodney, you will be in charge of all scientific departments in addition to working your own lab. That means that each area will need to report to you weekly and those items that need to will be brought to my attention," Daniel added with a careful glance at Rodney, who was beaming. Poor Radek, Daniel thought, I think I'm gonna need to make that up to him.

"In addition to worrying about scientific and military operations, I think we all know that we are unsure as to what we are walking into, so security will be made its own department. Ronon, I'd like for you to serve as my chief of security..."

"Sorry, can't," the Sateadan spoke up, Daniel, along with the every other member of personnel in the room staring at him.

"Um, is there something that we need to know Ronon?" Daniel now asked, completely baffled, glancing at Adrienne whose mouth was open, her eyes wide.

Did SHE know something?

"Sorry Daniel, but I'm staying here," he explained, if you could call that an explanation.

"Why?" this time it was Vala that spoke, leaning over from her seat beside him in total confusion.

"I can't leave you," he answered simply, in front of everyone, Daniel finally understanding his wife's expression from earlier.

"What do you mean leave me? You're not leaving me," Vala replied, with a shrug, Ronon shaking his head.

"Val, you're head of Intelligence here, you had that job first, and I'm not leaving you," he argued, as if no one else was in the room, Daniel feeling both touched to see the two of them acting like this along and incredibly awkward.

"What, that?" Vala said, leaning across the table further, her gaze directed at Sam, "Sam, I love you, I do, but, I quit. I'm going with Dex to the Pegasus."

"Vala, I can't ask you..." Ronon was in shock now, no one else at the table knowing what to say. Vala, on the other hand just looked at everyone, leaning back in the chair and crossing her arms across her chest.

"You didn't ask me to do anything," she started, shrugging her shoulders again, "and anyway, Daniel and Addy can't take care of that baby, they'll screw him up completely without me."

"I'm never getting rid of her..." Daniel muttered before he could control himself, Sam suppressing a giggle.

"Anyone else need to mess up my staff?" Sam coughed out, still chuckling slightly as Daniel made a note in the file, adding Vala Mal Doran to his personnel list.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

"Indy, just got the amended cargo list from Walter!" Adrienne shouted from his desk as he was forcing himself to call it, even though it still felt weird to be working from the main office of Atlantis. He hadn't sat there, instead insisting that she set up there while she helped him get ready for their departure in less than three weeks' time.

"Can you read it aloud?" he requested as he sat on the sofa facing her, his wife peeking up making a face.

"You are gonna have to sit here though, at some point," she noted, doing as he asked and cueing up the list, watching him fidget from across the room.

"I have, but it's impolite not to give up my chair to a beautiful woman," he teased, Adrienne rolling her eyes.

"Ok cooyon, give me a sec to scan this, it looks identical to the last one," she said frowning, running her finger down the list, "more provisions, some of the artifacts you requested, some 'Q' and hand weapons thank you Jennifer and The Daniel Jackson?" she paused in confusion, looking up at him, "What's that? Is Walter trying to be funny? Of course we have a Daniel Jackson. I would kinda throw a fit if we didn't."

"It's not a typo, and it's not me. It's a ship," he answered quickly, looking back down at the housing assignments for his staff.

"There's a SHIP named The Daniel Jackson?"

He didn't like that tone, she seemed to be in shock, Daniel looking up from his tablet to answer and see what in the hell she was talking about.

"Yes," he clarified, Adrienne shaking her head.

"Why?" she asked, her husband shrugging.

"Why not?" he retorted.

"No reason..." she trailed, flicking around on her own machine once more. Daniel stopped what he was doing, not liking that response in the least nor the expression on her face.

"What's that look for?"

"Nuthin' sha, pass me that flashdrive..." Adrienne pointed to her bag on the floor, contents spilling out of side pockets.

"Not until you answer me," Daniel replied as he set his own computer aside, scooping the requested drive from the floor but not moving a muscle.

"Indy give me the gah damn flash drive," she said, holding out her hand in request, but her husband didn't budge.

"That was a smirk; I saw your face. THAT was a smirk."

"It was not a smirk, I'm just surprised, that's all. It's not every day you find out there is a ship named after your husband," she was covering, he knew, there was a smart ass reply just waiting in the wings.

"Liar," Daniel said as he stood carefully, walking over to the desk to sit on the edge as Adrienne did, the love of his life giggling and reaching out for the drive, which he pulled away playfully.

"Did everyone get one?" she tried now, Daniel nodding in reply.

"Jack got one," he responded, and it was true. Adrienne however didn't say a word just looked at the list again, momentarily forgetting the flashdrive.

"I said Jack got one," Daniel repeated as Adrienne but her lower lip, gazing up at him and reaching her hand out again.

"I heard you, can you hand me the flashdrive please?" she answered, the expression on her face different this time.

"That was a different look."

Adrienne rolled her eyes.

"Can you stop analyzing my facial expressions and let me get something accomplished."

"That wasn't a smirk Ad, THAT was acceptance. The Daniel Jackson gets a smirk, the Jack O'Neill gets a respectful silence," he pointed out, Adrienne peering up at him again, smirking.

"You did it again."

"Fine Indy, yes, it's funny ok. Ships are named after generals and presidents not..." she paused, Daniel frowning.

"Not what?" he clarified, setting the tablet aside to hear her final answer.

"Dorks."

"Dorks? Look who's calling who a dork!" he defended, standing quickly to peer down at his wife, who was on the verge of hysterical laughter.

"I'm not waltzing around with a gah damn star destroyer named the Adrienne Rowan."

"Jackson."

"What?"

"The Adrienne Jackson."

Adrienne JACKSON rolled her eyes.

"Look, my point is -" she started to explain, Daniel shaking his head.

"And it's not a star destroyer Princess Leia, it's a science vessel," he explained, a snicker now escaping her lips as a hand was quickly brought to her mouth.

"So you have something to say about that now?"

She wasn't just smirking now, she was full blown laughing, standing and covering her face with her hand, "No, I'm fine. Forget the flash drive, I'm gonna get a coffee, it wasn't even a -"

And then his wife lost it completely.

"It can't even blow shit up..."

And he was done. Standing from the edge of the desk, Daniel tossed her flashdrive onto the surface, his tablet computer after it, walking for the door to take him to the bridge.

"Where are you going?" Adrienne managed to choke out just as he got into the door.

"To work mingle with my crew, since they seem to take me seriously," and he left, Adrienne tossing everything aside to dash after him.

"Indy, come back, I'm sorry," she followed, still laughing, visions of the ultimate nerd vessel, emblazoned with her husband's name, floating through her head, "Daniel dammit wait." But he was gone, around the corner, walking across the upper platform down to the bridge when Adrienne caught his wrist, spinning him around to face her.

"You finished?" he asked, trying not to grin as she waved her hand in front of her face, in an attempt to control her laughter.

"Probably not for at least thirty years," she admitted, giggling, "Sha there's just too many jokes to be had." She interrupted herself, seeing the expression on his face, pulling him into a slow kiss right in front of his entire bridge staff.

"You're so awful to me," he said as he broke away, to the sound of Davidson getting his crew back to order.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Goodbye was harder than Adrienne had originally thought.

Three days before their departure they took the Odyssey to the Bayou so Adrienne could say goodbye to her family and friends. Granted, this wasn't like those first original missions in which the participants never knew if they would see their friends and family again. It would be a while if she wanted to, but really, as Aunt Barbara kept telling her, it was no different than going on digs in college and graduate school, all of which she had done before her father had fallen ill.

In fact, that was exactly what Aunt Barbara was telling the family.

Using Daniel's expertise in Ancient Egypt as an excuse as to why they would have very little contact, Aunt Barbara carefully spun a tale that satisfied both the Verdin and Rowan sides of the family, told to everyone except Rae, who Adrienne had told the truth.

It felt good to be honest about that too.

Tears were shed, as expected, but it was no more than the tears shed for leaving behind Sam, Jack, Jonas, Teal'c and Cameron. It as Cam that tore Adrienne up the most; he was the closest thing to a brother that she had ever had.

She thought Daniel would be jealous, he had always had this thing with Cameron, thinking that somehow, in Adrienne's eyes, that he was the one that got away, even though that was nonsense. Cam had been the first person Adrienne told about she and Daniel, the first person she let see her family and saying good-bye was tearing her up inside. If Vala was the sister that she never had, Cameron Mitchell had certainly filled the role of brother, threatening Daniel and all.

"I don't want to either," she heard as she stood at his door, breathing in deeply before knocking. Of course he'd have to sneak up on her, but she didn't say a word, just turned around throwing her arms onto his shoulders, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm gonna miss you so bad," Adrienne sobbed, Cam holding onto her like he never wanted to let go.

"I'm gonna miss you too Addy," he replied, and she could tell that he was choking up as he said it.

"You have to come and visit," she ordered, pulling away, the colonel bringing his hand to her cheek.

"I'm gonna be running supplies until you guys get settled, so give me a month or two and I'll be right there," he answered, sniffing in, still holding onto her hand.

"I never thanked you, for accepting me, from the first day. I could have never done this without you," she was losing it again, Cam pulling her back into his arms.

"Yes you could have, but it makes me feel all mushy inside to hear you say that," he joked, squeezing her tightly, "now go. Go to Pegasus, kick some ass, and keep Jackson in line."

And then he pulled away, and he was gone.

And it was time to leave...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Daniel stood on the balcony overlooking the crystalline blue ocean.

_Crystalline blue waters..._

It reminded him of the poem that Adrienne had written so long ago, the one she had read to him in a U-haul on a long, cramped drive from San Francisco. He smiled holding onto the railing, remembering the rest of the poem and the man, the man she would follow to the ends of the universe.

It hadn't occurred to him and it probably never occurred to her, but it had been him all along.

He just had to stop and see what was in front of him.

After everything he had gone through over all of these years, this woman, this completely unexpected woman had appeared and turned his world, his universe and his life upside down.

And he couldn't be happier.

"Dad!" he heard behind him and turned to see Nicky, Nicholas as he was asking to be called, running towards him. Such a strange feeling, not only being a parent, but being a parent to a child that was mobile. It had taken four weeks to arrive safely, and in those four weeks Nicholas' motor skills had exploded.

He really needed to sit down with Teyla and get some pointers for outfitting their quarters.

As the boy approached him Daniel took him up into his arms, hugging him tightly looking over the child's shoulder at his wife, smiling, her face flushed, something clearly on her mind. Curious, he kissed his son and set him down, reaching out his hands for Adrienne.

"What's that smile for?" he asked, Adrienne shaking her head, walking herself to lean onto the railing.

"Nicholas wanted to go down to the jumper bay and I saw something," she was beaming, Daniel elated that his surprise had lasted until they landed on Atlantica to be found.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he played, reaching around her to pull her to him, holding her in his arms.

_I'm the commander of Atlantis, and I live here on Atlantica now with my beautiful wife..._

"Dad?"

_And my ridiculously smart son, who's walking, at eight months..._

"Can I go play with Torrin?" he asked sweetly.

"Dinner's at seven, and don't act like you can't tell time," Daniel responded, Nicky making a face before dashing, well, as fast as a child his size could dash, headed to on-base quarters.

"I told you we could sell the car," Adrienne was leaning back into him now, Daniel bending to kiss her neck lightly, working his way up to her cheek.

"That didn't make it the truth," he replied softly, "besides, Apollo doesn't take up that much space."

"Thank you," he could tell by her voice that she was tearing up, so he just held her tighter, but she pulled away, turning around to face him.

"That's not why I came down here though, I know you wanted some quiet before the 'Welcome Home' speech, but I wanted to talk to you about something else," she said, her face deadly serious, making Daniel worry.

"About what Ad? Is everything ok?" he asked, trying to read her face, their failsafe communication, but there was something so different about it right now, that smile, coupled with sadness that he just couldn't figure out.

"Everything's fine Indy, but I've been talking to Jennifer, and well," she was stammering, Daniel's heart racing in worry, she had been talking to the doctor, what was wrong, what was happening...

"Daniel," she whispered softly, pulling his face so close to her own, "I want another baby..."

**The End **

_I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming with me on this journey and for accepting Addy like she was just supposed to be here. Your support and kindness meant the world. _

_So, this is supposed to be the end, right? Daniel Jackson got his happy ending, the one he really deserved. The one that should have been written for him. :) _

_Nah...they've been too much fun for me and been too good to me. _

_Please continue to follow me on Twitter (ladiosabri), Blogger and FanFic for Daniel & Adrienne's saga on Atlantis: _

_**Crystalline Blue Waters**_

_**(I've got first 11 chapters written, so give me about a week for Chapter 1 to go up ;P) **_


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